What’s camping and racing without a special logo for the Jayco Camper. Here’s the final cut that will be put on the camper and Gosh Knows where else this year. Kansas, Michigan and Atlanta here I come.
Got this note today from “Fine Wine & Beer by Gus” ~ Jerry, We received some new beers Wednesday. They are from Unibroue. Awesome!! These are done in a Belgium style such as Chimay. From the Unibroue website, “There is more to certain beers than simple refreshment. Unibroue has raised the standards of conventional beer in by brewing craftsman beers for savouring. Of incomparable quality and a taste, the beers at Unibroue are entirely natural, contain no chemical additives or preservatives, and are made with first quality ingredients. Rediscover beer with Unibroue. You will never taste beer the same way again! Drink less, drink better!”
I ran by “Fine Wine & Beer” by Gus after work today to see if any new beers had started to flow into the area. If you were expecting to see 20 or 30 new beers after the changes of the law in Alabama, you may have to wait. Gus has been open since September, and even though I’ve mentioned the store, I hadn’t made it by until today. Some of the first beers to arrive later in the week or next week may not be my favorite, but others coming in weeks should be pretty good. Gus picked a couple of beers for me to try based on my like of the Sam Adam’s beers and a few others I mentioned. I’ll review them in coming days. In the meantime, if you want a beer that’s going to be light and refreshing after cutting the grass this weekend, you might try Carib.
Carib Lager is the authentic, original, unique and defining icon of being young, modern and fashionable in Trinidad and Tobago. Launched on May 16th , 1950, this full bodied, clear and refreshing lager with 5.2% ABV is the flagship brand of Carib Brewery and the preferred brew of Trinidad and Tobago. Carib Lager is deeply rooted in the way of life of the Caribbean people, the environment, and the distinctive and refreshing culture associated with the region – its Carnivals, music and sporting events. The brand is fashionable and youthful and very today, just like the people it represents, a people with vision for and of the future. In the meantime, you can close your eyes and pretend you’re in the island. And good luck on getting a breeze around here lately.
It taste a little bit like Corona, but maybe a little lighter. This isn’t one of the new beers in the state, just something I stumbled over (uh, maybe a bad choice of words) last week. By the way, this isn’t one of the beers that Free The Hops was looking for, or would any of their members admit to drinking, other than me.
From the folks at Alabama Live, “ The Magic City Brewfest got a bit of extra magic this year with the excitement of tasting new products brought in with passage of the Gourmet Beer Bill.” Read More of the Story Here! Alabama’s Own Good People Brewing Company was also featured in the article and at the Brewfest. Check out this Birmingham Brewery here. The design of their website is just great! There is a lot of Colorado Beer out there, and Brewfest featured some from Durango Brewery, the third oldest in Colorado. Go and read their story here!
According to the folks at Free The Hops, The Hops have been Freed! We just received official confirmation that Govenor Riley signed HB373, the Gourmet Beer Bill, into law this morning.
Got a note from Mike Hubbard about the governor’s signing this bill today. Mike was an early supporter of the bill as well.
From Alabama Live: The state Senate today passed a bill allowing the sale of gourmet beers in Alabama. The legislation, sponsored by State Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, allows the sale of beer with an alcohol content of 13.9 percent by volume. Previously the limit was five percent by volume. The bill passed the Senate 22-9 and now goes to the governor. If signed, retailers would be allowed the sale of certain gourmet and imported beers in Alabama. Free the Hops, an organization which lobbied for the bill, says the beverages cost an average of $5 to $6 a bottle. Read More at Alabama Live!
This is great news for those that like the taste of a good gourmet beer from time to time. This is the wine of the beer community. Let’s hope Governor Riley doesn’t let this die on his desk now that it’s made it thru Alabama’s complicated legislative process. ~ JK
And from the Free The Hops Blog this week, some questions and answers: “Won’t Governor Riley veto our bill since he vetoes all alcohol bills?”
Governor Riley does not veto all alcohol bills. The most relevant example is a wine bill that recently passed which is very similar to our beer bill. It raises the amount of alcohol allowed in wine sold in grocery stores from 14.9% to 16.5%. That’s a direct parallel to what our bill does for beer. Governor Riley signed the wine bill this week. I believe the Governor is a reasonable man, and it would be extremely difficult for a reasonable person to justify vetoing our bill while signing another bill based on identical principles.
And I call myself a beer drinker. I check in from time to time to see what’s going on with the Auburn Brew Club, but haven’t been for a while. Well John Little, who moved here maybe two years ago has taken the craft beer campaign to new levels. His new website talks about plans for a new place to brew craft beer and some of the laws of the state of Alabama that get in the way. John does a good overview of the problem in his post “Alabama’s Overly Restrictive Brewpub Laws” on the Auburn Guard website. Another good read is the “Proposed Brewhouse” at the time site. For a complete overview of the project you should read about the “Start Up” of the brewpub. You may want to put this on your list of websites to visit as much as mine!
We recently received word that the Alabama House of Representatives will be debating HB373, The Gourmet Beer Bill, this Tuesday, March 3.
Although our bill passed the chamber last year, it was by a thin margin. Please take a moment to contact your state representative. There’s really no excuse – we’ve made it so easy for you. Just go to www.freethehops.org/legislative, put in your street address and city or zip + 4. It’ll give you everything you need to know. Even if you know your representative strongly supports us, call or email to say thank you and that you expect them to be there to vote!
Okay, so the deal I’m going to tell you about won’t happen until after Valentine’s Day, but in the Beer Drinking World, this is pretty big stuff. Outback like other’s realize that folks are cutting back, going out less, saving more and paying off credit. So, they are going to do a flat rate of $2.50 for draft beers in the regular glass. Is that a big deal? Well, let me give you an example, the Sam Adams Boston Lager in the bottle is $4.50 and the special draft price of the same amount and same beer is $2.50 when ordered draft. (more…)
