KegWorks Blog

I know, I know, this has been done before thousands of times, but never by me. You guessed it: I am going to give you the final four in my Beer March Madness. I am sure you have seen the drill before, each team left will represent a team in the beer final four. At the end of the tournament the beer associated with team that wins will be deemed the winner.

“So What?” you say? What does good does that do anybody? Good question. I struggled with that for a while. It really won’t do anyone too much good at all. However I do feel that we should somehow notify the winner of the result, so… the beer that wins will receive and letter from me, on official KegWorks.com letterhead notifying them of the prestigious award.

Enough of what the winner will get, let’s meet the contestants.

Michelob AmberBock (Illinois) - For those of you that don’t like dark beer this is a great way to introduce yourself to beers that have complex flavors and don’t have that run of the mill taste.

vs.

Labatt Blue (Louisville) - Labatt Blue and Blue Light are in my opinion Canada’s two top “large brewery” beers. They area a great blonde beer, for those of you who do not like dark beers. They are not that popular in the US yet, but look to see that change.

And In the Other Bracket…

Flying Bison Aviator Red (UNC) - Unless you are from Buffalo, NY you have probably never heard of Flying Bison Brewery. That is a shame, Flying Bison has been brewing craft beers for 5 years now. My favorite by far is the Aviator Red. Next time you find yourself in Buffalo, make sure you grab yourself a pint.

vs.

Ommegang Three Philosophers (Wisconsin) - We needed to round out the final four with a Belgian style brewery. Ommegang makes many different styles of Belgian beer, but the Three Philosophers has the a more unique taste. It is not your typical light Belgian like a Hoegaarden, it has a deeper color and flavor. You should be able to find it at a specialty beer store.

Now that we have the line up set, we just need to sit back and watch the drama unfold. Cheers, may each team do their best.

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Why do people drink martinis? Is it because they are trying to disguise their wish to slam 4 shots of gin or vodka by enjoying it in a “Gentleman’s Drink”? Could it be that they are frugal? 4 beers could cost you $10 - $14, where a top shelf martini goes for $6 - $8 and you only need to get the bartenders attention once! Many people simply claim that they like the taste.

In an attempt to figure out what the fuss is about I decided to give them a try for the past few weeks. My time with gin martinis was short lived, I hate gin and adding vermouth to it was not helping. I decide to give vodka martinis a try. I liked these much better. My favorite was a Dirty Gray Goose Martini. Ordering a martini “dirty” means you want olive juice added to it. Want to know how to make one? I am glad you asked!

Dirty Gray Goose Martini

• 3 oz Gray Goose Vodka
• 1 tbsp Dry Vermouth
• 1 tbsp Olive Juice - use more or less depending on your taste
• 2 olives

Chill Your martini glass by putting a few ice cubes and cold water in it while you are making your martini. Mix all ingredients, except the olives, in a shaker with ice and give 4 or 5 hard shakes. Empty ice water from the martini glass and pour the contents of your shaker into the glass, using a strainer. Add olives and serve.

After a few hours of “research,” this is my favorite mix. I would encourage you to give martinis a try - there are many different recipes out there. You can get a chocolate martini, apple martini, almond martini, and the list is endless. There is a great list of martini recipes here.

If you like the dirty martini and want to make it at home stop by our shop to look at some of our martini accessories, especially the olive juice.

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Today ranks up there as one of the best days for a sports fan. Not only is it the beginning of the NCAA Championship tournament, but also it is St. Patrick’s Day. You now have every reason and every excuse to call off work and sit at a bar from noon until 2 a.m.

I guess that means I need to touch on 2 topics - who is in my final four and what beer I am going to drink tonight?

As any self-respecting tourney addict does, I am in numerous pools, some involved being assigned random teams and playing against the spread, in another I bid for teams, and then there is the standard brackets. I have two pick’em brackets going. In the first one I have Illinois, Wake Forest, North Carolina and Kentucky. In the next one I have Illinois, Washington, North Carolina and Kentucky.

While watching the games and hoping that my brackets play out so I can make some $$ back I am going to sample all of the traditional Irish drinks. Guinness, Jameson and Irish Car Bombs, perhaps even some coffee with Bailey’s Irish Cream.

To top it off I will take down a nice tall glass of water with some Advil Liqui-gels to make tomorrow morning a little easier to wake up to.

Happy St. Patty’s Day!

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For most people, “going for a beer” can have many meanings. To some it means going to the corner bar and tilting back a few Budweiser’s or Millers and watching a game. To others it may mean drinking whatever beer they are selling for $.25 until they pass out. For others yet it may mean going to a specialty beer bar, like the one that Sam Adams makes fun of in one of their commercials. If you are one of the people that enjoys a specialty beer every now and again as I do, which style do you go for? Light or Dark?

There are some people who really stand behind their dark beer, with good reason. There have been some recent reports that suggest dark beer can be healthier for you than light beer. I try not to tie myself down to drinking just one style of beer, I enjoy dark beer but I think my favorite everyday drinking beer would have to be Labatt Blue. This is a great beer from Canada that always seems to hit the spot!

Read the second post on this page describing an idea for “Beer for Oil” with Iraq! That could work, couldn’t it?

If you wonder why haven’t posted in a while it was due to my 2 day plane travel from Buffalo to Orlando. I met some cool people on the way, more to come on my travel!!!

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