Want to impress your friends over a pint this St. Patrick’s day? Watch this video for a quick brief on the history of my favorite holiday of the year. Click the image to view.

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In case you haven’t seen this yet, The History Channel’s show, Modern Marvels has a special on beer brewing (2005). They’ll be playing it on March 17th @ 1 p.m. and 7 p.m. Actually, the whole day of St. Patrick’s Day on The History Channel looks pretty good, I ended up setting [...]

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BENDER (singing) Hush little brewsky don’t you leak. Daddy wants to drink for at least a week.  Oh my God! I think it’s time!
 
Once upon a time or- so the story goes-  in Colonial America, alewives would brew a special beer called “Groaning Ale”. The alewife would make a high ABV ale about 7 to 8 months [...]

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Most craft beer drinkers learn early that IPA stands for India Pale Ale and that it is a beer style designed to be strong and very “hoppy”, so that it could last the grueling trip from London to India. It was brewed to supply British Troops and citizens occupying India with non-spoiled ale and [...]

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The Monroe City Brewery was short lived but it had one unique thing that the other Monroe breweries didn’t have. The owner/brewery wasn’t German. He was born in Ireland. Brewers in early America were from English speaking nations and brewed Ales. Whiskey was popular in both America and Ireland in the early 1800s and many Irish immigrants made whiskey. [...]

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During my research of Monroe Breweries, I found this beer recipe from a 1857 Monroe newspaper. If you need any more proof that we are in the golden age of brewing here it is. Nowadays you can make any beer style you like and the recipes are available with the click of a mouse. You also have some [...]

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On a stormy Wednesday evening, June 2 of 1909, the last brewery left in the city of Monroe was completely destroyed by fire. The Jacob Roeder Brewery had stood on the corner of Navarre and what was then called La Plaisance Bay Turnpike since 1874 (near where the VFW sits today and - sadly - equidistant from Rob’s [...]

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October 28th, 1919, the Volstead Act was passed through Congress. At the time, prohibition was the solution that would put an end to drunkenness, poverty, criminal activity and mental illness.
For 13 long years (beginning January 16th 1920), it was constitutionally banned to manufacture, sell or transport alcohol in the United States.
Long story short, as [...]

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The date of December 1st marks the anniversary of one of the saddest moments in brewing history.  It was early on a Friday morning in 1905 right after Thanksgiving Day when a fire broke out totally destroying one of the state of Michigan’s oldest breweries. Ending a 40 plus year run of being the main quench of the county’s beer thirst and one [...]

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“Oh Beer! Oh Hodgson, Guinness, Allsop, Bass. Names that should be on every infants tongue.”
- A verse from 18th century poets honoring beer around the time when Pale Ales came about.
Pale Ales and India Pale Ales date back to the late 1700’s. Refined brewing processes brought about a deep copper (pale) [...]

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