in the news

It is always nice to see Growlers getting their due. The New York Times ran a piece on the trend of growlers in the city scene.

“In the beginning we tried to figure out, ‘Who’s going to be our market?’ ” said Ben Granger, 32, an owner of Bierkraft, which began filling growlers in spring 2006. “We thought, mullet-heads and beer-bellied dudes. But the first run was ladies with strollers. They will tell you they’re buying them for their husbands. Three weeks later, they’ve got two. One’s his and one’s hers. The next one that caught me by surprise was dads coming in with their kids. Then there’s the beer crowd who’ll rush in to get on this or that before it’s gone. There’s no age limit.”

All beer geeks know what they are and the benefits of growlers.  For others like me (I do not consider myself a beer geek, but a beer lover), the growler is an untapped resource.  I was lucky enough to have an older brother that loved beer much more than me.  He has an extensive growler collection, grabbing them from most brewpubs that sell them.  The growler was also our biggest asset when we went to the now defunct DuClaws in Fells Point.  We would take our growler in and get it refilled a couple of time (it was $7 for a refill, couldn't beat those prices). 

If you don't have a growler, you need to get one.  Many bars will fill them, and it is the best way to drink at home (unless you have a tap at home).  My place to refill has been Baltimore Taphouse (formerly known as Growlers).  They have a great selection of brews, and it is cheaper than buying the bottles.

Up next in the news was word on the Founders Nemesis series.  Beernews.org was where I was able to get the details on the first release.

Description: The 2009 release of Nemesis is best described as a Maple Bourbon barrel aged wheat wine holding 12% abv and 70 ibu’s. The barrels have been resting deep in the mines of Grand Rapids for nearly 9 months and have been most effective in developing a great product.

Sounds promising.  I am losing my contact for Michigan beers (my brother was promoted to the big city of Chicago), but am looking forward to the new horizons in Illinois.  Hopefully, I can get my hands on some Nemesis before he goes.