Daily Archives: June 10, 2007

Buy Me A Beer plugin

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One of the great strengths of WordPress (the software that runs this humble beer blog) is that it is nearly infinitely extendable. The core software is solid and does a lot, but there are literally thousands of “plugins” one can add to their blog to really add functionality.

Buy me a Beer iconOne newly popular plugin is entitled “Buy Me A Beer“. (That’s why I’m even writing about it.) It allows the blog owner to add an icon in the sidebar as well as add a link to the end of each post, that allows readers quick access to a PayPal donation page.

Links to solicit donations to individual blog authors and site owners is nothing new, of course, nor are plugins to facilitate donations. What makes this one slightly different is that it’s suggesting something a bit more concrete. If you like something I’ve posted, or just the blog in general, “send me a donation” sounds a lot more like virtual begging than asking if you’d like to buy me a beer. The latter sounds a whole lot more friendly and personable. (It looks like Jay Brooks is using it, but I haven’t seen it on any other beer blogs that I frequent.)

For the teetotalers out there, or those unusual individuals who don’t like beer, the plugin makes it easy to transform into “Buy me a coffee”. If neither is your “cup of tea”, then like (almost) all plugins, the source code is easily modified to the beverage or other goodie of your choice.

I don’t think we’ll be using it here at Hop Talk, though. Frankly, if you’d really like to buy me a beer, I’d rather just meet up at a brewpub. Still, for us hobbyist beer bloggers, a little cash would help defray hosting an other costs, making it easier to justify our hobby to our significant others. This might be helpful.

Download the ‘Buy Me a Beer’ Plugin

Double Dog Double Pale Ale – Flying Dog Brewery

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Pale Ale is one of my favorite styles. So a “double” pale ale should be twice as good, right? Well, let’s find out.

Double Dog Double Pale AleDouble Dog Double Pale Ale is a relatively new offering from Flying Dog Brewery. Originally part of their “Wild Dog” line, it has been brought back by popular demand.

Here’s what they say about it:

Double Dog Double Pale Ale is a generously hopped ale with a deep red color and when poured, it will have a nice frothy head. The abundance of hops will conjure some provocative aromas, hints of raisins and citrus.

Pours a deep amber color a reddish hue. The head is strong and cream colored, and leaves a lot of lace on the glass. I detect a bit of fruit in the aroma, but I can certainly tell it has a lot of Cascade hops.

Pow! Man, that’s like a kick in the head. I would definitely describe myself as a hop-head, but that’s just waaaay too much. It’s overpowering. I suppose if paired with something really spicy it would be a good combination, but by itself it is just a little too much. (Not completely unlike Dogfish Head’s 120 Minute IPA.) I know that 85 IBUs is pretty high, but it’s not that high. It’s not strictly the bitterness, anyway.

There are some who will like this (obviously, or they wouldn’t have brought it back) but it doesn’t seem like a beer for me.

Oh, yeah. I should mention that it is 10.5% ABV.

[rating:2/5]