Cask & Vine’s What’s On Tap: Bill Herlicka from White Birch Brewing!

 

I have been brewing since 1994.  I started with Belgian beers….  Dubbels, Tripels, Quads, experimental Belgian strong ales, Belgian strong dark ales, moving on to hoppy ales, and styles from around the world.  I tried all sorts of variations.  It’s amazing what beer can be coaxed to do with a little direction and motivation.

Yes, I am hooked on amazing beers.  After fifteen years brewing for myself, family and friends, in 2009 I decided to take my recipes to the commercial market!  The beauty of this adventure is that I have finally found a way to brew all of the beers I love and I have the space for them to age as long as necessary.

White Birch Brewing: Website | Facebook

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

1. Fat Weasel

 

2. Blue Point IPA

3. White Birch Rasberry Berlinner Weiss

4. White Birch Hop Session

Listen for our review!

Kettle to Keg’s In the Kettle: Talking about Berlinner Weiss!

Ale Communications:

1. 10 of the Weirdest Brews at 2015 Extreme Beer Fest

There’s going to be no better place than Boston this weekend to illustrate how “weird” has become the new “normal” in the beer world. At Beer Advocate’s 12^th annual Extreme Beer Fest, there’ll be more than enough coffee-chocolate pale ales, chili stouts, and blueberry Berliner Weisses to shake a stick at.

It’s sort of the whole point of the fest. Some of the ingredients that go into these beers are so bananas… that we’re getting to the point where most craft beer drinkers wouldn’t be surprised if bananas were actually in the beer they’re drinking.

While there’s nothing wrong with a nice, clean pilsner or saison, there’s something to be said for brewers being weird for the sake of being weird. With that in mind we combed through the nearly 300 beers pouring at this weekend’s festival and took a closer look at 10 of the weirder ones out there. READ MORE

2. Sam Adams founder Jim Koch taps into craft brewing, taxes and small business loans

Boston Beer Co. founder Jim Koch may be the country’s biggest craft brewer at just over 1 percent of the U.S. beer market, but he still identifies with the plight of small businesses — something evident this week when he joined several other craft brewers in Washington to lobby for the Small BREW Act, a bill that would reduce the federal excise tax on beer for small and medium-sized breweries.

Koch sat down to talk about what the craft beer business needs, as well as his efforts to foster more small businesses with his Brewing the American Dream initiative — a loan program that aims to give more than $1 million in small business loans per year in the hospitality sector. READ MORE

3. How we’re killing craft beer classics: The death of Stone Ruination.

In the past 24 hours since seeing the news of Ruination’s demise on Stone’s Facebook page and subsequently their blog post, I’ve experienced all of the five stages of grief:

Denial:  NO. No way they can do this, holy crap no.

Anger:  That’s really messed up. Ruination is an iconic beer with a 100 rating on Ratebeer and a world class rating on Beer Advocate. Idiots!

Bargaining:  Ok Stone, give me another chance. I’m going to my local beer store to buy some right now, ok? Ok?!??

Depression:  Ruination 2.0? Just not going to be the same. Man that really sucks.

And finally, acceptance:  Ok, I get it. Ruination was seeing some decline in numbers and 2.0 is bound to be amazing. Way to stay relevant guys.

Then, after acceptance finally sank in, a final feeling swept over me: guilt. READ MORE

Jukebox: Mike and Bert share a tune! AND The Last Transmission From the First Woman in Space from Jason Comean

Leave us a rating and review on iTunes or Stitcher!