http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack RSS Feed for DN Col Joe Sixpack en-us Fri, 17 Feb 2012 03:15:10 GMT http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20120216_Joe_Sixpack__Bud_Light_Platinum_isn_t_really_a_light_beer.html BUD LIGHT Platinum is either completely deceptive advertising or evidence that the beer industry is now presided over by postmodern literalists of the Orwellian order. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20120209_Joe_Sixpack__Brewers_create_pale_ales_with_a_twist.html BLACK IPAs are so 2011. Last year's hot new style, which exploded in popularity before beer gurus could even settle on a proper name (Cascadian Dark Ale? American Black Ale?), is already getting shoved to the side by a new crop of India pale ales. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20120202_Joe_Sixpack__Super_Bowl_marketers_target_beer_drinkers.html WHEN DID the Super Bowl become an excuse to sell junk to beer drinkers? I'm not talking about beer itself, for it goes without saying that plenty of cold suds are a necessary lubricant for the 12 or so hours you'll be spending in front of the wide-screen on Sunday. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20120126_Joe_Sixpack__Sexing_up_Old_Milwaukee.html TWENTY YEARS AGO this month, America lost what might've been the greatest beer commercial of all time. It was a sly, funny advertising campaign that, despite running for just seven months, generated a ton of publicity and became an instant icon of American popular culture. Two decades later, red-blooded beer drinkers may not remember the brand, but they sure remember its stars: http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20120119_Joe_Sixpack__Brown-bag_it_with_a_bottle_of_malt_liquor.html "MINIMAL TASTE profile, minimal hopping, lacking in hop bouquet and threshold hop levels . . . " - Fred Eckhardt, The Essentials of Beer Style, 1989, describing style characteristics of malt liquor http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20120112_Joe_Sixpack__New_beers_worth_making_room_for_in_your_fridge.html YOUR NEW YEAR'S resolutions better include a promise to clean out the fridge, because you'll need the room for a lot of new beer. Get ready for some exciting new flavors in 2012, from one-of-a-kind collaborations to the first-time domestic appearance of imported world classics. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20120105_Joe_Sixpack__Miller_embraces_the_dark_side.html TWO THOUSAND eleven will go down as the year that Miller Brewing finally repented. Here is a company whose top seller, Miller Lite, forever stands with McDonald's and "American Idol" as the archetypes of dumbed-down American culture, whose pursuit of the lowest common denominator brought us an utterly vile beverage with no redeeming quality other than its ability to pass through the human anatomy undetected. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20111229_Joe_Sixpack__Delay_a_hangover_with__hair_of_the_dog__drinks.html WHEN YOU load up the cooler this week for your New Year's Eve soaking, take a moment to think about what you're going to drink on the morning after. http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20111222_Joe_Sixpack__In_old_British_workhouses__a_pint_for_the_poor_on_Christmas_Day.html "It was Christmas Day in the workhouse, that season of good cheer, the paupers' hearts were merry, their bellies full of beer." http://www.philly.com/philly/columnists/joe_sixpack/20111215_Joe_Sixpack__Shmaltz_Brewing_observes_15_years_of_keeping_it_kosher.html "DON'T PASS OUT, Passover." When Shmaltz Brewing launched in 1996 with that slogan, you'd be excused if you assumed it was just another gimmick, like Billy Beer of the 1970s or J.R. Ewing Beer of the '80s. Its He'Brew Messiah Bold and Genesis Ale ("The Chosen Beers") seemed little more than a scheme to use borscht belt humor to sell generic fizzy yellow liquid.