Category: Fests and Gatherings

These Be The Beery News Notes For Mid-January 2022

We are already at a mid-point. But there are plenty of them to do around. Pick one point and then another? You’ve created a mid-point. I saw this image from a late 1960s airport or train station waiting area. I remember these at the Halifax airport, coin operated TV chairs. Some sort of mid-point going on. With ashtrays. We are at another now. Mid-January.

This bit of beer business news has every member of the semi-pro beer chattering class without experience in business* scratching their heads:

Molson Coors Beverage Company said today it will stop production of its Saint Archer brand and sell its San Diego-based brewery and taproom to Kings & Convicts Brewing Co., which owns the Ballast Point brand.  

As I reported… relayed… poached from Josh Noel in the Chicago Tribune, back in December 2019 Kings & Convicts, an apparently tiny craft brewery in Illinois bought one time mega-brand Ballast Point. The purchase was made with a bucket of moolah earned from a hospitality asset sale by K&C principal Brendan Watters in 2015  along with input from other friendly and wealthy investors including wine magnate Richard Mahoney. These brewery buys at pennies on the dollar are no doubt a doddle for folk at that level.

In another sector aimed at making the moolah, the sad news has been reported by Jaime Jurado that something called the Adult Non-Alcoholic Beverage Association has been created. A concept which seems to put the moron in oxymoron. As it is not about beer, it shall never be referenced again – except when someone mentions “neo-prohibitionists” again. Then I can say:

What? You mean the ANBA?

Best NA-NF quote of the week? This:

Price is an issue. Not sure how I’ll feel about that once work isn’t paying for the beers.

What? Govern the opening of your wallet accordingly, I suppose. Spare a measure of salt when reading review by those who get the freebies. Next fad to return? Temperance bars. As noted by Martin, the mastheadless blog Evo Boozy Scribbler discussed a variation on that theme:

I have nothing but disdain for booze free curry houses. Having a pint of Cobra is part of the experience. I don’t take my own roast potatoes to a carvery.

Well, it’s part of your experience. Why can’t people on the beer imagine that there is a world where being people on the beer is not considered the height of civilization’s progress? I rarely have been with my curry but, then again, I equate it with family meals, not piss ups.

Speaking of food and beer, this is an interesting argument from Zambia related to food security:

Well, if we are talking about food security, perhaps we could start by checking the quantity of maize going into beer before we think of suspending meagre exports of less than a million tonnes because if this info could be true, it could mean us who drink chibuku, ‘eat’ more mealie meal in three months than what the whole country uses in a year! Mwaimvela kanongobilitina skopodicious, ka? But not everything is bad about opaque beer, “…it gives you 13.1% of body energy when you drink,” my friend told me.

Changing course, a high honour and one I agree with entirely was bestowed by Garrett Oliver this week after listening to Matt Curtis interviewed by the two folk at BeerEdge recently:

I don’t really follow the beer press; as a producer it sometimes feels grubby and unseemly to do so. But I will say that this interview put a lump in my throat more than once and made me switch my mental hat to “writer/journo”. We do need actual journalists. Glad of these folks.

Through this troubled world of everything from PR puff to academic research, it is good to note how much quality there actually is – as I get to do each week. While a sort of drinks writing is a narrative with no greater arc, writing attracted to novelty (or even whatever it is that has briefly twitched… right over there, do you see it?) we see another relatively recent aspect of this is how good beer writing is developing and unfolding is the phenomenon of people writing about serious issues faced in life – from humanity’s injustices to the  deeply personal – seen through the lens of something somehow related to beer. On excellent example this week was provided by Jonathon Hamilton in Pellicle:

This time last year I wrote my first essay for Pellicle. It was, like this, a self-reflective piece about the beginnings of the magazine, alongside my own struggles with mental health, imposter syndrome and a sense of belonging. Putting myself out there in such a way was one of the most difficult things I’d ever had to do, and I would love to tell you all how it immediately changed me for the better. Unfortunately, it did not.

Similarly, note bene the bene noted:

It’s true that the total number of blogs has declined over the past decade, but the number of good blogs has never been higher. Moreover, they fill a role that would otherwise be left vacant. Beer is little-covered by newspapers and magazines, and often merely superficially. No one is going to print one of Ron Pattinson’s lists of 19th century grists in the Wall Street Journal. Social media is great for opinion and linking, but not much else. Imagine Lars trying to present one of his enthnographies on Twitter. Larger, more ambitious projects like Craft Beer & Brewing and Good Beer Hunting are doing fantastic work and I don’t want to diminish their effort. But blogs are still critical in the media ecosystem—and, given the anemic state of print journalism and the increasingly toxic nature of social media, more important than ever.

Hooray and happy sixteenth beer bloggaversary, Jeff!

There was a sad sighting of another of a bit of a failed PR initiatives this week: Tryannuary. How 2015. How could they have known that a global pandemic would raise general concerns about personal health?

In Scotland a wonderful protest was seen this week in Dundee, where the King of Islington, a Dundee pub was suddenly closed without warning and then suddenly reopened without warning:

Staff at a Dundee bar at the centre of Covid-19 cover-up claims have been told to return to work this week following a sudden closure. The King of Islington pub shut on Saturday with upper management blaming “massively reduced trade levels” due to the “promotion of unsubstantiated claims” in a union-backed grievance letter from staff. Kieron Kelleher, assistant manager at the Union Street venue, accused pub chain operators Macmerry300 of victimising staff who spoke out.

Protests had also been held at pubs owned by the same chain in Glasgow as events unfolded. As a child of a child of the Red Clyde, I got all verklempt.

This week’s Tufte Award for Best Visual Display of Quantitative Information goes to… a chart that explains what we know as “hard liquor” in Canada but described as spirits in the Old Country. It is from Colin Angus using data from Public Health Scotland who first ran a poll, most people guessing gin would be #1 rather than the bronze medal winner. Well down the list but still – who is drinking all that brandy?

The Canadian Beer Cup is off. Now… calm down. Breathe. I am sure it was a big deal in your household, too, but the reason  for the cancellation is… singular and real:

…guidelines announced last week by the Ontario Government in response to the rapid surge in cases of the Omicron variant limit indoor gatherings to a maximum of five people, making it impossible for in-person judging to take place at this time. “One of the goals of The Canada Beer Cup is to showcase the greatness of Canadian breweries to the world,” said Rick Dalmazzi, Executive Director of the Canadian Craft Brewing Association, in a statement. “With all due respect to the many fine Toronto and Southern Ontario judges who will be involved, we want to do everything in our power to also include the many international and cross-Canada judges who have committed to our event.”

In plain language, there was clearly a large aspect of this that was a Toronto tourism event bringing in judges who were also newspaper columnists and consultants to retailer, etc.** (One need not take that statement above in the cancellation notice to suggest that while Canadian beer may be underrated, well, our own Ontarian beer judges are somehow overrated.) Now… how to transition and stay within the overall goals. As happened in the World Beer Cup (whatever that is when it is not the World Beer Awards), beer submissions will be poured. What does a next step look like? Apparently the Greek Cup of Beer or the Greek Beer Cup or the Greek Beer Awards was not so needy of auslander praise as they also just mailed out the samples to the usuals. As did the World Beer Awards. Something will occur. I just hope that there are government grants that buffer all this, that cover the unexpected stranded costs that demobilization and remobilization incurs. Stranded costs are a killer.

Non-beer recommendation of the week:  follow AndyBTravels. He’s train fan who runs a Travel Architect Service. He also wanders around remote parts of places like rural Romania where this week he captured some desolate spots and also some gorgeous moments.

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

*pretty much all of them.
**we should be honest about how these things really work.

The Last Beery News Notes And My Golden Pints For 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

There. Your beer word for the week: skolling.

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

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

My Golden Pints For 2021

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

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

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

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

Best Pub Experience: none.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your Very Merry Christmas Edition Of Beery News Notes

This is the week! Santa and everything. So exciting. Last minute shopping opportunities abound even while heads nestle all snug in their beds bothered by visions of some sort. We are as happy for anything around these parts over the vaccination drive through outdoor wintery clinics, as seen above, which are boosting 5,000 people or about 4% of the city’s population per day. After a very scary spike that led the nation just a week or so ago, this is very good news for the holidays. The goose or turkey or whatever is sorta taking second place this year.

It is Tibb’s Eve today, a Newfoundland early start that may go back to 1700s and into the rural outports. What’s that about, you say?

Tibb’s Eve was a “non-time”; if something was said to happen on Tibb’s Eve, it was unlikely it would ever happen. It appears circa 1785 in “A classical dictionary of the vulgar tongue” thusly: “Saint Tibb’s Evening, the evening of the last day, or day of Judgement; he will pay you on St. Tibb’s Eve, (Irish).”

Fabulous. What is going on in beer itself? Well, I was really exciting by (as excited as one might get by I suppose)… by Ron’s reworking of some data to discover some very basic information about Dutch beer culture in the mid-1900s:

The obvious post-war trends were moves from dark to pale, sweet to bitter and draught to bottled. I’m shocked that pre-war dark beers accounted for almost 50% of the Dutch market. I would never have guessed that. Nor that such a high percentage of beer was sold on draught. Even in the UK, where draught was the norm, a higher percentage of beer was sold in bottled form on the 1940s.

That’s a fourth approach in addition to function, nationalism and style. This illustrates the great thing about amassing and writing in quantity – interesting qualities will jump out that would otherwise be missed.

Trying to be upbeat this week but this story on the death of one UK craft buyout is really interesting – especially as it is written from the marketplace reality point of view as opposed to the usual PR hopes and wishes:

Timing was an issue too. When it bought London Fields, Carlsberg’s eponymous lager and Export brews had been seriously struggling for years. Moving distribution to DHL also didn’t help, according to a second industry source, who says the tie-up was “fraught with difficulties” leaving irate retailers “unwilling to entertain a broader range”. Then after Covid hit, the merger became top priority. Put simply “[brewers] are potentially heading into another difficult period and it is all about cost right now, rather than growing younger brands”.

I really enjoyed watching Lars M.G. discussing why beer and Christmas are deeply connected, and what Christmas was originally all about all on a live (and free) online talk Tuesday afternoon my time hosted by @ChiBrewseum. These presentations they are putting on are a great addition to the good beer scene. He mentioned a record from the 1270s when the Norwegian king required prayers over the beer bowl to Odin to be replaced with those to Jesus. I mentioned that is right about when and why my peeps left town. We are also all the Elliots, too.

I really liked the “best of” reading list from Boak and Bailey if for no other reason that it is the sort of list that is separate from the self nominations we see on awards lists. Which can lead to this sort of unhelpful thing. Every entry is well worth your time. If I would pick out any one as the best 0f their best of 2021, it would be the epic A History of Brussels Beer in 50 Objects by Eoghan Walsh of Brussels Beer City.  Catch up! There is another half year of this tremendous bit of writing to go.

Great insider thread on the state of the bar scene in the USA in these days of the fourth wave.

The new drink buzz this week was all about the hot poker being thrust into your malty winter ale on a cold tavern patio somewhere.  Kate B. posted a vid. Stan on Insta wrote:

Some like it hot. Next please. My beer (Hogshead ESB) waits for a poke in the mug with a very hot iron. Lots of foam. Toasted marshmallow. 

I liked this – it’s a return to an old practice for winter punchbowls, whether filled with wine or ale… or both. Try it yourself, out in the yard with a Lambswool a la Braciatrix.

Martyn posted about one grump, sort of an anti-communicator, complaining about the quality of his drink:

In October 1736, Jonathan Swift, dean of St Patrick’s Cathedral in Dublin, and the foremost satirist of his age, published an attack on English porter, which was made, he said, of “the worst Malt, which is sent from all parts of the Country for that Use, and consequently nothing but Gin exceeds it for Badness.” The smell of London porter, he said, was “sufficient for any Creature above a Swine”…

Yikes. More tastefully, good news for hopheads in Stan’s newest edition to Hop Queries:

Friday the United States Department of Agriculture reported record hop production of 116 million pounds in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. That’s 12 million pounds more than 2020, when weather and smoke damage drug down yield, and 4 million more than the previous record of 112 million pounds harvested in 2019.

Speaking of good taste, Jordan brushed off his fountain pen and wrote about the state of Glutenberg, the Quebecois gluten free brewery and, like the Lord looking down upon creation, was pleased:

Alternative fermentables are used all over the world and the millet and buckwheat, which tend to be from arid climates, are probably things we’re going to need to look into in the near future. One thing this has certainly highlighted for me is how much we’ve become dependent on wheat and oats in the last half decade as the influence of New England IPAs has crept into other styles. I wonder whether that makes the Glutenberg products more accessible than they would have been six or seven years ago since haze and cloudiness are not issues in the general market anymore.

Finally, its time to brush off the Xmas tale from Church-Key Brewing of Campbellford, Ontario has arrived. Gather the kiddies, get your popcorn and Kleenex:

 

Well, the holidays are definitely here now. Be happy and eat a chestnut or whatever it is you eat that’s a bit weird. While you are being happy please also check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Or is that dead now?) There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. (That’s a bit now and then now.) And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (which he may revive some day…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

 

 

 

The Thursday Beery News Notes For Remembrance Day 2021

Today is Remembrance Day, a fairly significant thing here in Canada which is largely apolitical even now well past a century after the end of WW1. The image to the right is a photo I took in 2005 at the naval memorial downtown. We’ve had a naval presence here in town since 1673.  And here’s a bit of what I wrote in 2014 about the day on Facebook:

…There are no politics with our vets. More than hockey and donuts, we all actually love our square do-gooder Dudley Do-right military and RCMP. I am lucky to be in a congregation at 51 years of age with a man* who commanded CFB Greenwood near Kingston in NS where I lived when I was 9 years old – and who attended the church where Dad was a minister. We remembered today that when I was a kid and he was in his 40s that all the vets were WW1 and there was even likely a Boer War soldier in the pews…

We government workers in Ontario have the day off but it isn’t a general holiday like it was when I grew up in Nova Scotia. Schools and shops are open. Feels weird.  Vets will be at Legions again this year after being shut in 2020. Drinking beer. I’ll donate a few coins into the little cardboard box and, once again, buy maybe the 7th poppy of 2021 – they seem to disappear within four hours after putting one on.

Elsewhere, Mudgie took a trip into the city centre of Manchester and posted a bit of a travel piece on a certain sort of pub. I was taken by this photo to the right, the absolute dream seat, right there in a wee nook in the tiny Circus Tavern. Fabulous:

It has two small cosy rooms with bench seating. The one at the front always seems to have a vault character and is frequented by the regulars, while the one to the rear is more of a snug. I managed to take a snap of the seating opposite in the brief interlude between it being occupied by groups of customers. Understandably, the Circus didn’t reopen until social distancing restrictions were lifted in July, and anyone concerned about getting too close to others would do well to avoid it. 

Note: another photo of the Circus Tavern with people added won the top prize in our 2012 Yuletide Beery Photo contest.

The other week I was correctly corrected about the lack of a certain beer fest holding a meeting in person – so giddy was I to realize that an update on another and rather gentle in person event was posted by The Beer Nut this week. The live action photo at the end is helpful for scale:

From Zwolle, we set off further westwards on Saturday morning for Gramsbergen, a small town about 3km from the border with Germany. G-berg, as nobody calls it, is home to the Mommeriete brewery, set in a rustic canalside inn, all oak beams and porcelain fireplaces. We missed getting to see it as its normal cosy self since they were gearing up for a beer festival: one organised to celebrate 20 years of the Dutch beer consumers’ organisation PINT, onto which was tacked the official 30th birthday bash for EBCU. It was a modest affair, beginning in the the afternoon and finishing at 7pm, and only three guest breweries were in attendance.

Note: cheese cutting diagrams.

Beer experts don’t really exist like wine experts do. Well, a very few of the former might while a few more of the latter do. If you don’t believe me and still think your website generated certification means anything like expert, consider the career path of Kevin Zraly including this:

That any American restaurant would have a cellarmaster or a sommelier was a rare thing in those days. In 1978, Frank J. Prial, the wine columnist for The Times, wrote an article about the virtual disappearance of the sommelier in restaurants, citing Mr. Zraly as one of a very few good young ones in New York, “the knowledgeable type, not the wine hustler…”

I followed this link to his courses at Wine.com. Look! No phony academic rhetoric, no layers of prerequisite that would shame a Scientologist. Just accessible authoritative information at a plain price and presented directly and on the level. Why can’t beer do that?** We need to consider the relationship between access to information along with inclusion and levelling and the commonality of those who opposed them.

Resulting question: why do wine educators start with the premise that wine is not as complex as we consumers have been told while beer educators seem to start with the premise that beer is more complex than we have been told?**

Much to the contrary, I spent bits of last Sunday watching presentations from the Beer Culture Summit 2021 produced by the Chicago Brewseum. I found the structure refreshing as there was none of the Masonic mystery gatekeeping guild approach to information that is a hallmark of what passes for too many claims expertise in good beer culture. The difference? The focus on professional and personal experience as a pathway to leveling and inclusion. Call it cred. The presenters had cred. I particularly liked “Under-Attenuated: Women, Beer History Studies and Representation” session: Dr. Christina Wade, Tiah Edmunson-Morton, and Atinuke “Tinu” Akintola Diver on their careers researching brewing history. And not only because of Dr. Wade’s defense of the value of blogging brewing history – depth, accessibility, primary citations and immediacy both in terms of time and audience** even if Stan is still standing there at the graveside.  In a time when we see bland generalities devoid of citation but plenty of errors*** win awards for best beer history, it was a call for quality within a call for, you got it, levelling.

Best tweet with beer and meat.

Crop-wise, we saw the 150th anniversary of the first sale of Fuggles this week, as Martyn reminded us:

Today, November 8, marks 150 years  since the Fuggle hop first went on sale, in a field in Paddock Wood, Kent, after Richard Fuggle and his brothers Jack and Harry had spent ten years propagating the variety until they had enough, 100,000 sets, to sell commercially.

Wonderful. And we are also seeing a second crop of the heritage barley variety bere in Scotland this year. Isn’t nature wonderful! More on bere here and here.

Taking a break on his book tour, Jeff wrote excellently about what he has seen in America’s downtowns in late 2021:

Most of my adult lifetime downtowns have been shiny, clean, and fun. They’ve always been a bit artificial, but we social beings flowed into these hubs to see shows, get a meal, buy something nice, and mostly, to feel the exciting hum of other people doing the same thing. Now downtowns are listless and depressing, and many of the businesses are boarded up or on long-term hiatus. There’s less and less reason to visit them.. When cities become nothing more than storefronts for the rich, they teeter on a narrow balance point. Did Covid just disrupt that balance?

Possibly the winner for Generic Praise-Laced Brewery Owner Bio Template of 2021.  B.O.B.s are the best. But this one has the header “A World-Class Pairing” which really takes it over the top.

More B.O.B. as a Euro male led publication hires Euro male writer to speak to a Euro male bar owner about diversity in the beer scene in BC’s Okanagan. I’d have more trust in the editorial call if the statement “…only a couple of people in the BIPOC community that even lived here when I was growing up…” was fact checked. While there is a reference to a Indigenous family business, here’s the map of Indigenous communities (aka the “i” in BIPOC) for BC. The communities of the Syilx Okanagan Nation are right there in the south centre. The Central Okanagan Local Immigration Partnership Council formed in 1983 seems pretty active, too. Question: why do writers of B.O.B.s never check in with customers or staff to find out if the claims are correct? The subject in this case could be fabulous… but we don’t know.

Beer prices are going up. Beer prices are going down.

Finally, I was sad to see a dismissive response to my comments about Pellicle’s decision to run and highlight a childish cartoon image about an actual ambush of soldiers where many died. Part of a story that is still recalled hurtfully in my region which touches on both my actual job and my brewing history research. It’s also an entirely unnecessary image and adds nothing to the story. At best, it is just a failed analogy. In an era when we are trying to drive out misrepresentation, appropriation and negativity from the good beer discussion, this sort of hyperbolic grasping for aggrandizing analogies is more than unfortunate. Do better.

Oh… and somebody sold their brewery.  Good beer. Nothing much will change.

There’s plenty to chew on. To complain about. For more, check out the updates from that same Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan now on a regular basis again every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword which may revive some day.  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*This is he
**We appreciate that folk have ambitions but actual earned and experienced knowledge is always more helpful than insta-recognition by those editors with creditors. BTW, EWCs are not levellers. BTWx2: what even is a “certified pro“?
***1500s Flemish farmers? 

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For The First Frosty Nights

First up this week, reality. We still had a fig tree out in the backyard with all its leaves on Wednesday. Doubt it will have them today. Have to check once it is light out.  One way or another it’s almost an eight month growing season here by balmy Lake Ontario. Not something you could say even ten miles to the north. Harvested another load of parsley Monday. Pulled up a frisée endive that was mixed into supper, too. No snow yet. With any luck most of the leaves will be off the trees before it comes. Don’t want to have to deal with sawing fallen limbs. I plan to chop the willow back Saturday, saving the long branches for a bit of wattling next March. Suburban peasant.  Suburban pleasant.

Next, the coolest thing of the week was seeing that small object to the right. It’s a 1,000 year old, 14-sided die from Korea with carved instructions for a drinking game. One side says “let everybody hit you on the nose” while another says “drink a big cup and laugh loudly” all of which indicates a state of civilization far advanced from my youth spent playing caps and sticking playing cards on my forehead. DSL was pleased at the find.

Good news. Movement on the unionization of craft front with the creation of the Brewery Workers Union in the UK under the IWW banner. A bit of a manifesto explains why now:

Why do we need a union? As the interest in and sales of craft beer has risen significantly in the past 10 years it has also meant more workers are being exploited, suffering harassment and abuse, working in unsafe conditions, working long and unsociable hours leading to serious injuries all on insufficient pay, leading to physical & mental strain, burnout and fatigue.  We have seen the ongoing issues with BrewDog and a wealth of other breweries in the UK, as well as active organising from other trade unions, in the US and across Europe.

On the other side of the economic divide, Brewdog has updated* that its plans for global domination are well on track:

Despite facing numerous challenges in 2021 we have managed to continue growing strongly and our UK wholesale sales for October are up 48% on October 2020 (which was also in growth). As well as growing strongly we have also created over 600 brand new jobs this year. We are determined to continue to share our passion for great beer with as many people as possible and to do all we can as a business to fight climate change. And we are determined to use every challenge we face as a catalyst to become better as a business.

Passion. Climate Change. Better. Growth. Perfect setting for a union. Relatedly, this message from Ren is the same as it ever was. Craft is a haven of cheapskates:

“Hi! Can you basically give us a ton of free info that we can use to improve our brewery, our charitable endeavor, and help us make more money?” *Sends them my rates* *Crickets* I would love for this to stop happening once a week. Pay Black people for our knowledge.

See also Ron circa 2014 when it was shocking for brewing history research to be considered a paid consultancy. Speaking of whom, he has some good advice if you happen to live in an empire a few months away from total collapse. Pay attention to the beer supply:

The more observant among you might have noticed that I’ve started writing about Germany and Austria in WW I. There’s a good reason for that. One that I’m not going to tell you quite yet. It is very revealing, though, to look at the war from the other side. The food and booze situation at home for the Central Powers made Britain look like the promised land, overflowing with milk and honey, Or at least bread and beer.

Ever look at a small brewery tax credit regulation? He’s one recently issued in Ontario, good old Ont. Reg. 711/21. All you really need to know is the formula [(A × B) ∕ F + (C × D) ∕ F] × G × H × J × K!  Works on a sliding scale from more than 4.9 million litres but not more than 20 million litres of beer. Which is a lot of beer for businesses called small beer manufacturers. Is there anywhere where small means small?

As mentioned the other week, the Chicago Brewseum’s Beer Culture Summit is happening this weekend. Here is the list of events. I’ve signed up for Sunday if anyone wants to chat in the comments. Looking forward to this presentation:

Archaeologist and historian Dr. Christina Wade, archivist Tiah Edmunson-Morton, and organizer, attorney, author and documentarian Atinuke “Tinu” Akintola Diver discuss the unique experiences (both successes and roadblocks) they have seen throughout their careers researching, collecting and documenting beer and brewing history in a man’s world. This session is moderated and hosted by co-founder of the Albany Ale Project, Craig Gravina.

Speaking of the “ye” and the “olde” did you ever wonder why there is still so much old oak still around in the forests for booze barrels? It’s not because of booze barrels.

Once upon a time, I used to make home brewed ginger beer at about 1.3% based on a recipe from Clone Brews by the Szamatulskis. Great slurping by the bucket out in the garden. I was reminded of that by this rather extended commercial business news item on one Jamaican drinks maker bringing a similar if stronger sort of thing to market. I am not sure how you could ever make money on the 1.3% version – except it was so simple to make yourself who would bother buying it?

Stan and Jeff are having a bit of a parallel chat about the hop varieties which most attract a buyer’s attention. I have to admit something. I don’t have any interest in which hop varieties which most attract a buyer’s attention. I find folk rhyming off hop varieties as they sip a beer to be entirely missing the points. Most beer drinkers don’t care. But govern yourselves according to your own interests. Me, I like 1400s beer shipping records from the Baltic Sea. So go figure. Here are Stan’s questions:

Jeff Alworth posted a question yesterday from Atlanta (hey! we used to live there); more than one, in fact. So here are two I am thinking about: a) Is Citra/Mosaic becoming a marker of style in the way Saaz is in Czech pilsners or EKG in bitters? and b) Do [brewers] feel like the pairing has become so successful it’s constraining the style?

Beer price hikes coming in the US, in France and around the globe. I think things may be worse than this bit of PR gobbiltygook from Sam Adams might suggest, especially given their botch of the seltzer market by over-producing their Truly gak:

Truly is still in a premium position in the fastest-growing area of the alcoholic beverage industry, and it will be a strong platform to use in launching other products. “We are well positioned to succeed in 2022 and beyond,” founder Jim Koch said, “as consumers look to drink more ‘Beyond Beer’ products.” That success will come partly from raising prices across its portfolio by 3% to 6% in 2022. Those hikes reflect rising costs on raw materials like aluminum and glass, but they’re also designed to shore up its profitability now that the industry is maturing. Management had been prioritizing growth and market share, but now that focus is shifting toward achieving a stronger earnings profile.

See that? Raising prices to “shore up profitability” means paying more for less and covering up mistakes with the new cash. Craft. Reminds me of an ancient Korean saying: “let everybody hit you on the nose”!

Once again, a week of the good, the bad and (just above) the uh-guh-lee.  For more, check out the updates from that same Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and from Stan now on a regular basis again every Monday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword which may revive some day.  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water.

*Where did I put that link. Nov 1 at 11:20 am if you have it handy. Along these lines, it was. What a crap news service this is. No, here it is. Martin Dickie on LinkedIn. Why the hell do I follow him on LinkedIn. Why the hell am I on linked in?

The First Thursday Beery News Notes For Rocktober 2022!

Me? I love Rocktober. No, not that beer. That’s just for show. A middling beer from the middle of the Baltic. I am talking about the month. Yes, that’s where we are all now. Rocktober. When recreations start to shift indoors. Fun. And if I call it that I will forget for a moment it’s also when all the leaves die and the ice first forms. Better to rock. Speaking of death… wasn’t it great when Facebook died this week – even if only for a few hours? Some may live in an upside-down world but, really, Facebook is a cesspool of anti-democratic and anti-science lies lies lies… and Twitter is just fun even if chippy… but blogs are sweet and charming. Web 2.0 > Web 3.0. So welcome aboard for another week. What’s going on?

First up, this looks like an interesting hour on “Under-Attenuated: Women, Beer History Studies and Representation” at the Chicago Brewseum’s Beer Culture Summit on the first weekend of November with a few familiar faces:

… while beer history studies is a newer field recognized in the academic landscape, it’s no surprise that it too is a male dominated area of study. Archaeologist and historian Dr. Christina Wade, archivist Tiah Edmunson-Morton, and organizer, attorney, author and documentarian Atinuke “Tinu” Akintola Diver discuss the unique experiences (both successes and roadblocks) they have seen throughout their careers researching, collecting and documenting beer and brewing history in a man’s world. This session is moderated and hosted by co-founder of the Albany Ale Project, Craig Gravina.

Nice to be referenced: “co-“! There are a whack of other topics, too, with loads of interesting speakers with loads of different points of view. No wonder the “Males on Ales Through the Ages” conference scaled way back.

Next, the Mudge himself wrote of the state of pubs and cask ale in the UK this week:

Heavy-handed Covid safety protocols largely seem to have gone by the board, although a few Perspex screens at bars and pointless one-way systems remain. I have walked out of one pub where it was clear that the full works of safety theatre were being applied, and declined to go in another because of a sign outside saying the same, but those were isolated examples. In general, rural and semi-rural pubs seem keener to retain restrictions than urban ones, maybe because they feel they have a captive market who can’t take their trade elsewhere so easily. 

Note: The editorial board of A Good Beer Blog lean heavily towards the screen and mask ethos but we are a full service blog of many opinions. And we just don’t want to die of Covid-19 personally. Mask up and take your needles.

“Ancestral beer“? It’s the new thing that turns out isn’t actually a thing at all:

“If you want to sell something on a large scale, you’ve got to have a standard flavor that’s replicable from one bottle to the next,” Juárez said. “Whereas, with a wild beer, no two are ever the same.” Her quest: to bring the old world into modern times. “We’ve brought flavors that were being left behind back to life,” she said. Ancestral beer is determined by the type of yeast used as the main ingredient…

Apparently the proponents of ancestral beer have slept through the micro and home brewing movements entirely. The phrase “it’s not off, it’s Belgian style!” ring any bells?

Josh Noel has been doing a great job in the Chicago Tribune covering the union busting ways at Goose Island:

Several people active in the union drive say they don’t doubt the company was under financial strain at the time. But they also believe Goose Island used the layoffs to target leading union activists and to finish off their efforts. According to current and former employees, the idea of unionizing Goose Island has withered away.

Then Josh linked to the Guys Drinking Beer social media feed where a brewery tour manager seemed to be facilitating a creep making pervy moves on a fellow member of staff. He “told the employee to let said harasser kiss her… apparently gave the harasser her cell phone number.” Now that is an actual grade A asshole.* Remember that next time some beer writing bootlicking hack drools over the keyboard next time there is a Bourbon County Stout junket needing a press release parroting.

Suddenly, I don’t feel well. Why oh why? Oh… it’s this.

Of higher note, I came across a fascinating paper this week, “Marckalada: The First Mention of America in the Mediterranean Area (c. 1340)” which discusses the new first reference to the Americas in southern European literature. Here’s the only bit of the sort I was really after:

Further northwards there is the Ocean, a sea with many islands where a great quantity of peregrine falcons and gyrfalcons live. These islands are located so far north that the Polar Star remains behind you, toward the south. Sailors who frequent the seas of Denmark and Norway say that northwards, beyond Norway, there is Iceland; further ahead there is an island named Grolandia, where the Polar Star remains behind you, toward the south. The governor of this island is a bishop. In this land, there is neither wheat nor wine nor fruit; people live on milk, meat, and fish. 

See that – wine. Or actually no wine. Now, it’s written by an Italian for an Italian crowd but what I am looking for is some contemporary reference to ale drinking in the Viking North American experience. Not in this paper…

What is this poll even about? Best comment was the one to the right…

Liam wrote about Coopers, Ireland’s first beer brand:

The most important point perhaps is that I think that Cooper may have been the first Irish – or at least Irish brewed – beer to be marketed with a brand, jingle (I know I am taking liberties here…) and editorial advert? I am not aware of any others that existed this early anywhere else on these islands in fact, although I have not overly researched it to be fair. I would guess that it was certainly the first trademarked Irish-brewed beer …

First brand? Well, consumer product branding as we know it only came about in around 1800. When adjectives like “cream” started getting added to descriptors. When the breweries rather than retailers posted most of the notices in the papers. (Somewhere I had a paper that explained it all… where is that…)

Finally, Bloomberg is reporting** that ABInBevBigCo is considering getting its Teuronic off:

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV Chief Executive Officer Michel Doukeris is considering a sale of some German beer brands it has owned for decades as the world’s largest brewer aims to prune less profitable businesses and trim debt. The brewer is exploring the sale of labels such as Franziskaner Weissbier, Hasseroeder and Spaten, and the portfolio could fetch about 1 billion euros ($1.2 billion), people familiar with the matter said, asking not to be identified discussing confidential information.

Interesting (if really badly edited) stat in that article: “Although Germany brews about a quarter of all beers originating from the continent, it exports less of the drink than both the Netherlands and Belgium…” Is that “either” or “combined”? Who knows?!? Thanks Mr. Editor.

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

*Unlike one former beer writer when apparently drunk. Note also, however, that the Beer Culture Summit’s final event is at the Goose Island Brewpub. Watch out!
**Or as GBH would say after reading the same article: “GBH sources have stated that Anheuser-Busch InBev NV Chief Executive Officer Michel Doukeris is considering a sale of some German beer brands…” Again, no one responded to GBH’s inquiries.

 

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For The End Of Q3 2021

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

These Be The Thursday Beery News Notes For The Summer Doldrums

A nautical theme this week. Or at least one at the outset that will soon wander away, off on its own, finding another purpose in life. It is dead out there. But you know what they say: no news is beer news. Beer is good like that. It’s the people related to beer that get in the way. Things got fully into or out of swing with the Fourth of July, remembered by Ottawa historian Andrew King in his description of bonfires made of old barrels… perhaps even boozy barrels… ka… boomski!

First off, the way of the world. One beer blog dies as another is revived with the publication of “News in Brief #62” at Seeing the Lizards including an analysis of a recent botch mentioned a few weeks back:

“You just have to look at history.” pontificated dubious scholar Sophie Aubergine-Pickle “They just got a handful of whatever grain they quite literally had to hand, threw it in some water. And left it.” “It stands to reason, doesn’t it? The human hand has all kinds of stuff on it. Bacteria. Wild yeast. Skin flakes. That stuff beneath your fingernails. If you leave it long enough, of course fermentation will spontaneously commence. And people back then would drink anything.”

Entirely conversely, I really liked this piece at GBH by Jamaal Lemon on the Charleston Schützenfest – a post US Civil War meeting space with beer and rifles, the sort of thing that developed in NYC a decade earlier in the mid-1850s. The story carries the combo of lived experience and scholarship that is too often lacking in these days. It also avoids another problem – the suspect helpful hand of the privileged. Since #BLM, #MeToo and even back to #Occupy we see too much of what we used to call the good South African Liberal* efforts to speak in support turning into taking on a heavy role in defining then steering the discourse. An allegedly helpful listing here gathered by those not on the list, a intervening pasty editor there. None of that in this piece – as it ought to be:

The beneficiaries of Charleston’s antebellum society have long manipulated virtually all local industries for generational gain, in an effort to maintain that established hierarchy. Just as it could happen in high school athletics, so it could in the local brewing industry, whose skewed diversity statistics serve as a testament to that longstanding inequity. This isn’t anything new: Systems of oppression constructed during Charlestown’s slave era were disrupted at the end of the Civil War, only to be violently reintroduced after the collapse of Reconstruction.

As you know, I have a very soft spot in my heart for brother Stonch but through these last few months he has done us all a service by sharing experience of being a pub owner during this pandemic with an independent eye, as in this tweet:

Our Ellie often spouts some absolute jarg lyrics, but I agree with her here. There’s danger of hospitality looking looking like, as my friend @jwestjourno put it, “the catering wing of the covid-denier corps”… Also, the problems of hospitality staff having to self-isolate after contact with infected – already crippling the industry (or even worse, becoming ill) – is only going to get worse without any degree of social distancing or mask wearing being adhered to in the workplace.

Excellent points. And remember this, too, next time you read some stumbling voice tell you his or her idea is too “nuanced” for Twitter. That’s just the hymn of the illiterati.

Some people have a blog on the side, about a bit of bun.

Boak and Bailey published an interesting post, sensibly and practically describing their thoughts on the success of Camden Town Brewery’s Hell lager. And, as we see often, received some feedback antagonistic to diverting off the single path of craft-thought or, in the German, KrafphtÜberlegen:

Helles means ‘light’. Beers badged as such tend to be very pale, light-bodied and with relatively low alcohol content. It’s got broad commercial appeal, as Camden Hells has proved, because that basically describes most mainstream lagers. Calling your lager a Helles is a great way to have your cake and eat it: it’s simultaneously (a) a normal, non-scary lager that people will actually want to drink and (b) a craft beer with heritage worth an extra pound a pint.

Apparently “helles” (like every word ever) has a variety of related meanings and (like every word ever) slightly different usages and different degrees of usage in slightly different contexts and cultures so be prepared for the wisdom of the self-certified in the comments. Yawn.

A PSA: if you see bad behaviour, call out bad behaviour. Whether it is bigotry or unfair employment standards or dangerous quality control only bad practices at breweries are assisted by saying “…[t]he responsibility to the consumer lies directly with them…” Nope. If you hold yourself out as a knowledge holder, withholding information is on you.

A fabulous story about a fabulous bar:

My dad said we could do something special for my 6th birthday. ‘Anything you want,’ he told me. I think he thought I was going to say ‘ice cream.’ But I said I wanted to go to New York City, and two weeks later we were on a plane. We spent the morning of my birthday shopping…

Here’s an interesting story in the Daily Mail about the late Eric Tucker, a pub man who painted what he saw:

Most of the pictures feature Lowry-type scenes from smoky pubs, tumbledown terraced streets and factories and showing flat capped locals with their wives… Now the former professional boxer – whose paintings were rejected by the art establishment while he was alive – is finally to have his talent celebrated after the unexpected discovery led critics to laud him as ‘the secret Lowry’. 

Finally, frankly a sad bit of apologia found at The Glass, describing the natural state of beer judging due to the ridiculous macho requirement that beer judges not spit unlike wine, spirits, tea and every other taster of fluids:

Of course that’s not the same as drinking that many beers in a day. A judge might take just a handful of small mouthfuls in the course of assessing a beer. But still, you have to swallow in order to get the aftertaste, unlike wine and spirits where you spit. At the end of the day you’re not drunk, but I certainly wouldn’t want to drive. And there’s an element of having drunk… that weariness and woolliness that can creep in after a spot of day-drinking.

Note: you’re drunk.

That’s all for this week. For more, don’t forget to check out those weekly updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday  (a particularly good one this week) and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. There’s the AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword – when he isn’t in hiatus as at the mo, more like timeout for rudeness. And remember BeerEdge, too, where this week they ask the question if Sam Calgione is the dullest man in beer – and they get an answer. Plus a newcomer located by B+B: The Moon Under Water.

*Related to some so don’t bother…

The Thursday Beery News Notes For A Somber Canada Day

You will recall that Canada Day happens at each year’s mid-point and that in the past we’ve mentioned the role beer lover Sir John A. Macdonald in creating the confederation of colonies which formed into the current constitutional construct. Well, this year his statues are coming down and the news of hundreds and hundreds of graves of Indigenous children at forced residential schools started during his era is now coming out that has the nation reeling and reflecting. This will be, accordingly, a briefer edition of the news notes.

First and as I have mentioned before, mini-multinational BrewDog is a story that keeps giving and giving. We saw how they promoted the prize of a solid gold beer can as winnings in a contest and how it only turned out to be just gold plate. Stupid and a massive self-inflicted injury. Again. But the story that caught my eye was actually from a few months ago when BrewDog bought a Scottish estate as part of a carbon set-off scheme:

If BrewDog has bought Kinrara, it could be an interesting purchase, bringing a different type of landowner into the market, one apparently wanting to offset their carbon emissions rather than shoot and kill wildlife.  If they, or any other owner, intend to end muirburn and reduce deer numbers to allow woodland to regenerate, that would be a good thing.  Equally, however,  a “productive grouse moor with 10 year average of 476 brace”, the “challenging, high bird pheasant shoot” and salmon fishing on the river Dulnain might prove very attractive for the purposes of entertaining corporate clients. The problem is neither the public nor the Cairngorms National Park Authority would appear to have any idea of the new owners’ intentions

What appears a bit distasteful to me is (i) offsets are just a way to do one thing to offset another, (ii) the other thing remains carbon-related bad behaviour, (iii) the funds for the purchase appear to be from the crowd sourcing and not overall business revenue so there is no imposition to serve as a deterrence for more carbon-related bad behaviour and (iv) they have bought themselves an estate for future corporate playboy playground fun. What in all this is particularly eco-friendly? Punk as croquet.

Again, the Toronto Maple Leafs are watching the Stanley Cup finals from the sidelines or the golf course but at least if their goalie George Hainsworth from 1933-37 is watching from heaven he will have poured himself a beer as the great rival, the Montreal Canadiens play for glory. Oh, and he also played for Montreal… and won the cup with them… twice. So he’s probably quite happy. Except he’s dead.

“Juice Lord” is a stupid name for a beer but apparently two breweries think it’s important enough to go to court over.

Dr Christina Wade continued sharing her good work, this week discussing 155 cuneiform tablets from Mesopotamia and the brewing related legal information they hold:

…here we see a law regarding perhaps cheating or fraud. There are quite a few different translations for this law code (108), with various phrasing that changes the meaning somewhat. Paraphrasing this particular translation another way, it perhaps means that if the alewife accepts money by the large stone, but not barley, for the price of ale; and the price of ale is less than the price of barley, she is cheating, and therefore shall be killed. This anxiety about cheating alewives is something often repeated throughout history.

Barry in Germany introduced me to the concept of a bierwagen. It appears to be a traveling beer bar / trailer that shows up when he prays fervently enough. Seems like a very good idea that I need in my neighbourhood.

Irish beer prices in the late 1980s and again what was available in 1972.

As the pandemic takes a break or has its back broken, depending on who you listen to, it appears the great new world order is regressing back into the old world order… at least in NYC:

Over the past year, the drinks were allowed under a new “off-premises privileges” rule, designed by the New York State Liquor Authority to help failing restaurants during a time of uncertainty for the food and beverage industry. With vaccinations topping 70 percent in New York and coronavirus cases on the decline, the governor rescinded the state of emergency on Wednesday, leaving many businesses that have not yet fully recovered economically with a surplus of supplies for the to-go drinks, as well as the drinks themselves. “They’re sitting on thousands and thousands of to-go cocktails that will be illegal to sell tomorrow,” wrote St. John Frizell, a restaurateur in Brooklyn, in an Instagram post.

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

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For Spring… Actual Spring With Radishes Sprouted And Robins Singing And…

I have been waiting to try out this new introductory sentence that I came up with. Tell me what you think: “it was the best of times, it was the worst of times…” Yes, that’ll do nicely. Here we are! The Red Sox are playing real games. And it is warm enough to sit outside for more than five minutes… to get chores done in the yard… to get a sense that soon enough I will be jumping in Lake Ontario to cool off. And… Ontario have gone into an absolute lockdown today. No shops open other than groceries and pharmacies. Out city is relatively safe – even with a small spike yesterday – but we have ICU patients from elsewhere coming to our hospitals because elsewhere is not as relatively safe. I placed another home delivery of excellent beer to mark the moment.

To top it off, it has been a quiet week in this corner of the internet, in the world of beer. What have I noticed? The Suez! I am fond of the Suez canal… but not as fond of it as my slightly mad great-grannie Campbell was between the wars. Her favorite pub circa 1936 was named The Suez Canal… as illustrated to the right from a post circa 2012. Anyway, nice to see the ship has shifted and Suez has been cleared and that goods are moving again:

The shipments included common goods such as the consumer products made in China along with the equivalents of more than 11,000 20-foot containers, hauling wastepaper from the U.S. to India, more than 1,600 boxes holding automotive parts heading from Germany to China and 641 containers packed with beer from the Netherlands—the brands unnamed—on their way to China.

Gee – do you think the name of those beers might rhyme with Bline-hicken? Frankly, I was a bit surprised that so little bulk beer was involved.

From southern England, Stonch has shared some timely and sensible advice as a pub landlord for customers returning to their favorite establishments as they are able to open a bit just as we shut again – and which does open up the question of how to be an ethical pub goer in these times:

Remember, you can’t go for a pint if you’re unwilling to check in for NHS track and trace: pubs are legally obliged to ensure you either use the NHS app, or give your details manually. If you won’t, they must refuse you admission and service. Businesses will be fined – in an amount starting at £1000 and rising to £10,000 for multiple breaches – if they let you in. If you’re going to make a fuss about it this – due to some libertarian, freeman-on-the-land bullshit that’s wrecking your head – you’ve barred yourself from every pub in the UK.

Plain and true. Also from England, the heritage blog A London Inheritance has posted about a pub called Jack Straw’s Castle in Hampstead. As per usual, the post has a great selection of photos past and present as well as a good amount of background detail on the locality being discussed in and about London:

Jack Straw, after who the pub was named, is a rather enigmatic figure. General consensus appears to be that he was one of the leaders of the Peasants Revolt in 1381, however dependent on which book or Internet source is used, he could either have led the rebels from Essex, or been part of the Kent rebellion. Jack Straw may have been another name for Wat Tyler and some sources even question his existence. Any connection with Hampstead Heath and the site of Jack Straw’s Castle seem equally tenuous – he may have assembled his rebels here, made a speech to the rebels before they marched on London, or escaped here afterwards.

Interesting news in the US with some final high level figures about what the pandemic did to the craft sector in 2020 as per J. Noel:

NEWS: @BrewersAssoc says the craft beer industry saw a 9% decline (driven greatly by the pandemic), which dropped craft’s share of the overall beer market to 12.3%. However the number of craft breweries grew yet again in 2020, reaching an all-time high of 8,764.

EcoBart kindly confirmed these figures relate to volume and not value, suggesting it relates to on premises v. off drinking.  I would have thought that direct sales from the brewery were more profitable but that would maybe only apply to the continuing wave of the new and good and tiny and local.

Hereabout and somewhat similarly, apparently it is possible to run a massive and reasonably monopolistic beer retail chain and still lose masses of money. Josh explains:

The retailer, majority owned by Molson Coors and Labatt, had an operating loss of $50.7 million in 2020, as competition from grocery stores and restaurant bottle shops grew, and keg sales were crushed by COVID-19 restrictions… The Beer Store also saw its operating revenue fall to $399.4 million, down from $402.2 million in 2019, and $418.9 million the previous year.

I will miss the stupid name for the chain after it’s gone. Like I miss The TV Store and The Shoes Store. It’s nickname is “The IN and OUT Store” because every branch has a sign that says “IN” and one that says “OUT.” Ah, Ontario. More here on whatever TBS is here from 2015 when its end times were foretold. Relive the thrills of the Beer Ombudsman announcement.

In Japan, one effect of the pandemic has been a rise in no/low beer sales – and not to craft newbies but to established macro beer fans as Reuters reports:

The pandemic is propelling an unexpected boom in alcohol-free beer that has Asahi Group Holdings forecasting a 20% jump in revenue for non and low alcoholic beer this year after flat sales in 2020. Asahi is also debuting a new “Beery” label and has plans to expand its line-up. Main rival Kirin Holdings, which had a head start in the category, expects its sales volumes in the segment to jump 23% this year after a 10% rise in 2020 and recently revamped one of its main non-alcoholic beers.

Finally, like all of you I received the email blurb about November’s Ales Through The Ages event at Virginia’s Colonial Williamsburg and, unlike most of what I write about, I had to actually cross check what I saw with others to ensure my eyes did not deceive me. Except for an optional event on Monday morning after the main conference is over, there are only male presenters. And the topics are not particularly diverse.  It’s all a bit weird to see such a thing. I can’t imagine I could travel even over half a year off given other obligations but… it’s all a bit weird.

One last thing. I came across a master list of current beer blogs. It was so 2006 when I found it. Called Top 110 Beer Blogs, it lists 157 blogs. Sweet.

I still can’t tell you anything about Project X but it is exciting and charming and… interesting. More laters. Meantime, check out the weekly updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well.  There is more from the DaftAboutCraft  podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. Plus the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. There’s the AfroBeerChick  podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword – when he isn’t in hiatus as at the mo, more like timeout for rudeness. And remember BeerEdge, too. Plus a newcomer located by B+B: The Moon Under Water.