May 13-19 is American Craft Beer Week

This week (May 13-19) is once again American Craft Beer Week, according to the Brewers Association. As they describe the event, it is a week-long celebration of “the 2,400+ small and independent craft brewers who continue to make the U.S. the world’s most diverse brewing destination.” They’ve assembled a calendar with over 1,200 events around the country, but sadly, not one event on their calendar is in the State of Montana.

The Brewers Association list 48 Montana breweries on their site, 30 of which are listed as members of their organization.

Might we suggest you visit a tap room or two this week for a spontaneous celebration?

Big Sky Brewing photo on Facebook creates uproar

The Great Falls Tribune wrote a story about this photo that has apparently raised quite a stir on Big Sky Brewing’s Facebook page. The photo, which was posted on Dec. 15, shows a Big Sky Brewing employee holding up a mountain lion she killed. The photo has nearly 100 shares, 450 likes and 320 comments and counting. There’s been some strong reaction from people both for and against the photo. The comments can be read here or you can check out the story, which highlights some of the most heated comments.

I guess living in Montana has desensitized me to pictures of dead animals. I don’t hunt, but I see nothing wrong with the photo. Just a month or two ago I saw a bloody elk head in someone’s truck outside of the Kettlehouse, so this is really nothing.

- Matt Pritchard

How much would you pay for ‘world’s best beer’?

Touted as the “world’s best beer,” the famed Westvleteren 12 brewed by Trappist monks at St. Sixtus Abbey in Belgium is now on sale in the U.S., although you’d be hard pressed to find any on store shelves. The beer is only available at select retailers, which means that if you’re in Montana you’d have to drive to Portland, Ore., or Denver. The beer is priced at around $85 for a six pack at some stores and the limited supply is going fast.

The monks are looking to raise money to pay for a new roof, which is why they decided to export some of the famed beer to the states.

Any beer that receives the label of the “world’s best” definitely piques my interest. It comes in at about 12 percent ABV and tastes like “dates, raisins and cocoa,” according to Rate Beer.

If you’re lucky enough find some, enjoy!

- Matt Pritchard

Big Medicine Brewing Co. looks to open in Missoula

Fernanda Menna Barreto Krum and Robert Rivers. Photo by Eliza Wiley/Independent Record

A new Missoula brewery is in the works, although the project is still in the early stages.

The Helena Independent Record reports that Helena native Robert Rivers and partner Fernanda Menna Barreto Krum are in the process of raising funds for a brewery that incorporates their background of helping people in conflict zones around the globe. The two hope Big Medicine Brewing Co. will help promote peace through beer.

In the first year of operation, two-day workshops are planned each month, featuring subjects related to social conflict and social change initiation, as well as one-hour dialogues twice a month.

Rivers and Menna Barreto Krum plan to draw on their own expertise and experience to facilitate these programs and brew the beer. Rivers has a master’s degree in peace and conflict studies from the European Centre for Peace Studies, and Menna Barreto Krum has a master’s degree in psychology and a certificate in global mental health from Harvard.

Rivers also holds a brewing certificate from the University of Wisconsin and both have been brewing beer for the past five years. They’ve raised at least $35,000 so far and are looking for about $200,000 more.

Big Medicine hopes to brew about 1,000 barrels a year once they’re up and running with beer “inspired by breweries around the world.”

You can contact them at bigmedicinebrewing@gmail.com.

- Matt Pritchard

White House releases two beer recipes, in case you missed it

You know craft beer has fully hit the mainstream when the Leader of the Free World has two beers brewing at the White House.

Last week, the White House released the recipes for a Honey Ale and a Honey Porter, both brewed with honey from the White House. Supposedly it is “the first beer brewed on White House grounds.”

Inspired by home brewers from across the country, last year President Obama bought a home brewing kit for the kitchen. After the few first drafts we landed on some great recipes that came from a local brew shop. We received some tips from a couple of home brewers who work in the White House who helped us amend it and make it our own. To be honest, we were surprised that the beer turned out so well since none of us had brewed beer before.

Here’s a video about the beers from the White House:

I’m sure Obama was probably looking for a pint or two of these after his DNC speech, I know I would be.

- Matt Pritchard

Does the shape of a beer glass make you drink faster?

The Economist – one of my favorites – has a recent piece on whether or not a beer glass can influence the pace of drinking.

The story is based on a study at the University of Bristol, where a researcher set out to test the difference between drinking out of a straight glass, such as a pint glass, and a glass with curved edges, like a flute. It was found that the majority of subjects downed the beer out of a flute quicker than out of a straight glass.

The reason being that those drinking out of a flute can’t easily tell how much they have imbibed because of the curves in the glass, and therefore aren’t as good at pacing themselves.

From the Economist:

Dr Attwood’s hypothesis is that a beer drinker, wishing to pace himself through an evening, is monitoring the volume remaining in the glass, probably with reference to the halfway mark. A curved-sided glass, though, makes exercising such judgment hard—as she demonstrated by calling her volunteers back a week later and asking them to estimate from pictures how full various glasses were. Most volunteers thought the halfway mark in the flute was lower than its true value, and if a volunteer had drunk from such a glass originally, the degree of misestimation correlated with how fast he had drunk. If a glass is half-full to start with, however, this reference point is lost from the beginning.

I don’t think this small study quite proves the point, but it is something to drink over.

- Matt Pritchard

As baseball phenom Mike Trout turns 21, some beer suggestions

Ben Margot/Associated Press

Mike Trout may well be the best player in baseball. He leads the league in runs (86) and stolen bases (36), he’s third in batting average (.348), sixth in on-base percentage (.411), and he has 19 home runs as of Tuesday evening. Oh, and he just turned 21.

With Trout now being able to drink legally as of Tuesday, Kevin Kaduk over at Yahoo! Sports has some suggestions for the phenom, with the first two including beers made right in Missoula: Big Sky Brewing’s Trout Slayer and Bayern Brewing’s Dancing Trout. Other recommendations include Mogollon Brewery’s Apache Trout Stout, Mammoth Brewing’s Golden Trout Ale, Trout River Brewing’s Trout River Rainbow Red Ale and Denver Beer Co.’s Clown Question, Bro Canadian Lager (named after another crazy good rookie Bryce Harper’s quote).

If Mike Trout’s out there and has a hankering for some Missoula beers with his name on them, I’d be happy to send him some. I’m sure we could work something out.

- Matt Pritchard

Missoula Independent’s Best of Missoula 2012 beer results

The Missoula Independent’s 18th annual Best of Missoula results are in and as always what I’m interested in and I’m sure what you’re interested in are the beer results. The pertinent categories this year include Best Brew, Best Microbrewery, Best Beer Selection, Best Retail Beer Selection and Best Bar:

Best Brew
1. Kettlehouse Brewing Co. Cold Smoke
2. Kettlehouse Brewing Co. Double Haul
3. Big Sky Brewing Co. Summer Honey

Best Microbrewery
1. Kettlehouse Brewing Co.
2. Bayern Brewing Co.
3. Draught Works

Best Beer Selection
1. Rhino
2. Missoula Tamarack 
3. Kettlehouse Brewing Co.

Best Retail Beer Selection
1. Worden’s Market
2. Orange Street Food Farm
3. Pattee Creek Market

Best Bar
1. Charlie B’s
2. James Bar
3. Rhino

Not too many surprises here. Well, frankly, there are no surprises. But still, it’s worth checking out all the results. Plus, if you’re looking for something to do Thursday night, there’s a Best of Missoula party at Caras Park beginning at 5:30.

- Matt Pritchard

Montana ranks 3rd in beer consumption per capita

In recently updated statistics by the Beer Institute, Montana now ranks third in the U.S. in beer consumption per capita behind only New Hampshire and North Dakota.

In 2011, Montana switched spots with North Dakota, which now ranks second. According to the data, Montana has an estimated 730,259 legal beer drinkers who on average drink 40.6 gallons each. To put it in perspective, that’s a little more than 81 growlers per person. That’s down from 2010′s figure of 41.7 gallons of beer (more than 83 growlers) for each legal drinker. New Hampshire in 2011 boasted 43 gallons of beer per capita and North Dakota registered 42.2 gallons per capita.

I’m not completely sure on how the Beer Institute estimates the per capita figure, but I assume it takes the amount of beer sold and divides it by the amount of legal drinkers. In which case you can be sure that the per capita figure is likely less because it’s not just those who are over 21 that are drinking beer.

The Beer Institute also keeps track of beer shipments. In 2011, Montana actually shipped less beer than it did in 2010. The Treasure State ranked 43rd with 956,133 31 gallon barrels of beer (about 1,912,000 kegs) shipped, down from 971,947 barrels (about 1,944,000 kegs) in 2010. California shipped the most with 21,805,539 31 gallon barrels of beer in 2011.

Check out the stats from 2003-2011 here.

- Matt Pritchard

Does beer make you smarter? Possibly

Researchers at the University of Illinois in Chicago claim in a recent study that men who imbibed in a couple of beers were better at deducting a brain teaser than those who drank nothing.

To reach that surprising conclusion, the researchers devised a bar game in which 40 men were given three words and told to come up with a fourth that fits the pattern.

For example, the word “cheese” could fit with words like “blue” or “cottage” or “Swiss.”

Half the players were given two pints. The other half got nothing.

The result? Those who imbibed solved 40% more of the problems that their sober counterparts.

Also, the drinkers finished their problems in 12 seconds while it took the non-drinkers 15.5 seconds.

While I sometimes believe I’m a bit smarter after a couple of pints, it’s hard for me to believe that’s true. If I was, I think my brain would probably tell me to avoid that third one … cheers.

Check out the full story here.

- Matt Pritchard