Beer in the End Times – Page 5

The Very Last Thursdays Beer News Of 2022 Plus The Year’s Best Beer Writing… According To Me

So. The snows did come. And the winds really blew. We were between municipalities with declared states of emergency from the 23rd to the 26th. That’s the view out the front of nearby Matron Fine Beer, announcing on FB that they were shut on Boxing Day. The 900 km two day round trip was not taken. We stayed in.

According to me? Isn’t that what all this all is all about? Over the now near twenty years of doing this, I have only had one question: why? It’s a hobby, I suppose. And maybe a bit of a diary. But, looking back, it’s also an archive. A searchable database that’s become a bit of an encyclopedia. Maybe. As I may have mentioned, I dove back into reading quite seriously this year. I’m on my fiftieth book . Unfortunately, ruining my pace, I’ve been reading it for a month that fiftieth book. Cultural Amnesia by Clive James. It’s an excellent 850 page set of 120 bios of the greatest or most compelling writers or most murderous political figures selected – and to a certain degree cross referenced – by James to explain where we all were as of 2008 when the book was published.

Bear with my side track. Please. It’s turned into a bit of a one household dinner party week and I’ve been dipping in and out of here and the book. See, the book is effectively an encyclopedia of criticism, written by a great critic effectively criticizing modernity. It’s oddly organized. Alphabetical. Not in terms of the chronological order of those in the bios. Good to obey the chronology. And not ordered in terms of the progress of thought or even the order that James encountered those thoughts. Each bio from A to Z has a sketch of the life, an aphorism by the subject and then a critical examination of the thought. I am struck over and over by my own stupidity in light of all these thoughts. Never heard of more than half of the people included in the 120, let alone their century defining aphorisms. But it has given me a bit of heart, you know, related to the importance of careful critical reading – even when the care is taken with reading about the tiny odd corner of society filled by the beer trade… something that isn’t really quite at the same level as James’ concern, you know, when compared with the question of humanity’s serial genocidal tendencies.

So… is this place all an unintentional oddly organized niche encyclopedia? Perhaps a compendium. Or a gazetteer. Could be. A diary of thoughts. Can’t really say. Not done yet.

The Last Weekly News Notes

As you think about all that, there were a few note worthy things happening in the world of beer over the quiet holiday week. First, Ron held his annual Christmas Day Drinkalongathon which, given the six hour time difference, was not going to happen in my house:

I’m starting with the traditional bacon sarnie and fino sherry. I usually go on about the saltiness of the whatsit complementing the brinyness of the whatsit. But today I’m just enjoying stuffing some greasy meat into my gob, whilst slowly easing my body into the boozy assault that is to follow. Yum…

Other odd forms of praising Christ’s birth were noted. Getting dressed up and drunk on Boxing Day is a thing in Wigan according to the UK’s Daily News which published a photo essay with scenes like this:

People stumbled home and had a rest against buildings and on pavements after a big night out at the Boxing Day annual fancy dress night in Wigan. A couple of traffic cones made sure a woman was okay as she sat on a pavement, a man wearing a dress – Freddie Mercury style – was shouted at and pushed away outside the Popworld nightclub by another woman. Several grabbed a takeaway to soak up the booze as they awaited taxis.

And the far more sedate Tand himself has written up a recent visit to Northern Ireland and spotted an interesting fact about his first pint:

Our choice? Well, Guinness of course – you have to for your first at least don’t you, and this was a fine example of what I regard as a pretty unimpressive beer. I had learned before I went there that the gas mix in Ireland – presumably including the North too – is a 75/25 nitrogen to CO2, whereas in GB it is 70/30, making for a less creamy and smooth pint than in Ireland.

More western hemispherically, Josh Noel noted the continued odd economics of Goose Island Bourbon Stout and its shift to the discount shelf in the same year of issue, tweeting:

The more I think about it, the simpler it all seems — it’s just way overpriced. All of it.

Yup.****

Conversely, we still have these sorts of PR plugs that everything is A-OK despite the brewer closures:

“It used to be that the kind of the craft, or the weird, let’s call it, beers were just for fringe, like people who maybe that identified themselves as being different,” said Christine Comeau, executive director of the Canadian Craft Brewers Association. “But now we’re seeing that craft beer, it’s appeal has gone beyond just kind of the fringe drinkers way more into the mainstream. I think that the brewers themselves are making beer that’s really approachable, I think consumers are recognizing they enjoy the variety of tastes and flavours and the experience of it.” Comeau said over 1,100 craft breweries operate in Canada, and that number is continually growing.

Not sure how much – if any – of that is fully true. But we could say that about so much, couldn’t we. About so much.

Best of 2022

Let’s get to this. Right away. Errr.. first, some context. As I sat down at the very outset, to begin compiling this my list of the best in beer writing for 2022, the Argentine and then the French national anthems played on my TV. Full of anxiety and a bit excited, I wondering if I should have a drink at 10 AM on a Sunday to steady the nerves. Why? Not because of the World Cup Final that’s playing in the background. No, it’s because Boak and Bailey have just published their own insanely detailed 2022 best in beer writing blog post. Holy frig. The effort. I quickly realized that there was no point of replicating the work they have put in. Any efforts I make will be half assed in comparison. I knew this so immediately mainly for one reason – because I am always half assed in comparison.

Still… I will not be totally deterred by excellence in others. It’s not my way. As you know. Mirroring B+B, I will say that I too drew from a wide range of sources this year, the quality of which differs. I am a reasonably generous patron of Pellicle which, for me, really stands alone in terms of quality and focus.*** It’s the NPR of beer writing. Other sources still are out there competing and providing genuine surprises, sources like the few remaining newspaper columns and articles, the business tied publications like Ferment and the Good Beer Hunting (now more and more a travelogue borg) along with the fading phenomenon of podcasts, the obstinately stalwart blogs, not to mention the more resilient of those newer things the hybrid “blog meets pen-pals” that some folk still call newsletters.* Each are in their own way goal oriented, whether commercial or just aspirational. Folk jockeying and seeking their wee thin slice. As they should. Each also has their own editorial slant that affects what’s covered – or, more importantly, what they won’t dare or just couldn’t be bothered to touch (given those goals I mentioned – not to mention the guiding hand of travel association funding.) But, knowing all that, it all still forms a pretty vibrant if messy scene that seldom fails to offer a good selection of reading week after week. We should all be grateful for that.

Fine. Let’s get to it. What’s the winner? Let me perhaps first further preface my extended preamble with this one caveat: I also can’t see myself studying stats per author as B² did even if a number of top year-long writing efforts clearly stand out. It’s me, not you. Or them. Is it them? Yes, it’s them. One problem I face when putting them all together is that I don’t necessarily limit my references to articles. I equally mention conversational points made by folk like Lars, Martyn and Ruvani received by DMs, emails and in social media as much as I cite longer posts like those of Ron and of Gary – who has gone to a new level in 2022. The epigram is as valid as the essay but you sure can lose track. It gets a bit messy. And, looking back, how would I even search the stuff given, as I have to admit by way of example, I seem to have about sixteen nicknames for Matthew… Matty C… The Mattimeister 3000.** Plus, you get side tracked about people. Frankly I find myself fretting over the state of JD-TBN‘s liver and Delores’s patience with every notification of another post. That all being said, counting my fingers and toes, I can confirm that both NHS Martin and Beth Demmon had 12 full standalone pieces mentioned here in this place over 2022. By comparison, Eoghan had only six mentions – but all from his fabulous, his epic perhaps even heroic series A History of Brussels Beer in 50 Objects which started in mid-2021 and carried over through the first half of 2022. Each of those mentioned above (and, sure, others) in their own way are tied for most attention grabbing beer writer of the year… well, hons ments.

So the best thing in beer writing this year… quite specifically? I think I was pretty clear back in November when I wrote about David Jesudason’s “Please Don’t Take Me Home — How Black Country Desi Pub Culture Made Football More Diverse” in Pellicle, stammering and stumbling my thoughts:

… calmness in the moment. There are none of the burdens² ³ ⁴ … in this piece like all the best sort of writing there is also a person and a moment. The scene being seen. I’d be at this pub regularly… if it was in my town… and if Canada has the same sort of pub life… which it doesn’t.

You can click through for those footnotes. No need to repeat the dreary comparisons. Everything fails a bit in comparison. Just have a look at his essay itself. Simple and generous. Proud and objective. Lovely. One thing I suspect is going on here is that David Jesudason came to beer as an already established good writer, having credits including at the BBC and The Guardian. Beer, being a fairly low value topic in terms of both substance and reward, doesn’t usually attract the more established version of the good writer – even if it’s been a strong training ground. I expect the addition of social justice issues and authors to the curriculum over the last few years has probably made helpful space for interesting views – especially when that spot is not appropriated by the non-marginalized.***** Even with this shade, welcoming more skilled writers and their writing is great, the best shaking up what is otherwise a pretty fixed format.

Finally, best new thing in beer writing generally? Wait for it. Mastodon. Yup. I was thinking about it earlier this week when Maureen Ogle was lamenting the death of her #BeerTwitter community. I replied…

…the values are different. Were you writing when the RSBS feed was discontinued? Maybe 350 beer sites updated daily and you got a notice by email. Its death caused a reordering. New readers. If Twitter is now dying, is another new reordering is happening? Here, you get followers with content. But many beer writers actually stopped writing some time ago too. And new voices have already moved in on the turf. Is a big shift on?

My conclusion… wait for it! Have faith. Just as the death of craft doesn’t mean the death of beer, so too the death of Twitter is not the death of thought… err… and anyway – didn’t that happen with the creation of Twitter? You have to be patient. Mastodon works differently. More carom billiards than 8 ball, more rugby than darts. Hashtags are more important than retweets… aka boosts. Big hint? Follow #BeerWriting and include #BeerWriting in every post. Folks gather. Don’t believe me? Follow #Birding. Happy to help. Questions in the comments will be answered. Fine, maybe this is really a 2023 forecast. Only you can decide if that is or isn’t the case.

One more best? Godspeed Brewing out of Toronto. I bought many a case for home delivery this year. Their Tmavý Ležák 12º is fabulous. For me, now figuring out what being somewhat gluten intolerant means, that’s a bit more praise than I had expected to be able to give.

Finally, the Festival of Beer Links

Think of these as the movie credits. Continuing a now week-long tradition, Boak and Bailey added a new feature to their weekly post recently which I am slowly building upon, too – a shared list of beer writing resources on Mastodon:

Try those folk as, again, we might not have a weekly weekend update this week from Boak and Bailey as we usually see mostly every Saturday and perhaps also not one from Stan at his spot on Mondays. It’s still the holidays. So, look around and check to see if there is the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. The OCBG Podcast is on a very quiet schedule these days – but it was there last week! 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!

*I wrote that and just before the first half of the final game (Argentina up 2-0 at 44:19) realized what I hadn’t included – books! Remember beer books? I wonder if I will mention one I really like this year… let’s see… (later… nope…)
**OK, that’s actually a new one.
***…even if it still published a few wowsers like the stunningly revisionist reference to the genocide in NNY against the Haudenosaunee.
****Remember when people thought “sucker juice” was a dumb mean thing to say? That was great.
***** … and where a bit oddly forced given the history, just fleeting or (worst) leveraged by the crass coat-tailing personal promoters with sticky fingers…

The Jing-Jing-Jingliest Thursday Beery News Notes Of All!!

Here we are. Christmas Eve… Eve… Eve… because the 25th is Sunday and that screws everything up. The kid still goes to school tomorrow, which is insane. I am sorta off but not off as there isn’t much happening now a week after even the staff Christmas parties are over. And… there’s a HAMMER OF THOR snowstorm coming tomorrow. All good. I’m Christmassy and that is all that counts. Fam’s all here, pressies bought and the tree is lit! I thought I would pull back the curtain and give you a sense of the life at my house at the holidays. KIDDING!!! That’s not my house, that’s “The Chess Players” by Gustav Wintzel of Norway from 1886. Look at that beer! Gotta be a litre glass right there plus the colour is key to the entire painting, establishing the triangle with the contents of that shelf… probably a mantelpiece with the firebox hidden by those rugs. Lovely.

Right off the top, how is this for a graph from the Victim of Math? Click on it for more detail. It’s the Health Survey for England’s data showing how young people there are abandoning drinking – and have been on a steady trend of going clean at an amazing rate of change. It looks like in 2017 less than 25% of women 16 to 24 well over 40%. The lads are less less inclined but seem to have gone from about 17% dry to 34% so over the last ten years. Don’t know what that bodes other than it bodes something.

Speaking of boding, Jordan wrote the third in his St. Johnian* Effort in the “boding not too welling in Ontario” series this week, the conclusion of which I will ruin knowing it is not the end… not even the beginning of the end… but more like the end of the beginning:

Let’s see if we can recap: Beer is a luxury good by default, and its cost has outpaced wage growth. As established earlier, we’re dealing with the smallest cohort of people turning 19 in living memory, a cohort smaller than any other group younger than 65. Per capita consumption is going down year over year, presumably due to multiple issues including health and lifestyle choices, but also because of decreased relevance due to affordability. Additionally, this is in the face of greater availability in terms of retail purchase locations in the province’s post-prohibition history.

Add callow youth ditching drinking to that list… Perhaps related, an interesting article in The Times on James May and his pub and the lessons he has learned about the marketplace:

Pubs, for obvious reasons, proliferated in the Victorian era, especially in towns and cities, where they were effectively the communal part of working people’s homes. We know that Ebenezer Scrooge, in A Christmas Carol, “took his melancholy dinner in his usual melancholy tavern”. But pubs don’t need to fulfil this role any more. They are entirely places where we go of our own volition, rather than out of necessity, and they need to acknowledge this. Note how it’s dreary pubs that subscribe to the old thinking, with their mediocre food, crappy karzis and limited drinks lists, that close down. Good pubs, the ones that have readjusted, are doing fine, and we don’t need as many of them as we once did.

What’s that? “Cheer! Give us cheer!!!” you say, gentle readers. Quite so. the ever excellent Evan Rail shared some wonderful Yuletide info about mulled things and spiced things as well as the celebration of wassail:

While the orchard wassail is closely tied to Twelfth Night on Jan. 5 or 6, hardcore traditionalists will celebrate wassail according to Twelfth Night on the Julian calendar, which was used in England until 1752. By that measure, the proper date for an orchard wassail would be Jan. 16 or 17 on today’s calendar. For the sake of convenience, many wassail events are simply scheduled on January weekends. In the village of Hartley Wintney in Hampshire, England, the annual wassail is set to take place on Friday, Jan. 13, with a torchlight procession that starts at the village pub, the Waggon and Horses, where publican Kaesy Steele will be serving a traditional mulled cider.

Do we still care who owns the brewery? I mean, I was sorta making fun of this idea back in 2015… seven years ago tomorrow. Pete Brown updated the dance card and quite rightly treated craft and not craft as all the same thing:

Many leading craft brands have now been acquired by the giants. That’s just how it is. Now – the ownership structure of the beer industry may be of no interest to you. If you’re already drinking mainstream lagers from global giants and you just occasionally fancy something hoppier, that’s up to you. I won’t judge. However, if one of your motivations for drinking craft beer – or just as importantly, cask/real ale – is that you want to support small, independent businesses, it’s not always obvious whether or not the brand in front of you is the real deal.

Nice. Just remember that ownership is only half the story. Obligations in law like debt and shareholder agreements have as much or more influence over a business’s independence. Folk that promote their independence suddenly find, upon a downturn, that they are quite dependent. Consider the Case of Mr. Musk.

Now… in history making history, Ron pushed the early edge of brewing records and published in 1805 pale stout recipe.

Here’s proof that Stout didn’t always imply a dark beer. An example of the pale malt analogue of Brown Stout. It’s a type of beer which must have died out early in the 19th century as this is the only example I have. I’ve no idea why it disappeared but it may be connected with Porter brewers moving to brewing only dark beers. The grist couldn’t be simpler: 100% Hertfordshire pale malt. There’s really nothing more to say.

And Liam found a reference to India Pale Ale dated 1824 (proceeded by “West”) and set off a bit of speculation as to its meaning and implications. I would only add that Vassar in the 1830s referred to one of his ales as “South” as illustrated to the left – but I am quite sure he did not create something called Southern Ale. Just as “style” is useless before it is defined and defined again by Jackson in the 1980s, the further you go back from that, the less meaning categories have. Ideas can’t flow backwards. I suspect that the predecessors to IPA, both eastern and western classes, were the English strong ales named after cities like Taunton and Dorchester and Derby, both evolving and branded according to given marketplace expectations.

It’s that time of the year. No, not just for Ron’s DrinkAlongAThon. The time for lists!! Best wines and Golden Pints. Here are the ten most read stories on Pellicle. Here’s Lisa’s. Alistair of Fuggles has been putting together his “best of” lists including best pales and best oranges to browns. I like the organizational decision he’s made, abandoning illusion for the actual. I suppose he could have gone with viscosity instead of colour. Perhaps in 2023! Jeff of Beervana has gone in another direction and provided us with his favourite photos for 2022. And the Beer Crunchers have jumped ahead with their US craft beer forecast for next year with some refreshing honesty:

Some brewery owners realized that the bigger they got, the more HR became part of the job, when they just wanted to focus on the beer itself. Other brewery owners turned out to be assholes and represented the HR-risk themself. Regardless of the reason, a significant number of breweries are for sale or have been sold in the past year. Some are of great value and truly worth every penny. Others are worth zero, or worse. Expect to see more interesting sales, depressing closures, and everything in between. You won’t be able to keep up and the action already underway.

Note: I had no idea this sort of thing was done:

In February 1961 Guinness paid the London brewer Watney Combe Reid £28,000 to discontinue Reid’s Stout. This was to secure the position of Guinness’s new nitro-keg product – it was clearly worried the Red Barrel keg beer brewer’s stout could be a rival to keg draught Guinness

Finally, Boak and Bailey added a new feature to their weekly which I am going to copy… literally cut and paste… then slowly build upon, too – a shared list of beer writing resources on Mastodon:

Please let me know when you see more to add to the list. I’ll be back next week with my own “best of” post. Not sure if it will be on Thursday or Friday. There’s a long drive between now and then. And bird feeders to fill. Naps, too. May even need to check the lake temperature to see what’s what. You might not have a weekly update from Boak and Bailey as we usually see mostly every Saturday and also also perhaps not from Stan at his spot on Mondays. Still, check and see if there is the weekly and highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. The OCBG Podcast is on a very quiet schedule these days – but it was there last week! 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!

*Funner if you pronounce it properly – “SinJinnyIn“!

Weeeeeeeeeeeee!!! It’s The Ten Days To Christmas Beery News Notes Post!!!

I can’t figure out if being pressed for time will make these notes this week brief or lengthy. The line “I didn’t have time to write a short letter” which is linked to Mark Twain mostly… but in my mind to Jonathon Swift… but in reality to 1600s French mathematician Blaise Pascal… comes to mind. See, not only is it Yuletide with all the running around, I had to finish my bridge. One of the reasons the old beer blog and especially historical research leading to more on the old beer blog quieted a bit has been my part secondment to a big bridge project. Well, it opened to the public Tuesday as Fine Balance Brewing of our fair city’s east end celebrated on Facebook with the image above hoping to see a stream of west enders now heading their way. On time. On budget. Huge fun project. Happy to be the guy who wrote the contract and negotiated the deal.

Enough about me… first up, Christmas has beer RUINED for some in Gloucestershire:

Motorists faced delays on a motorway after boxes containing sweets and beer kegs were spilt over the carriageway. Two lanes of the M5 in Gloucestershire were closed after the spillage which also included books. The problem was reported at 06:30 GMT on Friday and lanes 1 and 2 southbound were closed between junction 13 at Stroud and junction 14 at Thornbury.

And things are tightening in other ways, of course, but I won’t add my list to the lists of disappearing craft breweries as B² did last Sat. And even though I expect it would upset one of those passive aggressive reductionist kitten craft mascots who demand that no one expresses opinions… I have to say this is one of the more interesting observations on how bad the situation is situation from John Porter:

The problem, as we both know from Publican Industry Report days, is that new breweries and pubcos arrive in a flurry of PR and excitement, and tend to disappear quietly to avoid unpaid bills and disgruntled investors. Like you, I suspect there’s always a lot of double counting.

Jordan is crunching the numbers in Ontario and the news is also not that good here for the beer industry. Ontarians are getting older on average and newcomers may not all be all that interested in beer. Beer volumes sold have hit the lowest point in 73 years. He uses words like “eerily” and “painstakingly” and “hanging” and “I’m forced to manually” and “irresponsible” and “robust” which seems all very… err… physical… but the point is not only made but well proven. The arse is out of it all.

The badness reaches out in all directions as these things go sideways. At what point should drinkers rally around with a bit of focus to save the best? And when is it an end or a new beginning?

Real ale fans were saddened to hear of the forthcoming closure of Manchester’s Beer Nouveau… Though Steve Dunkley’s popular tap is no more, the story is not yet over under the railway arch at 75 North Western Street. The space is being taken over by Katie Sutton, the new owner of Temperance Street Brewery. Renamed the Temperance Street Brewery & Tap, the venue will initially open Fridays and Saturdays. Katie works full-time in the NHS, so she is being supported by Matt Gibson of Temperance Street Cider. Both the brewery and the cidery already operate out of the premises and extensive work is not needed.

Speaking of the NHS, Martin once again has shown why private reportage of thing beery are so helpful, this time with a photo essay from his trip to Cologne focusing on Gaststätte Lommerzheim aka Lommi’s. Linger over the images like the one right there. Not all samey pretty beer porn like we see so often. And a brief tale of prowess:

More customers under 30 than over 50, and Mrs RM the only non-bloke, but she outdrank them all. 3 in 20 minutes and we were gone, after admiring the tree outside the Gents (so not quite the Combermere). Honestly, it was perfect, like your favourite Sam Smitha if it wasn’t run with lunatic rules.

It is interesting to see how quickly the discounting of bulk brewery owned Bourbon County is happening this year:

… stumbled upon the below this afternoon. Can confidently say I never expected the reserves and prop to be on the shelf 16 days after Black Friday. Happily took a barelywine and prop and went on my way.

Also interesting to note that one long standing ad placement with Sound Opinions, a US public radio music program out of Chicago, has been dropped. The email read:

We recently learned that we’re losing a significant portion of our funding in 2023. Our long relationship with our major sponsor, Goose Island, has ended due to the shaky economy. We have other revenue sources: a generous grant from the Goldschmidt Foundation, small ad buys, and individual donations from dedicated listeners like you. But it’s not enough to keep the show running at full speed.

If you like music, listen and give. It’s dandy and via Patreon there are a number of bonus features.

The Japanese marketplace appears to have recently hit a particular point of inflection beer-wise-ly:

Beer and quasi-beer sales fell 8 pct from a year before in Japan in November, still reeling from October price hikes, estimates from Kirin Brewery Co. and others showed Monday. Asahi Breweries Ltd. reported a 7 pct drop in the value of its sales, while Kirin logged an 8 pct fall in volume and Sapporo Breweries Ltd. a 7 pct decline. Brewers incurred marked drops in sales of canned products, mainly for household consumption.

Jeff wrote the first “best of list” that wasn’t an unrealistic, purely sample based thing submitted months ago to a mag for the editors to churn upon. He also led up front with excellent context:

Obviously, no one can try all new beers in a year. As all sample groups are, this is highly individual. And, since I do most of my drinking in Oregon, it’s got a lot of Oregon beer. It’s also not exhaustive. I recall a wonderful pFriem Canadian Lager I enjoyed at the brewery, a delicious gueuze from Tilquin I enjoyed at a beer festival in Oslo, a cracking good festbier at Heater Allen, and more. Furthermore, if you think I avoid hoppy ales, behold: this list is lousy with ‘em! I love all beer styles, and it seems like 2022 was a good one for hops.

And Pellicle posted a profile of Glasgow brewers Epochal, sometime past subject within these here weekly notes:

Epochal specialises in barrel-aged pale ales, table beers, Scotch ales, porters and stouts—the latter two having a rich history in Glasgow. The beers undergo an extended dry hop for the duration of their secondary ageing. The mature beer is then bottle-conditioned with a small portion of one-day-old fresh beer, a process employed by one of Scotland’s top 19th-century brewers, the Glasgow-born James Steel. The entire process takes anywhere from three months to a year, resulting in beers you can ponder over, or drink for pure pleasure, depending on your mood.

Is GBH becoming a travel vignette site?

Finally, wrongest quote about the history of beer passed my eyes this week:

For most of the time, intoxication was not the main purpose and could only be achieved to a limited extent, if at all, given that beer had a low alcohol content for most of human history.

See, to make weak beer you either need to first make strong wort or you have to waste resources to boil way too much watery wort. It’s how it works. If you don’t believe me, ask Babylon. Please do better. If only at this Yuletide.

That’s it! Next week, the best reading of 2022 will be mentioned here as well as perhaps also in the updates from Boak and Bailey we see mostly every Saturday and also also perhaps 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!

The Pensive Beery News Notes For That Dull Gap Between US Thanksgiving And Christmas

Are US holidays the most liquor laced of all? Not sure. But they sure are the most extended. I get the sense that nowadays* they just go on and on, one meeting the next at some sort of transition overlap. We seem to have all been in the HallowThanksChristEve zone for a while now and there are still weeks to go. Good thing I’m Canadian as we up here track time by following the sports calendar and the grain growing season cycles. Speaking of holidays, someone is not getting a bonus. Joe Stange shared an image of the aftermath of a disaster in Belgium. Look at that Westmalle, laughing at the Orval.

So what is going on out there? I liked this observation from The Beer Nut which could be applied to any number of things:

The best feature is the booze, delivering as it does a pleasant warming fuzziness, perfect for a miserable evening in mid-November. Overall, it’s fine, but not exactly high end, to my palate anyway.

And I came across a new mag worth checking out, Beer & Weed, out of area code 207 – aka the Great State of Maine aka the Canada of the USA. My favourite American second cousin in law Mike has an article in the December issue as does Carla Jean who offers some ideas for giving which go beyond the usual. Like taking a pal on a beer tour – or making an apple pie after soaking the apples in beer. I like that, a twist on mulled ale… or pastry stout. Think about that. Mmm…

Next – aside from my secret wondering whether it’s all an elaborate façade broadcast from a hidden Nordic mountain lair based on fantastic IT resources, access to private wealth and wicked sense of disruptive if extremely niche humour – Lars has once again produced an excellent thought provoking and well researched essay, this time pushing the history of hops back in northern Europe by more than a century or two, relying in large part on the unreliability of records:**

This, however, is the history you get from written documents, but hop usage began at a time when brewing was mostly something people did at home, for their own household, and almost none of what they did was ever recorded in writing. So we must expect that nearly all of the early history of hops has gone undocumented, and therefore we must turn to other sources of information to cast light on the early history of hops.

Personal note: this is exactly what my first beer experience in the late 70s were like. I’m a bit verklempt.***

I liked this very narrow study of Gary’s this week, a three piece article on something called Tipper Ale, a beer that relied on salt just as 1830s Albany Ale did. Except it wasn’t chucked into the barrel:

The key to the palate was use in brewing, or some use, of “brackish” water. The brewery was at a crossing, originally a drawbridge, over River Ouse near its mouth with the English Channel. Hence the seawater story is plausible, given location and typography. I cited various sources to this effect and there were others I didn’t, as all concur in result. One of the last sources, in 1941, was the most interesting I thought as it stated both regular and sea water was used.

One of my favourite discussions in the comments has to be the time back in 2008 when yeast scientists including a Dr Dunn and a Dr Sherlock took offense at being called “eggheads” and then embraced it. Well, the eggheads of yeast science were at it again this week with release of the news building on their work to explain… something:

It has been known for some time that S. pastorianus is a hybrid of two parents, one of which is S. cerevisiae (de Barros Lopes et al. 2002, Dunn and Sherlock 2008). However, the second parent, Saccharomyces eubayanus, was not isolated until 2011, from the Patagonian Andes in South America (Libkind et al. 2011)…. Regardless of when the hybridization(s) between S. cerevisiae and S. eubayanus occurred, they are likely to have occurred in Europe, and possibly in Bavaria. It is, therefore, surprising that no European isolates of S. eubayanus have been described… Here, we describe the discovery of the first European isolates of S. eubayanus. They were isolated from a university campus in Dublin, Ireland.

Excellent. And hardly any Irish inside jokes followed at all.

Andy Crouch marked the passing in early December of a New England brewing original, his pal Ray McNeill of Brattleboro, Vermont whose cantankerous nature was summed up neatly:

Ray was also legendary for his dislike of homebrewers. During one extended rant, he told me, “I don’t care what anybody says, there’s a big difference between making beer a few times a year in your garage and reading thousands of pages of technical literature and then making thousands of beers. Beer is a weird thing. It doesn’t come with a scorecard. If you’re a golfer and you shoot 112, you know that you suck. But if you’re a homebrewer and you make a third-rate beer, you probably think it’s great. A lot of homebrewers think they’re a lot better than they really are.” With Ray, you just never knew what you were going to get. And the same could always be said for his beer. The beer at McNeill’s was legendary: it would either be among the best you’d ever tasted or the worst. Consistency was not something anyone expected from McNeill’s and that was oddly part of the place’s charm.

Beth Demmons issued another great edition of Prohibitchin’ with the focus on Amie Ward and her project to make drinking establishment safer places:

“We [employees behind the bar] are in a very unique position because we are everywhere all at the same time. We hear everything, we see everything, we’re touching tables… we are in a perfect position to become those bystanders that really help change that landscape.” With this eye-opening knowledge and experience, Amie realized many other people weren’t able to manage health, stress, or sharing the responsibility of community safety in the same ways she had been able to hone over the years. “I saw my peers not taking care of themselves [and] really developing poor habits that were not going to suit them for the long haul,” she says. “That’s how I came up with the idea for The Healthtender: melding those two worlds together of wellness and hospitality.”

Turning to the end times, I used to post various noodly noddlings under the heading “This Is How Craft Will Kill Itself” from time to time and, in these fading days, it’s interesting to see how some predictions came to pass and how other factors I couldn’t have imagined contributed to the fall. For example, lack of differentiation posing as critical differentiation is a fatal flaw, as illustrated by this article:

“It’s a pretty neat thing when you go to a place that has a lot of beer selection. You’ll notice a huge variety of beer labels, and it is something that craft beer people look to,” said Scot Yarnell, brewer and owner of the downtown Earnest Brew Works location at 25 S. St. Clair St., Toledo. “They want a unique beer, flavor wise, and they also want a beer that has a unique look to it.”

There’s of course nothing unique about the look of what’s on the beer shelves these days any more than the identi-craft beer in the cans. Fadism gave birth to herd mentality homogeneity. Like gaudy late 1990s web design, there is a certain sort of vomiting bubble gum machine tone to the confusingly cartoony look that signals the trade friendly “blinders on” approach is engaged. But how does this help encourage the consumer – especially when mixed in with the continuing trade narrative’s reliance on tales based on amnesia, flat out untruths and revisionist bullshit mixed with earnest finger wagging over supposed myths that serves the residual wisdom of haut craft culture?**** Even those seeking the solace of knowledge in an honest off-flavour course offers an affirmation in the negative, as Jordan was good enough to admit:

Framed the off flavour training for next week’s class as “Well, you’re never going to be able to turn that switch off, so next week I’m going to ruin fully a quarter of the beer you’ll ever drink….”

Downer. No wonder the value proposition has gone all a’wobbly now in the face of these broader harder times. And no wonder things are as down, as Pete Brown shared in The Times. It’s a good read… but I am not sure I can agree with the proposed treatment as it looks like more of the same:

Refocusing on the aspects of “craft” that big corporations will always struggle to replicate could be key. “Local, independent craft breweries do far more than just make great beer,” said Richard Naisby, acting chairman of the Society of Independent Brewers. “They embed themselves in local communities, create jobs, and add value to the local economies they call home.”

Maybe. Could be. If you get rid of the phony and the baloney – and the kiddie cartoon profiteering prophets – and I also suppose if these fine locals have each paid their suppliers and the folk losing their jobs. Might be nice if enough of them just found a way to make great beer at a good price, frankly. Time to start talking about recession proofing, brewers. That might take a bit of change.

Speaking of which, an interesting and somewhat related call to arms crossed my eye in the course of me legal readings this week:

The Cannabis Council of Canada (C3) has called on the federal government to provide “immediate financial relief” for the legal cannabis industry and end the “stigmatization” of legal cannabis that allegedly limits progress on the key public health aims of legalization… According to C3, while the current framework has been “a financial success” for governments and provincial monopoly distributors who apply mark-ups, it has also been “a bloodbath” for investors of all sizes within Health Canada’s licensed producers and processors framework.

Hmm… dunno. Pretty sure I don’t want my tax dollars saving the less than half decade bubble economy of the Canadian grass trade. Think about it. Could it maybe just be that both craft and dope have to face the fact that there is no market for every investor who believed in a dream of easy cash from selling swanky new forms of intoxicants in each and every neighourhood? Is that what they mean by they “add value to the local economies they call home“?

I leave you there. That enough for now… you’ve had enough… take a break… when you’ve done that, 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!

*Excellent usage, no?
**See from the archives “One Brewery and the Problem with Records” from 2015.
***h/t Cookie.
****Oxymoron.

The Dubious Thursday Beery News Notes For That Great Twitter Exodus

It’s been crazy out there. Election results are in. What the heck happened, other than we all have a new leader? And we say the end of that freakish warm streak that saw the garlic sitting around for an extra month before I got it in the ground. And Bills even lost to the Jets. My buddy Ben was there, went hard.. and then suffered. The beer was both a good choice and not maybe such a good choice. I understand this is in fact not live action footage from later that night. But it might be similar. Me, I am too old to get up to stuff like this.

What’s up? Brewery altitude, that’s what!* That was in fact a new subject raised this week. A new one in Bavaria at 2,244m it will be the highest brewery in Europe. Lion Stout was also brewed at height in Sri Lanka… until it wasn’t:

They don’t any more, having transferred down to sea level, but they and all the other high-altitude breweries in British India, all over 2,000 metres up, in the Himalayan foothills and the Nilgiri Hills in the south, had the same problem, and had to do 3-hour boils of the wort.

I’d be needing the meters above sea level listed on every can of beer I buy now. Aaaannnnd what else? Brewdog. Not again. Sells its beer in Qatar through the state. Set to make zillions broadcasting the World Cup in its pubs. And then pretends to take the high road. I know no one cares as we’ve all been here before but the moments need to be recorded because otherwise no one would believe it. Plus – the beer may well suck as well.

Speaking of questionable foreign marketplaces, this is an interesting chart describing the rise and fall of wine consumption in China from 1995 to 2021. Made me wonder what’s up with the beer market but you have to cut through this sort of PR inflected haze to determine what is really happening:

Beer sales are declining in China, but there is still room for expansion in the higher end of the market. And while Budweiser’s brand identity in the U.S. is irredeemably low end, in China the idea of luxury Bud is completely marketable.

The Foreign Agricultural Service of the US Department of Agriculture issued a report on beer in China back in January 2022 which indicated that the beer market was tracking that of wine, peaking a year later in 2018. Interesting that the USDA focuses on Covid-19 as the cause of the retraction and not general economic contraction.

And Stan unpacked the far more localized retraction of Lost Abbey that I mentioned last week and, as per usual, had more intelligent and better informed observations:

Lost Abbey made its way into pretty much every trade-related conversation I had after their right-sizing story posted Tuesday. Whether the people I was speaking with were at small breweries content to remain small, at somewhat larger (but not really large) ones in the midst if figuring out how large they should be, or hop vendors who sure as shootin’ need to know how their customers are doing, the news was not shocking.

Speaking of tough economic times, Boak and Bailey wrote some interesting thoughts on the effects the recession has had on the value of each pint:

… if you’ve gone to the pub intending to drink, say, three pints, because that’s what the weekly budget will permit, you want each one to be at least decent. Perfect, really… These are challenging times all round, with energy prices, staff shortages and poor quality blue roll. Beer businesses are popping out of existence, or getting mothballed, left, right and centre… Well, it’s never the right time to be a dick about these things, but it’s also perfectly reasonable to expect a £5+ luxury – that’s what a pint has become – to spark joy. Pubs which can continue to provide that will do better business in the coming months.

When you go, you want the joy. Like Ron who explained the experience of going to a beer event of some sort in Brazil which, as usual, reads like a mid-century American theatre piece, perhaps by Tennessee Williams:

I bump into Dick Cantwell outside the hotel. He tells me that the event has been delayed until 6 pm.
“Someone just told me it’s seven.”
“The WhatsApp group says six.” Dick says.
My money is on nothing happening until 19:30. At the very earliest.
I get back to the other hotel at 18:30. Obviously, fuck all is happening. We are in Brazil, after all. I spot Gordon and we idle up to the bar. We get stuck into cocktails. I go for the safe Caipirinha option. While Gordon’s G&T comes out orange. With star fruit in it.

Sounds magic. Until the rains came. And the political rioting. Speaking of being on the move, this was the week that the long march from #BeerTwitter to #BeerMastodon really began in earnest. I know that because I first saw the link to Ron’s story on the new world order and not on Twitter. This now is clearly the future. Still, in his weekly Sunday newsletter, Jeff looked back over his shoulder:**

Welcome to Twitter Death Watch, week two! For those of you who aren’t Twitter users, it was an exciting week, as Elon Musk fired much of the staff, threatened advertisers, and complained constantly and bitterly, making me wonder if the service may really go kablooey.

Me, I look forward – but it is clear people are scrambling. While those shy bloggers hiding in subscription only newsletters are sending emails asking me if I want to join a private chat space they run (Ed.: Super Creeeeepy!!!) #BeerMastodon looks like it may well put the “pub” back in public discourse. Will cheap claims to expertise hold the same sway in a multi-channel universe?

Finally… BREAKING: In an other step in a series including beer words have no meaning and beer styles have no meaning we have brewing itself now has no meaning.*** Yes, expertise in beer is a wonderful thing. The less you know the more profound it is.

I think that is it for now. Good thing it is not all about me. 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 Beer Ladies Podcast. The OCBG Podcast is on a very quiet schedule these days – and 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 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!

*Dad joke.
**Entirely ignoring Biblical advice!!!
***And beer writing is not even about beer any more. A good piece of writing but a very odd place to publish it.

The Fascinating If Not Captivating Beery News Notes For November’s Start

November. Yippee, November! No one ever said that. Maybe if you were born on the first of November. Or in New Zealand. A New Zealander born on the first of November might be feeling they hit the jackpot, come to think of it. DSL might, too. Speaking of which, the Austrian Beer Party is saying yippee or whatever it is you say thereabouts. Still at 10% in the polls, down from 13% a month ago but no joke:

An upstart satirical party whose flagship policies include an unconditional beer allowance for every citizen and municipal lager fountains has come out of nowhere to win fourth place in national opinion polls. Founded in 2015 by a charismatic punk rock singer, the Beer Party was until very recently a fringe phenomenon in Austrian politics, scraping only 0.1 per cent of the vote at the last parliamentary election in 2019.

What else is up? I need to make this snappy. Things to do. Naps to have. Hmm…. Crisp Malting issued its 2022 Harvest Report which contains some startling observations about the climate:

It was the sixth driest summer on record and the driest since 1995, with just 62% of the usual summer rainfall. Additionally, we also saw more sun than usual at 115% of the 1991-2020 average. As a result of all this weather, it was the earliest barley harvest ever – some fields were cut on June 29^th – and by July 19^th, 70% of the UK winter barley harvest was cut. In the 50s and 60s, this would have been a month later, in August. Harvest in Scotland closed out earlier than usual also, another demonstration of the impact climate is having on our agricultural calendar.

Jings. Word is by 2042, the harvest will take place in 2041 a full twelve weeks before the time of planting. Canada is also having a bumper crop – and seeing higher prices for the wrong reason.

And I’ve come across something I am not sure I’ve seen as much as I thought I might – a review of the Good Beer Guide from Phil Mellows of British Beer Breaks who attended the book launch:

The strength of the Good Beer Guide, and what makes it different from, and in many ways better than, competing guides, is that the people picking the entries are so close to the ground. They know exactly what’s going on with the pub, because they drink in there week in, week out. This is also a weakness. A pub can fall out of favour with these individuals for all kinds of reasons that may be obscure to the occasional visitor. And there must be, it seems to me, a growing pressure on the decision-making resulting from the limit imposed on the number of entries allocated to each county or region.

Economics abounds. Muskoka buys Rally. Bench Brewing and Henderson sorta maybe merging. And Jeff has it right – Ommegang has lost its way. Another sign of the times? Lost Abbey is cutting back:

The Lost Abbey’s co-founder and managing partner Tomme Arthur says the scale-down is an acknowledgment of vastly different market conditions than those of the brewery’s sales heyday seven years ago… Arthur says he hopes that reducing costs, particularly on rent and property taxes, will mean the brewery can maintain its staff of roughly 35 employees. “You can’t get small enough quick enough if you’re trying to protect the flank,” he says.

I’m worried. Not about beer. There will always be beer. I am worried about my problem with Twitter. If we lose Twitter there’s bound to be a new problem for me that will replace my problem with Twitter. I’m having a look at Mastodon but who’s over there? 100% of everyone voted to not “Quit the Twit” in my scientific study. And what will I do without it, without for example good folk going all pointy finger over a history of lambic which is an accusation of all other histories of lambic? I quite like “jeremiads full of invective“… although he’s misspelled jeroboam, hasn’t he. Sad.

Sadder? A thieving beer guzzling monkey in India!

Matty C has also asked a question of verbiage. Specifically the use of Helles:

I’m talking about ‘Helles’, and how it’s become the latest in a stream of buzzwords the lager machine has sacrificed to maintain its youth and vim. But why this particular terminology, and how did it take hold? How accurate are modern brewers’ renditions of this classic Bavarian style? And does what a beer is called really matter, if people are enjoying great lager as a result?

I like my words to mean what they mean and not mean what they don’t mean. Otherwise it can lead to things. Ron found himself lead to things and in a bit of a pickle out and about on the Brazilian beer tourism scene again:

Last full day in Brazil. A bit weird. An election and the clocks changed. Plus everything in the centre of Florianopolis is shut…. It’s going crazy outside. People clearly think Lula has won. I hope that’s fireworks and not gunfire.

I trust it all worked out. Speaking of travel and a bit more sedate sort bit of travel, B+B took us to Cologne, Germany this week and laid down a new law:

We decided on a rule: you need a minimum of three beers per pub on a Kölsch crawl. The first one will taste weird because it isn’t the same as the last you were drinking. You gulp that one down. Get the city scum out of your throat. The second, as you acclimatise, allows you to pick up distinct aromas and flavours. How is it different? Why is it different? The third allows you to appreciate what’s in front of you in its own right, and decide whether you want to turn this into a real session. Or walk on. Because you’re never far from another.

In brewing history this week, Gary highlighted the upcoming 2022 Chicago Brewseum Beer Summit and, elsewhere, @AfricanArchives wrote about a moment in history that I had not heard about – The Battle of Bamber Bridge which saw US soldiers fighting each other in England in 1943… and the local English publicans taking a side:

In 1943 Black American soldiers faced off with white American Military police during World War 2 on British soil. Black American soldiers had to fight their own white American soldiers, while in England, where they were fighting the world war. …when the American Military police found out that their own black soldiers were drinking at the same pubs as white people, they went in to arrest them. The people in the town got mad about that treatment and decided to then turn their pubs into “BLACKS ONLY DRINKING PUBS”

Finally, a less inspiring story came to light just when the blog post was going to the presses. Ben Johnson posted an excellent exposé on one Ontario brewery facing little public condemnation after allegations of sexual harassment:

It is unfortunate then that, when the City of Kitchener recently opened up their Requests for Proposals (RFP) process to find a “non-premier brewery partner” to serve beer at the Kitchener Memorial Auditorium Complex and Kitchener Golf Courses, they awarded the contract to Four Fathers Brewing Company in Cambridge. Unfortunate, of course, because in 2018 Four Fathers founder and University of Guelph Professor John Kissick actually was charged with two counts of assault and one count of assault with a weapon. Those charges were ultimately dropped in 2020 when Kissick entered into a peace bond with the party who brought forward the charges, but to craft beer drinkers and any feeling humans who watched video of the (alleged) assault (myself among them) the incident likely left a bad taste in their mouth.

There. Nothings like ending on a crummy note. For better news, 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 Beer Ladies Podcast. The OCBG Podcast is on a very quiet schedule these days – and 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 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!

Your Last Thursday Beery News Notes For Q3 2022

Well, what a few weeks it has been. After the mourning period for Herself among other things, Hurricane Fiona comes along and hammers into family and friends out east where I grew up. Don’t know yet what’s happened to our old house and garden. Despite the loss of life and damage to property, there was in some areas an attitude that we bear these burdens and move on. Example: Krystle Collier’s home in southwest Newfoundland’s Port Aux Basques was destroyed but she found her White Claw Seltzers still in the fridge. Go Krystle!

Beer news? First up, Martyn wrote an interesting piece for Pellicle this week about the revival of Gales Prized Old Ale:

This October the new edition of Prize Old Ale will be bottled and put on sale, each bottle containing a tiny, homoeopathic quantity of every other batch of POA going back to the reign of King George V. Henry, and his masters, the Japanese brewing giant Asahi (which acquired Fullers, and with it Dark Star, in 2019) hopes that drinkers are now knowledgeable enough about mixed-fermentation beers, and what they have to offer, to appreciate Prize Old Ale, which—in the UK, at least—they were probably not when Fuller’s first relaunched it in 2007.

My own tiny special reserve, illustrated to the right as Stan himself would want, has been offered up as a bio-pool refresher should the team need it. 25 years old now, I don’t dare open it. I bet Krystle Collier would, though. I’d let her.

By the way, a bit to the east, did you know that the Beer Party is polling 13% in the Austrian Presidential campaign.

Back in Britain, there has been much talk about the proposed rebranding of cask ale as fresh ale. This seems to be another go as something that has had a few goes and reminds me a lot of the US craft beer botches such as “crafty” and “true craft” and, yes, “independent” beer. But the issues at play are distinct – central to which is price. Jessica Mason framed it succinctly as the Forces of Timbo v. the Forces of Premiumization:

Wetherspoons Tim Martin gets slammed for devaluing beer and using one price for all, despite research showing people are seeking out premium drinks…

Cookie‘s on Team Timbo BTW. And why not? Most people are not wanting to pay more for beer, especially in these times:

BCA’s head of pubs Graham Manwaring said that as well as the rising cost of brewing their beers at the BCA brewery in Upper Gornal, they were also facing higher costs from beer suppliers like Coors and Carlsberg Marston’s. “We are going to have a careful look at our prices to see how to balance it for customers and to maintain the business.” He said the level of rise had yet to be determined but was expected from mid-October. “It is not going to be easy for anybody. Everyone know pubs are going to have to raise prices. “It is a very difficult time to be trading,” he added.

Hard to argue that the one economic opportunity right now that cask should be leaning on hard is how cheap it is – not upselling it. (But do consultants really want to be seen consulting in favour of discount offerings?) One other more conceptual problem, of course, is this: there is already fresh ale at every brewery taproom as well as that other sort of beer, Fresh Hop Ale. The new phrase fails to distinguish meaningfully. And everyone already knows was cask is. It’s that. “Fresh” is a bunch of things. And the real problem is that many folk know full well what cask is and still aren’t that interested even at a low price. Speaking of which, Boak and Bailey found another thing in the British pub that’s not all that interesting:

We didn’t particularly mind eating a mediocre burger when it’s less than a tenner. When it’s more than £15, we expect it to have a bit of something about it. We completely understand that when everything is going up, you need to charge more to stay in the same place. As we explored in a post a few months ago there are thresholds at which you will lose customers, particularly when they’re also grappling with the increasing cost of living. Based on our observations, this is already happening.

Changing topics, eleven and a half years ago, Andy Crouch proclaimed “A New Era of Beer Writing” was upon us:

In the stead of groundbreakers such as Michael Jackson, Fred Eckhardt and others, many beer writers have been content to gently tread within the outlines of their predecessors’ sizable but not all-encompassing footprints, rarely venturing into new territories. That means producing tasting notes, and sometimes regurgitating questionable beer and style histories. For those of us who write about beer for a living, even for BeerAdvocate magazine, we need to do more. We need to write about people and place as much as we do about product. In focusing on special releases, limited-batch series and the novelties that comprise so much of today’s beer writing, writers often fail to capture the true essence of the characters and spirit driving craft beer’s unstoppable ascension. Too often, writers craft never-ending odes to their favorite breweries, while skirting over problem points.

I mention this as there was a bit of a huff after the NAGBW awards were announced. Jeff considered the evidence indicated that “[t]en years ago when I judged, there was a ton of very mediocre stuff from small papers around the US. You’re right that we have lost a lot of those outlets, but the quality of work is WAY higher” while I suggested that there are “fewer other outlets for paid writing, very few blogs,* very few books compared to 6, 8, 10 years ago.” We are both probably right in a meaningful sense – but I think Andy was also right from his perspective a bit more than 6, 8, 10 years ago.

Comfortable and careful writing is not good. Covers up stuff.** Remember: even if the subject matter has narrowed or even in part just shifted – shifted along with the politics even – the writing can still be comfortable and careful. You know what isn’t daring anymore? Positive repetitive blah however well written and layered with gorgeous photos. And do we need another style guide? Or more blocky kitty cat newbie cartooning, confused stabs at market trends or another feel good article about a distant brewery or pub you’ll never ever see,*** one with the ugly bits deleted? Probably not. But do we reject those forms? Probably not that either. I’m not advocating rejection. Build it up again, broadening and including. If Jeff is right and the quality is higher, then broaden the scope, add to the voices getting attention and widen the variety of topics and the ways they are explored.

Speaking of things not much written these days, Gary wrote a bit about lightness and humour in beer writing by way of introduction to the beer at breakfast – or rather breakfasts – in India a century ago:

Sir Allan’s padre thought “beer” a better choice for the second, more substantial breakfast. Evidently it was pale ale – doubtfully stout, but who knows. So this tells us pilsener and English beer were regarded as quite different, as indeed today. The former was lighter in colour, taste, and alcohol. The witticism Sir Allan reported was a colouful way to make that point.

See: tales of Bamburg past and future.

In GBH, there is an excellent article on new opportunities in non-traditional crops for brewing by Hollie Stephens:

“In the last 150 years we have lost a third of our topsoil.” This explains why Miller says that he has not found it difficult to convince farmers to give perennials like Kernza a try, a sentiment which Kimbler echoes. “What they really need right now are more diverse crops, more diverse cropping systems, and more ability for them to adapt their practices on their unique piece of land, unique climate, and economic and social situation,” she says. “They just need a lot more options.”

Quibble: not sure why the significant and growing percentage of non-tilled traditional grain farms wasn’t explored. Tiny quibble.

Finally, Lars posted a fabulous photo of a drinking hall in Norway that is over 800 years old:

This is typical Setesdal: this is the second oldest wooden building in Norway (if we omit churches), dated 1217. It’s not in a museum, though. Just by the side of the road.

The NYTs wrote about the area in 2019. Right about where my McLeods were – well, you know, after they were MacLeods… and after they were cousins to Elliots who themselves were once O’Llliots after they were O’Ljots and both and all were the Sons of Ljot. Wha’s like us?

There you are. More than I had imagined. Next week it is October. While you think about all that means, please check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and perhaps now from Stan usually on a Monday. Check out the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the mostly weekly OCBG Podcast on a quieter schedule these days – and 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 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 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.

*And, just to be clear, while this is wonderful writing, it is not a blog. Four posts in a year, paid for and no space for comments? Column. Not a blog.
**And it feels like stuff may be getting gently coved up again a bit, doesn’t it…
***Are they all even there? It would be so easy to create a false story about wonderful bar in Ulan Bator.

The Death Defying Mid-July 2022 Thursday Beery News Notes

That’s a bit of a bold claim. Death defying. But, having checked the stats, I am 98% sure that no one has died as a direct* result** of reading the weekly beery news notes. I also can confirm that no one has been harmed by reading Taste, the recent memoir by Stanley Tucci.*** It is mainly about his life with food. I finished reading it just yesterday. If you need any assistance in identifying what I am talking about, that is actually the book’s cover just there to the right. No, really. Taste about his life with food and people, too, and makes for good light reading except when life was not light when it is actually a bit better. Recommended – especially as he includes recipes. So it is a 87% memoir and 13% cookbook… or recipe book. Which is good. I thought when finishing it… I have never read a book about beer that is remotely similar. I wonder why.

Enough about me… and Stanley. First up, some history. Martyn has opened up a very interesting discussion on the question of medieval England and whether they actually didn’t drink the water – something I also doubt – by excellently questioning society’s capacity to replace it with ale:

The population of England in 1300 was approximately 4.25 million. If we leave out those too young to drink ale, that equals about 3.5m “adults”. The recommended liquid intake is 3.5 pints a day. So if they are only drinking ale, those adults are going to require a little under 560 million gallons of ale a year, minimum – and much of their time would be spent doing hard labour under a hot sun, when the requirement for liquid might be as high as ten pints a day…

Now, I am not going to get all linky and suggest that the initial conclusion drawn is incorrect (as I suspect it might be) but I would like to add a few assumptions into the mix which might also make it not entirely correct. While Martyn has quite rightly deducted kids from the calculation, I would suggest a few other points. First, there is no need to suppose that there was equal distribution between men and women, between rich and poor and between town and country. Male labourers in rich country estates may well have consumed more than their share. Second – and I think this is even a bit more important – access to more fermentables than statistically captured malted grains would have been common, especially in the countryside. Plus remember the wine trade. Third, I am not sure what is meant by “ale” in that it could be 1% or 10% alcohol. If it is too thin… what else makes up the necessary caloric load for life? That’s key. Water won’t do that. Fourth, Unger**** states that the requirement per person in the English Navy in 1535 (yes, 200 years later) was 4.6 litres a day. Was there an agricultural explosion during those two centuries that could support a change in diet? Fifth, our pal from 1378 Piers rated water the lowest of all drinks but did indicated that sloth was to be avoided or “ye shul eten barly breed and of the broke drynke…” I know that Martyn would agree that this sort of more granular review would be required to finalize the answer – but I do agree that there is no evidence that medieval people did not drink water to be found in the statistics that they drank a lot of ale.

Note: Cookie advises don’t get Humphed.

And I missed this last week, Lew Bryson on stouts and porters as used and then abused by the micro and craft beer movements in their turn:

Both types were throwbacks to much older Anglo-Irish beers, and as is often the case, the beers that were brewed in the 1980s were, by and large, guesses at what the older beers were like… [I]f porter and stout were the two sources of the river of dark beer that would grow to capture the palate of beer geeks and the Yummy Beer Drinkers (YBDs, that’s my name for the people who want diabeetus dessert in a glass)… Porter’s melody got drowned out. Despite slam-hopping it (“robust” porter), throwback-lagering it (Baltic porter), sweet-tweaking it (coconut and vanilla porter), and bomb-boosting it (the inevitable imperial porter), porter got smacked aside by imperial stout, and never recovered.

Speaking of porter, could this Goldthorpe whisky be associated with the long lost malting barley strain Battledore? Could my dream of a hordeum zeocritum porter come true?

Pellicle published a very interesting bit of reading about the first bottling by a small scale scavenging side project run by English film maker, Thomas Broadhead – Dimpsey Cider. It is written by Hannah Crosbie, who clearly identifies as a wine writer – which gives us passages that are less, you know, about the squishy chumminess of things than many a beer writers might jot on about … like in this:

“It’s a miracle it was actually a drinkable product,” Thomas admits. “We left those barrels until February, we finally tasted and were like, ‘oh, this is actually tasting quite good!’ Only then did I order the bottles and commission the artist for the label.” And so, Dimpsey’s first cuvée, Unprecedented Times, was born. Notes of caramel apples, citrus and smoke from the barrels envelop a vibrant pétillance. Around 470 bottles were made, and those that weren’t smashed by ParcelForce found their way to London’s aesthetic-led drink spots: Bar Crispin, Gipsy Hill Brewery and—the restaurant where I first came across it—Top Cuvée.

There’s a lot of good in there. The writer was attracted to the drink first as a consumer. And, while there is a bit of bio in the piece, it is not beating us over the head. I do also like that the question of balancing time for this side project is a topic that runs through the article. There are some deft touches in there, leaving the question of Broadhead’s life choices just hanging a bit. Will there even be a second batch?

Breaking: there are at least two approaches to handling information. Reminds me of that 1976 homebrewing club.

My spam filters snagged something called BeerBoard this week and I noticed it was enticing me to hand over my personal contact information to gain more on that fast breaking news that “Volume and Rate of Sale are down double digits, while Percentage of Taps Pouring also dipped.” Wow. I am shocked. Not really. These days of jostling bleggy blogs for the shy – aka newsletters – seeking (cap in hand) to let us know the same four things that all the other newsletters and social media links (and sometimes actual new outlets) are saying, well, they lead me to one conclusion. I don’t exactly need another newsletter to tell me there’s a downturn. We all know things are tanking when the BA uses the magic words “mixed bag“! The arse is out of it, as we say. Boak and Bailey picked up on the endsy timesy theme asked an interesting question this week about the UK public’s response to the uptick in pub prices during a time of general inflation:

In the context of supply chain issues, rampaging inflation and staff shortages, let alone the long-term structural problems caused by the pubco model, how much control do most really have over the price of a pint? That’s not to say, of course, that some people don’t do quite well running pubs. We find ourselves thinking of a businessman who owned several pubs in Cornwall and would turn up for inspection in a huge Range Rover with personalised plates, gold cufflinks flashing. It’s perhaps no wonder his customers got the impression that running a pub might be a nice earner and occasionally grumbled about the price of a pint.

My thought was not that it was about getting ripped off so much as customers voting with their reduced buying power to make sure this end met that other end. (This is not a club and I don’t really associate beer with self in the sense that it is an end needing meeting.) Plus I am still not ready to move back to the idea of hanging out in bars – not with, what, the seventh wave upon us? For this? These things are going to take a bit more than naïve possy cartooning and #LetsBeerPositive to get over. Or maybe it just goes the way of that weird but brief big band revival of the late 1990s. Remember that? Me neither. Again, no time to invest in craft beer folks.

In a happier time and place, Gary Gilman has let loose a social media blitz of his trip to France, tweeting up a storm while handing the keys to his blog to his better half – including this fabulous photo of a market fish stall in Calais. What manner of beast is that in the foreground? I am thinking monkfish but who knows. Well, the guy in the sweater with all the stripes does, I suppose.

Speaking of which,***** I am not sure I can fully, heartily, entirely… hesitantly… marginally… agree with Jeff in this particular application of what looks like the great white male theory:

Stone also helped convert Americans to hops (though they had a lot more company than they once admitted). It was, ironically, that strong association to hops that ultimately led to the awkward phase—though Stone also had quite a run as an established, successful brewery. When the haze displaced bitterness, Stone had a hard time adapting its brand.

I think one needs to include the words Berlin and Keystone in any eulogy of the Stone that was. For me, repeated poor business decisions might have been central to the… awkwardness of that business ending poorly. Plenty of good regional and national breweries followed other paths. Sometimes I wonder if that sort of quieter success is considered less interesting. Because…

Congratulations to Eoghan Walsh on the successful completion of his series “A History of Brussels Beer in 50 Objects” and the accompanying book launch, finishing up sorta where it began:

In December 2021, Brussels Beer Project publicly announced what was both the worst kept secret and the most unexpected recent development in Brussels beer: they had started brewing Lambic. They did so in a quintessentially Brussels Beer Project manner – by wheeling one of their coolships onto the Grand Place and parking within a couple of metres of the Brouwershuis, the centuries-long seat of brewing power in Brussels.

This whole project is a great illustration of the power of properly handled personal websites combined with a clever social media presence.

Finally: beer awards. Q: if this is the ultimate… which is the penultimate? And which is the antepenultimate? Shouldn’t this be clearer? One would want to know when and where one is wasting one’s time.

There. That’s enough. It must be! For more, check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday but not from Stan every Monday as he is on his summer holiday. Check out the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday (Ed.: ??? ) and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s (Ed.: now very) irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given… still not on the radio dial…) And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water. There has also been the Beer O’clock Show but that’s now winding up after ten years.

*made you look.
**made you look again.
***I have now read 32 books in 2022 which is part of my personal productivity project for the year. Along with a number of things like being over ten months in to intermittent fasting which made the Tucci book a risk – but one worth taking. A fair few have been this sort of celebrity bio, some of which lean on happy times and avoids much of the bad times. Not something that I might have taken up before too often – though I highly recommend Alex Trebek’s if only for the news that he swore like a stevedore like any good northern Ontario lad should. Greg Allman, George Clinton, Stanley Tucci, Mel Brooks, Dave Grohl might serve as a handy scale against which one might measure these things. Allman being the most revealing of life’s grimmer side and Grohl the least. Note that Tucci is in the middle. But there is a gap to his left and a fair distance to Clinton. Clinton is only to the right of Allman because he seemed to cope better with many of the same demons – or perhaps just because he is still alive at 80 despite much whereas Allman ended his days at 69 in large part due to his addictions in youth.
****A History of Brewing in Holland 900-1900: Economy, Technology and the State by UBC professor Richard W. Unger, published in 2001 at page 88. He also shows at page 90 that per person consumption in the Netherlands from 1372 to 1500 averaged between 210 and 320 litres a year based on total population.
*****See? Fishy. Ha ha. Funny joke.

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For The Mid-Year Checkup

Me. Wednesday morning. I ran out into the backyard in my slippers to cover up the small Romaine plants before 8 am – given there was the dumbest rabbit ever out there, eating some weeds in the lawn about seven feet away from the finest dining he ever saw… if he were to ever see it. It seems it’s hard to get a good class of lawn rabbit these days. I may have triggered the neighbours’ yappy dog in the process. Jings. Life’s rich pageant or what? Breaks up the week, I suppose. It can be a bit of a challenge coming up with things to write about in the good beer world every week. Every once in a while interesting stuff pops up. For example, I had no idea that there was a Malting Barley Committee (MBC) of the Maltsters’ Association of Great Britain (MAGB) that issued edicts but late last week, care of Nigel‘s careful watch, we learned that they have made their decision on crops for the 2023 malting barley planting season. Say goodbye to the Splendor and Tungsten in your ales! As if you noticed…

It is Canada Day down Canada way… or at least it will be Friday. Eight years ago, I told the tale of how our Constitution of 1867 was first described to the leading lights of the future nation by a future Prime Minister. You can go read the whole thing but here is the portrait painted by one present of Sir John A. in his natural state:

…John A. entered bearing symptoms of having been on a spree. He was half drunk. Lunch is always on the side table, and he soon applied himself to it – and before we had well entered on the important business before us he was quite drunk with potations of ale…

Being as I am fascinated by all the tinkery clinkery bits of technology, I had a read through the current online edition of Brewer Magazine, a trade journal that looks like an industry version of the old weekly newspaper that was 80% ads for members of the the downtown business association. Unlike the Gammy Bird, however, the ads seem to be real and are fairly interesting, especially this machine that would seem to be a robot that would take over the middle kid’s 2019 summer job, smashing out of date cans of beer out back of the contract brewery. I could never figure out if it was a good job or not. I suppose being covered in stale malty good spraying from smashed cans on 33C high humidity days may not be exactly how one wants to take one’s ale.

Q: is booze collapsing all around? Not in Illinois. Josh Noel wrote about in The Chicago Tribune (perhaps paywalled) wrote an excellent piece about Dovetails’ kolsch service in the Windy City:

While it may not be surprising to find a brewery such as Dovetail, dedicated to reproducing continental European beer styles, also reproducing European beer culture, there has been an unlikely development in Chicago since Dovetail’s first kolsch service in 2019: other breweries have also started doing it. Logan Square’s Hopewell Brewing hosted two kolsch nights in spring, and Double Clutch Brewing, which opened last fall in Evanston, has also done it.

In his mastery of the thing all the beer experts foolishly tell beer writers never to do, The Beer Nut displayed all his skills this week in his considerations of one of my all time favourite beers, Jolly Pumpkin‘s Bam, first encountered around 15 years ago. The resulting observations should serve as a bit of a life lesson for the rest of all you all:

It’s a medium orange-yellow in the glass and quite opaque. The aroma is a fun mix of fruit salad — with pear, mandarin and lychee in particular — meeting a very Belgian saison spicing and a lacing of farmyard fun. That’s a lot of complexity already for something that’s only 4.5% ABV. There’s a floral, perfume intensity in the foretaste, mixing bergamot and lavender with softer white grape. The body is quite thin and that renders the flavour a little harsh, accentuating the bitterness. It’s still very tasty, though. There’s too much going on for it to be refreshing, but it still just about works as a sipper.

Notice the use of observe fact and clear language. No reference to chemistry puffery and not burdened by style. As I read recently, observation defeats theory every time. Or something like that. The human sensory experience laid out plain.

Again with the use of personal eyeball powers, I would never have guessed that beer pub ticking was a jet-setter sort of function but there we are, the lad with the guide in the carry on luggage on an aircraft cabin flying over salty seas:

Right, if you’ve an allergy to the Channel Islands I should come back to this blog in, ooh, October. Twenty-three GBG entries for 170,499 islanders, and I needed ten (10) ticks for the set, having not set foot there since 2014 (before this blog started). If I’m going to finish the Guide this year, I needed to get those ten done in one trip. Nipping back to Sark for one pub in September is far harder than nipping back to Sandwich, and costs ten times as much.

Also: Auld Mudgie linked to a blog of a wandering pub lover that I had not noticed before, Merseyside Pub Guide.

Alistair triggered the sort of interesting discussion that Twitter is still letting you have – this time about the lack of actual special glassware utility, one of those old chestnuts in beer. Best comment? From Max:

I must add the glass I used for smaller servings is the same I use for wines, brandy, and whisky. I got it after judging at a beer competition (which uses the same glass for all styles, go figure).

Similarly, see this consideration of the role of Brett v hops in the transportation of strong ale long distances yoinks ago. So much more interesting information comes out of discussions backed by solid records.

Conversely, we had a sighting of the content control clique movement this week. Same as 2009 and 2016, arises in times of crisis. In the hardscrabble ill-considered beer writing trade, this tendency is sorta like the anti-Christ of the weekly beery news roundups. Leads to bizarre results. Deny the call to obey! Good thing Lew is on the job.

And, yes, the creative if not needy spins on the sale of Stone to mega brewing was the theme of the week amongst a certain set. Beth Demmon, as usual, offered the perspective with the clearest view from a local vantage point:

… this type of deal is a well-worn path. Big business-buys-smaller business in a seemingly mutually beneficial, nine-figure deal. Life goes on, capitalism lives to see another day.

This set of quotes from those attending these days of remembrance is hilarious. Not one using the phrase “decades long cluster fuck!” As noted in 2004, likely the seminal makers of sucker juice. Jordan and Robin prodded the corpse, heroically finding the energy this week to care enough to discuss what are effectively the two stale assets of apparently no value in the Stone deal: (i) the face of the business and (ii) the long term business plan. Neither now needed. Isn’t the deal just a fire sale to avoid further losses if the long descent from the core business as a premium gas station brand allowed to continue further?

Finally – and in a more fact based reality – beer snakes!

Yorkshire’s decision to ban beer snakes, the comically long stacks of empty pint pots so beloved of cricket fans, forced luminous-jacketed stewards to engage in a series of slow-motion chase scenes with unruly cup-collectors, one of whom was amateurishly but unmistakably disguised as Scooby Doo. The England team have been restyled as great entertainers but the fans’ response has been: hold my empty beer. And also this one. And several dozen more. And now run! These races were surprisingly hilarious – though clearly not for the stewards, who, by tea, had completely given up…

That is it! For more, check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday but not from Stan every Monday as he is on his summer holiday. Check out the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday (Ed.: me finks the teens are hired for fests because that is all the can afford as the dream of craft continues to collapse…) and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s (Ed.: now very) irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given… still not on the radio dial…) And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water. There has also been the Beer O’clock Show but that’s now winding up after ten years.

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For The First Of May

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Matt mentions another aspect of reality:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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