KegWorks Blog

Last week my wife was out of town, so after the kids were in bed I had full control of my television. Being completely burnt out of watching the kids’ college savings disappear coverage of government bailout, I decided on watching a CNBC special on Budweiser that I had recorded months ago. Besides for the irony that the show was called American Originals, there were some things about A-B that I did not know.

1. Budweiser cryogenically freezes batches of its beer each year, so brew masters can compare flavor profiles from 5, 10, 15 and twenty years ago.

2. The "King of Beers" moniker was originally the "King of Bottled Beer." This self appointed title was given after A-B sold its 500,000,000 bottles of beer in the later 1800s.

3. The only time the production line in St Louis was fully shut down was during prohibition.

4. In order to keep the factory open and staff employed (biding its time until the end of Prohibition) A-B sold a variety of non-alcoholic products, including ice cream.

5. The Clydesdale horse team was a gift given to August Busch II from his sons to commemorate the end of Prohibition.

6. This team of Clydesdales delivered beer to the White House at the end of Prohibition.

7. Budweiser currently owns 250 Clydesdales.

8. This year the Budweiser Super Bowl ads were viewed over 30 million times on the Budweiser web site.

There are numerous other things about Anheuser-Busch that make it a very unique company. I understand the business reasons for selling to InBev. I just hope that the merging of the two very different corporate cultures does not destroy the legacy that is Budweiser.

-Tom

TAGS [ ANHEUSER BUSCH | BUDWEISER | INBEV | BUD ]

Don’t forget! The KegWorks Kid Rock Beer Label Contest entries are due on October 20th - that’s 17 days from now - so get your entries in asap! For complete contest information, see this post.

TAGS [ KID ROCK | KID ROCK BEER | BEER LABEL CONTEST ]

Buffalo, they say, is a drinking town with a football problem. Beer of choice here during the fall is Labatt Blue. What do you think goes best with America’s favorite pastime?

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TAGS [ FOOTBALL | BEER | TAILGATING | TAILGATING BEER | TAILGATING SURVEY | FOOTBALL POLL ]

Before refrigeration, it was nearly impossible to brew beer in the summer due to the hot weather and bacterial infections. Brewing ended with the coming of spring, and began again in the fall. Most were brewed in March (Märzen). These brews were kept in cold storage over the spring and summer months, or brewed at a higher gravity, so they’d keep. Märzenbier is full-bodied, rich, toasty, typically dark copper in color with a medium to high alcohol content.

The common Munich Oktoberfest beer served at Wies’n (the location at which Munich celebrates its Oktoberfest) contains roughly 5.0-6.0% alcohol by volume, is dark/copper in color, has a mild hop profile and is typically labeled as a Bavarian Märzenbier in style.

My Top 5 Märzen / Oktoberfest Beers

1. Avery "The Kaiser"

2. Victory Festbier

3. Sly Fox

4. Spaten

5. Brooklyn

Cheers!

TAGS [ OKTOBERFEST | MARZEN | BEER REVIEWS | OKTOBERFEST BEER | MARZEN BEER | AVERY | VICTORY FESTBIER | SLY FOX | SPATEN | BROOKLYN OKTOBERFEST ]

It’s easy to have crisp, fresh, perfect draft beer all year long with KegWorks’ Deluxe Beer Line Cleaning Kit.

Why do you need to clean your beer lines?

Over time, your beer lines collect deposits of yeasts and sugars that cause foam and funky, dirty tasting beer. To keep your brew pouring perfectly and tasting great, you must clean your lines every time you change your keg.

What do you need to keep them clean?

KegWorks can keep your system running smoothly - get everything you need in one complete kit. Cleaning your beer lines is easy to do. It only takes a few easy steps. Watch our Beer Line Cleaning Video to see how it works:

The Deluxe Beer Line Cleaning Kit Includes:

• 1-quart plastic jar and pump assembly
• Faucet wrench
• Faucet brush
• 32-ounce bottle of beer line cleaning solution
• Detailed instructions

Already have your Beer Line Cleaning Kit? Stock up on solution, cleaning brushes and more!

• Beer Line Cleaning Solution (32oz)
• Draft Beer Line Hose Brush
• Beer Faucet Cleaning Brush
• Check Ball Lifter
• Duplex Coupling for Beer Line Cleaning

Do you already have clean beer lines but still suffer from foamy, funny pours? Maybe your glass is the culprit! Pete’s post delves into how to get your glasses beer-clean. Learn how to get your glassware properly cleaned and sanitized so that the beer in the glass maintains its proper flavor and head.

TAGS [ DRAFT BEER | BEER LINES | BEER LINE CLEANING | DRAFT BEER SYSTEMS | DRAFT BEER SYSTEM CLEANING ]

I moved to Buffalo, NY some six odd years ago and I’ve yet to leave. I do like it here but no matter how much I adore Buffalo, a big piece of my heart will always belong to my hometown of Rochester (as suggested by my blatant refusal to change my cell phone number to one bearing the "716" Buffalo area code).

Just an hour away by car, Rochester is home to Eastman Kodak, Genesee beer, Wegmans (the world’s best grocery store) and the Garbage Plate (the world’s best drunk food). Although I do not particularly love Genny, Genny Light or even the esteemed Genny Cream Ale, I am a huge fan of Rochester’s other signature successes. During a recent KegWorks lunch outing, I explained the culinary genius behind the Garbage Plate to some of my colleagues and Dave suggested that I share my enthusiasm with all of you and write a blog about this world famous post-bar cuisine. I thought that was a fabulous idea.

The Garbage Plate originated at Nick Tahou Hots in 1918 and the popular downtown restaurant is now revered as a true Rochester landmark. Tahou’s is holder of the trademark and the only restaurant able to use the name "Garbage Plate" but you’ll find tons of alternatively named imitations (think Trash Plate, Rubbish Plate, etc) on menus all over Upstate NY.

You’re probably wondering why anyone in his or her right mind would invent or more importantly order and pay for something with the word "garbage" in its name. All I can tell you is that to really understand, you absolutely must try one but I’ll do my best to do it written justice here anyways.

Basically, the Garbage Plate is an incredibly delicious pile of seemingly simple food selections all slopped together on a paper plate with no regard for component separation.

Two "base foods" are placed on the plate first. You choose your favorite combination of home fries, french fries, baked beans or macaroni salad. I like to go with home fries and mac salad for mine.

Your next selection is the "meat" of your garbage plate; cheeseburger, hamburger, red hots, white hots (another Rochester favorite), Italian sausages, chicken tenders, fish (Haddock), fried ham, grilled cheese, or eggs. I’m a cheeseburger girl myself. Keep in mind, there are no buns involved here – just two grilled cheeseburger patties piled right on top of my home fries and macaroni salad.

Next, diced raw onions are generously sprinkled on top, along with a schmear of spicy mustard for good measure. Finally, the whole shebang is drizzled with a greasy hot sauce made from ground beef and spices and it’s all served with two pieces of bread. A garbage plate made to my liking looks a little something like this:

To top it all off, it is imperative that one adds ketchup and Frank’s Red Hot to taste.

After a good night of drinking, I swear there isn’t anything better in the world.

What’s your favorite post-bar drunk food?

TAGS [ GARBAGE PLATE | GENNY LIGHT | ROCHESTER | FRANKS RED HOT ]

"Legend has it that Babe Ruth occasionally left baseball games between the New York Yankees and Chicago White Sox, headed to a Chicago bar called McCuddy’s and drank beer between innings.

"Beer and baseball have always been intimate, and recently, flavorful beer and baseball have gotten to know each other better. In fact, baseball announcer Andy Musser confesses, ‘I have been known to slip down the right field line at Coors Field’ in Denver, where Coors Brewing Co. operates its SandLot Brewery."

- excerpt from Take Him Out to the Brewpub, by Stan Hieronymus and Daria Labinsky.

We may be big on beer, here at KegWorks, but that’s not all we’re into! With summer officially over and the Major League Baseball season winding down, I have found a way to extend my obsession with baseball. For a measly $12.95 you can own and manage your own baseball team on whatifsports.com.

The real addiction involved in this is the pool of players you have to draft from in making your team – Any player that appeared in a baseball game from 1885 to 2007 may be chosen to make up your team. Salaries are prorated to modern salaries based on the players statistical value, and you have 80 million dollars to put together a team with 25 players. If this sounds very geeky it is, but be warned that some 400,000 members on whatifsports.com play the "Sim League" often.

Every stadium that pro baseball was ever played in is rated for its effect on pitching and hitting stats, and any one place can be chosen as your home ball park.

Check out more info on the company here.

And be sure to visit whatifsports.com but be warned: it’s a very addicting game …

TAGS [ BEER | DRAFT BEER | BASEBALL | WHATIFSPORTS | WHAT IF SPORTS | SIM GAME | SIM GAMES | MLB ]