Last Sunday, a friend of mine posted on Twitter that he was frustrated by an experience he had while at a restaurant at the Mall of America. He was put off by a “buttery” flavor in the pint of beer he ordered. This “buttery” off-flavor found in beer, known chemically as diacetyl, is a natural byproduct of fermentation, which at high levels, can impart a buttery flavor. However, this buttery off-flavor can sometimes be attributed to unclean draft lines. After posting a few responses to my friend Scott’s unfortunate experience, Dave Berg–brewer at Schell’s Brewery in New Ulm–inspired me to establish a new hashtag, in the spirit of the #MNcleanpint competition, that addresses my friend’s frustration.

Sure, a venue with “beer clean” glassware is making an effort to provide drinking receptacles that allow a beer drinker to enjoy the brew as a brewer intended, with its wonderful lacing adorning the glass. But what happens when a venue doesn’t make enough of an effort to regularly clean its draft lines?

I am fortunate to have many friends who are craft beer aficionados, many of whom are certified beer judges and avid homebrewers. A few years ago, while still new to my journey into craft beer, I would tell these friends when I had a bad experience at a restaurant or bar with an unsavory beer. My friends would be quick to let me know that an unsavory beer should not reflect poorly on the brewery; a venue may not have taken the proper quality control measures to ensure my experience was enjoyable. Had I not bothered to tell my beer friends about my bad experience, I may have written off that entire brewery, unaware that it was not the way a brewer intended the beer to taste, but rather poor quality control at a venue.

In an effort to prevent similar experiences from happening to craft beer drinkers–both the neophytes who may be exploring a brewery’s offerings for the first time and the seasoned craft beer die-hards–I proposed last Sunday night via Twitter:

Perhaps the Twin Cities should start a hashtag for venues not taking care of their draft lines. #TCdirtylines should do the trick, right?

Taking it one step further, I put forward that we should reward those venues with clean lines using #TCcleanlines. Let’s use these hashtags to help inform others of the efforts a bar or restaurant makes to ensure that we craft beer drinkers always get the same level of quality control, no matter the venue. Our experience with a brewery’s beers should be the same, whether we’re enjoying it from a can or bottle at home, or on draft at a bar.

Are you up to the challenge?

What is your favorite beer style? Currently, mine is a toss-up between gueuze and American wild ale.

The taxation on malted beverages hasn’t changed in Oregon for 32 years. Currently, the state is battling with budgets and requires funding for alcoholism prevention and treatment programs. The bill explains that alcoholism and other substance abuse costs the state $4.15 billion in lost earnings, as well as $8 million in healthcare costs.

According to Representative Ben Cannon, consumers should expect a modest price increase of 15-cents on 12 ounce glasses, and 90-cents on six-packs of beer. However, brewers are warning that in order to keep price margins constant, the cost to distributors will increase, who will in-turn raise prices for consumers.

Prior versions of the bill had exemptions for breweries that produced under 200,000 barrels per year, the most recent version of the bill does not discriminate.

Story Highlights

• Busch will remove caffeine and other stimulants from its alcoholic energy drinks
• Attorneys general found Busch was marketing the alcoholic beverages to minors
• Anheuser-Busch to pay $200,000 to states that investigated the brewer’s practices
• Bud Extra and Tilt “met all regulatory requirements,” read a statement from brewer

Each beer tells many stories:

• How a beer style originated
• Why a certain region brews a beer
• What the different styles of beers mean and why / how they differ from one another
• Why a a person decided to make a brewery

Many beers (or at least the original styles) are older than much of modern Western civilization. So, what better to study and appreciate than a beer?

I have began the journey to learn as much as possible about beers, the varieties, styles, and the ingredients, so I can eventually release a collaborative project with the intention of creating a community discussion around beer. Recommendations, descriptions, where to buy/find, breweries, and food pairings- all these things are eventual hopeful sections within the site.

So, I decided that I needed to create a list to chart which beers I’ve actually had. I thought that it’s best to start at the most basic level. From there, I hope to create pages for each beer, brewery, and type. But even by having a list, it’s already shed light on some great new avenues Mike and I hadn’t considered. First, the sheer number of different beers we’ve actually had. Second, the crazy world of corporate brewing (as you can see with the lists we created subdivided by brewery). I didn’t realize until recently that SABMiller, inBev, and CoorsMiller are edging ever-closer to a worldwide beer hegemony.

Yes, to many it may sound superficial and sophomoric to be even bringing world politics and global economic systems into discussion surrounding something as commonplace and oft-underestimated as beer. However, ask me anything you’d like about beer, and why I decided to embark upon this journey with Mike to create a site centered around beer. I can tell you. This site is far from complete, and the URL is unknown to all save a small quorum of close friends who are coders and significant others. But when this site finally reaches fruition (hopefully by the end of the summer) and goes into beta testing, please let me know if you’re interested.

I do know many people are interested in beer, more than just the standard “American” beers: Miller, Coors, and Bud. Some are even as interested as I am, and have quite a bit of personal knowledge about beers, breweries, and trips to Europe/Asia/Latin America where the beers are much different. That is why Mike and I originally began working on this project- to create an educated-yet-casual-dialog about beer, where people can join an online, organic movement to share the knowledge they’ve gained over the years with other beer aficionados, or people who just want to know a little more about beer.