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Surely Your Bestest Christmas Present Ever… These Cheery Beery News Notes

So, here we are. We have slipped into Yule itself, the semi-conscious days of the competing forces of the sugar highs, the alcohol buzz and the tryptophan doze. And napping. I recommend you start with the 3 pm nap. That nap rewards you for putting in 3/4s of a day’s effort and sets you up for pre-dinner cocktails. One of the classic naps. Very relaxing. Sorta like the mood in this week’s front page above the fold photo right there. That picture, by the way, is the Yuletide beery photo contest winner for 2010, perhaps the apex of the madness of submissions every December back then. It was submitted by Brian Stechschulte of San Francisco and was declared Grand Champion. It was called that for no other reason than there were also twelve other separate prize packs awarded that year. Crazy.

First up? What’s that you say: “what’s the news on Japaneses two-row barley breeding?” Well… funny you should ask:

“This study detected key traces of Japanese barley improvement inscribed in the genomes of two high-quality modern cultivars. Japanese beer barley breeding began around 150 years ago by introducing Western high-quality beer barley. The hot and humid Japanese climate and soil-transmitting virus diseases hampered the development of beer barley suited for Japan. Western beer barley cultivars inevitably required crossed with virus-disease-resistant East Asian barley, despite the latter having undesirable brewing quality characteristics. Balancing virus disease resistance and malting quality was extremely difficult.”

Interesting. I also struggle to balance resistance and quality… as you know. Also interesting is how this time last week, I told you about a piece in The Times of London on how to survive and even enjoy the UK version of the Christmas office party. This week in The New York Times (no relation) there was something of a companion piece but one with a very different outlook:

DoorDash, which cut about 1,250 employees at the end of last year, is hosting happy hours in regional offices — many of them starting early, like 4:30 p.m. in San Francisco — as well as “WeDash” meet-ups where employees can compete for prizes like a Vespa scooter. CNBC did a low-key morning celebration in New Jersey, with mimosas, as well as an afternoon party, accommodating employees who work different shifts. TIAA, the investment firm, did on-site holiday celebrations from 4 to 7 p.m. called “Gratitude Gatherings… “When you’re doing an event to inspire people, motivate them and reward them, do it on terms they’d appreciate. Even me personally, I want to get home earlier…”

ZZZzzzz… the article even used the word “wholesome” in a positive sense! Wholesome!!! I hope any Brits reading this are having a good belly laugh. There, the verdict is in: UK pub sales up over 7% compared to Yule2022 – and no doubt up 92,919,845% compared to some sort of wholesome late afternoon gatherings. Conversely, you can check in with Ron who has been sending dispatches from a proper holiday with Dolores in Britain, with three posts with three pictures of three breakfasts and a trip to the Museum on their last day there featuring this fabulous exchange:

Bags packed and dumped, we head to the British Museum. We spend an hour or two there each trip. Concentrating on one section. We’ve still lots left to see. This time, it’s Dark Ages and medieval Europe. There’s quite a queue for the security checks. A jangle of Chinese girlies in front of us are taking selfies. Lots of selfies. “I wonder what they do with them all?” I ask Dolores. “The same as you do with all your boring pub photos. Nothing.” “They’re for my blog.” “Right. Nothing to do with your weird building obsession.” “That’s not true.” “Then why do your photos never have people in them?” “They do sometimes.” “Only by accident.”

And Ruvani has a story out on an interesting new IPA – an actual interesting one! – from brothers Van and Sumit Sharma who developed it with Alan Pugsley, British brewmaster and founder of Shipyard Brewing in Portland, Maine as well as disciple of the late Peter Austin who we lost recently:

In creating their own IPA, the Sharmas and Pugsley decided to brew what they consider to be a “British-Indian IPA,” stylistically modeled on more traditional English IPAs, acknowledging the style’s history, while maintaining Rupee’s ethos of making high quality easy-drinking beer meant for food pairing. “Rupee IPA is brewed in the traditions of classic English IPAs, enhancing malt and hop balance—creating a drinkable beer with a dry crisp hop bitterness balanced with subtle maltiness,” says Sharma. He emphasizes that the beer’s copper color and bright clarity mean it is far removed from American West Coast and New England IPA styles.

Yum. I mean I expect it’s yum. Confession: I like Pugsley beers. I sleep in t-shirts covered in Pugsley brewed beer brand logos. But also a “Blueberries for Sal” one, too. So there. Napwear.

Note: NHS Martin encounters the perfect perhaps prototyical proper pub… possibly. Not at all related, an inproper pint has been punished:

An ice lolly-themed beer has been discontinued after a boy saw his dad drinking it and burst into tears because he wasn’t allowed to try it. The four-year-old’s mother complained about Rocket Lolly IPA to alcohol industry trade body the Portman Group, which agreed that the ale appealed to children. Portman Group upheld the mum’s complaint and brewery Northern Monk agreed to discontinue the beer. The mother, who is unnamed in the report, said: “We raised our four-year-old to understand what alcohol is and why he is not permitted to try it.”

Quite right, too, though I would have thought the prohibition on really stupid branding would have applied, too, and not just the crying toddler rule.

Alistair, my lower mid-table nemisis in the Pellicle EPL pool, has found plenty to not cry about but instead to praise in his annual review of his favourite beers of the year, starting with the pale ones:

Ah…the first day of two weeks of Yuletide holiday. Time to make mince pies, plan menus for the various festive days, and to wonder if I even bother buying beer given the amount of cider in the alcohol fridges. It is also time for the annual review of the year, which thanks to having managed to get out of the country a couple of times will include both a drinking den and a brewery of the year. As ever though, we start with pale beers, those that are yellow or golden, without veering too much into orange.

Not one to be caught napping, Matt is also pushing back against the current gloom with some longer term thinking, gazing towards the end of the decade and seeing some light at the end of the tunnel shining in the form of investments:

But with the industry facing such difficult trading conditions that will likely continue into 2024 and beyond, why invest in such a large chunk of the hospitality industry now? Surely this is a time for caution, not confidence. Investors are a savvy bunch though, and firms like Breal will be intentionally investing in projects it believes will provide them with a profitable return, usually within five to seven years… While Breal’s moves could be framed as blind optimism, I posit that there’s a good deal more logic to it than that. It likely means that, by 2028 and beyond, the investor expects the beer and hospitality markets to be in a far better position to trade profitably.

Buy low. Sell high. Makes sense. And this is the low, right? Right? Hard to tell what is what these days. For example at the end of last week, one report in The Drinks Business received some comment over its overly enthusiastic characterization of the tiny THC laced bevvy trade:

Phil McFarland, Wherehouse Beverage Company’s general manager of THC Beverages and who worked at Half Acre Beer, told Axios that the move reminded him of what happened with craft beer. McFarland said coming “through the craft beer wave, this feels very familiar to me. In five years or so, this is going to be as pervasive and accepted as craft beer has become.”

Mirella was not convinced by such plain puffery but Dan put a finger on one thing: “Only if you consider a growing variety of fruity drinks equivalent to the craft beer wave!” Given that the craft beer trade, embracing the slippery slopes in its despiration, over the last few years has allowed the debasement of its brand along with its products, Dan may well have a point. Except even with that level of meaninglessness… it ain’t happening either. Confess! Do any of you actually drink that stuff? Not just taste it once or twice at trade shows booths but actually repeatedly buy it?

Note: the Badger. Govern yourselves accordingly!

Speaking of which… hmm… ever wonder about the availability of light beer in North Korea? Me neither. So…

Rowan Beard, a tour manager of Young Pioneer Tours, anticipated that the new beverage could be a success. “There is an outspoken demand for a beer that can avoid men putting on weight in North Korea,” he told NK News. Beard explained that many North Koreans drink soju not only because it’s cheaper but because many want to “avoid putting on unnecessary weight caused by beer. I can see this beer selling well if they’re able to price it the same or cheaper than the current beers available in the country,” he said, as many will want beer “without the guilt.”

Bet there’s plenty of “unspoken demand”… if you know what I mean. And there are beer tours! Which means now you can go where people are one, now you can go where they get things done.

Q: is the Bud Lite botch and backlash really over? Maybe. Maybe not. Perhaps relatedly, Jessica Mason reports that ABInBevBudCo faces a new problem

The union told Fox Business that out of 5,000 members who work at 12 AB InBev breweries in the US, 99% voted to authorise a strike. This means that if the workers cannot secure a new labour contract raising wages, protecting jobs and securing benefits before the union’s contract expires on 29 February 2024, then strikes will take place and beer production will likely become affected. Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien said: “Teamsters stand firm in our fight for the best contract at Anheuser-Busch, and this powerful strike vote proves it. Our members’ labour, talent, and sacrifice are what put Anheuser-Busch products on the shelf, and we are committed to getting a contract that rewards and recognises their hard work.”

Solidarity!! Fight the power!!! It is a time of endings. Many sorts of endings as Boak and Bailey* have carried through with their long promised exit from Twex. I might just keep linking to their roundups for a while as a public service but, then again, there’s this sort of weird comment when helpfully directed where to find them…

Yes, it’s goodbye to B&B from me as well as I don’t follow any other platforms either – and have no plans to do so.

[BREAKING: man starves due to fork being placed on left side of bowl, not on the right.] They explained the move in their newsletter… which is a little like dancing about architecture but never mind:

We got to dislike feeling tethered to a particular platform. Feeling as if we couldn’t leave irritated us. It’s also been unstable and chaotic for a year or more, with sudden changes in functionality and policy. That made us anxious. It also turns out that starting from scratch on other platforms comes with benefits. We’ve got far fewer followers on Mastodon, BlueSky, and Instagram, but they seem more engaged.

In another serious sort of loss, venerable Canadian industry watcher Greg Clow has announced the winding up of his 15 year run as editor-in-chief and bottle washer at Canadian Beer News, a ticker tape of sorts that provided updates on every announcement in the national scene:

After 15 years and more than 17,000 articles, I’ve decided that it’s time to bring Canadian Beer News to an end, meaning this year’s hiatus will be permanent. On one hand, this wasn’t an easy decision. I still enjoy spreading the word about brewery openings, beer releases, festivals and events, and other developments in Canada’s beer and brewing industry. But on the other hand, I’m also pretty damn tired of it.

Thanks, praise and some sadness ensued but this admission from Greg put things pretty clearly into focus: “…honestly, the idea of having to report on so many closures, and the loss of so many people’s livelihoods, just isn’t appealing to me…” Greg promises that he just might revive his blog Beer Boose & Bites after a 12 year snack break.

And Stan has also signed off… but just for the rest of the year.** In addition to his excellent linky selection, this week he explored the state of the industry and shared this message to and from the trade:

A “Year in Beer” summary produced by the Brewers Association and chief economist Bart Watson’s presentation last week for association members and the press both focused on the business of beer. They made it clear that the numbers reflect an ongoing trend, and that 2024 will be just as challenging for breweries. Why should beer drinkers care? For one thing, if your favorite brewery goes out of business you’ve lost something. So consider Watson’s last two slides. He suggested that “most of the challenges craft faces have opportunities in craft strengths.” Flavor and variety matter, a wide range (including next to zero) ABVs serve different occasions well, and where diversity grows niche and local opportunities do as well.

What kills me about these sorts of trade messages Stan shares right there is how they are too often affirmations of what the trade is already doing! Plus everything is a plus. With that lack of critical consideration, I expect 2024 to be worse than 2023. And you see something of a similar analytical gap in those interviewed for a piece by Kate Bernot in GBH on the state of homebrewing that on, one hand wants, to convince the reader that there is hope for the hobby while, at the same time, pretty much identifying that interest has seriously faded – and that there’s good reason for that dwindling within the greater slide of craft beer:

…interest in the club declined six to eight years ago as more craft breweries opened in the Birmingham area. As older members of the club have moved away or aged out, fewer new members are replacing them… Ask an existing homebrewer to invite a friend to brew with them, and statistically, that friend is likely to be a white man, too. The Carboy Junkies’ membership reflects this homogeneity: Joines says the club is made up of 80% white males over the age of 35, with the majority of them being older than 50. He says everyone in the club is married; most are affluent; and most have graduate degrees.

Even I, the lasped bad homebrewer, never personally had the need for a club. It was a kitchen to basement thing for me. (Like farm to table but with stairs… sorta.) Well, other than, you know, that club formed by my friends and sudden wave of strange new acquaintances who drank up whatever I made. Then I had kids. Then I, you know, grew up. Or woke up. Was that it?

That is it! Happy holidays!! The days are already getting longer. And remember, ye who read this far down to see if I have edited these closing credits and endnotes (as I always do), you can check out the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections. This week’s update on my emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (98) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (912) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,427 – I actually gained one!) hovering somewhere above or around my largely ignored Instagram (163), with 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. All in all I now have a bit of dispair for Mastodon in terms of beer chat and accept that BlueSky is catching up in “the race to replace.” Even so and although it is #Gardening Mastodon that still wins over there, here are a few of the folk there discussing or perhaps only waiting to discuss beer:

Still too, maybe check the blogs, newsletters and even podcasts (really? barely! This era’s 8-track tapes!) to stay on top of things including the proud and public and certainly more weekly recommendations from Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan at his spot on those Mondays when he is not SLACKING OFF! Look at me – I forgot to link to Lew’s podcast. Fixed. 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 much less occassional but always 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. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the long standing Beervana podcast . There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. All About Beer has introduced a podcast… but also seems to be losing steam. And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube and remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water… if you have $10 a month for this sort of thing… I don’t. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that. 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!

*Check out their best beer writing of 2023 post, too. I won’t be doing one. I live in the now, baby.
**Man, no wonder they set up the beer roundup writers’ holiday party for next week… oh well, more of the cheese ball for me.

The Thursday Beery News Notes For A Few Big Numbers

OK, I turned 60 on Tuesday. I am in my seventh decade. Just like that. Snap. Me, I am not that shocked and appauled by the prospect of time’s sands slipping so easily though my shaking fingers – but I also face the reality that I… began blogging twenty years ago this week, too. On a generic platform that within weeks included beer writing and around a year later split off into a bespoke beer blog. What an absolute waste of a lifetime! Seriously, think of all the languages I could speak, the instruments I could play if I had not taken to publicly scribbling back on 25 April 2003. That being said, I didn’t exactly become a polygolt before I hit 40 and it’s been a lot of fun… and look at all the stuff down there I read just this week… so…

First up, Gary has been on fire (to be clear – not actually aflame) recently with a servies of posts about beer in Egypt pre-WW2 followed by posts about wartime brewing in Tripoli, Libya. Great-aunt Madge was a frontline nurse in the Eighth Army so I was raised on this timeline with Airfix soldiers clad in shorts and ammo belts:

The OEA brewery was located in central Tripoli, near the sea. On Facebook a contributor, familiar with modern Tripoli, pinned the location on a map, near Dahra district. He adds other interesting information of a past and present nature, including that the brewery no longer stands. In any case, the Malta enterprise known today as Simonds Farsons Cisk was running OEA not long after it fell into British hands. It continued to do so until 1948, according to Thomas’ second discussion. In that year, he states, OEA was returned to its Italian owners, who are not named.

Less farthy-backy, Ron’s been writing about life in his 1970s, including this week about his early days of homebrewing which mirror mine in the 1980s:

After a while, we got hold of a five gallon cider barrel. Off-licences often used to sell draught cider back in those days, served from such a small plastic barrel. It made life much easier, doing away with all that bottling mess. Though you needed to drink the beer fairly quickly. A week to ten days was about the longest it would last. I can remember having a barrel of Mild my brother brought up to Leeds towards the end of my first year at university. The very hot summer of 1976. We sat drinking glasses of iced Mild on the balcony of my student flat in North Hill Court.

Note: craft‘s meaninglessness reaches new depths.

Cookie guided me to the story of one familiar face on Canadian TV in the 1970s and ’80s, our own perhaps second best snooker champ after Cliff Thorburn, ‘Big Bill’ Werbeniuk:

During his hay day, Werbeniuk would consume upwards of 40 pints of beer a day, with him often having six pints before every game and limited himself to just one pint per frame. Werbeniuk’s incredible super human ability to handle the beers was due to him suffering from hypoglycemia, a condition that means the body is able to burn off alcohol and sugar extremely quickly, allowing him to drink places dry daily. The Canadian’s drinking was actually encouraged by doctors, due to Werbeniuk suffering from a familial benign essential tumour.

I recall from the time, as reported in his 2003 obit, “that his prodigious drinking was the only way he could stop an arm tremor that hampered his play.” A perfect foil to the dapper Thorburn and likely a reason I took up the game for such a long time… pre-kids… you know.

Lisa Grimm’s Weirdo Guide to Dublin Pubs continues this week with consideration of the former pub known as JW Sweetmans, now reborn as the new pub known as JR Mahon’s:

With the return of cask last weekend – and with a pre-planned event there anyway – it was a perfect opportunity to check out the changes. The pub occupies the same enormous spot on the Liffey, with multiple floors and masses of dark wood, but it has been beautifully renovated and considerably brightened up – the stained glass on the ground floor gives some much-needed colour, and while the warmth of the wood remains, things certainly seem lighter and much more airy than in the previous incarnation. There are still many – possibly more – little snugs, nooks and crannies, but the flow is much better overall, with all four floors of space having a bit of their own character.

I had always thought grapes for wine were a sort of forever thing but it appears that they are only as old as the post-last-ice-age era and are formed to be what they are today in large part by hunter gatherer selection:

Grapevine has a long history as one of the world’s oldest crops. Wine, made from grapes, was among the earliest products to be traded globally, playing a key role in the exchange of cultures, ideas, and religions. At the end of the Ice Age, grapevine originated from the European wild vine. Today, only a few relic populations of this wild vine still exist, one of which can be found on the Ketsch peninsula along the Rhine river, between the cities of Karlsruhe and Mannheim.

Speaking of basic ingredients, Jordan was on a jaunt recently, one funded by a Ministry of Agriculture. When I lived in PEI, my local MP called himself the “Minster of Aggykulchur” so I am fond of these sorts of things. This particular MoA is in Czechia and was hosting a number of the glad to be invited to look at piles of malting barley:

For a hundred and fifty years, in a cellar in Benešov, a man with a rake has trodden up and back, up and back along carefully ordered rows of germinating barley nearly six inches deep. The slick slate floor mimics earth the kernels would find themselves in had the grasses been left to go to seed. The maltster pulls the rake with a practised motion long committed to muscle memory, stepping backwards while pulling with his upper back and triceps, rowing through the barley and leaving a patterned wake at three foot intervals.

To be fair, not a man. A series of men, we trust. Also to be fair, Jordan pre-discloses and then discloses in the best fashion and also shared at one moment via DM that across the taproom table “Joe Stange five or six pints in speaks of you as a free floating conscience” over my junkety requests thing which is a good thing to know. Especially when it’s a meaningful learning experience as opposed to being in the buffet lineup at another identi-fest. Releatedly, check out the CB&B podcast about top service standards in one Prague beer bar.

Conversely, there was recently a piece about a store that’s a real piece of Maine’s beer history which I was looking forward to being familiar with the area as a Nova Scotian but which I was quite quickly saddened by… being familiar with the area. See, Novare Res Bier Café in Portland was not at all the first craft beer bar in the state. I know because in 2008 I wrote about going there when it was new. Not even the first Belgian beer bar. That’s Ebenezer’s Pub. The Great Lost Bear is my candidate for oldest good beer bar, opening in 1979. We are also told that in the 1980s and 90s the breweries of Maine “were clustered around the urban center of Portland to the southeast” even though north aka downeast, at the shore just 48 miles from Bangor there were at least Bar Harbor Brewing, Maine Coast Brewing Co. and Atlantic Brewing in Baa HaaBaa. Most oddly, we are told “the Arline Road” connects Bangor to the bordertown of Calais. That’s the well-referenced Airline Route which I drove many times, called that because (before it was upgraded) you rode along on many hill crests with drop offs that felt like you might flip off into the clouds. I mention all this to point out how poor fact checking, a plague in beer writing, sadly places the value of an entire piece in doubt.

Note: complaining about this to the left but not this is, what, a bit calculated? Both are just harmless if utterly bland boosterism.

You know, I could post the same one observation about NHS Martin every week: excellent photography, understated insightful comment. Like this piece on a suprisingly lively pub in what I now understand to be the less than attractive town of Maidenhead:

It was a wonderful pub. Outside, children organised a fundraiser for Brain Research, inside the telly was ignored by professional drinkers and lovely staff called you “darling” and you could almost forget you were in Maidenhead at all… I don’t know exactly why, but the joy was infectious, and I’m going to resist mentioning Maidenhead’s red light area, grim underpasses and terrifying multi-storey on this occasion.

And I really enjoyed this BBC piece on small liquor shop drinking places in parts of Japan called kaku-uchi that may date back to the 1600s:

While kaku-uchi have evolved since then – for example, the choice of drinks has widened, with some serving cocktails and others specialising in beer or wine – they’ve stayed true to their proletarian origins. Everyone mixes on an even footing and, often, fluid seating or standing arrangements mean that all customers gather around the same table or counter – making it disarmingly easy to strike up a conversation. Simple snacks are available, with typical fare including canned and dried goods, pickles and oden, or Japanese hotpot.

So, and finally for this week, last week I made a comment about something Boak and Bailey wrote (my point: I would worry if beer was my only hobby) and found their response in… a funny place. As the scramble to find the next Twitter accellerates, the have (in addition to FB and IG as well as Mastedon and Patreon) Substack and its new notes. All very decentralized. So over there… and I am not sure the link would even works so bear with me… This was said:

In a quick, rather heartfelt blog post, we reflected on the positive role beer plays in our lives, and why it shouldn’t feel like a chore or obligation. Alan used the word ‘prop’ here, with concern, suggesting (if we read it right) that beer shouldn’t be anybody’s main hobby. We’d disagree with that because… it’s none of our business. Let beer be as important as it needs to be, as long as you’re happy and healthy.

I am of course fine with other people having other views… except for that idea that “it’s none of our business.” I mention this not to disagree or be disagreeable but to point out how much of beer writing is actually about making observations on the business of others. In the same newsletter, for example, B+B extended comment is made on how one navigates pub culture best by understanding that a “sense of community is created through exclusion” in many spaces. Frankly, I avoid boozehalls full of alkies one a very similar basis that I would avoid those full of racist memorobilia and junior goosesteppers. I judge both as forms of human degradation, distinct but, yes, sometimes overlapping.* I would also speak up frankly to a friend who was going off the path in either respect. Because I make it my business.

So, yes, my point was it is important to extend that sort of advice as a writer to anyone who might be reading, that it is good to check in with yourself about priorities and to remember that a singular fixation with booze is not generally a milestone on the path of well-being. Which is part of why I get such a kick from Mr. Newman‘s other interests. Or Jeff’s pilgramages. Or Ron’s Brazilian breakfast buffets. And if I am are going to speak publicly about the many jollies of the clink and the drink, I would be, what, insincere or even a bit false not to mention (let alone explore) the downsides, too, ** lest we end up as passion parrots. Balance please. Get that goldfish. As Stan wrote on Monday:

Each week there are stories that reinforce the myth that there is a halo ’round the craft beer moon.*** And there are stories that scream bullshit. There are more of the former, maybe because they are more fun to write. In my youth I worked at a newspaper where the publisher said, honest to goodness, that if we wrote something bad about a person we should find an occasion to write something good about them within the next year. Some sort of balanced ledger. It’s not my goal to find less pleasant stories to balance the feel good ones, but some weeks that is pretty easy.

All of which also leads to the further diversificatiton of conduits in our efforts to hunt out both the pleasant and the unpleasant truths. As Twitter slowly crumbles, there are more and more lifeboats to find all the interesting voices. It the thing to do is that we all add emailed newslatters and add Substack Notes and also Patreon and, additionally, consider (as I have) making Mastodon all yours. All again in addition to Facebook and Instagram. What else?

I’m still most pleased by Mastodon. I’ve built up 825 followers there over a few months which is nice as they are responsive but I really like the feature that I can follow a hashtage as easily as following a person. Here’s your newbie cheat sheet:

Anyone else? And, yes, we also check the blogs, podcasts and newsletters to stay on top of things – including more weekly recommendations from Boak and Bailey every Saturday and now definitely from Stan at his spot on those Mondays! Get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason every Friday. 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 back! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. And the long standing Beervana podcast . There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and check out the travel vids at Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. Ben has revived his podcast, Beer and Badword. Still gearing up, the recently revived All About Beer has introduced a podcast, too even if it’s a bit trade… and by “a bit” I think mean not really just a bit. There’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel this week on Youtube. And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water… if you have $10 a month for this sort of thing… I don’t. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that. 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!****

*Now, to be clear, there are degrees of dependency from just being a beer dullard though to self-harm… and, yes, I the one who once faced the consequences of saying out loud to a EDI gathering that there were two sorts of racist. What I meant was there were (i) the ill-informed who could be eduated on the one hand and, (ii) on the other the intentional Nazi shithead… but facing a room of really pissed off Indigenous leadership led by one chief who said “OK, you are going to have to *#$&ing unpack that one, kid… and do so slowly and carefully” reminds me still that one needs to take care in exprerssing certain things.
**I am also reminded of the lesson in wilful blindness or at least abiding stupidity amongst beer trade friendly/dependent/sychophant beer writers when, years ago, sent out feelers years ago about why craft beer was not taking on anti-drunk driving as a cause and received this from a now little heard from voice: “As much as I am against careless driving caused by drinking, smoking, the application of eye make-up, over-tiredness, cell phone conversations or the accidental spilling of tomato sauce off the veal parmigiana sandwich being scarfered whilst at the wheel…” Classic.
***Stan provided this link to his “halo round the moon” reference.
****And finally the list of the departed newsletters and podcasts or those in purgatory. Looks like both Brewsround and Cabin Fever died in 2020, . We appreciate that the OCBG Podcast is on a very quiet schedule these days – but it’s been there now and again. The Fizz died in 2019. Plus Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch seems done and the AfroBeerChick podcast is gone as well! The Fingers Podcast packed it in citing, umm, lack of success… as might have been anticipated, honestly. Did they suffer a common fate? Who knows?

The First And Rather Excitable Beery News Notes Of Yuletide 2022

Finally… nothing like seeing the end of November. My least favourite month. I used to always dread it. Days gloomily shortening. School papers needing to be put properly in hand. Time now to look forward, to the holidays. To life with family and friends, gathering inside. While not directly Christmassy, Max posted two images of insidey painting, each of which illustrate the excellence of non-brewing records to inform us about brewing history. In the first, “Vesnická Hospoda”, a 1863 painting by Czech artist Quido Mánes we have a tavern scene with a discussion being held by all ages. The beer glows. And not unlike today in a way… just the sort of thing that I was looking for in the 2006-15 beer blog Yuletide, Kwanzaa, Hogmanay, Christmas and Hanukkah photo contest. I sifted through hundreds of entries every year looking for a glow just like that to ensure all the pressies were directed to all the wee beer nerds’s stockings. Many of the entries are still saved at the Wayback Machine.

In the world of beer culture politics, British beer home delivery service Beer 52 had to issue a statement concerning some flack it had received over a poor PR decision that received some heat. Click on the image to the right to have a look. This is one of the odder but very consistent themes I’ve seen over the years that perhaps distinguishes UK craft from others – the need to not be too nasty to the competition. At a certain point, craft beer shops and craft beer home delivery service are hunting for the same shillings and guineas lodged in the purses of the nation. But, on the other hand, it is nice to be nice.

The British Beer Writers Guild were also in a manner of speaking required to issue its own statement of sorts, as the Guild’s top judging dog explained the almost Byzantine judging process in response to the howls which usually follow this sort of thing. I’d post a quote from the explanation but it does go on and one. Great transparency. No, I will share two bits:

This year the awards were judged by me, a publican from York, a committee member of the British Institute of Innkeeping, a magazine editor, a brewer, a beer importer, two freelance journalists (an unusually high number) a book publisher, and a cheesemonger. Hardly beer writers slapping each other’s backs… We usually have 13-14 categories, and this year there were a total of 190 different entries. That’s far too much for any one judge to read, so judges are paired up and given a few categories each.

Did you know I used to receive a few abusive responses for the photo contest? No? Did I care? Not much. My only recommendation was that this explanation of the process might have been shared prior to outset but, you know, what can you do? It is an unfortunate situation and in large part based on honest deep disappointment as much as gratuitous slag* – but Martyn has been checking the stats and decided that this year’s British Beer Writer of the Year Jonny Garrett is now the most successful contestant in the award’s last ten years. So that’s something. Oh, and madman Gary crossed the Atlantic to sit in on the awards and enjoyed himself very much.

There, that’s enough of that statement making stuff. Care of Mudgie, we learn of Bernard Bland, 92, of Grimsby:

When Bernard Bland made his first trip to the Nunsthorpe Tavern in 1954, a pint set him back eight shillings and 10 pence – or the equivalent of 45p. Yet despite the rising cost of a pint, Bernard is still going to his beloved Grimsby boozer 68 years later. In fact, the 92-year-old has been going there every day for seven decades – only missing his daily session when the pub closed during lockdown.

Not as regular in his pubbing habits – but who could be – this week Cookie wrote about his relationship to the pub at one of the sadder moments in life, the passing of a parent:

But life adjusts and new normals and patterns emerge. A worry for my father in living alone after 45 years of marriage led to spending much more time with my father to assist in his living, eat a meal or two a week with him, shop and administer things. Run 2 houses and lives in a way. Not a burden in any way, but a rekindling of a friendship that in its way has defined me more than any other. Thus, I ended up on a saunter around the pubs of Reddish. In truth I rarely pop in pubs these days, a couple on a Saturday afternoon in Wetherspoons being more or less it when a quiet couple of hours is needed. People don’t talk to you in Wetherspoons. You can just sink a pint.

Eric Asimov wrote an interesting piece in the NYT on the nature of a “wine bar” – which is also something I have thought about in relation to identifying as a “beer bar” as opposed to a bar:

Are they all wine bars? Or is the term so vague as to be meaningless? It might depend on whom you ask… Good wine bars are informal neighborhood gathering places rather than destinations, with occasional exceptions, like when a wine list is so deep that it draws in the trophy- and rare-bottle hunters. But mostly, they are places to drop in near one’s home. They might take some reservations, but they always have room for walk-ins. Wine bars mostly cater to young people. At almost every place I visited, I was by far the oldest patron there.

Don Cazentre wrote about something I had not thought about before – relative stats on which US community out drinks the others on bars at US Thanksgiving, something his hometown of Syracuse, NY has excelled at before:

The night before Thanksgiving, sometimes called Drinksgiving, is typically one of the busiest evenings for bars across the country. And the Syracuse area is often one of the leaders. That held true again this year, as the Syracuse market once again stood out, according to data from BeerBoard, an Armory Square-based company that manages and collects stats and information from draft beer accounts nationwide.

Do they also use gallon-sized tankards there like in the British Iron Age? The Tand himself has written on the subject of a smaller sort of vessel, Sam Smith’s proprietor, Humphrey Smith and the question of how steady his hand is upon the tiller:

…all is not well. I was told, recently, that no fewer than 120 Sam Smith’s pubs are closed through lack of people to run them. (You can often find them listed in trade adverts for managers) This is an astonishing number given that all of them are managed houses, and while they attract a smallish salary, not much above minimum wage, but they do have heating, lighting and rent thrown in on top. This is not an entirely unattractive package in these dodgy times, so why is there a problem in finding the right people to run them?

Jeff added thoughts from afar including the bluntly stated “no one drinks English ales anymore” which is hard to deny… except for the fact that they do.

Stan’s Hop Queries newsletter for November 2022 has landed on my driveway in a neat plastic wrapper and he has noted the end of the line for one particular strain:

CLS Farms has eliminated Medusa, the neomexicanus-only hop that introduced American brewers to a botanical variety of Humulus lupulus that produces unique aromas in beer, from its portfolio. Plants were “grubbed out” after the 2022 harvest. Before you ask, the future still looks fine for Zappa, a daughter of Medusa, being grown on six farms in five states. “It is time to focus on Zappa and let Medusa go,” CLS co-owner Eric Desmarais wrote via email. Quite simply, Medusa didn’t measure up agronomically. “(Medusa) doesn’t have the yield to be able to be super viable moving forward in a higher inflationary world, and a much more competitive hop variety landscape,” Desmarais wrote.

Bit of World Cup news even with the ban – the soak was on in Qatar and “bars overestimated surge pricing”:

Beer prices in Qatar could fall after some bars “overestimated what they can get away with” charging during the World Cup, according to a fans’ group. Supporters visiting the Gulf state say they have faced prices of up to £15 for a pint during the tournament, although many have found it cheaper and venues have offered deals.

The gouge is one elsewhere too with some UK pubs offering lower alc% beers at higher prices in the New Year.

And, finally, a Mastodon update. Now up to 573 followers after the blog was linked to one of those likely list compilers. Incuration, that’s what I call it. Seems I am incurable. Shocking. Still, I am looking more there than with the Twit. It’s happening. Please join us all at @agoodbeerblog@mstdn.social.

That’s it for this week and that month. As we move into December, please check out the updates from Boak and Bailey hopefully now again mostly every Saturday and also from Stan more now on a Monday than almost ever! Check out the weekly and highly recommented Beer Ladies Podcast. The OCBG Podcast is on a very quiet schedule these days – but it’s coming back soon. See also sometimes, on a Friday, posts at The Fizz as well (Ed.: we are told ‘tis gone to 404 bloggy podcast heaven… gone to the 404 bloggy podcast farm to play with other puppies.) And the long standing Beervana podcast (Ed.: which I have missed from this list for some unknown reason.) There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and check out the travel vids at Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now… nope, there was a post on July 25th… in 2022 even.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And sign up for Katie’s (Ed.: now very) irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Still gearing up, the recently revived All About Beer has introduced a podcast, too. (Ed.: give it a few weeks to settle in and not be as agreeable… not sure this went very far…) Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel this week on Youtube. Plus Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given… still not on the radio dial…) And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that’s now gone after a ten year run… no, it is back and here is the link!

*My only peep this year was that the apparently official award night photos were not wonderful at all. Unlike this one which was great. Which is good – as I used to be a right pain in the arse about these things. Transparency is everything in these matters.

The Thursday Beery News Notes For When Winter Actually Showed Up

While we didn’t break the record of most snow in a century like Ottawa to our north did, I has to shovel snow five times on Monday to clear and keep the driveway clear. Not sure I would find, as a result, the idea of a pub with an outside men’s room would be wonderful. I mean I have heard of such things… but here? That doorless door there? It’d be filled with drift. Snow drift. Right up to that bracket to the left of the door frame there. Don’t fancy that. Chilly. Something something rhymes with chilly.

Well, perhaps speaking of which, the big news broke on Wednesday that Brewdog has apparently been falsifying documents submitted to the US government. As BBC Scotland found out:

Scottish beer giant Brewdog sent multiple shipments of beer to the US, in contravention of US federal laws, a BBC investigation has found. Staff at its Ellon brewery told the BBC they were put under pressure in 2016 and 2017 to ship beer with ingredients that had not been legally approved. One US-based importer said they had been deceived by Brewdog. In a social media post on Wednesday, Brewdog CEO James Watt admitted to “taking shortcuts” with the process.

Having practiced low level criminal defense law for about a decade, it is always great to see a suspect get chatty like that. What makes it really quite amazing is how §70.331 of the Fed Reg Title 27, Chapter 1* related to the Alcohol Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau of the US Treasury Department provides that:

Any person who willfully delivers or discloses to any officer or employee of the Bureau any list, return, account, statement, or other document, known by him to be fraudulent or to be false as to any material matter, shall be fined not more than $10,000 ($50,000 in the case of a corporation) or imprisoned not more than 1 year, or both.

But that right up there, as a pal says when I point to a by-law at work… “that’s a law!” Which it is. Which allows for a year in jail. Yikes. Dumbasses. No wonder Dan Shelton, former US importer and man whose name became a new verb, stated that he had been deceived: “They did lead somebody in my company to falsify documents.” Wow. To think Brewdog once sponsored this blog… I am so embarrassed. I would have thought Prince Andrew’s situation might have been a warning to Brits who are a bit deluded about their proper place. No, apparently not. Perhaps it was a plan to distract folk from their incredibly retrograde insensitive and perhaps even Neanderthal-esque approach to promoting better mental health… you know, when they weren’t, what did the BBC write in that article… running a model workplace… what was it?

One former worker told the investigation: “The pressure was enormous. ‘Just make it happen’, that was the culture. It was clear to us this was coming from the top – from James [Watt].”

Elsewhere and hardly at all as suspect, Stan has been on a bit of a roll, posting five times at his space. He may be making a point of some sort. He wrote this under the heading “#nottwitter 04“:

Can somebody point me to a blog post, an academic paper, something from the New York Times, wherever, that provides insight into what might be called unhealthy nostaglia and the ramifications? And how might it relate tradition as a trap?

I am not sure what is up. Is there a pattern? Whatever it is, it may be that this post’s point is found in the next post, the Monday beer links: “when we buy into that nostalgia, it might be best to stop and consider what we are longing for.” Isn’t what nostalgia what beer is for? Remembering? Daydreaming? Hmm. Then – get this – then Stan hid a clue in the title of his next post: ethyl octanoate. Ethyl. Octanoate. Think about it. Anyway, it terms of the speed of nostalgia, it moves fast with craft beer. Four Pure and Magic Rock are in a “process“:

We want to update you on some news. As we go through this process, our priority remains our superb team and brewing great beers.

Better a process than a legal process, eh? The Grocer has deets:

“While no decisions have been made, we need to determine how to best set Magic Rock and Fourpure up for success in the coming years. Our team have been informed of the review and we are committed to supporting them through this time.” Fourpure has struggled to make headway in the supermarkets, despite the huge surge in alcohol sales over the course of the pandemic…. In contrast, Magic Rock’s off-trade volumes rose 125.4%…

Well! As with the news last week about the Aussie wine guys buying up US craft, the news about the Aussie beer guys going wobbly on UK craft is par for the course. Dust in the wind. Chose your pop prog song title from the mid to late 1970s. That is what it is.

Thinking about thinking, Ron reflected on the year ahead this week in terms of his own mobility:

Plague permitting, I’ve a few trips planned and a couple of others pencilled in. Corona is a real blessing to travellers. The internet had made travels far too simple. The virus adds a delightful randomness to the proceedings. Like planning a European tour in the summer of 1918. Every time I book a flight I wonder: “What are the chance of me actually taking it?” Nothing is more thrilling than checking the internet until the second before you leave for the airport that the flight hasn’t been cancelled. Or wondering if you’ll be let out of the country once you reach your destination. I love the Phineas Fogg feeling the uncertainty brings.

All this uncertainty. Is that the word of the month? I bought a ticket to a CNY beerfest this week at Craig’s urging. Not sure I see how I could ever go to it but it is at least four months off and I suppose I could rent a camper van and look at people out the window. Now he tells me it’s Mothers Day weekend. Great.

Conversely to that fest, there is as much to learn from a poorly made or poorly thought out beer. Matt is right. Don’t be a jerk. But also don’t be fooled twice. That’s what got us in this mess.

The Beer Nut found perhaps the dullest beer ever.

Retired Martin found a micropub based the theme of the group The Jam. I was their only fan in high school. Until my pals listened to my records. Not sure even I would stay long.

A few reviews of the ABInBev TV promotional show, Beer Masters, have come in. Boak and Bailey added to Ed‘s observations this week:

Perhaps, however, they could have spent less time on the somewhat laboured descriptions of what makes an Abbey beer, or a pilsner, and told us a bit more about the contestants’ kits. We could see some interesting gadgets and arrangements that were never really discussed. If the aim is to spark a home-brewing revolution, as was suggested at a couple of points, then this probably won’t do it.

Good point. This is the sort of TV that does not interest me but at least it appears that a bit of big brewery money has made for a show that is actually not dreadful. Remember that horrible show produced as an advertising vehicle for Dogfish Head twelve and a half years ago? Of course you don’t as most of you were still in elementary school back then. That show was absolutely dreadful. Note: it was also called Beer Masters.

Somewhat related in the sense of horrible US craft beer messaging. Jeff considered the limits of independence this week with yet another tale of yet another takeover:

This isn’t a problem of the Brewers Associations’ making. It’s a structural feature of the beer industry in the US. It is also a worrying development, an echo of an earlier era when consolidation blighted the industry. What does it say about how we regulate the sale of beer in the US that the most successful start-up breweries eventually have to sell out to giants to survive? Is this the world we want to live in and, critically, what changes would allow those larger regional breweries to compete?

I can’t really agree that this is worrying. I mean if you are worrying about this you must have a pretty worry-free life. The idea of the “independence” of craft beer was dumb in 2009, in 2012, in 2015, in 2016 and still is today. See what I wrote in six years ago under that 2016 link?

Recently, the Boston Globe profiled private equity firm Fireman Capital Partners, the investment folk behind the expansion of Oskar Blues and the cash injection into Florida’s Cigar City Brewing. You think those guys are shaking in their boots over the prospect of a rival fund based on Stone’s ethos? Hardly. The experienced private equity players will out bid and out run their deals. It’s their business, not a hobby or a faith-based act of grace.

Money knows what money is about. Craft beer is about making money. Ask the Aussie wine guys. Unless it is about Berlin. Then craft beer is not about making money. Elsewhere and far more pure of heart, Lars came to a realization this week:

That feeling when you sit down to summarize the development of Norwegian brewing processes and the process of explaining forces you to realize that for 3/4 of the time people have brewed beer in Norway there is zero knowledge of how they did it. No evidence, no theories, nothing.

I might add that we should always be alive to the other 1/4 being 3/4s correct, too. That is the issue with all histories which is why it comes in a plural. But I expect this to spur on even more of his excellent and single-handed research.

There was a good question put to the chattering classes about the most influential European breweries on the US beer industry but I couldn’t muster the energy to decode influential so only watched the ticker tape pass through my hands. Gary went with Chimay and then wrote a follow up:

My history with Chimay started long before this blog inaugurated in 2015. My first Chimay was in a stone-flagged bar in Montreal, Quebec around 1980, served in the stemmed “chalice” long associated with the brand. I was in Vieux Montréal, the oldest part of the city whose mix of old French and Victorian British architecture contrived to offer a “European” atmosphere (still does)…

The Tand picked up a very similar ball – round and bouncy – and gave it a swift kick himself and wrote this about TT’s Landlord:

Me and Taylor’s Landlord have a bit of history. When I first came to this neck of the woods, a local free house used to sell it. It was on the way to Tesco when we did our weekly shop, and we always stopped on the way back for a couple. It was a rich, balance of malt and hops, with a distinctive floral touch. The term multi layered really did apply to it. Alas, the free house was sold to Robinsons and the then landlord presented me with the Landlord pumpclip as a farewell gift. I still have it. And that was that. No more readily available Taylor’s. I have supped it in Keighley too over the years and when I saw it on a bar, I always tried it. E loved it too. Of course, there is a but. Over the years, it just hasn’t retained its appeal somehow. It isn’t the same.

Question: “What makes the Golden Ball special?”

As I am wont to do, when I compare this review of good wines by Eric Asimov in the NYT with what would happen if anyone tried such a thing in a publication about beer I once again am between saddened and confused. Imagine if wine writers wrote “for the trade by the trade” as is often the brand with this sort of beer. No one would take the opinions offered seriously. It’s the neighbour of scandal.

Finally, Jordan took one for the team and drank a bunch of no-alc beer samples he got in the mail. While I would approach that opportunity with the sort of anticipation I might feel just before… what… anyway, Jordan found some good in doing it by suggesting not doing it:

I struggle with Non-Alcoholic products. By my lights, I’d prefer to have beer with alcohol or something that’s not beer. I probably get through three litres of fizzy water a day. While I understand that there’s a question of inclusivity in gatherings and that people want to hold something that looks like a beer so that they feel included, I feel that things are slightly different if you’re… you’re a… [Ed.: hmm he spelled “grown up” wrong…].

And I have been playing with the Patreon thing a bit more. Notes on beers I have tried, thoughts on books and beer culture as well as my war on squirrels at the feeder. I do like how it provide a low barrier to easy access. I can be ruder there. Like cable TV as opposed to broadcast.

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

*Feel free to correct my US citation style. I took and oath to the Crown so you can just consider it payback for the whole “War of Independence” thing.

Your First Beery News Notes For A Thursday In 2022

Well, that was a good holiday season, wasn’t it. It wound up with Ontario heading into another semi-demi-lockdown as of Monday so I can’t say that it is all fine and dandy. I still have my stash. And I can settle down into my culturally appropriate assumptions that the stash somehow helps defend against viruses. This is the second in my collection of my “Dewar’s Defeats The Flu!” imagery in addition to this beauty.* Now you have a collection, too.

What is going on in the beer world? Well, there was a ripple of unhappiness about the term “pub ale” which I have no issue with as it fits a certain spot that I recognize as something once called “Canadian export ale” except it isn’t really exported – a sweeter sort of pale ale. Like Left Field brews and calls Outstanding which it is. “Bitter” isn’t an old term. Gary mentioned the question this week dismissing the idea it was novel:

Certainly in export markets, British brewers were alert early on to attune names to market expectations. Boddington’s Pub Ale, a good seller in many markets is a stronger version of Boddington’s Bitter marketed for export since 1993. Back in the 1980s the now defunct regional brewer Greenall Whitley sold a Cheshire English Pub Beer in the U.S. I recall it especially in the Northeastern market.

I am with Mike. Bringing out a craft beer brand called “Leff” without a last letter “E” is just inviting a trade name or copyright law suit. Big faceless industrial gak maker hegemonist ABInBevOfBevAllBev has my sympathies:

“Leffe has an earlier right. Moreover, in both cases it concerns beer. Then there is a risk of confusion. There would be less risk of confusion, for example, if the Leff brand is applied for by a bed manufacturer. Although the protection of well-known brands can sometimes extend to other products.” Moreover, the label of a bottle of the Brasserie Artisanal du Leff also resembles that of the famous Leffe. “The same Gothic letters, for example, and the word ‘Leff’ is very emphatically highlighted. Those logos and fonts are also registered by AB InBev with the trademark register,” says Chalmers. In a French press release, AB InBev says that even in French pronunciation, there is no difference between “Leff” and “Leffe.” Reason enough to send Le Saux a letter.

I love this image to the right of all the various sorts of pints illustrated on a pint glass. Published by Foods of England this week. Pity the Belgian pint.

Joan Birraire in Barcelona, Spain has fired up his coal fed servers and revived the beer blog, no doubt due to everyone saying how beer blogging is dead. He returns with his Golden Pints 2021:

To avoid settling into perpetual criticism and start leading by example, I hope to resume blog activity a bit this year, also as part of a return to good habits that I have definitely lost due to the pandemic and excess work, the combination of which has led me to a terribly monotonous kind-of-monastic life. To begin with, I would like to recover a decade-long initiative that started in the international blogosphere: the Golden Pints awards, which every blogger assigns to beers, establishments or projects that they feel deserve to be praised.

Note: there is no such thing as “too many beer bloggers.” Speaking of which, Lucy Corne of South Africa, not dead, celebrated ten years of beer blogging this week as did Matt Curtis, also not dead. Speaking of whom latterly but not late-rly, Pellicle has published an excellent business plan for 2022 explaining the financials of its operations. Were all the others so transparent:

We run Pellicle on a cash basis. We have no debt, and our plan is, and always will be, to keep commissioning content until the money’s all gone. Thanks to our Patreon supporters, plus our sponsors Hop Burns & Black and Hand and Heart, we’re presently able to publish roughly one or two features per week, plus a podcast every three to four weeks, and both are pretty much self-sustaining as is.

Full marks. This is why I trust Pellicle and I support them at a very modest level. Speaking of excellent, this piece by Kate Bernot captures exactly what we have not seen much of in craft beer business journalism: digging into the business end. And it was accomplished by reading Danish corporate filings for Mikkeller:

According to a company audit, Mikkeller had a total income loss of about $4 million between 2019 and 2020. The report says that last year’s losses were “primarily a result of COVID-19 related restrictions, lockdown and general uncertainty across the globe heavily impacting our retail sales as well as wholesale to on-premise bars, restaurants.” Borsen reported that Mikkeller founder Mikkel Borg Bjergsø has relinquished some ownership in the company to Orkila as a result of the most recent transaction.

Fabulous levels of detail to dig up and dig through. Now, let’s have the same approach to other breweries. In 2016 there was some unhappiness that I just mentioned Jim Koch selling off shares, pro-am beer writers telling me I “…didn’t understand, so mean…” despite practicing business law for about two decades at that point. More of the digging please.

Maureen retweeted this image of Jack’s Saloon at Camp Claiborne, L.A., 1940s and it is worth poring over for the details. If you click there is far bigger version. What the heck is a “dude drink” and why were these two fine ladies and their wonderful establishment so against them? I mean you could have one but it cost fifteen times the cost of a home brew. Are they brewing out back? The font of all knowledge explains that “Camp Claiborne was a U.S. Army military camp in the 1930s continuing through World War II located in Rapides Parish in central Louisiana.”

Retired Martyn crossed the northern border thanks in large part to someone else:

A flat tyre from nowhere, but thankfully I have a skilled team to deal with life’s little crises. And no, that’s not the main reason I married her (though her 1991 “Motoring Madams” certification was high on the list).

I was guided to the blog “Paul’s Beer & Travel Blog” which is a fairly plain name if we think about it but no doubt entirely accurate. Paul Bailey is the name (no relation) and what it is really about is Paul’s travels to beer. So there is pleasant train discussion, pleasant pub discussion and pleasant beer discussion as this one paragraph illustrates:

Unfortunately, the trains didn’t connect very well, and as the service from Dorking pulled into Redhill station, I witnessed the one to Tonbridge, pulling away from the opposite platform. The next train to Tonbridge wasn’t due for another hour, which provided the perfect opportunity for a quick, “in-between trains” pint. The question was, with a number of pubs to go for, which one should I choose?’

Remember this next time you read someone saying how negative discussion is on Twitter during the pandemic – it’s much the same in the pub. Current complaints? Dry January…** New York State Governor Hochul? Not so fast:

New York Gov. Kathy Hochul announced Wednesday that she will permanently legalize the sale of “to-go” alcoholic drinks in the state, adding that the practice was a “critical revenue stream” during the pandemic.

Oh – and Stan mentioned the Patreon thing. Let me play with it a while before I figure out if there is any point to it.

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

*This blog is not sponsored by Dewar’s. This blog is entirely open to being sponsored by Dewar’s.
**For the double!

The Last Beery News Notes And My Golden Pints For 2021

Well, it’s been a bit of a napping sort of time, these last few days. Not much going on. Can find enough to cut and paste enough together to come up with enough beery news notes? Between an increased lockdown and the general Yuletide slowdown, it’s been very quiet. And New Year’s Eve is tomorrow. What to do? What to do? Research canapés and hors d’oeuvres of course! I’ve started my prep and even recommended a resource as shown to your right (Ed.: to my left), a copy of which you can download for free here. Scotch Woodcock is looking interesting. Scrambled eggs with a little anchovy on tiny toast. Yum.

Is there any beery news or other beer writing to report upon? Jeff Alworth wrote one of the most detailed and slightly obsessed year in review posts which is, one the one hand, clearly a bunch of links to stuff he had thought about and written about throughout the year but, on the other hand, obviously a fabulous summary of all the stuff he had thought about and written about throughout the year! Summary of his summary?

It was a transitional year, but also one that never got out of second gear. Things went back to a kind of new normal, but nobody has been very happy about what that looks like.

Yup. But at least he got to do a US National Grand Tour and updated many fine thoughts and observations as a result. Good stuff.*

Also, Gary Gillman* posted the inordinately and perhaps unnecessarily formally titled “Index to Gary Gillman’s Writing on Porter and Stout” which is a fabulous resource. I would say Gary has had his best year of beer writing. His research on Jewish Breweries of Eastern Europe before the Nazis is one of the most remarkable things I have ever read under the guise of beer writing. Just look at his fabulous post “Hops of Galicia, Beer of Lopatyn” published in mid-November and then look at the twenty or more posts he has written in the weeks between then and now. Blogs dead? Nope, you just fell asleep.

And it is wonderful that Katie‘s piece on the modest dinner roll… bun… bap… was the #1 read piece on Pellicle this year. It’s probably the reason I started supporting them on Patreon. It’s the sort of quality writing that keeps me supporting them. Hope she put the old plates of meat up on the old pouf.

In more newsy news, apparently during these summer months in Australia, drinking beer too quickly is a bad thing:

It used to be a famous sight of the Australian cricket summer – former Australian prime minister Bob Hawke skolling a beer during the New Year’s Test at the SCG. But if the late Hawke skolled a beer at the MCG during the recent third Ashes Test, he would have been among many fans to have been ejected from the venue for drinking their alcoholic beverage too quickly. During the three days of Australia’s thrashing of England at the famous Melbourne stadium, countless cricket fans were booted out for skolling their beers.

There. Your beer word for the week: skolling.

Note: the new 2021 BJCP Style Guidelines are out. The beer I am having right now is excellent and breaks the rules. Table Saison by Meuse is only 3%. No one cares. And that $2.43 is a nutty price.

And without further ado… well, perhaps a bit of fanfare… I give you…

My Golden Pints For 2021

Favourite new Ontario beer: I thought this was going to be easy after I tweeted this earlier in the month:

Holy crap! Why has no one screamed at me about Sklepník from @Godspeedbrewery? This is one of the best beers I have ever had. Constrained, bread crust malt, herbal, even creamy. Wow. And “sklep” means shop in Polish so that’s totes cool. Shop beer.

Definitely Skelpnik… but then I had my first Meuse 8 yesterday. So it is a tie. I have not been on side with Jordan’s longstanding claim that this is a golden age for good beer. It is, however, now clearly a golden age for beer in Ontario.

Favourite Old Beery Friend: Peculiar Strong Ale by Granite Brewing. I’ve written about my youthful 1980s in Nova Scotia before, in 2008 for the 15th edition of The Session and again in 2017 when I wrote about a dusty business case study of the Halifax bar scene. for I am not going to be one of those dinkledorfs who will pretend to be able to tell you it does nor does not taste the same but it is very nice to be able to pour a beer that was poured for you around 35 years ago at the time when, in addition to some fine regional breweries and a raft of imports, the Canadian microbrewing scene was taking off.

Best Pub Experience: none.

Best Song About Beer: “Chaise Longue” by Wet Leg. This song is an NPR favourite but what hasn’t been pointed out quite clearly enough is that it is really a song about beer… or at least what goes on that chaise longue:

Hey you, in the front row
Are you coming backstage after the show?
Because I’ve got a chaise longue in my dressing room
And a pack of warm beer that we can consume

Beer song. 100%. Also the best song of 2021 if anyone is asking…

Worst Continuing Trend That Could Just Die: bland samey cartoons with a vaguely positive spin but an underlying tisk of one sort or another – oh and blobby graphics accompanying digital beer ‘zines.

Best Book about Beer: none… bad year for beer books… though if I had access to more modern British Beer I would likely be happy to recommend Modern British Beer by Matthew Curtis* as a useful guide to my options. This illustrates the ups and downs of more localized beer markets – aka more normal beer markets.

Best New Voice: Probably just new to me. David Jesudason in Pellicle with “Desi Style — The History and Significance of England’s Anglo-Asian Pubs” and “On Bat and Trap, and Finding A Sense of Place in Rural England” both articles gave me a window into place and time. I have also obsessed over Bat and Trap coming on 15 years.

Best Trend in Beer: home delivery continues to be wonderful. Right in front of me as I type these words is a door in my basement to a cold room. There are portions of boxes of beer in there from Matron, Godspeed, Meuse, Leftfield and Stone City for present drinking and gift giving to the neighbours. All brought to my house. Half the time for no shipping if you know when and what to order. Fabulous.

Best Beer Blogger: one stands above all year after year – John Duffy of The Beer Nut. Why? Constantly top quality writing by an encyclopedic and independent bon vivant, all offered with both sharp wit and a healthy slice of what I can only call humility. He will maybe laugh at me putting it that way but there is sort of decency and humanity that comes through… even when tearing a strip of something. He truly likes the brewing world and those who work in it. Rarely drops a name but highlights what they offer us all. If anyone sets the tone, it’s your lad, John. Drunk Tand agrees.

Best Imported Beer: The LCBO, our government store, brought in bottles of Timothy Taylor’s Landlord this fall and I like it. I have had it on tap when visiting the fam and I like it just fine in the bottle, too.

Biggest Waste Of Effort: either making or writing about pickle beer.

Best Beer Project: I know that Boak and Bailey awarded this their “Blogger of the Year” award but I think that is too narrow, perhaps a mislabeling. A History of Brussels Beer in 50 Objects by Eoghan Walsh is one of the best projects anyone who thinks at all seriously about beer has tackled in years. It is a book being writing before your eyes on a weekly basis. It is a draft of a TV script for a documentary shown on Belgian TV in 2026.

A final note. Many folk have given up on awarding this year’s beer best awards as part of their general abandonment of good writing about beer. What is up? It does seem like a point of pride with some beer writers that they don’t actually write all that much any more. As Stan got me thinking about this when he wrote his thoughts this week:

I realized as the lists started to roll out in recent weeks that I miss Bryan Roth’s annual effort to add objectivity to subjective choices. I’m too lazy to do something similar, but I did start saving lists a while back with the idea of posting them here in one giant listicle of listicles. Then I came to my senses.

And what is too often written is spun, formulaic or, worse, apologists. “The Five Best Beer Bars in Sarnia.” Lists of beer related presents at holiday time. 40 word beer reviews for throwaway advertising fliers posing as weekly community newspapers. Short, scripted lines for their 37 seconds on TV explaining this beer or that, those 37 seconds before the host laughs unkindly and moves on. It’s sad that this has happened – and frankly a bit embarrassing in a lot of cases – but I figure it’s better to find something else to do like write trade PR if you have nothing much actually interesting to say. Happily there are other far brighter lights to follow and more new voices showing up regularly. I am happy to help you find it… if that is what I am doing on this site.

Oh – and by the way – one more thing… I have created another thing. A Patreon site. Not necessarily to make any money so much as to create a micro site to experiment with. Honestly, I will probably use any money raised to give to others via Patreon. The micro site is getting populated with content as you read this. Well, right around now. Yesterday for sure. I think you can find the Patreon page here. I tried to make it as cheap as I could but $1 a month is not recommended so I went with $3 USD, $4 CND. One price. All in. Stop by or don’t. I won’t judge you. Maureen** is clearly on board.

There. Welcome 2022 and to Hell with you, 2021! Even though it gave us the vaccine roll out and proved once again that humanity can pull its boots up and get things done if it puts its mind to it. OK, 2021 wasn’t so bad. Remember 2020? Now, that one sucked. While you think on that and plan your Friday evening snacks, please please check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday (except when they check out like they have for the last two weeks) and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Or is that dead now?) There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. (That’s a bit now and then now.) And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (which he may revive some day…) And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*We have never met and neither of us owes the other money.
**TO my horror, when cleaning up and getting masses of paper files out the door and to a professional shredder, I realized I owe Maureen a modest sum for a project I dreamed up years ago that went absolutely nowhere. I found the envelope she sent her cheque in. Post marked Iowa. I am embarrassed. I need to make amends.

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For The End Of Q3 2021

Do you ever find yourself on a Wednesday evening and realizing you didn’t note a lot beery news in a week? No? Me neither. No way. What’s been going on? I can tell you for sure. Because I have been attentive. Saw stuff like this: Curtis walked into a 2005/2010 central New York beer store cosplay event this week. That was something. And I cracked a new databased to dig through for new 1700s New York brewery information as part of the work on Empire Beer. Just typing “Lispenard” gave me, like you, a rush as well as a renewed sense of purpose. I found a reference that pushed the brewing career of Mr. Leadbetter back one whole year. And Craig found Albany beer for sale in Boston in the 1730s. Inter-colonial beer shipments almost 300 years ago. Neato. Oh – and I didn’t drink beer in a graveyard. So there.

First up, I had no idea about France… keeping in mind the first thing that comes to mind with much beer industry writing is the question “is that really true?”:

It may be famous for its wine, but France is also the country with the largest number of breweries in Europe. This is how French beer changed its image from a “man’s drink” to a refined beverage worthy of an apéro… The number of microbreweries here has exploded over the past decade. The country went from having 442 active breweries in 2011, to 2,300 today, meaning no country in Europe has more breweries than France, according to the trade union Brasseurs de France.

Next, an update on the Umqombothi situation. You will recall that in June a man took the prize for making the best Umqombothi, right? Well, now the traditional South African beer faces regulation:

With the newly-amended Liquor Products Act that came into effect last Friday, there are now strict production requirements that traditional beer merchants will have to abide by in order to stay on the right side of the law. Thembisile Ndlovu has made a name for herself as the queen of brewing umqombothi the natural way it was done by grandmothers back in the villages. The 36-year-old from Zondi in Soweto, who is owner of All Rounder Theme events that organises themed parties and provides catering, said the new law regulating the making of umqombothi would not affect her business.

Odd seeing Pellicle win second place in a “best blog” award this week. From Beer 52 which fulls wells knows what Pellicle is. It’s not that it got an award or came second. It’s that it recognized that the drinks website was a blog. There is an interesting comment hidden in the explanation of the award:

…Pellicle has stuck to a founding principle that I recall finding quite radical at the time: kindness. Next to the toxic dumping ground of rivalry and acrimony that is Beer Twitter, Pellicle has been unremittingly positive in choosing what to cover and how to cover it.

I don’t disagree but I also find it weird that the fairly barren wasteland for any beer discussion on Twitter is set up as the comparator. Having made a hobby of reading this stuff every week, beer Twitter died off a long time ago. May still be general jerk Twitter, sure. And both GHB Sightlines and Dave Infante’s Fingers have recently seen the need to put up a paywall to make ends meet. Is “beer blog” the last phrase standing? Maybe so – if that is what Pellicle is. Speaking of which, they published an excellent piece by Will Hawkes on hops growing in England:

Crucially, the hop gardens sit on rich, fertile Brickearth soil, windblown loam and silt, deposited during the Ice Age. The Thames Estuary is just three miles away, and the hops, which grow on a gentle east-facing slope, are frequently buffeted by wind. This proximity to the sea is part of what makes East Kent Goldings what they are, although John regards it as a mixed blessing. “They can end up a bit bashed and brown,” he says. “The German hops are always pristine! They must get no wind there.”

Speaking of which, Stan’s Hop Queries blog by email showed up this week including observations on the Colorado hop market:

MillerCoors (now MolsonCoors) subsidized Colorado’s mini-hop boom in the teens, paying much more for Colorado grown hops than the brewery would have for the same varieties from the Northwest. They were, and are, used in the Colorado Native line of beers. That includes seven year-round brands and four seasonals that are brewed with 100% Colorado-grown ingredients. However, a few years ago MolsonCoors cut back its hop contracts to “right-size” inventory. Many farmers weren’t ready to compete.

Stan also noted that the Ales Through the Ages beer history conference has gone Zoomy and yet, even after scrapping the junket side, has also ditched all of the original speakers. Did ticket sales bomb for what many thought, as I observed last April, could have been called “Males on Ales Through the Ages”?

And Andy Crouch guided me to an article in Wine Enthusiast on the tepid performative solidarity craft beer is displaying in response to bigotries in the craft beer trade:

“… I keep getting messages and emails and calls, and people just stopping by the brewery, every day, just being like either this person apologized to me, or this person was fired, or the company just did this for everybody, and just letting me know all these really positive changes that people are actually sticking to and doing what they say. “It is heartwarming to know that it actually is helping people and creating lasting change.” To bring these issues to light in the customer sphere, in July, Allan announced a collaboration beer called Brave Noise. Its aim is to promote a safe and discrimination-free beer industry. At press time, fewer than 100 breweries had committed to the project.

Craft fibs category ticked. Back in England but still about forms of ticking, Mudgie guided me to the post at Real Ale, Real Music about an excellent pub crawl in Preston:

I retraced my route, passing dozens of takeways, a few restaurants, vape shops, beauty salons, and the odd pub as Saturday evening came to life. I had decided I would visit one more place before getting the train home. It was back across town, back to Fishergate, where down the side street by Barclays Bank was the Winckley Street Ale House, another recommendation from earlier in the day. There were tables outside, as there were at other spots on a pleasant side street, and as I walked in I joined a queue to the bar. It moved slowly, but finally it was my turn.

Reality. I believe what I read in that story more than I believe that France has more breweries than any other country in Europe. Or that much of craft cares. Facts! That’s what we need.

That’s it. For more check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan now apparently a regular again every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast (this week… VIKINGS!!!), at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword – when he isn’t in hiatus as at the mo, more like timeout for rudeness! And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

Your Beery News Notes For The Middle Of May 2021

Here we are. Fed up with the pandemic. Fed up with hobbies, as illustrated above. I even had to cover the damn tomatoes again this week as we approach mid-May just to be sure. But sunshine, warmth and all things good are promised from here on out… you bet… so I am looking forward these days. Speaking of hobbies, I even have a second beer related project, one in addition to Project X. Let’s call it Project Y, shall we? Project X has a longer arc for sure but Project Y is cheery, quite positive. You know how these things are.

And, well, for Project Y as part of my due diligence I had to go hunting for a particular beer book, a particular history of a particular patch of the Earth. And I was struck by something as I dug through my shelves – how many creative and interesting beer books came out from about 2008 to about 2017 or so. That was the Golden Era, wasn’t it. I was buying a book once a month back then. When things were not about craft selling to big beer or then about craft adulterating the beer with fruity adjuncts… or non-beers like seltzers and sodas. Could you imagine writing a style guide to seltzers? A few people are dripping tears upon the keyboard even as they read those words… because that is what they are doing.

Anyway, not me. I have Projects X and Y to keep me smug and warm as this lockdown continues. Speaking of which, is this true?

Seltzers were the inevitable end. Throughout history people have always desired beer that tastes less like beer. The death of gruit. The death of smoke beer. The death of highly roasted beers. And now, the death of beer.

There seems to be a lot of seltzer based anxiety in the beer writing world as much as the beer brewing world. What to write about when there is nothing to discuss? Add alcohol, flavouring and carbonation to water. Bingo! Same story over and over.

Interestingly and instead of books, some beer writers appear to be engaging in a relatively recent sort of paid web event. Pete Brown is running book club events on his back catalogue where you can join in the discussion for a fee. One of the most successful books of the Golden Era, his 2009 book Hops and Glory, was the topic last night. And Gary Gilmore is appearing at a conference this very afternoon, speaking on the topic of Margaret Simpson: Pioneer Publican-Brewer in Upper Canada. A paper will follow. And Pellicle is holding a second anniversary beer bash where, at least in the UK, you can buy a selected six pack and drink along. I might pop in, if only at the end of that one given it is still at the end of the work day my time. I highly recommend jumping on these sorts of things as with any luck, like apparently interesting beer books themselves, they will also be a thing of the past once the vaccines are all in arms and the world moves on to its next norm.

What else is going on? Well, an apology to Martin who left a comment on last weeks post that I didn’t get around to noticing needed approval for three days. Such are the consequences and resulting administrative burden from the flotsam, jetsam and other forms of abuse that usually appear in the comments. But chit chat is always welcome so, again, sorry for the delay.

Liam at BeerFoodTravel has posted a second discussion about the history of hops in Ireland, this week covering the 1800s in a detailed calendar entry style like this:

1835 – Under the headline ‘Irish Hops’ a Belfast newspaper states that The Commission of Revenue Inquiry recommended that Irish grown hops should pay a similar rate of duty as those grown in England. (There are also mentions of duties on ‘Irish hops’ in 1843, 1845 and 1846 in various parliamentary records.) Once again this would indicate that hops were possibly still being grown somewhere on the island and in enough quantities to warrant discussion in parliament.

In other hop news, an email that gave me pause came into the spam filters this week from the otherwise reputable firm Yakima Chief Hops:

In 2017, YCH launched a line of innovative hop products known as Cryo Hops® using a cryogenic hop-processing technology that separates whole cones into two components—concentrated lupulin and bract. These concentrated lupulin pellets provide brewers with maximum aroma impact while reducing the negative effects experienced with brewing hoppy beers. The Cryo Hops® brand has since been recognized on beer labels worldwide. YCH has combined this novel process with cutting-edge hop lab analysis techniques to create Cryo Pop™ Original Blend, formerly known as trial blend TRI 2304CR.

Really? See, I just want Fuggles. I want a bucket worth of Fuggles pitched into a hot bubbling malty wort out of which comes something called ale. I don’t want the “TM” or the “R” all that much either. How pleasing it was, then to read the announcement of nearish-byish Aston Brewery’s new mascot, Fermie. The logo was too small for my preferred slogan “Consume me very soon or time will ravage me!!!”

In the UK, trade interests have no doubt rallied effectively to block the right to know what goes into your body should this initiative to list calories in beer get come to pass:

Public Health Minister Jo Churchill has told colleagues she wishes to launch a 12-week consultation on the plans. They would force any business with 250 or more people to publish the calorie information about drinks – meaning the change in the law would hit most major pub chains. Churchill points to the fact that 7-8% of drinkers’ calorie intake come from booze, with lower socio-economic households and those already overweight benefiting the most from the policy. But last night critics slammed the plans as “madness” saying they would be a hammer blow to an already struggling part of the economy.

Not quite clear on the scope of her jurisdiction. And apparently neither was Minister Churchill as the whole thing was scrapped within minutes… days… well, a few weeks for sure. A fair bit further along the continuum of health and booze, a grim bit of good story telling popped up on BBC Scotland this week, the story of a violent addict who got past it.

Related? Are we really to believe that we are all supposed to not notice the information quality provided by influencers but we are all supposed to sneer a bit a bloggers? I might have to revisit the hierarchies of content control but it is becoming clear that one of the hallmarks of expertise more and more is not actually publishing anything. All a bit topsy turvy.

Related? Nice bit of beer porn out of France this week from GBH. The text is characteristically precious GBH-style likely state funded tourism PR mixed with an NBC Olympics level coverage sweet heartwarming personal story but, well, there’s a lot of nice imagery in there.*

Note: “Historic England believe that only 10 to 15% of identifiable maltings survive.”

Is that it? Barrel bottom scraped? A bit of a quiet week. Keep hunting. And I’ll learn again about all the good stuff that I missed on Saturday. And, speaking of which, please don’t forget to check out the weekly updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. There’s the AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword – when he isn’t in hiatus as at the mo, more like timeout for rudeness. And remember BeerEdge, too. Plus a newcomer located by B+B: The Moon Under Water.

*I had to preserve this response from Tom C. on FB: “Made me laugh so hard, I almost scalded myself with the single-farm free-trade coffee that I was sipping in the waning darkness of the early dawn, after having been so heartily accosted by my dog, ravenous for his morning gruel, that I relented and fed him, putting off for the moment my Thursday-morning ritual of dallying over Alan’s beery news roundup. And, then my day began.“

Your “One Week To Christmas Eve” Beery News Notes

Most years, this sort of roundup post right before Christmas would be full of people – especially British people – going on about the drunken work party they were at. On behalf of all those who have done or said the wrong thing in such settings, here’s a big thanks to the pandemic. Otherwise you totally suck. Scots author Ian Rankin illustrated this year’s alternative model as found in Edinburgh in two tweets this week:

That’s Bow Street to the left and the Bow Bar to the right. A favorite place of mine, being near the fam and all. I have a pair of tweed trews from across the street, too. And it’s a spot that features in this year’s Will Ferrell flick Eurovision…* if you know where to look.

Lars to the east took the time to totally suck Christ right out of Christmas this week when he explored pre-Christian aspects to our western materialist winterfest:

So if the ethnographers are right Christmas was first a feast for the dead, then a fertility feast for the new year. Both, of course, requiring the best the house could produce of food and drink. And in Scandinavia the best drink was beer, of course. But how much is this to be trusted? Can ethnographers really have reconstructed the original meaning of Christmas from fragmentary stories and traditions around Norway?

This sort of thing is a doddle for me and mine given the clan MacLeod was founded by Ljot who wanted nothing to do with the conversion to Christianity going on under royal edict in Norway in around 1250. We were the Beverly Hillbillies of Vikings, moving all to Skye. Probably more of us than them now as a result. Especially if you include the early schism that created the Elliots.**

Update on the value of UK social clubs: grab a grannie.

Martyn shared in length his thoughts on why he does not like cider:

I can see that there will be plenty to appreciate in cider: the variety that comes from dozens – hundreds – of types of cider apple, the changes caused by terroir, not just the soil, but the different strains of yeasts that live on the apples, the variations from year to year, the skills of the cider maker, the alterations brought on by age … it’s no different from beer, or wine, or whisky. And if you’re a cider lover, I’m very pleased for you: it’s tremendous, I’m sure, exploring that world, making discoveries, revisiting old favourites. I’m genuinely sorry I can’t join in.

He admits that he’s also not an enthusiast for wine or whisk(e)y either. I have a variation on this. I am periodically fonder of beer, wine, cider or whisky but I don’t have much luck having a robust interest in more than one of these around the same time. Or anything. They come and go in turn – and sometimes no desire at all for any of them.

And Boak and Bailey have rounded up a bit more this week, proclaiming both their Golden Pints as well as favorite writing for 2020. One of my rare bits of beer history on Dorchester ale and beer made the grade, much to my flattery and gratitude. Other than perhaps their weakness for my histories of English strong ale, they are great assessors of the field and tend to wander away from whatever is held out as the trend of the moment. Always a great resource.

Unlike many, I’ve never bought into the “beer people are great people” stuff and this rather brave bit of sharing by Julia Herz has done nothing to alter my view. If anything, the niche has always appeared to allow plenty of entitled latitude for knuckle draggers with the comfort of “it was all said in fun” thrown in for good measure. Fabulous.

Whether related or not I can’t say but the Evening Standard in the UK has shared the news that no one really should be surprised about*** – the well-off are on the bottle:

The Health Survey for England, which interviewed more than 8,200 adults last year, found that richer men and women showed a greater tendency to drink more than 14 units of alcohol per week. The highest proportion of men drinking at this level were found in the highest income households (44 per cent) compared with 22 per cent in the lowest income bracket. Meanwhile, 25 per cent of women in the highest income homes drank alcohol at higher levels compared to nine per cent in the lowest income homes.

In earthier news, those watching the world’s malting barley markets are predicting a happier 2021:

Malting barley premiums are predicted to nudge higher into the new year, reflecting a recovery from coronavirus lockdowns and a sharp fall in spring barley drillings next year. Premiums for malting barley over feed barley have slipped to £10-£12/t, hit by a drop in demand from the maltsters and a massive spring barley crop area of more than 1m hectares this year, but they are set to recover.

In other barley news, Australia is taking China to the WTO over tariffs:

“As a grains industry, we’ve been accused of acting outside of the rules — (growers) feel uncomfortable about those accusations,” Mr Hosking said. He said the industry did not expect a quick resolution and admitted some exporters were reluctant to support WTO action. “There’s no doubt this makes a lot of growers nervous, we rely on China for a lot of our export opportunities in agriculture, we don’t want to see anything that might impact that detrimentally, but we can’t predict how China will behave.”

Hmm… like a totalitarian military dictatorship with expansionist plans? Maybe? Good news for Oz – India awaits even if China is now dating Europe. Hmm.

Finally, a Christmas tale from my old home town of Halifax on a brewing collaboration between Big Spruce Brewing of Baddeck, N.S., and Boston-based Harpoon Brewery:

Every year, Nova Scotia gifts a tree to Boston, to show the province’s gratitude for the help Bostonians provided after the Halifax Explosion on Dec. 6, 1917. The taste profile of the beer — called From Nova Scotia With Love — is a history lesson in itself. “Fermented on a Belgian yeast to note the fact that there was a Belgian ship involved in the explosion,” said Jeremy White of Big Spruce. “It was also brewed with a little bit of spruce tips to kind of give it that quintessential Big Spruce touch, Nova Scotia touch, if you will.”

Interesting nod to Belgium. Never seen that before. Perhaps because the ships in the collision were French and Norwegian… oh but it was on charter for Belgian relief work. OK. Not so weird after all.

UPDATE: Will Hawkes has brushed off the blog and posted an essay, arguing on the relationship between Britain and it’s former pal Europe as seen through the bottom of a beer glass as a teaser for an event:

In one sense, it’s banal to point out that Britain and West Flanders have a strong connection. In another, it’s timely; Brexit is happening, and we will be a bit more distant when it has finally run its course. Or we may only seem to be. Whatever the chancers in Downing Street achieve in terms of pissing everyone off, this country’s links to Europe will remain strong. They invariably have been, even before wool exports to Flanders made Medieval England rich and the first barrel of claret reached London in the 12th century. What is the point of this? It’s a convoluted way of promoting a talk I’m doing this Saturday, as part of Context Conversations.

Sadly, no reference to the Hanseatic League and the suggestion that hopped beer wandered over from Holland in the 1300s as opposed to being forced down England’s throat by gunboat in the 1200s… but there you go.

There. A bit shorter this week. Forgive me but I had long public meetings for work run late on both Tuesday and Wednesday evenings. Looking forward to the break, like you no doubt. As we do that, remember that for more good reading check out the weekly updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday, plus more at the OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. Plus the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. There’s the AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And have a look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword. And remember BeerEdge, too. Go!

*Life lesson learned: most people actually only want to hear “Ja Ja Ding Dong”!
**Mac=O, Ljot=Leod=Liots.
***What be the next revelation? Many die in Midsomer?

The Last Thursday Beer News Update Before Santa Visits And Delivers All The Stuff

Yuletide. Its been busy so far this month but after one last late evening meeting for work tonight I think I might be sliding into Yule proper. As I mentioned a few weeks ago, the days of the Christmas Yuletide Hogmanay Kwanzaa and Hanukkah Beery photo contest may be well past us but the archives go on and on. To the left is 2014‘s co-winning entry from Thomas Cizauskas, one of the drinks world’s longest serving bloggers (care of Yours for Good Fermentables) and general gentleman of the trade. I remember being immediately taken by the way it reminds me of Vermeer, busily full of subtle detail.

Speaking of detail, the efforts of Boak and Bailey to single handedly keep beer blogging going never fail to impress and this week we have, in addition to their normal weekly roundup as well as a summary of their favourites among their own posts,* a wonderful summary of the best that they have read from the blogs of others:

We do this not only as a reminder that there’s lots of great stuff being produced by talented writers but also because writing online is transitory – you sweat over something, it has its moment of attention, then sinks away into the bottomless depths of the Eternal Feed. The pieces we’ve chosen below excited or interested us when they were published an, rereading them this weekend, retained their power. They tell us things we didn’t already know, challenge our thinking, find new angles on old stories, and do it with beautiful turns of phrase and delightful images.

Wonderful and particularly wonderful as they liked my August 2019 post on Lambeth Ale to include it. I don’t get the time as much to do research so I am pleased that one was pleasing.

Look! A wonderful pub in England. In a time of need, too. Elsewhere, holiday tragedy struck in Scotland this week when a truck full of Brussel sprouts went off the road.

The vehicle pulling the trailer full of the Christmas dinner vegetable overturned in Queensferry Road in Rosyth at about 10.45. Police Scotland said it had closed the road and was urging drivers to avoid the area. A spokesman tweeted: “There’s been a bit of a Brussel Sprouts accident at the roundabout at Admiralty Road.” The tweet added: “Please avoid the area if possible. Traffic and Christmas dinners may be affected. Apologies for any delays.”

Now, you may say what has this got to do with beer but there is nothing so good as a sprout covered in gravy washed about the gums by a faceful of Fullers Vintage Ale on the 25th of December and I will call out anyone who disagrees. By the way, if the city is Brussels why is the sprout singular? Ha ha! They are not. It’s Brussels sprouts. I grew them once about twenty years ago. Only pick them after a few frosts. Top tip, that.

Speaking of not beer, there is a wine glut in the world:

From a balance of supply and demand for bulk wine as recently as a couple of years ago, we are now in surplus worldwide thanks to some abundant recent vintages, and also possibly due to declining demand as consumers trade up while per capita consumption levels off or declines.

Speaking of holidays, excess and mindless abandon, I have learned that the good folk in Australia have come out with new drinking guidelines which are prefaced in a very Antipodean style:

“We’re not telling Australians how much to drink. We’re providing advice about the health risks from drinking alcohol so that we can all make informed decisions in our daily lives. This advice has been developed over the past three years using the best health evidence available,” says Professor Anne Kelso, CEO of the National Health and Medical Research Council. “In 2017 there were more than 4,000 alcohol-related deaths in Australia, and across 2016/17 more than 70,000 hospital admissions. Alcohol is linked to more than 60 medical conditions, particularly numerous cancers. So, we all need to consider the risks when we decide how much to drink.”

Good way to send the message. And similarly from the “the sky ain’t falling department, the Pub Curmudgeon reports on the after effects of the lowering of the drunk driving limits in Scotland five years on, objecting to a study’s core findings:

This month sees the fifth anniversary of the reduction of the drink-driving limit in Scotland in December 2014. At the time, the immediate impact on the licensed trade was such that it caused a noticeable downward blip in Scotland’s national GDP figure. Now, five years later a study by academics at Stirling University has examined the longer-term effect on the trade and, perhaps predictably, concluded that it hasn’t really made a great deal of difference, saying that “Most participants reported no long‐term financial impact on their business.”

He argues that the rural pub is affected the most and therefore the study places its finger on the wrong outcome. Interesting…

Speaking of criticism, there is a wonderful piece on the site for NPR’s foodie show The Splendid Table on how the role of restaurant critic has evolved since the 1970s:

Today, the relationship between restaurant critics and restaurants themselves is kind of adversarial; it wasn’t then. To me, we the people who were cooking the food and the people who were writing about it were all on the same team. And as time went on, I started seeing my role changing a little bit in that I honestly believe that cities get the restaurants they demand. I started in the mid-1970s, and by the mid-1980s I was starting to think that it was really important that people be more demanding of restaurants, that the food in the city would be better if people didn’t settle for mediocrity.

Is good beer, therefore, almost four decades behind?** Or is the good beer writing about good beer now good?

Speaking of being behind, I am ashamed I never heard of this story of racial discrimination, one beer and the Supreme Court of Canada from eighty years ago:

…since Christie vs. York was handed down, 80 years ago this month, little else has been known about the man who took a Montreal tavern to court for refusing to serve him because he was black. Civil rights activists in Montreal, wanting to honour his legacy, have been trying to locate Christie’s relatives and gather more information about him. It was believed he moved to Vermont in disgust after the Supreme Court decision. That’s where the trail ran cold.

I should unpack that case. The majority opinion reads like something from the 1800s. The single dissenting ruling sounds like modern law.

Someday, brewery features will features sources other than the brewery owner. Until then, there is this. Tell me if you’ve heard it before.

That’s it. A bit of coal after many pressies. Next week’s edition will be out on Boxing Day. Make sure you are good and lubricated for the wonder that ye shall behold. And don’t forget that there’s more news at Boak and Bailey’s on Saturday, at the OCBG Podcast on Tuesdays and sometimes a mid-week post of notes from The Fizz as well. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, too. Merry Christmas to you all!!!

*…in which they include my favorite post of the year from anyone, their piece “The Swan With Two Necks and the gentrification issue” from November.
**That is so meta of me.