Category: Beer

What’s Dom Drinking Now? Quarantine Edition

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It’s been a while since I wrote one of these. The main reason is that, as previously noted in Joey’s quarantine blog, I moved to Israel. If you had a balcony in a city bordering the Mediterranean, you’d be writing less too. Now, you may be thinking that because I haven’t been writing WDDN articles, I haven’t been drinking. Is this true?

no way GIF

Unfortunately, the beer scene here is not good. As a matter of fact, it’s bad. Growing, but still bad. Most Israeli brewers seemingly have yet to discover American hops, and almost every Israeli beer I’ve had is sweet to the point of being unbalanced. The best beers here are German pilsners and wheat beers, which get boring quick when you’re used to American craft beer. This isn’t a complaint, just an observation.

So what am I drinking?

Drinking Vodka GIFs | Tenor

With beer now an afterthought, I’ve since turned to vodka. And that, folks, is a sentence I never thought I’d write. It’s super easy to mix, can be added to pretty much anything, is low in calories, and is cheaper than almost any other liquor out there. If you are thinking that I wrote that sentence to somehow justify drinking an alcohol I’ve always looked down upon, then you are correct.

To further that justification, I’ve taken to infusing vodkas with all sorts of different flavors. I usually do my infusions in 500mL batches just because the biggest size they sell here are liter bottles and I like to try multiple flavors at a time.

When infusing, you generally want to wait 2-3 days before drinking, although you can taste along the way to check how the flavor is developing. I would also recommend shaking the bottles a few times a day so the ingredients don’t settle at the bottom and concentrate the flavor too much. Here are some flavors and cocktails I’ve found tasty so far:

Cucumber

What to add: Cut and peel half a cucumber and add to the vodka. Leaving on the peel isn’t the end of the world, but I wouldn’t recommend it because it can give the vodka a pickly flavor.

Recipe: I stole this recipe from a sushi restaurant we used to frequent in Arlington. Stir together 1 part cucumber vodka, 1/2 part lime juice, 3 parts Cava (sparkling wine). Sprinkle cracked black pepper over the top and garnish with a cucumber slice.

Blood Orange-Pomelo

What to add: 1/2 teaspoon of each fruit zest.

Recipe: This one is good neat, but also works well in a Bloody Mary or Screwdriver.

Ginger-Pomegranate

What to add: 1 teaspoon of ginger zest and add 1-2 dozen slightly crushed pomegranate arils. You want the juice from the arils to get into the vodka without making a mess. You can also substitute a lot of other red fruits instead of the pomegranate.

Recipe: Perfect for a Moscow Mule because of the ginger.

Orange-Honey-Cinnamon

What to add: 1 teaspoon of orange test, 1 teaspoon of honey, 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. If you feel like you want more cinnamon flavor after the first day, you can add more. Just be cautious because there is a fine line between subtly and overdoing it.

Recipe: This one is by far my favorite and is very easy to sip on it’s own. The orange flavor hits you right up front, the sweetness from the honey masks the alcohol burn, and the cinnamon on the finish ties everything together.

Leonardo Di Caprio Cheers GIF - LeonardoDiCaprio Cheers GreatGatsby GIFs
Time to drink up!

The best thing about vodka infusions is you can do them with pretty much anything you have around the house. Just get creative and remember that less is more. Cheers!

What’s Dom Drinking Now? Oktoberfest!

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Fall seasonals are my favorite when it comes to beer. As you may have read in my last post, that’s not because of pumpkin beer. I know this style is unwaveringly popular, but I have issues with any pumpkin beers that are released before mid-September. Rather than start this blog with a rant though, I’ll take a more positive view and talk about what I do like: Oktoberfest.

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This is my dream vacation right here.

Oktoberfest is the king when it comes to seasonal beers, and if you ask me (I’ll assume you are because you’re reading this post), it is a great barometer for whether or not you like real, traditional beer and not just the hops (not that there is anything wrong with the latter). True German Marzen/Oktoberfest should have everything classic beer lovers crave: a perfect harmony of smooth and toasty caramel malt, a crisp, snappy hop bite, and a modest alcohol level that allows you to fill up a stein and smash it against a friends again and again.

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It doesn’t appear like much has changed since the days of black of white.

Although many people have surely had Oktoberfest before, one thing I commonly encountered working at a beer shop was confusion about the labeling of different Oktoberfests. Traditionally, this style of beer was brewed in March (Marzen), and then stored over the summer. This was back before refrigeration, when brewing in hotter months could lead to spoilage and wasted time. Due to the old-fashioned kilning techniques, beer used to be much darker. Over time, the fest-style gradually lightened, from dunkels (early to mid 1800s), to amber and copper-colored Marzens (invented by Spaten in 1841), to the golden-colored festbiers introduced by Paulaner in the early 1970s.

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These are the 6 official beers of Munich Oktoberfest.

So which ones am I drinking?

The short answer: anything German. There are 6 breweries that serve their beer at the Oktoberfest in Munich: Hacker-Pschorr, Spaten, Paulaner, Lowenbrau, Augustiner and Hofbrau. If you want to know what this style should truly taste like, any of them will do. I also like Warsteiner (a touch on the sweet side) Weihenstephaner, and Andechs (draft only) for other German offerings.

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However, my personal favorite isn’t even on the list, and that’s Ayinger Oktober Fest-Marzen, which is probably my favorite beer in the world. It’s the perfect balance of everything I want in a beer. Flavorful, but crushable at the same time.

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IMO, Copper Legend is the best of the style from Massachusetts.
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Two Roads (Connecticut) Ok2berfest makes a great, albeit lighter style, Marzen lager.

American Oktoberfest beers tend to be either on the sweeter side or with a little too much hop influence. There’s plenty of good ones, but like most things American they tend to be a little much. However, a few local New England brands I like are Jacks Abby Copper Legend, Zero Gravity and Two Roads.

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This year, Sierra Nevada got together with Bitburger for their fall seasonal.
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Left Hand Brewing out of Colorado makes a solid homage to traditional Marzens.

For outside New England, look to Sierra Nevada, who puts out a different Oktoberfest every year in which they collaborate with a German brewery. Left Hand, Victory and Firestone Walker also do a good job. I have yet to find anything truly impressive for the style down here in DC, which is part of the reason why I’ve waited until a little later in the fest-season to write this blog.

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**A final word on pumpkin beer:

Pumpkins are harvested in September and October. Generally speaking, an average batch of beer from a microbrewery takes 4-8 weeks to brew from start to finish. That would mean even if you used pumpkins picked a couple weeks early, the earliest you could get a beer brewed with fresh pumpkins from this years harvest would be mid-September.

So how does a company like Shipyard have theirs ready to go by the end of July? They cut corners. They are using one or a combination of the following not-pumpkins: butternut squash, yams, artificial pumpkin flavoring, or a mixture of spices (nutmeg, vanilla, clove, etc) to mimic pumpkin pie. This irritates me. At the end of the day, I don’t want to hate on people for drinking what they like, but as someone who worked retail, I find label transparency is important when trying to sell products.

What’s Dom Drinking Now?

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There’s been one brewery on my mind ever since I checked out their new taproom two weeks ago: Aslin Beer Company. Many people in the Boston area may not be familiar with these guys; I certainly wasn’t when I first moved to the DC area. Once I did move, I kept hearing the name Aslin again and again when trying to find the best brewery around.

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Aslin Beer Co. houses their original location in Herndon, VA. Recently they opened up a second, much larger facility in Alexandria, VA that will house the bulk of production one it’s fully functioning.

Lucky for me, they just opened up a new taproom 15 minutes away from my apartment not even a month ago, and I was quite impressed. They make NEIPA’s as good as anyone actually in New England, mouth-puckering sours that leave you making faces well into the fourth and fifth sips (a sign of a great sour in my opinion) and some downright killer stouts. When it comes to what grabs your attention in the beer world these days, those three boxes are all you really need to check to stand out.

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Although the new location doesn’t have a ton of can stock, I do like their labels.

The top rated beers from Aslin are almost exclusively IPA’s and stouts, no surprise there. If you can get your hands on them, Single, Double and Triple Orange Starfish, Master of Oranges, Master of Karate and Mind the Hop are some of their highest rated beers on Untappd, but it seems like every IPA they make has above a 4 rating on the app. For stouts, they have a bunch of amazing styles featuring all sorts of flavor additives, while their line of sours beers does the same.

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So what do I actually recommend? Here’s a quick run down:

–Glamping Imperial Stout– Probably the best stout I’ve ever had. Made to mimic a s’more, this beer features marshmallows, graham crackers, chocolate, and the added bonus of…peanut butter! This is the first beer with peanut butter I had where I could really smell and taste the PB. Incredible. Oh yeah, it’s 15% alcohol and drinks like it’s less than half that, so watch out.
–Pisghetti Western Stout– Another 15% imperial stout that doesn’t taste like it, this is conditioned on chocolate, hazelnuts, coffee, vanilla and cinnamon. I thought this had a touch too much cinnamon, which accentuated the heat from the alcohol just a bit more than I preferred. However, all the other flavors are delicious, and it’s still a great beer.
–Master of Oranges DIPA– It’s pretty hard for me to be impressed by IPA’s these days. NEIPA’s can easily disguise off-flavors or a weak malt base by adding more dry-hops, more citrusy hops, more more more. On top of that, most people use the same four or five hops, so the difference from beer to beer is minute. That being said, this beer was fantastic, easily the best IPA I’ve had in DC. This beer is a combo of Double Orange Starfish and Master of Karate, and it blew me away.
–El Frutero Sour Ale- A light, easy going sour at first taste, every sip seems to pack more flavor. Brewed with watermelon, lime, habanero peppers and salt, this beer is a perfect pairing for fish tacos. As a matter of fact, I would actually prefer this beer with food because the habaneros really punch you in the tongue.

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I don’t play the games, but anyone who is a fan of Elder Scrolls will be excited to see Aslin came out with an entire line of beers to celebrate 25 years of Elder Scrolls games.

I really only have one beef with Aslin to this point, and it has nothing to do with the beer. The new spot is tinkering with the food menu, and we found out the hard way that it is overpriced. Much to our chagrin, the $8 deviled eggs we ordered was actually one egg, cut in half, with a sliver of jalapeno and a fried oyster on top. Considering all over Boston you can find $1 oysters and I can go to the grocery store and buy an 18-pack of Nellie’s Free Range Eggs for $5.69, that price is a rip off. I was assured they would be changing that, so I now have nothing more to complain about.

Although they don’t make it up to Boston, I highly recommend anyone traveling down to DC or Virginia stop by their locations and drink up. You won’t be disappointed.

What’s Dom Drinking Now?

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My first two editions of WDDN were both cocktails. As it happens, this is a change a pace for me as I typically prefer to drink craft beer. I am always on the lookout for something new and exciting, and try as many different brews as I can get my hands on. Luckily for me, I was able to get a job doing a variety of things for 3 Stars Brewing. So, it should come as no surprise that I’ve been drinking a lot 3 Stars beer!

3 STARS BREWING

Since 2012, 3 Stars has been making super-drinkable and excitingly unique beers in the northern part of DC. Unfortunately, the brewery is still relatively small and distribution limited, with only DC, Virginia and Maryland receiving regular shipments. Boston and Delaware also receive monthly shipments, while New York City has seen a few offerings as well.

What should you be looking to try? Honestly, I like all the beers we make. I’m not just saying that, either. Before I started working for 3 Stars, I thought the few beers I had tried from them were solid. Nothing special, but still well-made. Now that I’ve had the chance to try them at their freshest as well as had a wider variety of the lineup, I’ve really started to dig them.

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I’m hoping one of my ideas for a pilot batch makes it into the taproom this summer. I’ve been pitching a sour beer modeled after the Palomas I’m so in love with, so we’ll see how that turns out.

We’re not talking about over-the-top IPA’s like Trillium or Treehouse. This isn’t that kind of brewery. They can definitely make high quality juice bombs that seem to be all the rage these days, but those beers are relatively boring to make. Come up with a decent malt bill, then add as many hops as you possibly can. From there, just change the hops. This provides the illusion of innovation when really you’re only changing one ingredient. At 3 Stars, the brewers like to experiment with more than that.

As for the beers, here are the ones you can find in Mass:

  1. Peppercorn Saison:

    This easy-drinking Belgian style ale is brewed with 3 different types of peppercorns for a light spice on the finish. It doesn’t have the bubblegum yeasty thing that some Belgian styles can have, so for me it’s a porch pounder despite being 6.5%. PS is the beer that first put 3 Stars on the map, as it was originally a home-brew recipe before the owners were pushed to bottle it and sell it by their friends.
  2. Diamonds are Forever:

    Although the 16oz option is only available at Nationals Park, you can find the 12oz beers more readily. For the NEIPA fans, this is the beer for you. A sessionable IPA with a ton of juicy citrus flavors and a touch of bitter resin, this is as good if not better than any session IPA I had while running a beer department up north. This is the newest addition to the core lineup, and in my opinion the biggest crowd-pleaser.

  3. Southern Belle:

    This is another one of the beers they made when first launching almost 7 years ago. Southern Belle is an imperial brown ale brewed with roasted pecans. Soft, smooth and nutty, this is my preferred beer pairing for a burger. I have noticed a slight variation of flavor from batch to batch, but this is a killer beer for cooler temperatures and fans of darker styles.

  4. Ghost IPA:

    This is my least favorite of the core lineup, but that’s not to say I don’t like it. Like almost all of our beers, this one is brewed with a large percentage of white wheat malt, which is why it was originally labeled as a White IPA. However, the only citrus you pick up is a modest dose that comes from hops, unlike what you’d expect out of a traditional white ale. The bitter/resiny quality is a little much for me, but I’ve found most people around the brewery will go to Ghost for their “on-the-clock” beer.
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This new event space is huge. It should be finished by the end of the summer, so I’ll at least be able to take advantage of that.

I really love how 3 Stars likes to push the envelope and come up with as many new and strange styles as they can think of. We recently bought out a huge space connected to our current brewery, so when all of the renovations are said and done we’ll have two to three times as much space. This includes a new 470-person event space, an enlarged Funkerdome for sours, triple the size for cold storage, and room for more brewing tanks. Unfortunately, I will be gone by the time it’s all done, but I’m excited to see where the company goes!

What’s Dom Drinking Now? Stanley Cup Game 7 Edition

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Game 7 is tonight, which means I’m drinking something that reminds me of home: Irish Car Bombs. It may not be the best drink to order in Ireland (you may or may not get thrown out of the pub), but I did one of these before each period in Game 6 and it worked like a charm, so I’m sticking with it. I feel like most people in Boston already know this one, but just in case, here’s the drink:

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Irish Car Bombs are like chugging a milkshake without the brain freeze.

IRISH CAR BOMB

A Boston favorite, the Irish car bomb combines Irelands three biggest exports with a chugging contest for a boozy milkshake from heaven. Although maybe not a great choice for summer, it goes great with all things Boston, so there’s nothing I’d rather drink for this game.

THE RECIPE

Pretty easy as far as cocktails go. Pour half a pint of Guinness into glass. Pour a half ounce of Jameson or Bushmill’s Irish Whiskey and a half ounce of Bailey’s Irish Cream into a shot glass. Drop the liquor into the Guinness and chug the whole glass. Boom. Bring the Cup home, boys. LFG!

Liquor Store Etiquette III: The Do’s and Don’ts

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It’s your go-to beer snob back with round 3 of Liquor Store Etiquette! I know it’s been a while since the last time I wrote one of these, but you’ll have to accept my excuse: I’ve been too busy drinking beer fresh off the line at my new stomping grounds, 3 Stars Brewing Company. In this post I’ll go over the right way to return bottles (yes there is a right way), the habits of my favorite customers, and what drives me crazy at the register.

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  1. Only Return Bottles That You’d Want to Sort Yourself

Ah, bottle returns. The most annoying part of the job for any employee. Some stores are lucky enough to have machines that will force the customers to sort the products themselves. Cool. The problem with these is they can only be rented by the store (at least in Mass), so you have to get enough returns to not lose money on the investment. This leaves most small stores the task of sorting them by hand. This becomes infinitely worse when customers bring in nasty cans and bottles. Here are some easy rules to follow when it comes to returning bottles:

-Rinse your bottles. Nobody wants to get your stale beer all over their hands and clothes.
-Don’t bring back broken bottles, cans that have been shotgunned, or anything that may cut the employee. I’m not getting tetanus because of some lazy jabroni.
-If it’s a craft beer, bring your empties back to where you bought them. Most stores don’t accept returns for products they don’t carry. Don’t argue about it. We know the law, and the law says we are only required to take back items we’ve sold.
-Don’t bring back cans that have been crushed/can’t be scanned or empties you found under your deck that have been there for three years and have now accumulated all sorts of mold, dirt, earth and funk.

If you are unwilling to do any of these things, either recycle them like a normal person or bring them to a redemption center. If you do take them to a redemption center, don’t be surprised if they turn you away. Oftentimes, they are just as strict as retail stores.

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2. Enough With the Cliche Jokes

I’m all for stupid dad jokes. Just ask my wife, she’ll tell you. But, most of the time, these types of jokes should stay at home. Retail workers and service employees hear the same stupid jokes over and over again. And, after the second time hearing a joke, it gets difficult to be fake-nice. Obviously, that’s part of the job. But, you should aspire to not make yourself look like a jackass every time you go somewhere. I’d say at least once a day I get some moronic answer to the yes or no question of “Is there anything I can help you find today?”

Some common responses:

-the winning Megaball ticket
-a million bucks
-A one way ticket to (insert country here)
-a supermodel to be my wife

When you ask people that question over 100 times a day, your cheesy come back gets stale…fast! If I had $5 for every time I heard one of these, I’d be on beach somewhere thinking about how much those people suck.

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3. Pick the Staff’s Brain

My favorite customers are ones that look for recommendations. Of course, this relies on a competent staff. For the sake of this article, we’re assuming that’s usually the case. Great staff members know what their customers like and don’t like. They will not only keep products in mind for the next time they see these customers, but they’ll even go so far as to stock products specifically for them. I personally did this with at least a dozen products. There’s nothing wrong with the guy who only drinks Bud Light. Not a fan, but I can appreciate that it’s a crowd pleaser. However, the customers I look forward to helping are the ones who not only want to know what’s new and what I’m excited about but also purchase products based on my recommendations as often as their livers allow.

4. Don’t Waste the Staff’s Time

This point runs off of my previous one: if you are going to ask for help, listen to what I have to say. Don’t waste my time by asking me a question and then immediately shutting off your brain. God gave you ears for a reason. It also helps to avoid having the same conversation with the same staff member every time you visit a shop. Oh, you like Cabernet Franc? I fucking know, Harvey! You’ve told me this every time I’ve seen you for the past 5 years. What’s that? You’re just going to get Bud Light even though I spent the last 20 minutes explaining to you the difference between every IPA we stock? Well, fuck you too, Susan! Don’t bother starting these conversations if you’re just going to ignore our advice and get the same shitty product you came in for in the first place? I don’t need to be there for you to pick out crap. I’ve got plenty of work to do without your dumb ass wasting my time telling me you just can’t seem to get as much head in Massachusetts as you did in Delaware (either pour more enthusiastically or talk to your wife, Bill).

Well, that’s enough complaining for me today. I’m getting near the end of my liquor store complaints, but still have a few left in the tank. Hopefully, Part IV will be out a little quicker than Part III. Thanks for reading and I hope you enjoy and employ these tips!

Liquor Store Etiquette: The Do’s & Don’ts Part I

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Over the years, much has been written about the trials and tribulations of the retail worker. It’s been well documented that employees working in the retail and service industries often deal with the underbelly of society and the ugly side of people you would otherwise think are respectable, upstanding citizens. I’ve personally worked in retail for over half of my life, and have worked in the alcohol industry in particular for nearly a decade. In that time, I’ve seen a lot. In the span of a few posts, I’d like to share some insights from my side of the counter in hopes of creating a more aware, educated public that will stop being such fucking idiots when trying to perform the relatively simple task of picking out a 6-pack.

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As a disclaimer, all of my experience comes from working in cities and towns outside of Boston. Most of this comes from one shop in particular, and I can only imagine that people working in more urban settings have even more outrageous stories to tell. First, a little about why I’m qualified to tell you to fuck off. I started off as an entry level wine associate reading, doing tastings, and most importantly, drinking. Eventually I worked my way up to becoming a beer buyer and manager for a craft beer and wine shop in a Boston suburb. I’ve been in this particular role for about 17 months, but have amassed a wealth of knowledge when it comes to beer, wine and spirits over the course of my career. I am a Cicerone Certified Beer Server, the first step in becoming a Cicerone, although anyone who has gotten this certification will tell you it’s pretty basic and nothing to brag about. I wouldn’t call myself an expert on any aforementioned categories of alcohol because the more you learn about this stuff, the more you realize there is to learn. All I would say is this: I am a professional drinker; that is, I drink professionally.

 

What follows is the first part in a multi-part series of what to do and what not to do when interacting with the staff at your local liquor store.

1: Don’t Piss Your Pants on the Sales Floor

This would seem like an obvious one, no? Well guess what? This happened to me. One typical Tuesday afternoon, a construction worker guy came into my store demanding to know where the Twisted Tea Raspberry tall boys were. I explained to him that we were out and they would be coming in tomorrow, but this didn’t do. He told me he’d settle for a regular Twisted Tea tall boy, but needed to use the bathroom. At almost every liquor store I’ve worked at (5 in total), we’ve kept broken bottles and other crap in the bathrooms, so they are off limits to customers. The last thing we need is someone filing a lawsuit because they cut their wiener on broken glass while trying to piss. This guy didn’t like that answer, and next thing I know, we’ve got a Billy Madison Miles Davis situation going on. I let him use the bathroom, but needless to say he was banned.

2: Be Honest With Yourself About What You Like

My least favorite people to deal with are the regulars who don’t understand what they actually like, and insist they want the opposite of what they actually like. They hear buzzwords like juicy or fruity or jammy, and think for whatever reason there is something wrong with these words. I can’t tell you how often we have people insist they don’t like sweet wines but end up with a red blend with more residual sugar than a bar dark chocolate. They may not necessarily taste sugary because things like tannin and acidity can dull perceived sweetness, but that sugar is still there. Also, why do people insist on wanting wine that isn’t fruity?

These people, and Big IPA guys. Fuck, these guys suck. The majority of these guys drink one of two things: Bud Light or a “Big IPA.” These are the type of guys who don’t drink fruit beers because their hyper-masculinity tells them that fruit beers are chick drinks, yet their preferred method of intoxication is either alcoholic rice urine or canned orange juice. These are the same guys who order a Sex on the Beach in a whiskey glass without the umbrella because they don’t want to look gay. Hate to break it to you Bro McCarthy, but you like fruity drinks. What’s the hallmark of the New England IPA that has the beer world clamoring these days? Low bitterness, soft mouthfeel, high alcohol, and…you guessed it, TONS OF FUCKING FRUITY HOPS. Not to mention the fact that the difference between most of these beers is so minute, you’re basically just drinking one of three things…

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At the end of the day, nobody should feel ashamed about what they like. There is no such thing as a gay drink, a chick drink, or a dudes drink. Everyone drinks everything. But the more honest you are with yourself about what you like, the easier it will be for the staff at your local shop to recommend things you like. We’re living in the golden age of alcohol with a ton variety out there across beer, wine and spirits. Unless you’re a professional or have the wallet and liver to constantly try new things, you’re going to need some help, and I’m willing to do so. In part two of this series, I’ll dig into when it’s acceptable to return stuff, why trophy hunters are obnoxious and who should bring their ID.

Millennials Are Now Being Blamed for Killing…Beer!

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CCN – Last year, Heineken-owned Lagunitas slashed 12 percent of its total workforce, 17 months after it was acquired. At the time, Lagunitas had said the cuts were necessary for the company to adjust to the needs of a dynamic and significantly more challenging market.

To put that more bluntly: millennials just don’t drink beer like their parents did.

INJECT IT INTO MY VEINS! Companies run their business poorly, change nothing, and then blame their tanking sales on millennials, the modern day scapegoats. I love it.

Last month, Diageo CEO Ivan Menezes noted in an interview with CNBC that consumers are moving from beer to spirits and cocktails.

According to data released by the Distilled Spirits Council, a trade group based in the United States, spirits (including vodka, rum, and gin) gained even more market share in the alcohol market for 2018, as compared to wine and beer.

Bullllllshit. There is no way millennials are drinking *more* booze than beer these days. I am a proud millennial and I am a proud rum and coke guy, but I cannot drink for shit anymore. The hangovers these days are absolutely brutal so I’ve basically transitioned entirely into a few IPAs on a good night.

LOL wut?

Millennials are just not into beer anymore, and this is quickly pushing many beer companies to the brink. Molson Coors saw sales slump in four straight quarters in 2018, and the volume of Heineken cases sold has decreased drastically – even while wine and spirits sales are on the rise.

Are these companies really just going to ignore the rise in craft beer and how breweries have popped up on every corner in major cities? From 2007 to 2018 the number of breweries in Massachusetts exploded form 34 to over 150! There are more than 6,000 breweries in the United States as of 2017 too.

Thats bananas.

Maybe it’s just me, but I’m not drinking that much less beer, I’m just not drinking Bud Light, Miller Lite etc. I’m drinking IPAs, Sours, Stouts and  other craft beers that are owned predominantly by independent small brewers.

How does the major beer industry respond? By brewing nightmare fuel like this!

Pass.

Millennials just aren’t drinking the stuff our parents drank; well almost all of us.

Miller High Life Champagne Bottles Are On The Way

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MillerCoors – Instead of popping the cork this holiday season, the Champagne of Beers wants drinkers to pry off the top of its new limited-release Champagne-sized bottles.

Miller High Life this week launched nationwide for the first time its custom 750-milliliter bottles for the final two months of 2018. The national roll out of the specialty bottles comes after a successful two-market test in Chicago and Milwaukee in 2017 and a single-market test in Chicago a year earlier.

Not even two weeks ago, as the Red Sox were popping bottles in Los Angeles, I wondered how I could get my hands on one of those big red Budweiser champagne bottles that the Sox were celebrating with. The response I got from Budweiser was a bit patronizing:

But as the old saying goes, when God closes a door He pushes you out the fire escape opens a window. In through that window enters the Champagne of Beers in actual champagne bottles!

Brilliant move by Miller. High Life truly is the beer of the people. You don’t need to be a rich famous athlete in order to celebrate with Miller. And at $3.49 a pop, there’s lots of celebrating to do. I plan on buying as many of these bottles as I can store at my house. I’m going to hoard this stuff in my basement how rich guys hoard 20-year-old bottles of wine. I’ll definitely drink a few bottles over the holidays but will be sure to save some for future special occasions, like potential fantasy football championships.

I’ve always been more of a Miller guy than a Bud guy, and this just furthers that. Budweiser can keep its limited edition swill. I’d rather drink High Lifes with the people in the cheap seats any day. I just wish the High Life guy could join us.

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There is Now an L.L. Bean Beer in Case You Thought Leaves and Road Rage Were the Most New England Things Ever

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Boston.com – In quite possibly the most New England beer collaboration ever, Maine-based retailer L.L. Bean has teamed up with five Maine breweries to create a limited-edition craft beer collection in celebration of its new collection of Small Batch Bean Boots.

This takes the cake. The quintessential “comfy but style-less” New England clothing company teaming up with a number of Maine CRAFT BEER companies. This is the most new England thing of all time. It makes you wonder who is coming for this throne. Maybe Cuffy’s will team up with Dunks? Mary Lou’s and the Black Dog? A heroin dealer and Reebok? This honestly could create a sort of apparel/refreshment collab turf war that no one saw coming.

Now I don’t pretend to be a craft beer expert but I was a bit ahead of the curve thanks to an older brother in-law that looks upon Bud Light as a sin of the flesh. I also have a few friends who are either in or have been in the craft beer business. So if you do make it up to South Canada to try one of these (unless they all are making the same thing) I’d go Mast Landing or Thresher. Both make a solid pop.

Cheers.

-Joey B.