Gear Patrol

Samuel Adams is best known for its Boston Lager, but with a slew of other great beers – the Boston Ale and Black Lager come to mind – the brand has transitioned from craft brew darling to international powerhouse. That said, they keep the craft and innovation alive with releases like the Single Batch Series….

In hindsight, it completely makes sense that craft brewers like video games. In fact, what guy doesn’t like beer and video games (you productive types don’t count). To that end, Kansas’ Tallgrass Brewing Company, known for packaging their entire selection of beer in 1 PINT aluminum cans, has released 8-Bit Pale Ale. Based on customer…

The next time you’re in need of lip protection, stop stealing the cherry gloss from your better half’s purse, and grab some Sierra Nevada Natural lip balm ($1). It’s made from cascade hop oils and other all-natural ingredients, for a hint a Sierra Nevada flavor, minus the 5.6% ABV buzz. Keep a stick in your…

After just two years in business, Upslope Brewing Company is releasing the Foreign Style Stout, their first limited release specialty ale. Located and expanding in the North Boulder area, this budding brewery was founded by three outdoor adventure lovers who enjoy chilled, fizzling hops in between camping, rafting, and mountain biking trips. With only 200…

While we appreciate the growing craft beer movement and the art of a perfectly poured pint, we can’t ignore our do-it-yourself instincts. But before we turn the guest room into a rogue brewery, we’ll take some advice from avid home brewer, Matthew Schaefer. His new book, The Illustrated Guide to Brewing Beer ($15), is the…

Technology is constantly striving to indulge our inner sloth. Manually setting reminders on your phone was deemed too arduous, so now you can speak them. Pulling out keys, inserting them into the ignition, and twisting was just pointlessly strenuous, so now we just push a button. Going to rent a movie at Blockbuster defined drudgery,…

The first thing you should know about Guinness’s latest creation is that it’s targeting a broader market of drinkers who may not be fans of their meal-in-a-pint stouts. Though it’s called a Black Lager, beer geeks will point out that it’s technically a very specific German brew called Schwarzbier or “black beer”. Developed long before…

Clearly, we’re fond of books that teach us more about the things we love. The subject matter alone of The Oxford Companion to Beer ($38) is enough to tempt most men to flip through its pages, but when you factor in that it’s been edited by Brooklyn Brewery brewmaster Garrett Oliver, it becomes a must…

Most people will take beer in any container they can get it in. Purists, however, tend to place the traditional pint glass above all us. The Silipint ($10) is an indestructible incarnation of the popular cup (sadly it’s the American 16 oz, not a 20oz British Imperial). Made from flexible, food grade silicone, it can…

The purpose of a Beer Froster ($550+) should be self-evident. What may not be so obvious is how it’s different from a standard freezer. Anyone who has ever attempted to cool down some brews quickly in the freezer and then forgot about it has learned that the consequences of combining beer with freezing temperatures can…

The cigarette companies were slapped year’s ago for using illustrations in their ads on the grounds that it created young smokers in training. Still, those dirty peddlers were on to something. Beer Craft: A Simple Guide to Making Great Beer ($12) takes full advantage of the beauty and appeal of illustration to walk would-be brewers…

Think of the Alpina Mobile Bongos Beer Bar ($11,300) as a graduate degree in outdoor drinking. The mobile party center features an integrated kegerator, 8kg of ice storage, and customizable tops for adding everything from a gas-powered grill to extra serving areas. Thanks its four sturdy wheels and a specially designed refrigeration system, there’s also…

For their book Beer: A Genuine Collection of Cans ($13), authors Dan Becker and Lance Wilson painstakingly logged and photographed nearly 500 beer cans. Sourced from thirty countries the book spans obscure, forgotten, and stalwart brews. Some you’ll recognize. Some you won’t. If you’re itching to see the beer sooner than later though, 163 of…

Vostok 4 Pines Stout ($20) is the world’s first beer that’s certified for drinking in space and was developed by the 4-Pines Brewing Company and Saber Astronautics. Yes, the claim is a blatant marketing ploy, but you’d be surprised what a brewer has to deal with to make suds drinkable in space. First of all,…

The Samuel Adams Barrel Room Collection is composed of three unique beers that share a common background of aging in oak barrels that originally did time storing brandy in a previous life. Outside of that common ground though, the American Kriek, New World Tripel, and Stony Brook Red brews are each distinct specialty beers. The…

Claiming that Guinness Foreign Extra Stout is a new offering from the esteemed Irish beer brand is technically inaccurate. The reality is it was brewed for more than two centuries and dates back to 1801. Back then it was known as West India Porter until the mid-19th century and was distinguished by its more intense…

Draught beer is the ultimate party beverage. But let’s face it, unless you’ve got fraternity pledges to do the heavy lifting, kegs are an enormous pain. Mini kegs are the tiny answer to this problem, but dispensing these bad boys properly can seem as troublesome as dealing with a whole keg. That’s where EdgeStar ($160)…

Though the eventual consequences of the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill are still being determined, the damage done to the seafood industry along the Gulf Coast of Louisiana is a very present and tangible reality. Families which have fished and shrimped in the murky waters off the Mississippi delta for generations are facing an end…

In the blistering heat, when your typical Bud bottle isn’t quenching your thirst, you need something that actually tastes refreshing. That’s when you should break out a 6-pack of Leinkenkugel’s Summer Shandy ($7). The first thing you’ll notice is the citrus aroma that jumps out of the glass. When it hits your lips the lemon…

There are three things that every man dreams of doing at least once in his lifetime. One is to play major league baseball, two is to bathe in beer, and the third is probably better off left unsaid. Dogfish Head brewery in Delaware is doing their best to make one of those dreams become a…

San Francisco residents may be already intimately familiar with 21st Amendment Brewery located in the city’s historic South Park neighborhood, just a few blocks away from the Giants’ home turf. For the uninitiated however, one of the best things about this company (besides its product) is its founding story. Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan were…

Back in 1998, when our ears were being assaulted with one-hit wonders, Russian brewery Baltika began bottling Baltika #9, their strongest beer at an 8% ABV. The smooth, light golden lager tastes of sweet malt and though it’s produced by a mass manufacturer maintains a degree of complexity and uniqueness that connoisseurs seek. Interestingly, the…

We know how attached you are to your koozies and bottles, but every once a while it’s nice to class up your beer drinking experience at home. Rather than hunt high and low though for the perfect glass sets for a variety of brew styles, Spiegelau makes things easy with this beer connoisseur set ($49)….

In case you haven’t heard, neoprene is not just for wetsuits anymore. The soft, stretchy material has a variety of uses thanks to its bevy of benefit and it would seem that the folks at Built NY have mastered them all. They design and sell totes to, well, tote just about anything, all in a…

There are many ways to think about recycling. Etsy seller and glass blower Nick Paul prefers to think of the concept as a way to extend the life of one of man’s best friends – the classic beer bottle. After cleaning old beer bottles, Nick heats the used bottles in an annealing oven at 1100…

We wouldn’t be going too far out on a limb if we proposed that beer improves just about any situation, even running a marathon. Much to our chagrin though, beer isn’t always allowed in every setting, at least if you’re the rule-following type and don’t live in Montana. But as the saying goes, where there’s…

Autumn is nearly upon us and that means more than sweaters and the death of skirts. Seasonal fall beers will also soon be hitting shelves and along this tradition, Widmer Brothers Cherry Oak Doppelbock is scheduled for public consumption starting October 8th. Crafted of dark sweet and red tart cherries from the Pacific Northwest the…

The Bottle Cap Wrench by Craftsman is manliness incarnate. Drop forged in the same USA factories as Craftsman tools it carries the same unconditional guarantee as it’s brethren: If any Craftsman hand tool ever fails to provide complete satisfaction, Return it to any Sears store or other Craftsman outlet in the United States for free…

When faced with the choice, most men will opt for a draft-poured beer over something bottled or canned. At least, I hope they do. Don’t get me wrong, individually packaged beers are good, but they lack the freshness and fullness that a draft can offer. So you can imagine the utter lack of productivity that…

By Gear Patrol Reader Scott Mannear You may have had your first taste of beer with your father on a warm summer’s day or you may have stolen your first sip from a less scrupulous friend (maybe you were that friend). Regardless of the occasion, most men remember their first beer. Chances are your first…