Breweries in Germany – especially in the beer-drinking heartland of Bavaria – make incredible beer, and there are countless places and occasions where drinking vast quanitities of beer is either an important ingredient or the primary focus of the time or place. This can be tremendous fun; enormous mugs are filled and drained, songs are …
A long time ago, we recognized the only two absolutes in life are change and death. 2020 has certainly been a year of absolutes. We’ve all been forced to slow down some, consider some difficult realities. There was a lot that far too many were willing to ignore that simply wasn’t working. One thing we …
The sublime aroma of raspberries is one of my nose’s faves. Mouthwatering and incredibly evanescent, ripe raspberries are a treat when you can find them. They also work fantastically in beer. Over the years, I’ve combined raspberries into a lot of batches; mostly the resulting beers fall into one of two categories. One way to …
While there are many sour things about 2020 we’d love to stick out our tongues and blow a raspberry to, we are fully aware that tension is responsible for growth. In a week that holds record COVID-19 infections, a Presidential election that will linger in the announcement of the winner for some time, we have …
“Go make a ruckus.” -Seth Godin Make a commotion. Make a disturbance. Make a ruckus. Do it to make things better and to make better things. Making a ruckus, in Seth’s words, is about doing “the hard work of showing up with insight, assertions, and kindness…Doing the generous work, work on behalf of those we …
Farmhouse cider has a long history in this country. In the pioneering days, many farms would have at least some apple trees, and much of the fruit from these trees would be pressed into juice and fermented into cider. Arkansas allows its breweries to produce cider, and we’re happy to work with A & A …
Filling barrels is an act of faith. They have a tendency to leak, especially right after filling. There’s a risk that the beer that comes back out of the barrel will be undrinkable. Believe me, it happens: the beer can sour in some weird, unpalletable way, or just come out with some strange off-flavor that …
I love getting compliments for the beers we make here at Gotahold. The other day, a woman was talking with someone on the phone and telling this person that the aroma and flavor (I think she was drinking Oktoberfest) was so good that she could probably bathe in the beer. While it feels great to …
Double IPA as a style could be the apotheosis of the modern craft beer, or at least the hop-forward branch of that art. They’re so incredibly full of flavor that is at once insanely robust and at the same time delicate and evanescent. They are a like an incredibly beautiful and fragrant flower that fades …
Mr. McClure was my gym teacher from 1st -4th grade. He was fun, though tough, and always fair. I never felt weak or a failure in his class. In fifth grade, I arrived on the first day of school to find he was no longer our gym teacher, but he was now my 5th grade …