At Mid-South Alcoholic Supply, we’re a big fan of seasonal beers.  About a mile down the road from our World Headquarters is a little sports bar called Calhoun’s that just put Blue Moon’s Full Moon Winter Ale on tap.  What does it taste like?  We couldn’t tell you, because we’re too busy working on their $1.50 PBR every time we go in there.

Fortunately, we found this article which has lots of good information on seasonal beers.  It has lots of good information on Christmas beers, which are just now being tapped at many bars.  It goes on to list seasonal beer styles for spring, summer, fall, and winter.

Be sure to enjoy your favorite season in one of our many fine beer glasses.  Over 1700 to choose from!

This LA Times article reviews a new book about beer, Red, White and Brew: An American Odyssey.  The author took some time to travel across the U.S., stopping in 14 regional breweries and talking with the current owners, managers, brewmasters, consumers, and anyone else he met along the way.  Visitng breweries like Yuengling and Leinenkugel, he talks with the people who run them about the breweries’ history, current challenges in the marketplace, and how being in a particular region affects the beer that is brewed.  Everything from recently-founded microbreweries to fifth-generation family breweries are covered, although author Brian Yaeger stayed away from the huge breweries like Anheuser-Busch.  One owner of the book describes Yaeger as “a top notch interviewer,” even more impressive considering he’s usually already downed a few beers by the start of his interviews.

You can get your copy of the book here.

Here’s a quick bonus post for Pabst Blue Ribbon lovers:  A site called SloshSpot has a look back at the history of PBR in advertising.  There are a number of images dating back to 1900, and two videos from more recent times.

Wilmington, NC’s Star-News Online has a good article about beer cocktails and beer floats.  At the bottom of the article they list several recipes for beer-based mixed drinks.  There you can learn how to make the Front Street Flaming Float, a beer ice-cream float that you light on fire; the White Bear, a cocktail made with Pilsner Urquell and Tuaca; the Green Devil, a beer/absinthe cocktail; the Beer Buster, with beer, vodka, and Tabasco; and beer margaritas.

The article also interviews bartenders and brewmasters on the right way to mix beer and liquor, and it discusses classic beer mixed beverages such as the Black and Tan, Chelada, Tomboy, and Black Velvet.

Don’t forget to pick up some of our highball glasses for your beer-based cocktails, and our beer mugs for beer ice cream floats.

Here are two articles for you on lambic beer, a style not commonly seen in America.  The best-known representatives of the style are probably Lindeman’s Kriek (cherry), Peche (peach), and other flavored lambics.  Even where these beers are sold in bars, many people have not tried them because they tend to have a double-digit price tag.

Great article on lambic beers on TMRzoo

From wikiHow: How to drink lambic beer

Although lambics are beers, the proper glassware to enjoy one of these beverages would be a champagne flute.

This SFGate.com blogger wrote an article stating his opinions on the best beers in the universe… and guess which beer came out on top?  Good old PBR.  I couldn’t agree more.  It goes down more smoothly than most beers, and it’s cheap.  I’m still lamenting the loss of our local bar than sold PBR cans (the ideal way to enjoy the beer) for $1.75 each.

He concluded the post with, “PBR, you complete me.”  This guy may be the greatest blogger in the universe.

This reviewer from the Daily Campus has surveyed many of the popular light beers, reviewing them based on taste and number of calories.  None of the light beers got a 5-star rating out of him, but Heineken Premium Light managed to win the contest with a 4-star rating.  At 99 calories, the reviewer notes that it has enough flavor to mask the fact that it’s a light beer, and there’s no bitter after-taste.  However, at 3.3% alcohol, it’s one of the lowest ABV.

The big loser in the taste test?  Natty (1 star out of 5).  No surprise there.

Don’t forget to enjoy your favorite light beer in one of our glasses.

Ever thought about starting your own brewery?  This WikiHow article walks you through the process involved in setting up and running a commerical brewery.  It’s a long, long article and very thorough, but as you can imagine, it is not a simple process, involving a lot more than just brewing the beer.  It goes into study of the different beer styles, acquiring permits, designing a logo, and all the other things you’ll need to do to be able to brew your own signature beer and sell it to distributors.

If you’re too lazy to brew beer and just want to drink it, why not drink it in one of our many unique beer mugs?  Check out our collection.

According to this Jacksonville Business Journal article, Anheuser-Busch is committing substantial resources to updating the image of Michelob, one of its biggest brand names.  Michelob Dunkel-Weisse and Michelob Pale Ale are now available year ’round, in addition to products already in the lineup in including Michelob, Michelob Light, Michelob AmberBock, Michelob Honey Lager, and Michelob Porter.  The family of beers will be given consistent branding and labeling throughout.

There will also be some lesser-known and seasonal products added to the Michelob line.  These include Shock Top Belgian White, Stone Mill Pale Ale, Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale, Winter’s Bourbon Cask Ale, Sun Dog Amber Wheat, and Beach Bum Blonde Ale.  I’ve had the Jack’s Pumpkin Ale in years past and it is an excellent seasonal beer.  I bet the Beach Bum Blonde is good too.  Here in the Mid-South Alcoholic Supply World Headquarters hometown of Downtown Memphis, Tennessee, we don’t have a beach.  We have plenty of bums though.

Be sure to enjoy your favorite Michelob beer in one of our many beer mugs.  We have over 3,000 to choose from!

The beer bar down the street from the Mid-South Alcoholic Supply World HQ has had a couple of good beer magazines out for its patrons to read this past week. I noticed that both of the magazines have websites, and the sites are full of good content. Here are the links. These are worth bookmarking if you’re into beer.

All About Beer

Beer Advocate