Category: 1970 to the ’90s

These Be Your Mid-April Mid-Life And Perhaps Even Fairly Mid Beery News Notes

Easter week! You’d be right in thinking it was a month ago with all the talk this week of of green beer here and green beer there. But no, it is the time of the bunny who lays eggs which happen to be made of chocolate. Christ! And each Easter is also reason to revisit this 2008 post of mine on the lack of Easter beers – which included, as illustrated, perhaps the oddest thing I have ever published on this here blog of mine. But, of course, the main event of the long weekend is the old man’s birthday, me being the old man in question. Thank you for all the cards! Sixty-two. Whaaaaa Hoooooo! Said no one never. This very evening I am celebrating by going to a ukelele orchestra concert. I have authorized myself to slip out early just in case. Still, I do hope it is silly enough to justify the price of admission.

Enough about me! First off this week, have I mentioned the global economic mood?  The CEO of Mexico’s Constellation Brands Bill Newlands has:

About half of Constellation’s beer sales are from Hispanic consumers… with the demographic accounting for 78% of its total revenue last quarter. The Wall Street Journal report noted that many immigrants in Southern California and Texas have begun avoiding liquor stores, where they are often forced to show identification. Many people have stopped shopping at supermarkets after 6 p.m., hoping to avoid immigration raids… While Modelo, Corona and Pacifico are exempt from the Trump administration’s 25% tariff on Mexican imports, the company is not able to dodge the 25% tariff on aluminum when it comes to their canned beer imports.

Being from somewhere matters apparently. And speaking of tariffs,* James Beeson posed an interesting question in The Grocer: is local a liability in these trade war times? And then he helpfully explored the implications:

These liquids command a hefty price premium thanks to protected geographical indicators (PGIs) which guard the product’s name from misuse or imitation… PGI status offers “clear authenticity and product differentiation in consumers’ eyes”, and plays “a crucial role in premiumisation”… Tariffs certainly look like bad news for Rémy, which generated 38% of its sales in FY24 from the Americas. Thanks to its overexposure to cognac, it also sells 62% of its PGI spirits outside the market in which they enjoy this status.

So being from somewhere can be quite damaging. Plus… never thought over exposure to cognac could be a good thing but there you are.  But then in TDB, David Jesudason was arguing that things should be more clearly from somewhere:

It’s especially concerning because most drinkers cringe at the thought of Madri – the supposed soul of Madrid – being brewed in the UK by Coors – while this unnamed beer is actually being brewed at a renowned British craft brewery. The type of brewery that brews a lot of award-winning tipples that define modern British beer for discerning drinkers prepared to pay premium prices. And this beer is no exception. Which shows there’s no need to lie. But here’s the payoff: by claiming a beer is brewed in Germany not Great Britain what exactly is a British beer company saying? Bavaria has better water than Burton? Hamburg has better brewing techniques than London? Perhaps all British brands will proudly say where their beer is brewed if cask were to become UNESCO recognised and we took our heritage seriously.

THEN… Will Hawkes considered in his latest London Beer City monthly how beer from somewhere might not really be about that somewhere at all and this might not be very good in these times:

American influence – and, more specifically, American hop flavour – has fuelled London’s brewing renaissance over the past few decades. From Neck Oil to Pale Fire, London brewers have paraded their passion for (and understanding of) Obama-era American craft brewing. American Pale Ales on London bars have become legion. Wham bam thank you Uncle Sam. The world, though, has changed. To paraphrase Oscar Wilde, to elect Donald Trump once might be regarded as misfortune; to do it twice is just fucking stupid. Trump’s introduction of tariffs, the bovine threats to Canada and Denmark, the increasingly aggressive way in which visitors to the USA are being treated: this points in one direction and one direction only. America acknowledges and wants no allies, and that includes Britain. MAGA is unleashed and obnoxious.

Interesting. Will the world reject US craft just as it’s rejecting the Tesla? It is also interesting that making booze under licence was one of the solutions mentioned by Mr. Beeson while is the problem for Mr. Jesudason. Hmm… Speaking of critical thinking, Katie M. took immediate and visceral objection to this article in The Guardian:

Is the editorial team all on holiday leave or something? There are SO many talented writers out there looking for an opportunity like this, and so many editors who do their jobs with skill. How can a national paper be so careless as to publish something so unpolished. The writer isn’t even to blame here, the whole process is, from commission to upload.

There was a lot of unhappiness in the susequent BluesGuy comments all of which confused me a bit until I got to this one that shared a correction to the online edition: “This article was amended on 13 April 2025 to replace some words that were omitted during the editing process.” Yikes!  The post repair job was still a bit much. As ripe with superlatives as the worst of beer writing. Very much overly rouged, as the kids might say. So much unhappiness. Good thing, then, that Gary shared the good news – the Clark’sroast beef sandwich is back in Syracuse NY!

For longtime locals, the main event is the return of a Syracuse bar legend: the Clark’s Ale House roast beef sandwich. Clark’s Ale House, which operated in two locations from 1992 to 2016, was famous for its roast beef sandwich. It was simple — just medium-rare top round, thinly-sliced red onions, cold cheddar cheese between an onion roll from Di Lauro’s Bakery — but it was legendary. And when Clark’s closed for good, its devoted fans were left craving. “We’ve missed this sandwich so much,” Beach said, standing in the Crooked Cattle’s kitchen earlier this week. ”But now it’s back.”

That artisic rendering up there is the sandwich I ate at Clark’s over twenty years ago. Now… if they can just bring back the house ale and the pub’s layout.

Note #1: Katie Mather has returned to owner operated blogging.

Note #2: do you like salt in beer. People have. Since at least 1835.

Stan also spoke of an ingredient this week – specifically the hop – in his Hop Queries edition 8.12 and shared this about the return to work of two US government employees:

Two USDA-ARS employees involved with public hop research were among thousands of probationary employees who went back at work after the Merit Systems Protection Board (MSPB) issued a 45-day stay on their termination (see Hop Queries Vol. 8, No. 10). Francisco Gonzalez, a hop horticulturist, is one of four scientists central to the public hop research program. Brandon Sandoval is a technician assisting Gonzalez… That’s not to say that things are “back to normal” at research facilities in Oregon and Washington. Not all support staff has returned to work and what happens after a hiring freeze lifted is not clear. Also, the USDA has warned employees that a significant reduction in force is likely.

Some chat this week about what was micro then craft now independent. As exhibit A we have Pete of The Times* who gave a quite reasonable explanation how craft was lost to bigger interests… just as, I suppose, micro fell to the avarice of big craft:

To my palate, Beavertown’s Neck Oil and Gamma Ray, and Camden Hells — now owned by corporations that brew as cost-effectively as they can — don’t taste as good as they did. Quality hops are costly. And proper lagering means storing beers in chilled vats for weeks. So what are drinkers to do if they want beer that’s well made by small players? Trade bodies such as Siba, which once promoted craft beer, now champion “indie” beer instead. Siba defines an indie brewer as one that’s UK-based, has less than 1 per cent of the UK beer market and is not connected with any other business bigger than that size. It issued a logo for breweries such as Fyne Ales, Vocation and Five Points to use on packaging and pump clips.

Then, as exhibit B, consider Phil Cook who gave what can only be described as commentary from a view from (Ed.: *…checks map…*) well below my feet:

‘Independent’ remains the adjective of choice in promoting and organising the many Australian breweries that might otherwise be grouped under ‘craft’ or (in earlier times) ‘micro’. But companies who persist in waving it around as they take part in the recent string of mergers, consolidations, and various other entanglements are straining the word to breaking point. It’s too much like someone insisting “being single is really important to me, that’s why I married another bachelor!”

Does it matter? Well, “it” isn’t any one thing. First, locally the word “independent” never really took off in Canada. Even well past “craft” we are… still craft. And if we look at the UK standard of 1% of the market that has little use for the US trade where the small guys got co-opted long ago to falling into line helpfully to support the aspirations of the large ones. These things, too, will not save craft beer. And does any of this matter so much as we continue on the human race’s continued shift away from the bottle? Consider this startling news from The Guardian on the state of the global wine trade:

The OIV said the consumer was now paying about 30% more for a bottle now than in 2019-20 and overall consumption had fallen by 12% since then. In the United States, the world’s top wine market, consumption fell 5.8% to 33.3m hectolitres. Delgrosso said tariffs ordered by the US president, Donald Trump could become “another bomb” for the wine industry. Sales in China remain below pre-Covid levels. In Europe, which accounts for nearly half of worldwide sales, consumption fell 2.8% last year. In France, one of the key global producers, 3.6% less wine was consumed last year. Spain and Portugal were among the rare markets where consumption increased.

Still on the holiday in Romania and pushing back against that trend by all accounts, Boak and Bailey took time to send out their monthly newsletter in which they shared thoughts on one way the pub trade can respond – reduce the congnitive load:

In the context of a holiday, a slight increase in cognitive load can be pleasurable, and part of the fun. It’s about the line between stress and stimulus… How can pubs and breweries reduce cognitive load? The experience of a Wetherspoon will rarely be thrilling but at least (kliche Klaxon) “You know where you are with a ‘Spoons”. All sorts of venues could, and can do, do some of the same things… the single greatest way to reduce the cognitive load of any experience is to keep doing it. However weird and complicated your local pub might be, by the time it is your local, you’ll know how it works and won’t find it weird at all.***

Does a gay bar at a zoo convey significant cognitive load? David Jesudason explains how you might have found that out if you visited the Hotham Park Zoo in Bognor Regis, West Sussex in the 1980s:

…this magical and enchanting period spawned the Safari Bar, a gay bar playing high NRG music, hosting drag queens and causing merriment that could be heard from considerable distances. The night was the idea of DJs Barrie Appleyard and Ian Harding, who had met at a club in Littlehampton. Ian knew the manager of the zoo and Ian phoned Barrie saying “shall we try something with the zoo, you know, gay nights or something?” They found a cafeteria (originally built as a small mammal house) that was tucked away in the back of the zoo and transformed this functional space into a jungle-themed gay bar on Wednesday, Friday and Saturday nights.

What went on each Thursday? Hmm. Speaking more or less on whether less is maybe more or maybe not, at the beginning of the month Retired Martin shared his thoughts on coming changes to the Good Beer Guide based on this motion that was before the gathering last weekend:

“MOTION 7 : This Conference instructs the National Executive to reduce the number of pubs in the Good Beer Guide from the 2027 edition onwards, to ensure only quality pubs are featured.“

Have the results been published beyond the shadowy membership cabal? I don’t see any reference on the so-me’s.  What the heck could “quality” mean in such a context? By total contrast, I give you the best line written about beer of the week – if not to this point in the month – must be this one:

The best location for a beer, by far, was at the sausage stand near the city incinerator plant.

And, perhaps relatedly, Tom Morton, who I met through his former BBC Scotland radio show, shared a story of a dubious newpaper restaurant reviews which is… detailed:

The worst meal I’ve ever had was at a café I’ll call Les Vomiteurs in the then seriously untrendy, ungentrified, occasionally unsafe area of Glasgow called Finnieston. This was 1979 and the late Jack House was still writing restaurant reviews in the Evening Times. He’d recommended the tripe at Les Vom and as I’d never tried this intestinal delight, and fancied myself an adventurous junior gourmand, I thought I’d have a go… The formica tables of Les Vomiteurs matched the unwelcoming hardness off the proprietor, who served me up a bowl of white gunge. Boiled tatties and slimy tendrils of cow gut in milk. It was unchewable, the bits of stomach slipping about my mouth like frisky tapeworms. I swallowed, inhaled the potatoes and just made it out of the door in time to throw up the entirety of my lunch in the Argyle Street gutter. So much for acting on restaurant reviews.

I don’t know what to say about that… other than my folks grew up on the Clyde and that is the sort of keen tales of humanity that I grew up with.  And speaking of the unexpected, Jeff wrote an intersting exposé of a bootleg beer he injested in Oregon named Corona Mega – and also provided some details on a resulting lawsuit:

The mystery deepened the more I dug into it. Whatever I bought that night was definitely not regular Corona. For one thing, it was a vastly superior beer. It was a tenth of a point weaker in strength at 4.5%…  The label listed Oz Trading Group of Hidalgo, Texas as the importer, which was an oddly bold move for, to quote the economist Stringer Bell, “a criminal [expletive] enterprise.” (As a spicy aside, the apparent owner of Oz Trading is Oziel Treviño, a Hidalgo city councilperson who was found to have committed voter fraud in 2016.) Curiouser and curiouser, in other words.

And, finally, Pellicle published a piece by David Nilsen on depression and loss,  a tough read that carries the disclaimer that “this article makes frequent and detailed references to suicide and severe depression, therefore reader discretion is advised.” The essay is primarily about the life and the passing of a brewer, Brad Etheridge, at age 43 based on conversations with his wife, Julie Etheridge but it also speaks to the broader context. It also contains this passage:

Cindy Parsons is a psychiatric nurse practitioner and an associate professor of nursing at the University of Tampa in Florida. In 2019, she and colleague Jacqueline Warner Garman (who co-owns Hidden Springs Ale Works in Tampa and is a psychotherapist) gave a presentation at the Craft Brewers Conference, held that year in Denver, on addressing mental health issues in the craft beer industry. She thinks the image of craft beer can make its workers and supporters reluctant to acknowledge the complications of mixing mental health issues and alcohol. “We’re supposed to be the happy people,” she tells me. “Do we really want to address this in our industry?”

My profession, lawyering, also has a significant mix of mental health issues and alcohol and much of what’s written by David rings true. Only by way of one example among many I’ve met, the family friend who was my first articling principal now thirty-three years ago quickly upon my arrival revealed themselves to be drinking a quart of rum to get them through each day. Drank to the death. Grim.

There you have it. A huge range of reading this week. Take your time and until next time when I will be, I promise, older and wise… please check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday (…as long as all their holiday fun doesn’t get in the way…) and Stan going strong again each and every Monday. Then listen to a few of the now rarely refreshed Lew’s podcasts and get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on the (sometimes even but never) odd Fridays. And maybe The British Food History Podcast. Maybe? And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too.  Ben’s Beer and Badword is out there with the all the sweary Mary! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog. Any more? We have Ontario’s own A Quick Beer featuring visits to places like… Michigan! All About Beer has given space to some trade possy podcasts and there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast with an episode just last month!. And there’s the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube. Check out the archives of the Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good but hmm they’ve also gone quiet this year. The rest of these are largely dead. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  As has We Are Beer People. The Share looked to be back with a revival but now its gone quiet. And the Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. VinePair packed in Taplines as well. All dead and gone.  There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. Nope – that ended a year ago.   The Moon Under Water is gone – which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s one cost a fifth of that – but only had the one post. Such is life. Such is beer podcasting and newlettering!

*Did I? Was I?
**I forgot this: I knew him and apparently drew him way back when.
***Pardon all the ellipsises… ellipsi… but the point was worth making.

Now That We’ve Cleared Up The “St. Paddy’s / St. Patty’s” Day Confusion, Here’s The Beery News Notes

I like a good breakfast sandwich as much as the next guy but I have to say I have never elevated a disk shaped sausage to sainthood. For me, Peanuts sort of established who Patty is before she grew up to be the bassist of The Bangles under an alias. So the whole “Patty v. Paddy” thing flies by me and, anyway, I tend to use the long form.  Which is fine because, you know, we ourselves are Scottish. Which is what we told pals who invited us out to drink on a Monday night when we took a pass. Our new PM probably better knew what to do when celebrating that I did. But I think Liam, however, he of Ireland, has established an alternative answer to the puzzle of how to deal with the day. That’s a hop shoot omlette right there:

I’ve experimented with cooking hop shoots before, but this is my first time to force them in the dark. Blanched and lightly fried, and served on an omelette with pecorino and black pepper. Great texture, like asparagus but more of a delicate mangetout or green bean flavour. I’m impressed …

For a more traditional tribute to Patrick, check out The Loop for a true Americana dive bar version. I wonder what the equivalent elsewhere could be? I know who we could ask. Perhaps Retired Martin who advised on the question of what one can do when there’s a spare 25 minutes to be spent at the train station in Doncaster, all by way of very tightly focused photo essay:

I would buy a book called “What Would Paul Mudge Do ?”. He certainly wouldn’t get his beer in a takeaway milk bottle to drink on the 18:22, oh no. He’d have a pint from one of Sheffield’s cask champions. But a man doesn’t travel from South Yorkshire to South Yorkshire to drink South Yorkshire beers, so I had a pint from Tallinn. And admired the seating in what is a lovely, but slightly too small, station pub.

Admittedly, you need to go back to link each sentence to an image but it’s a nice tidy narrative if you ask me. Speaking of tidy narratives, Pete Brown‘s latest column for The Times has taken a step up, using the space so far dedicated to a newbie guide to share, instead, a vignette on a player in the trade – the beer buyer:

The Waitrose beer buyer Jourdan Gabbini, 31, from Wokingham in Berkshire, genuinely loves beer and obviously enjoys his job. His ambition is to create “a bottle shop within a shop” that doesn’t just stack up the beer but helps people engage with and explore it, in part by highlighting brewers that are local to each store. This can be frustrating when a beer you like isn’t available in your manor. But that means another local brewer is getting the benefit. Gabbini has the freedom to develop real relationships with brewers. Last year he even co-created a new beer with the Lost and Grounded brewery in Bristol and Caravan Coffee Roasters — a coffee pale ale that was exclusive to Waitrose.

Speaking of booze sales, Lew dipped his toe into the tariff dispute and examined the Canadian response when it comes to the policies implimented up here by our government run liquor trade:

The most common reaction has been pure Canada: a non-smiling “Elbows up!”, echoing Mr. Hockey, Saskatchewan-born Gordie Howe, a player who took no shit off anyone. Anyone who tried to slash Howe was getting a fast elbow to the head. Canada’s ready for this, and they’re not kidding. The angry Americans are right about one thing. The Canadian response of taking everything off the shelves, leaving only blank space behind, is disproportionate and goes further than the American tariffs. This doesn’t just affect day-to-day, month-on-month sales. This kind of action also attacks something much more valuable: the brand. Raise the price while leaving the bottles on the shelf, and you paradoxically make people think about the brand more, maybe even realize how much they ARE willing to spend to get it. But take the bottles away, leaving an empty shelf with a “BUY CANADIAN INSTEAD” sign, and the American product becomes invisible.

Lew says, quite reasonably, that this degree of response is because Canada is facing an existential crisis. I don’t actually think that’s the full story. I have loads of pals and more blood family in the USA than here in Canada but, you know, gotta tell you… we’re not going anywhere. And we’re not some sort of jilted pal. Trump just fucking pissed us off. When I played soccer in university, my Scottish father (a much better player in his own youth) would say “don’t wake the sleeping dog.” Well, we’re up now.  And we are drinking our own damn rye. Even the cheap stuff that tastes like gasoline.

Speaking of these the finer things, Nigel Sadler pointed me to an interesting 1991 Belgian beer rating guide posted by the beer importers James Clay and Sons on Bluesky:

This clever guide evaluated beers based on ABV, Sourness, Sweetness, Bitterness, and predominant flavour, which then generated a five digit code that could easily give a picture of the key characteristics.

Here are the five images (1,2,3,4,5) in case your are not part of the Bluesky way of life. I add them not just to scrape the data but to illustrate a couple of points. First, I have long thought the overbearing BJCP system was clumsy and created poorly transferrable information in a simple but meaningful way. This does that. Second, being a real nerd, I immediately recognized that this five digit system mirrors the SINPO code used by long distance radio listener nerds. The SINPO code not only succinctly frames the transient quality of a radio transmission heard well beyond the intended broadcast range but it is also understood across cultural and language gaps. Simple, neutral and still data rich. So it’s gold when you are sending your QSL reception report looking for a postcard, right? What? No! No, it’s really cool. It really is. No, you’re the big fat loser.

Getting back to where we started, Ron has been to Brazil again and, much to my delight, has posted a photo essay – a montage if you will – of many of his breakfasts as well as what it is like to be an Englishman in Rio for Carnaval:

Many not so much lightly-dressed as slightly-dressed partygoers walk by. I’ve never seen so many men in fishnet tights and tutus. It has a bit of a Gay Pride air about it. Some of the party people pause to pick up Pils. Always the Pils. There’s a merry buzz. Everyone is going to a party. I can feel their crackling anticipation as they laugh and drink their way down the road. Anticipation of a good time. A really good time. I’m starting to quite like this Carnaval thing. Everyone is in a really good mood. Even a miserable old git like me.

Over at VinePair, Joshua M. Bernstein told the tale of the rise and fall of Magic Hat #9, a once hudely popular beer out of Vermont:

Johnson built a moderate-strength pale ale infused with apricot essence, and the mysteriously named #9 hit Burlington taps in summer 1995. The beer was designed to disappear come fall, but calls from angry bar owners threatening to stop carrying Magic Hat beers led Newman to turn #9 into a year-round release. “It was never intended to do anything,” Newman says. “We were just trying to find a way to sell beer.” The beer thrived on neglect and even disdain. “Beer geeks at the time f(u)cking hated it, but the more they hated it, the better the sales were,” Newman says, adding that #9 was nobody’s favorite beer at the brewery. Magic Hat initially spent scant dollars to support #9. “I could argue that we spent the first two years doing absolutely nothing to help it grow, almost working to kill it,” Newman says. “And then one day we went, ‘What the f(u)ck are we thinking here?’ And so we got on the bandwagon and it just kept growing.”

There was a time when Magic Hat was way ahead of its time and attracted the dollars of border crossing beer nerds like me over a decade and a half ago, looking for their latest Odd Notion seasonals. I seem to have had some on New Years Eve 2004. In October 2005, I review another mixed case of their and… I mentioned that I didn’t exactly love the #9. I thought it was supposed to be peach but Oskar in the comments said “No. 9 used to be much higher quality, with a REAL apricot taste” so I wasn’t wrong wrong. Just wrong.

Speaking of travel, Katie spent a week on the Isle of Man. She didn’t mention seeing Kelly… but she did write a lovely piece at her space The Glug about solo dining at The Boat Yard in the town of Peel:

The menu is as fishy as I dreamed it would be, and while I’d normally order something picky or snacky or fried for a starter, I couldn’t think of anything nicer on such a cold night than a bowl of chowder. It came hot and creamy, filled with Manx kipper and mussels, and a healthy incorporation of curly parsley. Slurping it felt like warmth and health and happiness. To drink, I had a glass of champagne. And then another. How incredibly off-putting of me, to ignore wine tasting regulations and all common decency, but I wanted some Champagne, so I had some. End of story. If you want to fight me about it, I‘ll meet you outside. Doing champagne by the glass is not ideal for any hospitality venue, and I apologised for being so awkward. Then I apologised for apologising. My lovely host was gregarious: “You deserve to have what you like,” she said. I wondered if had I been with other people she might not have added life coaching to my menu free of charge, but I appreciated it nonetheless. And anyway, I did like it very much, because it was rich and biscuity, with a squeeze of lemon sherbet.

Smoky kipper chowder and glasses of champagne. That’s it right there. Yup.

Note: Martyn captured on the audio talking about the porter. And the book. The book that launches very soon.

And David Jesudason has managed to make me homesick for a place I have never been.  Much of my family lives along the 128 bus route east of Edinburgh and I worked in Poland for a while when I was in my twenties. So this portrait of the The Persevere in Edinburgh’s historic port of Leith has me longing… and (again) hungry:

…it retains those born and bred in Edinburgh’s historically working class Leith district, especially sports lovers who might glance at the horse racing before a match. While it also serves as a home away from home for many of the Polish diaspora who have been linked to the port since 1939. This is seen in the pub’s owners, Lublin-born Dorota Czerniec-Radowska and her husband Konrad Rochowski, and the kitchen they have run since 2015 which pumps out delicacies, such as plate-sized schnitzels and comforting white sausage (Żurek) soup. You can eat these in the pub or the restaurant-style section, known as the Percy (also the affectionate nickname given to the pub by its regulars,) where paintings of Dorota and Konrad’s hometown are displayed.

One of the pleasures of Poland was learning how useful my childhood training in the rolling of an “r” and the roughening of a “ch” were.* And, as with the Korean food, the reassembling of similar ingredients was also a welcome surprise. Next time I am there, I should make of point of being here… there… at this pub.

Note: a reminder for next week. It’s another end of the month edition of The Session… and Gary jumped the gun but gives us a good example as we prepare. Matty C is hosting:

For the March 2025 edition of The Session I’m asking participants to produce a piece of critical writing about beer or pubs. This could be a review of a beer you’ve enjoyed, or perhaps one you haven’t. A pub you’re fond of, or maybe one that has room for improvement. You could write about a beer experience (or lack of) in a setting such as a restaurant, or even produce a critique that focuses on a particular aspect of beer or pub culture. The aim is not to be judgemental, subjective or to showcase any particular bias; this is not some finger-wagging exercise. Whereas criticism involves building an argument about why you think something is simply good or bad, critique involves taking a more holistic approach, using carefully researched and considered analysis to build a reasoned, objective, and possibly even entertaining take that benefits readers by giving them good quality information to consider.

I am still working out how this isn’t a distinction without a difference as building a good argument always requires considered analysis. But I look forward to the submissions.

Did you now that some common foods do not qualify as no-alc? Well you will now thanks to the exceedingly tenuous argument placed into the discourse by the lobbyists of the The British Beer and Pub Association:

Advocates argue that the current limit not only confuses consumers but also restricts the development of innovative alcohol-free products. According to the BBPA, raising the threshold would help the UK’s brewing sector thrive in the rapidly growing no and low alcohol market, while providing consumers with more clarity and choice. The BBPA’s findings highlight that burger rolls can contain up to 1.2% ABV, while malt loaf can reach 0.7%, and ripe bananas can hit 0.5%. These levels are considered negligible and occur naturally due to fermentation, yet remain higher than the current 0.05% threshold for alcohol-free beer. The government’s consultation is set to conclude later this year, with the industry eagerly awaiting the outcome.

Eagerly. Not “patiently” or even simply “awaiting” but eagerly.

That’s it. Lots of interesting stuff to read as it turned out. While you await eagerly for more next week, please check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday (WHILE YOU CAN!!! They are holidaying in April and May) and Stan going strong again each and every Monday. Then listen to Lew’s podcast and get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on the (sometimes even but never) odd Fridays. And maybe The British Food History Podcast. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. The Share looks to be back with a revival. Ben’s Beer and Badword is out there with the all the sweary Mary! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog. Any more? Check out the Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good and they are revving up for a new year. And the BOAS podcast for the bro-ly. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  Plus We Are Beer People. The Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. VinePair packed in Taplines as well. All gone. But not Ontario’s own A Quick Beer featuring… Michigan! There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too.  All About Beer has sponsored trade possy podcasts and there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube.  The Moon Under Water is gone which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s one cost a fifth of that – but only had the one post. Such is life.

*My late toddler trauma includes being told “Whales and Wales are not homonyms!!!” as a parent’s hand was placed before my mouth to catch the whisp of an “h” that was so critical to the continuation of the culture. 

The Last Thursday Beery News Notes For The Suckiest Part Of The Year

We have entered a short and ugly season. False spring. Dwindly wintery. The time of dirty snow. After last week’s -20C temps, high winds and back to back blizzards we got the first sense of spring. Not the reek of dog shit thawing out of snowbanks spring. But at least +5C and even a bit of drizzle. Under five weeks to the first of April. My own pea and carrot seeds will be planted in the cold dark soil by then. Not that bit of basil. No way. I am eating that plant. Soon.

First up? First up and speaking of eating, I have been looking for an angle on long time servant of good beer Jonathan Surratt‘s blog by email about sandwiches, Bound by Buns, and this week he provided in this week’s post:

I recently had the idea to see if I could incorporate beer into each of the main components of a sandwich… I met with Jenny Pfafflin from Dovetail Brewery (we call her JP) and she and I put our heads together to discuss the beer options for this sandwich. I had a rough concept for a beer braised short rib sandwich using a beer cheese spread and we talked through the other options. JP, a brewer who is also an Advanced Cicerone, was very helpful in being a second opinion and a knowledge expert on Dovetail’s line of beers and beer flavors in general.

Now, that is just the introduction to the intro. Take some time. His weekly posts often drill down deep into the details and then wallow with you in the goodness of sammy Pr0n.

Next… what a headline: “Heineken to make beer weaker“!!! Jessica Mason reports:

From 25 February, Heineken will reduce the alcohol of its Sol beer brand to just 3.4% ABV down from from 4.2% ABV. The beer, which was originally brewed in Mexico before it was acquired by Heineken from Fomento Economico Mexicana SAB (FEMSA) in 2010 in a deal worth £4.8 billion, is now produced in Zoeerwoude in the Netherlands. According to reports via The Sun, increased cost pressures facing the sector have also pushed the decision for beer companies to make the move to bring the strength down on some beers.

That’s 23.5% weaker according to my math. Yikes. At what point is that a near beer? Speaking of weak, we have this in from Beer Insights on the serious loss of interest in the darling of a decade ago, Stone, now owned by Sapporo:

…results were driven by strong growth of Sapporo brands offsetting softer Stone trends. Indeed, early in the yr, the co recorded a $90+-mil impairment charge on its Stone biz, it acknowledged while responding to critiques about its overseas investments from a Singapore-based investor with more than 19% stake in the co. Recall, Sapporo acquired Stone for a little less than $170 mil in 2022, then invested tens of mils of $$ in US production facilities.

A $90,000,000 loss on a two year old $170,000,000 investment is quite impressive. Somebody sure ain’t worthy. Conversely, Matty C got out his pen and his writing table and wrote about the end of things for CAMRA’s What’s Brewing:

Everything is finite, and all good things must come to an end. Most people understand this, even if only subconsciously, and it’s why I think we cling to nostalgia so tightly – it helps stop us worrying about that which we ultimately cannot control: change. Nostalgia plays a huge part in what we drink and enjoy. It’s largely why Guinness is so frustratingly popular at the moment (and I say frustratingly from the perspective of someone who feels like this is a missed opportunity to get more people drinking cask beer). But this phenomenon also extends to brands like Theakston’s Old Peculier and Timothy Taylor’s Landlord, even Bass remains popular among some enthusiasts.

Speaking  of institutions… what is a hall of fame for? The already famed? Consider Jeff‘s conclusion:

Elevating the less-heralded figures who shaped American brewing is certainly a worthy effort. Using the Hall to reshape the way we think about brewing (as well as craft brewing) would be a worthy effort. But at least after an initial round of inductees, it seems like the Hall has chosen to celebrate they already celebrated. Maybe this project isn’t for me, or the public generally, and that’s fine. Industries get to define whom they celebrate. But again, looking from the outside, it seems like a missed opportunity.

There isn’t a hall. Just a website. But… if there is no actual hall, does there even have to be actual fame? Or is it for sometinhg else? Consider Stan‘s thoughts:

For the record, I provided nominations and I voted in the election. I nominated Joe Owades (cited within the post), not because of the role he played in developing light beer, but because he was a key advisor to the early giants of microbrewing (even if the beer was not made a small breweries; goodness those were confusing times) such as Boston Beer and Pete’s Wicked Ale. As you will see when you read the entire post, people like to talk about this. 

Soooo… there is the talk. But does the talk get beyond the bubble? Still, it’s a bubbly bubble for sure. Frothy even. As you consider that, we move on a bit deeper into the recent past. Boak and Bailey linked to this one on Saturday but it is too good not to record for archival posterity – a 1977 BBC documentary on the state of the UK beer industry. As Nigel Sadler wrote “a nice old film“! But it was a broadcast to a nation wide public. Not a bubble Could beer still sustain that sort of viewership now?

Well someone* is trying as Pete Brown has been granted space in the Sunday Times in England to write about beer on a regular basis. It will be interesting to see if there will be any of the analysis you would see in wine or restaurant reviews. It would be even more interesting if a writer like A.A. Gill, Brown’s predecessor in those pages, could arise in good beer. Drink was something Gill left behind with good reason.  Similarly, could good beer generate this sort of academic standard we  see with the four newly announced Masters of Wine?  Consider these qualifications:

Jit Hang Jackie Ang MW holds a DPhil in Medical Sciences from the University of Oxford and a MA in Pharmacology from the University of Cambridge, said the IMW. He is director of Cherwell Wine and Spirits in Singapore, where he also heads the High Throughput Screening group at the Experimental Drug Development Centre. His research paper was: ‘Are Universal Glasses Truly Universal? — An investigation on whether glassware shape affects perceptions of red and white table wines made from international varieties.’

A brainiac! But there are many sorts of pursuits and pleasures, aren’t there. For example, B+B shared a tiny cheery… dare I say charming… travelogue on a recent weekend trip to Germany with Ray’s mother over at their Patreon page:

In Cologne, almost 24 hours later, we fell upon glasses of Päffgen Kölsch while surrounded by people in carnival costumes – minions, pirates, sequined suits, and so on. Our hypothesis was that Ray’s mum would love Kölsch and Kölsch culture. She’s a lager drinker by default, when she drinks beer rather than whisky, and is no longer keen on pints. Sure enough, she did like this crisp, bitter, incredibly fresh beer. Well, who wouldn’t? Truthfully, it was probably being surrounded by family, and having a fuss made of her, that made the beer taste particularly good.

Sounds ideal. No? Does for me. But maybe this is your ideal pub? Not mine but I am not an elderly emo. Really. I’m not. Others have other ideals… idles… iddles…

After the King pulled a pint called Gone For A Burton, a traditional mid-strength beer brewed by Tower, brewery owner John Mills cheekily asked him: “Going to have a slurp of that, sir?” The King replied that if he was not, he was in the “wrong place”.

Less regally, Doug Veliky has been asking some questions of brewers in these troubled times and Ottawa’s own Dominion City Brewing shared a high level of detail that they had actually shared with their customers along with a few notes:

…we’ve been refining our unique value proposition and have landed on the fact that we offer a high rate of sale and greater profit per pour than our peers. We’ve made up the attachment below [Ed.: err… above…] in a bid to educate our customers about the pricing elasticity they get with our brand (and about the true cost of their macro options once all the freebies and kickbacks are counted.) It’s made the difference in keeping our business with several accounts to date and we hope to use it as part of our pitch to accounts that might not look craft-accessible. So both a shield and sword strategy.

I like it. And I like their Town & Country, too. They are also fighting the tariff threat along with other Canadian brewers. More on the Glorious and Free initiative here. Speaking of Ontario, just days before today’s election, the liquor control agency controlled by current government of “Buck A Beer” Doug Ford slapped a new tax** on beer sales in the province:

The LCBO posted information about the fee increase on its website Monday within hours of Ontario PC Leader Doug Ford unveiling a new campaign promise to scrap the province’s mandatory minimum prices for alcohol.  The increase is set to take effect on April 1. It amounts to a 4.4 per cent jump in what the LCBO calls “cost of service,” a levy that applies to all beer products — whether imported or domestic — sold at retail outlets such as The Beer Store, supermarkets, convenience stores and brewery retail outlets, as well as on beer distributed to bars and restaurants. 

And finally Pellicle picked a spot for this week’s focus where I’ve actually been – but may not no longer – as author Gene Buonaccorsi got to crawl over and under the Cambridge Brewing Company, down the road from MIT and across the river from Fenway***:

With Phil off attending to customers, I asked Will to show me the notorious barrel cellar. For years, I’d heard of this nature-defying space—a small corner of a basement where some of the industry’s most mind-bending beers fermented and matured. We exit the dining room through a door towards the back and enter an industrial white-walled staircase with faded metal handrails. He leads me down to the lowest level, where we emerge into a low ceilinged room with fluorescent lights that (at first glance) illuminate a set of dry goods storage racks and the unmistakable shining silver door of a refrigerated keg room. “It’s a bit tricky from here,” he tells me. “You have to step up but also duck so you don’t hit your head.”

Duck or grouse. That’s the choice. Well, it’s a B.O.B., isn’t it.  That’s it for another week. Until we meet again in March, please check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan going strong again each and every Monday. Then listen to Lew’s podcast and get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on the (sometimes even but never) odd Fridays. And maybe The British Food History Podcast. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. The Share looks to be back with a revival. Ben’s Beer and Badword is out there with the all the sweary Mary! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog. Any more? Check out the Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good and they are revving up for a new year. And the BOAS podcast for the bro-ly. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  Plus We Are Beer People. The Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. VinePair packed in Taplines as well. All gone. But not Ontario’s own A Quick Beer featuring… Michigan! There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too.  All About Beer has sponsored trade possy podcasts and there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube.  The Moon Under Water is gone which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s one cost a fifth of that – but only had the one post. Such is life.

*Others too. For example, I had no idea there was a beer focused radio station broadcasting out of Sheffield: “Ale & Radio will celebrate its milestone on April 13, following a highly successful first year broadcasting beer-focused content alongside a diverse mix of music spanning multiple genres and generations. With a global audience, the station’s mission has always been to support independent breweries, bars, pubs, and beer retailers, while uniting beer enthusiasts through a variety of engaging content. Listeners can tune in for regular beer news, travel features, festival coverage, brewery interviews, and user-submitted audio beer reviews.” Here’s their webpage with a link to the audion stream. But is Pete’s as he posted “the ONLY regular beer column to run in a UK broadsheet newspaper or magazine, first one for over 20 years” or as he blogged “I’ve joined Adrian Tierney-Jones (Daily Star) in the exclusive ranks of people who have a regular beer column in a mainstream British media outlet.“? 
**fine… yes, it’s a fee increase and not a tax…  
***…and, once upon a time, deep down within an entertaining early pandemic freakout…

Your Beery News Notes For The Week That The Session Will Be Resuscitated

It will! Will it? Will it take? Will it last?  Errr… will it even happen? Hmm… as I mentioned, we are going to try to see if there is any interest in having a go at reviving The Session.  Stan‘s excited as are Matty and Alistair. Maureen is Sessio-curious. We’ll find out tomorrow. More about that later – but it does seem to be a reasonable thing to try as January fades while February looms. Does it loom? At least it’s shorter than January. Thirty days to March, baby. As of today. That’s all that matters to me now.

That image to the right (to your right, to the left to me) is from Newcastle’s Evening Chronicle of 24th May 1927, as reposted on FB by the Brewing History Society. That’s apparently about a month after the beer was first sold. Me, I myself too only drink it from a large labratory test tub while waxing my head with Brylcreem. Big news in beer the week was the recall of certain bottlings of the old Newkie Broon due to glass fragment contamination in some 550 ml bottles:

Ale drinkers who have purchased a bottle of Newcastle Brown Ale with the best before date November 30, 2025, as well as the correct batch code, should return their beer for a full refund. The affected batches are: L4321, L4322, L4323, L4324, L4325, L4326, according to the Food Standards Agency.

Further shocking news coming so soon after the UK market collapse of Brylcreem and large home use test tube sales is the story that gin sales are slumping as reported in The Times:

…on the chilly November day that I visit Sipsmith it is remarkably quiet. The distilling hall is empty and I spot about three workers in the large office at the back. Then there is the cold. “If we’re distilling, it’s usually lovely and warm in here,” Fairfax Hall, 50, one of three co-founders says as we sit down with our coats on. For they are not distilling: in fact they have already finished for the year. “Volumes fell more than we anticipated. We stopped distilling a couple of weeks ago [mid-November]. The industry has definitely slowed down. I mean, if you look at the numbers it is way off the peak.”

There are reasons for this, ranging from adherence traditional religious practices to social media’s influence on pop culture. Elsewhere, some continue to see rainbows and maybe even a unicorn or two.

Following up on the story that emerged last week, Stan has the background on the split between the BA and the AHA going all the way back to the tensions which played out in the corporate structuring and restructuring.

Many of the packaging brewers questioned the participation of homebrewers, Hindy wrote. “What role could a bunch of hobbyists play in a brewing industry trade association? Complicating the discussion was that the AHA was losing money. The AOB was subsidizing it. Mosher and (Rogue Ales founder Jack) Joyce argued that the homebrewers were the biggest fans of craft brewers, the first line of defense in any attack on the industry.” In the agreement that eventually followed, the membership would elect seven packaging brewery board members, four brewpub members, and the AHA would choose two board members.

Jeff gave a hopeful forecast: “…homebrewing is a wonderful hobby that satisfies our wholesome human creative urges…”

BREAKING: In British Columbia there is no drinking and bowling! Stop it!!

“The inspectors observed the patron do this – carry what appeared to be a glass of beer into the bowling alley area and consume the beer in that area – three times in eight minutes,” reads the decision by Dianne Flood, delegate to the general manager of the regulation branch. Inspectors reported the infraction was in “plain view and sight for any observer” and that a staff member working near the bowling alley should have noticed and spoken to the customer.

Three times! Entirely justifies the tens of thousands of dollars allocated from the public purse to prosecute these dastards.

Speaking of violations, is the Mliko pour an imposter? A new trend posing as tradition!?! Alistair never saw it when he lived in Czechia in the 2000s and Ron argues it was non-existent in the 1980s:

Something which never seems to get mentioned nowadays is the serving method. People go on about crap like “mlíko” pours – something I never came across in the 1980s and which I suspect was just made up recently. But not the reason why Czech beer was so drinkable: air pressure. Rather than CO2, air pressure was used to pump up beer from the celaar. Much like tall fonts in Scotland. The resulting half litre had a wonderful creamy head, but wasn’t overly fizzy. Being more like beer served through a sparkler in texture. Why does no-one lament the loss of this wonderful practice?

Why? Whhhhyyyyyyy??? Because no one cares, I suppose.  Except Ron. And it is to be expected as there is one constant in beer [Greek Chorus (interjecting): “… well, two after money…“] and that is change. Face it. Breweries open and shut. Get build and get sold. Such is life. But apparently one regional, the makers of a gas station shandy and other more ancient if less than universally loved beers is now a focal point of complaint [Greek Chorus (interjecting): “…or perhaps just content creation…“] as owners of 36 years Molson Coors has announced it is shutting its Leinenkugel  brewery in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin:

Given that the firm would announce its plans to end Leinenkugel’s century-and-a-half-long streak of brewing in Chippewa Falls (interrupted only by Prohibition, which it survived by making soda water and near beer) just three months later, St. Jacques could have been a little more clear. Sure, the Leinie brand will technically live on, even though the brewhouse from whence it came, Chippewa Falls’ longest continuously operated business, has been relieved of its production duties. But MC’s move to shutter what was the seventh-oldest still-operating brewery in America is clearly a change in its commitment to Leinenkugel — and not for the better.

I mean I get it but Molson Coors and its big beer predecessors in title have owned this northern brewery for about a quarter of its existence. That’s a pretty good run for a relationship between a middling regional and its multinational owners. What do you want?

You know what I want? More articles like this from Anaïs Lecoq in Pellicle on Coreff, a real ale… the first real ale from France which has an interesting origin story:

Brewing nothing but real ale at the time, Coreff came to life with the help of a person that will mean nothing to the vast majority of French people, even the beer drinking type. Yet he’s considered a legend on the other side of the English Channel: Peter Austin, founder of Ringwood Brewery in Hampshire. “If some dare to call me the pope of microbreweries, today, I can claim the right to appoint Jean-François Malgorn and Christian Blanchard as my disciples,” Austin wrote in a 1988’s commercial leaflet recalling his partnership with the brewery.

It’s excellent and in a way struck me as a sidebar essay that pairs neatly with Brew Britannia by Boak and Bailey. Brew Bretonia?

Learning once again that there is no topic which can’t be slathered with the dumbness of “woke!!” protesters, one brewery in Australia has learned that protecting nature is now “woke!!” too:

Aussies have voiced their outrage at a popular beer company by running over cans of the liquor, in a boycott of the company’s recent charity campaign which has been slammed as “woke”. The Great Northern Brewing Company came under intense fire following a recent campaign — Outdoors for a Cause — which aimed to raise money to buy and protect land to add to national parks in support of the non-profit organisation Foundation for National Parks and Wildlife, according to Yahoo News. However many moved to boycott the company, which typically uses imagery of people outdoors to market their beer, following the campaign’s announcement. Facebook group 4wd TV lashed out at the move in fear the money raised would be used to turn state parks into national parks.

Because the particular colour of the uniforms of the government park rangers… matters? No, turns out you can’t fish, camp or hunt in an Australian National Park. So they are “helping to stop bush users using the bush.” All sounds pretty unCanadian if you ask me. Don’t they have Crown land?

I missed this info when it came out earlier in the month but this article in GrainNews is an excellent primer on the issues facing a barley farmer dealing with the reality that a $1 million malt barley crop can turn into $600,000 of feed:

“We need to know what that whole field looks like,” he says. “I’m looking at one kilogram to make a million-dollar deal, so that sample you give me better be what you’re actually going to deliver.” Also, if the grain sits for an extended period, it can degrade, so he cautions farmers to re-sample the bin every six to eight weeks. If a sample meets the specifications in late summer but a load’s not delivered until the following spring, a lot can go wrong. “Somewhere along the way, it heated, got bugs in it, or the germ dropped off,” he says. “We want to see that so we know for ourselves that you still have the malt that you said you had for us.”

And on the health beat, there was a helpful interview this week with Otis Brawley, Johns Hopkins Bloomberg Distinguished Professor of oncology and other things, unpacking current findings and recommendations:

An estimated 741,300 cancer cases in 2020 were linked to alcohol consumption. It is ranked the third leading preventable cause of cancer. Research shows that alcohol can cause cancer by breaking down into a metabolite that ultimately damages your DNA, which can lead to the formation of tumors. And the effects of alcohol seem to compound. 

Which sorta does lead to the understanding that there isn’t a net offset by taking on other good behaviours. Jogging isn’t exactly buulding a wall around your DNA. But there was also this intereting nugget: “We have evidence that drinking increases the risk of this cancer. We don’t have as strong evidence that to stop drinking reduces the risk.” So you may be screwed already. And by “you” I mean me.

Finally, something in life where plumpness is a plus! And… want to become an instant hero in the world of good beer? Buy San Fransico’s beer bar Toronado. Buying the building, business and inventory for only $1,750,000 actually sounds like a bit of a deal:

For sale is a 2900 sq ft 2 unit commercial building and business for sale together. A small restaurant space with Type 1 hood, and bathroom in approximately 500 square feet, (delivered vacant). The remainder of the building is occupied by the time honored and award winning Toronado Pub… you can’t design this vibe; you can only nurture it over decades. Yet the main attraction remains the beer: The 50 taps, three cask handpulls, and 90-plus cans and bottles celebrate the best of California and around the world, including hits from Allagash, Alvarado Street, Cellarmaker, Monkish, North Park, and Russian River, and on to Cantillon, Schneider, Tilquin, and more.

Last Friday, David Jesudason handed the keys for his newsletter over to EU citizen and brewer Noora Koskinen-Dini who has recently been dismissed by an English brewery, which may be the sort of story retold in greater numbers soon over here given the new immigration policies in the USA:

They told me on these pre-employment calls they wanted me to manage the bar and then take over the brewing side… When I arrived there was a general manager who worked with me to show me how things were run in the taproom – it didn’t include the brewery because this was Paul’s domain. I worked mainly at the taproom, there was no brewery work, not even shadowing. I was summoned to another meeting where Paul told me ‘because you’re unhappy and you can’t buy the brewery I’m going to let you go’. I felt this was rambling nonsense and not how you do things. After all this time, after all this love and passion, my employment was terminated because someone thought I was unhappy? I tried to explain the consequences of this decision that it would affect my whole family and it meant I would have to ultimately leave the UK.

The brewery in question was given equal time by David. With some startlingly conflicting factual statements. Is this what’s meant by selling experiences?

Finally and once again, a reminder to all you scribblers and wannabe scribblers.  The Session is breaking out the tabbourines and a big tent for a revival of the greatest thing to ever happen in beer writing. From 2007 to 2018, there were 142 editions easily tiggering the writing of one billion words. So tomorrow on Friday January 31, 2025 please post your thoughts – via blog, newsletter, social media… anything – on the topic:

“What is the best thing to happen in good beer since 2018?

Then once you have done that, leave a note here in a comment or even email me the link at beerblog@gmail.com! Or let us know some other way. I will aggregate and report back. Try using #TheSession, too, even if there are others in that information superhighway lane.

While we wait for the results, please check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan going strong again each and every Monday. Then listen to Lew’s podcast and get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on the (sometimes even but never) odd Fridays. And maybe The British Food History Podcast. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. The Share looks to be back with a revival. Ben’s Beer and Badword is out there with the all the sweary Mary! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog. Any more? Check out the Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good and they are revving up for a new year. And the BOAS podcast for the bro-ly. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  Plus We Are Beer People. The Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. VinePair packed in Taplines as well. All gone. But not Ontario’s own A Quick Beer featuring… Michigan! There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too.  All About Beer has sponsored trade possy podcasts and there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube.  The Moon Under Water is gone which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s one cost a fifth of that but only had the one post. Such is life.

Your Beery News Notes For – YIKES!!! – The 1/24th Mark For The Year 2024… Err… 2025

It’s really good, this whole passage of time thing. It really is. Isn’t it. It is… isn’t it? Fine. Face it. The holidays are over. OVER! But that doesn’t mean the celebrations are over. For example, in the U.S. of A. we hear that it’s Prohibition Remembrance Day celebrating the 106th anniversary of the ratification of the 18th Amendment to their Constitution. Whooo!!! If “neo-temp” was actually a real thing there’d be parades. I do love me a parade. But who needs parades when you have NA beer for $5 a can!

Speaking of fine traditions, at her  very clearly titled Braciatrix: The Newsletter, Dr Christina Wade shares her thoughts on the wassailing tradition which marks the eve of the Epiphany in Christianity. Or rather traditions:

Some versions of the tradition are known as apple howling, which is probably one of the most metal names I have ever heard. Excellent band name tbh. Regardless of exactly how people celebrated wassailing specifically, one thing does seem to often remain at the centre of these traditions- that is the alcoholic beverages. My favourite. So what exactly do we drink? We drink Lambswool or Lamb’s Wool. No, not the actual fuzzy stuff from the adorable creature better known for making sweaters. Nay. It’s a beverage made from ale, spices, sugar, and roasted apples. Some recipes also call for cream, eggs, or both.

That sounds pretty excellent if you ask me. Winterfestive. Speaking of the old Epiph’, we had a visitor who had spent much of 2024 in France over for the holidays and we had a galette des rois but I had no idea it was pagan and also no idea that it was causing another boring woke-trad political scandal in the old country due to its history:

Historians say French Epiphany cakes — called galette des rois (literally, galette of the kings) — can be traced to Roman festivals dedicated to Saturn and to the longer daylight hours after the winter solstice. The custom was to put a bean in cakes given to slaves, and to name the one who found it “king for the day”. In modern France, the bean has been replaced by a porcelain figure, but the finder still gets a paper crown. Over the centuries, the galette des rois merged with Epiphany and it became usual to start eating them after 12th night, at least until the French Revolution, when the cakes were banned in a drive to eradicate Christianity in the 1790s.

Matthew C, taking on the player-manager role this week, published his story on Roosters Brewery in Harrogate, England in which he does a few very unusal things. It is more than a B.O B.* Is that a B.B.O.B.? One thing is that he interviews other people to corroborate the story shared by a brewery owner. And he does background research to tell the tale of the brewery from older records than the recitals of the owner. This sort of thing gives the reader great confidence, especially as the main players seem a bit quiet:

Brew Britannia also speaks of Franklin’s reclusiveness (despite numerous attempts, I was not able to contact him for the purposes of this article) and his modesty. It’s apparent, speaking to those who knew him, that he does not consider himself to be a trailblazer, despite plenty of evidence to the contrary… “Sean was quite straightforward once we’d made contact. Mostly he was a bit embarrassed to be treated like a great authority or legendary figure. He was at great pains to credit others wherever he could,” Boak and Bailey tell me of their interactions with him, which took place in 2013. “He also described himself as an introvert and he was certainly fairly quiet and thoughtful in our conversations—although certainly passionate enough when he got down to actually talking about wine and beer.”

Such a good bit of investigation based writing, especially in a positive portrait.** Speaking of which, even with perhaps a finer focus. The Beer Nut – or rather his alt personality Stash Killer – released the results of his study on a six year old nitro can of Guinness:

It’s in the flavour where I think we’ve had some evolution. It’s definitely more flavoursome than when young, and I wish I had a fresh can to hand to compare. The tartness has both increased and become more rounded, adding a kind of classy balsamic vinegar effect. Conversely, that finishes on a sweeter note, with some chocolate, which is something in most stouts that I find missing in Guinness, and a little maraschino cherry. We’re back to regular programming with the quick finish and minimal aftertaste.

Detail. We meet that again. As mentioned a couple of weeks ago, over on BlueSky, Kevin of Casket Beer, asked if anyone had ever had a Scotch Ale out of a thistle glass. Let me ruin the punch line to one of his findings:

So where did we get the notion that the thistle glass was somehow an important part of Scottish beer culture? The Gordon glass may have played a role. However, the 1993 book, Scotch Ale, by Greg Noonan likely had a significant impact, at least in the United States. The cover prominently features a beer in a thistle glass. The book’s contents do not get into glassware or indicate an explanation for why the glass was used. Maybe it was influenced by Gordon. The influential book likely conveyed to a generation of brewers, homebrewers and enthusiasts, that the glass had some meaningful connection to Scottish Ale.

Read the rest for find more findings. It’s not all that precise, sadly. As far as lost goes, these days in all the seesaw back and forth about various recent studies of medical studies and statements resting more and more on labels and less on methodology,*** I found some relief in the transcript from a transcript from TVO’s news magazine The Agenda from almost seven years ago when Mr. B himself**** and three other drinks authors to discuss the question. And it is a civil discussion where views and differences were shared and considered. Firm view like this:

If you can decompress with one glass of wine and keep it at one glass of wine per day, that’s a very uncommon pattern, but if you can more power to you. But those who get into trouble with alcohol tend to find it’s progressive, and denial is a big part of it. So if you can stick to one, go for it.

Speaking of firm and even disagreeable views but, still, focused on the detailed examination… Boak and Bailey wrote about some of the disregarded pubs of the Easton district of Bristol. Then, more importantly, in their Patreon account wrote about a few of their toilets:

Last night, neither of us popped the cork until The Sugar Loaf. Despite having been cleaned up and made a little smarter, it’s still basically down-to-earth. That meant that the toilets had no soap but did have water hot enough to have made tea with. As in, dangerously, scaldingly, steaming hot. Not that the soap or the water mattered much because nobody was washing their hands. [Shudder.]

Not segueing on the notion of popping corks at all, I noticed an interesting idea in this column by Eric Asimov in the NYT on a trend in restaurant wine lists – focus:

The wine list at Smithereens, a new seafood restaurant in the East Village, is shocking to say the least. Of its 62 selections, more than half, 32, are rieslings. Twenty-nine more are various other whites. There’s only one red wine, a pinot noir from Shelter Winery in the Baden region of Germany. Some may criticize a list like that as self-indulgent, but I love it. I rarely see a wine list with such attitude or character… I’ve noticed more and more relatively short wine lists… Not all are as provocative as the Smithereens list, but they are incisive, chosen to convey a point of view and, as good lists ought to do, shape the character of the restaurant.

Sounds like the brewery in Maine that made six stouts twenty years ago. I also like how it is aimed at breaking assumptions. Iconoclasm. Sadly, we too often read of presumed and autonomously authorized ways, like how to achieve a “sensory worst“***** which, if we are honest, depends on learning from the pew and then walking out as an adherent to a form of authority – comforting maybe but that’s too close to the precious basement of speakers, amps and equalizers audiophile approach. If you understood this at all the levels I do, you’d agree.

There are limits to disagreeability, however. In The Times this week we read about one of those situations where two sorts of disagreeabilities clash as each is based on a human right:

Pubs could ban customers from speaking about contentious beliefs such as religious views or transgender rights over fears of falling foul of Labour’s workers rights reforms. The government has been warned by the equalities watchdog that rules could “disproportionately curtail” freedom of expression and be applied to “overheard conversations”. Ministers have proposed that employers must protect workers from being harassed at work by “third parties” such as customers or clients. If they fail to do so they could be sued. However, the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) said this was particularly challenging in cases involving a “philosophical belief”, such as people’s views on religion or women’s rights, because many business owners do not understand such topics are protected by equality law.

Now before any of you scream “WOKE!” like a ninnie (beside the fact J. Christ Himself ask us to be awake), I can share that I have dabbled in this sort of human rights and we need to know just as there are intersecting rights we can have competing rights.******  So these knots need unraveling. And, just to be clear, there is not obligation to allow the loud boorish bigot to remain in the pub. As JJB himself has stated:

…nobody in mine ever uses racist language like Farage’s Reform activists, and if they did they’d be told to leave and never return.

With that good word, a reminder of all you all needing to put down more good words.  The Session is trying a revival, a resuscitation even. On Friday January 31, 2025 please post your thoughts – via blog, newsletter, social media… anything – on the topic:

“What is the best thing to happen in good beer since 2018?

Publish on last Friday in January and then leave a comment here on a comment or even email me the link at beerblog@gmail.com! I have also proposed hosts of the February 2025 (if there is breath in the old corpse) the form of which I will leave in their good hands along with this wise advice emailed from Stan: “I will support in any way that does not require too much work ;>)“!!! Do it!

That’s it. Mid-January is here and boy is it going by. As it flees, please check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan going strong again each and every Monday. Then listen to Lew’s podcast and get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on the (sometimes even but never) odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. The Share looks to be back with a revival. Ben’s Beer and Badword is out there with the all the sweary Mary! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog. Any more? Check out the Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good and they are revving up for a new year. And the BOAS podcast for the bro-ly. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  Plus We Are Beer People. The Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. VinePair packed in Taplines as well. All gone. But not Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too.  All About Beer has sponsored trade possy podcasts and there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube.  The Moon Under Water is gone which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s one cost a fifth of that but only had the one post. Such is life.

*Better Brewery Owner Bio?
**Also positive, his piece which should be called “Gud Wee Coo!“
***A new and damning report came out just this Tuesday according to the NYT: “Among both men and women, drinking just one alcoholic beverage a day increases the risk of liver cirrhosis, esophageal cancer, oral cancer and injuries of various kinds, according to a federal analysis issued on Tuesday. Women face a higher risk of developing liver cancer even at this modest level of drinking. Drinking two drinks a day — double the U.S. Dietary Guidelines’ recommendation for women but the current amount condoned for men — increases the odds of a death caused by alcohol for both men and women.” Expect outcry for booze boosters! Stan has a better way: “There is no denying the negative impact alcohol has on your body. It is stupid to claim otherwise. The rest I leave to Mary-Chapin Carpenter.“
****A long standing TVO regular it seems from the available records from 1998 or so. Not the absence of references to “craft” in the lexicon. 
*****Has anyone figured out why craft experts were so good with all the flaws but so poor at the strengths?
******A plain example are those chevrons built into public sidewalk corner wheelchair ramps. When they first were installed, instances of people with limited vision walking into traffic increased. The chevons act as a warning to those using a white cane.

The “It’s Not Funny At All Out There” Edition Of The Beery News Notes…

Wow. I am going to leave it at that. Because there ain’t much of the big issue sorta news I want to be reading, I suppose. Not now, not this week. Nope. I am definitely having 9/12 waves myself. Not good. But 150 years ago? Well, Jennifer Jordan on BlueSky has been discussing the 1874 business ledgers of Milwalkee Valentin Blatz and there is plenty of news. Price fluxtuations, losses at sea… but for me… just look at that penmanship!  That upper case K is out of this world! You can practically hear the pen tip scratching across the page. Whatever the coming years have in store for us – and it may not be pretty – we can at least look back at the hand of Blatz for a lesson in confidence and verve.

Where are we? Starting with some beery beer news, Andreas Krennmair shared a re-creation of a much forgotten German beer style, Adam:

Dortmunder Adambier, apparently often also just called “Adam”, was a very strong dark wheat beer, often aged for years, and thus very clear, with a dark-red-brown colour. The malt made to brew it was kilned to only a pale colour, and no additional dark malts were used, so any colour of the beer came from “browned proteins”, as the article says it, basically from the long, intense boil the wort undergoes. When Adambier was poured, it poured like oil, but without any foam, and had a sweet taste and vinous taste to it.

Sounds a bit like a beer Boak and Bailey wrote about this week after spending some time in Gdansk, Gdinya and Sopot Poland recently – Danziger Jopenbier:

It’s a historic style associated with the city, brewed to some kind of original recipe, and selling at 16 Polish złoty  (£3) for a 50ml shot. In presentation, it was treated much like a liqueur or a sherry and reminded us of both Riga Balsam and Pedro Ximinez fortified wine. It was extremely sweet and sticky, completely flat, with a funky, leathery, pipe tobacco stink. A curiosity, then, rather than something to session on.

This is just a bit of their an excellent and extended piece about their merry trip, there just a few kilometres across the waters from Putin’s own nuclear navy yards at Kaliningrad. I taught English along those same Baltic shores of Poland in 1991-92 so it’s interesting to read what’s new and what’s the same:

The city itself is a war memorial. At the end of World War II it was 90% destroyed, an apocalyptic rubblescape. The new Soviet-controlled authorities debated what to do and, at one point, someone suggested leaving the city centre as a vast ruin, to remind the Germans of what they’d done… Gdańsk was rebuilt not as it was in 1939, but instead to recall the days before 1793 when it was part of the Kingdom of Poland.

Yup. I remember being in a large church in Gdansk where a tank battle had happened in 1945… within the church.* I mentioned in the comments that that I recalled there being no pubby pubs back then either – except a rougher sort of stand up tavern for men just off work that the guide I bought suggested “are best avoided.” I mainly drank my Gdanskie at home.

David Jesudason published another pub profile last Friday and discussed a feature installed in the 1950s, a snob screen:

“They could have privacy not just from the other side of the pub,” says Ralph, “but from the bar staff as well. You open it to order your drink.” The pub had a revamp in 1956 when Young’s took it over, previously it was a cider house, and Ralph reckons the snob screens are from them and still have the original 70-plus-year glass.  Ralph finds it amusing that as a gay person he’s living and working among all this archaic segregationana.

I like that word. Perhaps we might also suggest “segregitus” Or is it “segregitis“? Or did the “segregitus” leave us with a case of “segregitis“? Such questions I have.

You know what is weird? Finding out that Canada exports the fifth most bulk wine of all the nations of the world. More than much larger producing countries like France or South Africa. And what’s weirder? Canada also exports by far the cheapest bulk wine of any nation in the world, at just 29 cents US a litre. What’s that about? What is bulk?** Where is all the dirt cheap wine being consumed?

You know what is also weird?  Chaos packaging. Like putting gravy in beer cans or, perhaps, as the ultimate end game for a certain sort of craft, the next step after NA hop water perhaps:

…the decision to market the cans of air came from marketing specialist Davide Abagnale, who initially saw an opportunity when he started with selling Lake Como posters online. Explaining more about the initiative to can the air from the area, a spokesperson for the business told CNN, that Abagnale wanted to offer “something original, fun and even provocative” as well as “create a souvenir that could be easily transported in a suitcase for tourists”. Abagnale explained how the cans, which rather than contain any liquid, subvert the norm and give people something closer to a “memory” rather than a “product”.

So, not so much about the experience but the illusion of experience. I’d gladly pay with a photograph of some money.

Have you ever wondered what something extreeeemely tannic tastes like but don’t want to taste it?  Wonder no more as, for free, Barry himself guides you through the physical convulsions that are part of the experience.

And Stan thanked me for a link to a story that I think is actually far more interesting that its initial interestingness might suggest. The initially interesting point is how pervasive alcohol is in nature and how common it is for animals, bird and bugs to consume it. I’m not surprised. In high school, we watched out the front window each autumn as tipsy starlings drunk on over ripe rowen berries flipped 360° loop-de-loops on the telephone wire – or just flopped to the ground unable to fly until they sobered up.  Interesting.  But check your mailboxes for your own copy of the latest edition of Trends in Ecology & Evolution wherein we can read the original study which also states:

…the ancestor of humans, chimpanzees, and gorillas possessed a single amino acid change (from alanine to valine at site 294, denoted ‘A294V’) that dramatically increased its catalytic efficiency for ethanol. This arose approximately 10 Mya, following the Mid-Miocene Climatic Transition when African forests were gradually replaced by savannah. Around this time, our ancestors adopted a more terrestrial lifestyle and were possibly more likely to encounter fermented fruits on the ground…

That means the question may not be when humans first had alcohol. It may be about when they first learned to make it or store it or otherwise control it enough to have it year round and not just when the fruit was juiced laying about their feet. When did it start? One Million Years BC?

Perhaps relatedly, one of the things that makes The Beer Nut the world’s top reviewer of beer (other than his incessant reviewings of beer) is his egalitarian approach to all venues and all beers, high and low. This is especially evident in his periodic coverage of Wetherspoon beer festivals – which I take to be a sort of in-pub promotion across the chain rather than a fest in the GBBF sense. He treats this event with both respect and reality as he dropped in at a number of outlets recently. I share the alpha and the omega of his most recent thoughts on the topic:

The JD Wetherspoon Autumn Beer Festival arrived in mid-October. I managed to spend some time at it, both in the central Dublin pubs, and abroad… Unsurprisingly, stout and porter were the standouts. The cask format shines brightest in the dark. Plodding through all the cheap, samey bitters to find them is worthwhile to find the good stuff.

And speaking of which, Pellicle‘s article this week is by Gabe Toth, a profile of the cask specialists at Hogshead Brewery in Denver, Colorado including this bold admission:

“Cask beer, at least in America, has that reputation of being an older person’s beer, like your grandfather’s beer, versus the hip young thing, seltzer or whatever. Beer in general is suffering a little bit of that—I feel like younger people in general are turning more toward other beverages and losing interest in craft beer.”

Jordan did some thinking about loss of interest, too, this week as he assessed the Ontario good beer scene and declared the beginning of a new era – based on the new retail modalities and associated realities:

Does the world really need Carling Light when Keystone Light exists? Does Old Vienna mean anything to people outside Chatham-Kent and Windsor? Does Labatt regret sending one REALLY EFFECTIVE sales rep to Thunder Bay in the 1990’s to sell Crystal? Whoever that was, they’re legend.  You’re going to get consolidation of products. You’re going to get less choice, at least initially. The convenience and grocery and big box retail situation has less patience for variety and more desire for expedience than The Beer Store did. The new paradigm is about choice, but it’s largely about choosing how much you’re going to pay for a single product.

Finally, before the regular list of more alt-news about alts and other beers, I would note the suspension of operations at The Share from Stephanie Grant. Looking forward to an energized return. Also, congratulations to those shortlisted with the BGBW Awards.

Otherwise, a shorter post this week. Such the way of this point in time. Other things on the mind. Still, with all that has happened and will happen… for more beery news check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan going strong again each and every Monday. Then listen to Lew’s podcast (maybe he’ll do one again) and get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on the (now hardly at all) odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too.  Ben’s Beer and Badword is out there with the sweary Mary! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog. Any more? Check out the Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good and they are revving up for a new year. And the BOAS podcast for the bro-ly. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  Plus We Are Beer People. The Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. But not Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has podcasts and there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube.  The Moon Under Water is gone which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s one cost a fifth of that but only had the one post.

**From this 2017 report on the British Columbian wine industry: “Nationally, it is important to note that Canadian exports totalled 72.9 million litres in 2015. Of this, only 1.8 million litres was premium wine (non-bulk), representing $32.8 million of the total $73.9 million of all Canadian wine exports. It is impressive that premium wine accounted for only 2.5 percent of wine exports, but represented 44 percent of the total value of all wine exports…” More here.
*Our beach side resort city, Kołobrzeg, on the other side of Kaszubia, was also destroyed and rebuilt as it was where the Nazis attempted a Dunkirk as the Soviets encircled them. They stuck around and the sounds of maching gun firing range welcomed one of my first late summer balcony beers when I got there.

The Beery News Notes For That Empty Feeling Between Thanksgiving and Halloween

Let’s be clear. By “empty feeling” I mean not bloated from either last weekend‘s turkey dinners and pumpkin pie or those mini Crispie Crunch bars yet to come. October is a bit of feed fest around these parts. It’s the cold turn, I suppose. Took me a while after we moved to this border city to gather from upstate NY media that in the United States their holiday season lasts from their Thanksgiving in late November through to New Year’s Day. Not us. We have two separate sessions. October is the time of harvest for us, first the family one… then the freaky one. Holiday season is still a couple of months off. It’s still autumn.

Last Sunday, on a walk I saw a Golden-crowned Kinglet hover. I had no idea that these tiny olive coloured birds hovered, pausing just for a moment before perching as it flit here and there through the autumn afternood. Staring up through the turning leaves, it was a enchanting few minutes until a red tail hawk came silently coasting through the stand of trees, scattering and silencing everything in view.  I am not sure that deeply fascination with the sheer wonderfulness of existence was similarly felt by Stan last week when he visited the GABF:

Not many hours later, Daria and I were at the Great American Beer Festival. We walked by the wrestling, but did not stop. We never saw the bull riding. If you were looking for a specific brewery, the layout was at times confusing. But I liked that the “Fright” area was dimly (very dimly) lit, that the National Black Brewers Association area was much more prominently placed than last year, and the proximity of “Meet the Brewer” to Homebrew Headquarters. So I thought, maybe they should rebrand the event as the Great American Beer Experience. 

Oh, that Stan and his dry sense of humo(u)r.  There has been one thing that benefitted from being called a capital “E” experience and that ended fifty-five years ago. Reviews? Jacob Berg pointed out there were 326 medals awarded and “…four states (California, Colorado, Oregon, Washington) won 176 of them, which is probably bad for the beer industry overall.” Probably. Jon A noticed the “beers were brewed by the brewers who were fired by @tilray this year.” They restrict cameras, halt beer service early and there were plenty of tickets left unsold. Some were not impressed but Andy Crouch wrote:

The 2024 iteration of the @GABF is a disorienting, immersive experience where beer is not the central draw but a companion. The layout is a baffling maze, with each turn offering something new or odd, including pitch darkness. Saw lots of smiling and engaged attendees.

There’s that word again. Is BrewDog still an experience? I think they were going for “experience” for a while there. Maybe not so much now. BrewDog’s big botched batch has made news:

Scottish beer powerhouse Brewdog has had to ditch an eye-watering amount of beer, reportedly worth millions of pounds, due to contamination issues. At their renowned brewing facility in Ellon, Aberdeenshire, batches of their celebrated Punk IPA were deemed unsellable following a “major quality incident” that plagued the production line. Chris Fielden, Brewdogs Chief Supply Chain Officer, expressed his exasperation over the mishap involving “sour beer” in a scathing email blasted across the company, indicating that the significant waste came after employees consistently failed to meet standard cleanliness requirements.

Matthew C himself noted: “Find it funny that everyone is having a good lol about the Br*wdog infected beer. Me? I’m having a good lol that they still haven’t filed their accounts, which are now four months overdue.” All very weird. These are strange times. Update: “…pre-tax losses soared to £59m, up from £25m in 2022…” Yikes.

Yet there are still innovations. Like thinopyrum intermedium. Or as it is somehow trademarked in the US, Kernza. It’s another sustainable grain, like Fonio, that is starting to work its way into the brewing lexiscon. Nebraska Public Media has the story:

The Kernza kernel is much smaller than a barley or wheat kernel, he added, kind of elongated and skinny. Almost flat.” Those differences did pose a few challenges. Thompson explained the Kernza slipped right through his mill when he tried to crush the kernels to expose the starch that’s necessary for brewing. In the end, Thompson adjusted to a different brewing technique that used a mix of milled and unmilled Kernza and the experiment worked. That was good news for Thomson but also for Kernza advocates who want the grain to succeed and see in its small seeds potentially huge changes to modern agriculture.

At the other end in the life a beer, the tap end perhaps, is the story told over at London Beer City where Will Hawkes shared the prior qualifications of Mr. Pat Ahern, publican of the Downham Tavern in the 1970s:

Pat and Sheila, an East London girl, came to the Tavern having run the New Gog, a pub in the Royal Docks north of the River. Pat, a barman at the pub, took over when the previous licensee committed suicide. One incident in 1963, when a young man, George Head, was “called out” onto the street and shot in an apparent gangland hit, illustrates what sort of place it was. Pat put a tourniquet on the wounded man’s legs and drove him to hospital. “That was a really rough house,” says Sue. Pat, who came to Britain at the age of 19, hadn’t wanted to work in a pub – the long hours weren’t conducive to family life – so he took a job at Ford’s huge Dagenham plant. A serious injury in which he fell down a pit and fractured his skull left him incapacitated for nine months, though, and the family was soon in desperate need of cash.

Staying in that era, Ron reminds us that these weren’t the only strange times. In his series of beer in the UK of the 1970s, he has been working through his records of the breweries now long gone and shared this:

One of the largest independent brewers, Greenall Whitley wasn’t that far behind Scottish & Newcastle in terms of tied houses. Lancashire, Cheshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Derbyshire, Herefordshire and North Wales were lucky enough to be home to their tied pubs. I never cared for their beers, even though they were often available in cask form. It was also annoying the good brewers the bastards took over and closed. The Warrington brewery closed when Greenalls decided to get out of brewing and become a pub chain. Not a brewery I miss.

Note: speaking of autumn,* the Beer Ladies Podcast is back for another session with their “what I did on summer vacation” edition. Don’t miss it. definitely better than Greenalls.

The Morning Advertiser succinctly reports on the effectiveness of the UK’s 2023 Alcohol Duty Review which saw taxes lowered for lower strength beers:

Alcohol Duty Review has seen 100m alcohol units removed from the market and a “boom” in new lower-strength products, the British Beer & Pub Association (BBPA) has said… The BBPA also revealed 1.3 – 3.4% strength drinks have leapt from less than 1% of beer sales in 2022 to now more than 7%, while the no and low alcohol beer category has also seen rapid growth, accelerating to 2% of the overall market in 2024. Moreover, some 90% of pubs now serve at least one no and low alcohol beer…

I like that 100m units stat. You rarely find absolute numbers in these matters, just change percentage. Speaking of change, you can still have fun drinking beer in Prague but not that sort of fun… not that not no more:

Prague council deputy mayor Zdenek Hrib confirmed that from hereon in “it will not be possible to have guided tours between 10pm and 6am”. According to reports via the national press, the city’s councillors have banned night-time pub crawls organised by travel agencies because the city would prefer to target “more cultured” tourists rather than British stag parties. Speaking about the decision to reporters on Monday, another deputy mayor for Prague city hall Jiri Pospisil revealed that the council was “seeking a more cultured, wealthier tourist” and “not one who comes for a short time only to get drunk”.

Cultured. So is it wine time? Is that what it means? Sure. First up, Pellicle published a piece by Anaïs Lecoq that unpacks the relationship between the wines of Champagne and the local working families who get the wine to the shelf:

…a more familiar, popular and approachable way of drinking champagne does exist, and advertisers have yet to realise it. If they truly want to convey something other than luxury, they could start by getting rid of that fancy crystal flute, and replace it with a blida. “Blida is the epitome of working class champagne,” Maxime tells me, and I couldn’t agree more. Originally made in Reims, this small, 70ml glass was sent to the town of Blida, Algeria, for serving mint tea. After Algeria’s war for independence in 1962, the market collapsed and manufacturers found another use for the glass—champagne.

I like that. Ditch the snobbery. Next up, Simon J Woolf of The Morning Claret wrote about Chateau Musar of Lebanon:

Musar remains a great demonstration of how to scale up production without compromising ethics and quality, while managing to stay fairly priced – especially in the UK, where it hovers around the mid-£30s on release. For a wine released on its seventh birthday, that’s value. It has mercifully not been ruined by speculation and cultism. We should be forever thankful that Parker only gave the 1995 82 points.

Musar is a maker I leap to which I have send my money when I have the rare occassion to find a bottle over here. Ever since Tom Cannavan helped me direct my folk to a bottle from the 1990s located in Edinburgh where they were visiting the fam. Quebec’s SAQ had their red Musar Jeune a year ago. Christmas dinners have often had a Musar on the table where I live. Again, less of the snobbery even with the nerditry.

Enough of that. Back to beer for our final thoughts. Joe Stange has writting himself a long piece on American IPA, long enough that you get the sense that it’s properly done. You know, not like the other stuff on a subject like this. Just look:

“I still think that’s a necessary thing in these beers,” says Alexandra Nowell, former head brewer at Three Weavers in Los Angeles, now working toward setting up a new brewery, Mellotone Beer Project, in Cincinnati. “But we’re talking really light—C-15, light-grade crystal that can still provide a little bit more complexity to the beer itself. … I think the concept of American IPA has drifted into a more modern place.” Caramel malt has become uncool among IPA brewers today. Many avoid it altogether, while others have reduced, lightened, and fine-tuned it—essentially, they’ve learned how to use it with finesse.

And only one “passion” in the whole piece. And it’s ahead of “-ate” and in a quote. So that’s good.

That’s it. A short one this week. For more beery news check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan now again every Monday. Then listen to Lew’s podcast and get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on the odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is thereback with the sweary Mary! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog. Any more? Check out the Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the BOAS podcast for the bro-ly. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  Plus We Are Beer People. The Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. But not Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has podcasts and there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube.  The Moon Under Water is gone which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s one cost a fifth of that but only had the one post.

*We’re still speaking of autumn, right? I’m only covering the tomatoes just in case. Still weeks of some sorta warm, right?

A Perhaps Much Abbreviated Thursday Beery News Notes For My Big Week Off

Off. It’s not like I’m off doing very much but, you know, I have actual chores to do, a couple of nights in Montreal… and other day trips to take… and summer’s slipping away so maybe there won’t be so much in this week’s beery news notes.  And I am going to have limited access to scribbling time during the middle of this week so let’s see what I can come up with… no one wants someone to get that sad and lonely feeling if there isn’t something to read as they slurp down their Froot Loops early this Thursday morning. Hmm. How to cover up my half arsed effort? Perhaps another slightly different format will suffice. Let’s have a Q+A session!

Question #1: Does anyone do social media as well as Lars does? It was on display in this week’s photo essay on a little historical brewing recreation he did last weekend at a museum:

Had to clean the inside of the rost (lauter tun, the wooden vessel), because it was mouldy. Hard to avoid with wooden gear… Foundation of the filter is alder sticks. For color, flavor, and to give the wort space to run underneath the real filter, which comes on top…

My observations: I hates me a mouldy rost.

Question #2: do we care if we use the original language’s grammar and spelling when referring to beer related things? I am disinclined to worry about this all that much but that is not a universal thing. There’s a thread:

Not to nitpick the thriving transatlantic linguistic exchange through l/Lager, but for anyone not writing bilingual #WhatsBrewing blurbs, what generally would be pro-copy guidelines for US-ENG capitalisation in writing keller, kellerbier, but: Kellerwald?[…] My remark goes beyond the basics of why other natural languages should/can drop German capitalisation when importing, trying to get at the desired branding (“auratic”) effects of opting back in when it creates perceived authenticity, say for Scandinavian or Czech diacritics.

My thought: be consistent but be prepared for people to think you are weird when you talk about Poland’s capital amongst English-speakers.

Question #3: why should I care about NA beer? NA beer to me is expensive fancy soda pop that is made in an unnecessarilily convoluted manner. I thought of that on Monday when Stan reported from the World Brewing Congress:

Today there will be three presentations related to making sure non-alcoholic beers are safe to drink. This is important and was already on my radar when I read “How Mash Gang is Breaking the Alcohol Free Mould.” That is not to imply that Mash Gang beers are not safe, or that the story should address what the company is doing to assure the beers are free of pathogens. It simply reflects my current fascination with what brewers might do to make non-alcoholic beer better without the many useful functions ethanol performs. One of those is making beer safer to drink.

My concerns: in addition to a swath of cheaper established competition, the idea that NA beer has not solved the sanitation issue is decidedly off-putting. And this may well explain in part last week’s omission. Plus it was a very bobby B.O.B.

Question #4: do you miss RSBS as much as I still do, all these years later?  Answer: well, we may have a form of this care of Boak and Bailey tinkering around at BlueSky. They have set up a list that allows you to follow all added on that list to effectively create a aggregator displaying those who sign up for those who follow. Have a look.

Question #5: do any of you not draw lines in the sand? I am 100% on board with Laura Hadland this week in The Drinks Business:

I have a personal blacklist of the companies I will not deal with because of their past actions. I don’t write about them, I don’t spend my money on them, I don’t visit them. This quiet boycott is a private affair. If I don’t agree with someone’s ethics, I don’t fan their flames. There are so many fantastic businesses out there that I do want to shout about, it’s rarely an issue. Last week, however, I was approached by a PR company offering me a spot on a very interesting project. I was feeling pretty excited as I scanned through the details. Until I spotted one of the toxic names from my blacklist. Deflated, I immediately replied to the email letting them know that I could not participate. I told them why too. That was that. It felt quite good for a minute.

My total concurrence: I won’t ruin the punchline but, again, go have a look.

Question #6: so if the CBHOF is using the Baseball Hall of Fame nomination process, will the “good character” rule also apply? That states:

Voting shall be based upon the player’s record, playing ability, integrity, sportsmanship, character, and contributions to the team(s) on which the player played.

So, given the recent years’ allegations of sexism, racism and a bunch of other serious -isms in craft beer… how will that be taken into account? See, working as I do in governance, I can assure you that there is always a set of process rules that run along side the substance rules in these things. You can have the greatest process in the world but they only affirm the substantive standards which have to be set out before any nominations are considered. Do we know what they are?

Question #7: does my national, regional and local construct for North American craft hold water? Jeff asked for more:

I think we should talk about local and regional, since you hinted at it and Stan picked it up but didn’t elaborate. I am hesitant to respond without understanding your fuller take.

My point: all those nice cans from the like of Sierra Nevada and Sam Adams fill grocery store and gas station shelf space where other distributed beers used to be found.  As I said, “basically I see that one of the tensions is framed by the economics of investment required for scale. Locals have done well. Turns out there was space for a few big grocery store national craft breweries but at the expense of those intercity / interstateers.” See, I think that the mob of ankle nipping locals can defend themselves from big craft in each market but regionals have found themselves, for a few years now, neither here nor there.

Question #8: Maybe related, is there any passing of a micro era brewery more shocking than the closing of Cambridge Brewing C0mpany which will serve its last beer on December 20th? The notice was on Instagram:

We were the first commercial brewery to produce a Belgian Style beer in this country and one of the first to embrace multiple yeast strains in-house and even to intentionally invite wild organisms into our brewery…. A heartfelt thank you to all who have participated in our dream. To our customers that have joined us time and again over the years, your support and friendship enabled our success. To all that are working or have worked here, you guys are what made this place so great. What an honor and a joy it has been to work alongside you! So please join us often over the next 4 months! We still have Patio Season, Festbier, Fall Menu and more coming. 35 years, one hell of a run. 

My thoughts: Perhaps it’s an east coast thing but I heard about CBC long before I had ever visited. Along with Shipyard and Gearys in Maine, it was a name I heard when I was a young beer fan in Nova Scotia, a name spoken with reverence by those coming back from the Boston states.  Then in 2013, we found ourselves right there and witnessed the making of pumpkin ale with the actual pumpkin harvest and made a bit of a photo montage over at FB.  Get over to CBC while you still can.

Question #9: What the heck is “hop preparedness” anyway?

Question #10: Has Ron out-Ronned himself with this dialogue? It’s a two-part play between father and son as they recall visiting Dad’s old home town:

“Marks and Woollies next door to each other and Boots over the road. Used to be typical of a UK high street.”
“But now they’re all gone. I’ve heard this story before.”
“They aren’t, though. Boots is still there and Marks has moved to by the old Warwicks brewery.”
“Loads of pub pictures coming up, I suppose.”
“There sure are, son. There sure are.”
“Don’t talk like John Wayne, Dad.”

My response to these things is always that Ron missed his calling as an author, getting sidetracked into a pub as he was at age twelve. Fabulous bit of writing.

Question #11: did you have any beer in Montreal? Yes, on Tuesday a cask brown ale at a funky fermented veg place called Poincaré and also a Mexican style lager at La Capital Tacos. Both were local beers but to be honest the food outshone them. Fish terrine at the first place before crossing St. Laurent to the other for Pastor tacos. We walk, we eat. We eat, we walk.

Last question, #12: why did it rain all Wednesday? We still saw the penguins and marched around town but I feel like moss is growing behind my ears. My nooks and crannies felt a certain alliance with the wild managed orchards of Cidrerie du Golfe in Brittany as featured in Pellicle this week which contained this excellent facts:

Their emphasis on nature is a way for them to preserve cider’s heritage, they say, strongly attached to rurality and peasantry. A tradition partially lost since the World Wars, when cider was relegated to second place in the region. “Soldiers were given red wine in the trenches while cider was distilled to be used in weaponry, it changed people’s habits,” Virginie says. “Before WWI, people in Rennes were drinking up to 400 litres per year!”

Used in weaponry! Heavens. Well, that’s it. Enough of this inquisition! I wrote half of this on an iPhone. So it is what it is and we all will simply have to live with that. Here are the credits, the stats the recommends and the footnotes and the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections.* Want to keep up with the news before next Thursday? Check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan back each Monday… with a top drawer effort this week. Elsewhere go look at then listen to Lew’s podcast. And get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by this year’s model citizen David Jesudason on the odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now revitalised and wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back with all the sweary Mary he can think of! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog in this weeks best medium as message news. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the BOAS podcast for the bro-ly. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  Plus We Are Beer People. The Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. But not Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a few podcasts… but some may be losing steam… until… Lew’s interview! And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube.  The Moon Under Water… is gone which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that but is writing for 47 readers over there. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link! Errr… nope, it is gone again.

*This week’s update on my own emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (+13=146) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (929) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (-2=4,464) hovering somewhere well above my largely ignored Instagram (160), crap Threads (52) with Substack Notes (1) really dragging up the rear.

The Flip Flops Flappin’ Cold Beer Cracking Summ-Summ-Summertimin’ Beery News Notes


Jumping right into it, last Friday’s cartoon strip, a snippet of which site above, in Pellicle by Dave Bailey mocking craft brewery culture was something of a milestone, a bookending of sorts finally… finally confirming those inside the bubble understand what the greater world knew in 2014 when that New Yorker cover of the hipster craft beer bar was published.* The details of all the embarassing characteristics that Bailey notes as he roasts craft culture were not so publicly discussed back in 2014- even if they were obviously known to those present and paying any attention. We are told that the past is a foreign country: they do things differently there but we perhaps forget how, even over one short decade, how quickly those differences may develop.

Fortunately, Boak and Bailey** have saved you all the need to look back to through this blog’s archives just there to the right to trace all the changes which arouse at least in the UK during those intervening times. They’ve provided us with a real gem of an update on their book Brew Britannia also, conveniently,  published in 2014. It’s a beast of a bit but I am not going to ruin it for you so much as, I hope, give you reason to go dive into the full +10,000 word essay:

This long post is an attempt to fill in some of the gaps and hold ourselves to account: what did we get right, what did we get wrong, and what took us totally by surprise? More importantly, it’s about gaining some perspective. It’s easy to mistake the fact that we personally have become older and more jaded to mean that there has been a decline in the quality and vibrancy of the beer scene. Maybe there has, maybe there hasn’t – but there must be some objective facts we can use to test our gut feelings. We know other people have different perspectives, though, so we’ve also asked as many people as possible for their thoughts.

To answer all those questions, B+B applied their list of eleven indicators from 2013 of whether a community has a healthy beer culture and drew some thoughtful conclusions. Go have a look.

Speaking of lists, Jeff wrote one this week that got me thinking, too. It was a list of his top ten beer drinking experiences. I would re-arrange their order, kick a few out and add some others but the exercise is quite interesting. Consider his #10 “In the first half of a sporting event in which you are not deeply invested”:

Sporting events are festive affairs, and drinking a beer early in a game helps elevate the sense of occasion. It builds a mood of camaraderie, binding the watchers in the clink of glass. The beer itself tastes of promise—of the next couple hours, of a win, of greasy food and more beer. By the second half of any sporting event (later innings in baseball, third period in hockey, etc), the drinking event has become a sporting event and attention turns fixedly to the game. Ah, but those first minutes…

See, I see that differently – not as a linear experience but one that turns on the flow of each game. Reminded me of a 1987 Canada Cup pre-tourney hockey game between Canada and the US that I watched with pals. We ended up (like UTTER MORONS) sitting in the bar during the third period drinking beer with our backs turned to the ice because Canada was up something like double digits to diddle over the Americans. Why were we morons? Because Gretsky and Lemieux were on the ice at the same time. And between 27% to 73% of all the other hockey players who I’d ever worshiped were also right there playing. But, you know, there was beer over there on the concourse… soooooo…

Martin marked the fifth anniversary of the passing of his friend Richard Coldwell with a bit of a public service – a report on the gumwashery of Thornbridge‘s brewing of Jaipur on their new old fashioned Burton Unions saved from wreckers… or perhaps the storage locker… earlier this year:

Richard wasn’t a great fan of Burton’s beers, but would have had intelligent things to say about the Thornbridge “saving” of the Burton Unions this year. You’ll know I couldn’t care less about history or the brewing process, and argue the quality of the publican is by far the biggest determinant of the quality of the beer in your glass (see : the improvement of Bass in the hands of a smaller number of committed landlords). On Saturday, back in Sheff from Italy, I thought I’d better taste the new Jaipur at my nearest Thornbridge pub…

He approved. As did John aka TBN himself when he first encountered his first fonio:

Have you heard of fonio? If you haven’t yet, you will, at least according to Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver who has become an advocate for this climate-resistant African grain. Its most important attribute is that you can make beer from it, which will be terribly useful once the Earth decides it can’t do barley any more. Garrett had come to St James’s Gate to make a fonio-based collaboration beer, although that won’t be out until much later this year. He also brought over some beers of his own to share.

He liked it too. You know, I am not sure whether “quite a shock; incredibly soft and chewy” or “if it’s saving the planet, then all the better” is higher praise. Clearly both worth seeking out.

Ron has been looking for a new local and last Saturday found himself with his gang checking out a really good looking stop in Amsterdam called Soundgarden – offering us a pretty good photo essay:

Soundgarden is slightly unusual as it backs directly onto a canal. Which gives it a nice view. And also means that customers can arrive by boat. Which is exactly what happened not long after we got there. How cool is that? Unlike the garden itself. Which was pretty warm. Too warm for my liking. And with almost no shade. That’s a mark against the pub. The inside was totally empty. Which meant I could take lots of nice photos without people getting in the way. I won’t bother trying to describe how it looks. I’ll let the photos do the talking.

Similarly – except a whole country away – Franz Hofer posted a study of a beer garden in Munich with this startling geolocating sentence:

Once the location of the smallest royal blacksmith, the Swiss-style hut at the edge of the estate allegedly served as Ludwig and Lola’s love den.

Now, let’s set all that traipsing wandering about the taverns and such aside. We live in a real world and many in the UK today will be needing one or celebrrating with one as it is election day. One poll by More in Common in particular caught my eye when it hit the sosh-meeds.  It detailed voting intentions according to a fabulous sixteen different favourite clinky-drinkies. So we learn that cider drinkers prefer Labour by an advantage of only half that of IPA fans. Almost twice as many SNP voters prefer shandy to whisky. But Sherry drinkers?  Totes Tory. They’ll be sucking back the sticky raisiny toffee gak tonight!

Speaking of the unhappy, The Times had an extended investigation into the new eco-lairds of Scotland including, as noted hereabouts last April, one Mr. Watts semi-formerly of BrewDog and his failed forestry project:

At Kinrara, Dave Morris, 77, of the Parkswatch Scotland blog, points to the dead sticks which should have grown into great Scots pines. “We should not be planting in the uplands,” he said. “There is inevitable disturbance of the soils which brings peaty ground to the surface, leading to carbon loss for decades.” Morris is furious that BrewDog received nearly £700,000 of money for the project, arguing that the land should have been left to regenerate naturally. A few metres away from the dead and dying saplings, young trees are thriving, pushing their way through the heather. Without the chomping teeth of deer or sheep to tear them down, these trees are growing naturally. All it needed was a fence to keep the animals away.

I’ve mentioned from once in a while that I worked teaching English in Kołobrzeg, Poland back in 1991 but probably didn’t mention the time I watched a construction crew out the window of the classroom. Two things caught my eye. First, they used the trunks of pine trees, bark and all, as a form of embedded rebar as they poured the building’s concrete floors. “How long until that collapses?” I thought foreshadowing a future dabbling in construction law. Second, there was a regular flow of empty beer bottles crashing down upon the work site’s ground level many floors below as the crew kept themselves… hydrated all day long. “Lordy… Lordy…” thought I. I recalled this scene when I read the news about the neghbouring Czechs cutting back on their intake as reported by Jessica Mason:

The average number of beers drunk per capita in 2023 was 256 beers per head, which is equal to approximately 128 litres, reflecting similar figures to the lowest average consumption figures ​​during the pandemic restrictions and the lowest record number in 1963. Radio Prague International (RPI) also highlighted how in 2005, beer consumption reached a record high when Czechs consumed 163.5 litres, or 327 beers per head. Consumption per person was 153 litres in 2009 holding at 140 litres for nearly a decade before falling to 129 litres in 2021… In 2021, the Czech Statistics Office estimated that beer consumption that year was the lowest since 1989 when it had been at around 151 litres per person and even jumped above 160 litres momentarily in the 90s.

So… is that really all that bad a thing for Czechs? I have consulted Max‘s dispatches for clues.

Pellicle‘s feature this week is a piece on a pub called The Swan with Two Necks by Katie, which contains some great detail of the life of a license holder living under pub chain owership thirty years ago:

One day in 1992, they received a letter welcoming them to the PubMaster group, their only notification that Whitbread had sold their pub. After a while of trying to acclimatise to their new owners, it seemed like they might need to move on again. “We just didn’t get on with PubMaster,” Steve says. “There was such a reduced selection of beer, restrictions on what we could and couldn’t buy, it was just an aggravation all the time. It just wasn’t what we set out to do.” PubMaster agreed to talk with them to see how they could help improve the situation. Before the talk was had, Christine and Steve received another letter. It read: ‘Welcome to Jennings’… “They came to me and said they had a tenancy agreement with Whitbread through PubMaster, and that they wanted me to change from partial to full-time leasehold with no compensation. And then PubMaster was bought by Cafe Inns, who were even worse.

Philadelphia magazine had an article this week on an unexpected subject, the city’s obsession with that most basic of drinks that turned out to be well suited for the most basic of bars. The drink? Twisted Tea:

The price point for Twisted Tea was lower than that for any beer they were selling, says Keenan’s owner and Grays Ferry native Scott Keenan, meaning he could sling Teas for two bucks and still turn a decent profit. Combine the price with the drink’s lack of carbonation — if you’re reading this and have somehow never been down the Shore in your early 20s, that translates into “dangerously drinkable” — and Twisted Tea was primed to explode. “It just ran like wildfire,” Keenan recalls. The numbers were eye-watering: Every week that summer, he’d sell between 350 and 500 cases of Twisted Tea. Reread that sentence, then do the math. Every week, one bar in North Wildwood was slinging between 8,400 and 12,000 bottles of Twisted Tea, outselling everything but Miller Lite.

Finally, some wise words from Jamie Goode on the subject of the role of a critic when it comes to wine which are worth thinking about in relation to good beer, too:

…what people come to a professional for is an honest opinion, built on solid tasting experience and good taste. They are looking for the model critic as described by David Hume: someone free of bias, with good sensitivity, and good aesthetic sense. Low involvement consumers are well served by the wines they are being sold. High involvement consumers – the people who are listening to the critics – are well served by critical opinion. That there might be a discrepancy is not a problem: this will always exist in any field, whether it is food, or fashion, or art, or movies. Popular taste often departs from critical opinion, but this doesn’t mean that the critics are out of touch or irrelevant. They are all part of a larger ecosystem and are doing their job. A food critic concentrating on fast food and large chains is entirely useless. So is a wine critic endorsing and second guessing the tastes of people with no real interest in wine who just want something cheap that doesn’t taste bad.

Does beer have those principles? Critical opinion writers? Or just… you know… We can think about the question for a while before we meet again next time. Send in your essays on that point by Tuesday at 5 pm. Marks deducted for late submissions.

And with that… now we roll the credits… well, the credits, the stats the recommends and the footnotes and the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections.*** Want to keep up with the news before next Thursday? Check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan back each Monday. Elsewhere go look at then listen to Lew’s podcast. And get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by this year’s model citizen David Jesudason on the odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now revitalised and wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back with all the sweary Mary he can think of! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog in this weeks best medium as message news. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the BOAS podcast for the bro-ly. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  Plus We Are Beer People. The Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. But not Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a few podcasts… but some may be losing steam. And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube.  The Moon Under Water… is gone which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that but is writing for 47 readers over there. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link! Errr… nope, it is gone again.

*Along with of course, the crowd pleasing cult classic The Unbearable Nonsense of Craft Beer – A Rant in Nine Acts of earlier that same year.
**Yes, yes – no relation.
***This week’s update on my own emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (132) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (929) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,484) hovering somewhere well above my largely ignored Instagram (160), crap Threads (52) with Substack Notes (1) really dragging up the rear. 

The Last And Perhaps Best Yet Perhaps Slightly Timid Beery News Notes For May 2024

Well, that went fast. May. See ya. June backons. That image up there? It’s from the Facebook group for the Brewery History Society, a grand display of policing the Epsom Darby on May 31, 1911. Each having Mann London Ale. They would need it as thunderstorms later that day killed 17 people and 4 horses. Hopefully more peaceful, this year’s race will be on again this Saturday. And the French Open, the UEFA Euros, the NBA Finals, the Stanley Cup and World Cup of Cricket will be all on the go in June, too. Brought to you by Stella Atrois, Bitburger, Michelob ULTRA, Molson and Bira91 respectively.

First up, I have to say I really liked this portrait by Boak and Bailey of Dorset’s Square & Compass, a pub that took them back through a forest, even back through time in terms of the layout and service, a pub where they found themselves looking at a menu with three food items and maybe twice that many drink offerings before they went outside to sit next to a slab of rock:

Looking out from the garden is as magical as looking up at it from the lane. We had a view of the hills sloping down to the sea, fading into haziness beneath a big white sky. At one point an ancient blue Landini tractor passed by, its upright driver puffing on a pipe, like something from a 1950s British Transport documentary. In the hedgerows, on the telephone wires, and on freestanding stones, birds gathered and chattered.… Then, unbelievably, they came to visit.

Fabulous. And check out Martin’s review of The Harlequin in Sheffield for another sort of fabulous in an urban setting.

Back into the now, the big news here in Ontario is the debate over the costs of the Province’s move to finally get beer, wine and all the coolers into corner stores. Let me say from the outset that while I don’t plan to vote Tory, I can’t imagine a download of services (either to the private sector or another level of government) that does not include a transfer of revenues associated with those services. That being said…

“It’s a billion-dollar booze boondoggle,” Liberal Leader Bonnie Crombie said Monday during a news conference at Queen’s Park. Crombie and the Liberals base their $1 billion figure on these additional costs: (i) $74 million per year to the large grocery chains by giving the 10 per cent wholesale discount, (ii) $375 million to the Beer Store by rebating the LCBO’s cost-of-service fees and (iii) 300 million in foregone revenue by not charging retailers a licensing fee. Those amounts would be on top of the LCBO’s lost revenue from selling less alcohol through its own stores and on top of the $225 million payment to The Beer Store. *

See, if the gross revenues of the LCBO (wholesale and retail) were $7.41 billion generating a whopping $2.58 billion in dividends to the Province, according to the most recent annual report, then shifting significant services, fees and expenses away from the LCBO to the new players probably should be expected to cost more than the 3% of gross revenue. But, if the annual report in 2026 says that the gross has dipped to $6.41 billion with the dividend dropping to $1.58 billion, well, then there should be some questions asked. The main problem is the concept that the greater number of outlets will cause an expansion of sales covering those costs. Ain’t happening. Booze is retracting. Even pre-pandemic, there was no change in sales caused by partial deregulation. And we’ve already seen the retraction of sales in those 450 grocery store which were first permitted to sell beer wine and cider in 2015. This is all a great leap sideways.

I missed Jordan‘s post last week on the pleasures and pitfalls of brewing a collaboration including this unexpected turn towards what can only be called pronounced zippiness:

A funny thing happened on the way to the brewery. Adrianna, who had very kindly put aside some Agnus for our 20 hL batch, got in touch one day to say that it had accidentally shipped with someone else’s order. She offered to throw in some Saaz for the trouble, and I asked if there was anything else Czech in the warehouse. This is how we ended up with Vital hops. Vital isn’t a brewing hop. It’s pharmaceutical grade. They were originally grown for their antioxidant properties (xanthohumol and DMX), although I didn’t know that when I leapt at the opportunity to use them. What I saw, looking at materials online, was that it contained everything including Farnesene and Linalool in pretty high proportion. Farnesene is usually Saaz exclusive (gingery, snappy, peppery). Linalool is the monoterpenoid associated with lavender, lilac, and rose. In fact, the description of it said lavender, spice, plum, licorice.

Oddly, “Linalool” has been my private nickname for Jordan for years! Not apparently encountering any Linalool whatsoever, Stephanie Grant has still been on the move and reported from Belgium where she visited some auspicious breweries and perhaps experienced that other sort of hangover that lambics can offer:

Our last day in Belgium, we continued the Tour de Gueze, this time joining the bigger group of participants on one of the many buses taking drinkers around the region. We visited De Troch, Mort Subite, Eylenbosch, and Timmermans. I’ll be honest, after gorging myself on lambics the day before, I wasn’t as thrilled to do it all again the next day. Instead, I spent most of the day seeking out bottles to bring home and share with friends once I returned home…

Ah yes: that good old “I am sure it hates me” feeling. Also out and about, Katie has reported from the ferry to the Isle of Man… in fact from the ferry’s busy bar:

The bar on board the Manxman is just as bizarre and pleasant as I remember it, and I’m sat with a Guinness at a little round cabaret table surrounded by TT hats, jackets, and fleeces and the people they belong to. Almost everyone on board is travelling for the races, and we’ve already run out of Norseman lager, the local lager brewed by Bushy’s on the island. By the time we get to Douglas I’m sure we’ll be out of crisps too.

What else is going on? You know, I wasn’t going to go on about the Hazy Eeepah thing that took too much time in May BUT (i) Stan shared a great summary of where we have gotten so far** and (ii) ATJ shared a recollection of IPA studies past by sharing the agenda of a British Guild of Beer Writers from 1994. Click on the image. Notice something? Apparently three PhD recipients. Plus Jackson, Oliver and Protz. No mention of fruit sauce. And no cartoon infographics or can wrapper designers. When people backdate the term “craft” beer to anything before around 2007 when it passed microbrewing in popular usage, I think this primary sort of document is a helpful reminder that the terms of reference were quite different. Not, by the way, “dudes grumbling about the good old days” so much as a discussion before the adulteration of both the beer itself and the overall concept of IPA. We need more of that again. Because it is possible to discuss things being worse that other things. Not that it seems many “in craft” would understand.

Similar in the sense of things not appears to be what they are or rather appearing to be exactly what that are even if that is not admitted – and for the double… wheew… ahem, Martin came upon a scene at a beer festival in Cambridge, England that (in amongst the photos of dilapidated properties and sodden grounds) has got to be the aggreation of all the reasons I share his dislike of beer fests including: (i) “the students and groups of mates who make up the core attendance“; (ii) “Nice weather for newts” and (iii) that disappointing beer that “has a touch of sharpness about it that I can’t explain.” Let me spoil his conclusion for you:

I didn’t see anyone I knew, and (unlike in pubs) it’s on your own hard to strike up conversations with random strangers who have largely come with mates. In and out in 24 minutes. Time for a pub.

Also missed: the Historic Brewing Conference planned for August has been cancelled.

Pete Brown shared some refreshing comments on the old trope that craft brewers need to tell their story in his industry insights newsletter this week:

Firstly, every single one of them insisted on telling him their foundation story – where the founders met, what inspired their “dream”, and the modest circumstances in which they began dragging it into reality. Secondly, when they finally got to the shiny parcel of vats, every single one beamed, “And here’s where the magic happens.” Now, on the surface, this is far more interesting – there’s an actual story there for a start. But on the other, I get the sense that when he visited these businesses, Thom was given this spiel whether he wanted it or not. Once again, the pitch wasn’t tailored towards its audience. 

Short take: if it’s everyone’s story it’s no one’s story.

Elsewhere, The New York Times had a great article on the unique story of Eritrean and Ethiopian diaspora home brewing – and home barley malting – in Texas:

The thick brown liquid had been fermenting in the jug for three days, which meant it was time for Fatean Gojela to get it ready to serve for Orthodox Easter. With her granddaughter, Ava, at her side, she poured it little by little through a thin mesh sack. “Patience, Mama,” she said to Ava, showing her how to squeeze out the liquid from a doughy mix of grains and herbs. Ms. Gojela, 65, learned to make suwe, as the beerlike drink is called in the Tigrinya language, from her mother while growing up in Asmara, the capital of Eritrea. (Today, she lives in Fort Worth, where she works as a housekeeper for hospitals.) The beverage is primarily brewed for special occasions in Eritrea and Ethiopia, where Amharic-speakers call it tella.

In a far less celebratory frame of mind, Jessica Mason shared a depressing thought that really makes one wonder what all the efforts towards inclusion were really about:

If you’re wondering why fewer women think beer is for them, maybe just look at the comments I get on a daily basis when I share, write or question anything on the topic of beer. See how women are treated when they do take an interest in beer. It is no wonder we are where we are.

She shared that on Twex the day after having her piece on the suprisingly negative findings related to women and the UK beer market in the report “The Gender Pint Gap: Revisited” authored by Annabel Smith:

Speaking exclusively to the drinks business about the data, gathered by YouGov, report author and beer sommelier Annabel Smith said: “When we set out to conduct a further piece of research into women’s attitudes and behaviours towards beer in Great Britain, we were fairly optimistic that the dial would have moved in a positive direction since the first Gender Pint Gap”… Smith lamented that “there has been very little academic research done in this field, but we uncovered a wealth of anecdotal evidence perpetuating the ideology that beer is for men. And when this is in your face every single day, you start to believe it.”

Here is the full report by Smith.  There’s more at Beer Today too. Oddly, the Morning Advertiser chose to highlight the phrase “the dial doesn’t appear to have moved very much since” 2018 despite the report saying that the report indicates that female participation slipped from 17% to 14%. This is a 17.6% drop. Which is sorta huge given the efforts taken during the time to counteract disinterest in this group of consumers. But beer is bad at math, isn’t it. (Like when we read that a large facility closure is a sign of industry maturity. Subtraction. It’s tough to explain. Who knew?) Conversely, Rachel Auty also added her thoughts which were more comprehensive, including these comments related to beer advertising the in UK:

I believe we also need to address the connection between beer and sport, and move away from sport being treated like it’s something that only men like to do. The rise of the Lionesses – as one high-profile example – has given beer an opportunity to unlock a whole new type of customer, and it’s only going to continue in the same direction. Why would any brewery or venue turn that opportunity away? Ultimately, if more women work in breweries, bars and other beer industry roles, the advertising will shift. The problem is at the core – truly – and we have to get women into roles where they have leadership responsibilities and the autonomy to make key decisions and become role models that create and inspire positive change. This is still not happening anywhere near enough to shift the needle.

Preach. Why isn’t that as easy for everyone to see as seeing a mud filled beer fest in Cambridge and, you know, leaving?

And, just before deadline, we note the long form writing of Claire Bullen in BelgianSmack on Frank Boon and his beers:

From the park, the Zenne flows around the village, under bridges, and approaches Brouwerij Boon, where it meets the gaze of Frank Boon. He has paused for a moment on a small concrete bridge to regard it, to watch as ducks and moorhens paddle against the current. In its progression, the river bisects the brewery, one bank home to the brewhouse, coolship room, visitor centre, taproom, woodshop for foeder repairs, and an enormous warehouse of foeders and barrels; the other a rented warehouse space where additional foeders are stored.

The piece is Augustan***, displaying the arguably Tory nature of this part of brewing – a perfected stasis point where craft and nature sit in ordered balance. And, once achieve, will remain so. I was immediately taken back to my university class forty years ago where we studied the Olivers Goldsmith, the Irish one of the middle 1770s as well as his less successful great-nephew of early 1800s Nova Scotia and their two villages. Or that Boak and Bailey pub way up there, come to think of it.

Finally, Mudgie shared the sad news of the passing of one of his long time readers, Janet Hood a Scottish solicitor who was a member of the licensing bar. Her colleague Stephen McGowan shared his thoughts:

…as a new solicitor I was a recipient of her enthusiasm, passion, and I know she gave great encouragement to new solicitors and those on the journey into the profession. That was Janet. I first met her at a licensing conference when she was the deputy clerk to the Aberdeenshire Licensing Board and she made an immediate impression. What a character! Although I confess I can’t remember her precise topic I do recall no one was left unsinged – everyone got it in the neck! Other clerks, agents, the Government. She really rattled some cages and forced the conference to face the difficult questions. But that was Janet.

An inspiring life. I am adding her email sign off to my own: “niti pro regula legis – fight for the rule of law.”

That’s a lot of good reading and good thinking for one week. Next – the credits, the stats, the recommends and the footnotes and the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections.**** Want to keep up with the news before next Thursday? Check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan back each Monday. Elsewhere go look at then listen to Lew’s podcast. And get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by this year’s model citizen David Jesudason on the odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now revitalised and wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back with all the sweary Mary he can think of! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog in this weeks best medium as message news. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the BOAS podcast for the bro-ly. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down.  Plus We Are Beer People. The Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. But not Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a few podcasts… but some may be losing steam. And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube.  The Moon Under Water… is gone which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that but is writing for 47 readers over there. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link! Errr… nope, it is gone again.

*Edited to get rid of the stupid bullet points that the CBC seems to inordinately love.
**Notice in particular his coy statement “I do not agree every word in the paragraph” when referring to something, frankly, extremely insightful that I wrote last week… which made me realize something – there was a typo in the text he  quoted  that I needed to fix. Now he must agreed with every word, right? That’s what you meant, Stan, right?
***Ripely ornamented: “Our steps clang madly as we walk into the empty coolship. Outside, the wind makes the yellow wildflowers dance, a feast for pollinators. The river reveals nothing.”
****This week’s update on my own emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (128) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (913) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,478) hovering somewhere high above or around my largely ignored Instagram (163), with sorta unexpectly crap Threads (43) and not at all unexpectedly bad Substack Notes (1) really dragging up the rear – and that deservedly dormant Patreon presence of mine just sitting there.