Latest News from the Beer Blogosphere

* Updated
It's been a while since I posted updates from around the beer blogosphere but regardless, here is some of the latest news, headlines, and topics that I've found interesting. Of course, there are others, such as the sale of Goose Island to Anheiser Busch, and how the brewer of Goose Island was found pissing into pint glasses at a Chicago Bar, and then there's the sale of Iron City Brewing as well...but we've heard about that stuff right?

Beerless Royal Wedding
In Britain there's a wedding coming up for the royal family. Numerous breweries have created beer in honor of the wedding, including BrewDog who supposedly created a beer with Viagra creating a pun with the name Prince Willy (I seriously doubt this is real, and the post seems to be removed from the BrewDog site). However this post just came out saying that it's not appropriate to serve beer at the royal wedding. Here's an unhappy response from Scottish beer blogger Robbie Pickering. Here's a less angry response from Alan McLeod, and then an angry response from Jeff Alworth.

* Update - According to the Brookston blog, BrewDog will have 1000 of their Viagra beers available...

Denver Off The Wagon
For all you readers in Colorado, I wanted to point you to the beer blog called Denver Off the Wagon. I'm not sure if the blog is new or not but I discovered it about 2 months or so ago. They've got a lot of people writing for them and are pulling together lots of great info about beer around Denver.

Millet
Colorado state agriculture officials are promoting the use of millet to Colorado brewers. There is some hope that millet will become a big industry in the state. Eddyline Brewing is one of many breweries that will try out millet beers and we will talk to them about it soon.

Money Lending Breweries
Sam Adams has a money lending program to those who are starting new breweries. Not sure when the Sam Adams venture was started but, you know what, New Belgium does this as well, for non-profit organizations who's ideologies align with theirs..

Non Profit Pub
Oregon Public House, possibly the world's first non-profit pub (but certainly not the last if I have anything to do with it...yes I want to start a non-profit pub someday) was recently featured on NPR.

All-In-One Homebrewing Machine
A controversial all-in-one homebrewing machine, called the WilliamsWarn has been tested out in New Zealand. The machine is expensive, you buy their malt extract, push a few buttons each day, and within 7 days you have a beer. I'm not sure how much you learn about beer by doing it, but it's being marketed to people who don't have time or who need homebrewing to be easier than before. Pretty interesting conversations if you follow the link.

Colorado Senate Bill
Colorado Senate Bill 194 was killed last week. The bill was similar to HB1284, which we discussed at length on this blog but the SB194 had much less of a chance after the House Bill was demolished.

Distillers
Peach Street Distillers, the sister company to Ska Brewing, won five gold medals at the Craft Distillers Conference in Portland, Oregon. I've never had any of their spirits but I look forward to it.


- - -
To stay up to date with Focus on the Beer you can receive email updates and join us on our Facebook page.