We started out with 64, and now there are only eight beers left.  The empties of the first 56 are strewn about like leftovers from a house party, except at this house party the guests brought Natty Light and Boddingtons.  For those of you who have expressed concern about the condition of my liver, I’m happy to report that my health plan with Epic Portions allows one trip to the Mayo Clinic every year.  I’ll be there as soon as this is over for a little R and R, and to take some time off beer.  Only whiskey for one week straight.  Woo-hoo!

American Macrobrew:

(1) Blue Moon over (4) Coors Banquet

Who ever thought Coors would make it this far?  Wins over High Life, Bud Light and Coors so far for Blue Moon.  What happens when it has to take on a real beer?

(3) Budweiser American Ale over (10) Rolling Rock

And so the run ends for Rolling Rock; just like Coors it did well to make it this far.  Bud’s American Ale has the distinct advantage of actually tasting like beer.

So, for the championship of the American Macrobrew category, we have:

(1) Blue Moon vs. (3) Budweiser American Ale

Analysis:

It has taken awhile but we have whittled this group down to two pretty decent beers.  Blue Moon’s faux Belgian style versus Budweiser’s attempt at creating a real beer.  Try this one at home, dear readers, you might be pleasantly surprised.

European:

(5) Hoegaarden over (1) Newcastle Brown Ale

Newcastle is a great beer, no question.  But to survive this group, you’ve got to bring something special, and Hoegaarden has that in spades.  The hint of coriander puts it over the top.

(2) Pilsner Urquell over (6) Bass Ale

The original pilsner over a pale ale?  I usually love pale ales, but the smooth finish of Pilsner Urquell makes it a truly special beer.

Setting up an amazing championship battle for the European bracket:

(2) Pilsner Urquell vs. (5) Hoegaarden

Analysis:

What can I say?  This one is wide open, but there is no loser here, to be certain.  Czech Republic vs. Belgium for the European championship.  Forget UEFA, I can honestly say without hyperbole that this is the greatest matchup in European history.

American Microbrew:

(9) Red Hook Long Hammer IPA over (5) Sam Adams Winter Lager

The hoppy punch of Red Hook outduels the flavorful Winter Lager.  Sam is gone from the competition, but not after a solid showing.

(3) Anchor Steam over (7) Bell’s Amber

After ousting some really amazing beers, Bell’s Amber bows out to Anchor in a razor close battle that went into overtime.

The great American Microbrew category closes with mad hops:

(3) Anchor Steam vs. (9) Red Hook Long Hammer IPA

Analysis:

West coast, baby, this is NWA versus Tupac.  The smooth flavor of Anchor Steam battles the citrus hops of Red Hook’s IPA.

International Macrobrew:

(4) Negra Modelo over (1) Red Stripe

Red Stripe is a nice light lager but loses out to a more flavorful beer.  Overall popularity be damned, Modelo Dark is just a better beer.

(6) Dos Equis over (7) Moosehead Lager

Moosehead falls short against Dos Equis, not even watching a hockey game while drinking it could save the Canadian Lager.

International Macrobrew comes down to an all Mexico battle:

(4) Negra Modelo vs. (6) Dos Equis

Wow…this will be fun and must be fought over a glorious, authentic Mexican meal.  Sounds like a trip to La Fuente or Los Amigos is in order for this battle.

We are now on the cusp of the final four, the winners of each category will be anxious to take each other on.  Results will be ready early next week.

For the last few years, I have been fascinated in finding a way to construct some sort of pizza cooking “apparatus”(?) for myself to use at home.  My dream is that one day I will be able to make my own dough, sauce, cheese blend, and whatever else I feel like adding.  No more ordering Dominos, as great as their on-line ordering system may be.  I guess you could say that I long for pizza freedom.  Unfortunately, I live in the third floor of an apartment complex so not very many options are available to me that don’t involve the possibility of burning down my apartment complex.  I guess I could go the easy route and just purchase a pizza stone, but that’s just too easy.

This dream really began when I found that Dan from Thefoodinmybeard had constructed a brick pizza oven in his back yard, which just happened to be in Bermuda.  This would be ideal, but once again I live in an apartment complex, and I’m sure McKinley Management wouldn’t be too happy to find an enormous brick pizza oven constructed in the middle of their property, even if I was feeding the residents delicious DIY style pizza.  Seriously though, check this thing out.  Who wouldn’t want one of these things in their back yard?

And the result, things like curry pizza.  Amazing.  Check out the entire brick oven pizza series on Thefoodinmybeard.com Great stuff.

Realizing that building my own pizza oven would not be possible for another year or so, I decided to search for other options.  I had a gas stove, shouldn’t that count for something?  I came across a couple guys who decided to line their oven with fire bricks to simulate the brick oven.  Kind of a pain in the ass, but it sounded like a good idea.  Unfortunately my roommates declared this a horrible idea and that was the end of it.  It never happened but if I get stuck in an apartment complex for another year, my roommates might just come home to delicious brick oven style pizza.  How could they be mad?  eHow also has pretty detailed instructions on how to complete this.

The solution that probably makes the most sense to me currently is constructing a FrankenWeber, which may or may not have been first developed by street vendor in San Francisco called The Pizza Hacker.  The basic concept is to contruct the Weber charcoal grill into a mini wood burning pizza oven.  With the heat covered by the hood, it is easy for the grill to reach temparatures of up to 1000F, which is perfect for Neapolitan style pizzas.  Oh, and did I mention it’s portable?

Watch the Pizza Hacker work.  He simply has a table with jars of his sauce, buffalo mozzarella and a basil plant.  After he has constructed the pizza, it goes into the oven for only about two minutes, and then is topped with olive oil and additional cheese.  This is cool stuff:

If the video didn’t do enough for you, or you simply ignored my request, here’s a great picture of probably the best pizza will you will ever see offered by a street vendor.

After learning about the Pizza Hacker, I took my quest to Google to find out if the man was the only one doing this.  I found a few people that have been constructing their own FrankenWebers out of throwaway Weber grills and making delicious wood oven style pizza at home in minutes.  I think this is the solution for my brick/wood oven style pizza dream.

To summarize, I leave you with quite possibly the most delicious looking, and sounding, pizza I have ever seen/heard of in my life.  On top of this pizza is Cured Wild Boar Belly, pickled hot peppers, Calabrian chilies, Dry Farmed Early Girl Tomato Sauce, Buff Mozz, Grana Padano, Angelo Garro’s Homemade Olive Oil, parsley, and smoked salt.  Baked for only 75 seconds by the Pizza Hacker in his FrankenWeber.