On an incomparable August eve, Mayo Family Winery threw one of their famous industry mixers at their Glen Ellen tasting room. Peeps from many a tasting room attended, sipping everything from the Barbera, to highly heralded Mayo Zinfandels. They only produce about 7,500 cases total per year, limited distribution.

Mayo President, Jeffrey Mayo, was at his own bar, carving up tri-tip for sandwiches, while Rich and Bill were pouring on the other side of the room. There was also a staggering array of yummies cooked up by Mayo’s own chef, Max Porter-Elliot, on a table just a skip to the right. These tables, the entire night, were swarmed by the famished winery troops, who enjoyed Chef Porter-Elliot’s applauded cuisine while visiting the Mayo Reserve Room for a pleasantly altering wine-food pairing adventure. Continue Reading »

Well, we’ve already witnessed what beer loving roboticists like to do in their free time, but what happens when the beer loving Yelp engineers get extra time on their hands? They engage in “hackathons” and invent the Kegmate, an iPad-powered “Kegbot”.

And for those of you who are geeky enough … errr brilliantly intelligent enough to understand the cryptic language known as “computer engineering”, the kids over at Yelp have been kind enough to detail the entire project on their blog for anyone brave enough to recreate it on their own. Here is an excerpt from the blog:

Theory of Operation (An Overview): Sensors attached to the keg feed data into an Arduino microcontroller, which in turn communicates directly with the iPad via a serial connection. The iPad processes that data and displays it in a snazzy manner along with a description of the current brew. An RFID reader attached to the system allows users to ‘swipe in’ to KegMate and keep track of how much beer they’ve had, as well as assign a star rating for the beer currently in the keg (this is Yelp, after all). Continue Reading »

Rick Bakas and St. Supery Winery are hosting another installment of their virtual tasting series on September 2nd. The idea behind #Cabernet Day is that anyone, anywhere in the world, can contribute to the conversation simply by including the hashtag #Cabernet in their posts on Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Gowalla, personal blogs, and all other forms of social media. People are encouraged to drink Cabernet the day of, and engage others doing the same with conversation, tasting notes, and suggestions. Continue Reading »

Two years ago, within only a few weeks of each other, both Mutineer Magazine and Blue Palms Brewhouse were established in Los Angeles, CA. We celebrated our 2nd Anniversary this past May 2010, with an epic Red Carpet Tasting Event and a rockin’ after party at Blue Palm Brewhouse. This Saturday, we encourage you join us and Blue Palms founder, Brian Lenzo, in celebrating the 2nd Anniversary of our good friends Blue Palms Brewhouse in Hollywood, California. Continue Reading »

Just when you thought Sanrio had exhausted the world market by putting its Hello Kitty label on anything and everything possible, the Japanese cartoon character has finagled its way into the realm of fine beverage. And in true Hello Kitty fashion, the company has put its face on a simple and basic commodity (water), and turned it into a cash cow. Continue Reading »

The rumors that have been buzzing around the craft beer industry about the pending acquisition of Magic Hat Brewing Company and its parent company have officially been confirmed. Today, KPS Capital Partners, LP announced that its portfolio company North American Breweries, Inc. (NAB) has acquired Independent Brewers United, Inc. (IBU) through an indirect, wholly owned subsidiary. IBU produces, markets and sells the complete line of the Pyramid, Magic Hat and MacTarnahan’s brand families of beer.

The acquisition is the fourth by NAB since its formation in February of 2009. The first was Labatt USA, followed by High Falls Brewing Company, LLC (brewer of the Genesee, Honey Brown and Dundee family of beers), and Seagram’s Escapes and Seagram’s Smooth brands. Continue Reading »

Shmaltz Brewing of San Francisco, California has announced its third “rejuvenation” of its annual celebration ale, Rejewvenator, in conjunction with their 14th year anniversary. The new Rejewvenator is brewed with Organic Concord grape juice and is described as a Half Dopplebock, Half Belgian style Dubbel hybrid lager / ale with 8.2% abv.

“The experimental process of brewing Rejewvenator begins with five specialty malts and five hop varieties blending European tradition with brazenly innovative American craft beer flavor and attitude. The brewers use Lager yeast to start cold, bottom fermentation then let the beer warm and pitch a hybrid Abbey/Trappist Belgian Ale yeast brought in exclusively for this brew. Finally Organic Concord Grape Juice gets infused into the fermenter. Rejewvenator then sits and ages for another month before centerfuge filtration and packaging.” Continue Reading »

Klaatu… Varata… Nicaragua?

Any self-respecting Army of Darkness fan knows “the words” and how Ash flubs the line when grabbing the Necronomicon, but no one I know has ever combined the movie with fine beverage…until now. Continue Reading »