It seems I have a birthday coming up, for those looking for a last minute gift of Stone Brewery coasters from their first year a rare item.

Of course with a current bid of $200 for them the chance I'll get them as a gift is even more rare. That said as I was taught, it never hurts to ask.

For those not so wealthy, my Amazon list is on the top right column.

It's easy to get cynical about corporate blogging efforts when you look at past examples such as Raging Cow or Juicyfruit gum. That said I tried to keep an open mind when I read in the Good Beer blog about the Brew Blog by Miller Brewing Co.

It does look like they are trying to make an honest attempt, so rather than simply be negative, I'll note potential issues and suggest an alternate path that may improve the quality of the site.

Author
According to the About page Jim Arndorfer is "a reporter who spent many years covering the beer industry for magazines like "Advertising Age," with occasional contributions from other folks." Who is Jim? Why does he like beer? It's impossible to know from what this site provides. Jim, you need to tell us, the audience, something about yourself. A sentence of work history isn't really going to explain why you like beer enough to write this blog. The second problem is no author tag on the posts so while Jim may run the site he may have an intern posting all their material and we would have no way of knowing.

Posts
Since May 1st there have been 64 posts not bad, better than I have been doing. Approximently 25% of the posts are promoting Miller and 30% of the posts are about A-B, mostly in a negative light. I can understand disliking A-B, heck most of my friends and fellow homebrewers would agree. That said we see no difference between your bosses at Miller and them at A-B. So prove me and my friends wrong, pull a Scoble, seek out what makes Miller great and tell us about it, but also be prepared to tell us when they screw up. Do that and you will start to gain some creditability on the web.

Sources
I don't know much about Harry Schuhmacher but you must think a lot of him and his publication since you mention them almost as often as you do Miller. Get out and read the web more Jim. I am sure Harry has a great publication but the majority of your audience won't since his material is locked behind a subscription wall. Same goes for Wall Street Analysts, they are fine to mention if you provide a link or perhaps an article title, but otherwise leave it out. That said you have done a great job of linking to newspaper articles, I just think you need to start linking to beer blogs as well.

Off Topics
What do Malt beverages, Wine, Spirits, and a Walmart energy drink have to do with a Beer blog? I don't know either but they all have been mentioned. How about sections on beer history, craft brewing, homebrewing, beer podcasts, and beer blogging (yes I suppose I am harping on this) instead. They keep closer to the point of the blog which is supposed to be beer and the beer industry.

Links
I see you mention industry, associations and news sites. I worked in DC and went to a fair share of Beer Wholesaler sponsored events, that said I don't think any of your readers will care enough to go to their website. I am a beer and politics geek and I doubt I would. Link to places your readers want to read, or places you like to read. And beer blogs (last time I promise).

Comments
Last I think it's great you have comments, but do your commenters a favor and set the comments to hide email addresses please, we already get too much spam.

To sum up, the problems I see with the Brew Blog may be easily cured. Jim, don't be afraid to show us your voice, it comes out in some of the posts so I know there is a human posting to the site. Expand your reading, there are a lot of people out on the web writing about beer and willing to give you a chance. The reason I don't dismiss this effort immediately is I have seen how Scoble has been able to show us the human side of Microsoft and perhaps you can do the same with Big Beer. I am willing to at least listen. Last and most important have fun. Good Luck.

You see these pictures and you think that would make a great all grain brewing setup.

I was wandering the local around the corner beer shop looking for Brutal Bitter, but no luck, so I decide on Anderson Valley Boont Amber Ale. I picked it because a friend I don't get to see often enough loves their beer, so if I can't hang out with her I can at the very least have something she enjoys.

I get home open the beer pour a glass and email the friend telling her about the beer.

Just now she calls me, she hasn't seen my message but is in a cool Belgian bar we both love so we enjoy a beer through the miles.

The Psychic Beer Network, The Truth, er Beer is Out There I Want to Believe.

Since I started using bloglines one of my favorite new finds is the Good Beer Blog reviews on New York breweries and other beer topics. Well worth the read, so much so I added it to my blogroll.

This weekend was fun getting to hang out with the Wingin' It folks. I had the chance to enjoy the Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA, thanks to Charlie the Beer Guy. He and Jeff were great to beer geek out discussing various brews and home brewing. The fresh Stone beers were excellent, many thanks to Karen and Smokin Joe. I tried the Fat Tire Summer beer as well though, it was not to my style.

Lastly my Black Lager was a hit with everyone who tried it, so it seems the recipe is definately a keeper.

Wednesday through Fridays are my long days because on top of my regular days I help at a local homebrew shop. Add some work to give a present to the person who introduced to me what good beer is and I am posting after when I needed to be sleeping. Not that I mind I have always been a night person. While my bed calls so I can be rested at work in the morn, I know I need a bit more time to relax before I sleep.

Right now it's just a pleasing feeling I have accomplished my goal, soon to be realized, that and the thought they will be enjoying the effort soon enough. But for now relax, so I can sleep.

See previous "Man on a Mission" post here

21st Amendment was the next stop on the brew tour. Our cab ride was far more enjoyable than my first of the day. Frankly I think the guy enjoyed our company as much as we did.

The large volume of people heading to the ballpark and it being a Friday afternoon I had a feeling the bar would be packed long before we arrived at it. I wasn’t wrong. Sadly I think this made it all the more difficult to truly enjoy the bar because the crowded nature. We managed to squeeze ourselves into a corner of the Loft.

The IPA, Oyster Stout, and Watermelon Wheat were the only beers that stayed in my mind and after the good time at Speakeasy I didn’t get around to taking notes. The Watermelon Wheat had a distinctive summer taste and while I am not sure I’d want to drink one often in places like Phoenix where the temperature soars it would be very refreshing.

I look forward to going back and spending an afternoon exploring their beers and menu more thoroughly.

After one round we moved on to one of my favorite places in San Francisco Thirstybear brewery. A good friend brought me there for dinner back in the Dot Com era and I have been going back ever since. The food was excellent as usual and while we enjoyed the beer it was the third brewery of the day so without notes I won’t be getting any more detailed.

Most of our group had a very long day with very early flight from Phoenix so this was our last stop for the night.

Saturday
I was supposed to meet with an old friend down near the Piers. While I wandered about I accomplished a quick survey of the area. In my pretrip research I saw no mention of a brewery I had visited a while back, I am pretty sure it was Full Sail, but all that was left in it's place was a Hooters.

I wandered a bit further until I came across another favorite haunt of mine when I am in the city Jack's Cannery Pub. The bar is notable, because it’s cash only, classic hardwood bar and 85 taps of beer. I think it’s that last part that keeps me coming back.

On my last visit to the city three friends and I showed up a Jacks late one for a beer before heading back to the hotel. One for the road so to speak. Being the group’s resident beer snob I was ordered by one friend to pick out a beer for everyone based on my knowledge of their tastes.

I studied the taps deliberately for a few minutes before selecting a pint for each of us. We sat together at a table and I gave each of them their beer. They each loved their selection, but then the real test began. After a taste we passed the pint to our right until all four of us had a chance to sample the selections. In the end, we all loved the one we first tried and while the others were good it was the first one each person preferred. Okay except for me, I could have had any of the beers happily.

Beer Snob Uber Alles.

So on this return to the Jacks, I knew I could pass away a bit of time while I waited. The German Pilsner I had was great and it was wonderful to get the chance to enjoy another beer there, because I wasn’t sure I would get back there this trip. (Which I didn’t)

So after my friend didn’t turn up I took my friends to a tattoo shop I had noticed on my stroll towards the Piers. I have nothing against tattoos, I haven’t just found my design yet, but the thought of standing around and watching other three people get them did not sound appealing so I remembered another must visit from my research just down the street.

The Rogue Tap Room was a friendly bar and folk with 40 beers on tap while I was there, 22 of them being Rogue’s own brews. Thankfully they had a tasting bat so I was able to enjoy a number of beers without abusing my liver.

Over all their beers were well thought out and balanced beers. Among the beers I drank I had no overly aggressive hopiness that is often the approach of Western breweries. There was more structure and sophistication behind the beer.

That said I did often notice a strong carbonic character to there beers, but the bartenders mentioned they had changed the CO2 unit earlier in the day and were still adjusting the levels. So I don’t think it normal.

My first beer was their Brutal Bitter, a 6.5% ESB. Strong for the style but with the balance to pull it off. Very drinkable, in fact after two sample trays of other darker and richer beers I went back to enjoy a final pint and I wasn’t disappointed.

Next up was the Half-e-Weizen, a filtered wheat in the Belgian tradition. It was light, clear with a hint of coriander. I am more of a tradition Hefe drinker or even the occasional Wit so the light nature did not appeal to me. That said as a summer drink I am sure it would appeal to others looking for something more complex than a lawnmower beer.

After that I tried the HazelNut Brown Nectar. It was a clear dark ale with a warm chocolaty hazelnut flavor. The maltiness was the big player in this beer, but the hazelnut flavor dominates it enough that I doubt I would ever be able to have many at one sitting. Not a session beer.

The Smoke Ale was one that really amazed me. It had a copper color with rich strong malt and smoke character. While the smoke flavor is ever present it’s not over powering or overwhelming.

The Chipotle Ale was equally interesting with as well a coppery color. The smoked pepper was very subtle, to the the degree that if you paired it with too spicy a dish you might even miss it was there.

These two beers were among my favorite because they could take a unique ingredient, use it, but not let the beer be over dominated by it’s character like other beers with similar ingredients.

Next was the No Fault Ale, which a spicy malt character and was a close second for my last pint. Though I can find no mention of it on their website.

Last and not least I had two samples of Mocha Porter, one on traditional pull and the second on Handpump tap. The hand pump was very smooth with no edges to the flavor. In contrast the traditional tap had more of the mocha chocolate character to it.

All and all it was a great afternoon of beer and I look forward to going back again.

Next up Sunday...