Beer Advocate...the mag

Last week I had the opportunity to borrow a copy of the new Beer Advocate magazine from a co-worker.  I had received all of the emails inviting me to be a founding subscriber, but for some reason just couldn't get excited about shelling out the $20 for 12 issues.  I already get Brew Your Own and Zymurgy and a number of other non-beer magazines do maybe I felt I was at my limit for monthly reading.  But with the opportunity to read an issue for free, I decided I could sneak the BA into the rotation.

On Wednesday night I sat down with a pint of homebrew and read the July issue cover to cover.  The look and feel of the magazine is definitely upscale and you can tell that there was a good bit of thought around the design, graphics and photos.  The Alstrom brothers, founders of Beer Advocate.com, are trying to help raise beer to a new level so it is no surprise that the form of the magazine is so impressive.  (Although I was a little surprised by the number of times the last line of a story was cut off leaving me to fill in the end of the last sentence.  A little annoying after a while!)

This issue contained a decent selection of articles including a pseudo-interview with Rob Tod of Allagash, an editorial on faux craft beer from the big guys, a couple tidbits of beer in the news, and of course a healthy dose of beer reviews.  However, I was most impressed with an article on 5 of the best beer chefs in the US.  Not only do they discuss the history of each chef and how they became focused on beer, but the author was also able to get a number of their recipes to share.  One of the chef's profiled, Sean Paxton, even has a website where you can find additional recipes: homebrewchef.com.  I looked through the listing and think that there are enough recipes there to keep me busy experiementing in the kitchen for a while.  The article has also given me a few places to visit next time I am near any of the 5 restaurants.  In fact, next weekend I'll be in SoCal and will probably make my way to Stone World Bistro for lunch on Sunday.  The restaurant was not open when I moved away and I am anxious to see how the space and the menu came together.  All over a Ruination IPA of course!

Overall, I was pretty impressed with the magazine and am glad I found a chance to get my hands on an issue.  I might even have to subscribe...unless it keeps showing up on my desk for free of course!