When should the term "world" apply when referencing what constitutes the breadth of a particular item?  In this case I am speaking of beer.

Having just attended the 16th World Beer Festival in Durham, NC (by All About Beer magazine), I began to wonder if the name was implying too much.  The craft beer community knows the quintessential countries of beer.  Having brewed beers far longer than the United States has existed, these countries are the place in which most US brewing styles and techniques originated.  Countries like England, Belgium and Germany, to say nothing of Czech are the hallmarks of beer.  The birthplaces of styles and techniques, innovation and expanding reach.

You see, the World Beer Festival paid scant attention to these countries.  Walking the grounds of the festival, I could count on one hand the number of Belgian brewers represented.  It was the first beer festival that I have attended that the Japanese breweries outnumbered those from Germany (home to more than 1000 breweries).  England did not have very much representation either, but for a few breweries thrown together at single tables.

Who better to meet and greet at your local home brew shop than a man intimately familiar with the crafting and brewing of great beers.  Noted beer author and a long time fixture in the beer community, Ray Daniels, visited American Brewmaster in Raleigh, NC to chat and sign copies of his beer best seller, Designing Great Beers. Mr. Daniels is a well-respected authority in the beer and brewing community, is an instructor at the Siebel Institute of Brewing Technology, and is the man behind the Cicerone Certification Program.

He took the time to sign a few books for some of the avid home brewers that stopped by to meet him and spoke a little bit about the evolution of his major project, the Cicerone Certification Program.  For those unfamiliar with this program, (From the Cicerone.org website),

{xtypo_quote}Cicerone is an English word referring to “one who conducts visitors and sightseers to museums and explains matters of archaeological, antiquarian, historic or artistic interest.”  For beer, a Cicerone will possess the knowledge and skills to guide those interested in beer culture, including its historic and artistic aspects.  “Cicerone” now designates a person with demonstrated expertise in beer who can guide consumers to enjoyable and high-quality experiences with great beer.{/xtypo_quote}

The program organizes the certification exams and provides training in the disciplines needed to pass the tests.  The latest addition to this, according to Mr. Daniels, has been the introduction of web based instruction.  Saving both time and costs (travel and other expenses), this is something that he is looking to expand on in the near future.

The author also spoke about his background in the publishing business and other beer luminaries that he has had the opportunity to meet and become familiar with.  Although he could have spent many hours with stories from his time in the beer and brewing industry, this was his second stop of the day and alas he had leave the confines of the brew shop.  

Pick up a copy of his book and head to your local home brew shop and get started designing your own great beers.

#####

TheAbbot

How much can you pack into a week of travel?  What places and people will you run into?  How many different beer experiences can you have?

These are questions that just about every traveler serious about beer and a sense of adventure should ask themselves.  Whether going alone (not recommended, if for nothing else than sharing expenses) or traveling with a group of friends, the traveler should try to experience what they can within the the bounds of time and camaraderie.   I'd like to share with you one of my favorite experiences of the past few years which took place over nine days in 2008 and had us in five cities.  To add at least a modicum of detail, I will be breaking my adventure into four parts.

Amsterdam - Day 1

As this trip was planned (our little group usually plans at least the cities we will visit a couple months prior to travel), our first stop would be Amsterdam, The Netherlands.  My roommate, for at least the first few days of the trip, had gotten us a hotel room very convenient to the main train station.  We would be leaving early the next morning and heading to Brussels, Belgium in order to attend a once every two year beer festival (more on that later) and this made it easy to pick up and go.  My first day in Amsterdam was what I expected.  Amsterdam is a very large city and for someone unfamiliar with its streets, it can be somewhat confusing.  Not knowing where exactly my roommate had booked the hotel, led me to wander around one of the busiest parts of the city looking like the quintessential lost tourist (backpack, water bottle, sleepy glazed over been on a plane for 8 hours look).  As it happens, I did a lot of wandering for nothing.  The hotel was within eyesight of the train station (my new phone has GPS).  Lesson learned. 

Stopping and dropping my backpack at the hotel and freshening up a bit was the first order of business.  My travel mate, Gordon, had been to Amsterdam before, so he had a much better grasp of the city than I did.  Since we would only be spending one night in Amsterdam in the beginning of the trip, with two days spent at the end, we did not do very much sightseeing.  Being new to the city as I was though provided me with an immediate mini-sightseeing adventure.  Gordon and I took off for parts both known and unknown.  You see, many times we travel with a sense of purpose (gonna see this or see that), but not a very good sense of direction.   Mainly wandering and stopping when something seemed interesting.  Most of the time what interested us was one bar/pub or another.  Since Gordon would not be with us the last two days of the trip, he wanted to stop at local shops and try local beers.  Being the accommodating person that I am, I obliged.  A good part of my time spent wandering with Gordon on the streets of Amsterdam was spent trying not to get run over not by cars, but bicycles.  They are everywhere you look.  On the streets, in alleys, in the canals or chained to posts, bicycles are a mass mode of transportation in Amsterdam. 

It was a dark and stormy night...as it usually is in London in late February.  

There we were, one floor deep in the London Underground, with nothing but our thirst, a day pass and some pounds.

A shot rang out...No, no, that was a taxi backfiring.  Standing outside the Euston Tube stop, wondering if we would ever be able
to find a pub before closing time.

________________

Our journey had started much earlier (actually about three weeks earlier when the author had asked the #beer Twitterverse for suggestions on can't miss pub stops in London and vicinity). The name Euston Tap seemed to be at the top of everyones list of pubs to visit while in the city. So there we were, just outside the Euston Underground station, wondering where this elusive taphouse/pub was. From a distance we spotted what we thought were people outside a building at tables under an umbrella. Thinking that this might be a place to find food (we were hungry too), we started walking in that direction.  By blind luck we had happened upon the Euston Tap.

The Euston Tap is unlike any other taphouse/pub that we visited while in London (and we visited numerous).  First and foremost is its unique architecture. Unlike most of the pubs we visited, situated comfortably in the middle of a city block or on a corner, the Euston Tap stands alone. The Tap, inhabits what was originally the Western Lodge (the original entrance to the Euston Railway station (since demolished)). It stand over 70 feet high (two floors), with a circular staircase for entrance to the second floor.  There was also a small seating area outside and the bar met you as you walked through the front doors.

Though not big on the outside, there were big things going on inside.  Welcomed at the bar by Eve, we were asked what every thirsty man likes to hear, "What can I get you?".  Simple question you might say, but not so simple at the Tap.  You see, unlike the other pubs we visited, the Tap tries to have 8 different cask ales, as well as 20 keg beers and 100 to 150 bottle beers available.  So, choosing is anything but easy.  The cask ales were your traditional English pales and India pales. The kegs ran the gamut from American craft to Belgian Lambic to German Weizenbock.  Let's just say that the bottle selection at the Tap was better than this author has seen at almost any other bar/pub he has visited (in either the United States or Great Britain).  Just imagine going to a dedicated beer store and selecting only your favorites.  The Tap seemed to have them all.

Let me just start off this article with a disclaimer.  This article does not endorse the act of operating a motor vehicle after the ingestion of quantities of alcohol.  Actually, this article goes in the opposite direction.  We drank and they drove.

Ah, welcome to the rolling hills of southern Virginia.  It was predicted to be a crisp weekend for our annual race weekend camping (motor-homing) trip to Martinsville Speedway in Martinsville, VA.  The National Association for Stock Car Auto Racing (NASCAR) was rolling into town to put on two races for those coming from around the region and some from across the country.  There would be a truck race and a stock car race in town and we were going to be there to witness them.

All walks of life flow into the camping areas of these events.  From the $500,000 Class A second home on wheels, to the lowly tent and everything in between.  Of course there is some separation between the truly egalitarian and us common folk, but by most standards everybody fits right in.   If you wave, they wave back.  If they see you having trouble getting set up, they will jump right in.  We may all be separated by our favorite drivers or favorite car maker (I'm a Chevy), but when you get right down to it, we are all there to see the same thing.  Good, old fashioned, paint swapping and fender banging.  Just not ours.

{xtypo_dropcap}H{/xtypo_dropcap}ave an idea for an interesting article or post on beer?  Have something on your mind that you just want to get out to the world?  Come be a guest blogger at beer.cellarmonk.com! 

The beer world is immense, so the number of post ideas is equally as large.  Let us hear your ideas.

Guest blog posts should be well written and more Hopduvel that PBR.  Bland is found in the New York Times or Time Magazine.  Beer readers want something to ponder or chuckle at.  Both of these will stick in the mind of readers. If you think you can provide that hop spice in a mashable article, let us know.

So if you believe your beer experience would make good copy, reach out to us here: Contact Us.  Select "Guest Blog" from the subject list. 

Guest blogger Guidelines

Guest blog post submission process is extremely simple:

• Relevant Content – to maximize the benefits of your article it has to be on one of the topics covered on this site to ensure good response. Simply look at the list of content hosted on CellarMonk ~ Beer and decide what to write.
• Author Byline – can include you image, real name  or your “nickname”.It is recommend that at least one of the links from your byline should lead to a page where readers can learn more about you.  Social media links will also be included.  We will also include a link back to the bloggers own blog, if they have one.
• Publishing After your post is approved – it can be several days before it is actually published.

By and large we will only edit post for spelling or completely messed up grammar, otherwise the article/post will be added as is.  We will make attempt for clarification if there are any questions.

Summer beer festival season is upon us.  From the World Beer Festival to the Great American Beer Festival (GABF), there is a festival to be had almost every weekend somewhere in the world.  Beer festivals are quite a bit of fun, but that fun can be spoiled if you find that you have drank a bit too much.  From past experience, this is easy to do.  In order to get the most out of attending a festival, while being responsible and not being annoying the following are some steps that you might keep in mind while attending.

1.  Make sure that you eat just prior to entering the festival (but give yourself time to get the flavor of the food out of your mouth or you will be tasting food flavored beer), and continue to seek out food for the duration of the festival.  Most festival have pre-arranged agreements with (on-site) food vendors that allow for at least one or two low cost food items to be available for purchase from each vendor.  Typical beer festival fare of turkey legs, pizza, nachos and different sandwiches will give your stomach a much needed buffer between beer and alcohol absorption.  Take time to enjoy your food.  This will also help to cleanse your palette between flights of beer.

2.  Try to come close to drinking equal parts water and beer.  If you have four two ounce servings of beer, try and drink that same amount of water before moving on to another flight of beer.  Most festivals provide either bottled water or some other way of obtaining water specifically for this purpose.  You will undoubtedly use the restrooms more frequently, but in the end this will keep you from becoming dehydrated and could help reduce the chance of a hangover later on.

{xtypo_dropcap}Y{/xtypo_dropcap}ou may be wondering, what exactly is a CellarMonk?  If you were to break the word down, then you could define "cellar" as (a room or enclosed space used for storage).  To define "monk" is to say (a person who is a member of a brotherhood, devoted to a discipline).  When taken together we define a CellarMonk as someone devoted to the caretaking of that which can be found in the cellar or can be cellared.  

This site is designed for the devotion to beer.  We are here to store and reinforce the vast knowledge of the art of beer and brewing, the enjoyment of beer (from mass market to premium craft beers) and the bringing together of those with a similar devotion.

Beer enthusiasts tend to be, how should we say, eclectic. From newbie to expert you should be able to find answers to many of your beer questions.

We at CellarMonk are not beer experts. We are beer enthusiasts. We won't judge. We all have friends that have gone from "Belgian Dark Strong Ale" to "Light American Lager" in the same night (not often, but it happens).

So please, have a look around. Go ahead and post. Suggest a Beer or a Brew Spot. Suggest something that you don't see, but wish the site had (we are always looking for ways to make the site better).

Most of all though, have fun.

So go ahead, Join the Order and we'll see you in the Cellar.

Cheers

The Abbot

February 25th, 2012

Celebrate beer in a way that honors tradition, good spirits, adventure, respect for the past and good friends.

What is it?  It's the one day a year that we drink the way the monks did.  Whether a Trappist ale or a Lenten beer, this is the day to do it.  Nothing but those beers for the entire day.

Welcome to International Going Monk Day.  This author has been to many of the countries where monks have been producing special beers for just this season, while at the same time continuing to brew their normal beers to sustain the Order.  

Happy International Stout Day

November 3rd, 2011 

Some final preparations for the upcoming Piedmont Brewers Cup took place on Tuesday, Oct 18th.  The competition coordinatior, John Federal, led a group of about eight others in the collection, check-in, seperation and sorting of the multitude of entries to this years competition.   

Entries came from across North Carolina and the surrounding states, some from even further away.  The entries had to adhere to some standards of competition (bottle size, cap markings, bottle shape), but not all would make the cut.  The reason for this is simple.  The competition entries, once they are checked-in (entry fee paid), are seperated into their appropriate style category.  Once this is done, organizers go through and label each bottle with its entry number and category.  At that point the entry's personal information (name, phone #, etc.) are stripped off and the bottle at this point becomes anonymous.  If wrong size bottles or distiguisable caps were allowed, those bottles could be recognizable.  The judging is meant to be blind.  The process described above looks to ensure this.

The judging will and awards ceremony for this years competition will take place at Big Boss Brewery in Raleigh, NC on Saturday Oct. 22nd.  Judging will begin at around 8:30 on the morning and will go until around 5 in the afternoon (this includes all judging to determine Best of Show).  The awards ceremony is set to start at 6:30PM.  There will be Big Boss beer for sale in the taproom to slake your thirst for craft beer. Slippin' Sliders will be there with their wonderful sliders to fill your belly as well!

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The competition this year has more than 33 sponsors.  Most in the brewing industry, but there were also a number of dining establisments that are associate sponsors.  

Come on out and watch as the beers are judged.  If the taproom is open, head on up for a nice cold Big Boss beer.   

Molson Coors’ Animee is the new beer in town (at least a few towns in the United Kingdom). 

The four main ingredients in beer are barley, hops, water and yeast.  Looking at these beers, one has to wonder if they should even be called beer.  As these seem to be flavored, then there would be little need for hops.  They seem to be completely clear, so it would make you wonder if there was actually any barley used in the making. 

Let's have a look at the yummy flavors.
Clear Filtered - Funny, the bottle of water I am drinking right this moment is the same flavor.

Crisp Rose     - That reminds me, I need to take my Molson Coors’ Animee Clear Filtered and refresh the rose bushes out front.  Really, Rose? "Yeah, give one of them there Rose beers, no glass!"

Zesty Lemon    - Are they making beer or salmon steak.  Aside from the fact that the Germans have been making beer with lemon for centuries, what makes them believe that women would want to drink something in a bar that makes them pucker up.  Sort of a catch 22.

UPDATED July 22nd, 2011

It is said that riders in the Tour de France will exhaust anywhere from 7000 to 9000 calories during the more grueling stages of the race.  As a service to those riders, we thought it might be helpful to the riders to plot their replenishing carbohydrates (calories needed)  in nothing but beer.  This is completely unscientific and does not take into account alcohol by volume, nor the sheer fun it would be to see some of the riders actually try it. We are using  the top 10 riders in the Tour as of 7/22/2011 and also staying true to their countries (calculating from home country beers only, country listed as home by the Tour).  We would also like to apologize in advance if any of the riders are tea sippers or have had abuse issues in the past.  This is being done for humor purposes only.

Let's get this beer peloton moving, shall we...(serving size is 12oz/0.33l/pint, calories in some cases are estimates, using a median of 8000 calories)

If you have 3 beers for us to assign to a rider, let us know.  We'd love to hear from the community.  Contact us here.  If someone can give us some more Luxemburg beers, we'd love it.

The riders have just finished the Modane Valfréjus to Alpe-d’Huez stage.  This was a 109.5km stage that featured what is the arguably the most iconic mountain finish of the Tour, Alpe d'Huez.  This stage marked Andy Schleck's elevation to the yellow jersey.  With the overall leader Thomas Voeckler struggling up this second consecutive high mountain stage, Andy put him down by almost three minutes as he falls to 4th place.  Hats off to Australian Cadel Evans who stays within striking distance of the leader.  Everything hinges on the 2nd to the last stage, a 40km time trial.

Strap on your funny looking airfoil hats and we'll see you at the finish.

The new overall leader of the Tour - Andy Schleck -  Luxemburg
Welcome to the lead Andy, but don't look now here comes your big brother and a hungry Australia.   We're adding beers to Andy's place now.  But we are almost totally out of breweries in Luxemburg

Battin Gambrinus                                             135 calories - 8000 / 135 = 59.2, that's a big name to live up to.
Mousel Gezwieckelte Bier                               161 calories - 8000 / 161 = 49.6, unfiltered, unfettered
Simon Dinke                                                     163 calories - 8000 / 163 = 49.0, Ha! he said dinkel.

During a recent visit to the United Kingdom, I had the pleasure of meeting a very unique and, some might say, opinionated Brit.
Of all the items that we discussed, his disdain for being served incorrectly by barfolk was the one that shown brightest.
He's been called a "Branded Glass Fundamentalist" by his friends.  We, though, should refer to him as a "Working Glass Hero".
His story is below (in original form).
________________________

A Branded Glass Fundamentalist?

A man walks into a bar. Asks for a beer. Nothing fancy. The Barman serves him. In a very nice branded glass. But it’s the wrong branded glass.

Now if that man happened to be me, my heart would sink. I my humble opinion, there’s something fundamentally wrong with serving a beer (or any drink for that matter) in the wrong branded glass.

CellarMonk's "Featured Brewery" for the month of April is Weisses Bräuhaus G. Schneider & Sohn GmbH.  Commonly referred to as Schneider-Weisse, this brewery has a heritage dating back to 1872.  The beer produced by this brewery are standard bearers in their style and are known the world over.

Schneider-Weisse History

Schneider Weisse was founded in 1872 in Munich by Georg I. Schneider. He was a royal brewer (at the time, only the monarch could brew this style). As wheat beer came out of fashion, the king decided to sell the right to brew wheat beer. Georg Schneider believed in this beer style, bought this right and started to brew Schneider Weisse in Munich. In 1928 the family bought the brewery in Kelheim, which after 1945 became the company's only brewing site.  The brewery itself is the oldest wheat beer brewery in Bavaria; wheat beer has been brewed at this site without interruption since its founding in the year 1607.

Today Georg Schneider VI is running the brewery in the sixth generation.  Georg VI makes sure that the Original continues to be brewed according to the founder‘s recipe.

Beers

Schneider-Weisse produces a stable of beers typical for a wheat beer brewery.  From the exceptional Original (Tap7) to the muscular Aventinus (Tap6), many of this brewery's products are used as benchmarks for home brewers and commercial brewers alike.  As this is a traditional German brewery, there is not much experimentation.  When you make some of the worlds best wheat beers, there is really no reason to go outside your expertise. 

CellarMonk's Featured Brewery, DuClaw Brewing Company, is currently accepting entries for their 2nd Annual Homebrew competition.  The winner of this competition has the opportunity to get their beer brewed by DuClaw.

Browse DuClaw's beers to see if you have what it takes.  The entry deadline for the competion is April 18th, 2012, so get your entries in while you can. 

For more information and contest rules, visit here.

DuClaw History

DuClaw Brewing Company opened it’s first restaurant and brewery in 1996 in Bel Air, Maryland. Countless brewing awards later, brewing operations moved to an expanded facility in Abingdon, Maryland to keep up with the growing demand for barrels of DuClaw Brewing Company’s ever growing line-up of specialty brews.

DuClaw plans on moving to a new 167,000 square feet facility, located in Havre de Grace, Maryland, by October or November of this year (2012).  

Beers

DuClaw currently has a stable of around eight beers available year round, with another 25 or so seasonal or special brews. These beers run the gamut from Bad Moon Porter and Venom Pale Ale on the year round taps and Black Jack Stout and Devil's Milk Barleywine as seasonals or specials.