There's nothing like a cold beer!

Jon Griffin here, your professor at AskTheBeerGuy.com, with another quick beer update.

As some of you may know, home brewing beer has not been legal in the United States forever. In fact, there are still some states, up until recently, which is what this podcast is about, that actually prohibited home brewing. It wasn't until the Jimmy Carter administration legalized home brewing beer at the federal level, February 1st 1979, that home brewing became legal at all.

We're going to discuss the new Samuel Adams Summer Variety Pack that came out. The first beer we're going to talk about is the Little Rye. I haven’t had that yet, so we will try it for the first time. It's basically what they say is a take on a Belgian wheat beer, except made with rye, and they also added some sage, so let's get started and not play around anymore. It's spring and it's time to drink.

Since it seems like everyone else is on the St. Patrick's day bandwagon, I figured I would make a little corned beef the beer way.

Don't worry, no beer was harmed in this recipe. No green dye added, and no crap beer used!

One of the things that I often find in my classes is that certain beers have different audiences. OK, I will say it; some beers seem to be enjoyed by the women in the class than the men. It also works the other way.

Here are 4 reasons that chick beer isn't just for chicks!

1. Good beer is good beer.

One of the things that bugs me is the beer snobs (you know who you are), telling me that a beer is crap just because it doesn't follow their idea of "good beer."

Even if I don't necessarily like the beer, I find beer commercials can be funny and creative.

I saw an email claiming to have the most EPIC beer commercial ever and thought about putting up a few of my favorites.

Do you think that ads like these make people buy beer? Or are they just for fun and to keep the name alive and only indirectly impacting sales?

There's nothing like a cold beer. In this episode we talk about:

00:14 — What I am drinking

03:56 —  Alcohol taxes, do they work?

06:53 — Beer for bone health, drink up!

This is the all-grain version of my award winning chocolate porter recipe. This is not a difficult recipe for anyone doing all-grain brewing, but it does take some care when choosing the proper chocolate.

I used bakers chocolate for this since I didn’t really want the extra sugar. Just be careful that the chocolate doesn’t have wax or other fillers. You can also use cocoa powder that is unsweetened, but again, make sure of your ingredients.

This is a robust porter that I added chocolate to. If you love chocolate flavors in your beer, this is a great beer for you.

In honor of Celiac Awareness Month, the folks at Widmer Brothers Brewery, based in Portland, Oregon, have created “Omission.” Omission is a gluten-free beer brand that is mainly for people who, due to the Celiac Disease, can’t drink normal beer.

There's nothing like a cold beer. In this episode we talk about:

01:14 — What I am drinking

03:00 — The NFL and beer

04:13 — Freakin Bucket list beers

There's nothing like a cold beer. In this episode we talk about:

01:20 — What I am drinking

05:20 — Beware of the last bottle of beer

06:50 — SABMiller in Africa

09:10 — The nanny state goes wild

11:41 — Sydney beer festival

14:54 — Barley and malting

14:54 — Your questions answered

Welcome to another edition of Ask The Beer Guy. This is your host Jon Griffin, “The Beer Drinking Professor.”