Cyber Monday beer links!

Beer Links this week are brought to you by Cyber Monday!

This was the first image that popped up
when I googled "cyber monday beer" 

In the News!
Beer Or Sugar Water? For Flies, The Choice Is Pale Ale (NPR) But which pale ale?! Science demands an answer...To The Lab!


Social agency hoping to preserve beer-delivery jobs Day-old business closed by complaint (The Ottawa Citizen) Growler delivery would be awesome, I hope they can save this both for the people and the brewery.


Beer supply chain should be strengthened (Supply Management) Sometimes we break out the hardcore nerdery.
  
3 years after InBev deal, a new Anheuser-Busch (Los Angeles Times) Hard lessons being learned in a new beer environment but I wonder if they are the right lessons.


Australia approves $11 billion Foster's sale to SABMiller (Reuters) The big get bigger. 
Crooked Stave to move brewing to Denver (The Coloradoan)
Guess where I am going next time I'm in Denver.


Taste Regina: Beer Brothers develops unique niche (Regina Leader-Post) For our food fans north of the border...on a side note, my grandfather was born in Regina. 


Blogs
6 Ways To Drink Craft Beer Smarter (Huffington Post) Here is your daily dose of pretension. 


The Craft Beer Newsletter (The Audacity of Hops)
This past Saturday's "Welcome to Your Weekend" image made the grade.


Beer Baron: Batch 19 taps into the nostalgia market (Wisconsin State Journal Beer Baron blog) 
Recommend reading this, I do have to say I agree with the comment that this beer feels like "history is being written by the victors." 


Admin Notes
This week you can expect some fresh beer commentary, a review, our 1st annual gift guide for beer lovers, and another edition of "To The Lab!" 


We are now on Untappd! Find us under beerfellows. 
We are sorting through blogs to add on the roll; if you have any suggestions let us know in the comments. Remember to follow us on twitter.


Stick around folks, we are glad you stopped by!

The Confession

I didn't come to beer easily.   My family upbringing was relatively dry, my mother's drink of choice is sloe gin and coke (It's a Wisconsin thing) and my father prefers vodka sours. Beer was something my grandfather drank and that was limited to a fine selection of Red, White and Blue, Blatz, Old Milwaukee, and Old Style. I remember the first time I ever drank it as a kid, I was about 8 or 9, the beer was Old Style, and it didn't go well. I instantly disliked it to such an extreme that I had no interest in it for damn near the next decade. 


It took enlisting in the Marine Corps to change my opinion, and even then it took awhile to captivate my interest. While I drank beer over in Okinawa, it wasn't until I went on deployment to the Mediterranean where I had my revelation that the beer world was a big and wonderful place. Hindsight being 20/20, the European beers I drank were not top shelf by any means but they were better than the Buds and Millers I had been putting down. The real stroke of luck though was the timing of this event.

This happened in 1996 and the micro and craft brewing scene was picking up steam in America. When I returned there was no looking back. Pete's Wicked Ale served as a gateway beer for me and I started trying more and more styles and types. Returning to Wisconsin for college only served to further whet my appetite as I fell for New Glarus and Central Waters. The best part was and still is that there is no end in sight for beer creativity.   It has been fifteen years since the light switch went on for me. The beer world is continuing to evolve and mutate and that is thrilling. I can't wait to see what comes next.