October 27 National American Beer Day

donna

Brev. Brig. Gen'l
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Now Florida but always a Kentuckian
Today, October 27 is National American Beer Day. Beer has been around in America since 16oos. A timeline on the History of Beer in America is at:

http://www.beerinfo.com/index.php/pages/beerhistory.html

A few beer facts:

The oldest active brewery in America is D.G. Yuengling & Son. They have been brewing beer in Pottsville, Pennsylvania since 1829. The founder, David Yuengling carved aging cellars deep into the rocky hillside on which the brewery perched. Even during Prohibition they operated, making near beer (de-alcoholized beer). They are still family owned.

In 1895 the largest brewery in America was the Pabst Brewing Company of Milwaukee. The head of Pabst was Captain Frederick Pabst, a former Lake Michigan steamboat Captain. Near the end of the 19th century, the Pabst Brewery was turning out more than one million barrels of beer annually.

The first American brewery to sell beer in cans was G. Krueger Brewing Company of Newark, New Jersey in 1935. In that year only 25 percent of beer was packaged in bottles and cans. The rest was kegged. Today, about 90 percent of America's beer production is consumed from bottles and cans.

From: http://www.beerhistory.com/trivia.shtml
 
A great soup for Fall and using beer in the recipe is Beer Cheese Soup. This recipe came from the Coburg Inn in Coburg, Oregon.

Beer Cheese Soup

3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup celery, diced
1/2 cup flour
2 1/2 pints chicken stock
2 tablespoons parmesan cheese
1/2 cup carrot, diced
1/2 cup onion, diced
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
6 ounces cheddar cheese, grated
1 (11 ounce) bottle beer
salt and pepper to taste

Sauté vegetables in butter until done. But do not brown them.
Blend in flour, dry mustard, and chicken stock, cook 5 minutes.
Blend in cheddar cheese, parmesan cheese, and beer.
Let simmer 30 minutes.
Season with salt and pepper.

Makes 10 servings.
 
Authentic: Spruce Beer (1861) from "Civil War Recipes, Receipts from the Pages of Godey's Lady's Book".


"Allow an ounce of hops and a spoonful of ginger to a gallon of water. When well boiled, strain it and put in a pint of molasses, and half an ounce or less of the essence of spruce; when cool add a teacup of yeast, and put into a clean tight cask and let it ferment for a day or two, then bottle for use. You can boil the sprigs of spruce-fir in room of the essence."
 
On Sept. 1, 1862 the Federal government enacted a tax on beer. This was $1/ a barrel. It was enacted to help finance the war. In book, "Yuengling: A History of America's Oldest Brewery" by Mark A. Noon, it talks about the Civil War and Yuengling. The brewery paid this tax. Mr Yuengling was also involved in fund raising for the war.

A good article on Beer and the Civil War is at:

http://allaboutbeer.com/the-civil-war-effects-on-american-beer/
 
Today, October 27 is National American Beer Day. Beer has been around in America since 16oos. A timeline on the History of Beer in America is at:

http://www.beerinfo.com/index.php/pages/beerhistory.html

A few beer facts:

The oldest active brewery in America is D.G. Yuengling & Son. They have been brewing beer in Pottsville, Pennsylvania since 1829. The founder, David Yuengling carved aging cellars deep into the rocky hillside on which the brewery perched. Even during Prohibition they operated, making near beer (de-alcoholized beer). They are still family owned.

In 1895 the largest brewery in America was the Pabst Brewing Company of Milwaukee. The head of Pabst was Captain Frederick Pabst, a former Lake Michigan steamboat Captain. Near the end of the 19th century, the Pabst Brewery was turning out more than one million barrels of beer annually.

The first American brewery to sell beer in cans was G. Krueger Brewing Company of Newark, New Jersey in 1935. In that year only 25 percent of beer was packaged in bottles and cans. The rest was kegged. Today, about 90 percent of America's beer production is consumed from bottles and cans.

From: http://www.beerhistory.com/trivia.shtml
If you ever get the chance to tour the Yuengling brewery, it's quite interesting as is the town of Pottsville.
 
Had one occasion to sample Yeungling. Yuck.

Guess I'm addicted to cheap beer. Used to splurge with Beck's, but since Bud bought them, it's turned.
 
The microbrewery is booming big around these parts. One just opened up in an old brick warehouse down the road, as a matter of fact. It's been doing well. In Oregon, the breweries pop up like mushrooms but unfortunately they're starting to lose their unique identities and recipes - the big companies are buying them up!

Back in the day we used to go all the way to Oregon over the mountains to get a six-pack of Coors - only sold in Oregon. Buck fifty and we thought that was a lot for beer! :rofl:

Old, old time brewery stories...During the Great Sioux Uprising, one German beer meister was in the habit of giving the tribe 'samples'. When they hit the war path, the angel of death passed over August Schell of New Ulm! (His neighbors...not so much...) I believe his brewery is still in business to this day.

Here is a link to the brewery's history:

http://schellsbrewery.com/about-schells/history/
 
Now there's a holiday I can get behind !

Beer is Oregon's defacto state drink (after maybe coffee but just before wine). Other than cost I don't know why anybody here would drink something like Bud; nasty stuff to me. We've got one local brewery that has over thirty taps and styles. Another will custom brew your recipe and keep it on tap for you. It's a good place if you like beer.
 
For all of you who like fried onion Rings, Beer Batter Onion Rings.

1 cup flour
1 cup beer
2 large onions (Vidalia if you have them)
vegetable oil for frying

Put the flour into a bowl and make a well in the center.
Pour the beer into the well and whisk unit combined.
Let rest, covered for 1 hour.
Peel onions and cut crosswise 1/3 inch thick and separate into rings.
Dust the onion rings with the additional flour, shaking off the excess, and coat them with the batter.
Working in batches, fry the onion rings in 2 inches of preheated 370 degrees oil until they are golden.
Transfer them to paper towels to drain and sprinkle them with salt.

We like to have them with Ranch Dressing or Buttermilk Dressing. They are so tasty.
 
Now there's a holiday I can get behind !

Beer is Oregon's defacto state drink (after maybe coffee but just before wine). Other than cost I don't know why anybody here would drink something like Bud; nasty stuff to me. We've got one local brewery that has over thirty taps and styles. Another will custom brew your recipe and keep it on tap for you. It's a good place if you like beer.

Bend has 10 Barrel brewery - they have a seasonal lemon beer called Swill! It's not meant to be a connoisseur's beer but it's pleasant none the less and different! Used to be Bud was semi-decent but now it all tastes very yuck! Think they bought Deschutes, didn't they? Hope they don't change the recipes like they did their own... :thumbsdown:

P S
Used to very much enjoy Rogue Ales when they were down on the creek in Ashland. Now they've roved far astray and may never come home! But I still like their hefeweizen:
 
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Bend has 10 Barrel brewery - they have a seasonal lemon beer called Swill! It's not meant to be a connoisseur's beer but it's pleasant none the less and different! Used to be Bud was semi-decent but now it all tastes very yuck! Think they bought Deschutes, didn't they? Hope they don't change the recipes like they did their own... :thumbsdown:

P S
Used to very much enjoy Rogue Ales when they were down on the creek in Ashland. Now they've roved far astray and may never come home! But I still like their hefeweizen:

Rogue-MoM-Hefe.jpg

Ten Barrel is the one that was bought by Bud; Deschutes remains majority-owned by the family that started it although they now have an employee stock option too. I went to Deschutes when it first opened and it's still a good place. We ate there a few weeks ago on our way back from Yellowstone. Way different now than back in the day !

Rogue, though now made over on the coast, still makes some good beer although I rarely drink it, preferring some other truly local makers. We used to go there a lot before the big flood and when they were the only ones. Lots of friends used to play there too but it got way too crowded and noisy and they started getting head-banger groups so we just moved on to other choices when the options started expanding.

And I, too, love well-made onion rings. I'm picky about 'em though. I think I'll give donna's recipe a try; I've never actually made them myself and it looks like something I could do. I wonder how blue cheese dressing would taste with them ? Thanks for putting that thought into my head @donna !
 
Ten Barrel is the one that was bought by Bud; Deschutes remains majority-owned by the family that started it although they now have an employee stock option too. I went to Deschutes when it first opened and it's still a good place. We ate there a few weeks ago on our way back from Yellowstone. Way different now than back in the day !

Rogue, though now made over on the coast, still makes some good beer although I rarely drink it, preferring some other truly local makers. We used to go there a lot before the big flood and when they were the only ones. Lots of friends used to play there too but it got way too crowded and noisy and they started getting head-banger groups so we just moved on to other choices when the options started expanding.

And I, too, love well-made onion rings. I'm picky about 'em though. I think I'll give donna's recipe a try; I've never actually made them myself and it looks like something I could do. I wonder how blue cheese dressing would taste with them ? Thanks for putting that thought into my head @donna !

Ah, I got them mixed up! Thanks! I think Bud's a little shifty for dissing microbrews in their commercials then buying them up... :laugh: Those onion rings sound simple and delicious - I'll bet they'd go very well with the Cinder Cone red ale.
 
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