A post on Jezebel.com this week titled “Chick Beer: Ugh, Really?” called the concept “offensive” in reference, perhaps, to the sales pitch on Chick Beer’s website: “We love Chick Flicks, Chick Lit, and now we can love Chick Beer!! Enjoy!”

The upstart from Maryland is the latest brewer to try and lure female beer swiggers with promises of low-calorie, smoother, lighter and less carbonated brews to prevent the pesky side effects of bloating.

Carlsberg and Molson Coors also recently launched girlie beers, with Copenhagen and Animee respectively. Copenhagen is a wheat malt and rice-based beer, while Animee is described as a “lightly sparkling and finely filtered” beer that also comes in pink ‘rose’ and zesty lemon flavors.

Chick Beer also donates five percent of all profits to charities that empower women.

For instance, when I was asked about the kegerator a customer just purchased, I realized that there probably are more people out there who have the same questions.  So, I wrote a report and published it on the site.  Then, I wrote an article to let everyone know that I wrote the report.

That’s about the time the second question came in about keeping beer lines clean.  Then, about home brew recipes.  So, I kept writing reports to help people and I kept writing articles to make people more aware.

It started out as a big gaggle of reports that I finally organized into a Learning Center that is now populated with great stuff.  From Home Brew Tips and Tricks to DIY Home Bar Projects, I keep adding to the learning center.  But, I’m always willing to hear what you want to know.  I have a form for questions at http://www.beertaps.com/contact.html

But, the recent interactive is the forum I created.  It’s easier than a report to write a simple answer.  Some answers aren’t as involved as putting an entire article together with pictures and everything.  So, I populated the forum with a few items.  But, it’s new.

I’d love to see some people on there soon.  Start some topics and get some feedback.  How else do you expect a forum to get started?

http://brewdrinker.com/thepub/

Hope to see you there!

What?  You’re not making beer for Thanksgiving?  You don’t have a home brew that you make special for Thanksgiving?

Well, how weird is that?

It must not be a tradition everyone shares.  But, see if you can relate to any of these:

• Sitting on the couch and eating Thanksgiving while watching football.
• Same thing…sitting on the recliner with a food tray.
• Saying, “It’s not worth it.  We’re going to a restaurant.”
• I ordered Pizza and Wings one year…

That was the year I had just finished my home bar and I made my first home brew for our New Happy Thanksgiving Tradition. 

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving and enjoys their own traditions, whatever they may be!

Now we all know that back way way in the olden days, home beer brewing was a major and accepted pastime practiced by the colonial people. One thing you might not know that even famous people such as the Great George Washington was an avid home beer brewer, as was Thomas Jefferson and friends!

During the prohibition, no one was allowed to brew their own drinks at home. A penalty of one thousand dollars was imposed on those who were caught – and back then one thousand dollars went a long way. Either that or they were sentenced one year imprisonment. Everybody had to content with a watered down lifeless beer – well not really beer but something which was a very poor substitute for it. Nothing substantially alcoholic was allowed and few took efforts in making their drinks less alcoholic but tasty. Thirsty daring beer lovers stealthily bought ingredients and beer brewing equipment. Some very enterprising shop owners found ways of selling them without associating them with beer making or anything about beer at all. Beer ingredients, after all, are as normal as other ingredients – grains, yeast, etcetera, and the equipment – buckets, vats, what really is there to question when they are put up for sale? The situation varied from state to state. In some states, only those selling home brews were caught while in some, brewing for personal consumption also meant facing legal charges. And since ingredients and materials had to be sold and bought discreetly, there really was nothing much to experiment on. Those years could probably be considered the dark ages for home brewing.

In 1935, the law was improvised a bit. Home wine making was allowed without taxes but to brew beer, the interested party must first secure permits and comply with regulations. But despite the heavy regulations, some beer advocates pooled their efforts to promote home brewing. One of the greats in the field, Charlie Papazian first entered the scenario during this time and taught home brewing classes. However, government maintained that unregulated home brewing was still unlawful as any type of brewing could still be employed by moonshiners.

Jimmy carter was responsible for lifting prohibition and giving home brewers the opportunity to brew beer in their American homes without any problems. Today, there are over 1,463 breweries in the United States, a much improved American home brewing state… this is much to the efforts off Jimmy in 1978… bless his soul!

American Home Brewing is alive and booming today, so naturally it’s time to sit down, relax, and enjoy a home brew. For those still not up to speed with home brewing beer, follow the link to discover more!

It is advisable for you to ask someone who works at the shop to help you if you need clarifications regarding home brewing products. Some kits will allow you to brew a small batch such as 5 gallons, and others will allow you to brew much larger batches (for the more experienced)… so before you start buying equipment willy nilly, decide on how much beer you would like to brew and that will determine what equipment you will need.

Second, your home brew supplies must include buckets for fermenting and bottling. Your fermenting bucket must have an airlock so that bacteria and oxygen cannot get into your supply of unfermented beer. It is recommended for your bottling bucket to have a spigot because the spigot makes it easier to transfer the beer from the bottling bucket to the beer bottles or beer keg – if bottles are too much of a hassle for you. You may also use kettles and various pots for brewing, boiling and mashing the ingredients for your homemade beer.

In addition to the above, you need a siphon in order to transfer your fermented beer from the fermenting bucket to your bottling bucket. Automatic siphons are good home brew supplies because they are more sanitary than non-automatic ones. Quality cappers and caps are also items that you should add to your home brewing kits.

Then there are your actual ingredients to make the beer that you desire, as without these basic building blocks, you have the capacity to brew nothing at all. Apart from the basic ingredients off yeast, water, hops, and malt… you might like to experiment with different flavorings such as chili, or licorice to really spice things up and create a truly unique brew!

A couple of other essential items to have in our home brewing kit is a thermometer and hydrometer. The best thermometer is one that sticks to your fermentation bucket from the outside, allowing you to check on the beer’s temperature as you go through the fermentation process. The hydrometer is of-course to determine your freshly brewed beer’s alcoholic content.

Then most importantly, the proper cleansers and sanitizes to clean all of your equipment before you use it. Even the slightest microbe to infect your beer will result in a bung batch… so be thorough and follow the instruction.

In sum, brewing your own beer can be a whole lot of fun… but before you can engage in it you must know the 101 on home brew supplies.

If you want to home brew beer, then you better have the correct home brewery supplies and equipment. Miss out on the essentials and you will have a random set off undesirables good for nothing!

Typically, people make small home brews, and so if you are planning on making a large home brew, then there are several pointers that you are absolutely going to want to take into consideration.

Most people only plan on making a large home brew if they are having a lot of people over or if they are planning to store most of the brew away so that they can use it in the future, and both of these reasons are acceptable. For any other reasons you would probably be best just to stick with making smaller more frequent brews.

As with most other things in life, the bigger you want something to be, the more time and effort it takes. The same principle applies to home brewing. Therefore, make sure that you have the basic processed down to an art before making a large brew to avoid wasting your time and efforts.

Another thing that you are going to want to think about before making a large home brew is the fact of whether you have the space to do it. As with a small home brew, a large home brew can be made in a standard sized kitchen. The difference with a making a large home brew is that you may have to temporarily clear out of the way any none essential items.

Assess the amount of space that you have available on the countertops, in the sink and in the fridge. Spend a few minutes maximizing the space available for your large home brew as moving things out of the way whilst you are in the process of brewing could cause you to lose your concentration and make a mistake.

You basically have 2 options should you unfortunately not have the required amount of space available to you; either you should stick to making smaller brews so that you have more free space to work with, or find a friend or family members home during those one or two times that you need to make an especially large brew.

In terms of the actual brewing process, it is exactly the same to make a large brew as it is to make a small one. Just make sure that you increase the quantities of the ingredients in equal measures.

An awesome hobby that is a lot of fun is making homemade wine. Imagine the feeling you would get by opening a bottle of your very own homemade wine and finding that you have made something that tastes better than a lot of more expensive wines. Making wine is definitely fun, but be prepared because there are some things to learn first.

Before beginning your wine making endeavor, there are some important things that you need to have a real understanding of. There are plenty of experts, websites and books where you can learn the basics and nuances of wine making. There are a lot of places where you can pick up all the equipment needed at reasonable prices both online and at a brick and mortar.

Utilizing a wine kit is most likely the best way to begin making wine at home. These kits make it easier for beginners to succeed.

Ingredients for wine making are something that are a little more delicate in nature than the equipment. It is important to get quality ingredients if you wish to make a higher quality wine, but you can also make wine from juice concentrate!

Different wine varietals will take a different time to process, but usually the time span is anywhere between eight and ten weeks. It is essential that you do not spoil your wine by drinking it too early, wine tastes better the longer it ages.

To find tasty recipes for homemade wine you can look in all places like websites and books and find recipes for wine from cherry wine to pinot grigio. A great idea for your wine is to give it as gifts and tailor the taste for that person. For a wine lover, nothing is better as a gift than some personalized wine.

An essential part of the experience of making homemade wine is the packaging. The bottle on down to the cork and even the wine label will give your wine that special va-va-voom. In fact, wine labels are the best way to personalize your wine.

The wine label will give one the overall impression of the wine. Wine labels are used for logos, the name of the wine and putting personal messages on the bottle that is used as a gift. Sounds like so much fun!

Making your own alcoholic drinks is something that everyone should. Not only is it fun, but it doesn’t take up much time or space. Usually one burner on your stove will be enough space, except for storage, and in about two hours, up to five gallons of home brew can be in the keg or ready for bottling.

Those getting into the hobby of home brewing their own alcoholic beverages may want to consider joining a home brew club, geared toward the type of home brew in which they are the most interested. Whether your beverage of choice is beer, wine or grain alcohol, and regardless of where in the country you reside, there is going to be a home brew club to match your interest.

Many times people follow directions for so long they tend to ignore the possibility there are other ways of doing things. Different methods and different ingredients can be used to achieve a whole range of different results. By joining a home brew club, you will access to the successful methods and ingredients that other home brewers have come across. The associations are designed for this type of sharing as well as gathering and sharing their finished products as well as discussing potential legal issues surrounding the home brewing industry.

You will be able to ask questions to more experienced brewers and run ideas past them to see if they think a particular technique will work before you try it yourself. Others in the home brew club may have already tried and failed and can offer advice on how to do things correctly.

Though competition is intense amongst experienced home brewers, newcomers are welcomed with open arms. Sharing knowledge and experience is part of the home brew club culture. Whether beer, wine or straight alcohol, sharing tips with new brewers are what some of the more experienced brewers do best.

Many times a home brew club will have local competitions where members can enter their brews to be judged. You will be going up against some pretty experienced people should you enter but do not let that put you off. This is one type of competition in which taking part is truly more important than winning. You are guaranteed to have great time!

“Beer” is the casual term used to describe a cold refreshing alcoholic beverage made of malt and hops. However, beer lovers around the world will heartily agree that there’s nothing generic about beer.

When it comes to types of beer, there are many, many options to choose from. It’s impossible to say which type is best, because they all have very different characteristics. You’d be surprised at how a pilsner can differ from a porter, or how a stout stands out from a cider.

The method of brewing tends to be somewhat similar for most commercially produced beers. However, the names given to different styles of beer generally reflect individual characteristics of the product, such as where it originated. Taste, appearance and aroma are just some of the qualities that make different beers unique.

Some common favorites include these:

Lager: Some of the most popular types of beer are lagers. These include American styles including basic lager, all-malt lager, light lager, double pilsner, malt liquor and low-alcohol or “light” beers. Germany and the Czech Republic are seen as the international leaders in the production of them.

Ale: This includes brown ale, American amber, porter and wild ales. Also falling under the category of “Ales” are Chile Beer, Pumpkin Ale, Belgian and French ales, English, German, Irish, Finnish, Scottish and Russian ales.

Cider: Not a beer in the strictest sense of the word but most beer drinkers wouldn’t mind it being called so. Favorites include standard cider, New England cider and many specialty ciders.

Hybrids: This term refers to experimental brewing methods and ingredients. Berbed, smoked, fruit and vegetable beer and spiced beer are all types of hybrids.

Those are the essentials that every serious beer drinker should have already ticked off their beer list. If you’re a beer drinker, you’re likely loyal to a tried and true brand, but remember that variety is the spice of life. Next time you’re in a beer drinking mood, try something different!.