Tapped Life | Craft Beer Lifestyle Blog — Beer History

In 1810, Germany began what is now the largest annual fair in the world. Not surprisingly it is centered around beer. That’s right, everyone’s favorite fall indulgence: Oktoberfest. Chock full of beer, spatzle, potato pancakes, wursts, cabbage and more beer, it’s two weeks full of frothy fun. It is also a locavore event: all of the beer brewed for Oktoberfest must be brewed within the city limits of Munich (Oktoberfest is held in Bavaria at the fairgrounds known as “die Wiesn”). It makes sense then, that so many breweries in the States brew an Oktoberfest-inspired brew this time of year....

Seems like people have been fussy about beer long before that one ad that Big Brewer ran during the annual Big Football Competition would lead you to believe. Take our third president, Thomas Jefferson, for example. He was a brewer, and apparently a fussy one at that. Now, Beer Sofa wasn’t around back in the early 1800’s to verify this, so we’re using some info that was found by using Founders Online, a search engine and online directory from the National Archives. We’re using Thomas Jefferson as an example because it’s his birthday. But, there are plenty of presidents who...

Idyllic mountain town Crested Butte, Colorado is in for a real treat this weekend. The town’s mayor and city council have sold out for $500,000 to Anheuser Busch in exchange for a 3-day party/commercial shoot for Bud Light’s “Up for Whatever” campaign. Crested Butte will be renamed Whatever for 72 hours while 1000 “young adults” run rampant over this town of 1500 residents. Tapped Life has visited CB (as the locals refer to it) on several occasions and is a huge fan of this earnest settlement. Located in a box canyon, it’s a ski Mecca and resort town that tries...

It’s three thousand and forty, to be exact: that’s the number of craft breweries in the United States as of June of this year. It’s a respectable number to say the least. Not only are we living in a time when there are the most breweries in the United States EVER, but we now live in a country where the majority of its citizens live within 10 miles of a craft brewery. And, with 1900 more breweries around the country in planning stages, it’s safe to say that the neighborhood brewpub is alive and well and could possibly be doing...

With recreational marijuana sales in full swing in Colorado and about to take off in Washington state, Tapped Life wonders how much influence the growing society of craft beer has contributed to this movement toward pot legalization. Has the acceptance of—and resounding success of—craft beer been the impetus for it? Good question. First, let’s do a little compare/contrast between Prohibition and the Marijuana Tax Act. Prohibition lasted for 13 years (1920-33). That ban on alcohol was rough. The ban on Marijuana has been in place since 1937 and has not been repealed. Both Prohibition and the Marijuana Tax Act were federal...