Sensible Beer Talk is Back

Ding’s Rants
Blog Posts
An Englishman and a Scotsman walk into an American bar
There’s an unusual beast prowling just to the east of the Wells Corridor, north of downtown Fort Wayne. He’s a brewer working in a relatively small brewery, in a relatively obscure part of the United States, with … Read More
Beeradvocate more than a decade removed. Still banning!
On 3/31/22 the official Beeradvocate Twitter account manned by Todd Alström, blocked the newly minted dingsbeerblog Twitter account. Yep, it’s true. Quick, to the DeLorean! …
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Come Into My Parlor. A chat with Chris Bryant of Parlor City Brewing Co.
When Parlor City Brewing opened in June of 2020, it wasn’t exactly the ideal time to be launching a service business of any kind, let alone one in the food and drink sector. With the pandemic raging and … Read More
A conversation with Tom Carpenter of 2Toms Brewing Co.
The resurrection of Ding’s Beer Blog is going to be characterized by (at least at first) a focus on the local beer scene. That means Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana are in the cross … Read More
My cask tears – Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting 2013
So, I’m writing this just a few hours before attending Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting of 2013. In fact, I’m writing as the judging for today’s event is actually taking place and I’m texting one of … Read More
Beer Review: The Wrecking Bar, Ding – The English Bitter
I have not spoken to Bob Sandage about ‘Ding‘, so I cannot comment on its origin with any degree of certainty, but here is what appears to have happened … Read More
Ding’s Six Pack
The 6 Most Recent Reviews

9 Ladies Dancing
Turbid brown pour with a level of carbonation that was better than I thought it might be after this length of time....

Past Is Prologue
16 oz can courtesy of Todd - thanks man! Beautiful, simple, amber pour with a little chill haze. Head is perfect....

Saison du Rosier
375 mL bottle, corked & caged. Tavour purchase. Lemon colored, lightly hazed body with a decent white head. The...

Parabola Autumn Edition 2021
Dark chestnut approaching black pour, with a great looking mocha head. Surprisingly rich looking head (and good lace...

Haná Valley Pale Lager
Light haze on the lemon colored body. Chunky white head, great lace. Sticky. Nose offers light hops, some bread notes....

Rock The Farmhouse
750 mL, corked and capped, the usual Fantôme presentation. Big gusher, with a ton of very light, wispy foam cascading...
The past, the present, and the future at Ding’s Beer Blog
Here’s the complete blog archive with all of the posts from 2011 to 2015. In addition, you’ll see posts broken down into more specific categories in the Blog Topic Archive menu at the top of this page, but what kind of content can you expect here at Ding’s Beer Blog going forward? What’s the newer content likely to look like? What kind of opinions and writing can you reasonably expect?
Here’s a heads-up on some content that will be coming up soon

Fort Wayne/NE-IN beer scene critiqued
With the re-launch of the website you’ll likely find an emphasis on the beer scene in and around Fort Wayne and north-east Indiana, as I get back to reviewing and commenting on the beer (and the beer scene) that’s close to me. Expect to read my opinions about what’s going on here, but don’t expect blanket praise. If you’re a local brewery or brewer you’ll need to earn the kudos. Local beer is most definitely not necessarily good beer, and expect no punches to be pulled; no beer given a pass.

No BS, please, frankly, I've seen it all before
I am not a kid either in terms of my chronological age or my beer experience. There’s a lot of movers and shakers in beer these days that were not born when I was drinking Bass from the wood with my dad, that were in elementary school when I was traveling to Belgium twice a year for beer, and that were only just starting puberty when I was critiquing the fledgling US craft beer scene two decades ago. (Don’t worry, I know that most of you don’t care). So what? Don’t BS me – you can’t.

I'll drink (almost) any beer at least once, but ...
Drinking something that you know that you probably won’t like just because it’s there, or just because it’s the current flavor of the month is frankly, dumb. What does that mean for me and DBB? Well, likely that I’m going to come down hard against hazy ‘IPAs’, that I’ll be ultra-critical of the non-descript, lazy ‘fruited sours’, that I’ll be hating on milkshake ‘IPAs’, and more often than not pissing all over pastry stouts. I’m a traditionalist, a defender of classic styles, and not a fickle, Johnny-come-lately.