Check, Please

The following is a subject I haven't paid any mention to, nor even thought about, in quite some time. The subject I speak of it Untappd check-ins and believe it or not, is quite the scandal when said check-ins are automatically posted to social media feeds.

I find (by just observing he feeds of others) that the auto-posting of these things are an annoyance. Not to me personally, but it seems as if they are to the majority of people on social media. It's mostly for this reason that I've decided to refrain from posting mine to my Twitter feed.

That's not news since I haven't posted on to the other side in months, but what might be considered as such is the decision I've made recently to stop it entirely. After all, aren't those that even care about our beer more informed/interested/intrigued by a posting of a photograph? Now, by photograph I don't mean through the Untappd posting. I mean just a straight picture with a witty remark or something.

This brewer has got A LOT better with this

Now, on to the next issue at hand and something that does bug me personally. Even if those of us have found ways to weed out those whose feeds are all Untappd check-ins some of our favorite breweries have caused our plans to blow up in our faces by retweeting those that check-in to their beers and post them to social media. Nobody wins.

A few breweries have improved through being reminded that doing it annoys some of us. Thus, some feeds have been improve to actual interesting feeds with content and not just retweets of who is drinking their beer.

I think we've made it past the stage of dealing with the posted check-ins. Now, it's time for this order of business.

An End That's Nigh

Yes we have plenty of craft beer trends that are out there. We also have such trends in social media. One of the most popular and visible out there is the boatload of Untappd check-ins that get posted to social media accounts on a daily basis.

Something I've noticed over the past few months is that more and more people are filtering them out of their feeds via certain applications that have such a feature. I brought up the point on Twitter late last week, in terms of the end of Untappd check-ins posted to Twitter feeds and got an interesting response from someone.

@burghbeersnob nope, never going to happen, sparks too many awesome beer convos for me to stop.
— Bub(@BubOhioBeer) March 8, 2013

That's actually an interesting take on the issue. If used correctly, (i.e. not posting every single check-in to Twitter without adding thoughts and opinions) posting some check-ins to your feed can encourage good beer discussion with other users.

So, I no longer think the issue is whether or not the death of Untappd check-ins is imminent. It's whether or not more people will filter them out of their timelines and create an even bigger void that your possible beer discussion is reaching.

Another Piece of the Puzzle

As Elaine Benes of Seinfeld fame would say, "And another piece of the puzzle falls into place." This new Dogfish/Sierra Nevada IPA glass keeps taking odder turns by the day. I don't particularly care for it or for the fact that its creators are hailing it as the new standard for drinking IPA's. Then again, I'm a really stubborn person.

Debate continues on Twitter concerning this new glass. I have a few more tidbits to share with any of you that haven't come across this information already. There was a small discourse I caught on my timeline yesterday. It looks as if this new IPA glass isn't as unprecedented as it's being made out to be.

.@brewkkake @blakex Funny. That brand is actually owns the company that DFH and SN "collaborated on the design" of their IPA glass with.
— Craft Pittsburgh Mag (@CraftPittsburgh) February 14, 2013

@dogfishbeer queencitydrinks.com/2013/02/14/bee…
— Blake Kunisch (@blakex) February 14, 2013

Dogfish replied to this exchange by saying that the stem is the same, but the bowl is actually different. Now, if you take that and read what Craft Pittsburgh posted through its Facebook feed you'll discover that Dogfish and Sierra Nevada possibly might have just updated an already-existing wine glass.

The Queen City Drinks link in the embedded tweet above includes a side-by-side comparison with the new glass and a shaker pint. The results are pretty much what I stated in yesterday's post. Visually appealing, but it's still the same beer in both glasses.

No Sympathy for the Smitten

As it usually is, (except in instances when everyone on your timeline tweets about idiotic television programming that you refuse to switch on) Twitter is a valuable source of information. It doesn't matter what your area of interest is. There's something to indulge in for everyone. Yesterday it was by this here Twitter account that I came across something interesting. Those of you in a big flourish for this new Dogfish/Sierra Nevada IPA glass might want to click "back" on your browsers.

What came first? The chicken or the egg? That Red Lobster glass and the new standard for IPA glassware look quite similar. Both have that etched stem to enhance your flow of carbonation and everything.

I don't feel sorry for anyone that immediately fronted the $9 plus shipping fees for the new IPA glass. If you really think the experience of drinking a certain type of beer is going to be dramatically increased because of the vessel you pour it into you need to think about returning to Earth soon. A glass can slightly change how a beer appears, feels or might even enhance the smell. It's not going to change the experience.

If you want it as a collector's item. That's great. That's why I wanted my Sam Adams "Perfect Pint" glass. I'm not really sure what a perfect pint even is, but it's got some nice curves and I can pick aromatic notes better out of it. Beers still taste exactly the same out of a shaker pint, though.

BEER GEEK TIP: If you ever want to get the carbonation going in your beer just swirl it in the glass.

Very Complimentary

I obviously wasn't too thrilled with Bell's Hopslam ale when I got the opportunity to try it last year. I can't say there wasn't any lack in my effort to get myself a glass, because I was in the bar the day after it was tapped. I just didn't like it, as is the usual result when I have a beer that's very hop-centric.

I made a promise to someone that I'd try this year's version and I must give credit where it's due. This year's batch had many more flavors other than just the intense hops! I was actually able to taste some honey and a touch of fruitiness. There even was a tad of malt in there. A completely different experience compared to the one I had last year. Every flavor I picked up was complimentary of the rest of the brew. The beer's color seems to be a bit darker as well.

I still don't see myself buying a case of Hopslam yet (that's if there are even any left), but myself and this beer are on somewhat better terms. This post originally was supposed to be about the new IPA glass tossed out there by Dogfish Head and Sierra Nevada, but I wasn't quite sure if it was a great idea to ruffle everyone's feathers. A lot of users on Twitter didn't seem to happy about it being named the "standard for hop-centric beers." I certainly don't need the bitterness of hops in my beer to magically become stronger.

Sorry. I don't need an IPA glass to "amplify the hops." Some are a struggle to drink as it is.
— Bill K. (@BurghBeerSnob) February 5, 2013

Monday Rant: An Untappd Problem

I came across a retweet in my Twitter feed just over a week ago (so long ago that I can't seem to locate the tweet to actually embed it). This particular retweet was a bit of a complaint. In essence, this tweet showed a bit of disdain for those of us in the beer community that send connect both our Twitter and Untappd accounts.

For those of you that don't understand this I'll try to explain. Some of us that check-in to our beers via Untappd can also simultaneously send that check-in to Twitter as well. Sometimes we even add our feelings toward said beer in that check-in. So, in some cases it's not just Untappd check-ins, it becomes a little more personable when we post our thoughts, too.

Drinking a Railbender Ale by @eriebrewingco — untp.it/WhAVuX
— Chris (@GoPens75) January 6, 2013

Personally, I find it interesting to bring up Twitter and see what others in the beer community are partaking in.  Seeing multiple Untappd posts in my feed has never struck me as annoying or bothersome. On the other hand, I've become weary of possible posting too many of my check-ins to my own feed. I'm not sure everyone that follows me cares when I drink every single bottle of my Smuttynose Pumpkin Ale. Thus, I try to limit how many of those check-ins make it outside of the Untappd application.

There are many social media pet peeves that people have. I never figured this particular topic would be one of them. At least not on a huge level and it's nowhere near that yet. This is pretty much the only complaint I've come across on Twitter pertaining to Untappd check-ins.

Holy coffee beans. Would go well with a bagel right now. — Drinking a Java Head Stout by @troegsbeer — untp.it/TFPyu7
— Bill K. (@BurghBeerSnob) January 2, 2013

Anyways, I sure hope this isn't the beginning of one of those massive social media movements. Odds are that the author of this tweet I saw doesn't even follow a decent amount of craft beer folk. Maybe this person has figured out how to put down the smart phone and realize that by expanding your Twitter client horizons, you can actually filter out certain texts in your feed.

A Very Beery 2013

It usually takes me at least three weeks or so to correctly write the current year in dates once the new year begins. It looks as if I've successfully overcome this first obstacle of 2013 by getting it right in the title of this post.

A year ago I was one of those many New Years resolutionists that promise themselves that they will frequent the gym in the coming months. I've read a ton of users in my Twitter timeline complaining about the throngs of these folks in their health clubs already. I'm sure the numbers out there show that a good portion of these people don't fully keep up on their promises to themselves. Thankfully, I wasn't that type of statistic. I tried to drag myself to the gym at every possible time. I kept up on my visits and as a result I had to retool my wardrobe this Christmas.

As long as I indulge on a few craft brews here and there, I hope to be able to continue to visit my health club to burn some more calories up. Beerwise, my 2013 is already off on the right foot. My girlfriend is making it a habit to get me a mixed six pack of beer as part of my Christmas gift. It's been almost a week since my last post and that's because I was away visiting her and receiving that six pack of beer!

In it, I had two cans of Maui Brewing products (Coconut Porter and Bikini Blonde Lager). A brewery whose beers I've been trying to locate for a while. I've finally come across some and I'm excited to eventually crack these two open. Here's to hoping you have a wonderful new year. Oh yea, she obviously knows I'm a huge Star Wars geek as well.

Just a few of the characters I picked up during my travels. twitter.com/BurghBeerSnob/…
— Bill K. (@BurghBeerSnob) January 1, 2013

Where Have the Images Gone?

So, you've cruised on over to the web version of Twitter and looked quickly at your Twitter profile. More than likely (if you're an Instagram user) you've noticed the absence of many of your photographs that were kept under the "Recent Images" section of your profile. That would be due to Instagram pulling all of its images from Twitter posted there by users. Your photographs are now kaput now kaput.

If anything, the beer community benefited by the amazing filters Instagram employed. How many mouth-watering pictures did you post or come across over the past two years? That's right a ton.

From my (possibly former) Instagram account.

Now, Twitter has developed a new photography interface for both its iPhone and Android apps that enables you to add some filters to your pictures. Sadly, it leaves most of us in the online beer community with a dilemma.

If we continue to post photographs through Instagram, it means that less of our followers will be seeing what gets posted to our Twitter feeds. You might think those of us that say this are being picky, but people are less likely to see what you post when they have to make that second click on a tweet. If not, we can either post our pictures solely to our Twitter feeds with its new interface, or forgo posting them to Twitter altogether. To be honest, I find the collection of previous photographs on Twitter profiles valuable. I'll most likely be making the switch from Instagram to Twitter's new interface.

I'm interested to see how this goes. Will Twitter's new photo filters be anything like that of Instagram? I say it most likely will. All you're doing is putting a filter on a picture. Not that stunning when you really think about it.

The Guinness Conundrum

I had a Twitter conversation a good while back about the status of Guinness both here in the states and across the pond with Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog. I was surprised to find out there was such disdain for Guinness in England. An other post by that blog explained the subject a bit more yesterday.

As time has gone on, I've discovered that there are a good number of foreign import beers that are pretty much sold here in the states simply because they're kind of shunned in England beer circles.

I never thought such disdain for Guinness was possible since it comes off, to me at least, somewhat popular in this country. I see it in pretty much every pub I frequent around Pittsburgh. Even in places that refuse to put the likes of AB-InBev/Miller-Coors on tap. I've heard about Guinness toast parties being put together everywhere.

My companion, Beer Snob Sr. even spoke of his affinity for Guinness while being in England during a portion of the 1990's. An affinity he holds to this day. He has a Guinness pint glass he stole from an English pub and clings to. Maybe he just ran into one of the crappier pubs while he was over there?

I'm just curious as to what others around this area feel towards Guinness. I've never claimed to be some beer expert and this is yet another instance of such. If Guinness is frowned up in this country as it apparently is over in England, have I been missing out? Is this just a case of Guinness Ireland including America in its market simply because a good number of us still consume a ton of bad beer, even with the craft boom going on? I'd love your input. This is a fascinating subject.

I know one thing for sure. If I ever get to England, I'll bet the farm that I won't find Miller Lite on draft.

A Long Time Ago in a Brewery Far, Far Away

I sure hope you get the reference in the title I chose for this post. If you don't, we might have to have a sit down and watch a few of my favorite movies. It wasn't that long ago that Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Owner Sam Calagione went off on a few Beer Advocate message board geeks about overrated breweries.

Well, we have yet another edition of angry craft brewers as Lagunitas Brewing owner/founder Tony Magee had a bit of a Twitter tirade towards Miller Coors and A-B InBev earlier this week. You can read all about it over at Beer Pulse.

I love it when someone in a higher position makes their voices be heard sometimes, but I'm not totally sure Magee has anything to stand on with this one. Maybe it's just my opinion. Who knows?

I'm not totally sure the big-time American brewing corporations are completely against the smaller craft brewers anymore. I think that they are fully aware of how fast some of these breweries are growing in size and popularity and that they know they need to maintain somewhat of a good relationship with them. It could be that or you could say that maybe all of the recent purchases of breweries by the big boys might mean the exact opposite.

I'm certainly not an economic expert on the beer industry. That's for sure.

Troegs to Produce Another Interesting Scratch Beer

Are you one of the many out there fearing something odd is going to happen on Dec. 21? Well, it looks like Troegs might have you covered for the big day.

According to John Trogner's Twitter account, Troegs intends on adding a Russian Imperial Stout to it's fascinating list of Scratch brews. The tweet only says that it's nicknamed "Impending Descent" paying homage to the end of the Mayan calendar on the 21st. I'm not entirely sure if that's what the beer will end up being named.

Regardless, you now have reasons to celebrate the pending end of civilization as we know it, a massive shift in the earth's gravitational pull or whatever you think might happen by that date. Don't take my word for it. You can be the judge! I just think it means the Pittsburgh Pirates might provide us with a winning season very soon.

Brewing a huge Russian Imperial Stout nicknamed "?impending descent?" today to celebrate the end of the Mayan Calendar ..released 12.21.12
— john trogner (@jtroegs) November 6, 2012

Monday Rant: To Friend or Not to Friend

The following has been a controversy on social media since American society began wasting hours of valuable time using it. The question is whether or not to add people as friends on a social media network even though you've never met or known them in real life.

Untappd has become it's own version of social media. You can network with other fans of beer and see what your friends are drinking (that's if you have friends that actually take the time to check-in the beers they're consuming. Untappd has also become a simpler way for beer bloggers such as myself to let your Twitter followers know what you're drinking as well as what your thoughts are on said brews.

The only complaint I have about using Untappd is the same thing I've had with any social media application I've associated myself with over the years. That's the people you've never met before trying to add you and others in an attempt to compile tons of friends.

I have a stack of people on Untappd that have requested to be my friend. I've let those requests sit in there for at least two weeks. I'm not totally sure why I refuse to respond. Maybe part of it is the feeling that the entire world doesn't need to know what I'm doing. This is the same reason that I don't post every single check-in to my Twitter feed. It's just a personal preference.

I've pretty much held the same policies when it comes to other social networks such as Facebook. If I don't know you, you're not likely going to get a friend request accepted when it comes to me.

In my early days of Twitter, I'll admit I was obsessed with gaining more and more followers. Now, I barely look at who is following my account.It really doesn't matter to me. Life is far less stressful. It's all about the exchanging of information.

Brew Links: Week of 10/25

If you follow my Twitter feed you've possibly come across this link already, but I came across an interesting piece about pairing candy apples with different types of brews via CraftBeer.com. I never thought of even considering to pair a beer with a candy apple.

I hate to admit it, but there are other applications out there other than Untappd. I'm a junkie for checking into which beers I'm drinking. here's an article on a few more beer-related apps for craft beer folk.

I recently received the Oxford Companion to Beer as a birthday gift from my girlfriend. I was surprised to come across a link that said the companion had numerous errors in it! Head over to Zythofile for more on that mystery.

Pumpkin beer season in in closure and winter warmers are not hitting the market. I'm still in the mood for pumpkin and love the pumpkin pie essence in many of the brews. Serious Eats has a nice piece on pumpkin beers that don't remind you of pie at all.

Homebrew Pumpkin Ale Underway

Just wanted to give an update on the homebrew pumpkin ale recipe my father and I had been developing. We officially began the brewing process this past Saturday.

There's not any particular way to do it, but by preference. So, we decided to roast two pumpkins before ripping the meat off and mashing it. The pumpkin meat was the very first ingredient we added to the pot of water before we steeped our Biscuit and Crystal malts.

The pumpkin started the brew off with a buttery scent and golden color. We then strained the meat from the mix before adding more malt extract to tone down the color we thought the Biscuit and Crystal would give the body.

We used two kinds of hops (Sterling and Magnum) that we found in the recipe for Southern Tier Pumking, but tried to go as easy as we could so the brew wouldn't employ a ton of bitterness.

What we wanted to be strong was the spices. We took a load of typical pumpkin spices and precise measurements from a friend via Twitter that he uses in his yearly recipe. Once they were mixed and kept in a sandwich bag, the scent could be picked up from across the room.

The beer finally took on a deep crown color with what appears to be some red highlights once we finished the wort. I'm excited for this to finish. It's currently fermenting like hell. We're hoping to be bottle conditioned in time for Thanksgiving Dinner.

After the pumpkin meat was tossed in.

The color prior to adding the hops and spices.

Monday Rant: Not Worried About #IPADay Badge

The #IPADay Badge from Untappd's blog.

When I score a new beer variety pack from a local distributor, my first thoughts of excitement include that of "Yes! Now I can get four new, unique beer check-in's on Untappd!"

I've always seen the application as a great way to show others what you were drinking and an easy way to communicate your thoughts on said beers through your social media accounts.

Every so often, we see Untappd go down due to heavy traffic. The latest example of this was this past weekend for IPA Day. Obviously a lot of India Pale Ale fans were taking to Untappd on their smart phones to show off which beers of the style they were consuming.

If not just for that reason, then it was for the badge the application was giving to users that checked into IPA beers on that very date. Untappd extended the time limit to get said badge until the next day due to the fact the application was having problems throughout IPA Day.

I just don't get the point to having the badges. I checked into an IPA and didn't receive the badge, most likely due to the traffic problems, but I didn't make a big deal out of it. I checked into the beer and most everybody that was interested in seeing what I drink saw it.

I've seen people go crazy clamoring over badges on check-in applications such as Untappd and on others like Foursquare. I even saw a few Untappd check-in's on Twitter that said people were just doing it to get the badge. I'm not sure if they were drinking the beer just for the badge or if they just randomly checked into it for the badge, but when you look at it like that doesn't it make the badges somewhat pointless?

I enjoy using Untappd when I'm trying new beers and looking to see what others are drinking, but I don't adjust my drinking schedule in accordance with what badges I can get.

What Keeps Beer Bloggers Going?

Either in a post on this blog or on my Twitter account, I'm constantly observing the small time that this blog has existed and how it continues to grow. I just mentioned in Monday's post how I intend to have a themed post for each Monday in the future.

I'm always on the lookout to see how I can craft a new type of post other than simply posting beer review after beer review. Yesterday I came across something interesting from another beer blog I frequent (Brewpublic). Apparently there has been an entire type of post that I've been missing out on.

It looks as if there's something called "The Session" in the beer blogging community in which a certain blog hosts the event comes up with a certain topic and later discusses some of the posts by other bloggers. For the month of April the topic is "What Drives Beer Bloggers?" I figured that a tad of input from me wouldn't hurt. It's also very fitting since I completed my 100th post on this blog on Tuesday.

Why Am I Here?


I've been part of the blogging community since I was half-way through middle school. My very first blog was a compilation of designs I came up with myself for baseball and football stadiums. From there I spent plenty of time sports blogging until the animalistic attitudes of assorted fans stressed me to the point that arguing and debating sports was no longer in my blood.

I needed something more relaxing. So, I asked myself what relaxed me as I desperately wanted to write about something again. I decided to record a good portion of my beer and bar adventures. In my group of friends I was always the oddball when it came to drinking.

I was always the one that drank the estranged beers that had exotic names. Thus, I began writing this blog as of September of 2011 and haven't looked back. As I've cruised around the web and explored different accounts on Twitter I'm amazed at the amount craft beer folk that exists out there. This is truly a craft beer revolution and I can arrogantly say that I'm a small portion of it.

My mission has been to simply share my thoughts on different beers and cool places to consume said beers. I've also tried to grow in terms of sharing and spreading as much information as I can find pertaining to craft beer.

For the first few months I felt like I was writing without an audience nor did I care. I was happy writing about an obsessive hobby of mine. This changed one day while at a bar on Pittsburgh's South Side and Tweeting about the lack of one of my favorite beers on tap. That's when a guy two stools down from me turns to me and asks if I'm the Pittsburgh Beer Snob. He was reading the very Tweet I sent out seconds earlier.

I've written for my school paper, but I've never posted something onto one of my numerous blogs and found out that what I posted was somewhat important and is beneficial to others.

What Drives Us?


I think it's safe to say that it's pretty obvious that there has been a boom in the craft beer revolution just as there has been with people that have joined in on it as well as others staring a beer blog.

From what I've noticed, a lot of criticism has been poured down on some of these "beer geeks." I don't really understand why. You'd think that the old timers in the craft beer world would be happy that their movement is growing rapidly and has increasing excitement. In my opinion, I think the outcries have just come from people that didn't get their batch of Pliny the Elder or Kentucky Breakfast Stout this year due to the increasing demand.

Collectively most of us are an eccentric group of people. We never were among that group when we were growing up that needed to "pregame" before everyone went out to the local hole in the wall on Thirsty Thursdays. We didn't need to slug down eight Bud Lite's because it was on special. We drank what we thought was damn good beer and stuck to it for most of the time that we've been of legal age.

Some of us are interested in social media, web design and in some cases writing. Because of one or more of these interests we post our adventures and thoughts on our beer blogs.

Most of us are a unique brand of people. A good number of us are somewhat eccentric and have interesting yet complex personalities. I know I definitely am. I can't even count how many times I've purchased a pint of beer and spent the first few moments with said beer taking pictures of it. Sure members of my family make fun of how I drink a beer or sit there admiring the story on the label and a few friends call me a beer yuppie, but I pretty much take it as a compliment to my personality. Some beers just have a certain beauty to them. In some cases searching for that perfect beer is like finding that elusive mate. I think that in the end, that's what drives the lot of us.