Life's too short to drink bad beer.

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Blessed Yule, Glorious Festivus, and a Prosperous New Year!

Very soon here at My Hoppy Place, we’ll be kicking back with a nice glass of glögg (mulled red wine) and opening our presents under the tree. Well, not under the tree because it gets crowded under there. Next to the tree. Yeah. Next to it. There may be beer related gifts under there, there [...]

Menu for Hope 6: Try great beer, support a great cause!

We here at My Hoppy Place believe that part of our mission is to spread the good word about good beer. To further this mission, we’ve offered a custom beer tasting in this year’s Menu for Hope 6. What’s the Menu for Hope? It’s a fundraising event organized by Pim of Chez Pim. Food bloggers [...]

Santa’s Private Reserve

I am a regular fan of the Rogue Ales. And this is no exception. I now know why Santa is so jolly. But it is not for the faint of heart. The bottle describes the ale as reddish-copper in color with a roasty malt flavor and a hoppy, sprucey finish. However, I think they forgot [...]

Salmon, cure thyself (or how to impress everyone with your own homemade gravlax)

My Swedish uncle gave me a book of Things Swedish which includes a recipe for gravlax and mustard sauce. It’s the easiest thing in the world. Seriously, I make tea that’s more complicated. It’s fabulous on bagels, crisp bread, rye, crackers, or on its own. Take a nice piece of salmon filet: more than a [...]

To score or not to score

I’m still pondering the whole point system for beer tasting. I have this fancy beer journal with blank forms for each beer. It has a 4-point scale which I just don’t like. There’s no middle in a 4-point scale. 2 is too low. 3 is too high. The 100 point scales used for wine seem [...]

Beers of Croatia and Bosnia Hercegovina

We just spent 10 days in Croatia on a “hey we’re 40!” trip. Zagreb, Zadar, Split, Korcula, and Dubrovnik, with excursions to Plitvice Lakes and Mostar somewhere in there. Absolutely gorgeous! All of it! The people, the architecture, the old stuff, the weather, the mountains, the Adriatic. And, most importantly, the beer (which is why [...]