Cask & Vine’s What’s On Tap: Andy Day of Cask & Vine!

This is about more than just another place.  This is about ideas.  This is about local.  This is about community, conversation and sharing…

It’s about an experience.

We recently celebrated our One-Year Anniversary at The Drinkery, and it was an event unlike anything we’ve ever witnessed in a “beer and wine store“.  All our regular visitors and even newcomers gathered together to taste some amazing beer, share in the experience and celebrate a place that has become much more than a place to buy good beer and wine.

We want to take this passion a step further and give our visitors a place to sit and enjoy these same craft beers and small production wines with us and one another.  We were determined to find a way to take the beauty and charm of this little beer and wine cellar and create a place where craft beer drinkers and wine drinkers alike could sit and enjoy a glass of something outstanding.

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Yes this was actually discussed.  Who do you think would win??

Bert’s Better Beers’ Draft Pick of the Week:

1. Bronx Pale Ale

2. Barrel Aged Triple from White Birch Brewing

3.  Golden Delicious from Captain Lawrence Brewing Co.

Listen to hear our reviews!

Kettle to Keg’s In the Kettle: Gruits

Ale Communications:

Sonic Beer Foamer?

True beer buffs know that the aroma is in the head. Using ultrasonic foaming technology and a bit of water, this handy gadget makes beer taste even better. CHECK IT OUT

Oddball Brewing to Open Next Year

Pembrook’s Oddball Brewing, set to open next fall, will be the first brewery in the Concord area.

What do two respiratory therapists at Concord Hospital have in common? A passion for supplying craft beer to the masses, it turns out.

Unlike many breweries, Oddball Brewing Co. will have two head brewers when it hits its targeted opening date planned for November 2015. Mark Ferguson and Bill Walden, both full-time respiratory therapists, have each been brewing different kinds of alcohol for over 14 years. “It’s not a new interest,” Walden says. His brother started brewing in the late ‘90s, which initially peaked his interest. In 2000, Walden picked up the trade himself, making small batches of wine and eventually beer. It wasn’t until he was living in Wisconsin that he realized he wanted to someday own a brewery.

As for Ferguson, he’s been brewing even longer – 20 years. There’s no doubt that between the two of them, they have more than enough experience. Finally Walden told himself that “someday is code for never” and “if we want to do it, we need to do it.”

Despite their desire to make craft beer, the two brewers are aware that it will take time to get things settled. They plan to keep their jobs in Concord until the brewery can stand on its own. “We don’t want to burden a fledgling brewery with having to pay two people full-time wages,” Walden says. READ MORE

There’s a black market for beer. And it’s bad for drinkers

Your next specialty beer could cost you a lot more.

High demand for craft beers is creating a black market for some small batch brews, and unauthorized dealers are selling the beers underground (or online) for inflated prices up to 20 times above retail.

It’s common for craft brewers to release small or limited-time batches of a beer. Most of the time, it’s out of necessity.

“For us, it’s a space issue,” said Russian River Brewing Company co-owner Natalie Cilurzo. “We are physically limited to producing a finite amount of beer due to property, building and ultimately, tank space. At some point there is just nowhere left to put one more tank.” Other times it’s particular ingredients, production costs and lengthy brew times that lead to smaller batches. READ MORE

Making your own beer is becoming easier than ever before

Throughout much of human history, making your own beer was the way to go.

Thats how the Romans and Greeks got their buzz. Even founding fathers Thomas Jefferson and George Washington had personal breweries on their estates. Though the introduction of mass-distribution has since changed all that, the practice is far from going away entirely.

In fact, homebrewing has undergone a bit of resurgence as of late. And leading the charge are enthusiasts who often tout the nearly boundless experimentation that home brewing allows for, as well as significant cost savings over commercially-sold speciality beers.

Still, the methods used tend to be quite laborious. A lot of time and effort goes into completing all the necessary steps. The techniques, involving careful roasting and mashing, are also somewhat crude, which makes it a real challenge to achieve to the kind of consistency you’d get with beer sold by commercial breweries that use a more standardized and tightly-controlled process. READ MORE

Bear Republic Brewing Co. has made the decision to pull out of the state of Massachusetts.

As all the major networks have reported, California is starting on its 4th consecutive year of drought, the effects of which have been devastating on the economy and like us, small manufacturers. Even though the two wells that Bear Republic funded for the city are in place, we’ve yet to receive any additional water because of the drought’s effect on the City’s overall water availability. I don’t expect this condition to improve much throughout 2015, which is why I’ve made this decision. Bear Republic will continue to ship ordered product to Atlantic Imports through the end of the year, but no orders will be filled after December 31, 2014. READ MORE

Jukebox: “Drowning on Dry Land” from Me, Myself and I by Arthur James

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