Things I’m just not going to do …
... in 2023, as a fifty-six year old beer drinker of 40+ years. 1. Use the term, "West Coast IPA". Trying to get people to define what they actually mean by this, usually elicits all manner of responses that lack any kind of consensus, or cohesion...
Buying & Shipping (mostly Belgian) beer inside the USA
Cataloging a few recent experiences (again)
Following this post about shipping beer to the US from Belgium I wanted to follow up with a a similar one, this time highlighting a few recent internal buying & shipping experiences of Belgian (and other) beer. Once again this catalogs only...
So, what came first?
A very quick observation, and a couple of questions. This afternoon I was in a local tap-room. I don't care much for most of the beer that this particular brewery puts out, but I can usually find 1 or 2 out of the 10 or 12 that they have on-tap at...
Shipping Beer from Belgium to the USA
Cataloging a few recent experiences
Most of you reading this know that I'm an Englishman who has lived in the USA since 2000. Obviously I've had access to a lot of Belgian beer over my lifetime, both from when I lived in the UK, and via my multiple visits to Belgium, but living in...
Purity, skin in the game, and when Capitalism spits on you
I recently had a quite brief conversation with a person who is intimately acquainted with a local brewery here in Fort Wayne, IN, and whose livelihood is dependent upon selling the beer that said brewery produces. That's a bit of an awkward way to...
Legacy drinkers and the assault on
Belgium, England and Germany
I *think* that I coined the term legacy drinker. I never remember hearing it anywhere else. If that's not true, apologies. So, what does 'legacy drinker' mean? My definition varies from day to day but the general meaning is that of a drinker who...
Fortlandia – a true nano production in Fort Wayne
When five blokes get together to brew and drink beer, sometimes things don't exactly go to plan. There's quite a lot of potential for nonsense to be talked, and for fanciful plans to be made. However, on Spring St. in Fort Wayne's northwest...
Birdboy Brewing Company – Phoenix Rising in Fort Wayne
If you're wondering what's been happening at Birdboy Brewing Co. of late, and you're a tad confused by some recent comings and goings, then you're not the only one. A lot has been going on both behind the scenes and out in public, and the current...
Stone Brewing Co. – an ending that began a long time ago
I suppose that I should throw in my two-cents on Stone, everybody else has. To be honest, were it not for the post that I wrote in 2015 that marked the end of an era for this blog, I probably wouldn't bother, but specifically because of that post I...
From Fort Collins, CO to Goshen, IN, beer promotes community
If you happen to feel an enhanced sense of community the next time that you visit the Goshen Brewing Co. (GBCo.) in Goshen, Indiana, it's not by accident. Founder and former head brewer Jesse Sensenig made it that way. I sat down with him a few...
The State of Citizen Beer Blogging in 2022
I was toying with the idea of going to the 2022 Beer Bloggers Conference in Asheville in August of this year - that was until I learned that it had been canceled due to a lack of interest. My guess is that the first half of the second decade of the...
Never meet your heroes. The death of elite beer bars?
‘Never meet your heroes’ is a phrase that is probably best used by kids. They are the group that is perhaps most susceptible to thinking that people, places and things are without flaws, and that they will always meet the expectations that may have...
More than a decade removed, Todd and beeradvocate.com are 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! Todd blocked my other Twitter account years ago, but the latest action was...
Come Into My Parlor
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 a multitude of mask mandates and other...
Defining “Craft Beer”. OH NO, not this again!
I think it was maybe around 12 years ago that people (briefly) started to attempt to define what the term 'craft beer' really meant. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this led to a lot of arguing, and no real consensus. I remember that at the time, one of...
An Englishman and a Scotsman walk into an American brewery
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 a pedigree and résumé of experience...
Session beer revisited, briefly
If you know, you know. I've got close to twenty years of online history relating to a single mantra about session beer, which is; beer can only be correctly labeled as session beer if it is 4% ABV or under. If you would like to read the longer...
A (S)ummit (City Brewerks) on styles
This is not really a post about styles or policing styles - at least not an in-depth one - but it may seem like it is. It's actually a post about a much larger issue surrounding styles - the bigger picture if you will. So, here’s a question for a...
Legacy beer drinkers made sad
I want to support new(ish) and local breweries. I really, really do. But as a legacy beer drinker, it's becoming more and more difficult to do so. I suppose I should attempt to qualify what I mean by a 'legacy beer drinker'. I'm talking about...
The Trubble with Chad Hankee
When Chad Hankee says he's bored, you'd better get ready for some changes. Here's a man whose projects, and indeed life's journey, have been about bending in the wind and changing tack; and that's not just because he's a keen sailor. Chad and I sat...
The Tavour myth machine, and staggeringly ordinary, expensive beer
A longer post on my experience with Tavour (some of which is positive) is coming soon, but for now just a quick observation or two. Tavour is selling some excruciatingly expensive beers, many from breweries that are quite often very new, and that...
Todd Stone & Junk Ditch – Where Plato meets Plato
Todd Stone is a young man with an old head on his shoulders. Trust me, that's a huge compliment in my book. He and I sat down at Junk Ditch earlier this week to talk about his journey to become the head brewer at the Main Street brewpub, and - as...
From Prints to Pints
When one reads the draft list of a brewery that's found in a tucked-away corner of an industrial park north of Fort Wayne, one wouldn't expect the head-brewer and I to have much in common. Only 50% of the beer available (maybe even less than that)...
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 crosshairs. I'm starting with a conversation with Tom Carpenter of...
The past, the present, the six years between them, and the future
Here we all are. It's been six years since my last blog post on Ding's Beer Blog, but now I'm back. So where have I been? What happened in the period between January 2015 and today, May 26th 2021? The answer is life. Profound, right? However,...
Ambivalence, indifference, me, evolution, and Stone in 2015
Before you read this please know that I'm not really sure what I am trying to convey here, so I think this post is more likely to turn out to be a stream of consciousness rather than anything particularly coherent - apologies in advance. Yesterday...
Session #94 – The Round-up
As usual with The Session, some posts are more interesting than others. Here's the round-up for #94 in no particular order. Miguel gives us this post at Amante De La Buena Cerveza. Unfortunately I don't speak a word of Spanish, so I literally have...
Session #94 – My Role in Beer
As I said in my announcement for session #94, the question of my role in beer was provoked by a quick tweet exchange where @andrewinski1 suggested that rather than dropping pretty much completely out of the beer scene (as I think that I have), that...
Session #94 – The announcement. Friday, Dec. 5th – Your role in the beer ‘scene’. What it is?
The Session, a.k.a. 'Beer Blogging Friday', is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the...
Hilton Head Brewing Co., 2014 – Light at the end of a VERY dark tunnel
Each year since 2001, often as a result of multiple visits, I have been reviewing and writing about the catastrophe that HHBCo. has become over the years. During that 13 year period, I have probably visited the island and HHBCo. in excess of 20...
The Session #88 – Beer Mixes
When I first read the announcement post for Session #88 on Boak & Bailey's blog, to be honest, my heart sank. They suggested that in preparation for Session #88 that we, the bloggers, go out and drink some of the beer mixes from Boston's 1976...
Talkbeer.com
Today I joined the talkbeer.com community. I believe that the site was originally a trading site that grew out of the discontent and disgust at BA, but it now seems to have reached the kind of critical mass that may make it useful. We'll see, and I...
Atlanta Cask Ale (#ACAT) 2014
So here I am, on the morning of another Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting (#ACAT), but this time I am not getting ready to head to the event later in the day. The #ACAT of 2014 will be the first one that I have not attended since the inaugural gathering....
Pant-wetting fanboys and the US beer scene
Last night I got into a bit of a clumsy discussion on Twitter that ended very unsatisfactorily for me. Frankly it was my own fault, and I wanted to clear up my thoughts a little. In a nutshell, I responded to this article in the NYT by sending the...
Ding’s Christmas Wish List 2013
Here I go again with my annual Christmas wish list. The things I want Santa to deliver to my beer world. It goes without saying (I think), that the old chestnuts of me wanting the abuse of cask beer via the addition of crap (i.e., treating a cask...
Me on (in) Draft (Magazine)
Last Wednesday I received an email from Chris Staten. Chris is an editor at Draft magazine. He asked me to respond to a few, simple questions about my public beer persona for an article that he was putting together. I didn't think much about it,...
Session #82: Beery Yarns (a REDUX)
Here's my Session #82 post. This month Steve at Beers I've known asks for Beery Yarns. If you recognize this post, you're right, this is a cheat. I've posted it before, but this is such a great story that is close to my heart, I wanted to give it...
Twisted South – the article that never was
In February of this year I was asked by a person that follows me on Twitter to write a counter-point article for Twisted South magazine. After 0ver 9 months of being told that 'it will be published soon', I've given up. Here's what I wrote all that...
Why I’ve stopped going to The Brick Store
After my decision last January not to attend Atlanta Cask Ale ’14 this coming January, the very event that I thought would be the one that kept me sane in terms of real ale in America, I started to reflect upon my role in the Atlanta beer scene in...
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Hypocrisy, FRESH and on tap!
It's always heart-warming to be reminded from time to time that there are so many of us out there that belong to the, 'mistreated by beeradvocate.com', club. My own story is well-documented, and unsurprisingly there are many, many others that are...
Session #80 – The Craft Beer Bubble
The first Friday in October '13 brings us Session #80, where Derek Harrison at It's Not Just The Alcohol Talking asks, 'Is Craft Beer a Bubble?'. I'm no economist, and in any case economics is a soft science at best, so I guess it doesn't matter,...
Session #79 – The round up and a few rebuttals
OK, Session #79 is now over and the thoughts of many have been recorded for posterity. There weren't quite as many posts as I was expecting, and some of the writing wasn't very good, but here's my summary. If I have left you out it was NOT...
Session #79 – USA versus Old World Beer Culture
OK, here we go with the blog post that you've read before. Why do I say that? Well essentially this is a post that I've written umpteen times over, just in varying guises. In those past posts I have generally focused on one particular aspect of the...
Session #79 – The announcement. Friday, Sept. 6th – USA versus Old World Beer Culture
The Session, a.k.a. 'Beer Blogging Friday', is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the...
Beer Review: Westbrook Brewing Co, Mexican Cake
Ding Points: 80.00 Pour: 80.00, Nose: 80.00, Palate: 80.00, Mouth: 80.00, Global: 80.00 Tasting Notes: Two separate, approx. (what looked liked) 10-12 oz pours (in undersize Duvel glasses) at The Lodge, Hilton Head Island, SC. I had heard a little...
Beer Review: The Wrecking Bar, Ding – The English Bitter
Ding Points: 70.00 Pour: 70.00, Nose: 70.00, Palate: 70.00, Mouth: 70.00, Global: 70.00 Tasting Notes: 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...
Beer Review: Back Forty Beer Company, Freckle Belly IPA
Ding Points: 74.50 Pour: 90.00, Nose: 80.00, Palate: 70.00, Mouth: 70.00, Global: 70.00 Tasting Notes: I've had very little exposure and experience with Back Forty beers, but when I did, I thought they were incredibly average. This is the first one...
Session Beer Day. Reflections
Well that was fun. Actually it was surprisingly uneventful, but four interesting things came out of it. Firstly I was surprised that I didn't lose any Twitter followers, at least I didn't lose any when considering the net numbers. In fact, actually...
Session Beer Day 2013
So, it's here again, #sessionbeerday, this time on Sunday, April 7th, 2013. Mmmm, well it wouldn't be right for me to let the 2013 'event'* pass without comment (here's 2012's session beer day post), so here we go with the 2013 rendition of my...