by Luke Porter
The word “beer” is often used as a generic noun to describe a cold refreshing beverage. However, for those with more than a passing interest in the drink, a single word is far from sufficient to describe it.
When it comes to types of beer, there are many, many options to choose from. The amount of differing characteristics that can be found is surprising, with most people having a favorite type even if they are not aware of it. From stout to cider, and porter to pilsner, there really is something for everyone.
Most beers, particularly those sold commercially, are processed using similar methods. However, the names given to different styles of beer generally reflect individual characteristics of the product, such as where it originated. Taste, appearance and aroma are just some of the qualities that make different beers unique.
Below are some of the most popular types of beer available…
Lager: Some of the world’s most popular beer brands are lagers. Incorporated within this type of beer are American styles such as double pilsner, all-malt and ‘light’ beers. Germany and the Czech Republic are seen as the international leaders in the production of them.
Ale: American amber, brown ale, porter, strong, sour and wild ales are also common American beers. Also falling under the category of “Ales” are Chile Beer, Pumpkin Ale, Belgian and French ales, English, German, Irish, Finnish, Scottish and Russian ales.
Cider: While not an official beer, cider is still enjoyed by many beer drinkers. Favorites include standard cider, New England cider and many specialty ciders.
Hybrids: This term refers to experimental brewing methods and ingredients. Sub-categories include smoked, spiced, fruit and vegetable beer.
You’re missing out if you haven’t tried at least the types of beer listed above. Remember that variety is the spice of the life; you’re severely limiting yourself by always being loyal to one brand. There is a world of options available to you, so try something new next time you’re in a beer drinking mood.
by Dennis Gartland
Lolita – I went with my sister and we ordered the mac and cheese and The Lolita Burger. I have to say it is the best mac and cheese I have ever tasted. 5-6:30 pm and 9:30 pm to close Tuesday through Thursday; 5-6 pm and 10:30 p. to close Saturday. 4-6:30 pm. Sunday Lolita is one of Michael Symon’s (of the food network) first restraints. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale is only $2 and there are several dishes for only $5
Lincoln Park Pub – Taco Tuesdays, 3 p.m.-midnight. The Tacos are made on homemade taco shells. If you like hot food try the morning after sauce. Tacos, $1.25; Mex beers, $2.25; margaritas, $3.25
Momocho has very good and unique food. From 5-6:30 pm daily they have 1/2 off taquitos and margaritas plus a great deal on Tecate. Happy Hour is only at the bar, but it has a very nice patio.
Blind Pig – Pizza and wings for $5; 23-ounce beers $2.50, 4-9p.m. daily. The pizzas are pretty big for $5, big enough for two people at least. The beer special includes imports. They have the nicest set of TVs downtown.
Light Bistro -4:30-7 p.m. daily, Cocktails starting at $3. Food plates are $5. This is one of the Best Restaurants in Ohio. It is nice to be able to stop in for an after hour bite, but it seams a better idea to go for dinner.
Liquid – 4-8 daily. 1/2 off drinks and bottled beers. Nice place to grab a beer and the food is very good and easy on the budget. The beer selection is impressive.
The Flying Fig – Happy Hour: Tuesday – Friday between 5PM and 7:30PM Season Food Specials for happy hour. The Fig provides wine-oriented cuisine utilizing the finest ingredients available, sourced locally whenever possible. Beers start at $2
When you have your bar and your cabinets built, you’ll want to get to drinking in it…Now. But, I’ve seen some make shit jobs that aren’t really all that great. Then, I’ve seen some expensive setups that are way out of the reach of most of us.
So, here’s the home bar the easy way:
The kegerator is the first thing you put in your bar. It keeps your keg cool and it adds style in an inexpensive way.
This kegerator can actually make the entire bar. If you choose to use a kegerator like this to hold your kegs, you can make it a part of the bar’s counter top. Then, you only need counter space on each side. That’s a setup made easy, as easy as it gets.
Grab a tap handle of your favorite beer and now you’ve got something to really get you bragging. There are tap handles of all kinds, from your favorite domestic to your favorite import. As a promotional tool, every beer you can think of has a beer tap handle for commercial uses as well as the home bar enthusiast.
But, just in case you have a beer of your own or some other “unrecognizable” libation, get the beer tap handle you can write anything on that you want.
Tell people, “Try Me!” Give your concoction a name. Have fun with it and write, “Make Your Own Beer…” or whatever else you might come up with to prank your friends.
You’ve got the bar. Dress it up in style. The kegerator and a beer tap handle can turn any room into a bar. Your bedroom, your dorm room (oops), your garage, your basement, your tree house…
Anywhere!
When you are trying to create a bar in your home, of course you begin with the taps and the handles, mirrors and signs. You built a bar! It has to look right. Right?
But when the bar is in place and you think you have it all, what kind of lame bar serves draft beer in plastic cups? And I’ll be willing to bet that’s what you have. Red plastic cups that you bought at the grocery store. Hmm…all that work and then you tap out at the end.
Well, you can add some specialty glasses so that your friends are drinking in style. This is where it gets tricky, but you can manage. You don’t just want to get mugs of any kind. You need to stock up your cabinets with mugs of all kinds.
Vintage mugs from old fashioned beers add such a touch of class. Especially when you have friends asking you where you got the mugs. That’s when you realize saving money on those red plastic cups wasn’t worth it after all.
But, don’t stop there. You should have Pilsners and Pints, Dimpled Mugs and Retro Pubs. Get mugs with different logos like Coors, Molson, Blue Moon and Killian. It’s a blast to make sure that you drink out of the right glass for the right kind of draft.
Logo Beer Glasses
It’s been a dream for many beer drinkers around the world. But, putting a keg in an old refrigerator for your apartment, den or garage isn’t that hard to do when you have the right material.
A Kegerator Conversion Kit is all you need and there is something that you may have never thought about, but it’s a surprise and I’ll tell you in a minute. These conversion kits change any old refrigerator into a kegerator in minutes. Install the shank and faucet directly in to the door of your refrigerator and hook up the Co2 inside. You’ll be drinking from your kegerator in no time at all.
But, here’s something that not many people think about. The Kegerator Conversion Kit can also be used for other home bar designs. Wall mount it to a closet. That’s right! Turn your closet into a kegerator.
All you need to do is install the shank and faucet on the wall the way you would the door of your refrigerator. Then, grab a large trash can full of ice just like you would for a normal keg party. Hook up the Co2 inside the closet and you are ready to drink some cold beer with the keg hidden in the closet, fully functional for your party. Of course, this is really only good for keg parties when you have them. But, you can try to keep ice in the trash can as you keep swapping out kegs.
As this idea starts to spark the imagination, I want to see Kegerators everywhere! Garages, Bedrooms, Kitchens, Living Rooms, Bathrooms, through the wall to the Patio outside…etc.
Beertaps has the Kegerator Conversion Kit you need!
You watch people on television having a great time. Some of the reality television shows allow their contestants to be viewed while drinking. Some actors like Norm have made a career out of it. But, can you get paid to drink beer?
It would be nice to know, wouldn’t it?
I loved watching Tara Reid get drunk on the Wild On… episodes that she hosted and on the Taradise show that had a short run. You sit back and watch the show thinking, “Man, why can’t I land a gig as sweet as that?”
You get paid to roam around the world, find the best places ever and drink their alcohol to show people at home how fun it is. That’s the gig of the century. But, then the thought occurs to you that only blessed people like Tara Reid get gigs like that.
Well, not anymore. Getting paid to drink is no longer a gig for the beautiful and talented. It’s a job all of us can have.
It seems that there are plenty of beer companies starting a trend. They love to pay people to drink their beer and give them feedback.
“Just two nights ago I attended a beer & wine discussion group and for about 1 hour of my time, sampling a few different beers and wines and answering some questions I received $70.” Tim Costello, author of Make Money Drinking Beer.
It does appear that the blessings have been passed on to the rest of us. So, if you think you can participate in a drinking group where people will be drinking and talking about drinking, the learn more about how to make money drinking beer…
A bartender is somebody who serves beverages behind a licensed bar to paying customers. A bartender can also be called a barkeep or a barmaid. Bartenders are found in bars, pubs, taverns, nightclubs and other similar places.
Bartenders are professionals at serving drinks that contain alcohol in them, some examples are cocktails, shots, wine, beer, liqueur and coolers. But not only do they serve these drinks, they also serve a good amount of non alcoholic drinks such as soda, water and juices for those who choose not to drink, such as a designated driver.
Not only do bartenders have the responsibility of making and serving drinks, they are also responsible for the over cleanliness of the bar area. They must make sure they have enough clean shot glasses, wine glasses, mugs, and drink glasses at their disposal, so there is a light amount of dish washing that is involved.
In most of the bars that are around, the bartender will be expected to be dressed very neatly, similar to waiters and waitresses at restaurants. This will contribute to the overall appearance of the bar.
A professional bartender should have in their head hundreds of recipes for drinks and shots. The quicker that you can serve the customer the more likely you are to get a good tip. It is not very professional to go over and look at a recipe book while the customer is waiting on his or her drink, especially if you are working at a busy night club.
All bartenders should be friendly and enjoy having contact and communication with customers. Good bartenders have a way of attracting regular customers. Good bartenders like this will remember the favored drink of regular customers; have drink recommendations on hand or recommendations for other bars, as well as several other unofficial duties.
In the United States, mostly all bartenders are payed minimum wage. So their main source of income will be coming from tips, which is a custom in almost every country. Bartenders must also be strict when it comes to checking if that person is old enough to drink alcohol or not.
So there is much more to being a bartender than just serving alcohol as you can see. The most important thing you must do well is your people skills since the majority of bartenders work for tips. The better people skills you have the more money you will see coming in.
Before you try and get into the great world of bartending you need to know the facts, for that reason the author has written an excellent report that goes over bartending tips for beginners and how to become a bartender.
Posted by CarBoy Films
The Father of Our Country loved his beer. English–style porter was George Washington’s drink of choice and whenever he could he would seek out the product of Robert Hare, a brewer in Philadelphia who was one of the first to make porter in the U.S. Washington was no stranger to homebrew either and this recipe from a personal notebook he kept will make 30 gallons of ale, enough for a large household like Mount Vernon.
"Take a large Sifter full of Bran, Hops to your Taste—Boil these 3 hours. Then strain out 30 Gallons into a Cooler put in 3 Gallons Molasses while the Beer is scalding hot or rather drain the molasses into the Cooler. Strain the Beer on it while boiling hot let this stand til it is little more than Blood warm. Then put in a quart of Yeast if the weather is very cold cover it over with a Blanket. Let it work in the Cooler 24 hours then put it into the Cask. leave the Bung open til it is almost done working—Bottle it that day Week it was Brewed."
"To Make Small Beer” is the title of this recipe. “Small beer” is normally brew made from the second runnings through the mash for strong ale and the beer that is created has very little alcohol (about 3%). However, a note on the NPR website says that the above recipe produces a beer with an alcohol content of about 11 %. If this was George’s “small beer” then consumption of his “large beer” must have somehow disrupted space-time for its imbiber. Compare that ABV to a popular modern American brew, say Sam Adams Boston Lager at 4.9%, and you realize that “Town Destroyer”, as the Iroquois nicknamed Washington, wasn’t effin around. In fact, I think he might have been trying to kill himself and anyone around him.
So if you try this recipe use caution (or just less molasses) and for God’s sake send us pictures of the aftermath.
Image by cliff1066
Cincinnati Poem
We’re in Cincinnati and it’s good to be here
In a city of pork and a city of beer.
Old beer signs everywhere you walk:
“Good Old” Brucks, Brenner’s XL Pilsener, John Hauck
Barbarossa, King Gambrinus, or Crown.
You eat you some Pork hocks with leeks and garlic cloves, you need beer to wash it down.
Similarly, to go along with a pint of beer, you need more than a pretzel
You need Pork Meatloaf with brown gravy and spaetzle.
A big pork sandwich and something to drink,
Geisbauer, Bierbrauer, Linck.
Nothing chintzy
Here in Cincy.
Like it or not, Cincinnati was not vegetarian.
It went for pork shanks with bread dumplings and a pitcher of Bavarian.
No lemonade, no cranberry juice, no apple cider,
But a big mug of Weber’s, Lackman, Jackson, Mohawk, Gerke, Burger, or Foss-Schneider.
And all of the pig was used, even the snout
To make Bierwurst, Mettwurst, Bratwurst, piled high with sauerkraut.
Beers with distinguished names like Butcher & Weidmann and Windisch-Muhlhauser
To give a sense of dignity to the drunken carouser
City of suds and city of swine,
Some greasy goetta sausage and a glass of Christian Moerlein,
Or Little Kings cream ale
Beer by the bottle, the barrel, the hogshead, and the pail,
Golden brown glasses of beer with nice big heads
And Hudepohl-Schoenling, Cincinnati’s finest, hu-dey “Hu dey think gonna beat them Reds”
It was the national capital of beer.
In 1890, they produced a million barrels a year.
Old breweries along McMicken Avenue on the hill north of Liberty Street,
Making beer out of water, yeast, sugar, plenty of hops, and wheat.
Oh in Cincinnati there was lots to do:
You had a Hudy and a Pork cordon bleu.
Cincinnati was a regular culinary riot.
How sad to be on a diet.
What a terrible loss.
To miss out on the roast pork loin with beer sauce.
And it is politically incorrect
And you may object
To my saying so, but I suspect
Something joyful and boisterous and profane
Was lost when we decided to abstain.
A man sitting down to pork braised, roasted, fried, boiled, battered, with a glass upraised,
A man who is a little fried himself and his eyes are glazed.
That may have been the night he became your daddy
Here in Cincinnati.
_____
If you ever find a place that you want to call home
and you can name off the reasons why,
then you’ll be as lucky as this guy!
by Damian Jackson
Oktoberfest is the worlds largest festival taking place over 16 days in September and October. Why not throw your own Oktoberfest party with the help of these Oktoberfest party ideas:
1. Send out invites in the fashion of beer goggles, bratwurst, beer kegs, beer glasses, beer steins or lederhosen. You could cut them out of cardboard! State clearly that guests will be charged on the door if they fail to dress up!
2. For costumes, the guys are expected to wear lederhosen leather shorts. They are truly horrible but very funny. Get some braces to hold them up! Also you’ll need some knee height white socks and a hat with a feather in!
3. Ladies, you get to wear traditional Alpine peasant girl costume. This includes a lacy blouse and a tight bodice.
4. Get your decorations in the colors of blue and white, the Bavarian flag color. Get blue and white balloons and place them everywhere.
5. Try and make a long line of wooden tables and benches across the room to give it the look of a brau haus bier keller.
6. Cut out bratwursts, lederhosen, beer glasses and beer kegs from cardboard and hang them from the ceiling. If you’re ambitious, you can also hang gingerbread men up too.
7. Get some German flags to hang on the walls. Also get plenty of mini versions to place on the tables.
8. You could hire a brass band to play traditional beer hall music, provided its in your budget.
9. Some traditional German food you should make would be Weiner Shnitzel, pretzels, garlic bread, sauerkraut, bratwurst, nuremburgers, apple strudel, gingerbread, black forest cake and stollen.
10. Finally on to the beer! Germany makes the best beer in the world! Get in a wide variety of German beer as people will be wanting to sample many different kinds of beer. Make sure you have plenty of glasses and even beer steins.
About the Author:
I hope you have found some useful
Oktoberfest Party Ideas here as well as inspiration for your party! We also have lots more
Oktoberfest Party Ideas to help you with your party preparations and enable you to throw the best Oktoberfest party ever that you and your guests will always remember!
