Beer Stuff, Measures, Vessels – Page 3

The First February Thursday Beer News Notes Of These Our Roaring Twenties

When I was a lad, there were common end-of-the-world tales and prophecies that circulated in the grocery store checkout newspaper headlines and junior high hallways. Nostradamus and his fanboys. I think all the dates that were ever suggested are now in the past. Twenty-twenty was never actually much on my mind. But it has a certain ring. We even had reverse twenty twenty / forward twenty twenty this week. Which is very cheery. Pink dress shirt with key lime necktie cheery. Be of good cheer. March is just four weeks away. The dark days are coming to an end.* As Katie** wrote in her latest newsletter, The Gulp:

The soil is warming up. The snowdrops have started meeting in their cabals, in open defiance of the iron grey sky. I’ve seen them. We’re nearly there.

You know what is very 2020? Sobriety. There is talk of it, for example by brewery staffer Jemma:

Not that I was a raging alcoholic, but the daily drink (or two or three) is considered normal and expected, and it was time for me to just kinda put myself in check. I had to prove to myself that I could go without alcohol and I’m proud I was able to.

There are sober bars out there, sober event spaces, calls for sober diversity and there was even a bit of a messy wander in PR publication October, too. But it would be messy, wouldn’t it. I’d worry about any self-clearing self-diagnosis… you could be a raging alcoholic… I’ve sat with many a yellow eyed beer worker telling me about the distance between themselves and alcoholism. Consider Greta, too. Sobriety may be the new glitter. Or it may be made up of admissions others would do well to heed.

Noteworthy #1 : Chibuku from Botswana.

Noteworthy #2: the shadowy Portman Group*** neatly summerized.

Noteworthy #3: Jeff considers his tenth ‘lance-a-versary.

TBN congratulated Englishman abroad Ron on his subtle celebration of Brexit this week, as illustrated. Ron fell back on his regular “I’m thinking now I should pretend it was deliberate” but I don’t buy it. More to the point, what does it mean. Barm is yeast. Was it a yeasty stout? Why can’t people think of my needs when discussing things in my absence?

JJB posted another of his wonderful vignettes of his beloved Italy, of a bar he visited in Sicily while also exercising his right to be an Englishman abroad:

Despite the silly English language beer names and descriptions, I was mightily impressed with Ballarak during what was by necessity a fleeting visit. I subsequently learned that the brewery has another, more food-led venue in the Kalsa, a much less sketchy district of central Palermo (the Ballarò is wonderful, but not for the faint-hearted). I’ll be sure to visit both sites when I’m next about.

Elsewhere… hmm… let’s see… you know, I wonder sometimes about the regularly recycled beer topic like explaining freshness, food and beer and Stan’s favorite, the wonderful world of off-flavours. Too bad Ladybird Books don’t put out a series of “Craft Beer for Youth” so that they could all be under one cover and on a bookshelf I don’t have to encounter. Next to the newspaper rack coated with fabulous headlines like “Three guys who like beer start a brewery.”****

Somewhat related, in my spam email folder, I found a letter of complaint sent by Arran Brewery of Scotland about a bottle deposit scheme proposed by the government in Edinburgh:

Gerald Michaluk the Managing Director of the brewery, like the vast majority of his fellow brewers, are set against the Scottish Governments proposals. “It is clear this is a terrible scheme, ill thought through and will disadvantage the small brewers and the smaller shop keepers. At a time when, along with other policies, is seeing the brewing industry is being tightly squeezed from all directions this could be the final straw that breaks the camels back.

The BBC covered the story back in May 2019. I mention this because Ontario has had standardized beer bottles for yoinks and a cooperative returns system since 1927 and it seems to work wonderfully with significant public acceptance.

Another sort of mental rut was noted in relation to Tony Naylor’s article in the Guardian headlined “£96 a bottle: the exotic beer that is as expensive as vintage wine” which rather sensibly points out the factors which caused such a fright. When challenged, the author tweeted this:

Who’s this “we”? I’ve always been 100% against ‘refined connoisseurship’ & the whole cultural cringe of a wine-beer equivalence, particularly where used as cover to drive-up £££ (as it has been) of average beers. Lot of “super-premium” things in beer now really ain’t that super.

Well said.

Old Mudgie has noticed another bit of a new slag being offered by the craft keener contingent: “pint culture“! Seems a bit unnecessary to me. As the OM says, “smaller measures are available in every single establishment that sells draught beer” so why bother making a thing of norms. I am, as you know, all in for quart culture. Don’t even get me started on communal pottle culture.

Speaking of false constructs, Matt asked if the “rebel” culture of craft was going away. Despite efforts by the BA to rewrite the Book of its Genesis glowingly, I am of the class who is aware “rebel” was a bit of a manufactured stance created in the early 2000’s in large part to counteract the salacious drunken tone of micro which was best… or worst… exemplified by the “Sex For Sam” campaign dreamed up by Jim Koch and still illustrated by the sexist labels that pop up from time to time. Matt wrote:

It’s an attitude that has spawned a thousand imitations. Most notably from BrewDog here in the UK, which, with beers like Punk IPA (now the largest selling craft beer in the country), fought its own version of a guerilla war in the beer aisles. The brewery, which now produces beer on three different continents, even held “craft beer amnesties” at its chain of bars, where you could trade “macro” beer for a pint of its own.

I think of it more this way: making vast sums off of brewing is no more novel or rebellious than Mr. Trump’s 2020 State of the Union address proved that things were more unified. Like the fib of small as noted by Evan, rebel is one of the great foundational fibs of craft. Brewing is always about money. The rest in large part fluff, PR and untruth still quietly bowing to mammon. Pick your heroes wisely.

Speaking of himself, very good news that Evan has been appointed an editor at that thing that must reference itself as GBH 27 times in most of the blog posts they run. Hopefully, a more serious and less self-congratulatory approach may result.

In even more good news, there is a brewing collective in Minnesota, the Brewing Change Collaborative that aims to foster diversity a bit more actively:

Despite national statistics that not only show little diversity in the brewing arena but also a disproportionately white workforce, Louder, along with industry colleagues Elle Rhodes and Nasreen Sajady, began to devise a plan that would empower people of color to become more involved in the brewing industry. Using a platform of advocacy, education, and most of all, a safe space to talk about issues in the industry that impact people of color, the Brewing Change Collaborative was conceived. “I am already tokenized and one of the few people of color that owns a brewery,” says Louder. “I would go to work every day and still be that lone person. I didn’t want to be the ‘only other’ in my ‘only other’ situation.”

Conversely, some very sad news that one of the heroes of micro is packing it in, facing not only, first, the beast released by craft but also, now, the taproom and even time itself:

The first female brewer since Prohibition has announced her retirement. Carol Stoudt, who kickstarted this region’s craft beer boom with Stoudts Brewing Company in the late ’80s, has announced via press release that she will retire and take the brewing company with her. “This was a difficult decision to make,” says Carol in the press release, “but we’re not moving enough volume to justify the expense of keeping the brewery open. However, we’re not closing the doors to any business opportunities that could help the Stoudts brand live on.”

Stoudts were a go-to delight for me in my early days of beer hunting in the wilds of central New York fifteen years ago. I guess I stopped doing that. I especially loved their Double IPA with the lovely elephants on the label. But as Ontario’s brewing scene grew, I transferred my allegiance in such matters to Nickelbrook Headstock. One problem Stoudt faced in miniature.

And speaking of old beer for old folk, it’s well-sponsored and perhaps overly-rouged #FlagshipFebruary time once again. Jordan wrote about 10W30, featured here in 2013, and how it’s a funny thing to find a hold out in Ontario – but the first feature was also about another elderly ale from Ontario.

If such tales from the crypt aren’t enough to keep you occupied, don’t forget to check in with Boak and Bailey’s most Saturdays, at the OCBG Podcast on Tuesdays (bonus Kingston references this week) and sometimes a mid-week post of notes from The Fizz as well. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, too. There’s the AfroBeerChick podcast now as well! Plus the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch.

*The sixth day of February is about sunny as the fourth of November. Unless it was cloudy. Or is now. Wherever you are.
**Who tweeted entertainingly on the sound of a sub-Boris.
***see, for example, 2009.
****Actually published in The Daily Standard.

The End Of November’s Thursday Beery News Notes

I won’t miss getting past November. The worst month in my year. Damp and dreary. I mourn the end of the garden, the shortening of the days. The death of parsley. While Katie may have pointed us to a more healthy approach to November, I know too well that just a month from now, nearing the end of December, we’ll start feeling the days just slightly lengthening even it the cold is deepening. I took Monday off as I am still due about three weeks away from the office this year and drove off looking for signs. Just after noon, I found one on that dirt road up there. On the south side of Bloomfield, Ontario in Prince Edward County. It’s the last few hundred yards to the rolling idled farmer’s field across from Matron Fine Beer. I stocked the pantry with some jolly juice for Yule. Clever me.

Speaking of the hunt, Boak and Bailey may have found a small redoubt in the battle for more mild assisted by those behind the lyrically titled BADRAG:

Tasting notes on mild, like tasting notes on ordinary lager, can be a struggle, like trying to write poetry about council grit bins. Good mild is enjoyable and functional but, by its nature, unassuming, muted and mellow. Still, let’s have a go: dark sugars and prune juice, the body of bedtime cocoa, hints of Welsh-cake spice, and with just enough bite and dryness to make one pint follow naturally into the next.

I actually have to write bits of essays about council grit bins once in a while at work but never poems.

Never thought we would need a beer cooler for keeping beer cool when ice fishing out on a wintery lake in Saskatchewan frozen a foot thick but this is actually a clever idea. It keeps the beer from freezing.

The decade photo challenge as posted on behalf of IPA. I wonder if IPA will sue for defamation or whether the law’s recent dim view of chicken not being entirely chicken will deter such reckless? Speaking of the laws of Canada, drunk driving in Quebec now carries a new serious penalty:

Starting Monday, Quebec motorists convicted of drunk driving twice in 10 years will have to blow into a breathalyzer every time they start a car — for the rest of their lives. Their licence will be branded so any intercepting police officer will know to inspect the driver’s ignition for an interlock device — a piece of equipment that prevents the car from starting if the driver’s estimated blood alcohol concentration is above the legal limit.

To my east across the ocean, Mr Protz alerted us all to the closing of a pub that has been in place for about 750 years, the Cock Inn “situated on an upward slope on the north side of a tributary of the river Sence” as reported in the Leicester Mercury:

One of the oldest inns in England built in about 1250 AD, it witnessed the preparation and aftermath of the Battle of Bosworth Field and the death of Richard III and the start of the Tudor reign. The notorious highwayman Dick Turpin would return here after working the Watling Street, taking refuge in the bar chimney, stabling his horse in the cellar when pursuit was close at hand.

Interesting to note the nature of its feared fate: “…hope it will reopen and not become a house, as many village pubs do.” Still on the pubs, Retired Martyn has ticked all the GBG 2020 pubs in Glasgow but on the way made something of an admission about a distraction:

Yes, by the Tim Horton Christmas Spiced Caramel Brownie and a medium filter. I read that “nearly eight out of 10 cups* of coffee sold across Canada are served at Tim Hortons restaurants and more than 5.3 million Canadians – approximately 15 percent of the population – visit the café daily“, and Canadians are never wrong. Most of them.

Who knew? And he visited Greenock, the paternal ancestral seat, too. Great photo essays as always. The Pub Curmugeon prefers to work similar themes in text.

I was confused by a thread about CAMRA discount cards this week, accused of being out of date, faithless to the true cause and a money grab… but then there seems to be no way to replace them in terms of the good they do. It stated with this:

I’m a CAMRA member & I work in a brewery. CAMRA needs to address the corrosive paradox of claiming that real ale is ‘the pinnacle of the brewers art’ while promoting discount schemes for cask beer. So I’ve drafted an AGM motion & explanation.

Discount? Doesn’t that mean well priced? Speaking of which, is beer about to get cheaper in Sweden?

Sweden’s state-run alcohol monopoly chain Systembolaget is planning to cut the costs of its cheapest beer from next year. The cheapest beer sold at Systembolaget today costs 8.40 kronor ($0.87). But next year it plans to launch two new kinds of canned beer for less than 6.90 kronor… the plans, which are meant to compete with border trade, that is Swedes travelling across the border to Denmark and Germany to stock up on crates of cheap beer.

The wonders of scale. Big entities can do great things, can’t they. Just consider this story on beer and the environment:

Anheuser-Busch, in partnership with Nikola Motor Company and BYD Motors, completed their first ever ‘Zero-Emission Beer Delivery’ in the company’s hometown of St. Louis — utilizing both companies’ innovative fleet technology to deliver beer from the local Anheuser-Busch brewery to the Enterprise Center using only zero-emission trucks.

Imagine! Using the word “innovation” and not referring to copycat alcopop IPAs!

Finally, I am not sure I want legalized beer corkage opportunities. Just another argument I don’t need. Go out where you want and spend the money at the place. Don’t bring your own cutlery either.

There. A quieter week in these parts. But a busy one at work so there you go. Busier still soon enough, too, what with the last month of the decade comes the inevitable “best off” lists. I myself sorta did one at the end of 2009, at least painting a picture of where things stood. I’ll have to think about what I’d say ten years on… other than wondering where the time went. Where did it went…

In the meantime, there’s more news at Boak and Bailey’s on Saturday, at the OCBG Podcast on Tuesdays and sometimes a mid-week post of notes from The Fizz as well. And look for Katie’s weekly newsletter, too.

A Few Exciting New References To Albany Ale… Which I Looked Up Now That Baseball Season Is Over

One of the things about the world we live in is that Google Books is being updated constantly. When I co-authored the histories of brewing in Ontario and the Upper Hudson Valley with Jordan and Craig, now over five years ago, we were very aware of the horrors earlier pop historians faced putting together an idea of regional brewing’s past. Google Books has been a particular blessing to us all. So, every once in a while you have to go back, as I did in August with Lambeth Ale, to see what has been added since you last wrote about a topic. Today, then, let’s look at the references to Albany Ale which have popped up since I last had a proper scan, including this image up to the right from the excellent Soda & Beer Bottles of North America website’s 2018 notes.*

By way of summary introduction to Albany Ale and in addition to my own tagged posts, I offer Craig’s observation posted last February on our Albany Ale Project‘s Facebook page on the scope of the drink’s travels:**

Regardless of the numbers of papers available on the site, it’s clear that Albany Ale was fairly common in the south, and specifically during the antebellum period. Of the roughly 3,500 hits from 1800 to 1900 (with New York papers eliminated) for “Albany Ale”, “Albany Cream Ale”, “Albany Double Ale” and “Albany XX Ale”, seven out of the top 10 returns were from southern states. Louisiana showed the most hits in the database (94) as well as the earliest (of the southern states) mention, in the Louisiana Gazette in 1819. Pennsylvania, is the first northern state on the list and it ranked fourth behind Mississippi and North Carolina. Connecticut missed the top 10 by one, but the Hartford Courant’s April 30, 1806 edition boasts the earliest mention of Albany Ale outside of New York.

Brewing in Albany (as the attentive amongst you who have a well-thumbed copy of Brewery History (2014) 157 by the bedside will know) goes much further back in time than 1806. Harold A. Larrabee in his April 1934 personal and municipal biographical article “Herman Melville’s Early Years in Albany” in New York History Vol. 15, No. 2*** spends a generous amount of time on the maternal side of Melville’s ancestry going back well into the 1600s – aka the brewing Gansevoorts. Larrabee confirms that the site of Stanwix Hotel (aka Stanwix Hall) was the site of the family’s first brewery in Albany at Maiden Lane and Broadway run by Melville’s namesake, Harmen Harmensen Van Gansevoort. It also includes this recollection from the fiftieth anniversary of the building of the Stanwix Hotel:

Many a barrel of good beer, made of wheat, [says a newspaper account of 1883] has been brewed upon that spot. It was a pleasantry with the old people of those times, to say that when a brewer wanted to give a special flavor to a choice brewing, he would wash his old leather breeches in it; showing that slanders against Albany brewers and Albany Ale are not a new thing but of considerable antiquity. So as late as 1833, when the dome of Stanwix Hall was raised, the Dutchmen of that day called it Old Harme Gansevoort’s brew kettle turned upside down.

Bonus confirmation of Albany’s wheat malt based reality!

From 1840, we find in the likely temperance leaning publication The Ladies’ Companion and Literary Expositor this vision of the Albany ale drinking gent of the times:

An irreligious man—one who professes to be so, and glories in his own shame—who considers it an honorable distinction to be ranked among unbelievers, and who mouths blasphemy among his acquaintances as a sort of accomplishment to be proud of, is unquestionably disgusting enough; he takes decided precedence of the porter-house drunkard who blurts blasphemy over his mug of Albany ale without knowing what he says, and is merely vulgar and profane amidst an association whose whole object is a forgetfulness at once of self-respect as well as of respect for every thing else.

Before you go all finger pointy at our prohibitionist forefathers and foremothers, I would note that this description roughly lines up with the 1832 diary entry of a traveler passing through Albany who, diving into a cellar, found a 3:00 am party described as “a good sample of low life in Albany” where they shared a feed of biscuits washed down by what was likely Albany Ale: “…there was no brutal drunkenness nor insolence of any kind, although we were certainly accosted with sufficient freedom.”

In the 1841 publication A Brief History of the Origin, Progress, and Effects of the Present Astonishing Temperance Movement, and of the Life and Reformation of John H.W. Hawkins, the Distinguished Leader. Embellished with a Correct Likeness of Said Hawkins, we read this about the habits of pre-reformed Mr Hawkins when he was just twenty-one:

When once he got taste of liquor, after long abstinence, all power of resistance forsook him, and, as is the case with other inebriates, he gave himself up without restraint, till his health and strength for the time being became exhausted with intoxication. Albany ale, or “cat soup,” as it was termed, was a favorite beverage, to which he was particularly partial. He would sometimes begin with this, when at a public house; call for a pint tumbler, and, while reading a newspaper, drink a little at a time, till it was drained; then, feeling his appetite sharpened for more, would call for a second tumbler, and, without waiting, toss it all down at one drink. By this time, his rage for more became so violent and irresistible, that he has sometimes drunk many quarts in a few hours.

We are told that prohibitionist “John H. W. Hawkins was born of respectable parents in Baltimore, September 28, 1797” and was alive at the time of the book’s publications which means his recollection of the slang for Albany Ale is reasonably reliable and dates to about 1818. Which is fabulous. Cat Soup. Love it.

Also from 1841, in the Western Temperance Journal, we find an article on all the meanings of the very newly coined slang “O.K.” which at the very last of a long list states: “O. K. Oil of Karrion—or Albany Ale.” Excellent! The greasy residue of the rotting dead. Which is a pretty cool actually contemporary goth or steam punk attribution when you think about it. Which also means Oil of Karrion now stands as a neato second name, along with Cat Soup, for a modern craft brewery’s recreation of an actual 1841 Albany Ale.

It’s important to note that there was good reason that the prohibitionists took aim at Albany Ale. By mid-century, it was a huge industry as this reference from an 1849 edition of The Merchants’ Magazine and Commercial Review illustrates:

The business of malting and brewing is carried on to a great extent in Albany, and employs a large amount of capital. Six breweries and malt-houses of the largest dimensions were erected in this city the past year, and the whole number of such establishments is about twenty. The demand for malt liquors is daily increasing in the United States, and Albany ale and beer are found not only in every city in the Union, but likewise in the West India islands, in South America, and in California.

In 1871, it could still be stated that “Albany ale and Albany lumber are known everywhere.” But it did not last. Times change and change can come quickly. From 1884, we see something of the beginning of the end in this brief but telling observation on time’s cruel march from The Albany Hand-book: A Strangers’ Guide and Residents’ Manual:

…Albany ale, at one time was on tap in all the large cities of the country, but of late has been displaced, to some extent, by lager beer which is also brewed here in large quantities…

Ah, Albany Ale. I am glad I played a part bringing it and the pre-lager history of American brewing back into the spotlight. One day far into the future if someone is looking up me on Google Books, it will likely be one of the few things I will be known for. And rediscovering that “Cat Soup” was once slang for the stuff. That’s just excellent.

*Of course, Craig may have seen all these but that is the reality of having keeners for co-authors. PS: I want that bottle. PPS: Craig likely has one and is keeping it from me.
**Probably time we updated the book what with all this new information.
***Free at the wonderful JSTOR archive with a simple sign up as a researcher.

Your Last Thursday Beery News Update Before the Impending Canadian Hung Parliament

This is great. We have an absolutely gridlocked national political scene according to the polls and that, for a Canadian, is a wonderful thing. We love minority in our national federation of a parliamentary monarchy system. Best is there is a good chance that the highest vote won’t equal the most seats, given 105% of Albertans vote Tory. Probably the guy tapping the keg last week in Kitchener (at the world’s second largest Oktoberfest) gets the nod as PM.* The Leader of HM’s Loyal Opposition just looks too much like a 12 year old in his bigger cousin’s suit to pull it off. Which is fine. Which makes minorities great. Things get done. Deals get made. Progress happens. I know in the US folks are all like “wuzza third Party?” and in the UK folk are all like “making deals based on compromise?” but here in the Great White North we know what works. And that is working.

First, an acknowledgment and a bit of a bummer. I read this note this week at Stan’s place:

For 6 years I assembled links to good reading about beer and other things fermented, posting them here on Mondays, often with a bit of commentary. That ended in with the arrival of October in 2019. Of course, the archives (in monday links during 2018 and 2019, musing before) remain, and at the bottom of every post there is a list of sites that have new links every week. You may also look at my Twitter feed on the right to see what I’ve been reading.

It would be telling half a story if I were to tell you that Stan is my favorite beer writer, the only person I will call a “beer expert” given the depth and breadth of his comprehensive knowledge. He has always had the time for my dumb questions and has even taken the time to tell me to go to straight to hell… now… exactly when I needed it. I will be sad to not read his thoughts at the beginning of every work week but I have noticed an uptick in his own blog writing activity otherwise so maybe he will focus on more posts. A welcome thought. As is the news that there will be a Lew v.2.

If there was a next gen candidate to follow in Stan’s footsteps, Evan Rail might be it. Late last week, just after the round up hit the presses, he posted an article at GBH. (And without the obligatory 27 “GBH” references embedded in the text, too! He must know how to negotiate a contact.) The article is about hops and, more specifically, a trip he took to the Hop Research Center in Hüll, Germany to learn more about their breeding program:

Breeding itself is a delicate process. Commercial hop plants are generally all female, with female flowers. To create new crosses, male hop plants—which usually but don’t always have male flowers—are also bred. But, in the middle of a commercially important hop region like the Hallertau, how do you raise male hop plants, when just a pinch of their pollen can create unwanted hybrids on the surrounding farms, potentially ruining the crop?

Me? I probably would prefer the unofficial version of the history of CAMRA, which is what the “biography of the organization” is actually called.**

We would like this perspective to come from someone who is not perceived as having a close association with CAMRA. The brief is for a c.50,000 word authorised biography of CAMRA, to be researched and written in 2020, with the text due at the end of the year, ready for publication in March 2021 in time for the Campaign’s birthday celebrations. Exact outline, terms and fees to be negotiated.

Nothing like a book where the subject matter gets to negotiate the outline. Also from the UK and in line with such thoughts on the improbabilities of the world we live in, a stark truth from an English brewer on the perfect pint pour:

A proper family/regional head brewer would know that the perfect amount of foam is that which allows the publican to sell 105% of the beer from each cask.

Next, Martyn has continued in his Martyn-like habit of posting long excellent blog posts with another long excellent blog post on corporate misinformation about a certain Sri Lankan brewery’s history:***

Mind, even at five errors in four sentences, that’s not the worst pile of nonsense on the internet about what is now the Lion Brewery, famous today for an award-winning strong stout that is one of the last links with British colonial brewing in Southern Asia. The Lion Brewery’s own website is full of rubbish (and bizarre random capitalisation) as well…

Odd news out of Oregon where one brewery has been vandalized twice in recent weeks… by the same person:

Police contacted Albin in the area and arrested her for first-degree criminal mischief. However, Albin was released from the jail just three days later. She returned to the brewery around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday. That’s when she allegedly threw rocks and liquor bottles into the windows and doors of the restaurant, and made Molotov cocktails that were found thrown around the inside of the brewery. The entire incident was captured on surveillance video…

Speaking of Molotov cocktails, I now have less of an issue with paper-based beer containers:

Carlsberg announced the launch of two prototypes of the new bottle at the C40 World Mayors Summit in Copenhagen, Denmark. The newer, eco-friendly versions are made from sustainably sourced wood fibres and are fully recyclable. The concept of a paper-based bottle may sound strange at first, as you wonder how the structure would stand firm, holding liquid safely inside.

…but the technology probably would be put to better use in the jams and jellies trade. Which I assume is about 1,297 times bigger than beer. Isn’t it? I need to check out Insta-jam or whatever that corner of the social media boglands are called.

There. A bit of a quieter week, I suppose. And not particularly wide in the selection of voices. I did hunt around, honest. Let me know what I am missing. Still, plenty of good reading for a week filled with many bigger matters. Some things beer can’t fix. Expect a further Boak and Bailey news update on Saturday and then check out the OCBG Podcast on Tuesdays. And look for mid-week notes from The Fizz as well.

*Fact: Canadian politicians must love beer.
**Illiteracy is an alarming problem, as we know, in the industrial scribbling circle but this is inordinately odd.
***And one I love as their foreign export stout makes it regularly to Ontario.

A Thursday Beery News Update For A Quiet Mid-June

I am not sure why it has gone so quiet. Am I reading the wrong websites? Was the fact that I know far more about knitting a clue? The coolest thing I saw this week was this image of a 20 pint cask with an handle posted on Twitter by Geoff Latham, English brewer and history fan. One theory of the handle is that the entire cask could be settled into a cooling creek as farm workers toiled away nearby. That’s a lovely thought.

There was a fabulously interesting business news item from here in my local eastern Ontario, describing a plan in which one noted craft brewery has sold to a firm which runs restaurant chains:

Peter Mammas, President and Chief Executive Officer of Foodtastic, said, “Big Rig is a treasured local brand and we are excited to welcome Big Rig into the Foodtastic family. We look forward to preserving Big Rig’s strong brand, while growing the restaurant system across the region. We are already looking at locations in Toronto. This acquisition of a homegrown Ontario business is consistent with our strategy of acquiring quality brands with growth potential that complement our existing brand portfolio. We believe the Big Rig acquisition will leverage our marketing, purchasing and operational systems to better serve our Big Rig customers and welcome many new ones.”

Canada has not had the sort of brewpub chain history that you see in the US and UK so I will be very interested to see if the this makes a go of it.

Sad news out of Syracuse, NY with the closing of a beer store that was critical to my own good beer education starting about 15 years ago:

The Party Source Beverage Center — which has been selling specialty domestic and imported beers since long before the term “craft beer” came into use — has closed. The shop at 2646 Erie Blvd. E. was stripped bare of inventory and most of its shelves this morning. An employee of the adjacent Oasis Mediterraneran food market said the beer store appeared to have closed over the weekend. The owners of Oasis also own the building. The future of the space remains under review, said Raham Soliman, another Oasis employee. “The Party Source Beverage Center will be up for rent until we come to a final decision,” Soliman wrote in an email.

We watch these days as older micros fade in the face of tiny post-craft fruit juice manufacturers but it is interesting to note that the stores which held venerable imported beers are also challenged by today’s hyper-local transient brewing. I likely bought my first Stone here or at the long lost but much beloved Galeville Grocery.

Mr Protz via Twitter alerted me and all you all to a sensible British TV news documentary about the health effects of alcohol and then he suffered one of the oddest dipsomania laced Twitter flame-fest I have seen. You people do understand alcohol is not great for you, right? I mean I can only assume that anyone who writes…

Please define what you consider “ruinous forms of alcohol”

…has (i) got issues and (ii) likely needs a liver function test asap. The willful blindness of otherwise clever folk to the ruinous aspect of the history of alcohol is one of the most bizarre side effect of the good beer bubble. Note that it relies on the “guns don’t kill people, people kill people” argument.

Un-news.

In addition to my thoughts, Ron Pattinson wrote one of the sweetest posts he has every posted in response to fellow beer writer Rebecca Pate’s thoughts about the Grim Reaper’s approach as she faces turning 35:

I regularly have a birthday party. Once every decade: 40, 50, 60. The interval may reduce to five years as get further down death’s highway. No point denying the inevitable goosestep of time. May as well embrace and attempt to smother it. The exact moment, I’m not sure of, but there was a point, when, rather than seeing each year added as another milestone on the road to extinction, I began viewing my age as a cricket score. Each number added, a little victory.

The under-exciting #FlagshipFriday thing seems to have run its course. Gary G posted a good piece about a venerable Toronto ale, younger sibling to my own yoof – and in response the founders of the thing were seemingly silent. It’s an unfortunate hashtag, to be fair, used widely for other purposes.

Conversely, the Ontario Craft Beer Guide Radio Show* is going great guns and is serving as a regular source of news items to poach. This week comes the news that the LCBO is adding new grocery stores as part of the changes that are coming (albeit at a slower pace) to the Ontario beer marketplace:

Following the provincial government’s announcement today on plans to deliver more choice and convenience for consumers, the LCBO is rolling out an extensive expansion plan to better serve Ontarians. As part of the marketplace expansion, the LCBO will be authorizing 200 new LCBO Convenience Outlets (formerly called LCBO Agency Stores) over the next year. In addition, the Grocery program, started in 2016, will be expanding with 87 new authorizations, bringing the total number of grocers eligible to sell beer, cider, and in some stores, wine, to 450.

This is smart and no retreat. The law is just waiting for proclamation now. Whenever you as a government want to expand authority and powers, you also check out any authority which has been sitting around unused. Q: where is the agency outlet for Bath?

Also, the powers behind the OCBRS are selling ads. Ads make a lot of sense. I used to sell ads. Made a crap load back in the day off those ads. I miss that. Blow money. Pellicle is hitting up folk for moo-lah, too. Good for them. Makes sense. Far better than mystery trips to shadowy Wrocław. Not that there’s anything wrong with visiting Wrocław but it would be nice to know how and why and who. Probably not an issue at all. In fact, I suspect the entire enterprise was a set up, a way to make me say stuff like this… bastards…

Odd drinking advice bested only by odd smoking up advice… from the government! But not nearly as odd as this story, falsely alleging some sort of connection to beer.

That’s a wrap. Another week’s news in the can. Expect more news from Boak and Bailey again this Saturday. No word on Stan. He might post the news Monday. Maybe. You never know. Was he in Wrocław? Who was? Shadowy. All very shadowy.

*They say “podcast” but we all know they mean radio show. They are also still working out the kinks on the call-in feature.

The Thursday Beery News Update For Fire, College, Style and Being Fifty-Six

I picked that picture up there of a fire in France earlier in the week, the night time warming of the vineyards at Chateau Figeac: “rows and rows of candles on the vineyard to protect the vines from frosty nights…” Here’s perhaps an even more stunning image, the French Côte-d’Or lit up at night form above. I spent three weeks in Paris with pals in 1986, weaving from art galleries to bars to cafe’s to our small family run hotel. We were there so long we got grief from the owners for being so bad at getting to know Paris, for wasting the experience that we were being told where to visit and that led to me, a gawky probably hungover 22 year old, staring at the blue glass at Notre-Dame. Lovely then. Sad now.

Let’s go! Diageo has done a good thing:

The maker of the iconic Irish stout Guinness has announced it is removing plastic from beer packaging. Plastic ring carriers and shrink wrap will be removed from multipacks of Diageo’s beer products – Guinness, Harp, Rockshore and Smithwick’s. They will be replaced with 100% recyclable and biodegradable cardboard.

Excellent. And here’s an excellent suggestion for a gravestone, one that speaks to one of our lingering and perhaps pre-Christian rituals.

I am a bad man. I missed a post by a co-author, mainly because it came out two Thursdays ago, exactly when I am in a post-update publication funk. It’s Jordan’s post on the things he has learned creating and running a college course about beer:

How do you create something unique from scratch? For one thing, it’s continuing education, which means that it’s nights and weekends. It has to be affordable. It’s a self selecting group of students and they have presumably been through a long day at work or a long week at work by the time they get to you. It has to be instructional, educational, and entertaining enough to hold their interest. It probably needs to be a little interactive and there has to be room for discussion. That goes for all 67 hours of class time from the preview workshop to the last week of the last class. So there I was: anxious about public speaking, with no experience teaching, tasked with creating and administering 67 hours of content, and just bloody minded enough to think I could pull it off.

Speaking of structures, Jeff wrote and excellent thing on the development of flash in the pan styles and by excellent I mean he stated something that I have long considered the case:

With trends, there’s a push-pull, and the pull is what establishes the style. First breweries gamble with something new—that’s the push. With a style like gose or a technique like kettle-souring, the push may last for years before a brewery scores a hit. But then that organic interest comes and customers start asking for the new thing. Brewers have been pushing saison for 20 years and Americans are just not taking the bait. But hazies? That’s all pull now. Even brewers who hate them feel compelled to offer their ravenous customers what they want.

Pay attention to that push. Many folk deny it exists, saying its all demand driven. As if there ever was a public outpouring demanding a gap needed to be filled by Black IPA or sugar coated breakfast cereal gose. Officially absolving the beer drinking public from these sorts of abominations of marketing is a welcome thing. And the distinction between trend and style also fits better with the original Jacksonian intention of style to be an emulation of a classic. Good stuff.

Speaking of writing excellent things, Evan Rail has been tweeting about writing longer writing beery-wise as part of his process of writing a new piece of longer writing:

As a writer, you’re constantly doing short-term, short-gain work, which makes it really hard to get ahead. The work that brings real satisfaction — and which often makes for long-term success, financial and otherwise — is hard to fit into the day-to-day grind.

It’s the same for the amateur boy beer writer. Time is the commodity I simply don’t have. I’ve put in 24 hours since 36 hours ago. Frankly, I was glad to get a number of posts on beer and 1400s Bristol this winter but if I had my druthers I would do that sort of research and writing all the days of my life.

Politics? Here in Ontario, we have a particular form of conservative government which is dedicated to changing the way we get our booze and dope. It even affected the annual provincial budget to the point I have to go into work today to look at some beer law, an interesting puzzle. This was a telling tweet:

Number of times Doug Ford’s budget mentioned the words “alcohol” or “beer”: 46. Number of times “poverty” was mentioned: 0. Priorities.

That being said, we regularly regulate these things at the provincial level and alcohol has been at the forefront of cultural policy at many times in our past, not only from the 1870s to the 1930s the period people can’t cope with. Ontario, the true foundation of all hoppy beer trends. Buy our book Ontario Beer for the full story. Seriously. Grow up. Buy it. Pretend it’s my birthday.

A short post this week. But lots of good stuff to share. And it really is my birthday. On a Thursday before a four day springtime weekend. “W” to the “oooot”! And this is the one I have been waiting for. Fifty-six! Remember when you were nineteen and you couldn’t wait to be fifty-six? As you reflect in the arm glow of that, don’t forget Boak and Bailey on Saturday and Stan on Monday. Each a gift to us all. See you next week!

The Blink And May Is Gone Edition Of Your Beery News Links

To start, I have done what every good beer writer does – I have stolen something. The image above is the lower slice of the cover image used by Boak and Bailey for last Saturday’s edition of “News, Nuggets & Longreads” and it snapped my head immediately to attention. Wow! See what is going on there is in the anonymous 1890s pub? Careful readers will recall my 2012 search for better drinking vessels and in particular my love for my pewter quart pot* which is happily put into periodic use. When conducting that search care of Messers E & Bay**, you see these quart pots with spouts that I figured were altered and re-purposed for household reuse after the era of quart in the pub normality left this Earth. But NO! They are for pub use, the buyer purchasing a quart measure but serving himself with it but drinking from the smaller glass instead of the pot. No wonder the spouts are all at 9 o’clock to the handle’s 6 o’clock. So the right hand can pour to the left. A jug built for serving someone else is always spout at 12 o’clock to the handle’s 6 o’clock. Perhaps this was a quart of strong ale compared to to a quart of a lighter weight beer? Now I want one of those, too. And so should you all.

James Beeson on a year writing about beer from the rare perspective of journalism. Also see Jeff on the same. J + J are both correct. Certain brewers and many PR folk have an issue they have to deal with. We might call it “greater society.”

One week until the vote is in for Ontario’s election and NDP leader Andrea Horwath has given us another “candidate with a beer” photo. The scene is Brothers Brewing in Guelph. I prefer the Canadian standard “politician beer pour” pics personally but seeing as this was actually tweeted on the official party feed, I’m more than pleased. Unlike the last national election in 2015, beer is an inordinately active topic in the election so far – and is being picked up by the news organs covering the race. In fact, they are being even so clever as to seek out knowledge such as in this article where Macleans magazine quotes from and even includes a hyperlink to the blog of Jordan St. John! In one of the oddest Ontario election promises ever, conservative leader Doug Ford has promised the return of buck-a-beer cheap lager. That was a thing until 2010. Jordan unpacks the many many ways that this is never going to happen. My tweet:

Ontario’s “buck a beer” went away when a big corporation bought a smaller corporation, shut it down and sold off the equipment. Not a policy matter. And government can’t force brewers to make cheaper beer.

Mr Ford may well be our next premier but no one has accused him of being all that bright. Five years ago, The Globe and Mail*** accused him of selling hashish for several years in the 1980s but no one has accused him of being all that bright. Dumb.

Hail in Bordeaux on May 26th. One-third of Blaye heavily hit. Drag.

Martyn Cornell posted about running ads on his blog. I used to do that a decade ago. Good money. Folk are always seeing us there is a way to recoup the cost of all this. And they should. Hilarious observation in the comments from a reader remarking on folk jabbing about the ad selection:

Other posters — the ads you see *might* be determined by cookies on your machine indicating what you’ve previously been viewing so maybe be a *bit* careful before announcing what’s showing up for you…

Me, I don’t really care about the financing of this here publication any more as digital historic research is less expensive than my other hobby, sewing suspender buttons on trousers for work.**** Seeing as, me, I don’t travel and don’t hang out in pubs I really don’t have a love-hate relationship with my problem writing anymore. I have a backyard. I have a rec room with an old Lay-Z-Boy. It’s all working out.

Note: any brewery drawing water from the Great Lakes south of Sarnia is pretty much making a dilute processed sewage water beer as well. Not to mention it all being DINOSAUR PEE!!!!

Folk are still waiting for the apology that will never likely come. See, Beavertown has been talking to Heineken after all. As noted in your May 17, 2018 edition of the Thursday news, those who saw this coming were “rumour mongering” and spreaders of “falsehood” – which have to be two of the most infantile over-reactions in hard scrabble beer consulto history. Way to go. The fun continues as Beavertown lands a deal with Tottenham football club serviced no doubt with approval of Heineken, the club’s official beer sponsor – but wait! One tiny voice shouts “HOLD THE PRESSES!!!”:

Nothing has been confirmed. Could be completely unrelated – collaboration could be within the stadium only – but there are no sources saying either of these things are true.

And monkeys might be circulating in trousers. What a mess. Having negotiated sports stadium bevvy deals, it is pretty obvious that there is a connection… as it would be to most. Does anyone think that Beavertown or Heineken have two law firms isolating these sorts of deals with the same parties from each other? Yeah, that make sense. Plenty of sense. But no: the last few weeks’ simmering sneer of discredit suddenly has an implicit claim of special access “the sources“! And, suddenly, now rumour mongering is in!! The core self-branding strategy prime directive is pretty obvious… still, I like to read along these sorts of aggrandizement cub reporting mongers with the sound of a teletype or stock ticker clacking along in my mind. It helps.

By contrast, the ever excellent Ben Johnson has written about a wonderful new addition to the Ontario beer scene – the Toronto East End brewers collective. One of the dumber things about the “independent” aspect of the craft beer movement is how it depends on followers aligning into lock step with messaging coming from the tenured staff of centralized national scale trade associations located far far away. The Orwellian scenes at the keynote speeches of the annual Craft Beer Conference look like something out of a mass reeducation session. I hear they chanted “Gose is Good! Gose is Good!” at the end of one of these back in 2016. Newsflash: it often isn’t. Far better it is, then, to read how some are fighting back against mindless homogeneity even in a local scene:

“Most of the breweries in Toronto who have been the beneficiaries of media hype (deserved though it may be) are all clustered in the west end,” he says. “There’s already this ridiculous ‘cultural divide’ that makes people in the west end feel like traveling east of the Don Valley requires a full day of logistics planning and we’re hoping to dispel much of that nonsense.”

Fight the power. Fight the good fight. Fight! We need more of this. Dump those who aspire to “big and controlling” whether in association or in distribution or beer writing or whatever. This nano-political statement is the next logical step for “local” and it is welcome if not long overdue.

And with that, I leave you. Once again the goodness in craft is defined by the local, ungrasping, interesting and kind. Alcohol and money have their powers for sure – but peril lies that way. Both for those who speak in that fashion and those who bother to listen. Much more fun is the real. Next Thursday is election day! I even have an orange sign on the lawn.

*You do all know that a tankard has a lib but a pot does not, right?
**Stolen this time from Norton of Morton.
***Toronto’s national newspaper.
****Good set of buttons costs about $3.50. Tops. Lots of colours and sizes, too. Don’t get me started on vintage buttons made of deer antler…

Your Mid-March Beer News For The Winter That Won’t Go Away

Andy Crouch captured the mood with this tweet on Tuesday:

We are tired. We are tired of slipping. Of sliding. We are tired of corduroy. [Except me. I’m not hating on the cords – just trying to fit in here – gimme a break.] Otherwise, it’s been a really quite week. Not one brewery has done anything stupid since last Thursday. Well, Stone seems to be having shelf space quality control issues in Europe but, well, that’s par for the course for big international craft. And St. Patrick’s Day is coming up on the weekend but that will be ruined but 827 beer writers working for exposure and samples lording over the fun of drinking green bulk lager… but that’s for next week.

Deeply into the now, Mr. B has a new book coming out, Will Travel For Beer. Like any numbers book there is a hyper-inflationary aspect to the idea of going on 101 vacations about beer but I am sure there will be more than a few ideas worth planning one or two trips around.

It’s not the one beer a day I couldn’t manage but who can stop at the third chip?

This is an odd story. Apparently MillerCoors in the US has created a new demographic category for 21 to 24 year olds and is intent in trapping them for life in a haze of weird macro-made beer like things:

The purpose is to sell more beer, which has been losing business to wine and hard liquor for a decade. MillerCoors, the U.S. division of Molson Coors Brewing Co., is gearing its marketing to 21- to 24-year-olds, a slice of the population the company characterizes as “curious,” “pragmatic” and still virginal when it comes to drinking beer… MillerCoors says there are important differences between millennials and the new generation the beer maker created but hasn’t named.

Apparently, the answer for these poor fools is a fluid called Two Hats described as “a light beer imbued with fruit flavours.” Which (i) we have seen in one form or another before such as the cited Bud Light Lime-A-Rita yet (ii) still sounds uniquely horrible. Pity the short term career path of the team that came up with this one.

Did I ever mention I really can’t get too excited about the unhappiness of the good monks who otherwise play quite happily in the commercial marketplace? Think of the extra good work that could be done if one of the recipes were given to big beer to milk for all it’s worth with all licensing residuals going to good causes. No, reselling is fine by me. If I can buy Harris Tweed, an actual craft product, from some one on eBay – why not beer? I mean, who would deny the joy of the best beer thing of the week – also found on eBay?

Boom! Now that we have dealt with matter haberdasherrific, be careful. This post from B+B may find you wanting to stroke your screen. Lovely images of malt being made 50 years or so ago.

If we are honest, GBH is now sort of on a different planet, no?

Finally, as Jeff notes, the US Brewer’s Association has put out its annual biggest 50 craft brewery and biggest 50 brewery list… except it’s not the biggest 50 breweries but the biggest 50 brewing companies. Which is odd for an organization supposedly celebrating small. EcoBart explained that the lay of the corporate landscape no longer allows for simply listing breweries – but then offered a tweek that might see number of brewing facilities listed under each FrankenKraftenCorp. Which gets to be confusing. TBN certainly was confused. I’ve plunked the entire list into this post down there at the bottom for your review. Look at it. Look!! The inclusion of Duvel Moorgat certainly sticks out. Andy hailed it all as the revenge of the East. Me, I applaud Bell’s for sticking with “Inc.” while all the world rushed to “Co.” Two years ago or so, the annual list was a helpful tool in following the breweries which had sold out. We don’t talk of selling out anymore. It is all too confusing. Which is another reason to buy from your local actual small brewery at the taproom where you can talk with the owner and the brewer.

Remember: Boak and Bailey Saturday, Stan on Monday.

À La Recherche Du Bière Perdu

Sitting here with benignly received stitches in my mouth, it’s not only that I look back with fondness on that time before a week ago that I could have a drink. It’s looking back with fondness that I could have anything pretty much not in paste form. I did have a bun the other day. Took me 27 minutes to eat it. Which reminds me of other looking back fondly at the joyful consumption as with this archaeological dig in England:

Once at the cutting edge of Oxford University, the friary building was either torn down or at least fell into disuse during the mid 1500s when the Franciscans fled the country during the dissolution of the monasteries. Built over for many centuries, it is only thanks to redevelopment for a new shopping centre that archaeologists have been able to delve into the treasures it contains. ‘Greyfriars’, as it was known, was home to both the friar lecturers and scholars and their students. So far the archaeologists have found thousands of artefacts, many hundreds of which – in true student fashion – are related to alcohol.

i remember when I could be related to alcohol, too. There is plenty more detail over at this site for Oxford Archaeology which appears to be the firm working with the developers to clear the site. The discovery of a 13th century tile floor was an unexpected surprise. Not unlike my surprise when I learned hummus and yogurt could be an entire meal.

There is much more detail in The Independent. Seems like the monks, unlike me at the moment, had a rich and varied diet:

Mutton, lamb, pork, beef, chicken, geese and song birds were all on the menu, as were sea fish (cod, whiting, haddock, herring, eel, gurnard, conger, grey mullet, thornback ray, salmon and sea trout) and freshwater fish (especially roach and dace). The archaeological investigation has also revealed that they had a liking for oysters and mussels – and for hazelnuts and walnuts. For making pottage – a thick mainly vegetable stew – they used wheat, barley, oats and rye.

They also found “hundreds of medieval beer mugs” – hundreds. The monastery is described as being one of the seats of “super friars” with great academic and political influence which is one of the things, I suppose that lead Henry VIII to getting rid of them. The order reestablished itself in Oxford a bit over a century ago. Their kitchens were apparently preserved in good condition… for archaeology… but I am not sure if they established whether the monk’s ale was brewed within that facility. Medieval Oxford not only had a brewer’s guild starting in the 1400s but they also had a Brewers Street so who knows.

So, there you go. A little light learning for a Tuesday. From a guy with stitches in his mouth. Did I mention the stitches? I did? Oh, good.

It’s March! It’s March It’s March It’s March News!!!

So… I like March. For years I proclaimed March in 89 font letters on one of my old blogs. I am far more restrained now. A place between two seasons. Did you see that it snowed in Ireland and the UK this week? Farmers out east call this the Million Dollar Snow* – the late storms that drench the fields on melting. And all brewing trade social media has been suspended over there for the last few days for pictures of snow laying thinly all about, just like the story told in the carols! Must be that EU Committee on Taking Photos of Snow (EUCTPS) funding grants finally kicking in.

First, right after last Thursday’s deadline, The Tand Himself** wrote about the inversion of reality that craft has become in the UK market and under their cultural version of the term’s application. Years ago Boak and Bailey discussed the vague and wandering UK use of the word “craft” and it seems like it’s wandered six steps further since then. While it is useless to get too caught up into it, craft now appears to mean “an expensive crap shoot enjoyed by folk many times you likely would not want to spend much time with” – or, you know, something other than what’s in the glass. Who needs that? The better approach such clinky studies with a certain humility and thank God others are playing with just, you know, honesty. We are blessed and less affected here where craft can still range from $2.80 a tall boy to whatever the market might bear. Related: discount craft discussion #1 and discount craft discussion #2. Somewhat related: odd personal product placement posing deep and abiding questions about value.

Next, I like this footage from the BBC archive of a show discussing the 1986 about the new UK craze for trend in brown bread. Which is interesting. Context about trends in food and other social patterns should be always related to trends in beer culture. Me, I was in Britain for a good chunk of 1986 and remember both the good malty ales and my uncle complaining about all the whole wheat and vegetables suddenly in his diet. Related: drive-by expertise. Unlike branding, actual history and knowledge are reasonably identifiable things. Dr Caitlin Green, lecturer at the University of Cambridge in history, has posted a series of images of ancient drinking vessels. That drinking cup carved out of amber is one of the more wonderful things I have ever seen. By further contrast, consider this discussion of the poorly traced and argued history of lambic – part of our heritage of mob craftism. Why must this be so?

Back to today, interestingly how Ben noted a change in the demeanor of UK trade reporter James Beeson who wrote about his unhealthy relationship with alcohol on Friday and then how drinking swanky craft before 3pm on Sunday made him somehow “a winner.” I’ve often noted to myself how two classes of people seem to align their identity with drinking, alcoholics and beer writers. If you feel the first, the second is irrelevant – just as he openly explored in the thread that followed. No beer makes you a winner. It’s best to be well. And I wish him well. No one needs a millstone.

Do you see a pattern up there? Proper personal insight compared to something else, perhaps second hand. Yet Jeff manages this tension with care and perhaps a bit daring in his posts on sexism. It’s not his story to tell but it’s the story he can tell or host. Still, even with his own discussion on the fact it is not his story – and the reality that we each are only what we are – I just wish the posts didn’t have a male host as intermediary… so, I will pair this link to one from Nicci Peet who is making a documentary about women in all sectors of the trade and has even launched a Patreon campaign to support it:

If you’re here you probably know I’ve just launched a new documentary project photographing women (cis, trans, genderqueer, woc) in the UK beer industry. There’s a lot of talk and debate lately around sexism and inclusivity. Part of the problem is that there’s a lack of visual representation of the diverse range of women who work in the industry. When I say women working in the industry I don’t just mean brewers. If you have a passion for beer there are so many different routes into the industry.

Both Nicci and Jeff’s very much worth your time. [Related for contrasting context.] And, just so we are clear, the #1 lesson on exactly how not to do it was brought to you Wednesday afternoon by Stone‘s Arrogant Beavis and Butthead social media intern:

The tweets are all now deleted – but for a hour or so defiantly defended. It makes one wonder why do they stick with the junior high locker room branding at Stone? It’s all about judgement of others with a passive aggression from a largely unwarranted stance. Don’t get me wrong. They make mainly pretty good gas station beer that’s reasonably reliable and know how to get the government grants for the branch plants. But apparently because that’s how the head office rolls if the intern’s tacit instructions are anything to go by. Time to move on.

*Unrelated.
**aka TTH.