Hoppy New Beer!

(Originally submitted by Brian W on Fri, 2013/01/11)

It's a new year and that means new beer coming to the state of Oklahoma. One we are showcasing this month is Dead Armadillo Brewing. (http://www.deadarmadillobrewery.com )
Led by the two founders Tony Peck and Chris Barba and brewmaster Mason Beecroft, Dead Armadillo is bringing another brewery to the Tulsa area with great session beers and a black IPA, my personal favorite. Check our events calendar this month as we will host a tasting with Dead Armadillo at R Bar in Tulsa.

January means winter beers and special release are fading as we transition to spring style beers. It's an encouraging time to be a part of the craft beer movement as sales continue to rise and more breweries popping up. One such brewery are two home brewers turned pro going under the name Rough Tail Brewery out of Oklahoma City. (http://roughtailbeer.com) Currently they have a Kickstarter project for a canning line which you may see more breweries leaning towards. Technology for cans has improved and does not leave any metallic taste thanks to a new polymer coating. Cans are easier to recycle, don't break, allow no light or air in to create skunky beer and much easier to take to the lake, beach, party buses, etc.

Also new is Marshall Brewery's App in the Apple store. There you can check out if Marshall beer is at your favorite watering hole, events and beer releases.

Another company with a Kickstarter campaign is Black Mesa who currently have their Blonde style pouring at Smoke and Dust Bowl in Tulsa. Drop them a few dollars if you can so they can reserve time and space at the OK City Brewing Co. where start-ups can brew with low costs to help them create a market for their beer without all the overhead costs.

It's a great time to invest in these breweries as more Americans are striking out on their own. Their passion is not going away and more industry means more jobs for Tulsa so why not support Oklahoma craft beer today!

We have so much more in the works for our members including a tour of Marshall Brewery in the coming months. Like us on Facebook and get your membership today to be a part of the Oklahoma craft beer revolution!

It all started with a bottle opener...

(Originally Submitted by Brian W on Tue, 2012/12/04)

I was sitting at work one day brainstorming for a client’s promotional product, when my brain drifted to beer. If you know me, you know that I spend a lot of time thinking about beer. Drinking it, brewing it, discovering new varieties of it. It all ranks very highly with me. Stuck in a state of mind between beer and promotion, I had an idea. The panhandle of Oklahoma would make an excellent bottle opener. Our state was the perfect shape to help me crack open a cold one and I could see the design clearly in my head. But if the bottle opener is a promotional product, what am I promoting? What logo am I designing here? And like a punch in the face, it hit me. Beer is OK.

Of course, I know beer is more than just okay. As a native of suds-loving St. Louis, I was initially shocked by Oklahoma’s quirky alcohol laws. (Why can’t I buy quality beer on a Sunday???) But the sentiment of Beer Is OK was perfect. Around Tulsa, I see a lot of products marketed as “Made in Oklahoma” and I see a lot of support for local retailers. T-shirts and bumper stickers are all telling me that Oklahoma is OK.

Whether Oklahomans realize it or not, Beer is OK, too. I had my first sip of Choc 1919 at a Drillers game at the old stadium on Yale, and I was hooked. Marshall Brewing opened about the same time I moved to Tulsa, and I just couldn't get enough. From there the love grew to Coop’s Imperial Stouts and now I am enamored with Dead Armadillo’s Black IPA. Oklahoma is booming in the craft beer business. Every day, new local brewers are stepping up their game and getting serious about craft beer. Oklahoma is beginning to feel more like my home. And the craft beer industry here is beginning to feel more like the craft beer industry in St. Louis. Quality local choices give us something to be proud of.

I still want to have the bottle openers made some day, but that little idea led to a much larger one. I want to support our local brewers. I want to get people excited about another Oklahoma product they should be proud of. Beer Is OK is the organization I've founded to help me do it. As a club, we're going to tour brewing facilities and help our members fall in love with Oklahoma craft beer. We’re going to offer a pretty decent beer education, and hang out with people who are excited about what's happening in Oklahoma beer culture. We’ll talk to the brewers and cheer them on. And most importantly, we’ll drink some delicious Oklahoma craft beer.

Oklahoma and Beer - A love story

(Submitted originally on 12/4/12 by Cassie DeLozier-Miller)

As a kid growing up in a tiny Oklahoma town, I didn't really like it here. I spent a lot of time daydreaming of bigger cities full of people in fancy shoes. Taxi-cabs. Skyscrapers. Coast lines. I was pretty sure that as far as states went, mine was the plainest of the Great Plains.

Upon graduation from Oklahoma State University, I wanted to get as far away as possible. I reluctantly agreed to move from Stillwater to Tulsa with my husband. I told myself it was temporary and that I could survive until we moved to a real city. Within three months, I was in love. Streets like Boston Avenue felt like a big city, but easy Tulsa traffic let me get anywhere I needed to be in 20 minutes or less. Lofts were few and far between, but affordable. There wasn't a whole lot going on in downtown in 2007, but there was an energy. You could tell things were starting to happen — people had ideas. Five years later, many of those ideas are now a reality.

If there's one thing I still don't get about Oklahoma after all of this time here, it's our reluctance to embrace beer culture. I'm not talking about getting-smashed-and-making-a-fool-out-of-yourself culture. I'm talking about refined palettes mulling over flavors and smells that make beer unique during a guided tasting. I'm talking about understanding the art and science behind a process as old as the Bible.

I love Oklahoma, but I'm in love with the idea of what Oklahoma could be. I'm talking Napa Valley, people. Right now, there is no clear beer-equivalent to the wine-producing areas that have become tourism powerhouses. But there could be. In the first part of 2012, craft beer was the strongest growth sector in a multi-billion dollar industry. With support from their communities, Oklahoma brewers could be in the center of it all. In the middle of the country, accesible to all. We could be the Sonoma of beer. We could have hords of tourists show up each year to visit our many breweries and learn about our delicious Oklahoma-made craft beer.

Our friend Brian, the founder of BeerIsOK, has a lot of plans for this club. I'm excited about hanging out with people who love craft beer as much as we do. I'm excited about shaking the hands of the brewers who make my favorite beers and touring their facilities. But mostly, I'm excited about the energy. Things are starting to happen, and people have ideas. I can't wait to see the reality.