Being better than the name

I gotta let you know, right off the bat that I’m kinda contractually obligated to overuse FeBREWary, which is the perfect marriage of hackneyed marketing and unimaginative puns, but I’m not contractually obligated to pretend it is clever. I like to think of FeBREWary like a school uniform: If you can’t distinguish yourself as original by the way you act, dressing like you’re “interesting” won’t matter.
Fortunately, we’ve got lots of interesting things going on in the region this week, most of which you can find on the shore Craft Beer events calendar. One of the funnest ones is that there are lots of local restaurants promoting local craft beer and appetizer pairings. So check that out. Over the next few weeks we’ll continue to plug away at news but hopefully also report on the FeBREWary goings on here on the Shore.

My Goodness!

There are lots of things I don’t love about this, but the most was the “it’s about time” attitude from some of the mongoloids (I don’t mean that in a bad way) running the show up there. If there’s an upside it is that at least they didn’t offer tax incentives to a company that laid off 100 Marylanders two years ago and now is bragging about hiring 70.

Guinness to open brewery in Baltimore County

The maker of the famed Guinness stout said Tuesday it wants to build a brewery and taproom at its former whiskey bottling plant near Relay in southern Baltimore County, reviving the site with the brand’s first U.S. brewery in more than 60 years.

Whaaazzzzup?

Guess who’s getting into the beer culture blogging business? Normally, when a conglomerate comes for your market share, you panic. Fortunately, I don’t make a nickel writing about beer, so they totally can have my share of the market. As I tweeted earlier, though, I wonder if this means they’re going to have a Super Bowl commercial mocking white overweight beer bloggers.

New (Budweiser-backed) Beer and Culture-Focused Website October Launches

Today, Pitchfork is proud to announce the launch of October, a digital publication focused on beer with an editorial perspective that speaks to a new generation of beer drinkers. A destination for devotees and novices alike to read about, learn about, and share their appreciation for beer and celebrate the culture around it.

FrBREWary

There are all kinds of beer celebrations slated for this month. Check out the SCB website for a schedule of events and beer release info. On the beer release front, one of the ones I’m most anticipating is the Kohana from 3rd Wave. It’s a chocolate cherry stout and we probably spend more on that during February than we do a nice night out.

FeBREWary gets an early start on the Shore

More than 50 people gathered at The Globe in Berlin last week for the kickoff of Shore Craft Beer Lovers Month here on the shore and to celebrate the fact that Gov. Larry Hogan would be announcing the beginning of the second annual FeBREWary: Maryland Craft Beer Lovers Month. Sen.

Friend of the show and all-around dude, Jon Talkington, sent this along. We’ve spoken about mead before but, as the spring comes on and the bees get busy, I thought we should revisit it.

The Rise of Mead: The Craft Movement’s Next Big Thing

Is mead the oldest fermented drink? Maybe, says Brian Rutzen, Cider Director, at The Northman Cider Pub & Bistro in Chicago’s Lincoln Square neighborhood. So what is mead, and why are we just now starting to see its rise on bar menus?

Pizza Pairings

We love to do pairings and thinking about which beers go with which foods always is fun around lunchtime anyway. So, from your perspective, which toppings and which beers?

Craft beer, pizza a Super pairing

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I hate the phrase, ‘You’re doing it wrong’ but…

If you’re writing a pairing column and the best you can come up with is Genny Light, you’re probably not trying too hard. Shawn and I talked about this in Episode 121. The short version was that hipsters were going to start extolling the flavor virtues of crappy beer as a reaction to other hipsters who knew too much more about beer than did they. I said that was the dumbest thing I’d ever heard of. Leave it to the crack editorial team at USA Today to prove me wrong.

Best beers to enjoy with Tater Tots

CLOSE I like bar food, especially when it’s fried. I like beer, especially when it’s cold and crisp. I love combining the two. As my colleague Tracy Schuhmacher pointed out, Rochester is a hotbed for Tater Tots. We have a ton of great options for bar food, and a lot of places are doing some very creative things with tots.

Homebrewing

For those of you who don’t know, we’ll find out together.

What the heck is a turbid mash?

While brewers in the U.S. have gleefully adopted the names of site-specific beer styles like Baltic porter, Scottish ale and Berliner weisse, many have been hesitant to do the same for the wild ales of Belgium: lambic and gueuze. Part of that is likely due to the difficulty of replicating those beers stateside.

Recipe

I usually add wine and salt to cut the sweetness. This seems worth giving a shot.

Spaghetti with Mushroom Bolognese Recipe

An American pale ale helps to cut the sweetness of a tomato sauce made with canned tomatoes. Usually, I’ll use a touch of vinegar, but a good APA does the same thing. The point isn’t to up the acidity as much as to counter the sweetness and provide balance.

Like and Subscribe

In case you didn’t know, these are the show notes for the Beer with Strangers podcast. If you’re interested in the show it’s at BeerWithStrangers.com, or you can follow along on our Facebook page. Of course, you always can subscribe on iTunes as well. If you’re looking for Doug and Homebrewing stuff, you can find their Facebook page here.