Top 10 USA Domestic Beers / Brands

The Information Resources Incorporated (IRI) report indicates craft beer sales are on the increase and it also states the following domestic brews are the ten best selling labels here in the good ole USA. These are sales that are tabulated in outlets that IRI monitors, such as supermarkets with at least $2 million in sales, convenience stores and retail liquor stores, to wit:

1. Bud Light

2. Budweiser

3. Miller Lite

4. Coors Light

5. Corona Extra

6. Natural Light

7. Heineken

8. Michelob Ultra Light

9. Busch Light

10. Miller High Life

A Beer Tree Christmas - Kegs

Yes...a Christmas tree made out of beer kegs !

Beer Run

Need to make a beer run?:

A Top Beer Ad For Christmas Time

"A little candle light and a little Bud Lite":

A Beer Tree Christmas - Cans

The Ultimate Beer Can Christmas Tree:

A Beer Tree Christmas - Bottles

The Ultimate Beer Bottle Christmas Tree:

"A Beeeer In A Tree": The 12 Days Of Christmas

For all you "HoseHeads" out there, remember the brothers Bob & Doug McKenzie? From the Great White North segment on the old Second City TV show...here is their rendition of "The 12 Days Of Christmas (A Beer In A Tree)" for your seasonal enjoyment, you "Hosers", while you break open a new cold one and get hosed:

Top 10 English Bottled Beers

Here are the top ten English bottle beers to check out when you get the chance:

1) Newcastle Brown Ale: (1927) Currently considered to be the best selling bottled beer in Europe...famous for being the first Northern-style Brown Ale.

2) Bass Ale: (1777) From Burton-on-Trent. When dark stouts and porters were the most popular beers, William Bass set out to copy the London brewer Hodgson and make a pale coloured beer. There are two bottled versions available in Britain. The version called "Our Finest Ale" is the tastiest and closest version to the original. The version sent to America is blander and stronger than the British versions. There is also a Belgian version which is considered the best of the bottled beers carrying the Bass name.

3) Worthington White Shield: (1829) White Shield is now owned by Coors, though brewed at the mostly autonomous Museum Brewing Company. This is the genuine Burton Pale Ale and another brew produced in Burton-on-Trent.

4) Gale’s Prize Old Ale: Brewed in Hampshire, it has a “dried apricots in vinegar” flavor (motelpogo). Prize Old Ale is best had after it has aged 20 years.
5) Theakston’s Old Peculier: England’s best-known and most popular Old Ale.

6) Morland Old Speckled Hen: (1979) It was launched on the anniversary of the founding of the MG car factory (the beer's name refers to the old, mud spattered factory runabout which the locals dubbed “old speckled ‘un”).

7) Harvey’s Imperial Extra Double Stout: (1700's) Also known as A. le Coq Imperial Stout, it was named after a Belgian by the name of A. Le Coq who was the man in charge of exports of this beer to the Baltic region. The Courage Imperial Stout is rarely made - it hasn’t been brewed since the 1990’s, if you actually find a bottle it will cost you. There is an Estonian brewery, Tartu, that revived A. Le Coq’s Imperial Extra Double Stout. It is only brewed once a year, and then aged for two years before being sold to the public.

8) Robinson’s Old Tom : (1900's) It is an aged beer and has an oaky, wine quality. It can be close in style to a barley wine, but is more complex than that. This beer has won the Supreme Champion at the CAMRA Winter Beers 2000 festival award.

9) Wadworth 6X: (1920's) This brew still deliveres its beers around Devizes in a horse-drawn cart. Its a traditional bitter. Though the beer is big in the UK, it's not exported to America.

10) Mackeson Stout: From a Kent brewry, the XXX that is exported to America has a higher abv than the original British milk stout which is 3% abv. Because of its low strength, sweet taste and supposed nutritional value, Mackeson has long been a beer associated with little old ladies. (source: ratebeer.com)

Top 10 Aussie Beer TV Commercials

Here is a collection of the "Top Ten Australian Beer TV Commercials"...this collection of ad videos is about ten minutes long; what makes beer commercials so endearing to me is their great use of humor and the Australians tend to do this very well. Take a gander at these videos fron YouTube.Com and judge for yourself:

The Basic German Beer Brew Types

The Germans are all business when it comes to beer. They have the "national brewing laws" established in the year 1516 that specifies what goes into brewing recipes for beer. German brewers adhere to the Reinheitsgebothops ("purity order") dating from 1516 (and most recently updated in the Vorläufiges Biergesetz of 1993). Only hops, malt, water, and yeast are the ingredients. They have a "National Beer Day" which is celebrated every April 23rd. The Germans are behind only the Czechs and the Irish in their per capita consumption of beer.Germans produce about 10% of all the beer volume in the world, having 1200 breweries offering five to six thousand beer varieties (however the U.S. has the most breweries in the world numbering around 1500). So, here is the list of German beer brew types:

ALTBIER - from Dusseldorf / light- to medium-bodied beer with a hint of bitterness in the finish.
brand: Diebels

BERLINER WEISSE - from Berlin / tart, sour tasting wheat beer with a low alcohol content known as the "Champagne of German beers"
brand: Berliner Kindl Weisse or Schultheiss Berliner Weisse.

BOCK - from Munich / "granddaddy of German beers" is a full-bodied, rich, malty lager, dark in color, not bitter and fairly high in alcohol content...the varieties of bock are "Helles bock" (lighter than traditional bock and is medium-bodied with a gold to light amber color); "Doppelbock" (stronger version that is very full-bodied with a balanced bitterness); "Eisbock" (strongest type of bock, is chilled until ice crystals form on the beer and as a result is very concentrated and high in alcohol content after the ice is removed during the brewing process; its a very full-bodied beer with a high degree of sweetness)
brand: Franziskaner but Zology prefers Celabrator Doppelbock

DORTMUNDER - from Dortmund (a.k.a "export") / strong, pale lager with a good balance of hops and malt and a touch of sweetness, light- to medium-bodied beer, gold in color brand: Royal Fürstenberg or Henninger

MUNICH DUNKEL - from Munich / medium-bodied, dark, low to moderate alcohol content, high in malt, medium bitterness
brand: Erdinger Dunkel

WEIZENBIER - from South Germany (a.k.a "weissbier") / light- to medium-bodied wheat beer sometimes cloudy-looking in appearance; varieties are "Hefeweizen" (bottle- or keg-conditioned); "Dunkelweizen" (darker, stronger version, medium- to full-bodied taste); "Weizenbock" (stronger, medium- to full-bodied beer that can be light or dark in color)
brand: Erdinger

KöLSCH - from Köln (a.k.a Cologne ) / blonde, light to medium body, very fruity, acidic, medium bitterness
brand: Reissdorf

MäRZEN - Munich / medium-bodied lager, bitterness, high in alcohol content, amber color
brand: Paulaner Oktoberfest Märzen

HELLES - from Munich / caramel sweetness, mildly hopped, malty beer, golden in color
brand: Augustiner Helles.

PILS - national / flowery, medium-hop bouquet, dry, light to medium body
brand: Holsten or Astra

RAUCHBIER - from Bamberg, Northern Bavaria / smoke-flavored, dark and generally sweeter beer with low bitterness, dark amber color.
brand: Heller-Trum Aecht Schlenkerla Rauchbier.

Prost! (source: Askmen.com)

Top 10 World Beer Cup 2008 Medal Winners

The World Beer Cup is an international competition held every two years... this year 2,864 individual bottles of beer were entries, representing 58 countries: Although beers from 21 countries won medals, the USA (158 awards), Germany (25), Belgium (11), Japan (10), Australia (6) were the top five winners. There were 128 judges from all over the world, even countries without competitors in the contests. For more information on the winners, visit this page .
(source for this article: http://inventorspot.com/)

Best Beer 1.Best Classic English-Style Pale Ale: MacTarnahan's Amber Ale, Pyramid Breweries Inc., Seattle, WA, USA
Relatively new to MacTarnahan's repertoire of ales, its Amber Ale is made with fresh Cascade hops from the Northwest, making its flavor crisp and complex. Thus, it goes best with grilled or gamey meats and full-flavored fish. There were 35 entries in this category.

Best Beer 2. Best German-Style Pilsener: Trumer Pils, Trumer Brauerei Berkeley, Berkeley, CA, USA
Trumer Pils has a 400 year history, dating from the original family-owned Trumer Brauerei in Salzburg, Austria. It has carried both the brewing tradition and the original crisp, slightly tart taste with it through the centuries. It is made from imported malt and hops from Germany and Austria and is fermented with a propriety yeast. There were 72 entries in this category.

Best Beer 3. Best Belgian and French-Style Ale: Brugse Zot Blond, Brouwerij De Halve Maan, Brugge, Belgium
Don't let the fool on the bottle fool you. This Belgian ale has been a winner of many beer competitions over the years. Practically the national beer of Belgian, you can find Brugse Zot Blond served in many crepe and sandwich bars in Brugge. It has a sweet fruity flavor and is bubbly and light, with only six percent alchohol content. There were 37 entries in this category.

Best Beer 4. Best German-Style Dark Wheat Ale: Schneider Weisse Original, Schneider Weisse, Kelheim, Germany
The Schneider Weisse Original is spicy with the smell or clove and nutmeg and, according to the brewer, it is fresh, clean, full, harmonious and balanced. In the end it leaves an impression of slight, fine bitterness. There were 29 entries in this category.

Best Beer 5. Best American-Style Light Lager: Old Milwaukee Light, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL, USA
The beer that made Milwaukee famous has also been making the best light beer (light in calorie and carbs), according to beer raters. Milwaukee's Old Style Light is reported to have some taste of hops and malt; "refreshing" is the word reviewers most often used to describe it. Old Milwaukee Light has 113 calories and 7 grams of fat. There were 34 entries in this category.

Best Beer 6. Best American-Style Lager: Tooheys Extra Dry, Tooheys Pty Limited, Lidcombe, Australia
No, it's not Budweiser! Toohey's Extra Dry, known in Australia simply as Ted's, is a refreshing drink with not too much taste of hops, malt, or fruit, geared to young beer drinkers. Advertising is also geared toward the young and the ads are popular down under for some outlandishness, including its beer-addicted walking tongue. There were 48 entries in this category.

Best Beer 7. Best Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout: Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout, Third Street AleWorks, Santa Rosa , CA, USA
What? Better than Guinness? The Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout has won several top awards in the Irish stout category. The chocolate and caramel flavor is strong, but not overwhelming; some say there are hints of licorice and coffee. A full-bodied beer, it's poured black from the tap. There were 20 entries in this category.

Best Beer 8. Best Scottish-Style Ale: McGarveyʼs Scottish Ale, Oggi's / Left Coast Brewing Co., San Clemente, CA, USA
This ruddy ale has plenty of flavor without being heavy. Molasses add a nice sweet aftertaste. Left Coast Brewing says there's a tad bit of hops in the ale to keep the bitterness out. Good beer to drink by itself or with a grilled chicken or fish. There were 24 entries in this category.

Best Beer 9. Traditional German-Style Bock:Bock Lager, Elk Grove Brewery and Restaurant, Elk Grove, CA, USA
Interesting history about this German lager. The beer was firt made by Trappist monks to drink while fasting during lent. Just picture that!
The Elk Grove Brewery has an health assortment of brews, with its Bock Lager being one of its seasonal beers. The Elk Grove Bock Lager is described as a full-bodied, strong beer, with German style malts, having "a smooth, rich complexity not found in many beers. On tap in late January: limit is 3 pints. There were 21 competitors in this category.

Best Beer 10. Wood-and Barrel-aged Strong Beer: Paradox Grain, BrewDog, Fraserburgh, UK
This beer is a marriage of Scotland's greatest productions of whisky and stout. BrewDog partners with Duncan Taylor Ltd of Huntly, aging its Paradox Grain in the casks of some of the greatest whiskeys ever made. "The distinct flavours of these whiskies is beautifully infused into the beer giving a unique and unrivalled experience for both beer and whisky lovers." There were 14 entrees in this category.