Somewhere between whisky and beer there is Fuller's Brewer's Reserve. The whisky-beer hybrid was launched by the London pub and brewer and is the result years of effort by head brewer John Keeling to create a beer with some of the characteristics of a single malt. The beer is aged more than 500 days in 30-year-old scotch whisky casks. Brewer's Reserve is available in 25,000 individually numbered bottles and presentation box. The company recently tangled with British Customs over whether the brew was a beer or a spirit for duty purposes. It was decided that Brewer's Reserve will be charged at the beer rate.

English restaurant chain Belgo is serious about their Oktoberfeast and has hired a "beerologist" to go on a beer hunt to find unique Belgian beers for their menu. The beerologist, otherwise known as Sam Hjelm, has tracked down eclectic and delicious beers, which include Trappist brews, still made by monks using traditional medieval recipes. The menu, which will be available throughout October, includes Abbey and lambic beers, a strawberry fruit beer and blonde beer, each matched to specific dishes, including: moules blanches (mussels cooked in brugs witbier with bacon lardons); carbonnade flamande (braised beef cooked in faro beer, nutmeg and brown sugar); and even a leffe beer ice cream, served with syrop de liège and pralines. The menu will cost £27.50 per person for three courses with three glasses of matched beer.

For the last few years wine has been steadily gaining on beer but it looks like that trend has ended. A recent Gallup poll revealed that U.S. adults now prefer beer by a double-digit margin over wine. As you can see from the chart above, wine briefly surged above beer in 2005 but has since slipped further from favor. Beer still is not as widely preferred today as it was in the early 1990s but wine's popularity is now at 31% down from a high of 39%.The poll revealed that it's mostly among Americans between the ages of 30 and 49 that have switched back to referring beer. The drinking preferences of younger adults have remained stable in recent years, with 18- to 29-year-olds still showing a wide preference for beer and drinking liquor more often than wine. The survey doesn't ask where the people drink but I suspect the younger drinkers are indulging in their cocktails out in bars more than the more mature drinkers.

Wine remains the preferred beverage of older drinkers. Sixty-two percent of Americans say they drink alcohol and the average drinker reports having consumed 3.8 alcoholic drinks in the past week. Daily drinking is more common among Americans of higher socioeconomic status: 41% of drinkers with incomes of $75,000 or greater say they have had a drink in the past 24 hours, compared with 36% of middle-income respondents (those with household incomes between $30,000 and $74,999) and just 23% of those residing in lower-income households (with incomes of less than $30,000).

This past holiday weekend beer was the beverage of choice for a lot of people, and although an ice-cold brewski may seem at first glance like one of the most unassuming and simplest of alcoholic beverages the experts at Spiegelau have a different take. They've taken their combined 500 years of experience and created three distinct glasses made especially for bringing out the best in different kinds of beer. Their Beer Classics collection is geared for optimizing the appearance, aroma, taste, and finish of your favorite brew -- get a hold of these glasses and you could find yourself becoming quite the beer snob.

Via Decanter

We've seen some pretty expensive beers before (the sippable Sam Adams Utopia springs immediately to mind) but the new brew from Carlsberg is now the proud owner of the title of world's most expensive beer. The Carlsberg Vintage No.1 costs close to $400 a bottle (2,008 Danish kroner or $396.47 to be exact). The beer will be sold in just three Copenhagen restaurants. Why so expensive? The 10.5 percent proof beer is a very limited edition of just 600 bottles. It has been stored in French and Swedish wooden casks and has a deep brown color. The tasting notes reveal prune, caramel and vanilla flavors making it a natural pairing for cheeses and desserts. So far there are no plans to export Vintage No. 1.

The picture at right may look a bit like bottles of Champagne it's actually a special limited edition collection of the new Stella Artois Nobilis beer. This six pack of Nobilis, bottled in Magnums, was recently purchased by AOL Canada for $15,000CDN. The proceeds benefit WildAid. The WildAid Stella Artois Nobilis collection is comprised of six magnums autographed by sixfilm celebrities: Angelina Jolie, Kate Hudson, Charlize Theron and Woody Harrelson (same bottle), Bo Derek, Ryan Gosling and Samuel L. Jackson.

WildAid is a nonprofit with the mission to end the illegal wildlife trade within our lifetimes. They focus on raising awareness to reduce the demand for threatened and endangered species products and to increase public support for wildlife conservation. WildAid operates in China, India, Ecuador and London and is based in San Francisco. WIldAid accepts donations and they also sell branded products including T-shirts.

[via The National Post]

Samuel Adams Founder Jim Koch and actor Denis Leary have partnered up for a unique auction on eBay to benefit Leary Firefighters, Leary's organization that helps firefighters. The auction includes the first bottle of Samuel Adams Utopias® 2007 Bottle #1, Signed by Jim Koch, along with a Riedel Utopias Snifter Signed by Georg Riedel and a Denis Leary autographed "Rescue Me" coffee table book. The 2007 edition of Utopias, the beer that drinks like a Cognac, is 12,000 ceramic bottles all of which are numbered. Employees of The Boston Beer Company get the first 500 bottles according to their seniority with the Company. Jim Koch is autographing and donating his Number One bottle for this charity fundraiser. The Riedel glass was created after Georg Riedel visited the brewery and created a custom-designed glass designed to bring out the best in the fragrant brew. The auction ends on December 20.

There are different ways to measure it, but it seems pretty clear that the exclusive title of "world's most expensive beer" goes to Vielle Bon Secours, which is available in London in a bar called Bierdrome and sells for around $39 a pint. Anybody ever had it? Is it worth that kind of cash?

Other contenders on the list include Samuel Adams limited edition Utopia, which sells for $100 per 24 oz bottle, and a mystery beer that some poor sap in New Zealand accidentally paid $2,595 for a pint of.

Did you know that there is a beer for dogs? The malted drink is nonalcoholic, uncarbonated, brewed without hops and flavored with beef for your pet's drinking pleasure. Dogs seem to like it, but if you're uncomfortable with the idea of giving your pet beer - even a nonalcoholic one - you might want to stick to a toy version of a favorite alcoholic drink. Dog Perignon is a faux bubbly, plush squeak toy that will last your dog a lot longer than a beer. The only thing that would make it better would be if the squeaking sound could be replaced with the "pop" of a real cork. Price: $12.

Krait Prestige Champagne Lager is a beer that aims to bridge the gap between those who love beer and those who prefer wine or champagne. It is being marketed as an alternative to wines, sparkling wine and champagne, with the taste of beer but the versatility of the other drinks. The word "champagne" is being used to describe the process used to make the beer. Once the proto-beer has been bottled, it is injected with ale yeast from Belgium's Rodenbach brewery and it is "cork conditioned" for two weeks, which brings out an "extra smooth, soft and fruity taste." It is packaged in 750mL bottles, like the wines and champagnes that it competes with, and has a retail price of about $13 per bottle, though you can expect to pay quite a bit more at the upscale nightclubs, wine bars and hotels that it is being marketed towards.

It's hard not to love a good contest, no matter how slim your chances of winning might be, especially when the prize is a good one. In this case, the prize is a custom-built $20,000 home bar from Guinness. The contest is one of design, not merely pure chance. Guinness wants your to submit your own vision of the ultimate home bar, whether built to scale from 2x4's in your yard or sketched on the back of a cocktail napkin. Don't worry if you aren't the greatest artist, though, because after uploading a picture of your creation, you have the chance to describe it. The best bar wins.

You have until July 31st to create your winning design and, since there is only one entry per person, you may as well take your time thinking about it. We'll keep our fingers crossed for all the Luxist readers who decide to enter - and don't hesitate to invite us to the the unveiling of your dream bar.

 

I have always used the occasional left over Belgian brew to wash my hair with the next morning (try it out, it leaves your hair silky and clean), but I don’t know why it never struck me to bathe in beer. Over the past 10 years, beer spas have popped up in Austria, Germany, and the Czech Republic. At these beer spas, every sense is enveloped in beer; the bubbly sticky liquid on your skin, the hops in the air, to the beer in your mug. You can also try the brewski facial: an über gooey face mask made from ground hops, malt, honey and cream cheese. These half hour bath treatments start at about $55.

Chocolate baths? Done. Mud. Check. Wine, seaweed, milk have all been used in spa treatments. And so it was only a matter of time before the beer bath made its way into the spa world. But this is no Budweiser in a bath experience, the Chodovar Family Brewery in Chdova Plana in the Czech Republic has turned their basement into a beer spa. The newly-opened facility offers beer baths, beer massages beer wraps and beer cosmetics. There is a bathside bar so you can sip beer while floating in beer. A beer rinse has long been known to add shine to hair so it makes sense that it might be beneficial for the body.

[via IOL]