TheAgitator.com
Beer: An American Revolution
Monday, March 9th, 2009The latest from Reason.tv: Thank you, President Carter!
25 Responses to “Beer: An American Revolution”
Leave a Reply
This work is licensed under a
Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial NoDerivs 2.5 License.
Which is why I cringe everytime I see someone downing Heineken…
Here’s to the great American brewmasters!
I lived in Germany for two years and often the German Nationals refered to American beer as “piss water.” And, honestly, when I returned home it took me quite a while to get used to it. But I persevered. I love American beer.
Every little burg in Germany has it’s own brewery. I do miss that.
I don’t understand the reference to Jimmy Carter
Yep, homebrewing thing is one (of few) that Carter got right…
As far as beer kits go, I recommend William’s Brewing; great products, great customer service (no affiliation, just lots of great brews with very little difficulty…)(I haven’t “graduated” to whole-grain, haven’t felt need to)(Belgian Double, Triple Hop are two of my favorites from these guys).
The Complete Joy of Homebrewing Third Edition by Charlie Papazian is a great starting resource, a joy to read even if you don’t care about actually brewing your own (you will, though :)).
So I guess I’ll be the guy who points out that Ben Franklin never actually said, “Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.” http://urbanlegends.about.com/b/2008/09/15/misquote-ben-franklin-on-beer.htm In the alternative, I would suggest a quote from FDR in 1933, upon the end of Prohibition: “I think this would be a good time for a beer.”
Man, I really want a beer right now.
I don’t get the reference to Jimmy Carter either.
Carter legalized home beer brewing.
My mom told me two things to remember in life:
1) Drive it like you stole it.
2) There’s nothing in this world that a cold beer doesn’t make at least a little better.
“Carter legalized home beer brewing.”
I think I just found my favorite president ;)
I just need the
I ♥ Carter
bumpersticker
Starting the favorite Local Brew: Four Peaks Kiltlifter out of Tempe, AZ
I order my supplies from Northern Brewer. They sell a variety of kits and have cheap flat-rate shipping.
That reminds me…I have a wheat beer to bottle!
Read here to find the Carter reference.
http://www.reason.com/news/show/131411.html
I’m drinking one right now to Carter. Although, that is the only thing I can think of to drink to Carter.
Cheers.
Starting the favorite Local Brew: Four Peaks Kiltlifter out of Tempe, AZ
Seconded. One of the few good things about the Phoenix area is that beer.
Omar, if you can wait an extra day or two to receive your ingredients, I’d recommend checking out Midwest Homebrewing Supplies. They don’t have as large of a selection as NB and you can only buy grain in 1/2 or 1-lb. increments, but they crush for free, they have grain volume discounts starting at 5 lbs. and their prices are generally cheaper. Personally, I tend to go back and forth between NB and Midwest depending on what I need and when I need it.
I’m drinking one right now to Carter. Although, that is the only thing I can think of to drink to Carter.
It was his term in which the United States actually normalized relations with China. Though the two previous presidents expressed interest in doing so, neither managed to pull the trigger.
Favorite Local (or not) Brew – I’m gonna have to go with Deschutes Brewery in Bend, OR. Particularly Mirror Pond Pale Ale (very floral hop character, similar to William’s Triple Hop mentioned previously) and Black Butte Porter (mmmm). Their brewpub is great – beers you can’t get in bottles, great garlic burgers, etc. The winter seasonal (Jubelale) is super, but you have to really live someplace cold (Bend is mountain town) to enjoy it – it actually tasts kind of funny down here in SF.
I also really like New Belgium stuff OTHER than F(l)at Tire. 1554 is AWESOME dark.
Additional notes – if you think homebrewing isn’t worth the trouble, guess again – you will get fresher/tastier beer than even brewpub stuff – and it’s not that much trouble, about 3 weeks per batch (of ale – lagers take longer and require cooler fermentation temperatures). If you’re in SF area, SF Brewcraft has free intro class with very entertaining store brewmaster.
ClubMedSux, Thanks!
I am from GA, so I was thinking of making labels with tiny Jimmy Carters dressed as saints for my homebrew.
I would be willing to bet that the founding fathers drank more hard cider than beer. John Adams drank hard cider for breakfast. Hard cider could be made on every family farm. Not something that was done with beer at the time.
#19, actually, homebrewing of beer is pretty well documented in the colonies. Beer could definitely be made “on the family farm” quite easily – that’s where it came from….
That last line did come out wrong, I meant to point out that making hard cider was much easier done on the typical family farm, and that helped make it a more common drink than beer.
You can drink to Carter because he deregulated interstate commerce and set the stage for additional deregulations. Regan just followed up on what Carter had started.
He also appointed Vlocker, who got inflation under control (although not until Regan’s term).
Speaking of homebrew… as a beekeeper, we used to make mead all of the time. It was real easy.
3lbs of honey immersed in one quart of steeping water (watch not to boil), allow to cool then add the juice of 3 lemons. After a good stir, funnel into a gallon jug and top off with cool filtered water. Pitch a tblsp of brewers yeast, cover with either an air trap of just plastic held on by a rubber band (make sure you poke a small hole with a toothpick or something).
Store in a cool, dry, dark place for one month. Refrigerate, filter (or not), and enjoy.
Fair warning, hangovers are brutal.
Cheers.
So, if American beers are so great, why aren’t you allowed to drink it as soon as you become an adult? Twenty-one years of ages sounds like a long time to me.
Too bad he didn’t also legalize the home brewing of whiskey and other liquor. Setting up a still out behind the south 40 and cooking up a batch of grandpa’s cold medicine is somehow illegal but brewing your own wine and beer is peachy keen with the jackboot squads.