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Welcome to The Beer Channel.

Our mission is to provide you with quality information through news, interviews, and other media regarding the wonderful and exciting world of brewmasters and craft brewing.

We do on-location filming, advertising, networking, and merchandising for breweries, brewmasters, and homebrew hobbyists. Currently, we have three distinct shows in production – Have Beer, Will Travel, Bru Appetit, and The Beer Garden. As they are edited we will be placing them here on the site and on public broadcasting. Feel free to drop us a line and check back frequently for new video content.

Questions? Wanna get involved?

contact us at : thebeerchannel@gmail.com

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Here we go…

So we have decided to release, exclusively on the site, some of the interviews prior to releasing the entire show. We really want to spotlight the brewers here, and, why wait? Check out the Brewmaster Spotlight link to watch what we got.

We are also going to begin brewpub and brewery reviews. Think you got what it takes to be the best? We’ll come peep it out and let it be known what’s really goin’ on at your spot!

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Hop Headlines -

articles of relevence – some ours and some we felt that were worth mentioning from other sources.

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New Belgium Brewing Gets ‘Hopped Up’

In what can only be described as a case of “hoppy trails,” New Belgium Brewing Co. is this week launching Ranger India Pale Ale — a hoppier-than-usual offering from the nation’s third-largest craft brewer, and one that owes its inception (and its advertising “stars”) to its road team, a/k/a sales force.

“The request to get something ‘hoppy’ into our portfolio came from our ‘Beer Rangers,’ which is our affectionate name for our sales force,” reveals New Belgium director of public relations Bryan Simpson.

Consumer demand for hops-heavy brews is a well-established trend on the West Coast and a growing phenomenon elsewhere, but Belgian beers generally aren’t hoppy — leaving an untapped niche for Fort Collins, Colo.-based New Belgium, the “Rangers” pointed out, explains Simpson.

The name genesis of the new ale (an “IPA,” in brewer terminology) is obvious. But the marketing campaign supporting its launch from Denver-based Cultivator Advertising & Design has some surprises, even for diehard New Belgium aficionados. Some might venture to term it entertainingly tongue-in-cheek, if not an outright barrel of laughs.

The campaign theme — taglined “New Belgium Beer Ranger. To Protect. To Pour. To Partake” — is being communicated in true integrated fashion … one twist being the use of the brewer’s own sales road warriors (male and female) as the “Beer Rangers” actually featured in the advertising.

Clad in scout-like tan-and-olive uniforms complete with wide-brimmed hats, kerchiefs and gaiters, the Rangers appearing in print ads, online, POS materials and funky on-premises promotions pull off that “mountie” attitude (in addition to being, presumably, cost-effective).

And they do so even as they’re pictured standing next to fat-tired bikes, rather than the expected trusty equine partners — the bikes that are a signature for the employee-owned brewer, reflecting its commitment to sustainable practices ranging from encouraging biking as a transportation mode to use of wind power to recycling/ reusing/composting 73% of its waste stream.

The Ranger IPA campaign is employing back covers and two-sided inserts (breaking in February) in national magazines including Rolling Stone, Outside, Wired, Bike and Dirt Rag as well as single pages in local weeklies across New Belgium’s 26-state territory. That territory includes liquor and grocery stores and bars/restaurants in all states west of the Mississippi except Louisiana, Oklahoma and Utah, plus Wisconsin, Illinois, Indiana, Tennessee, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia east of The Big Muddy.

According to Simpson, magazine/print ads are a fairly standard marketing component for New Belgium, which currently offers eight year-round craft brands (including Ranger) plus four regular seasonal releases and four special/more “challenging” releases (dubbed “Lips of Faith” varieties) each year.

Gung-ho account efforts by New Belgium’s sales force are also de rigueur — although enthusiasm borne of the Rangers’ unusually direct roles in product inception/featured ad icons, plus strong initial retail reception, may be pumping up the volume, suggests Simpson, alluding to numerous blind comparison taste tests as one example.

On-premises events for patrons likewise aren’t new for New Belgium (or pretty much any brewer or spirits distiller). But for Ranger IPA, the antics include real-live Rangers hitting the bars to deputize “honorary” Rangers willing to stick their heads through a cut-out hole in a life-size Beer Ranger canvas for a souvenir photo.

Ranger IPA’s launch also features the first brand microsite launched by the now 19-year-old brewing company, which was started out of a home basement by Jeff Lebesch and Kim Jordan. (Jordan is the company’s current CEO; Lebesch recently retired.)

The microsite (newbelgium.com/rangerland) spotlights a video starring real New Belgium sales Rangers jiving to a hip-hop theme — a theme created by the Rangers themselves, according to Simpson. It also includes an invitation to friend New Belgium on Facebook, and a cut-and-paste Ranger Yourself”? function (your headshot on a Ranger body, uploaded to your wall). More practically, a locator tool points users toward the nearest places to find Ranger IPA.

“Our brands are obviously among our strongest assets, so we support them with significant marketing resources” while hewing to the brewer’s hip, offbeat identity, says Simpson. Cases in point include brewery tours featuring storytelling (in addition to tastings) and the hotly contested “Skinny Dip for a Cause” contest (environmental groups vying for New Belgium online fans’ votes to win a $10,000 brewer-sponsored grant).

New Belgium, which has annual sales exceeding $100 million, sold 573,000 barrels of beer across its brands last year, the company reports.

- story by Karlene Lukovitz

Mediapost.com

http://tinyurl.com/y8kebc7

Goose Island Brewery Announces New Beers For 2010

Just after releasing their new “sustainable” beer, Green Line Pale Ale, Chicago’s very own Goose Island Brewery announced Wednesday that they are also unveiling six new beers in 2010.

On Wednesday, Goose Island announced that 2010 would bring new six beers and two re-releases, “setting a record for new products in one year,” Time Out reports.

Beer lovers can look forward to a new version of their Bourbon County Brand Stout in March. The beer is aged in bourbon barrels and incorporates another Chicago company- Intelligentsia -by adding an infusion of their Black Cat espresso.

Goose fans can expect light and fruity additions this summer, including Madame Rose (made with tart Belgian cherries) and Lolita (made with raspberries).

Also coming soon? Bourbon County Vanilla Stout, Rare Bourbon County Stout (to be aged in 25-year-old Pappy Van Winkle bourbon barrels), Night Stalker and a re-release of the dangerous Demolition.

The brewery has also been working toward a more sustainable beer-brewing model–using local farms for fruit infusions and taking many steps to making Green Line as “green” as possible. Time Out reports:

In order to go green, Goose Island traced a 312 keg’s carbon footprint, and with that information, they implemented a slew of green initiatives timed with the debut of Green Line, including investing in a new grain mill; investing in local hops (for now, the beer uses northwest coast hops); reducing natural gas usage in the brewery; and reducing the amount of energy and malt-use.

While it remains to be seen how these beers will sell, Goose Island continues to grow in popularity. Last we checked, the brewery was the 23rd largest beer producer.

- story from Huffington Post

http://tinyurl.com/yasbqgd

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The Brew Review

Here it comes – The Beer Channel puttin’ things in perspective . TBC’s own Nathan Moya digs deep into the souls of our favorites and brings ‘em to ya on the real.

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Old Rasputin Russian Stout -

North Coast Brewing Company – Fort Bragg, CA.

http://www.northcoastbrewing.com/

It’s been said that Rasputin, the Russian mystic, was able to discredit the government of Tsar Nicholas II, thus bringing down the Romanov dynasty in 1917. And it’s been said that Rasputin was called a “holy man” and “religious prophet” by both the tsar and his lovely wife, Tsaritsa Alexandra.

Even more, it’s been said that Tsaritsa Alexandra believed that God almighty spoke through her beloved Rasputin, the devout Man of God. And it’s also been said that Tsarevich Alexei, the young son of Mr. Tsar and Mrs. Tsaritsa, suffered from hemophilia and that Rasputin the healer was able to attenuate the young boy’s pain through prayer.

And finally, it’s been said that Rasputin was practically immortal, suffering from poison, four shots to the body (including one to the forehead), abominable beatings and castration, before finally dying from drowning in the Neva River.

Well, there’s been many things said about many people, and all I know is that evidence leads me to believe that none of the above matters much to my implacable taste buds, because Old Rasputin, the one-of-a-kind Russian Imperial Stout from North Coast Brewery, is insanely delicious.

Pour and Color:

There aren’t many beers that get my rocks off just from pouring its contents into a glass, but this, my dear friends, gives me shivers. To use “pour” is almost derogatory, because it’s like the beer walks seductively on ebony legs instead. The color is dark brown to black, and light has no chance of squeezing its way through the beer’s opacity. A nice two-fingered tan head stayed for a few minutes, then relaxed into a subtle, cappuccino-like crema on top. Lacing stayed throughout the entire beer, and if given a light twirl, a thicker head would easily form again.

Smell:

The aroma is a very strong and complex yet balanced array of coffee, roasted malts, chocolate, fruityness/sweetness from the hops, and, of course, our friend, Al Co Hall. Even more impressive than the complexity is that the various scents seem to linger in the nose, which adds to the overall strength.

Taste:

If a beer is ever going to be called sexy, this is it. Yes, it is very strong (9% ABV), but, after a couple of sips, you’ve been placated enough, and each sip is increasingly smoother than the previous one. It’s rich, with the first tastes being heavy on dark chocolate malts. As this dissipates, you begin to taste the coffee and espresso flavors with a bit of sweetness. Then the fruity flavor from the hops (75 IBU) kicks in, stays on the palette for a long time, and balances out the sweetness and malts.

Mouthfeel:

The beer starts out subtle and soft, but then it becomes heavy, creamy and silky. It is probably average carbonation for Imperial Stouts, and has a density similar to milk (might be good in your breakfast cereal, eh!).

Drinkability:

I wouldn’t say this beer is as heavy as some Imperial Stouts, making it easier to have another after the first. The flavor itself makes me want drink about ten of these every time I have one, and sometimes I even think about bowing down to the beer.  At 9% ABV you might want be take it slow, caress your brain and walking abilities, and drink just a couple.

Final Notes:

I had this beer with baked chicken in white wine and balsamic vinegar, with green bell pepper, onion, and eggplant. I used garlic powder, pepper, and cumin for spices. On the side was a dish of red lentils and brown rice, cooked in water and a hint of tomato sauce. The beer worked very well with this dish, and neither the flavors from the beer or the food took over. It was a wonderful meal.

- this review dedicated to @Homebrewchef – Mr. Sean Paxton. Thanks for your time, Sean.