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It may be stupid, but government is stupid. It was illegal to homebrew in the US until 1978. Sure, you could mix water, sugar, yeast, but you weren't allowed to ferment it. To this day, you can't make an eisbock by freezing it and taking the ice chunks out, which is considered distilling by law.

Strangely enough it seems like the more expensive hotels are the ones who still charge. I was recently at a Hilton in Florida. Internet was like $8 per day, and then only in the LOBBY (they had a "wireless area" setup). On the flip side, I've been in several Days Inns with free access in the rooms, and just recently I was in a Ramada Limited where I had free access with BETTER ping times than I get at home.

The more you pay for a room, the more likely you're going to get nickel-and-dimed for things like Internet access. A hotel that gets mostly business travelers (like a Hilton or a Sheraton) knows that most of its guests have expense accounts that'll pay every little expense they throw up. If they're going after leisure travelers, they know that you tend to be tighter with your money than you would be with someone else's money, and they set their prices accordingly.

The AHA held its annual conference at a Denver-area Sheraton a couple of months ago. In-room WiFi would've run about $10-$12 per day. Rather than fork over that kind of money, I just used my phone's data connection. It may only be somewhere between dial-up and ISDN in speed, but it gets the job done and I'm already paying for it ($15 per month, unlimited...Sprint rocks).

damned copy 'n' paste! here's the proper url:

http://www.beertown.org/events/wbc/winners_list/wi nners_2006.html

What? Bud and Coors aren't the only beers made in America.

Some of the best beers in the world are made here.

Pliny the Elder anybody???

http://www.beertown.org/events/wbc/winners_list/wi nn

Try a Sam Adams Summer Ale.
It's a seasonal brew only available til august.

Of course you need to try our micro brews - Gordon Biersch, Karl Strauss, BJ's etc. Checkout http://www.beertown.org/ to find one near you.

Enjoy drinking a beer that is close to what Ben would have drunk.

A number of US brewpubs are serving their own batches of Poor Richard's which was formulated to the researched preferences of Bejamin Franklin

FWIW: its an "Open Recipe" beer.

(mmmmmm, beeer)

Check out:

Skotrat
Beer Town(home of the Asscoiation of Brewers)
Tasty Brew
Stout Billy's

Brett

Come out to Denver some time. I believe we have more microbreweries per capita than anywhere else in the US, as well as The Great American Beer Festival (http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/index.htm).

Derek

We're having a naked midnight bike ride. When given the choice the Association of Brewers holds its annual conference here because the members consider Portland the best beer city in the US. local wireless group has hundreds of free hotspots scattered about. Highest per capita rates of bookstores, movies screens and coffee houses in the US. Snow only every other year at the most. Easy to get out into the countryside when you need to be away from urban living.

Brew your own!

but please.... don't...take...away...my...beer!!

If you made your own beer, you wouldn't have this problem. :-)

(If anyone here is anywhere near Vegas tomorrow, there'll be a big brew demo @ Beer & Brew Gear, 147 Water St., Henderson. I'll be making a partial-mash Jever clone and several other people will make other beers with methods ranging from extract-only to all-grain.)

Thanks for the (legal) info again, could you post any good links for this stuff?

Most any homebrew book would have that info...you might also want to have a look at this page.

There really should be a Beer 101 class for geeks everywhere. Here's a start: What Part of Beer Don't You Understand?.

Unfortunately, the Homebrew computer club has little to do with homebrewing beer or even brewing software although beer geeks know the true meaning of Free as in Beer.

Well... You can get into incredibly fine divisions when splitting beer into styles, to the point of one-to-one style-to-individual-beer. Having said that, you're pretty much correct. Kind of. Pale ale _is_ a style, but it's also an overarching category. Lager is just an overarching category. Pale ale can be divided into pale, India Pale Ale, bitter...it goes on and on. Bud is the prime example of American Pilsner, aka "American light lager". Great American Beer Fest style guide is a list of just how nitpicky brewers can get. My entry this year fits in #61, Imperial Stout.

It's also pointless. I could buy a case of beer to drink over the next three months, and only when I'm done will I throw the case out. I could claim that I drink only one beer a week, but if you happen to search my garbage the week I throw out my case, you'd think I was an alcoholic.

Most people don't hang onto their empties...they go in the trash as they're emptied.

(Then again, I'm a homebrewer, so if it's brown and not a twist-off, I rinse it out and save it for my own beer.)

I have been brewing my own beer for close to 20 years, and I'm a computer geek, so I feel qualified to comment on this thread.

There are a lot of similarities between DIY beer and DIY computers. Making beer offers many opportunities for fabricating equipment (to enable more advanced brewing methods), writing software (to help calculate recipies), surfing the 'net (for recipies, supplies, advice, etc), and the list goes. And as with Linux, there's a single individual (Charlie Papazian) who is very influencial in shaping the direction of the field.

The Internet and it's predecessors have played an important role in the homebrewing community. As other posts have mentioned, the Homebrew Digest and rec.crafts.brewing are two long running forums for discussing homebrewing information. It's neat that several important advances in homebrewing (and commercial brewing) were first introduced, and refined, through discussions on these two forums. Beer making is definitely a field, like computers, where the home experimenter can make a difference.

I should also put in a plug for the American Homebrewers Association, which dispite it's name it a worldwide organization that promotes homebrewing.

Relax, don't worry, and have a homebrew!

I have been recently thinking about beer. Beer is the nectar of Gods. We're not talking Guiness or Cerveza here, we're talking the real shit, Steinlager, Heineken, Pete's Ale.

The problem these days is that people can't appreciate good beer. Too many people just get wasted on cheap-ass Ice House, Coors, or even worse, Bud. And that is a shame.

In the old days, things were different. Beer, that was a commodity. Good, aged beer was valuable. People treasured those moments of enjoying a pint of cold, tasty lager with plenty of head. Nobody would touch an aluminium can, let alone beer in plastic.

Open up a can of MGD today, and you've set yourself up for some major disappointment. Firstly, aluminum leaves a nasty aftertaste in your beer. Secondly, MGD has absolutely no head. It looks like stale tea. Thirdly, it tastes like stale tea too.

Henceforth, I urge you people, don't drink cheap shitty beer!

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Enjoy life, drink beer.

I have been recently thinking about beer. Beer is the nectar of Gods. We're not talking Guiness or Cerveza here, we're talking the real shit, Steinlager, Heineken, Pete's Ale.

The problem these days is that people can't appreciate good beer. Too many people just get wasted on cheap-ass Ice House, Coors, or even worse, Bud. And that is a shame.

In the old days, things were different. Beer, that was a commodity. Good, aged beer was valuable. People treasured those moments of enjoying a pint of cold, tasty lager with plenty of head. Nobody would touch an aluminium can, let alone beer in plastic.

Open up a can of MGD today, and you've set yourself up for some major disappointment. Firstly, aluminum leaves a nasty aftertaste in your beer. Secondly, MGD has absolutely no head. It looks like stale tea. Thirdly, it tastes like stale tea too.

Henceforth, I urge you people, don't drink cheap shitty beer!

_, . '__ .
'_(_0o),(__)o().
,o(__),_)o(_)O,(__)o
o(_,-o(_ )(),(__(_)oO)_
.O(__)o,__).(_ )o(_)Oo_)
.----|......|......|......|......|......|_)0
/^^^.--|......|......|......|......|......|,_)
|^^/.........|......|......|......|......|...... |o(_)
|^^|.........|......|......|......|......|...... |_/`)
|^^|.........|......|......|......|......|...... |O_)
|^^|.........|......|......|......|......|...... |
|^^\.........|......|......|......|......|...... |
\^^'---|.....|......|......|......|......|
'----|......|......|......|......|......|
|......|......|......|......|......|
\......\......\....../....../....../
`"""""""""""""""""`

Enjoy life, drink beer.

After having spent a great deal of time contemplating the intertangled issues of beer consumption, I have arrived at the inevitable conclusion that perhaps green is the way to proceed nowadays.

The quality of commercial beer has been steadily decaying since about 1850, having had it's best times in the present Germany area in the 19th century. In contrary, the quality of hemp has been improving, as cultivation, genetic engineerging, and selective growing all contribute.

It is of no doubt that today's marijuana is of the best quality the world has seen. Why not take advantage? There are few things in life as good as your own herb, grown by yourself at home out in the garden and indoors in pots.

_, . '__ .
'_(_0o),(__)o().
,o(__),_)o(_)O,(__)o
o(_,-o(_ )(),(__(_)oO)_
.O(__)o,__).(_ )o(_)Oo_)
.----|......|......|......|......|......|_)0
/^^^.--|......|......|......|......|......|,_)
|^^/.........|......|......|......|......|...... |o(_)
|^^|.........|......|......|......|......|...... |_/`)
|^^|.........|......|......|......|......|...... |O_)
|^^|.........|......|......|......|......|...... |
|^^\.........|......|......|......|......|...... |
\^^'---|.....|......|......|......|......|
'----|......|......|......|......|......|
|......|......|......|......|......|
\......\......\....../....../....../
`"""""""""""""""""`

Enjoy life, drink beer.

After having spent a great deal of time contemplating the intertangled issues of beer consumption, I have arrived at the inevitable conclusion that perhaps green is the way to proceed nowadays.

The quality of commercial beer has been steadily decaying since about 1850, having had it's best times in the present Germany area in the 19th century. In contrary, the quality of hemp has been improving, as cultivation, genetic engineerging, and selective growing all contribute.

It is of no doubt that today's marijuana is of the best quality the world has seen. Why not take advantage? There are few things in life as good as your own herb, grown by yourself at home out in the garden and indoors in pots.

_, . '__ .
'_(_0o),(__)o().
,o(__),_)o(_)O,(__)o
o(_,-o(_ )(),(__(_)oO)_
.O(__)o,__).(_ )o(_)Oo_)
.----|......|......|......|......|......|_)0
/^^^.--|......|......|......|......|......|,_)
|^^/.........|......|......|......|......|...... |o(_)
|^^|.........|......|......|......|......|...... |_/`)
|^^|.........|......|......|......|......|...... |O_)
|^^|.........|......|......|......|......|...... |
|^^\.........|......|......|......|......|...... |
\^^'---|.....|......|......|......|......|
'----|......|......|......|......|......|
|......|......|......|......|......|
\......\......\....../....../....../
`"""""""""""""""""`

Enjoy life, drink beer.