A bitter Englishman records his beer journey of more than 40 years, the last 23 of which have been in the USA

Beers in the database:
Here’s one …
Shiner Holiday Cheer
Spoetzl Brewery
11/14/2009
Sensible Beer Talk is Back

Ding’s Rants
Recent and/or Popular Posts

Two Bandits Brewing - A 'Regional' Brewer across Two States

Things I'm just not going to do, in 2023, as a legacy beer drinker

Legacy drinkers and the assault on Belgium, England and Germany

Purity, skin in the game, and when Capitalism spits on you

An Englishman and a Scotsman walk into a US brewery

Session Beer - an amalgamation of years and years of thoughts

Never meet your heroes. The death of elite beer bars in the USA?

How Beer is Promoting Community in Goshen, Indiana

Shipping beer from Belgium to the USA. Recent experiences

Fortlandia - a true nano production in Fort Wayne, Indiana

More than a decade removed, beeradvocate still banning!

Come Into My Parlor. A chat with Chris Bryant of Parlor City
Ding’s Six Pack
The 6 Most Recent Reviews

Abbaye D’aulne
Winter Triple Ale
I *think* this is the former Abbaye D'aulne, Christmas Triple Ale rebranded, but I'm not 100%...

De Glazen Toren
Jan de Lichte
Bottled 29th Jan 2022. I've had this beer maybe a dozen times before this review. It's hard for me...

Duvel
Tripel Hop Cashmere
Second time I've had this, last time was the 2020 version that I did NOT take notes on, but did...

Duvel
Tripel Hop Citra
Belgian IPAs ... ... the best way for me to describe just about every one is, "I don't hate them,...

Hofbräu
Oktoberfestbier
Of late I've been trying to fill in a few gaps in terms of notes and reviews for beers that I've...

Saison DUPONT Cuvée
Dry Hopping (2017)
2017 Styrian Eureka version. Purchased for $11.99, in a random store in Ohio along with a few...
The Past. The Present. The Future.
Here’s the complete blog archive with all of the posts from 2011 until today. In addition, you’ll see posts broken down into more specific categories in the Blog Menu. 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.

The Past.
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 are a lot of movers and shakers in beer these days who weren’t 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? Just don’t bother me with your BS.

The Present.
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.

The Future.
The Fort Wayne & North-East 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.