Author: Alan

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For The First Of May

OK, the lawn has been mowed. Even though we had frosts three times in the last week. That is a milestone. As is the Craft Brewers Conference for 2022. I like the logo. No reference to #CBC2022. Actually looks like it was used by the Minnesota Beer Distributors’ Convention back in 1974. Right down to the bottle rather than, you know, a can. So… some people are getting back together. To get a bag or two of fruit sauce. Even we were out last night at a favourite place and hardly anyone had a mask on. Yikes. Our local numbers have moved from worst ever to less than worst ever so people must have forgotten or given up. Fingers crossed!  That’s where we are. Fingers being crossed.

The big news is in beer periodicals… as it is periodically. Is there a comeback being made with the news that All About Beer has been revived to some extent by Beer Edge collaborators Andy Crouch and John Hall:

When we founded Beer Edge in 2019, we drew on our experiences with All About Beer and the role it had in developing our own education and careers to help define the vision for our new company. Meanwhile, All About Beer’s bankruptcy concluded and the company and magazine closed for good. Bradford and Johnson later regained control of the brand itself and the content archive. And in early 2022, they agreed to sell these individual assets to us.

I will be interested in hearing about the business model. Andy, a public service lawyer in the real world, is acting as publisher with John reviving his role as editor, a position last held in 2017. After learning that GBH is essentially subsidized by non-publication public and private revenues (and subject to the inexplicable* withdrawal of cash, too) I thought a bit about the other ways of making an entirely niche topic at least break even. Pellicle, for example, on its third anniversary has announced a sustainability goal based on subscribing patrons with a noble goal: “your subscription lets you ensure that people who can’t afford it can still access our features, free of charge“. I am among the subscribers as Pellicle often offers writing you don’t see anywhere else. The main remaining old school periodical is Craft Beer & Brewing run these days by Joe Stange appears to be run as a for profit business with generous old school subscription rates with various tiers no doubt providing quite a range of valuable benefits.  I don’t subscribe as I find the articles, however excellent, to be often aimed towards the supply side, rather than me and my consumer demands. What is the proposition now from All About Beer?

The other big news in the brewing world in 2022 is really the resurgence of big beer. Or rather BIG BEER. As illustrated this week by the fabulous news from Molson Coors:

Molson Coors Beverage Co. says its profits soared in the first quarter for its largest quarterly sales growth in more than a decade. The Colorado and Montreal-based company, which reports in U.S. dollars, says it earned US$151.5 million or 70 cents per diluted share, up from US$84.1 million or 39 cents per share a year earlier. Underlying net income excluding one-time items was US$63.8 million or 29 cents per share, compared with US$1.6 million or one cent per share in the first quarter of fiscal 2021. Revenues for the three months ended March 31 were US$2.2 billion, up nearly 17 per cent from US$1.9 billion, primarily as a result of strong growth outside of North America amid fewer on-premise restrictions in Europe.

So much for the end times that all the experts spoke of. Like seltzers taking over. We do, however, still seem to have a slight bitterness in the mouth. Speaking of macro-lag, The Tand shared an image of what I think is a very attractive beer label, Cerveza Victoria lager from Malaga Spain. Utterly unhip with its middle aged guy in a suit wiping the sweat off his bald head, the use of white in his shirt, the hankie, the table and the background sends the image of pounding heat. I like the straw hat, too. Lovely design.

Less wonderful are the stories David Jesudason shared of his disheartening discriminatory experiences in the bigoted wine world for Glug:

One of the worst racist nicknames I endured was repeatedly said when I worked at a bar during my university days from 1999 to 2003. It was my job to carry the bottles of wine from the cellar and the manager of this West London establishment – Keith – would reward my efforts by calling me Gunga Din. For those not familiar with the Rudyard Kipling poem (and I’ve got a feeling that my racial abuser only knew the title) it’s about an Indian water carrier so expendable that after being killed helping the British Army his life is summed up by the jokey line: ‘You’re a better man than I am, Gunga Din.’ Although it’s a highly offensive term, it’s actually fitting as I was as dispensable as Kipling’s Hindu hero and if I’d complained I would’ve been ushered out of the door.

Just to be clear, the need for the efforts of Crafted for All and Beer Diversity at #CBC2022 give me no greater hope for the experience in the beer world.

Also at #CBC2022, rolling out craft’s long stale mantras of “we” and “winning” and “wars” is so utterly bizarre. And to my mind, the group think enforced at these gatherings has led to things like hazy IPAs being effectively gateway drinks for seltzers. Dumbing down leading to loyalty leachate. And shit like this:

… beers brewed with marshmallows. This once niche ingredient has actually become a trendy adjunct, but will it stick? …the marshmallow beer trend is like a Peep in the microwave: it is on the rise! Just last year, the number of beers containing marshmallows available through Tavour increased 31% over the year prior… these brewers started using mallows in small doses in select Stouts… fans of the brewery loved it and continue to love it. Tavour recently featured one such Drekker, a dessert-inspired smoothie Sour –– Chonk Mango & Marshmallow. It sold out in less than 48 hours.

I feel dirty just mentioning that. Sharing another sort of thing I don’t want to experience, Ed told a tale of mixing beer and rock climbing this week as he retro-ticked:

On the last night of our trip as the pints went down we were planning what to do in the morning before we went home. We were tempted by the fizzy keg climb Double Diamond (HVS 5b) on the impressive Flying Buttress. I was also tempted to pour more beer down my neck, it was the last night after all. When it started raining heavily I agreed to lead the climb before heading back to the bar, confident it would be far too wet to climb in the the next day. So when I was greeting with blazing sunshine when in my hungover state I peered out of me tent in the morning I was not filled with joy. 

By contrast, Jordan has done the far more sensible thing and taken up writing about beer more often. I say this with the greatest of pleasure as for a certain set it can seem that one of the qualifications for being a beer writer, when not hiding in podcast oblivion,** is not actually writing all that much about beer. Not Jordan! His immediate focus? Actually reviewing beers that show up in the mail and being a bit honest about the process:

I didn’t read the label. Although I try to do right by everyone, sometimes, there’s so many samples that I’m profligate. Sometimes I’ll try things and they aren’t worth mentioning; I’d just hurt the sales. Sometimes, I’ll really enjoy something but I won’t find a place for it. With Hoppy Pollinator, I just didn’t want you to know about it on the off chance you’d prevent me getting more of it next year.

I liked this article by Will Hawkes about the current trend of Dark Mild in England’s Black Country, a theme I’ve seen nosed around periodically over the years. Twenty years ago and more, Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild was a but of a lantern in the dark to the home brewing set. I say I liked it but more so after I did a bit of text analysis on the 3,800 piece to establish what I was reading given, you know, it was filed under the word “critical“… something of an unlikelihood.  I thought to do this primarily as the article makes no mention of the sorts of background to Mild that one would find in, say, a piece by Ron Pattinson… like his 2011 bit in the BeerAdvocate “A Short History of Mild.” So… 42% of the article is made up of quotes from folk in the trade. Three historical records are cited and the rest is mainly pleasant physical observations or input from or about four breweries making these Dark Milds: Yates, Bathams, Fixed Wheel and Box Car. What do we call this sort of writing? If it was in the newspaper, a lifestyle piece on a regional scene?

Matt mentions another aspect of reality:

News of another brewery closure. They are dropping like flies at the moment. My thoughts with all the affected staff.

That was raised in relation to Exe Valley Brewery shutting down. In operation since 1984, the current owners only held the reins since 2020. They join another brewery well into its fourth decade, Wood’s Brewery in Shropshire, along with many others. Normal churn or end times? Hard to know but hard times for the owners and staff.

On the up beat, Beth Demmon continues her series of profiles at Prohibitchin’, her blog receivable by email, with this week’s article on Lauren Hughes, head brewer at Pittsburgh’s Necromancer Brewing and how they are seeking to make change:

Strategic hires at Necromancer Brewing, ensuring long-term support of said hires through consistent mentorship, and plenty of community-facing events that signal safety and support for marginalized people. “Having people enjoy beer in a place where they feel welcome and being able to give back to the community so much, that means a lot to me,” says Lauren.

Finally, I am not sure I would call a beer experience “Schubert-like in its symphonic harmony” given he completed only six of his thirteen symphonies and one of those is named Tragic.

There. For more, check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday except last Monday and next Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*Actually, quite explicable.
**Let’s be honest. They take up too much footprint in your audience’s available time, you can’t cite an idea within them for a quote, the attract no comments of consequence and they contain no means to link to something they reference. You may as well as be sending postcards to the handful of folk who listen. And writing “umm” for every seventh word.

The Thursday Beery News Notes For Tax Deadline 2022

It’s not that I have been doing my taxes. But I have been fretting about doing my taxes. I write this paragraph on Tuesday night watching the Mets play the Cardinals… and not doing my taxes. I can send them in as late as next Monday given the deadline is on the weekend. I will wait. I will wait and fret. I use paper. First a pencil. Then a pen. I do two versions. A draft and a good copy. Until I get fed up and just write in pen over the pencil draft. I complain. It sucks. Fanks for listening to my TED talk.*

So, now you know I live in Canada. But you did already. Lots of worse places to live I suppose. Not a lot happens here. That’s why I read and write every week about what the others out there are writing and doing elsewhere. Like this. Jeff has asked the question on many of our minds – how is Elon Musk going to screw up Twitter for beer fans:

Beer Twitter might not immediately descend into a hellscape of threats, and in fact I would instead expect it to look the same for a while—at least superficially…  The effect probably would probably be measurable only in months or years, as the diversity of voices slowly waned, as people moved elsewhere. We might not see overt bullying, but instead a steadily declining richness of conversation… It may not be a popular view, but I love Twitter. I find it far more usable than Instagram, far less creepy than Facebook. It’s the site for people with opinions, and you may have noticed I have a few. But it also feels a lot more “social” than many social mediums. I discovered a whole host of new voices there, and some of them have even turned into friends. I worry about a Twitter that seems more toxic to the people I want to hear. That would make beer a lot less interesting.

I agree. Instagram and TikTok just suck. As do podcasts to a lesser degree. I like the way Twitter encourages a variety of voices, the helpful heads-ups as well as the razzing and the inebriated confessions. I now understand, for example, that there is a thing called “my X-town pizza” that is emotionally important to individuals’ identity. I also do think that Twitter users will find a way to organically work with change to keep the opinions flowing. Unless the block, report and word filter features are removed. Then it’s going to be that tire fire over at the edge of the next town that can never be put out. I am signing up for alt services just in case but don’t have any trust they will do the job.

The craft beer market is getting a bit cramped in Canada accord to The Old and Stale:

“Things couldn’t continue the way they were,” he said. Mr. Sakthivel’s experience is a microcosm of an industry that to insiders and outsiders alike can seem like an inexplicable black box, in which heavy debt loads and financial red ink are the norm yet few breweries show outward signs of trouble and there is no shortage of new entrants keen to join the fray.

I met someone working on a similar story for a similar organization recently – a well situated business writer – and he was shocked when facing craft-normal stifled responses from industry members to his simple commercial reality questions. The “sunny days” approach to beer writing and trade PR over the last decade or more has not helped the immaturity of the conversation for sure.  Consolidation, the proposed reality-based response, is as old a tradition in brewing as adding hops. Likely older.

More fluidy fluid related considerations were raised late last week when Boak and Bailey asked about if it is important to know where your beer comes from, where it was brewed. I don’t think I do really but it’s not strong with me one way or the other. I wrote a comment that I might like to consider here with you for a moment… as if this was the Andy William’s show and there’s just a spotlight on him, his stool and a cardigan:

Isn’t one challenge is that beer really isn’t from somewhere in the vast majority of cases. The grain, hops, yeast and sometimes even brewing water are from sites other than and far from the brewery. The ownership and control is often not well understood or in any sense local either. There is a desire for local just as there is for “small” and “traditional” too but so often these are false claims as well. This chameleon capacity is probably one of beer’s greatest assets as long as consumers are not asked to frame their choices based on identity as opposed to loyalty or simply preference. Much of US made maple syrup is sourced in Quebec. The American made dishwasher I’m months into waiting for delivery of is made of components from Asia… which is why it’s not here. Why should beer be different now when at least 400 years ago Derbyshire malt was trundled by cart across England to make the best ales elsewhere?

What do we even mean when as ask where something is from? Is my dishwasher from where it was put in the cardboard box or where the components are from? In terms of beer, the same thing applies. Is a beer from where the packaging occurs? Where the wort is brewed? Where the malt is grown? Pretty sure ten or more years ago Quebec’s Unibroue (or a similar brewery) was trucking bulk beer (or wort) to be finished in the States where it ended up in Whole Foods (or some other chain) under a generic brand. Where was that beer from? Or should I just care that it was still tasty beer at a good price? Not unlike the questions I asked 15 years ago now (yikes!) in the post “Do We Love The Beer Or The Brewer?”

Good to see a Ukrainian charity beer being clearly actual charitable giving. 100% of sales and not profits please.

Speaking about tasty beer at a good price, The Tand himself has written about Wetherspoons but before I go there, isn’t there a prior question that needs asking? Ten to fifteen years ago beer chains were embarrassing plastic experiences that no one would consider supporting. McBeer. McGak. Which is quite an achievement, making selling gak and doing so in a way that actually further diminishes the experience down to the level of a McPigs.** That was related to the point the Tand-y-one was making:

..back to the hatred by some of Wetherspoons. What’s really behind it? Yes, they are a big company that force prices from suppliers to be lower than some would like, but unlike, say, certain other pub companies who also buy cheaply, they pass the savings on to customers. Bad people?  There is undoubtedly, too, a certain snobbery aspect. This will be vehemently denied, but really, many rather look down on ordinary people being comfortable with their peers in an environment that they can afford. Better by far they should learn to improve themselves and save up to buy expensive murk in a tin shed or railway arch. That would improve the beer market and give more money to deserving brewers, rather than to the ingrates flogging to Wetherspoons.

Do we all not love a well priced pint? Like chains, over-priced beer was an outrage once upon a time. Isn’t where you brewery makes the beer very similar to which pub you go to to buy your beer? And does this relate to the integrity of the beer business or the identity of the beer buyer? I worry about people who identify too closely with the booze they drink. “I’m a rum drinker!” = “I am my own lab test’s petri dish!” I worry about that more than I worry about where the beer is from – wholesale or retail – to be honest. Also honest, however, are the let’s be looping back to sorta where we started observations from Boak and Bailey about the ‘Spoons:

We don’t tend to go to them these days, mostly because we had a run of bad experiences – poor choice, rough beer, disappointing food (even within the given parameters), poorly maintained facilities, and so on.

I have a limited experience of exactly three ‘Spoony moments but I have to admit they did seem like a shopping mall food court plus some enhanced grot and needy dipsos getting a fix. Yet… if you like the fitba terraces is it really that different?

Stan issued Hop Queries 5.12 right about 3 minutes after I posted last week and offered interesting thoughts about the next big hop with details from from an ag-productivity perspective that remind us to keep that ag-productivity perspective in mind:

Helios is approaching 20/20 territory, that is 20% alpha acids and yields of 20 bales per acre. The actual numbers are 18-21% alpha acids, 3.5-4.5% beta acids, 1.5-2% ml/100g total oil, and 3,300 to 3,600 pounds (16.5 to 18 bales) per acre. Hopsteiner does not oversell the aroma, calling it muted with soft accents. It is primarily resinous, secondarily spicy and a bit herbal.  Also, and quite important, she is resistant to both downy and powdery mildew, meaning she needs to sprayed less. Her alpha to resources used ratio (granted, that’s a number I’ve never seen calculated before, although I expect we will soon) it surely top of the class.

Witness: a rather long and somewhat well put together article on a very specific complaint – some beers served too cold. Nice to see the argument being made that the full range of temps is useful depending on the style.

Further to the well above the above. Twitter. Meta. I do like the point:

IPAs are just like the deep fried Oreo of beer: it is technically/chemically overwhelming and flavorful, whereas lagers, kolsch, or pilsners are more complex and delicate and, as you say, harder to get right.

Relatedly perhaps, a classic (and perhaps generic 2019-22) brewery bio safely landed at Pellicle this week:

“We were looking to tap into a new, seemingly insatiable demand for New England-style beers as well as fill a gap in both our range and the local and regional market,” he says of Nokota. “As recently as 2018 NEIPA was not the dominant style in craft that it is today, but those soft and hazy beers were really drawing a lot of people into craft beer, and turning the heads of those who were already drinking modern beer.”

Conversely perhaps, Brian Alberts wrote a startlingly honest personal story about his Uncle Ron and how Miller High Life will always be associated with a hard part of his family’s life:

Ron passed away nine years ago, but the High Life took me a decade beyond that—before the house was eviscerated and sold, before the 2008 housing crash dragged it and Ron’s life underwater, and before I could legally drink. I was 11 again, taking a covert sip on the long sidewalk linking Ron’s construction company truck and detached woodshop with the riverfront house he’d built. I blanched, naturally, but was thrilled that he’d offered it to me while my dad wasn’t looking. At the time, this explosion of neurotransmitters was its own illicit pleasure, but in hindsight, I wouldn’t describe it as a fond memory. None of my memories of Ron are fully happy anymore. That’s partly his fault, and partly mine. 

Finally, I like my local future… for it is here now. Le marché est ouvert!

There. That all offers some chewy thoughts for the coming weeks slurping. Yet for more if you need it, checking out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*Just to be clear, this was not a TED talk. Don’t go looking for a YouTube video of me on a stage… either with the lights up standing in front of an insanely large PowerPoint behind me… or like on the Andy William’s show and there’s just a spotlight on my, my stool and my cardigan. But I do sport me a mean cardy, however. Just sayin’.
**Where I had lunch Tuesday, by the way, which makes me the biggest Fibber McFibFace on the planet.

Your Mid-April 2022 Thursday Beery New Notes

And how’s the wax-flavoured chocolate hangover going?  No tiny kids left around here so it has been a modest affair compared no doubt to others. Life moves forward. Still playing out the pandemic habits. The local news has not been great as the squiggly line up there shows. The sixth wave. Is it passing? Don’t know. So we are in the basement, now watching Moon Knight and, really, have no idea what is going on. Something about sand. Still, around here the snow this week only lasted hours.  And the radish seed is in the ground and the raspberry canes are starting to show their first green as buds open. Things are happening. Yes, the clothes dryer even died but I actually found and immediately bought a replacement that will be delivered today or perhaps tomorrow. Our one small supply chain victory. Not like the dishwasher. We ordered it after the last one died. It’s been months. The some day one day dishwasher, in whole or in parts, is floating somewhere offshore deep in a ship’s hold. Floating out there upon Pacific Ocean waves.

Beer? You stopped by for beer news? Let me see. Where did I put that folder. Here it is… first stop is in legal land. Brendan P shared that the modest personalities behind Stone have filed court documents rejecting the jury award of 25% of the original claim, seeking another $168 million based on the very questionable claim that the Keystone…

…rebrand caused a fundamental change in the trajectory of Stone’s business from which it has not recovered today and will likely never recover.

Really? I just don’t believe it. It would be nice if there was a separate trial of these assertions, given Stone’s self-inflictions and failures to move to the next level what with debacles like the Berlin brewery and never quite earning that grade A level of consumer respect that others second wave brewers have achieved in the marketplace. It would be good to have these facets of their commercial history carefully reviewed by the courts to see what trends and trip ups were really to blame.

One thing is for sure. Out there is the really real world, it’s not been a great year for craft beer generally – even if, given the real news, one may want to put that in perspective. As CNN reported:

For many of the nation’s small and independent brewers, this year will prove to be a true test of their staying power. Early data for 2022 shows that brewery closures are on the rise and some sales have been spotty… The pandemic and its ongoing effects, as well as the war in Ukraine, continue to drag down smaller brewers, who are battling climbing costs, rising rents, and seemingly interminable supply chain challenges… “2022 is going to be a make-or-break year for many breweries…” 

Now, while that may be true, it is always important to respect the chronology. Just as prohibition didn’t start the rationalization and reduction of players in the US brewery industry (a phenomenon started with the introduction of English modernization investments in the 1880-90s)  so too we have to remember and respect that craft brewing was starting to slow prior to the pandemic. 20% by 2020 never happened and even the numbers that are reported are propped up vastly by the Boston Beer fib and the muddling it up with comparisons to things which just aren’t beer. What do you reckon actual small brewery actually traditionally brewed actual beer represents in the market these days?  2%? 3%?

What does this wobbly market perhaps produce? Well, perhaps complaints about the complaints about a price of a pint. And perhaps even complaints about questions about the authority of beer writing. Relatedly, while we all wallow in myth, I am not sure I am buying the complaint in 2010 that overpricing of Cantillon was due to reselling, especially given I was buying  half bottles of their stuff in CNY for $7.50, $8.50 (pervy premium?) and even $9.00 USD around 2007-08 which was well above their cohort. Sure it was a prime example of being “shelted” but the brewery needs to take responsibility for part of their own no doubt quite profitable aggrandizement. Bottom line of all this? The training wheels have come off sometime ago and it’s shifted to a buyer’s market now. I* have choice and I know how to use it. Caveat braciator.

So be clever. Get the basics right. Pete Brown posted a very helpful guide to filling out a form – which may sound like a backhanded compliment but it’s not. Apparently the beer world is rife with folk who can’t manage to figure out how to submit the  beer to the right category in the contest as well as folk who can’t figure out how to structure categories in the contest. Here’s his help:

One year, we had an entry that was all about a piece of experiential marketing at a beer event. It was an installation I’d visited personally, and when we came to discuss it, I waxed lyrical about how brilliant it had been, how original and immersive it was, how professionally it had been executed, describing all the little details that made it truly special. The rest of the judges looked at me blankly, and when I finished, one of them said gently, “Yes, Pete, but none of that is on the entry form.”

And do right. David Jesudason has written an excellent piece for Pellicle about the obstacles faced by the beer fan with mobility challenges:

These include being ignored when ordering, or having his personal assistant asked by the bartender what he wants to drink. Not being able to use disabled toilets as they’re being used as a store cupboard. Not being able to attend eating areas or events as they’re located in inaccessible rooms. Or travelling to London from Essex only to be told at a pub that it’s “too busy” for him to enter. And it’s not just the establishments that can ruin his drinking experience. Other drinkers ignore him when there’s no table free that’s at the right height (a high table is useless for someone in a wheelchair) and his personal assistants can be verbally abused if he appears to be drunk—or is drunk, it’s his preference, after all.

Back to the economy. It’s still nipping at our heels. How bad are things getting out there? One English news outlet has suggested the answer is “bad“:

One of the oldest British traditions is meeting your friends at the pub for a nice cold drink. But all this could change soon as news suggests that the cost of a pint of beer could soon set you back £7… BlackCountryLive readers have expressed their fears the price hike could see many beloved pubs disappear from our streets. Phil said: “No pub would survive that.” The sentiment was echoed by Mick who wrote: “Not bothered but it’s the pub owners I feel for.” Brenden added: “It will destroy the local pub.”

I don’t know about these sorts of forecasts. I just don’t believe them either. Hasn’t beer and beer culture survived through adaptation? There have been plenty of dead ends along the way, century after century. Not all brewing industry trends have been wise. Stone is proof enough of that playing out in the US craft scene. Remember Pete’s Wicked Ale? Why wouldn’t today be the same? Yet… notice that Heineken sales are up in Europe over 11% in 2022 “with beer sales in bars and restaurants almost tripling.” Nutty. Beer survives. Things will adapt, especially as long as there are these sorts of places to enjoy… even if not exactly for the reason advertised:

Bass mirrors, Bass glasses, a beer range centred on everything but Bass. A pint of Plain, or was it the Usual ? I don’t care, and with half a dozen blokes seated along the bar discussing Ted Deighton I couldn’t read any of the pump clips even if I did. How do people score beers on What Pub when they can’t read the pumps. I’m not complaining, not more than usual, I just want to see lively pubs full again. The Angel isn’t an obvious “ale pub”, most here were on lager, but at £3.30 a pint the cask sells well enough.

I’m not complaining either. Beer will go on. The dryer will come. I know it in my heart. But will the dishwasher? Will the dishwasher?

There. That’s enough for this week. For more, checking out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*Speaking as the Global Every- person Beer Buyer as per.

Your Beery News Notes For The Easter Long Weekend

Four days off at Easter in mid-April is quite sensible. March is too dodgy with the threat of snow. This weekend promises, on average, at least one day of decent half-assed yard work with tasty drinks. Spring is here and soon the lands will be dry. Events too are coming soon. The annual revival is on at nearby Church-Key on May the 7th. Things are happening. I like this event three weeks later at nearer nearby MacKinnon Brothers – and I really like this poster which is a play on their Crosscut brand of ale. Doing things outside. Sprong has spreenged!

First, after the weekly news went to press last week I read an obit from The Times which was worth noting. It was for a young policeman man, Flight Lieutenant Douglas Coxell, who, by just 24, became one of Britain’s most accomplished bomber pilots serving both on D-Day and at Arnhem. This is a great line:

A jovial man, Coxell brewed his own beer and was known by his RAF colleagues as “the Soak of Peterborough”

This second beer related recollection in the obit is also worth noting:

Coxell had been mentioned in dispatches for his daring sorties in Norway, but his greatest feeling of achievement in the war came in early 1945 when he and his brother Peter joined their father and his fellow First World War veterans at the snug bar of the White Hart pub in the Cambridgeshire village of Old Fletton. “It was the proudest moment of his life to present two commissioned air force officers, one flying Spitfires with the 2nd Tactical Air Force in northern Europe and one flying Halifax modified bombers on supply drops to the Norwegian Resistance,” Coxell recalled with tears in his eyes. Much drink was taken.

I am a regular reader of Retired Martin‘s posts from the road as you all know but this week he pulled back the curtain on the exciting exotic life of a pub ticker:

… it’s actually quicker to get from Waterbeach to Guyana than Gunton, home of my next tick, a first newbie in more than two (2) weeks. Gunton has a station, right next to the Suffield Arms, which is convenient as the road is closed due to it being inconvenient to close it that week. The GBG reckons it’s in Thorpe Market (this year, watch it move to Southrepps in 2023). Work that one out. I’ve marked two other GBG entries either side of the Suffield. They’re all called “odd name Arms“; I was TORMENTED by the the fear I’d go in the wrong Arms, particularly as they’re all the sort of rustic gastropub that exist entirely for holidaymakers from Overstrand.

Legal notes this week include Brendan P sharing how Stone is being sued for pinching the trademark of another brewery. I’d be suing for around 50 mill. In other asset lightening news – this time related to your wallet – John Hall encountered a new form of gouge. Being asked to pay more for the sort of tap the beer is poured from. The rip is on at Dogfish Head. Shocking. Not shocking.  Also, Guinness settled a 2015 claim related to the Irishness of beer not brewed in Ireland resulting in a rather modest settlement:

The outer packaging of six- and 12-packs of Guinness Extra Stout sold in stores between 2011 and 2015, McCullough’s suit alleged, led consumers to believe that the beer was brewed at the historic St. James Gate brewery in Dublin, Ireland. It was, in fact, being brewed in New Brunswick, Canada — something that was noted in small print on the side of each bottle…  Those who filed a claim before a deadline last year will receive 50 cents for each six or 12-pack of Guinness Extra Stout purchased between 2011 and 2015, up to a total of $10 without proof of purchase, or up to $20, if a claimant can provide proof of purchase.

The Mudge has reported that England has joined the rest of us in the 21st century and now requires calorie to be listed by all but the smallest restaurants and pubs:

It probably won’t make much difference to obesity, but then the entire government anti-obesity strategy is misconceived anyway. And of course calories are only one figure in the overall mix of nutrition. But what it will do is to give consumers the facts to make informed decisions – it is treating them as adults. It is hard to believe now that, going back forty years, the strength of alcoholic drinks was never declared. When CAMRA first published figures of original gravity – which is a rough approximation to alcoholic strength – in the 1970s, there was an outcry from the brewers, but it is now accepted is routine. I would expect that, in twenty years’ time, we will look back with surprise that calorie figures were ever not stated.

On a related note, I came across one Canadian brewer doing what every pro beer scripto-consult-p/t dishwasher-expert said was impossible: a beer can with a nutritional info label. From a can of Rally Golden Ale made in Thornbury, Ontario. Nice. Treating people as adults.

This is an interesting graph posted ten weeks ago by Dr. McCulla. I am not so much interested in the graph as the footnotes. Utterly unreliable guesstimates. It is so odd that the US still has no grasp on its own brewing history before the mid-1800s.

Ron has, as mentioned, be involved with some extended travel and (finally!) has rid himself of the burden of beer writing to get down to a more essential topic in a two–parter, the eggy breakfasts on Cartagena, Columbia:

As with many restaurants we visited early doors, it was deserted. Almost. One table was occupied by a group of men. One of whom was so load, that he literally made me jump. And hurt my ears. While being right over the other side of the room. And me having my back towards him. I was so glad when they fucked off and I could eat my breakfast in peace. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I was delighted to see fried eggs on the menu. But worried they’d come hard fried again. That would be such a downer. I tried to make clear I wanted the yolks runny when I ordered. “Huevos fritos. Liquido, por favor.” See how fluent I am in Spanish. Almost like a native. At least the waitress understood, as two beautifully fried eggs arrive a little later. I’m so happy. Even though they’re served with nothing other than toast.

This was a helpful lesson. An article on a return to the what has been called the toughest pub in Britain, Walthamstow’s Tavern on the Hill (described as  featuring scary customers, random acts of violence and grim facilities) has discovered a very different scene:

I find an impressive 5-star food hygiene rating sticker on the door (something even some popular upmarket chains can’t claim to have); a friendly Scottish barman in a bright pink shirt; and a large collection of impeccably-tended houseplants. A quick scan of the pub’s Twitter reveals it has changed hands, seemingly not long after the YouTube video was shared… and it’s new look couldn’t be more different from its old one. It’s a Tuesday lunchtime and the atmosphere inside is calm and communal. A few locals sit chatting near the bar. The bartender is giving one of the older customers advice about his National Insurance, while other customers are having an amicable debate about the latest Downing Street scandal.

I even read a beer book this week. I am on a bit of a book reading spree, having organized myself a bit, now on my 19th book of the year. The 18th book was 2010’s The Search for God and Guinness by Stephen Mansfield. A good and reasonably quick read, it’s more a book on the family than the brewery and focuses on their Christian and otherwise ethical good works over the centuries. There is also a helpful bibliography. Here is an interview with the author from the time of publication from a faith-based point of view. It reminds us of how subject to mannerism beer writing is, how formulaic. While a bit of a hagiography it is at least an attempt to discuss the haigo and not the more common happy clappy booze trade PR.

Finally, a new form of beer: illegality and political crisis beer.

For more, checking out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

The Thursday Beery News Notes For The First Of April

Here we are. Real spring. No more frozen nights on the forecast. Brussels sprout seeds are in some soil.  The cardoons are up. Cardoons? Yup, cardoons. Four foot tall edible thistles, a Victorian veg. Harry Dobson would be proud. Still rather insulated from the exterior world by my convalescent state but I am assured things are progressing as they should. It was April Fool’s Day last Friday. Best beery April Fools? This is my candidate. Silly but also somewhat restrained. What people might have actually asked about having once in a while, as a joke… as a… what… treat? A good brand making fun of itself. That’s a good thing, making fun. Like this! Fun!

Now, enough of that. Time to get serious. First up, care of Merryn, we learn that the BBC has reported on a Roman brewing site found in England, with speculation that it was actually only a malting with suggestions of a rather complex brewing industry:

Archaeologists have identified evidence of 2,000-year-old beer production at a site of a road improvement scheme. The remains of a Roman malting oven and charred spelt grains were found during digging in Bedfordshire, as part of the proposed work on the A428 between the Black Cat roundabout and Caxton Gibbet. Experts have analysed the grains and said they suggested people who lived there were involved in making beer…”As large quantities of grains are only allowed to germinate when the aim is to produce malt – the first step in the brewing process – this strongly suggests the people living at the settlement were involved in beer production,” a Mola spokesperson said.

Some serious neato going on there. Also neato? A map! This is an interesting info graphic. Who asks this question? I suppose health professionals. Utah makes sense but look at the dividing line between West Virginia and Pennsylvania. The Florida panhandle and Alabama. Why? I have not idea. I am Canadian.

Pellicle posted one of the best articles it has ever had its hands on this week, a tale of tall ales titled “I Want To See Mountains Again — The Banked Beers of Teesside, North East England” by Reece Hugill:

Half-full glasses are pulled from the bar-back fridge, topped up feverishly from the hand-pull. Placed in front of me are two ridiculous looking pints of ruby-red cask beer. Foam cartoonishly mounded a full four inches higher than the brim of the glass. Wobbling and bubbling, alpine peaks and whips of pure white…

…The pints of Bass at the Sun Inn are magic. It’s a beer I usually don’t even like, but when banked, the beer seems to change a tiny bit. The fluffy head brings out a little more bitterness, the body is mellowed into something less vaguely malty and brown, into something soft and clean, like, perhaps, an unusual dunkel lager…

Excellent. You could do this with an Olands Ex back in college but it was a matter of pouring the bottle yourself.

Lars posted a really good thread about Christmas “sugar beer” for children in Norway including this fabulous if fairly frightening fact:

This newspaper article is quite illustrative. Headline: “The favourite beer of the kids.” They use 3kg sugar for 20l + 1/2 cup of malt extract. If you ferment it out fully that’s 8% ABV. No wonder “the kids prefer this to any soft drink.” Prob not 100% fermented, but still.

Question: is this a new technique? Holding some of the dry malt in a dry aromatic barrel?

In the increasingly vibrant world of beer related litigation, we have (care of Mike Kanach, Esq.) learned on one Mr. Parshall “who does business as Sports Beer Brewing Co. that is operated through a website” – court said this about his business:

Parshall is required to transfer to the university all Internet domain names containing a portion or derivative of Penn State’s marks. He also is to transfer sportsbeerbrewing.com so it ceases operation. The injunction prevents Parshall from engaging in any conduct that would cause consumers to erroneously believe his goods and services are authorized, licensed or affiliated with Penn State.

That is just weird. Took a university’s IP and put it on a beer can. In 2017 he did the same thing with Purdue and another judge did pretty much the same thing. Self-represented. Weird.

Not as weird, Stone now seeks a permanent injunction despite the Keystone brand lords announcing a remake after five years. With any luck they’ll find a new way to jerk Stone around. And mid-weird, the little and large tale of BrewDog and the not quite hired consultant* continues and even made The Times of London. This passage neatly captures the two aspects which have confused me:

Allan Leighton, BrewDog’s chairman and the former boss of Asda, has accused Hand & Heart of “amplifying attacks” on its management team and has declined to take part in a proposed reconciliation programme. In a letter to Kate Bailey, Hand & Heart’s managing director, Leighton said he was concerned about a platform that had been set up for BrewDog workers, claiming it was “encouraging participants to submit malicious content . . . The unavoidable impression is that of H&H charging the company to extinguish a fire it is fuelling itself.”

On the other hand, BrewDog apparently continued to shoot itself in the foot without the assistance of others, rolling out a quote from the consultant that they did actually hire… only for that consultant to point out they never said any such thing. Weird.

This was a fabulous find as posted on Twitter by Mr. S. Smith, a mint 1960s form to fill out and pass over the counter at a Brewers Retail store in Ontario. A buck twenty eight for a dink pack.  Until 1969, you had to give your name and an address to get your beer. Presumably you filled out the last line by hand if you were buying quarts. Crain Business Systems must have made a killing on this contract seeing as this was the only way in Canada’s biggest province to buy beer outside of a sit down establishment.

Finally but fabulously, Beth published her latest edition of Prohibitchin’ (sign up here) and featuring (i) Ashley Johnson and Jasmine Mason bringing cider to Philadelphia along with first (i) this bit of local slang they had adopted in their business’s name – The Cider Jawns:

“Jawn” /jôn/: Philadelphia slang that’s used as an all-purpose substitute for literally anything—a singular or plural person, place, thing, or event that can’t be specifically described…

Jasmine and Ashley are having the time of their jawns. Or is it the jawn of their lives? …“We looked around and a lot of the attendees were women, but there weren’t a lot of women of color as vendors,” explains Jasmine. Ashley agrees, noting that while there wasn’t much diversity in vendors, there were plenty of Black women and other women of color enjoying themselves as attendees. The discrepancy spurred them to action. “We were inspired to take something we enjoyed and bring representation of women of color to the hard cider and brewing industries,” says Ashley. They launched their Cider Jawns Instagram shortly after to “share our cider journey and take our community along for the ride,” she says.

There. Blame all the errors on the meds. For more, checking out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*Example: I don’t have a clue what this means. Or this.

These Be Your End O’March Thursday Beery News Notes

*

It’s been a quiet week on the beer front. These things happen. So quiet that Stan as well as Boak and Bailey took the week off. Lollygaggers!!! On the home front… I sneezed. Twelve days into the post-op… schnozzle post-op. And nothing snapped when I went all great white whale . No Penge Bungalow murders splatter. No new Jackson Pollack there by the sofa. I should stop now. Sorry for being gross. But suffice it to say that it was wonderful. Limited use for strong drink these days but the timing of all of this coming before lounging in the garden begins is heartening.

What was out there in the bierlandts this week to read and write about? Keystone trial post-op? Molson Coors says “a surprise to many in the industry, although perhaps not a surprise to the layperson.” More importantly, the jury said that there was no willfulness in the trademark infringement. No great anti-old-craft master plan. How deflating of the narrative. And a great way to top out at around 25% of the damages you claim at court.

In another beer-related legal story, we read this week about how the Orthodox Christian community of St. Paul’s Foundation and the Shrine of St. Nicholas the Wonderworker, Patron of Sailors, Brewers and Repentant Thieves located in Marblehead, Mass., were granted the permit to redevelop the property on which their shrine is located but were refused one key element, at least on an interim basis:

…the third area was supposed to be a fellowship hall, which was intended to be where the monks would serve the beer they brewed. Each element of the project was given a different use code, which carried different occupancy and safety requirements. The monks couldn’t start serving their beer until the project was completed and they obtained an occupancy certificate. Before the project was complete, Marblehead building commissioner Richard Baldacci told the monks they had to stop serving beer on the premises without an occupancy certificate.

The community sued over the loss of revenues but they lost their case, the court finding that the lack of an architect working on that part of the project meant there was no ability to issue the permit. No architect, no signoff that all is in order. Seems reasonable.

I liked Ed’s tale of a trip to Haworth, home to the Brontës and a few miles from the Timothy Taylor brewery at Keighley:

The journey up north was more arduous than expected so on arrival I was in need of something to lift my spirits and refresh me. Particularly something that comes in pint sized measures. So when some of my mates headed out to a hotel bar for some food I tagged along confident that no self respecting bar in Haworth wouldn’t have Landlord on.  When I saw the pump clip proudly displayed I thought I could start to hear angels singing, but it was probably just tinnitus as the beer was bleedin’ well on the turn. This would not do. So when we headed back to the hostel I knew I wouldn’t be stopping long, I had unfinished business.

Matt made a very interesting observation in a tweet written in response to Jeff who wrote at Beervana about the use of “crispy” to describe certain lagers. I am happy to separate the two given Jeff’s preamble to his bit but I would not want to lose this:

Beer writers policing language that becomes part of a drinkers vernacular—especially in this case a younger drinker—is why beer writing consistently fails to cross over into the public domain. Keep calling your beers crispy if you want to.

While I agree that policing is fundamentally silly there is possibly an underlying question: is there any meaningful standard upon which the self-appointed might do such a thing? For the best part of twenty years doing this, I am left with the impression that too much of what has been written about good beer has been larded with a sameness made up of business promotion, recycling of the works of others, forms of oversimplification** mixed with claims to expertise and a certain code compliance. Is “crispy” an example of that code? Maybe. I don’t have an exact idea what is meant when used. But it’s not unique in that regard. And I’m not sure that is the point. It seems that circles of praise gather whenever someone achieves the great gold ring of getting paid for their written code compliant words, as if that is the main end of beer writing.***  Maybe for some that’s enough. There is, sadly, even a bit of a surprise when you come across something refreshingly well done, like the experience last week of reading the short vignette by Holly Regan.  Policing the vernacular? Sure… yes, something to avoid –  but perhaps part of a bigger reconsideration of how good beer culture imposes limits on itself.

Elsewhere and otherwise, various news outlets in Chicago have reported on the change of pouring rights deal for the White Sox that sees macro brewer ABInBev’s Goose Island brands removed and replaced by the brands of Molson Coors. As far as the fan experience goes…

Many Sox fans were wondering about the status of the Craft Kave, the bar and restaurant under the right field bleachers that offers field-level views through the opposing team’s bullpen. While that area will be renamed the Leinenkugel’s Craft Lodge, a White Sox spokesperson assures that the beer selection — which has included brews from independent makers from all over the city and Northwest Indiana — will not be affected. Fans can expect the coolers to remain stocked with a wide variety of suds.

I had hoped to find a value for the five year deal to contextualize the law suit damages. Stadium naming rights went for over $20 million in 2003. Having participated in such matters at a minor league level, it is very interesting to see how the bigs manage these things.

On a smaller scale, this story about one British establishment‘s goal of maintaining an up market approach is interesting but particularly in relation to the little used and poorly designed parking for persons with disability nearby:

“The car park on the side of Dovecot is rarely used and when it is used if somebody actually parks in bay four everybody has to reverse out the car park to get past them because it’s too small to actually turn around which has been creating some problems. So we have spoken to the council about it because our long-term plans are to put a summer house on there, like a big conservatory with a cocktail bar in the back… There are plenty of parking spaces that aren’t getting used, there are eight at the side of Eliano’s which is within 10 yards and there are another six in Baker and Bedford Street and they are barely used.”

It seems to pit people with mobility requirements against the cocktail drinking classes but you wonder if there has been a technological change or at least a local transit shift that makes these spaces something of a stranded asset. Speaking of change, as part of wandering the globe for these notes every week, it’s interesting to see how other parts of the world frame their drinking cultures. Consider this bit of demographics from The Times of India which may indicate that there is a generational beer blip there, too:

…even though India is known as a whisky nation, it’s the wine and beer that are gaining popularity in recent days. Only 16 per cent of urban Indians prefers to call it their favourite drink, whereas 24 per cent of the respondents called beer their favourite drink, while wine was favourited by 22 per cent of the people… India is the largest consumer of whisky in the world, about three times higher than the US, which is the second-largest consumer. The findings showed that whisky continues to remain a popular choice among Indian males. However, it’s the young adults (Gen Z) or the millennials who prefer to have wine over anything else. While Gen X love their beer.

In addition to sharing the wonderful but unrelated photo to the right (mainly included here for the trews), Gary has posted some thoughts on the meaning of the English ale category “AK” which, while I am never one for a firm conclusion, does cover the subject broadly and points us all in this interesting direction:

Reviewing dozens further of brewers’ ads in BNA in the latter 1800s, when AK was at an ascendancy, it appears “keeping” had a specific sense in the market. The term did not – in trade ads to the public – denote conditioning of beer at the brewery. Rather, it referred to how long the beer would last in consumer hands and specifically, whether in summer. Often, the ads tout March or April brewings as having the necessary quality. Further, while typically this quality was associated with pale ales, even mild ales sometimes were described as keepable.

Finally, Pete Brown wrote about the TV show Ted Lasso for Pellicle including  a consideration of the pub that is one of the show’s settings starting in 2020. I liked the show myself – but I take it as a light examination of America by removing the nice American from America and placing him essentially in the handy self-sufficient pre-existing alternative reality of Britain. Season three better be less self-indulgent or I’ll be rooting for Nathan. Still, as with drinking in New York, just the whole “take your pint and stand on the sidewalk outside” stuff is still tantalizing exotic for any bland English Canadian like me.

If I have my watch set correctly, you may now return to checking out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*…as illustrated…
**…such as…
***Perhaps the opposite of crab bucketing… or at least what the ones who stay put down in the budget say to each other. Song!

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For Spring 2022

Let’s see how this goes this week. Still on the meds but all went well, thanks for asking. Don’t be losing track of those wisdom teeth. Just sayin’. From Ukraine, NPR’s Tim Mak reports that due to martial law access to legal alcohol is limited but recently in Vinnytsia there was no ban. The welcoming bartender above is Oleg, who Mak reports had Jäegermeister, a local lager or a kind of berry cider on offer. No doubt they were most welcome from the other photos posted from the bar. Give directly and without delay. If you have a need to filter that through beer, consider supporting Ontario brewer John Graham who has gone to Germany and Poland with others to transport people and supplies involved with Ukraine’s disaster.

First up, there was an excellent tight piece of writing this week by Holly Regan on one of the downsides of the pub, a glimpse of despair. It’s the sort of observation that you don’t see in beer writing much as it is a fairly false positively filtered genre:

…I order a half of Bitter and get sucked into conversation with the bloke behind me: a train driver who wishes he had worked in pictures, all narrative arcs and glassy-eyed ambition. He sees me reading “Ulysses,” so we talk about Joyce, films, and the human condition. It starts off like a Linklater movie until it turns all Aronofsky, as the inevitable end of prolonging the experience begins to reveal itself. He says he’s been parked in that seat for two straight days, and it chills me, triggering memories of times where I couldn’t stand to be in my body, either.

Alistair has been digging through the Austrian National Library’s archives and found a few things that have made their way into a few posts. He found records related to I discovered the Witt & Williams English Brewery of Hamburg, established in 1869 and wound up in 1871 – and he did the maths so we don’t have to:

The ad goes on to inform us that samples are available from the brewery, just write to them with postal instructions and the relevant cash for a case of either 24 full sized bottles or 24 half bottles. 4 thaler 15 silbergroschen, approximately 4 Shillings 1.5 pence in old British money, or if I have done the various sums correctly £24.20 in modern British money ($31.96/€29.05) would purloin for you a case of either “Double Brown Stout” or “The golden Ale”, while 3 thaler 15 silbergroschen (do your own maths, my head hurts) would get your the XX Porter or IPA.*

Ron has added to the question of diastatic brown malt with his post drawing on research he set aside for a decade or so:

The method of making brown malt was changing, for a variety of reasons, one of which was the high risk of a fire.

“it was formerly the custom to dry brown malt also on ordinary kilns, with wire floors, but the labour on these was of a most disagreeable and exhausting character, and brown malt is now generally dried in wire cylinders.” 

The presence of diastase in older forms of brown malt is explained by the way it was produced. Diastase is much more sensitive to heat when moist. By first removing all the moisture from the malt at a low temperature, the diastase was not damaged as much by the finishing high heat.

Careful readers will recall how in 2017 Ed sent me a brown ale with a diastatic brown malt he had created. He explained his malting process in great detail here. And in 2014 I went so far as forming The League of Diastatic Brown Kilnfolk to explore the idea – based in large part on a reference in one of Ron’s books to the quick flame kilning of the malt to achieve a darkening of the outside while retaining the diastatic properties inside. The clubhouse has been a busy spot ever since.

Jordan has provided the third in his series of posts on the 1904 brewery workers’ strike in Toronto, widely relying on extensive citation from contemporary newspapers like this report in May 25th edition of The Globe:

The lockout of union brewery workers, which has been expected ever since the trouble at the Reinhardt and O’Keefe breweries opened, has occurred. Yesterday, the unskilled union men employed by the Dominion, Cosgrave, Copland, and Toronto Brewing and Malting Companies were locked out by the brewers. This action was decided upon at a meeting of the Master Brewers’ Association, and resulted in the calling out to-day of every union brewery man in the city with the exception of those at Davies’ Don Brewery, which is paying the union scale. 

Solidarity, buvver Davies! In other legal news, the testimony in the Keystone / Stone court case is getting weirder and weirder. Plenty of thanks to Bianca Bruno of Courthouse News for sharing some of the juicier bits. Much has been made by the apparent disclosure that Keystone Light is just Coors Light that was not up to specification – as if breweries would not have strategies for dealing with waste, that great concern of E.P. Taylor. But the real story is the nonsense at the heart of Stone’s claims:

Wagner said the company may not survive the business losses it claims to have suffered because of consumer confusion caused by Keystone Light’s “stone”-heavy rebranding. “I know Keystone spent tens of millions of dollars to advertise. I think it would take at least as much to try to rebuild our brand,” Wagner said during questioning by his attorney Douglas Curran. Curran asked Wagner a follow-up question. “If Stone isn’t made whole, what do you think will happen?” Wagner responded: “I think we’re going to lose our company.”

I am not sure Wagner, Stone’s founding brewmaster, actually knows what he himself said.  It would require not just consumer confusion at the first moment of encountering the Keystone advertising in question but the continuing purchasing of Keystone by a large group of people believing it to be a craft beer made by Stone. No one has alleged such a silly suggestion. The two beers are entirely different, not just in terms of price and point of sale but in terms of flavour. Where is the this mass of misguided craft nerds? Nowhere. Because they don’t exist. Which means they pose no risk to Stone. Like some of the witness stand statements by co-founder Koch, this makes little sense and should be looked upon with a wary eye by judge and jury.

Kate Bernot triggered an interesting flood of confession and accusation about the bomber bottle of micros of yore as avaricious scam. I never minded all that much as it gave you enough if you liked whatever was in there but not too much if it sucked.

Spring 1953 looks so pleasant that I can’t believe anyone ever did the sort of thing illustrated in this US Brewers Foundation ad “First Fine Day of Spring” which came with the slogan “In this Friendly, Freedom-loving Land of Ours – Beer Belongs… Enjoy It!” Who are these people and how old were they? I like the idea of getting as snazzed up as anyone but did people really do this?

Collaborations are so common (in a couple of ways) these days – but I kinda liked this marketing plan rolled out by English craft brewery Wild Beer Co. – as reviewed by The Beer Nut:

English brewery Wild Beer Co. came up with this wheeze for the just-finished 2022 Six Nations rugby tournament: six collaborative beers produced with brewers from the competing countries. Of course I bought all six, and at a fiver a can they weren’t cheap. I had every right to expect something special from each.

The price point seems to be his main complaint but, if I might, the whole point of “collabs” is a bit of a soaking for the poor purchaser so the buyer should beware as soon as the word is floated. In this case, however, at least the soak did not just go to a sadder purpose like some starving beer writer on the bleg who came up with the brilliant idea of getting their name on the label in return for suggesting chocolate or beer juice or, you know, dirt be added to an otherwise perfectly fine beer.

Finally, in the “when licensees go a bit nuts” category, this tale of a breakup between the Fullers Brewery people and one of their tenants, a Mr. O’Neil, which took an unusual turn:

The erection of the fence, made up of wooden boarding, came as a shock to local residents who told MyLondon they did not know anything about it. A spokeswoman for Richmond Council confirmed Mr O’Neil does not own the land adjacent to the pub. She said: “Mr O’Neill has been in dispute with Fullers Brewery, which is the freehold owner of The Plough. The freehold does not own the triangle of land immediately adjacent to the public house – there is no registered owner and this area of land is considered part of the public highway.

Nutso. Like to see it. There. Not a bad week’s worth of words. For more check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*No, God as my witness, I have no clue either. Not one clue…

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For The Wayward Wisdom Tooth

So, I have to have a very high wisdom tooth coming out Friday. No beer for a while for me.  Day surgery. Nothing too drastic. Thanks for asking. And have had my mind on that and other things most of the week. Evan has found himself very much closer that he in his thoughts had assumed.  Lars has offered his hopes for peace and I share those hopes. Ontario brewer, John Graham, has put hope in motion by going to Germany to provide transportation support.  It’s going to be sunny and +11C on Thursday afternoon. Spring is here. A good time to have hope… and green beer… and paddy wagons.

The tedious days of trial hearings of the “Slurs Against Keystone” have started. The most interesting testimony for me has been this – the CEO of Molson Coors couldn’t have cared less about Stone. He had real problems:

…recapturing economy beer drinkers who had moved on to its competitors in the beer industry was considered a “quick win” by a steering committee of MillerCoors executives and outside consultants and marketing professionals working to increase sales of Keystone Light. Demographic data of Keystone Light consumers was also top of mind for Hattersley when MillerCoors introduced the 15-pack of Keystone Light. Forty percent of Keystone Light consumers earn less than $30,000 a year and either work in a blue collar job or not in the workforce. “It means they are price conscious — don’t mess with the pricing button,” Hattersley said.

Sensible testimony. Conversely, the lead witness has come across as a bit of a fool. He doesn’t appear to understand what the pit of his stomach is and…

Stone founder Greg Koch took the stand in the Stone vs. MolsonCoors lawsuit. Described his reaction to images of stacks of Keystone Light cases oriented to show only the word STONE as “horror” …

Dope. Just remember… as noted last week, Keystone called its brand “‘Stone” before Stone Brewing was known. We shall watch for further updates as the intravenous drips… drips… drips…

Elsewhere in the annals of Big Craft Courtroom*, BrewDog is fanning the flames of its own roasting. As The Guardian newspaper has reported most excellently:

The boss of BrewDog, James Watt, hired private investigators to obtain information about people he believed were taking part in a smear campaign against him and repeatedly accused one woman of being involved until she blocked him on social media. According to multiple sources and evidence seen by the Guardian, private investigators who said they were working for Watt approached people to gather evidence about those who he appeared to believe had maligned him. One subject of their inquiries, Rob MacKay, an ex-BrewDog employee, had appeared in a BBC documentary, The Truth About BrewDog, which made claims about the company’s workplace culture and Watt’s personal behaviour as an employer, including towards women.

To be honest, this is a common enough thing in law. Private investigators are a regulated profession. Here is Ontario’s Private Security and Investigative Services Act, 2005, S.O. 2005, c. 34. I’ve been on a legal team that included a private investigator and proved a key allegation was not only probably false but actually utterly impossible. That’s what a PI can do. Here, there is a suggestion that the use of PI’s is itself improper. Look here, on a consultancy firm’s website that has an oddly Angolan revolutionary flag colour scheme – yet the firm works with other alleged offenders.  Still confused by the use of the word “reconciliation” in this context. Best to get all this before the actual courts and tribunals.

One last legal note: “More than 25,000 litres of illicit beer seized at Dublin Port“!!

The most interesting image on the internets this week was this ad by Timothy Taylor praising the care they take protecting their own wee yeast strain. As published in the October 13th edition of The Observer newspaper. The cartoon’s throwback style is particularly swell.

The youngest off-licence holder in 1974’s Britain. Try to identify some of the bottles behind her on the shelf.

Also in The Guardian, a cleverly constructed discussion triggered by Heineken that “inflation was “off the charts” and its costs would increase by about 15% which could lead to lower beer consumption. Clever? This:

The latest warning on inflation comes as Heineken said the price of beer it sold rose an average 4.3% in Europe in 2021, partly because of a shift to more premium beers and the reopening of bars and pubs, as well as like-for-like price increases. In the UK, beer sales rose by about 5%, driven by the group’s premium Birra Moretti and Desperados brands. Low- and non-alcoholic drink sales increased by more than 30%, led by the continued success of Heineken 0.0.

What’s happening elsewhere in the world? South Africa’s top brewing news story off the week? Cow dung:

Beer maker South African Breweries (SAB) says it will soon be using the manure of over 7 000 cows to power its operations. The company on Thursday issued a statement indicating it signed a power-purchase agreement with black-women-owned Bio2Watt. The renewable energy will be produced from Bio2Watt’s Cape Dairy Biogas Plant, located on one of South Africa’s biggest dairy farms – Vyvlei Dairy Farm – in the Western Cape town of Malmesbury. 

New ventures are popping up elsewhere. Japan’s Kirin is taking its fermenting skills in a new direction:

The company now hopes to use the technology of the beer-making process in its new biotech ventures. “We want to turn Kirin into a fermentation biotechnology company. We need to grow a new business while the beer segment is still healthy,” Isozaki told the FT. Kirin unveiled a three-year business plan last month, in which ¥100 billion will be invested in research and development and to expand factories in the health science and pharmaceutical sectors. A further ¥80 billion will be spent on in its beer and beverage business. As part of the shift away from beer and into pharmaceuticals, Kirin will increase production of Citicoline, a memory improving supplement.

Memory supplement? Is that a little note of a little something slipped in there?

Southern hemispherically, “Ron of the Road” has done Brazil to the Netherlands to Columbia in under 48 hours. Nuts. His blog posts are two trips behind him. The details, still, compel:

Getting money from the cash machine turns out to be problematic. Until I use my visa card. That’s a relief, having some Brazilian dosh in my pocket. The taxis from Sao Paolo airport are pretty good. They’re run by a cooperative of drivers, which has a monopoly. There are set fares to various locations in the city. My new German friend will be dropped of first, for the set fare. Then the driver will continue on the meter to drop me off. A couple of minutes outside the airport, it starts pissing it down. Really pissing it down. Full-on tropical downpour. Soon the roads are transformed into rivers. It’s all a bit scary. Doesn’t seem to faze the driver. I guess he’s seen it all before.

There. Enough! For more check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (which I hope is  revived soon…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*Check out my new podcast, Big Craft Courtroom!

Thursday Beery News Notes With Under Two Weeks To Spring

Well, again, it seems a bit off to even be bothering with beery news notes given Putin’s botched invasion of the Ukraine. Jancis Robinson, top international wine writer, shared a story from Kiev on how the expert marksmen in the Russian rocket brigades took out a wine warehouse in Kyiv a few days ago. That’s up there with their destroying out of all the 4G communications towers only to find out their own encrypted radio system relies on 4G capacity. It’s hardly an upgrade to speak of evil murderers as also being morons but they appear to be evil murderous morons. Heineken is hitting the road. Evan is helping with refugees in Prague. Jeff is participating in a rare beer auction towards Ukraine’s fight against evil murderous morons. Others are making anti-Imperial Stouts.

Starting out this week in legal land, there are two stories of note. First up, some idiot thought it would be a great idea to rip off OutKast’s Speakerboxxx/The Love Below album and put out a beer called “The Love Bow” using a two tone label like the album and other references in the imagery. Objection lodged. When a fat pasty aging caucasoid like dear old me know and owns the album, you have to bet that the marketplace confusion and reliance on someone else’s reputation is real. Rooting for a 100% victory for OutKast. We shall follow Brendan for the details as this proceeds.

Elsewhere, it is apparently trial time for that case about Keystone that launched about four years ago. Seeing as Keystone referred to itself as “stone” before the complaining party existed, I am rooting for Big Macro over Big Craft on this one but am hedging at a 60% rooting factor. Pity the poor judge who has to waste her court time and resources on such a loser case whatever the outcome.  I’m buying some Keystone if I ever get back to the States.*

Liar-est headline of the week: “Mushroom Beer Market Giants Spending Is Going To Boom“!

Over at Pellicle, there is an interview of Steve Dunkley, of Manchester’s Beer Nouveau brewers of heritage British ales. I like how this bit sets the tone:

After a nonchalant shrug, he gives me the “official tour”. Wooden barrels, fermenting vessels and shiny stainless steel kegs jostle for position. Every available surface is taken up with precarious towers of crates and boxes, all apparently occupying a designated spot in the carefully shepherded chaos. “Everything here is salvaged,” Steve says with his best faux-innocent grin. “I don’t like paying for things when I can get them for free. The table football is on a slant though.”

This approach by Erin Broadfoot and Ren Navarro to improving safety and reducing sexism in craft beer culture is interesting – because the project accepts that the culture is not going to be actually made safe just because brewery owners and their PR consultos say so. It effectively presumes craft breweries are simply not safe:

Proceeds will now be donated to the Craft Beer Safety Network, a not-for-profit charity “launched with the branched intent of creating safe spaces for all marginalized populations,” as well as tool kits, educational materials and resources for businesses and employers, and the ability to raise funds to help those who have been “harassed, assaulted or otherwise abused while working in the beer & beverage industry.”

Classic Ron on the road, this time in Florida:

Once I’ve showered and shaved, I head over to the beach. It’s hot. Fucking hot. Too hot for me. I don’t linger all that long. I’m really not built for the heat. In several ways. I’m English, old and a fat bastard. Triple whammy.

In health news, the journal Nature published an article this week that confirmed even a little bit of booze makes your brain shrink but, as no doubt the beer journalist PR consultant magic medical experts** will tell us again (yawn), who wants a big brain anyway? Here’s the punchline:

Most of these negative associations are apparent in individuals consuming an average of only one to two daily alcohol units. Thus, this multimodal imaging study highlights the potential for even moderate drinking to be associated with changes in brain volume in middle-aged and older adults.

I am late to Martyn’s review of a Burmese brewing book which he gives in a fine level of detail – including this grim reality about dealing with a topic like this:

I cannot recommend this book highly enough for anyone interested in beer, or in alcohol, outside the comparatively narrow traditions of modern Europe and urbanised North America. Corbin and his colleagues must be congratulated for giving us an essential insight into a set of traditions and drinking cultures… The original Myanmar government sponsors of the book are all now in jail, as a result of the coup of February 2021, which put the Myanmar military back in control of the country, and forced Luke to pull the book from its original publisher in Myanmar, find a new publisher in Thailand, and completely alter several sections.

Final note: if you are going to hit people up for funding after receiving two years of pandemic funding and after withdrawing more than the requested funding from the corporation, maybe don’t use an image that looks like a small town police station guilty as fuck mug shot as part of your promo material.

A short post this week. Makes sense. But for more check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (which I hope is  revived soon…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*Five and a half years now since I hiked across the river… currency collapse, Trump, pandemic… I live 35 minutes from a US customs point of entry and used to cross monthly when the Canadian dollar was worth 98 and not 78 US cents.
**No doubt this article was pre-dismissed by these wizards.

Your Beery News Notes For The Beginning Of A Grim March

I used to celebrate March and look forward to what is coming but this horrible week makes me look back at 2021 with envy. Events north of the Black Sea are utterly horrifying and in line with what we see in Yemen and Burma and elsewhere. Not much of a cold war left these days. My ignorance is not complete but what could one add other than it is heartening to see the solidarity that may put a beating on the Russian economy swiftly as spring itself comes forward to help save Ukraine. We here in safer lands are particularly aware that our Canadian population includes the third largest Ukrainian community  in the world.

In local response, the provincially own LCBO monopoly is removing Russian made booze from the shelf. The LCBO is one of the biggest booze buyers in the world so that is good.  Carlsberg may be taking a more direct approach with their bottles.

Elsewhere, some in the beer nerd world are apparently unable to contextualize the biggest risk of WWIII since glasnost without some kick at current issues in craft. I am not sure this approach illustrated in the tweet to the right is one I would take. I would have though praise was due for the BA (and the LCBO) taking an immediate stance that would propagate quickly back to the staff of breweries and distilleries in Russia, good folk who may not be getting fed the facts from their local tyrant-owned media.

Jeff shared some excellent thoughts on an awful week but, conversely, this sort of thing is a little sad. Feels like coopting a murderous war crime to promote trade. Maybe a bit too soon?

From a happier place and time, Boak and Bailey wrote a fabulous post on a late 1960s Swingin’ Englan’ sort of place called The Chelsea Drugstore and then, in true modern style,  elaborated even more elaborately on Twitter. An excellent example of how blogs and social media are far superior to the printed page. Anyway, it was a place:

“The day they opened, we were all so damn high we ran around putting handprints all over it until owners had to set up a roadblock to keep stoners off,” Beverley ‘Firdsi’ Gerrish is quoted as saying in a biography of Syd Barrett. Apart from the visual aspect of the design, the business model was new, too. Bass Charrington needed to recoup its investment and intended to sweat the premises for every penny. So, as well as selling its beer in two bars, they also sold breakfast, lunch and dinner; records; tobacco; soda; delicatessen products; and, of course, drugs, in a late night pharmacy.

Go and see the clip from A Clockwork Orange that B+B include in the post for a sense of what the place was like. Looks like a small smart shopping plaza that you’d see in sci-fi TV of the time. Where the second incarnation of Doctor Who might shop for his jelly babies. Except it was the fourth that really handed out broadly so would have needed a good supply.

Reaching back further, Liam posted an interesting set of thoughts on Mild in Ireland and neatly unpacks an advert from 1915:

Here we see that under their O’Connell’s Dublin Ales brand they were selling a Dark Extra Strong ale and a Pale Mild on draught – and let us not forget a rare mention for an Irish Best Bitter for bottling! Allowing for dubious marketing and the leeway that advertisement writers have with the truth this might be a nice mention for a Strong Dark Mild? Even if I am stretching terminology, styles and descriptions to the limit then if nothing else it is a nice record of what D’Arcy’s were brewing at this time. 

On the ethical gaps beat this week, we learn from a “team update” that NYC’s three bar chain Threes Brewing’s CEO stepped down as CEO after pushback from his comparison of the local proof-of-vaccination policy to the Holocaust and segregation in the Jim Crow South. His self-congratulatory resignation was due to, and one quotes, “his duties as a parent and a citizen” which, in the scheme of things, don’t matter all that much. Except if you are taking any comfort or congratulations in the resignations. It is good to remember this: a CEO is the head of staff, the Chair is the head of the board of directors who tell staff what to do and the shareholders tell the board what to do. No word that he is leaving his role as a director or as a shareholder.  BTW: never heard of them either.

Ron is back in Brazil. His last junket** there seemed to be a bit miserable but back he went despite the quality of the entries last time: “The Viennas are as expected. Almost all riddled with faults. Except for the only decent one I judged on the first day.“. The hotel breakfast buffet coverage is amongst his finest work, like this from just last December:

No need to rise early. So I don’t. It’s just after 9:30 when I finally wander down. The breakfast room is pretty much empty. Just one other punter. Not someone from the contest. Daringly, I give some of the cheese a try. And the ham stuff. The thrill of the unknown. The orange cheese is pretty tasteless. Doesn’t have much in the way of texture, either. I’ve not been missing much. I feel the fruit working its magic. Or perhaps that’s just a fart coalescing in my gut.

Sounds magical. This time? It’s raining. But at least the currency is gently collapsing and Martyn‘s there to share the joy.

Beth Demon is blogging wonderfully and generously at her substack, Prohibitchin, featuring the underrepresented in the drinks trade. This month, she interviewed Michelle Tham, the head of education at Canada’s venerable Labatt:

As the largest brewer in Canada, Labatt is an inextricable part of Canadian identity, and as a Chinese-Canadian woman, it’s something Michelle finds herself deeply rooted in. “Millennials like to joke that Labatt is ‘Dad beer,’ but it literally was my dad’s beer and still is today… it is a bit of a symbol of the Canadian experience,” she says. “Canadians Google more about beer than any country… It shows they’re interested in wanting to know more about it, and I believe the more you know about it, the more you’re going to enjoy it.”

Through writing Ontario Beer it became clear that Labatt was always one of our most progressive breweries – from focusing almost a hundred years ago on women as valuable customers worth reaching to having honest Dudley Do-rights for shipping clerks.

This week, Stan sent out the latest edition of his Hop Queries newsletter, number 5.10. This is a great set of facts about one of the great US beers:

Bell’s buys 500,000 pounds of Centennial each year – which amounts to about 14 percent of the Centennial harvested in the US Northwest – from multiple farms. Most of those hops go into their iconic IPA, Two Hearted Ale. But you aren’t going to hear drinkers discuss the merits of Two Hearted hopped with Centennial from Segal Hop Ranch versus Centennial from John I. Haas, because the hops all end up in a master blend. The largest blend any facility can process at one time is 200,000 pounds, so it takes three passes during several months after harvest. That’s scale.

Note: not the #1 and #2 craft breweries in Canada.  Also… if one entity buys out another, they both can’t continue to claim to be independent.

Finally, one attentive reader emailed me with interesting link related to a proposed oddly modest bond issue by GBH. It was not so much the fact that they were looking for a small amount of money – $100,000 to be repaid over 5 years at 5.5% – that interested me so much as they publicly filed four years of financial statements as part of their effort to get the bonding put in place. The financials tell a few interesting stories. Most obvious is how the vast majority of their income is from consulting services so the writing is subsidized but, before the pandemic, GBH lost 32% of that income flow from 2018-19. We also see that subscriptions to their blog run at well under 10% of their total income and under 3% 2021 at $24,044. They are moving more and more to “underwritten” stories and events, funded by the subject matter. In fact, subscription income for GBH seems to be about half than that of Pellicle as the latter is apparently close to £3,000 per month or  around $48,000 USD a year. (I send a paltry two figure amount to Pellicle every month.) Note worthy, too, is how GBH also took in a bit over $153,000 in pandemic loans and paid out $133,000 or so in 2021 as members’ distributions – both larger figures than the goal of the bond.* These matters are not highlighted in the information provided by GBH but they are disclosed.

There we are. Pray for peace. For more check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Or is that dead now?) There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (which I hope is  revived soon…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*Why effectively borrow around $130,000 (bond amount plus interest) right after drawing out more than that? 
**Particularly miserable in terms of cheapskate reimbursement for making effort to give free PR, according to the disclosure: “The organisers of the Brasil Beer Cup paid for my accommodation and food during the period of judging (four nights and three days) Beer, too, which was provided by one of the sponsors. I had to pay for my own cocktails. And all other expenses, such as flights and extra hotel nights.” As usual, I agree with whatever Doris says about all this.