Category: Hops

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Ever Uplifting Beery News Notes For The Beginning Of That First False Canadian Summer

We are hitting the ground running this week. The image of the week up there is from Liam who posted a few shots on #BeerSky of his latest find, a “grubby 1920s silver-plated pint tankard” from Clery’s Restaurant in Dublin. I think it is all very charming. Careful readers will recall my own foray into such matters with a mid-1800s pewter quart pot I picked up in 2012. Just the thing for a very large measure of Porter.

And there was again a lot about beer writing this week. Not sure if that is good or bad. Stan beat me to one particular thought on Monday. A few years back I complained to him in an email that so much beer writing was repetative, timid and sort of dull and he gave me the best advice which he has repeated in his post this week – you’ve been around too long, seen too much… or something like that:

I would add this thought. What is new to me or Evan Rail or Jeff Alworth or Alan McLeod might be different than what is new to somebody finally getting around to visiting a new brewery because one opened in their neighborhood… There are many opportunities to write something new, for both the beer experienced and the beer inexperienced audiences.

Gary writes on a similar note. Yet having heard that and agreeing to a point, I am also mindful of the tweet David Jesudason posted about his current situation. You will remember that he is the current holder of The Michael Jackson Award for Beer Writer of the Year from BGBW. But, if you click on that thumbnail, you will see he says:

I am currently in a position where I am not sure I can continue this type of work.

Because while there may be “many opportunities to write something new, for both the beer experienced and the beer inexperienced audiences,” I would submit, there is little to no support for many types of normal business reporting and investigative reporting that we see in  other areas of lifestyle writing. And why is that? Does it leads to things like this? A story about one British brewer with a claim:

Speaking about the expansion, Vault City’s co-founder Steven Smith-Hay said: “Our ambition is to be the biggest dedicated sour beer producer in the world. This new site will be instrumental in achieving that.*

The headling added certainty by way of the “to be” rather than “may become” sort of grammarical structure. And, yes, the author does not write the headling but it all led to the statement “I’ve got a lot to say about that Vault City interview but tough cheese I’m on holiday” as well as the statement “was from a press release anyho” with questions about the reality of that ambition. To be or not to be. But only on social media. Will there be follow up? Will track records be tracked? Is it that we don’t really care and it’s all puffery for… well, you know.

It also may be related to the opinion piece “Hazy IPA Conspiracy Theories” from Andy Crouch. He who upset my world by this article – by leaving me more in agreement with the very Mr. B who Andy sought to criticize. As reported last week, Mr. B pointed at Hazy IPAs as either the cause or at least a key symptom of US craft’s sputtering retraction.  Why? Well, in addition to simmering tone of “one does not question craft”, Andy also surprisingly uses that hallmark of a weak argument: poorly dolled out snark. Phrases deployed included “grumpy old craft beer cowboys” and “strawman” and “laugh out loud moment” and especially “55 year old dudes grumbling” as, you know, Mr. B is older than that. Setting such faux juveneilia aside, what he really misses is this:

The popularity of consumer products, including beer, wine, and spirits, ebbs and flows over time. In just the past decade, we’ve seen the rise and fall of cocktails, cider, hard seltzers, and many others. Each will continue to play some role in the drinking landscape but no drink has a right to the public’s attention. Craft beer has many issues but chief among them is a generational disconnect. The audience for craft beer continues to age, younger folks make fun of craft beer dads and their beer samplers on TikTok, and the industry stands in a corner publicly wishcasting for the return of “beer-flavored beer.” 

What Andy does not seem to want to admit is that it’s not about the rise and fall of each particular form of drink but a greater overall trend. These sugar bomb beers that are labeled as Hazy IPA are nothing more than the beery sibling to RTDs, coolers and hard seltzers. Interchangible. Forgettable. Cavity causing. They may sell but they are part of that continuum that speaks to a candy fixated palate. Kinderbier. Easy to make and easy to sell with the right cartoony can wrapper.  In fact, their rise was perfectly culturally appropriate for the troubled times, a perfect drink for an era of crisis that started with the shock of Trump getting elected and then continued on through the daze of life in the pandemic. They are booze for unsettled people who have bigger things to deal with, those who don’t want to think about it. Any of it. The “eating a box of ice cream sandwiches stnading by my fridge because I can” of beers for folk who no longer can muster the energy to give a shit.  What sort of industry bases its long term health on that sort of consumer? By all appearances, this shrinking one called craft.

Speaking on asking why things are the way they are, Steve Dunkey wrote a bit of a exposé of the Good Beer Guide that was publishing in What’sBrewing, describing some of the politics behind the scenes including this bit of a revelation:

There isn’t enough room in the printed book for every pub that could meet new nationalised selection criteria. Each branch has an allocation that it can fill, and it’s well known that the allocation will be filled regardless of the quality of the pubs, because it’s believed at a branch level that if it doesn’t fill its allocation, it might not have as many entries the following year. This would restrict it if it then did have the great pubs to fill the quota.

That is quite the thing. I had no idea that there was no centralized editing of submissions from the regions. The story raises other questions, too. Check it out.

Stan (for the double) has all the questions and this week shared another Hop Queries where he pointed out again another few trends trend that point to continued retraction:

Hop Products Australia harvested 26 percent fewer metric tons of hops in 2024 than in 2023. Much of that was intentional, taking into consideration that the worldwide supply of aroma hops is greater than demand. Production of Galaxy, which is 65 percent of what HPA sells, was down 20 percent to 879 metric tons. Vic Secret dipped 22 percent and Eclipse 57 percent…. A report from Germany suggests acreage has not been reduced to the extent it has been in the United States. When the numbers are toted up, Perle and Hallertau Tradition will likely decline the most, while high alpha acreage will likely increase slightly.

And apparently the days of food and beer pairing are well behind us. As Jeff noted from a recent newsletter reporting from a conference speech by a commercial investment banker – it’s now all about “the mood management” business! As a banker might, the points being made included a grind that sounds a lot like someone worried about their ROI:

      • If consumer are walking away from beer, Nik asks that you explain Modelo, Pacifico, Michelob Ultra, Voodoo Ranger, Busch Light, and Coors Banquet to him, which are all performing great.
      • We’re not in the beverage business, we’re in the “mood management business” per Nik. He says we drink 8 beverages a day and that alcoholic ones are competing with non-alcoholic ones.
      • “There’s no such hing as lazy markets, only lazy marketers”
      • Prices have been going up lately. Are we doing enough to reinforce that value we provide to command the new, more premium price? (He implies no)…

Mmm… mood management. That’s a lot of “out-Barting” even BA Bart (as recently seen as a few weeks ago) for pushy positivity in a retracting market but RBC (actually my own bank, with those very unAmerican two out of three letters) and its investment bankers have needs. The problem with beer is you, you and you… especially you… are LAZY!!! I know I am. And, yes, so does my bank.

Next up, Millie Bowles writing for Kent Online shared the tale of neighbours fed up with the smells off the neighbouring property, the contract brewers South East Bottling:

Fed-up neighbours say the stench from a brewery is so bad they cannot sit in their gardens – but bosses are urging residents to be more “pro-business”. People living near South East Bottling (SEB) on Northdown Industrial Estate in Broadstairs have complained of a “yeasty, sickly” smell which can even force them to keep their windows shut. Such is the pong, Thanet District Council has now ordered the company to carry out an odour assessment. SEB, which works with brands such as Old Dairy and Tiny Rebel, says it is “unfortunate that in current times, local residents and the council choose to operate in an anti-business manner”.

Stench! Pong!! We read that Marion Langelier, 82, is stopped from going out in the garden because of the smell as well as “noise issues, notably “banging and crashing’ bins.” Giving equal time, we also read that Chris Prentice, 49, says it is “like hot Weetabix. It’s quite comforting. It’s nice.” Hot Weetabix? How spicy! But the real question is this – why do UK newspapers include people ages? Otherwise, solid business reporting.

Not quite as smelly apparently but still irritating is Albania where NHS Martin unpacked** some of the trials and tribulations one can meet when traveling there:

… we sprinted to Berat’s bus station where the bus driver checked 3 times we really wanted to go to Lushnje. “Can we go to the Station please” we asked as the bus pulled up in an unprepossessing centre, the Mansfield of the Balkans, but the driver just pointed vaguely to the west. If in doubt, follow the tractor. Well, there’s a building called “STATION” anyway; five minutes to spare for the 10:38. No bus stops, no timetable, no-one to ask, just (bizarrely) two cafes side-by-side. Resigned to missing (if it had ever run) the 10:38, we resolved to seek advice from the cafes. It’s what you’d do in England, isn’t it, ask in a pub. The chap in one pointed heavenwards, the lady who brought us two espressos borrowed Mrs RM’s phone to point at a roundabout a half mile south, though a bus driver taking a fag break added “autostrada” mysteriously…

There is more. I think they ending up catching the 1:38 pm bus. Me, when I worked in Poland in 1991 I tried Albanian carrot jam. Cured me of making further travel inquiries.

As a follow up on the receive spate of breweries going under, Ed wrote an interesting post on his pre-brewing life as a microbiologist with a firm that went into receivership:

When I worked as a microbiologist the company I was at went bankrupt and managed to re-open a soon after with a slightly different name doing the same business. It had been obvious the company was not doing well for some time. A big customer had been lost so the work just wasn’t there like it once was. When I saw the owners daughter updating her CV on a work computer I thought the company was definitely going under, but despite this it still came as a shock when it finally happened. I’d worked there for years so though intellectually I’d guessed I’d soon be on the sausage it hadn’t prepared me emotionally for when reality hit. 

Finally and perhaps along the same line… in my undergrad years over 40 years ago, one entertaining pal would discuss hypothetical washroom fixtures he wanted to see. He dubbed one the VomKing 5000? Apparently they exist for real in Germany according to one posting on the Dull Men’s Club on Facebook. Note: this is a free standing barf station in a public washroom there. Handles and all. I think it only lacks the mist of ice cold water spraying your forehead that my pal had designed into his porcelain dream. His grip handles may also have been refrigerated in his version. But here you can head butt the flush button in this model. Reminder: the internet was made for educational purposes. You have been educated.

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

*I couldn’t gather the energy to keep up with the Vault City thing further –  but Stonch made a great point.
**Travel pun!!
***This week’s update on my own emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (128) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (913) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,474) hovering somewhere above or around my largely ignored Instagram (163), with sorta unexpectly crap Threads (43) and not at all unexpectedly bad Substack Notes (1) really dragging up the rear – and that deservedly dormant Patreon presence of mine just sitting there. 

The “Happy Birthday To Me!” Edition Of These Beery News Notes

Well, well, well. I entered the first day of my 62nd year today. No trauma. No big plans. Not like when you hit 25 or 40. Those were panicky birthdays. Feeling like middle age is coming too fast. Now that it is here… who cares? All one has to do is consider the alternative and sliding that bit closer to two-thirds of a century is mighty fine by me. Change is everything. Even the bird feeders are put away now. Winter is not coming. Not quite yet. So have one for me if you are having any at all. I’ll be the one gorging on cake.

First up, some very good news. In 2015, the world of good beer in California at least faced a stark reality – the water was running out. I noted that UC Davis had started a  California Drought Watch program which includes considerations for the brewing industry. So it was good this week to read this update on the situation:

California’s water storage is at its healthiest levels in over a decade. Virtually every major reservoir in the state has average to above-average storage, with a substantial 115% of average snowpack still to melt. The last two years have been an amazing reprieve from the multiple brutal, record-breaking droughts that have plagued the state in the last decade.

What else? Hmm… Jeff wrote this in his last emailed weekend update : “It was a quiet week and I can’t think of much to say up…” Double hmm… and Boak and Bailey in their Patreon footnotes: “We were quite thrown by the lack of a substantial news story this week.” I can’t believe it! There’s gotta be something to read!!

Sorta breaking all the rules*, I see that Ron wrote a wonderful piece about the serial relationship he’s had with his locals… plural. They come and go but something has to come along with each if it is going to qualify. He’s currently on the hunt:

Last Saturday was or third time there. Not really giving me a local vibe yet. But that takes time to build. Harder to bear is the lack of draught Mild and Stout. Especially Headroom. A beer that took me closer to the 19th century with every sip. Weihenstapher Dunkles Weissbier is OK. But three of four pints is enough. And Checkpoint Charlie does sell korenwijn. Drinablke jenever. Not like the industrial cleaner called jonge jenever. The presence of a pool table and pinball machine mean Alexei is much more likely to come along. And reminded me of a previous local.

Katie also wrote about pubs this week in her newsletter The Gulp sharing her thoughts on children in pubs… like Ron’s kids… who grew up in pubs… I suppose:

…in my experience, the people who claim to hate children, and make a big deal out of this fact about themselves, are younger. They are around 20-35 years old, and they invariably claim to like dogs better. Of course, personal choice is absolutely valid. It shows that they prefer unconditional love. Who doesn’t? What I find distasteful is the absolute disdain for children and their existence anywhere near their personal space. It’s brutally Victorian. It’s outmoded. It’s—I’m going to say it—it’s selfish. Selfish in the true sense of the word, of only thinking of one’s self. The problem is, pubs are not made just for one individual’s comfort. They are places of socialisation and congregation…

(You know, I am not sure that personal choice is always valid… but then again I used to practice divorce law and criminal law. Bad choices exist. Really really bad one.) But back to Katie’s point which is entirely valid – if you teach kids that pubs aren’t for them, well, you will graduate cohorts of young adults who have learned that pubs aren’t for them.

Speaking of choices, the stats released by the BA on US craft beer’s 2023 seem to have been worked pretty hard to find a positive glint to focus upon:

The top-five craft players included, D. G. Yuengling & Son, Boston Beer Co., Sierra Nevada Company, Duvel Moortgat and Gambrinus, while the leading brewing companies included Anheuser-Busch Inc, Molson Coors, Constellation, Heineken and Pabst Brewing Company. Despite craft production decline in the US, the number of operating breweries in the craft space hit “an all time high”, up 1.37% on 2022 to 9,683. These breweries were comprised of 3,900 taproom breweries, 3,467 brewpubs, 2,071 microbreweries, and 245 regional craft breweries. Craft-brewery closure rates however increased again in 2023 from 3% to “approximately 4%”. The US saw 495 openings in 2023, a 9.8% dip on 2022, while closures increased 31% with 418 breweries shutting up shop.

Add to that the conglomerates and businesses focused on drinks other than actual beer, there is a lot of shaping going on. Closures up, openings down but the number of operating breweries in the craft space hit “an all time high”! Lordy.

David Jesudason shared a tale in his newsletter that he foreshadowed this way: “…despite the subject matter it’s quite amusing.” It’s the story of a charmless man:

He barred people for a lot of class-based reasons which seem bizarre today. One of his biggest annoyances were people who wore braces – calling them “hideous apparel worn by grubby people and are offensive to me and other customers”. In fact, a lot of the reasons for barring people were ridiculous, like in 1973 he threw out a group of drinkers for wearing nuclear disarmament badges.  Tickell did, however, have no problem with rightwing political messaging and he proudly displayed two signs behind the bar – “Hands of Rhodesia” and “Keep the Falklands British”. He also gave speeches to local trade bodies – wearing a monocle around his neck and gold cufflinks – criticising customers who wanted chips with every meal and ate “deep freeze food and foreign-sounding fare”.

Braces!! The man knew nothing.** Then again, no one is useless – they can serve as a bad example.

And Jacob Smith wrote a bit of a semi-contrarian opinion piece for Pellicle this week suggesting that Britain’s community ownerd pubs are no answer in many cases:

In a 2022 report, the Plunkett Foundation, a charity which helps rural communities in Britain to create and run community-owned businesses, reported that only one in 12 rural community-owned pub projects reached trading status. That means 91.7% of all rural community ownership pub bids failed without ever pouring a pint. These failed bids are rarely, if ever, highlighted by mainstream media. And while it’s human nature to focus on the winners and allow the also-rans the dignity of anonymity, such blatant survivorship bias risks distorting our perception. If we’re not careful, soon everybody looks set to become the next Beyoncé.

I had questioned that this sort of use of “mainstream media”*** is a bit meaningless – and perhaps a manufactured strawman now that I think of it – given folk from Roger Protz to Boak and Bailey have also waived the “save the pub!” banner. Being involved with community organizations in a number of ways, it’s true many fail but we don’t need to look to big bad outside forces for why that occurs. As Jacob points out in parallel, locla factors like the involvement of difficult personalities can often but simply overwhelm the collective goal.

Sorta building on something I read about last year, I shared that story of how one building in San Francisco was capturing waste water which was passed to Devil’s Canyon Brewing Co in San Carlos California to brew a beer. In something of a closing of the bio-eco loop, this week we learned from Jessica Mason that researchers in Singapore have found a way to extract proteins from spent brewing mash for human consumption:

The researchers also said that the extraction method would also help mitigate a possible protein shortage due to a forecast 73% increase in meat consumption by the year 2050 which has been predicted by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN to occur amidst the future rapid growth of the global population. The NTU researchers also revealed that the proteins extracted from the brewers’ spent grains were found to be rich in antioxidants, which could not only protect human skin from pollutants but could also potentially extend the shelf life of cosmetics and skincare products.

That is sorta cool. Stan may be on holiday this month, including a stop at the Craft Brewing Conference in Las Vegas, but I found his latest issue of Hop Queries waiting on the front stoop when I stepped outside with my cup of coffee last Saturday morning. It includes that chart to the right which is cunningly identified as “the second chart”:

The second chart (clicking on it should enlarge it a bit)**** provides another way to look at genetic distancing. In this one (a two-dimensional principal coordinate analysis), the country of cultivar origin is represented by: Germany green triangle, Czech green square, UK green square with x, France green circle, Poland green triangle outlined, Slovenia green circle with x, Australia blue circle, New Zealand blue square, USA red circle, South Africa black circle. The research establishes the value of utilizing molecular genetic methods for “reliable cultivar identification or the evaluation of genetic variability and similarity by hierarchical cluster analysis and principal coordinate analysis.” 

Do I understand every word? No. But one gets the point. There are, as Stan says, relationships that should be understood to be going back through cultivar to landrace to wild. Maybe.

Speaking of the CBC Vegas, Courtney Iseman in her latest Huggering the Bar shared some tips for attendees seeking a decent beer in a land known for other things:

If you can’t get off the Strip but want a craft beer, your best bet is honestly to grab a tall boy from a convenience store. You won’t find much selection at casinos and you’ll pay stadium prices, predictably. Not too far of a walk (more on this in a sec) is Ellis Island. This hotel + casino is one of the most depressing I’ve been to, but! Stay with me and persevere through the casino part to The Front Yard, a bar and restaurant nice enough to feel completely disjointed from the rest of the hotel. Ellis Island brews its own beer, and it’s pretty great, based on the lager and Berliner weisse (for which they have a few different syrups) we had. If you want lunch and good, affordable, local craft beer, you could do a lot worse.

I read a nice little vignette from Jason Wilson in Everyday Drinking, the story of a starting a small sleepy wine cellar to last until retirement from someone in South Jersey who is now 86:

Pierre acquired much of his collection at one liquor store in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, one that also sold cigarettes and lottery tickets. “I got lucky,” Pierre said. “ “When I first built my wine cellar, that’s when the 1982s were just coming out… you could still occasionally find a knowledgeable, passionate wine person in a standard-issue liquor store. “I was lucky that I had a guy,” Pierre said. “I used to subscribe to the Wine Spectator, and I had a wine encyclopedia. But the guy at my local store knew what was good.” The wines at this tasting had been cellared well. Pierre does not have a fancy, custom-made wine cellar. “It’s all natural, three sides dirt and one stone wall. When I built the house, it was going to be a crawl space, but I said, ‘No, no, let’s make it a wine cellar.’” He added: “I’ve never had a bad bottle that’s been stored there.”

Jeff wrote a bit of a tough personal piece on his family’s life with alcohol this week – which starts with a surprise:

“Let me see my little Susan!” Mom recalls saying. Before ultrasounds existed, predicting a baby’s sex was apparently a primitive exercise, and my mother’s doctor got it wrong. The nurse held me aloft, announcing instead the arrival of little “Johnny.” It hadn’t occurred to Mom to have a boy’s name at the ready, so for a week I was Baby Gorostiza. She has never been sure why she chose Jeff, and used to joke that with a bit more warning she’d have probably named me David.

One of my favorite stories in beer is the nice tale of an historic beer recreation that turns out to avoid the actual characteristics of the historic beer… like this:

Brewing beer from bread is not without its challenges. “Early beers probably were a little bit bitty and maybe like an alcoholic porridge,” Ziane says. The method took some adapting – including an industrial shredder to crumb the bread slices, and rice hulls to prevent the bread from becoming an impenetrable sponge in the tank. The recipe Toast settled on replaces 25% of the grain with bread. In doing so, it replaces 25% of the carbon, water and land needed to grow the grain.

Finally, in what is really a challenging footrace despite there being only one competitor there was news from ParksWatchScotland of one of the more pathetic results from a BrewDog self-promotion project… with the added twist of a waste of significant public funding:

In mid-February I described how many of the trees planted by BrewDog, as part of the Phase I creation of its Lost Forest, had died and how they appeared to be investing little, if any, of their own money in the whole disastrous project.  A week after the post I received a response from Scottish Forestry to an information request I had submitted in December about the number of trees that had died, any related correspondence with BrewDog or their agents and the amount of forestry grant they had disbursed to date. The response stated Scottish Forestry had paid BrewDog £690,986.90 to date and confirmed that a very high proportion of the planted trees had died…

The anti-Midas touch, as usual. With that, again we roll the credits… well, the credits, the stats the recommends and the footnotes and the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections. This week’s update on my own emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (up one to 127) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (down one to 916) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,467) hovering somewhere above or around my largely ignored Instagram (161), with sorta unexpectly crap Threads (43) and not at all unexpectedly bad Substack Notes (1) really dragging up the rear – and that deservedly dormant Patreon presence of mine just sitting there. Fear not!

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

*Boak and Bailey had already noted this one which leads to consideration of this from the B+B footnotes last week: “(…on one unlinked story in the main article…) …certainly worth a read, especially if you have an emotional connection to Rhode Island. And Alan had already flagged it anyway, which is sometimes a consideration….” (…on another unlinked story in the main article…) “…the rest of the piece felt a bit like a sales pitch, as brewery profiles with access to the subjects can tend to do. And Alan had already flagged it anyway. Again.” This has been a heretofor an undiscussed phenomenon. I actually do like to not link on Wednesday evening to something that Boak and Bailey will no doubt mention Saturday morning. Reminds me of how when playing soccer or road hockey and I pathetically missed a pass sent my way – and then a teammate made more of the opportunity I ever could have… pals praising sarcastically with a “Well Left!!!” cheer. 
**I unashamedly share my supplier, Albert Thurston. Seriously. Buy yourself a couple of sets along with a few buttons and you have enough for a lifetime. You spend more on a pair of boots. Maybe I’ll spend my birthday money and buy a fourth set… you are sending birthday money, right? Right?!?!??
***The word “media” appears eight times. Is no one else to blame? Is there even any need to blame?
****Sure did. Stan no lie.

Well, That Was The Eclipse That Was… And Now Here Are The Beery News Notes

No throngs showed up apparently. It was even fairly quiet. But that thing in the sky was up there with the most amazeballs things I’ve ever seen. Certainly that I’ve seen from the backyard. As illustrated with a far better camera than the one that tried to capture my view of my new pal and master Sauron, via our actual eyeballs we could see two solar flares clear as day… except it wasn’t day… yet it was. We may have seen the out of focus lighting effect just for a moment and the seagulls had a pretty hard time of it, swirling overhead all through totality.  Here’s a video or two of the shadow of the moon passing across our fair city by the lake which really gives the sense of how there wasn’t anything like dusk, just diminishing light – whammo – dark and back to a return to light. See you all in 2399 AD… or whenever the next one is. Back to your regularly scheduled gardening notes next week.

Beer? Beer! Let’s go!! In all the grim news shared about the effect of Brexit on the UK brewing industry, this bit of a fact in an article in The Guardian is quite telling on the actual effect of the departure on the UK economy despite other indicators:

This, industry figures said, ignores the wider burden on brewers, including Britain’s departure from the EU, which has brought with it administrative hurdles that have added to the cost of importing ingredients and all but wiped out opportunities for export. At Charles Faram, getting British hops into Europe has become more complicated, at the expense of British jobs. Corbett said: “We’ve set up a company in Poland to facilitate that, shipping in bulk and distributing to the EU. We’re employing people in Poland to do the work we used to do here.”

Note: by “the work we used to do here” Corbett may mean “the work they used to do here.” That’s a bit amazeballs, too. The company followed the displaced workforce. Speaking of unsupportable policy decisions, I was unaware (given the constant flow of annoncements about beerfests at every second UK street corner) that some beer fests are actually are refused permission, like this one which faced a litany of objections* according to this BBC report:

Greater Manchester Police and council licensing officers objected to the Craft Beer Festival going ahead… The force believed there was a risk of “traffic chaos”, which organisers said would be prevented by asking people not to use their cars to get there. They also objected to the amount of toilets available – 25 toilet facilities for 460 ticket holders – which they thought could lead to public urination… PC Alan Isherwood said their biggest fear was how overcrowding would be “dealt with”… Licensing officers added their worry over “three days of noise nuisance” for residents with “the nearest property only 230ft (70m) away”…

Far more agreeably and right after last Thursday’s deadline to send these news notes to the press, Boak and Bailey posted a really entertaining collection of pub vignettes from their recent reading, like the voices of Welsh miners singing or the case of a pub that stradled a county line:

Some years ago the Wortham constable was about to arrest a man who had gone to earth in the inn after a poaching or similar minor offence. As it happened the wrong-doer was in the Wortham part of the house when the constable approached; but receiving warning he quickly slipped into the bar on the Burgate side, thus putting himself outside the constable’s jurisdiction.

In the latest science news update from under the microscope, Lars gave us the heads up over the weekend that a new study from Canada’s Escarpment Labs shows that the farmhouse yeast he has been stufying  forms one big and separate family of yeast titled rather generally as “European farmhouse yeast” as Lars summarizes:

The big finding is that group you see in the upper middle: a large group of farmhouse yeasts all next to each other. Yeasts from the kveik, gong, and berm areas as well as the Baltic all group right next to each other, with nothing else in between. The conclusion is that European farmhouse yeast is a separate family of yeast. Farmhouse yeast really is a separate type of yeast. And that family spans Norway, Latvia, and Lithuania, at least. I’ve been using the term “farmhouse yeast” for many years now, and now we learn that it’s not just a functional category (like bread yeast, or wine yeast), but it’s also a genetic family, a type of yeast.

For the double, announced speaker Lars has also shared some information on the prospects of the August 2024 Historic Brew Con being planned in Manchester by sharing this post from BeerNouveau:

Apart from having to postpone because we lost our venue, twice, and then the whole COVID thing, everything has been pretty smooth so far. Except ticket sales. Tickets have been on sale now for a couple of months and we haven’t sold enough to cover costs. A lot of people have said that they’ll be getting tickets, and if everyone who said they would did, then we’d likely be fine. But I can tell you now, if we don’t sell enough tickets in the next five weeks we’re going to have to cancel the event. There would still be eight or nine weeks before it went ahead, but there’s non-refundable deposits to pay, accommodation and travel to arrange, and a whole load of other costs that we have to stump up for before the conference starts.

I am not sure if there is a live feed option being offered but I had reached out a few months about about submitting papers, something I like as an option with an academic gathering. I did not hear back.

Slightly to the left on the map of the British Isles, Katie in her wonderful newsletter The Gulp shared an excellent glimpse of the ecosystem abord a ferry to the Isle of Man with particular stylish attention to its wee bar:

The bar on board the Manxman truly believes you are on a cruise. It gestures to the bar stools around a mood-lit console table, and wonders why you are not wearing a cocktail dress. The seating is a realistic shade of leather. Take in the atmosphere, make yourself comfortable. Prepare to disembark in an hour or two.

Here’s a thing I did not know. The Masters golf tournament has it’s own beer – and there isn’t much else known about it:

Crow’s Nest is a proprietary blend brewed exclusively for the Masters and not even available during the regular club season (which makes it that much cooler). It’s light, refreshing and tastes good, especially for parched golf fans wanting to fuel up after hiking up and down Amen Corner. It’s $5 and comes in a 20-ounce green commemorative cup, complete with italic Crow’s Nest text sandwiched between graphics of the tournament logo and the other Crow’s Nest (the one amateurs bunk in above the clubhouse). The brew is such a star, it even has its own shirt in the Masters Golf Shop. You think the domestic beer can claim that? Please.

Staying in the US of A, it’s been a difficult patch for the former beer focused firm, Boston Beer Co. according to one bot**:

Boston Beer Co’s revenue growth over a period of 3 months has faced challenges. As of 31 December, 2023, the company experienced a revenue decline of approximately -12.02%. This indicates a decrease in the company’s top-line earnings. When compared to others in the Consumer Staples sector, the company faces challenges, achieving a growth rate lower than the average among peers.

Speaking of stats, there were a number interesting graphs in the recent edition of Doug Veliky’s Beer Crunchers newsletter – a discussion about how beer trade stats are gathered. This one table in particular caught my eye. US beer sectors year to date 2023 v 2024. Craft down. Significantly. Now less craft sold off premises than that excellent category “domestic below premium” which includes such Hamms, Keystone Light and – much to my surprise – Miller High Life which is entirely above the below… if you know what I mean.

Great piece in Pellicle by David Nilsen on the revival of Narragansett of Rhode Island but not quite sure on the history of their porter. If their brewer Lee Lord started homebrewing in 2011 and…

When the Providence Historical Society reached out to Lee shortly after she started and wanted to brew a collaboration beer, she decided to revive the brand’s Porter with a new—well, old—recipe. She used a recipe discovered by British beer historian Ron Pattinson based on an 1822 Porter; nearly half the grist is brown malt, and no black malt is used at all. 

… then how did Lew and I gleefully drink their Porter no later than late 2009 and early 2010*** repectively? Ron. It’s got to be Ron who can explain what’s going on.

Speaking of revivals, GBH has an interesting story by Fred Garratt-Stanley of an English regional brewery, Lacons of Great Yarmouth, that thought ahead and stored its yeast:

“Securing the rights was a complex process that took two or three years,” says Carver, speaking to me over the phone. “Once we did, we went to the yeast bank and asked for the deposits of our yeast from 1956, of which there were eight: five top-fermentation yeasts and three bottom-fermentation yeasts.” Reviving these historic strains wasn’t simple, though. “Strains frozen in the 1950s have now been dormant for almost 75 years, so we have to revive them,” says Nueno-Palop. “Also, because many of the original depositors are not alive anymore, [breweries] need to acquire the rights. With Lacons, they had the original documentation pointing them toward the right NCYC strains … it was interesting that they had documented everything because this is very important for replicating recipes.”

Finally, it was interesting to note this comment on Twex from Jessica Mason:

As the end of the week nears, I look forward to a selection of men notifying us all of their ultimate line-up of most worthy beer news. Painstakingly collated into a list of what truly is best for everyone to read. Like they wrote it all. Can’t bloody wait.

As as far as I know, I get roundups from at least, yes, Katie Mather of The Gulp but also Jessica B. of Boak & Bailey and Stephanie Grant of The Share as well as I believe a few other women on recommended beery reading so I am pretty sure this corner of the hobby isn’t a chromozonal exclusive. That being said, good to have a sense of humour about being both the readers and the writers with these sorts of Nobel Prize ineligible topics. We hold each other up. As always, bring back RSBS so we wouldn’t have to rely on others!

Enough!! We roll the credits… well, the credits, the stats the recommends and the footnotes and the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections. This week’s update on my own emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (up one to 126) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (up three to 917) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (minus 1 to 4,467) hovering somewhere above or around my largely ignored Instagram (down two to 161), with sorta unexpectly crap Threads (43) and not at all unexpectedly bad Substack Notes (1) really dragging up the rear – and that deservedly dormant Patreon presence of mine just sitting there. Fear not!

Want to keep up with the news before next Thursday? Check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan the very next Monday upon which he decides to show up at the office. Look at me – I forgot to link to Lew’s podcast. Fixed. Get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by this year’s model citizen David Jesudason on the odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now revitalised and wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back with all the sweary Mary he can think of! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog in this weeks best medium as message news. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And I listened to the BOAS podcast bro-ly interview of Justin from Matron. And the long standing Beervana podcast . Plus We Are Beer People. There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a few podcasts… but some may be losing steam. And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube and remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water… if you have $10 a month for this sort of thing… I don’t. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link! Errr… nope, it is gone again.

*One comment in the BBC report caught my eye: “… not to be confused with Didsbury Beer Festival, which has been held annually for 11 years at St Catherine’s Community Centre.” Is there some sort of tension between the Didsbury Beer Festival and the Didsbury Craft Beer Festival? Must be very civil peeing practices at the old DBF if the DCBF is called out on that particular fear. Just hope that there is none of that thimping thumping beat that neighbours complain about eminating from St Lawrence Church of York. 
**Note: “This article was generated by Benzinga’s automated content engine and reviewed by an editor” so take this situation with a grain of salt.
***Shameless mooch that I was back then, the emails flew back and forth and the press release from November 20, 2009 read: “Originally called Narragansett Dark, ‘Gansett’s Porter craft brew first premiered in 1916. ‘Gansett still retains their original recipe, offering the same great-tasting Porter winter brew today. ‘Gansett Brewmaster, Sean Larkin offers some tasting notes on the brew: “We produce the Porter using summit hops, black malt, pale malt, roasted barley and ale yeast. It is then dry hopped with Amarillo hops, creating a deliciously mild chocolate flavor with just a hint of smokiness.” The specialty brew is 5.4% alcohol by volume with 22 International Bittering Units. Narragansett Porter is brewed in small batches at Trinity Brew House in Providence, Rhode Island and Cottrell Brewery in Pawcatuck, Connecticut.“

The Super Fantastic Yet Soon To Be Chocolate Stained Easter 2024 Edition Of Your Beery News Notes

Let’s get right into it. Jeff posted the graph right above us right there this week which deliciously not only sums up the place of non-alcoholic beer in the US market but also, as any good specific graphical representation of data, also invites us to consider any number of the crises in beer or in all of life itself. Is it neo-proto-Dada? Not sure but it really poses the question “what is big?” BA Bart, who actually started the discussion with this graph, responded with a fact as well as perhaps as something that was less than a fact when he countered with another graph:

All depends on your point of view. From one view 0.8% share isn’t that much. But 1 share of the US beer mkt is >$1 billion in consumer spending & NA is now bigger than any craft style except IPA (category vs style within category is admittedly a bit apples to oranges).

I have to admit that I am personally far more interested in the graphical display of information than I am in NA beers – but the question of what is “big” remains. Very much relatedly, Andreas Krennmair wrote about a sort of “wow – this is big!“: a NA beer from Germany’s venerable brewers Augustiner:

Everything I’ve read about the Augustiner Alkoholfrei Hell sounds to me as if Augustiner may have pulled off the same as Guinness, to release a convincing alcohol-free Helles that may be pleasing even to consumers and Augustiner fans that otherwise would not choose an alcohol-free beer. That’s a big deal, and could change the landscape and expected quality of alcohol-free beer in Bavaria and the rest of Germany.

See, as Andreas says, Augustiner was the last of the big Munich brands without an NA beer. And NA beers, in Germany, are big. In other big news, lots of good coverage by James Beeson in The Grocer this week on the purchase of “parts of”* craft beer distributor Eebria by Beer52 and the effect on suppliers to Eebria now holding invoices unlikely to be paid. He’s added a few extra considerations by Twex, too, including this on Wednesday:

Have this AM seen a copy of the SIP16 doc pertaining to the sale of @EeBriaTrade. Was initially marketed as for sale as early as March 2023 (i.e. it had been in financial distress for some time). A buyer pulled out in Dec ’23. Beer52 paid a total of just £30k to acquire. Doc makes reference to the fact the sale process(es) needed to be carried out discretely so as to reduce risk of “supply partners withdrawing their products”, something that “would impact upon the company’s ability to trade and significantly affect the value of the business.”

It is important to note that buying or not buying debt as part of administration is a common choice. If you are not a dealer in debt it is risky to take it on. It’s also important to note that pre-pack administration set ups (if not managed correctly) are not immune from supplier backlash or even allegations of fraud related to the “pre-packing” process. As always, suppliers with concerns related to questions on possession as opposed to ownership of stock in hand should seek qualified independent legal advice. By this I mean, if you did not buy the debt did you really buy the stock associated with that debt? By which I mean… where is the beer and is the possession lawful?** These things are regulated in Canada. There is also a UK police hotline, ActionFraud, which specifically deals with firms “fraudulently trading immediately before being declared insolvent, or phoenix companies.” I make no comment on current situation other than to say suppliers left out of pocket in the UK seem to have sources of professional legal and policing assistance.

Entirely unregulated and certainly well above it all, I so admit that know I have posted about this orchard project a few times. But, as a very minor investor, I have a rather outsized proprietary interest in the experimental forest of rare cider and perry trees of Barry Masterson, the motives behind of which he shared in Cider Review:

What drives a person to do something like that? For me, it began with Flakey Bark. A kind of poster child for rare pears, though believe it or not, there are rarer varieties than that one that was rediscovered by Charles Martell while driving a horse and cart through the Herefordshire countryside. Six known mature trees. Six. Though there are a couple of young trees at the National Perry Pear Centre at Hartpury, Gloucestershire. And now there are two more, planted in a field in Schefflenz, Germany. If it wasn’t for the Ross-on-Wye Cider and Perry Company, we’d likely never have heard of it.

Wow. Really wow. Me? I transplanted my lavender plants this week into ten peat pots as unattractively illustrated to the right. I started each and every one of them from seeds. So… samesies!

Wetherspoons. Love them or hate them, they appear to be either fighting against the tide of bad pub news coming out of the UK or… maybe they are part of the problem. The appropriately named Harry Wallop spent 24 hours in one to investigate for The Times:

It is 12.38am on a Friday night and I have spent nearly 15 hours in the Briar Rose, a Wetherspoons in the centre of Birmingham. Hannah, a law student, is about to head off to Snobs nightclub, but only after she has grabbed my arm to explain to me the appeal of the pub chain. Though she is articulate, she has also had “quite a few” Au Vodkas (£5.29 for a double, including her orange juice mixer). There is something about her enthusiasm that riles her friend Jacob, a politics student. “We don’t want to be here. We’re only here because it’s cheap,” he argues. “That is such bullshit,” says Hannah, rising to her feet.

Also down the ‘Spoons, The Beer Nut has been doing is own investigations of the wares on offer. No word of the volitilitiey of the “doubles Au Vodkas a la Hannah” but plenty of other observations:

It’s funny how branches of pub chain JD Wetherspoon develop personalities for themselves. Of the three in central Dublin, The Silver Penny, in the north inner city, isn’t the biggest, but it always feels like the busiest, the loudest, the endless party on the verge of kicking off. None of that has anything to do with cask beer, and yet it’s the one that does the most to put cask beers on. At festival time, it seems to give everything its turn, where the other two branches don’t seem so committed. That’s a long introduction to say that virtually everything I drank at the Spring 2024 JD Wetherspoon Beer Festival, I drank at the ‘Penny.

Speaking of festivals, the BBC reported on one which went rather wrong:

The first International Brewing and Cider (IBC) Festival was held in Manchester over the weekend. But the not-for-profit event was hit with complaints about rude staff, cold conditions in the Mayfield Depot venue, and a poor atmosphere… Freddy Hardy, co-founder of independent Manchester brewery Courier Brewing Co. said a low turn out in such a large venue meant “the vibe… just wasn’t there”. The 35-year-old added that he had agreed to stay until the end on Friday, but estimated he had only sold beer to around 20 people – 10 of whom he believed to be other people from the industry… Manchester-based beer writer Matthew Curtis told the BBC he estimated crowds to be no bigger than 50 to 100 at any time. He described the atmosphere as “very muted”.

Note that cameo appearance! Sometimes co-conspirator extraordinaire Katie added this:

Can confirm rusty rainwater dripped from the roof into my drink

That’s almost a haiku, right there. Or a bit of a folk song. Staying with the only two real controversies in British pub trade but moving on to the other… everyone’s favourire retired Fullers brewer John Keeling writing in Brewers Journal unpacked the sparkler debate for us who are not really in the know:

I am going to weigh in on this debate with my customary diplomacy. Northern beers use them to produce a massive head which certainly makes the beer look good and appetising but southern beers have a looser fluffy head. If you pour beer from a cask into a glass, you will get a very small head indeed and this was the way beer was dispensed before the invention of the beer engine.  This produced a bigger head, but it needed the invention of the sparkler to produce the tight creamy heads much loved by Northern drinkers. However, it might look good, but does it taste better?

You know what looks good? This scene from Ireland. What a lovely image from 53 years ago. Shared by Dublin By Pub on Twex, no word of the ultimate source but with the caption:

Livestock traders drinking outside a pub on Inis Meáin island, 1971.

Speaking of loverly, Retired Martin has taken us along to see the unexpected splendor of the newly reopened Rochdate Town Hall with a fabuous photo essay that you really need to go check out:

Mrs RM said “Wow”.

Speaking of a bit of another wow but just in time for Easter…

A congregation of Catholic nuns has reopened a bar in an ancient sanctuary in northern Spain, pulling pints of beer in the hopes of spreading the word of God to thirsty guests visiting the 11th-century Romanesque site. “I think plenty of people would think it’s unusual, because they’ve never seen it. But you know, it’s not a sin to drink a beer,” said Miami-born Sister Guadalupe, adding that the bar constituted an “open door for us to evangelise”.

Certainly with the same intention, Ron was back in Brazil for the hotel breakfasts and fit in another one before heading to at Marstons and drinking a lot of Bass [Ed.: passage edited for clarity]:

We start with some Bass that’s been open for a few days. It’s dry and finishes satisfyingly bitter. And no trace of sulphur. Quite like the pint in the Smithfield. Moving on to a freshly-tapped Bass, the contrast is striking…  It’s time to go and drink some beer. In town… Guess what we’re drinking? You’ll never get it. Bass!… We need to be moving on. Not far. To another pub… Why not have a Bass?…  “Fancy a pint in the White Horse?” Mike asks. It’s the pub opposite our hotel. “Why not?”… They’ve got Bass.

Now… there’s a lot of reading out there… so some quick takes like “Is craft beer cringe now?” asked Courtney Iseman. As she writes, “now” is a long time:

Even then, though, “craft beer drinker” was an easy shorthand for mocking hipsters. See: this New Yorker cover from 2014.

“What does ‘fine wine’ really mean?” asked Simon J Wolfe, sounding familiar:

In other words, this has nothing to do with wine – as in the liquid in the bottle.

Wholesale pricing notes from The Beer Nut:

Your regular reminder here that pubs buy beer from independent breweries for less than the big brewers charge, but sell it dearer, just because.

Boak and Bailey on “Real Ale as Folk Horror“:

The main point is that many of the stories concern secretive cults which are unwelcoming to outsiders and cling to arcane practices and rituals. Which brings us to CAMRA.

And… somewhat similarly but not… can we expect someone or something to brew a “Six Finger Stout“?

…researchers say they have harnessed the power of artificial intelligence to make brews even better.

Heavy lifting the word “say” right there.  And “West Virginia passes bill allowing home distillation” says NPR with a netly hidden note of doom in the word “celebrate”:

West Virginia’s legislature has approved a bill that would allow individuals to distill up to five gallons of moonshine as a way to celebrate Appalachian history and heritage.

I like how “history” (the actual) and “heritage” (the bits of history that conveniently support whatever the hell you want) are used. Good to see the what was apparently the original level of 50 gallons a year per household was reduced.

Hops news? We got the hop news. Indoor hops farms in Spain? Check. Genetic intervention to preserve Kentish strains? Check. And Stan in his monthly Hop Queries clarifies his thoughts on the term “landrace” comfortably in line with my thoughts. First his thoughts:

Hop geneticists refer to the varieties that farmers chose to propagate over the course of centuries as landrace hops. Val Peacock, long-time manager of hop technology at Anheuser-Busch and now a consultant, explained the decision was pretty basic. “We like the hop that grows on this side of the road. We’re not so happy with the hop that grows on that side of the road”… I prefer the word “landrace” to “noble” because it is more encompassing. The more diverse the population of hops that breeders have to draw from, the more diverse the selection of new varieties brewers will be able to choose from, whether they are seeking old world or new world flavors. 

Me? I do not care for when people use “landrace” to mean wild. Centuries before the 1800s when the concept of nobel hops shows up, farming husbandry was selecting preferred stock.  You see it in hops history and malting barley history. People in the past used the resources around them in clever ways. They were not waiting for our own short stage of their future hoping we would be cleverer.  Speaking of cleverer, Hollie Stephens in Pellicle describes some hybridizing hopsters:

Indie Hops formed a partnership focused on hop research and breeding with Oregon State University (OSU), breathing new life into the university’s well-established hop research, which has been evolving since scientists planted hops on the campus in 1893. The business provides 100 per cent of the program’s funding and sets direction for what they want to achieve. But it’s truly a team effort to bring a new hop into the world. 

Finally, a wonderful photo from brewer Paul Spencer of his team as they start the process of making a new beer with a special ingredient:

And again we roll the credits… well, the credits, the stats the recommends and the footnotes and the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections. This week’s update on my own emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (126) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (up one at 914) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,465) hovering somewhere above or around my largely ignored Instagram (163), with sorta unexpectly crap Threads (43) and not at all unexpectedly bad Substack Notes (1) really dragging up the rear – and that deservedly dormant Patreon presence of mine just sitting there. Fear not!

Want to keep up with the news before next Thursday? Check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan the next Monday. Look at me – I forgot to link to Lew’s podcast. Fixed. Get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by this year’s model citizen David Jesudason on the odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now revitalised and wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back with all the sweary Mary he can think of! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog in this weeks best medium as message news. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the long standing Beervana podcast . Plus We Are Beer People. There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a few podcasts… but some may be losing steam. And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube and remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water… if you have $10 a month for this sort of thing… I don’t. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link! Errr… nope, it is gone again.

*As succinctly quoted by Boak and Bailey last Saturday.
**See the fabulously named civil cause of action “replevin” (as discussed in the reasonably recent case Gignac v. Move Me Again Transportation Inc, 2021 ONSC 3374) which is a request for the return of someone’s personal property where it is alleged that the property is unlawfully detained by another someone.

The Week Baseball Starts Taking Over The TV Schedule Edition Of The Beery News Notes

Did you know that there are five Thursdays this February? FIVE!! I thought I was done for the month today – but I am not. It’s leapday Thursday next week. This will be only the third one in my lifetime, now in my 61st year having lived through this experience in 1968 and 1996. The fifth since the 1800s. The responsibilities for next week’s update have suddenly loomed ominously. Am I up to this rich and rare Thursdayness? The very first leap day Thursday since beer blogging began? Better put an effort in. A big effort. So… I can slack off this week and no one will notice. Excellent.

First up, Boak and Bailey are doing some clever things with their multi-media channels. For one thing, they are posting footnotes to their weekly beery news roundups on Patreon. As you can always see below, I like footnotes but rather than merely wallowing in snark like I do BB2 actually add a bit of context and discussion.* And, as you can see to the right, they play with the graphical display of information like with this table explaining their thought on what has been gained and lost over the last ten years of good beer in the UK. They published that in their monthly newsletter after gathering some thoughts from readers over at Bluesky. Which I received by email. Where do they find the time?

And I wrote something last week that caught even me by surprise: “could it be that beer might actually… be going out of style?” For years that was the quip – it’s not like its gonna go out of style. Did I mean it? I mean sure we all know that democracy and simple human decency are well on their way out… but beer?!?! It seems something it up… or, rather, quite a bit down. Stan posted another graph building on the graphs discussed seven days ago. I can’t just put the same graph at the top of my roundup this week (because that would break the weekly updaters Code of Conduct that B+B control with a ruthless efficency) but his point is worth repeating:

The pink on the right represents barrels of beer that would have been sold had sales simply gone flat in 2020, rather than declining, not completely recovering, then declining again. Obviously, that matters a lot to hop growers. When barrels aren’t brewed then hops aren’t used. In this case, about 20 million pounds of them. Two thoughts. First, indeed, little difference between production in 2015 and 2023. Second, if you draw an arrow from the top of the bar at 2015 to 2019 it looks much different than an arrow drawn from the top of 2019 to 2023. Production might be the same, but something different is going on.

One thing I do not believe is causing all this is the lack of detailed description of the offerings at taproom. Jim Vorel would beg to differ and does so at length:

Case in point: Not long ago, my wife was ordering at a large, well-funded and popular local brewery taproom. Looking at the electronic menu above the bar, she landed on a new beer labeled simply as “coffee stout.” She loves stout, and lightly adjuncted classic stouts such as coffee stouts, so she ordered one. The reality? The beer was actually a stout with “vanilla, caramel flavoring and cardamom” in addition to the coffee, which was the only thing mentioned by the sole source of information available to the consumer. Is that a valid concept for a “Turkish coffee stout,” or whatever? Absolutely it is, but the customer needs to know they’re ordering a stout with that kind of theming when they place the order. You can’t just surprise someone with “caramel, vanilla, cardamom” when they think they’re ordering a relatively dry beer. What if that person doesn’t really care for pastry stout concepts? Are they supposed to grill the bartender whenever they see “coffee stout,” to ask if there are any other adjuncts involved? Just how many questions are we expecting these busy taproom employees to answer?

Theming? I had no idea. Me? I just taste the stuff and make my own mind up. Now, let’s be clear. That graph showing US craft beer (including formerly recognized craft brewers kicked out of the BA) have slumped back to 2015 production levels** does not mean all beer is going out of favour, as Jessica Mason explained:

Molson Coors delivered six years of profit growth, six years of growth in just one year. That focus is a new baseline. We are ready for this moment”. To illustrate the size of the achievement, Hattersley explained: “In 2023, our top five brands around the world drove over two million more hectolitres than they did the prior year. This is like adding the entirety of Blue Moon’s global volume to our portfolio.” Looking at America, Molson Coors has seen a boost in both its distribution as well as its presence in supermarkets with more retailers listing its beers. In fact, this momentum and knock-on revenue spike is what has boosted the business to such great heights and reinforced distributor confidence in listing Molson Coors’ beers.

And Kirin is experiencing a bounce as well according to Eloise Feilden:

Kirin Holdings posted revenue of ¥2.1bn (£11.1m) in the year to 31 December 2023, representing a 7.3% rise year-on-year. Profit was up 4.6% on 2022, and operating profit rose 29.5% to ¥150.3bn (£79.4m). Revenue from the Kirin Brewery division was up 3.2% on 2022 to ¥685m. Kirin Brewery’s total beer sales increased 5.9% to 1.4bn litres. CEO Yoshinori Isozaki told analysts that price changes in October helped to boost beer sales “more than expected”, after the company dropped the price of beer brands including Kirin Ichiban. Kirin raised prices for its no-malt Honkirin and Kirin Nodogoshi Nama beers.

Interesting. So are people really just getting fed up with the craft beer nonsense? Remarkably, it’s been a decade since the cult classic The Unbearable Nonsense of Craft Beer by Max and Myself was published – and this remarkably visionary review (given the interveining rise and fall of craft) by Alistair popped up in my Facebook feed this week:

I’ve been slowly reading my way through The Unbearable Nonsense of Craft Beer by Alan and Max, and finding myself agreeing with most things, especially when it comes to tasting vs drinking.  I’ve been saying it for a while now, beer is for drinking, not standing around pontificating about the supposed terroir of the hops, the provenance of your peat-smoked 80/- (as in it has none), or worst of all thinking that Pilsners are just American Light Lager without the rice or corn (have heard that more than once). I guess that’s one reason why I love breweries that make classic styles, and make them well, rather than brewing every gimmick going – you know they can make good beer, worth drinking, instead of random shit to taste a thimbleful of and never want to touch again.

Point. And Alistair (as well as someone in the comments) made the analysis that is often made in tighter times – is home brew really cheaper? Why yes, yes it is:

Thankfully, I don’t have to pay myself to make beer, neither do I pay myself to serve the beer, and so the real cost for a half litre of my own beer at home is about $2. One thing though that is really clear to me from this little exercise is that ingredients are not the bulk of the cost of making the beer, it is a the people, equipment, and place to do so. Obviously I am also not able to take advantage of the economies of scale that a commercial brewer (sorry idealogues, if your favourite beer is made by a company that does so for a living it IS a commercial brewery), especially when it comes to non-linear increases such as the ingredients, and don’t forget to factor in that a single decoction brewday in my garage takes about as long as a single decoction brewday at a professional brewery with the appropriate kit. 

But… and I am a long lapsed home brewer… you don’t need the equipment and you don’t need the decoction. A nice pale ale or porter from scratch? Do it. Conversely, care of the BBC, here’s another reason I’ll steer clear of NA beer for the foreseeable future – unlisted ingredients:

UK-based brewer, Impossibrew, which specialises in non-alcoholic beers, uses a different means of arrested fermentation. “We brew it in such a way that we can cryogenically stop the fermentation process,” says founder, Mark Wong… Impossibrew also adds its “proprietary social blend”, a mix of nootropic herbs designed to imitate the feeling of relaxation induced by traditional beer. It is a precise blend developed in collaboration with Professor Paul Chazot at Durham University’s Biophysical Sciences Institute. Nootropics are natural compounds – billed as “smart drugs” – which improve cognitive functions.

Sweet. Playing with the psychological therapies. Here is a 2023 paper on nootropic herbs. Including a discussion of the allergies and side effects*** that one might encounter… if you knew what you had consumed.

Pellicle‘s offering this week is a portrait of Bristol, England’s Wiper and True taproom by Anthony Gladman.**** Spoiler – they have a dealcoholiser:

The second tool is a reverse osmosis dealcoholiser, which the brewery uses to remove the alcohol from beers like Tomorrow, and the low alcohol version of Kaleidoscope, which launched in January 2024. “That’s going to be a big push for us for the next… well, for a long time actually,” Michael says. “That’s what the whole business is galvanising around at the moment.” Installing a dealcoholiser is not something a brewery does lightly: the equipment is a huge expense, but so too is the floor space it requires, as well as the staff training, and the effort in recipe research and development to make owning one worthwhile.

Note: The Beer Ladies Podcast interviewed Lars this week. Have a listen.

Merryn has shifted to Bluesky and is still tracking the research on ancient grain residues. We learn that “interest in bread like, porridge like, lumps of charred cereal residues certainly has increased over the past decade.And quite a lot have been found” like in Ancient bread recipes: Archaeometric data on charred findings from the February 2024 issue of the Journal of Cultural Heritage:

This study examines charred bread-like samples found in several archaeological sites across northern Italy and dating from the Early Bronze Age to the Early Middle Ages, some of which are included amongst the UNESCO World Heritage Sites. The aim is to investigate differences and homogeneities in bread production processes in different eras and cultures. Bread was a staple food in many ancient societies, but has rarely been found amongst the materials that survive in archaeological sites. When it is found, it is usually because the bread was charred by accidental combustion (falling into the oven during baking) or deliberate combustion (for ritual purposes). The literature on the issue is not abundant, but has been growing over the past decade

It’s beer, isn’t it. Err… wasn’t it. Speaking of was, some bad news for beer drinkers in Nigeria:

The Chief Executive Officer of Nigerian Breweries Plc, Hans Essaadi, has said that the economic situation in Nigeria has deteriorated to the extent citizens can no longer afford to buy beer. Essaadi said this on Monday at the company’s investor call following the release of its 2023 results. “It has been unprecedented year for our business in Nigeria. We saw a significant decline in the mainstream lager market as a result of Nigerian consumers no longer able to afford a Goldberg after a hard day’s work,” Bloomberg quoted Essaadi as saying.

Note: no GBH Sightlines for five weeks. Done?

Like clockwork, Stan has posted his February edition of Hop Queries – which is not a quote from Shakespeare, by the way. He built upon that glut of hops mentioned above, twisting the knife just a bit:

My story about why farmers in the Northwest are ready to remove 10,000 acres (about 18 percent of what was harvested last year) from production in 2024 has posted at Brewing Industry Guide (subscription required). Short term, this means there are plenty of hops out there, often at bargain prices.  
Long term, think about how many times you have seen the term “soft landing” used when discussing the American economy. How does that usually work out? The market for hops has always been cyclical and landings have not often been soft. It will be a year or more before it is clear if this year is different. 

Finally and speaking of honesty, consider this exchange in the comments at Beervana and ponder whether

Reader: Jeff, big fan of your blog and content. That being said, I would hope that we don’t start bashing beers here. The battle for beer should not be within the community but outside of it against wine and spirits. If we bash our own, regardless of how “eye-rolling” the content is we will lose the long game.”

Jeff: “Mason, it’s not my job to promote the brewing industry here. I try to write honestly and entertainingly about beer, and that means I criticize things from time to time. My “clients” are my readers, not breweries. Beyond that, I would argue that anyone who did want to promote the brewing industry would not whitewash negative stories, bad beers, or disappointing news. Concealing faults doesn’t help in the long run.”

Very well said, Jeff. One wonders how much this sort of call to disengagement from reality based reality that craft beer too often promotes has contributred to the slide that we discussed up top. That we see all around us. Maybe that’s what “theming” is. By the way, has anyone brewed a samey Doubly Hazy NEIPA and called it “Self Inflicted Wound”?  As things change and interest in craft declines, it’s still good to watch how it falls if only to identify what stands the best chance of coming through the downturn.

OK. Mailed that one in. Didn’t even have to mention BrewDog. Or baseball now that I think of it. Fine… just roll the credits… well, the credits, the stats the recommends and the footnotes. There is a lot going on down here and, remember, ye who read this far down, look to see if I have edited these closing credits and endnotes (as I always do), you can check out the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections. This week’s update on my emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (up again to 123) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (913) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,450) hovering somewhere above or around my largely ignored Instagram (up to 165), with sorta unexpectly crap Threads (43) and not at all unexpectedly bad Substack Notes (1) really dragging up the rear – and that deservedly dormant Patreon presence of mine just sitting there. I now have admitted my dispair for Mastodon in terms of beer chat, relocated the links and finally accept that BlueSky is the leader in “the race to replace” Twex even while way behind.

Fear not! While some apps perform better than other we can always check the blogs, newsletters and even podcasts to stay on top of things including the proud and public and certainly more weekly recommendations in the New Year from Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan really doing what needs to be done Mondays. Look at me – I forgot to link to Lew’s podcast. Fixed. Get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by this year’s model citizen David Jesudason on the odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now revitalised and wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back with all the sweary Mary he can think of! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog in this weeks best medium as message news. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the long standing Beervana podcast . There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a podcast… but also seems to be losing steam. And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube and remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water… if you have $10 a month for this sort of thing… I don’t. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link! Errr… nope, it is gone again according to Matty C.

*I mean consider this: “We have taken note of, and pre-ordered, Dr Christina Wade’s upcoming book The Devil’s in the Draught Lines about the history of women in British brewing. We nearly gave it a shout out (free advertisement) in this week’s round-up but decided to save that for next week. But, blimey, eh? CAMRA’s publishing strategy is interesting these days. You might call it public service publishing, doing what’s right for the good of the beer culture rather than what’s commercial (101 beers to drink before you die… again!). Except Desi Pubs seems to have been a substantial success.” That’s a proper bunch thoughts right there.
**IE: not actually “flat” at all.
***Note: “Plant nootropics are generally very well tolerated, but potential users should consider their overall health condition and consult a doctor about possible contraindications and drug interactions before trying a particular plant formulation.“
****This piece serves as an interesting counterpoint to Boak and Bailey’s thoughts from last July whose words from them bear repeating: “It used to be a ‘beer garden’ – a bare yard full of tables. It felt like having a pint in the car park of ASDA. But now it is a Beer Garden, or at least heading well in that direction. Around the perimeter are tall plants providing a green shield. In the garden between tables, there are loaded beds and planters. Grasses, shrubs and young trees soften edges, dampen sound and create depth. This is now a pleasant place to be, like a park or botanical exhibition.“

The First And So Far Most Februariest Beery News Notes Of 2024

Here we are. The second month of the year. Even though it sorta sucks around here, February is at least proof that dreary January isn’t forever. Sky watcher Jordan noticed, too. Sky watcher. I saw this weird blinding light up there just yesterday afternoon. It was strange. Everyone I know is looking forward to this month, solely to put January behind them. Was it that bad? It was. It really was. TGIF, baby. You know, January’s taking on a certain societal pong. It’s now the crappiest month of the year, isn’t it. Why? Well, perhaps as a first bit of evidence, Cookie puts his foot down about Dry January:

Boozing is part of culture. December is culturally a month of excessive consumption. January is always quiet. This has been a seasonal norm for centuries. Imagine the guy renting deckchairs on the beach, moaning that it’s quiet in winter. Hospitality is seasonal.

That is a reasonable argument. At least a reasonable baseline. Do people believe it? There have been a number of unfortunate tales of businesses doing badly, blaming the times, blaming others and bad luck, blaming the general cutting back. Can we call these exuberance hangovers?* It is a now problem or a back then one? As this handy graph illustrates, there are even exuberences in some sorts of exuberence avoidance, like in the no/lo marketplace:

The pattern was similar for spirits, with people paying more for no/lo spirits, on average, than standard spirits. Again, the gap has narrowed over time, after an initial ‘noisier’ period when the no/lo spirits market was extremely small. There was relatively little difference between the prices paid for no/lo and standard ciders in pubs, bars, clubs, and nightclubs, with no/lo cider being 5% more expensive on average in 2021. Wine was notably different to the other categories, with prices paid for no/lo wine remaining consistently around 25% lower than standard wine.

You are going to have to read that article for the graph to make any sense. But it looks so good I am just leaving it there. I also thought of this question of inordinate enthusiam when I read Jessica Mason‘s piece on the response of certain minority shareholders of Black Sheep Brewing at the brewery’s  reorganization by new investor the private quity firm, Breal:

Regarding Breal’s interests in Black Sheep, Sturdy admitted in his letter that he was “glad that most of the jobs of the employees in the company were saved” despite news of redundancies and closures circulating, but queried “how the directors are fit and proper persons to run the new company”. Describing the issue, he highlighted… “most of us are not rich, but are hard working loyal people, including employees of the old company, farmers, licensees and local tradesmen”. He said: “Coincidentally the CEO owned no shares in the company at this time. The MD and export director owned 6,256 and 11,050 shares respectively” and added: “In my view these deals should be outlawed.”

I mean I get it – and there are the empty pocketed suppliers to think of too. A very January-ish story. The month of general public lament. I noticed that The New York Times published stories on the dangers to mental health by taking lots of things as well as on the various other dangers of cannabis however taken. Having given up on dope around 1981, I am a bit amazed that this is newsworthy because it is simply so. Not news. But then the same paper of record published something I found actually new and noteworthy: businesses responding to the challenges of these times head on, by undertaking all sorts of intentional narrowing in beer selection:

“I don’t need five pilsners,” said Olivier Rassinoux, the vice president of restaurant and bar at Patina Restaurant Group, which is headquartered in Buffalo. At Patina’s Banners Kitchen & Tap, a 72-tap sports bar in Boston, the bar turned two taps over to kegged margaritas last year and plans to add additional draft cocktails and wine. Max’s Taphouse, a Baltimore beer institution since 1986, is buying smaller kegs to fill its 113 taps and reducing its extensive cellar of large-format bottled beers. They’ve fallen out of fashion, and lingering bottles are “turning into nostalgic keepsakes,” said Jason Scheerer, the general manager.

Ahhh… Max’s.  Got the kid a sweet tee there in 2012. He was 12. Fits him now. Better to be clever and cautious than closed. Relatedly, in his newsletter Everyday Drinking, after describing another sort of exuberance  (his own recent training as a honey sommelier care of the American Honey Tasting Society) Jason Wilson posed the question that has parallel this era of gratification through certification:

…over the past decade, there’s been a creeping wine-ification in every realm of gourmet endeavor. Now, in our era of hyper-credentialism, there’s almost no sphere of connoisseurship without a knowledgeable, certified taste expert, someone who’s completed serious coursework and passed an exam. A two-day tea sommelier certification course (followed by eight weeks of home study) from the International Tea Masters Association costs $1,725. A five-day olive oil sommelier certification program in New York costs $2,800. A nine-day water sommelier certification program at the Doemens Academy in Germany costs more than $3,000 (travel not included). These programs prepare you to be a taste authority, a sensory expert, an arbiter and evangelist in the field, though you’re likely not producing anything.

That’s a lot. Was it also too much? Did we ever need all these niche claims to authority? Enthusiasts with paper. Is that also an exuberance passing out of fashion? Didn’t we have enough of authority when we decided to take a pass on the off-taste lessons and beer pairing dinners?  Speaking of excesses, Stan published his latest edititon of Hop Queries and gave a vivid picture of of the excess hop production facing the industry:

A surplus of hops continues to hang like a dark cloud over producers and suppliers in the Northwest. Last week at the American Hop Convention, John I. Haas CEO Tom Davis told growers that as a group they need to remove an additional 9,000 to 10,000 acres of aroma hops from of production. Idling about 6,000 acres (including approximately 9,000 acres of aroma hops) in 2023 had no meaningful impact on inventory reduction. The estimated 35-to-40-million-pound aroma hop surplus has not changed… In the Czech Republic, the third largest hop producing country in the world, growers harvest about 12,000 acres, almost all of them planted with aroma varieties. Eliminating 10,000 acres would be much like eliminating all Czech production. It would reduce acreage to not much more than farmers strung in 2015…

Very much conversely, Lucy Corne had an excellent piece published in GBH about a small, succinct and successful Ontario-Rwanda project which I knew a bit about when it was first started by Beau’s Brewing** in far eastern Ontario – but one which I had lost track before it took a distinct turn just about 17 words after this part of the story below:

Beauchesne thought it sounded like a good fit, though it would present obvious challenges. “It was so much more out of our comfort zone than we had intended,” he says. “We flew down to Rwanda to meet Fina and to check out the business climate. The last thing we wanted was to start a project that had no chance of succeeding. I came back inspired. And also scared shitless.” Burying his fears, Beauchesne dove into the project, launching a crowdfunding campaign which reached its $100,000 target within two months. Over the next year, locations were scouted around Kigali, business plans were drawn up, and the team at Beau’s started working on recipes using traditional Rwandan brewing ingredients, including cassava and bananas.

And the very epitome of a balanced approach, the Tand published a neat a tidy story of a beer crawl in London the highligth of which was his vignette of busy normality:

This is an Irish style pub – without the umpteen intrusive televisions – and was severely rammed with after work drinkers.  Nonetheless, the service was swift and cheerfully efficient, but it was so busy I could see little of the bar. I’m pretty sure there was no cask and I wouldn’t have had it anyway here, as everyone seemed to be guzzling Guinness.  If you can’t beat them, join them is sometimes not a bad motto.  The Guinness was the best I have ever had in London. Perhaps a tad cold, but certainly the best since I was last in Belfast, and at least a match for Mulligans in Manchester.   So we had another. Seemed the right thing to do, especially since the same barman who’d served me, when collecting glasses, saw us standing in a corner and shifted some office workers who’d purloined the table that should have been there.  Thus seated, we enjoyed the busy scene even more.

Note: one sort of beer, not 113 taps. And what a great heaving description. Balance was also a theme in Lily Waite‘s piece in Pellicle this week, a portrait of Ideal Day Family Brewery, a back to basics brewery situated in a rural English business cooperative:

Set in a central run of low-slung converted stone barns around a well-tended courtyard, and a number of other slightly less hashtag-aesthetic, more utilitarian farm buildings around the site, the various businesses work together in harmony. The hospitality centred ones all invariably use produce from the farm: the restaurant’s whole ethos is farm-to-table; the cafe uses and sells the produce; James uses wheat and barley grown on the farm and various miscellany from the kitchen garden in his beers. 

And in his newsletter Episodes of My Pub Life, David Jesudason reflected on being included in a Deutsche Welle broadcast to share his thoughts on speakin of how things really were, looking back with clarity through his studies of the imperial roots of IPA while giving us a bit of an insight into his process:

I’m really proud of this podcast put together by DW (the German equivalent of the BBC) on the thorny subject of the IPA’s colonial legacy. It came about after the producer Sam Baker stumbled upon my first piece for Good Beer Hunting, which changed how we looked at how IPAs were marketed. (I have mixed feelings about that article as none of my subsequent ones for GBH ever reached the same mass audience.) The Don’t Drink the Milk podcast seeks to explain a subject ubiquitous but misunderstood. The IPA episode had a huge scope with numerous recordings in different countries but is easily accessible for listeners new to the subject of empire. It placed mine and beer writer Pete Brown’s stories central to the narrative and even gave international listeners a flavour of what the Gladstone in Borough is like. It’s what I want Radio 4 to be when I switch it on – and then quickly turn off as I feel alienated by a lot of the subject matter...

Reality checked. Finally and as reported in December, Jeff was invited to speak at a beerfest in Budapest. In his reportage from the scene, he posted something like that chapter in the middle of Hobbes’ Leviathan that cuts so quickly to the point that the rest of the book is a bit unnecesary. In sum, it is a summary – but to my mind some bits might need a wee edit like this:

What’s different is the internet—now information moves far more quickly. In the U.S., it took brewers 15-30 years (depending on the region) to develop native beer. Brewers weren’t even making the beer they imitated properly because most had never been to Europe and they had no information about how to make those beers.

There’s a couple of things. First, the US has given birth to many beer styles that would please any nativist. The cream ales, cream beers, steam beers or (the most obvious winner of the race… if it were a race) macro lagers have each had their day just as Pete’s Wicked Ale and then extreme beers have more recently. And Albany, Kentucky and California have all sent their distinct offspring out into the world. Which is why I prefer “regional” to “national” as the adjective in these matter.

Second, even though there weren’t 100 microbreweries and brewpubs in the USA until around 1988 (making them an oddity for most of the decade) in the 1980s there is no question that US craft brewers had access to plenty of information about brewing the good beer they were imitating. There were imported books and magazines as well as beer supply stores and beers of the world bars as meeting places. We see from one document that there were festivals like the Great American Beer Festival in 1982 at Boulder Colorado where Fred Eckhardt, Michael Jackson, Ken Grossman, Michael Lewis, Bill Newman and Charlie Papazian met with British brewers who all spoke and no doubt spoke with each other and anyone else who cared to listen. We learn from another primary record from 1986 that Michael Jackson was delighted with the Winter Ale brewed by Bill Newman at Albany, New York. Newman had learned his stills during the months in 1979 he worked under the tutelage of the father of the British independent brewery movement, the recently departed Peter Austin, at his Ringwood Brewery in Hampshire England.  Alan Pugsley of Shipyard also trained under Austin and then trained others. Greg Noonan later of the Vermont Brewery was out there researching his first book “Brewing Lager Beer” before 1986, the same year the Buffalo Brewpub was opened by Kevin Townsell who “imports his malt from England via Canada, and gets hops, a fragrant vine that determines aroma and bitterness levels, from the Yakima Valley.” And, of course, Bert Grant had been in the brewing trade since the 1940s working his way up at E.P. Taylor’s Carling brewery in Toronto before later emigrating and opening Yakima Brewing in 1982. Suffice it to say, they all had the information. And shared it. And understood what they were doing.

That’s a lot. The clear and unclear. The plain and the cluttered. The unexpected and the shoulda seen coming. Ways that are fair while others are rough. Enough!! Once again… roll the credits… well, the credits, the stats the recommends and the footnotes. There is a lot going on down here and, remember, ye who read this far down, look to see if I have edited these closing credits and endnotes (as I always do), you can check out the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections. This week’s update on my emotional rankings? Facebook still in first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (up again to 116 rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (static at 911) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,437 – down one) hovering somewhere above or around my largely ignored Instagram (down to 163), with sorta unexpectly crap Threads (43) and not at all unexpectedly bad Substack Notes (1) really dragging up the rear – and that deservedly dormant Patreon presence of mine just sitting there. I now have admitted my dispair for Mastodon in terms of beer chat, relocated the links and finally accept that BlueSky is the leader in “the race to replace” Twex even while way behind.

Fear not! While some apps perform better than other we can always check the blogs, newsletters and even podcasts (really? barely! This era’s 8-track tapes!)*** to stay on top of things including the proud and public and certainly more weekly recommendations in the New Year from Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan back at his spot for 2024 on Mondays. Look at me – I forgot to link to Lew’s podcast. Fixed. Get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by this year’s model citizen David Jesudason on the odd Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now revitalised and wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back with all the sweary Mary he can think of! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog in this weeks best medium as message news. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the long standing Beervana podcast . There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a podcast… but also seems to be losing steam. And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube and remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water… if you have $10 a month for this sort of thing… I don’t. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link!

*any number of the misheard lyrics of “Video Killed the Radio Star” may apply – we did country wine! Plus I knew a guy called Hubert. That explains everything.
**Disclosure: Steve B has been in my house at least twice and drank my beer…
***Thesis: podcasts and newsletters are a great way to minimize correction, criticism and citation by others so… playgrounds for affirmation. Antithesis: then why do I /you quote from them, numbskull?

A Brief But Paradigm Busting Edition Of These Beery News Notes For Mid-November

I’ve been mentioning that beer writing seems to have gone a bit quiet this autumn and – horrors – it’s gotten into such a state of the doldrums that Stan’s booked off until the first Monday in December. Lordy. What to do, what to do? Scour the globe? Look near and far. That’s what we always do. When we are not sifting clues we scour the globe. Beer helps. Had this one on Saturday, bought in Quebec as a standard shelf item with a reasonable price tag. Not sure why we can’t have the nice things they get at the SAQ…

UPDATE: Lew posted a new podcast. Normally I would not encourage podcasting… because… you know… but look at all of what he’s done on one short trip!

Hanover may have thought it was a frontier town, a market town, a transportation hub. But the peckish German-Americans who populated it in the late 1800s and early 1900s knew better. Their ovens and kettles, and a vague hunger between meals, were destined to make Hanover known as Snack Town!  My friend Dave Dreese and I hit town on our way to Baltimore, and wow. We visited two of the biggest snack food companies in America, two very old school hot dog joints, and a great butcher shop with their own smoked sausage and cheese. And of course, all those snacky eats need beer, so we hit the town’s six breweries. I interviewed the man who makes the last hand-rolled pretzels in Snack Town, Kevin Bidelspach of Revonah Pretzels.

Two hot dog joints… “two very old school hot dog joints”… Lordy…

Resuming normal service: I am starting off this week with a news item from Jessica Mason published at The Drinks Business at the end of last week. I like this because it acknowledges that values can clash in the world of craft – and not the ones you might think at first:

… even though the regulations and consumer pressures have led to sustainability fast-becoming a “licence to operate”, rather than a “nice-to-have” novelty, beer trends for variety were contrary to the guidance… Stronger consumer appetite for variety over volume has undoubtedly created commercial opportunities for breweries, but producing up to 100 different varieties of beer in a large-scale plant means that short production runs will require more energy and water.

I like that – push back on all thing to all paradigms. The bulk of beer brands are not only fleeting but gotten a bit lazy. Add a sauce or swap the hop so you can change the label.  Even the best brewers who attempt to make all things for all people are putting out too many clangers. Focus.

Factoid: One beer in Iceland costs the same as nine beers in Hungary.

In science news, a yeast strain has also pushed back… or perhaps been pushed back by the lab coat wearers at the University of Wisconsin:

A key trait of yeasts used in beer production is the ability to break down maltose, the most abundant sugar in the material used to brew beer. The team chose a yeast strain that had evolutionarily lost this ability despite possessing many of the genes required for maltose metabolism. After running evolution experiments growing the yeast on maltose and selecting decedents that thrived, the lab’s S. eubayanus yeast reacquired the ability to eat maltose. 

Hmm… I know that these things are important but wouldn’t starting with the strain that could do the thing you wanted it to do in the first place have been a faster way to get to your goal? Are they just jerking the poor things around?!?! [ED.: …Just a minute… let me check my high school science grades again… hmm… yes, you’re right. I don’t have a clue.] Perhaps similarly in terms of getting somewhere, Mudgie pitched something that, to be honest, I had never considered, probably because it has not yet come from the oracle Elon’s mouth:

…surely one of the main potential benefits of driverless cars is that they will extend mobility to people who are unable to drive themselves either through old age or medical conditions. It is also impossible to have driverless taxis – often suggested as one of the main applications – if there always needs to be a competent driver on board…  If an automated taxi can travel without a driver to its pick-up point, then surely it can carry a passenger who is incapable of driving, whether through age, infirmity or intoxication. And if a taxi can do it, why not your own driverless car?

I’m not sure I want to live in that world… but if you give it a quarter century that’s not likely going to be an issue. Question: who cleans up the vom? Conversely, certainly in quesions of personal control, my favourite character is all of beer writing is Delores, Ron’s wife, and this week we learned a bit more about her and her ways when travelling:

Luckily I have Dolores with me. Who, from years of travelling on overcrowded Deutsche Reichsbahn, is an expert in elbowing her way to grab seats. It’s not too difficult as the train isn’t totally packed… “Andrew would have loved it here as a kid. We could have just left him looking out of the window all day.” Dolores isn’t wrong. I’m tempted to do that myself…. Weighed down both by shopping and the kilo of pork in my belly. I sip on whiskey while Dolores flicks through the German channels. We only get five on the Amsterdam cable.

The next day, we read “Dolores has the morning all planned out” which is great news given I have been out and about with Ron and know what the possibilities really are and what needs to be done about it. I was not at all reminded of Ron when I saw this interesting comment on the reasons behind all the Bud Lite $105 million-a-year sponsorship deal with the UFC:

He said: ‘It’s like this whole Bud Light deal. People are talking s*** now. “Sell out” and all this s*** they f***ing say. Believe me, I’m the furthest f***ing thing from a sell out…’I look deeper than just f***ing “oh you know, they did this can with whoever”. I don’t give a s***. You guys think you’re all looking for an apology, they ain’t going to f***ing apologise to you.

My. A couple of bits of experimental hop news came out this week. Stan (because he was not totally slacking) issued another edition of Hop Queries including a few invitations to help with leading edge research like this:

Do not feel left out. The Hop Research Council currently has more than 2,500 pounds each of three varieties that have advanced to elite status available for brewers to use. They expect feedback. That will help determine which ones, if any, get named and become available to farmers. The hops cost $9.25 a pound in 11-pound and 44-pound packages and $10 a pound in one-pound packages. Each has two names: HRC-002 (2000010-008), HRC-003 (W1108-333) and HRC-004 (201008-008). HRC-003 has been top rated in early brewing trials, with intense ripe peach, mango and other tropical aromas. 

Here is the form to send in your request to participate in this program. The other hops story appeared in Pellicle where Adam Pierce wrote about a hop called Strangs #7:

The taste of Strang’s #7 is like no other British hop I have experienced before. It has a kaleidoscope of flavours from pithy orange marmalade, tangerine, a touch herbal; dill, lemongrass, a hint of pear drops, sweet bubblegum and finally the “controversial” coconut note, similar to the one found in the Japanese Sorachi Ace and North American American Sabro varieties.

Note: the role of beer league hockey’s most important team member explained.

And the latest edition of London Beer City was released by Will Hawkes last Friday and includes a short study of Eko Brewery at Unit 2A-2, Copeland Park, Peckham:

Eko bucks the trend by drawing on African drinking culture and brewing techniques and recipes, plus ingredients such as palm sugar, cassava, yam and hops grown in South Africa. “The main focus is to incorporate African ingredients in the beer,” says Anthony, “but the first beer we made [in 2018] didn’t have any African ingredients – but it was low bitterness, low carbonation, to ensure it went well with food, which is the way beer is enjoyed in Africa.” Anthony grew up in Peckham and his family comes from Nigeria (Eko is the Yoruba name for Lagos), while Helena’s are from Congo. That’s had a big impact on her approach to beer. “In Congo, women drink a lot of beer,” she says. “My mum, my aunties drank beer when I was growing up. A lot of the women in my family drank beer more than the men.”

I love auntie culture. I had aunties. And aunts too. Two separate categories.

Speaking of assigning categories, a court ruling about beer from Canada’s top court was published in the Ontario Gazette this week, months after its actual release by the Supremes. Facts are always fascinating:

A constable of the Ontario Provincial Police (“OPP”) formed the intention on a highway to randomly stop the respondent to ascertain his sobriety, and followed him onto a private driveway to do so. Once the constable approached the respondent, he observed obvious signs of intoxication and the respondent indicated that he might have had 10 beers. Two subsequent breathalyzer tests revealed that the respondent’s blood alcohol concentration was above the legal limit.

Why did this get to the highest court in the land? The random stop… tsk-tsk… nope… naughty naughty:

…the police officers did not have statutory authority under s. 48(1) of the HTA to follow the respondent onto the private driveway to conduct the random sobriety stop. Accordingly, the police officers breached the respondent’s rights under s. 9 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms…

Also here in Ontario, @starbeer of the Toronto Star is speculating and rumour mongering again (based largely on things like “investigative journalism” and “fact gathering”!!!). As we’ve been monitoring for the best part of the decade, we the agreement governing our semi-monopolistic big brewery owned sales outlet is coming up and it appears that the government is not going to renew the deal with the imaginatively named The Beer Store (TBS). This effectively places all beer retailing policies on the table. I don’t have the text of the Star article (as it’s behind a pay wall and I save my pennies for other things like cheese) but BlogTO is providing a helpful summary of the issues including:

The agreement as it stands now expires in 2025, and this year is the cutoff for when the government must notify affected parties if it is not being renewed. And experts are noting that the Beer Store has been downsizing and selling off multiple properties in recent years, cutting four per cent of its footprint… While talk of the vendor potentially closing is nothing more than a rumour at this point, many citizens appear to feel strongly about the subject, with the vast majority celebrating the end of what they see as one of many problematic monopolies or oligopolies in the province. Then there are the thousands of jobs that will be lost if the Beer Store goes under, and the fears that beer prices could actually end up going up.  

Concidentally… as most things I report in a week are… big brewer Labatt is expanding its London Ontario plant with a 27 million investment:

The new machines will see beer packaged using paperboard — which is one layer of paper compared to recycled cardboard which is three layers of heavy paper. It will also use  less glue than older machines… “It allows us to get our products to market for consumers in the most sustainable way possible…” the new tanks will also expand the capability to ferment beer by over 59 million litres — the equivalent of 24 Olympic sized swimming pools… “Our London brewery is the largest in Labatt’s network, brewing over 40 per cent of the beer we brew for Canadians, and this significant investment boosts the facility’s production capacity and sustainability performance…”

Someone is optimistic. And look – there it is again: sustainablility. Greenwashing? Cost cutting? Or real?  Going back to the question of the TBS agreement, who will take on the bottle recycling the TBS does now if a deal doesn’t continue? Who knows. But the province is moving to a general scheme of producer paid recycling generally so maybe that’s at play. Another question: can price rises be stopped in at least one respect? See, the currents scheme has for almost a century levelled prices throughout the province. Meaning a beer bottled next to one TBS retail outlet costs the same as when sold that beer is sold at a remote TBS outlet. Effectively, southerners and urban folk subsidize transportation costs for more remote Ontarians. The roads are still poor and beer is heavy. Back in 2012, the CBC reported that as an odd consequence booze is relatively far cheaper in northern Ontario.

Relatedly, Victim of Maths has shown a similar phenomenon affecting “Today’s Britain Today”*:

Arguments about the affordability of alcohol during the cost-of-living crisis also don’t seem to hold much water. The fact that alcohol prices rose at lower than inflation levels means that even a stagnation in disposable incomes didn’t stop alcohol becoming *more* affordable.

As per usual, he provided a handy graph which I have included for your clicky pleasure. Note how beer in the UK becomes notably even more affordable compeared to wine and the hard stuff right around in the mid-2000s and becomes slowly more and more so. And concurrently climate change may be playing a role too – at least in terms of pure alcohol levels according to Jancis:

As the planet warms up and dries out, it is going to be increasingly difficult to make wines below 14% anyway. I recently attended a tasting of 32 red bordeaux from vintages 2011 to 2019 from the stocks of Justerini & Brooks, a traditional wine merchant not known for favouring flashy wines. Seven of these clarets had 14.5% on the label and two 15%. This would have been unimaginable in the last century.

And finally, just as the previous discussion was triggered by thoughts on the meaning of “full-bodied” in today’s market, Matthew Lawrence of Seeing the Lizards was posting at Twex and responded to the challenge to create a top ten list of beer euphemisms: 1. lively = overcarbonated; 2. easy drinking = flat; 3. juicy = sludge; 4. aged = musty; 5. light = tasteless; 6. fruity = syrup; 7. dank = weed soup; 8. imperial = loopy juice; 9. blonde = bland; 10. challenging = undrinkable. Like. Your list? You could even do one forensically in five year increments for craft beer. Talk among yourselves. I might add overly ripe exclamations as seen in reaction to beer news from “…utter joy to read…” to “…totally gutted by…” or even the “brewery is one of the most successful in the country…” Please.

Done. Remember, ye who read this far down to see if I have edited these closing credits and endnotes (as I always do), you can check out the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections. But beware! Mr. Protz lost his Twex account five weeks ago and still hasn’t recovered his 27,000 followers. Update on my emotional rankings? Now, for me Facebook remains clearly first (given especially as it is focused on my 300 closest friends and family) then we have BlueSky (80) rising up to maybe pass Mastodon (903) then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,429) hovering somewhere above or around Instagram (161), with unexpectly crap Threads (42) and not at all unexpectedly bad Substack Notes (1) really dragging – and that deservedly dormant Patreon presence of mine just sitting there. Seven apps plus this my blog! That makes sense. I may be multi and legion and all that but I do have priorities and seem to be keeping them in a proper row. All in all I still am rooting for the voices on the elephantine Mastodon. And even though it is #Gardening Mastodon that still wins over there, here are a few of the folk there discussing beer:

Alan McLeod | A Good Beer Blog (… me…)
Stan Hieronymus | The Man!
Boak & Bailey | The B² experience
Curmudgeon Ale Works | Jonathon is Brewing
Katie Mather | Shiny Biscuit and Corto
David Jesudason | “Desi Pubs” (2023) author
BeoirFest | They say “Let’s Talk Beer”
Ron Pattinson | The RonAlongAThon Himself
Al Reece AKA Velky Al | Fuggled
Jennifer Jordan | US hops historian
Andreas Krennmair | Vienna beer and lager historian
Beer Ladies Podcast | Lisa Grimm and colleagues
The Bar Towel | Toronto’s chat zone for beer lovers
Chicago Beer Society | Folk in Chicago getting social over beer
Jay Brooks | Brookston Beer Bulletin
Joe Stange | Belgian beer expert, beer magazine editor
Cider Bar | Barry makes Kertelreiter cider
Laura Hadland | CAMRA historian and beer writer
Brian Alberts | US beer historian
Jon Abernathy | The Beer Site
Maureen Ogle | US Beer Historian
Lars Garshol | Norwegian Beer Historian and Kveik Hunter
James Beeson | Beeson on Beer
Carla Jean | MAINER!!!
Thandi Guilherme | Beer Ladies Podcast Co-host
Lisa Grimm | Beer Ladies Podcast Co-host
Roy of Quare Swally | Beery ramblings from Northern Ireland
Rob Talksbeer | Podcaster and Youtuber
Anthony Gladman | UK Drinks Writer
Jeff Alworth | Manna Of Beervana
Northwest Beer Guide | Fairly self explanatory… but not NW Latvia…
Evan Rail | Prague based GBH editor, freelance writer, NYT etc.
Todd Alström | 50% of the Alströms
Jacob Berg | Beer talking librarian

Anyone else? Anywhere else? Yes, you also gotta check the blogs, podcasts (barely!) and even newsletters to stay on top of things including the proud and public and certainly more weekly recommendations from Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan at his spot on those Mondays when he is not SLACKING OFF! Look – I forgot to link to Lew’s podcast. Fixed. Here’s a new newsletter recommendation: BeerCrunchers. And  get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on many Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now much more occassional but always wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back with all the sweary Mary he can think of! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the long standing Beervana podcast . There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a podcast… but also seems to be losing steam. And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube and remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water… if you have $10 a month for this sort of thing… I don’t. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link!

*My dream of a name for a current affairs show.

An Irritable If Not Confused And Perhaps For Once Even Cranky Set Of Beery News Notes This Week

It’s been another week without frost. It’s going to be a short winter if this keeps up. Garlic still is stilling in a big pot waiting for the necessary chill coming this weekend, sorta the bookend to maple syrup time in the spring. Going to get 500 in the ground this year… but when? It’s the not knowing that gets you on edge. Too early and they sprout. Too late and they suffer. Yet I checked the photos on Facebook… and last year I planted my garlic another three or four weeks from now. What’s that about?

Enough of that! You are here for the beer. First up, Stan had a great linkfest on Monday and especially made pointed comment on the news in circulation on the fate that hops may face from climate change… aka global warming:

I am all for anything that draws attention to what global warming is doing to the planet, although, quite honestly, there are more and larger disasters looming than the demise of certain hop varieties. Even the ones I love. But I do wish the authors had acknowledged there are more agronomically vigorous cultivars available. And that there are new ones on the way. Now is the time for brewers to consider using them. More of my thoughts in the most recent Hop Queries. 

You know I enjoy Hop Queries, probably the best beer newsletter out there. Here’s that update he mentioned. News you can trust. Speaking of which, there was a bit of an interesting slag this week in The Guardian‘s piece on fancy schmancy cider (the type we all like), a bit of a primer that takes a sideswipe in passing:

…they cost more than the vast majority of ciders on the supermarket shelves, although they’re still generally cheaper than natural wines, which they often resemble in packaging and marketing style. In fact, cider is more like wine from the point of view of having a single annual harvest and (pét nats aside) the time it takes to produce a bottle, which is certainly much longer than beer. As a result, producers have generally gone down the artisanal, rather than the craft beer route. They’re also attempting to raise cider’s profile by holding “salons”, or live consumer events, which are a mixture of tastings and talks.

My oh my: “gone down the artisanal, rather than the craft beer route“!!! I love how I don’t exactly know what is meant but, yes, we know what is meant. An actual craft. What craft beer lacks. Perhaps not all that dissimilar is the wine taverns of Vienna, as discussed this week at the Beeb:

Heurigen, the rustic winery-run taverns showing off their aromatic white wines around wooden tables set under grape arbors and laden with traditional Austrian fare that might include schnitzel and blood sausage, always potato salad and ham and a variety of savory cheesy spreads to go with dark sourdough bread. Paris might have its bars du vin, Rome its enotecas. But Vienna’s relationship to wine (and wine-friendly food) is unique. The Austrian capital is the only major European metropolis with a designated wine-growing area within its city limits, counting more than 600 producers on some 1,700 acres of vineyards. “Our city’s long viticultural history goes back to the time of the Celts and the Romans,” explained Ilse Heigerth, my guide in Vienna and a city historian.

I just saw a repeat of a Rick Stein’s Long Weekend shot in Vienna and he corroborated the whole thing. Staying in the centro-Euro, Martin reported on a trip to Belgrade, not a locale high on my list for my wanderings ways – and I am apparently not alone:

These foreign posts don’t get a lot of views because a) No-one else has been there and b) No-one else intends to go there. Oddly, it’s the unsung towns that get the most views. But in the last week I’ve referred to three posts from Ron, Duncan and the European Bar Guide folk and I’m sure if I live long enough my posts on Cuban pubs will be useful to someone, though possibly not the nice American lady we met last week who’s visiting every country in the world (except Cuba, obvs). We did eventually find the more ornate bits of Belgrade, but Mrs RM was more interested in photos of the trams.

Speaking of Ron Pattinson, he’s gone back in time again to the 1970s to the world of romance that was his youth:

As we were guests at the hotel, the pints didn’t need to stop at closing time. When I was young, opportunities for pints after 11 PM were as rare as flamingos in Leeds. I never passed them up. Which is a problem when you’ve paced yourself to end at “normal” closing time. I wasn’t feeling great when I rose after far too few hours’ sleep. But I wasn’t going to let that stop me eating the full English that I’d paid for. On the way back to Newark, we stopped at a Kimberley pub for a few pints. I was a bit overenthusiastic, as I rarely got to drink their beer. I was already feeling a bit unwell when we picked up the hitchhiker. About 10 minutes later I really needed to spew. Being considerate, I pushed past the hitcher, opened the rear door and puked on the road. What a hero I was.

Gary – perhaps more properly – neatly added to a space that is too often left alone, temperance drinking prior to US prohibition. Three posts were added to the whole this week on the topic of a church-run dispensery operated in Raleigh, North Carolina from 1904 to 1907 by the members of the local clergy with the blessing of the City government:

The Raleigh experiment formed part of a larger plan in parts of the South to substitute a municipally-run alcohol dispensary for the swing-door saloon of commerce… It competed with other liquor-control plans, such as outright prohibition and so-called high license. High here referred to the cost of the licence to sell liquor. A state might feature examples of all these: normal license, high license, local prohibition, and dispensary. 

Someone is getting still the good word one way or another as we read that even the Finns… the FINNS(!) are cutting back:

During the third quarter, beverage companies sold 10.4 million litres less beer than in Q3 2022. The federation based the figures on sales data from its members: Hartwall, MBH Breweries, Momentin Group, Olvi, Red Bull and Sinebrychoff. Year-on-year, Q3 sales of all alcoholic libations sold by its members fell by 2.4 percent, while sales of alcohol-free drinks were also down, by 6.8 percent. 

Well at least there is that. David Jesudason has written another great article for Pellicle, this time on the point of those things often written around but never as directly defined, the UK micro-pub as illustrated by the inhabitants of The Shirker’s Rest:

While the others help with the administration and publicity of the pub, James is the one that gets his hands dirty and provides the graft—he built the bar with a friend called Pete Lyons and created the beer boards. He also provides the (slightly deadpan) personality. At the bar is a notebook called James’s Book of Sayings which includes his recurring requests for customers to slide the toilet door closed, look at the boards to see what’s on offer—the keg badges are not easily viewed—and for Ben not to crowd his cellar with too much beer.

And Alistair Reece wrote a good piece on how a visit to one Virginia cider maker got him thinking about the utility of the word “house”:

Given their oenological background, Will lamented that the term “house” has come to mean the most basic wine on offer, something almost cheap and cheerful, but decidedly not excellent. His aim with House Cider is to be the exact opposite, to be the very best that Troddenvale puts out, and it is a magnificent cider, easily up there with the best being made in Virginia today, no I didn’t take notes, I was too busy enjoying it. This got me thinking about the concept of “house” products when it comes to beer. We quite often use the term “house beer” in homebrewing circles to refer to something that we brew regularly, but I don’t recall a brewery, at least not in my neck of the woods, hanging their entire reputation as a brewery on a single “house” beer. Is it perhaps that modern beer drinkers are constantly on the hunt for the new, or is it a case of fear of missing out by not pushing every possible style out the door in case the crowds choose to go somewhere else?

I wonder if they are familiar with the book The Cider House Rules by John Irving which was made into a movie I never watched in 1999. But the idea of a set of governing principles that, according to that Wikipedia summary, sorta fits tthe disfunctions of craft beer nicely:

The name “The Cider House Rules” refers to the list of rules that migrant workers are supposed to follow at the Ocean View Orchards. However, none of them can read, and they are completely unaware of the rules – which have been posted for years.

Sort of related is this message and accompanying clickable image from BlueSky, shared in whole for those without access:

Cask beer write up in heavy metal magazine by Courtney Iseman? Yeah, it’s been kinda a weird year for cask beer. Ups and downs. This one is a big up. Love it.

I like the honesty that US “cask beer’s growth is glacial” but apparently there according to those interviewed by Iseman. Is anyone seeing this on the ground as a consumer? If so where?

Note: Andreas shared information on the beer halls of Munich you might want to visit next time you’re there 150 years ago:

The sheer number of beer halls and restaurants made the area around Unter den Linden/Friedrichstraße/Leipziger Straße the “entertainment quarter” of old Berlin. They even got nicknames: “Unter den Linden” was “Laufstraße” (walking street), Leipziger Straße was “Kaufstraße” (shopping street), while Friedrichstraße was “Saufstraße” (boozing street).

One does not know what to make of certain statements when the fact in question is a couple of minutes on Google away:

FYI: “Brazilian-Germans held slaves (a fact that has been clearly demonstrated) but… Germanophone authors… presented a uniform image of Germans as masters, one that rendered slavery an aspect of the civilizing narrative of German settlement in Brazil.”

What else is true if you can’t get that right? One wonders. And the NAGBW awards were announced this week and – again – we do note the similar themes and similar candidates… but this time with also some real gaps in this subset. Having been a judge in the past, you don’t really want to name names in these things especially now given (i) the fragile state of it all as Jeff noted and (ii) the majority of the uninvolved beer writing that does not get itself self-nominated so, you know, it’s all a bit la crème du milieu… but really. For example, there’s no award or even a mention for David Jesudason’s book Desi Pubs the best book of the year!?!* Seriously? And third and an honourable mention for his other submissions? Please.

Aaaaaannnd… that’s it. I have to tend to other things. Still more to get out of – and into – the garden before the freeze snaps. That zucchini is growing by my front step even as I write this. Look at it! What an odd year. Pray for them and me next Sunday night, just a week before Halloween when the next steep drop of the mercury is due. If we are lucky and hold off the frozen air I am going to go out on the big night as Jack and the Bean Stalk with my own 12 foot tall potted pole beans by my side.

As per always and forever, you can check out the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via any number of social media and other forms of comms connections. I have yet another update on the rankings. TweX is now really starting to drop in the standings. I am deleting follows there more and more in favour of mirroring accounts set up by favourite voices elsewhere. Now, for me Facebook is clearly first (given especially as it is focused on my friends and family) then we have BlueSky rising up to sit in a tie with Mastodon then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex** hovering somewhere above or around Instagram with Threads and Substack Notes really dragging – and that deservedly dormant Patreon presence just sitting there.  Seven apps plus this my blog! I may be multi and legion and all that but I do have priorities and seem to be keeping them in a proper row. All in all, I still am rooting for the voices on the elephant-like Mastodon, like these ones just below discussing beer, even though it is #Gardening Mastodon that really wins:

Alan McLeod | A Good Beer Blog (… me…)
Stan Hieronymus | The Man!
Boak & Bailey | The B² experience
Curmudgeon Ale Works | Jonathon is Brewing
Katie Mather | Shiny Biscuit and Corto
David Jesudason | “Desi Pubs” (2023) author
BeoirFest | They say “Let’s Talk Beer”
Ron Pattinson | The RonAlongAThon Himself
Al Reece AKA Velky Al | Fuggled
Jennifer Jordan | US hops historian
Andreas Krennmair | Vienna beer and lager historian
Beer Ladies Podcast | Lisa Grimm and colleagues
The Bar Towel | Toronto’s chat zone for beer lovers
Chicago Beer Society | Folk in Chicago getting social over beer
Jay Brooks | Brookston Beer Bulletin
Joe Stange | Belgian beer expert, beer magazine editor
Cider Bar | Barry makes Kertelreiter cider
Laura Hadland | CAMRA historian and beer writer
Brian Alberts | US beer historian
Jon Abernathy | The Beer Site
Maureen Ogle | US Beer Historian
Lars Garshol | Norwegian Beer Historian and Kveik Hunter
James Beeson | Beeson on Beer
Carla Jean | MAINER!!!
Thandi Guilherme | Beer Ladies Podcast Co-host
Lisa Grimm | Beer Ladies Podcast Co-host
Roy of Quare Swally | Beery ramblings from Northern Ireland
Rob Talksbeer | Podcaster and Youtuber
Anthony Gladman | UK Drinks Writer
Jeff Alworth | Manna Of Beervana
Northwest Beer Guide | Fairly self explanatory… but not NW Latvia…
Evan Rail | Prague based GBH editor, freelance writer, NYT etc.
Todd Alström | 50% of the Alströms
Jacob Berg | Beer talking librarian

Anyone else? And, yes, we also check the blogs, podcasts (barely!) and even newsletters to stay on top of things including the proud and public and certainly more weekly recommendations from Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan at his spot on those Mondays! Get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on many Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now much more occassional but always wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back with all the sweary Mary he can think of! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good. And the long standing Beervana podcast . There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a podcast… but also seems to be losing steam. And there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube and remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water… if you have $10 a month for this sort of thing… I don’t. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link!

*I even reached out already and shared my thoughts. Also see above, of course. 
**Gary shall turn off the lights at X unless it’s done to him first. I judge not.

Your Farewell To Summer 2023 Edition Of The Beery New Notes

Ah summer. Well, that was fun!  It didn’t snow once and I never had to scramble up after taking a spill on an icy sidewalk. But it is done. Calendar wise at least. Who knows how long until the first frost. Two years ago this week we came within half a degree.  What a drag. Nothing near that on the two week outlook. I have about a hundred green tomatoes out there. What the hell would I do with them?

Speaking of what to do with where and when, Pellicle has an interesting article from Adam Wells this week on how cider does not benefit at home or in the pub from the plastic bag in a cardboard box treatment… which is odd as I just saw something on some social media app about how they work so well now for a better sort of wine – you can decide after you have a read:

It is still far too common for ciders and perries on sale in pubs and bars to be heavily affected by a serious liquid fault. I’m not talking about matters of preference here, or simply about something not quite being at its best; I’m talking about liquid that does serious, lingering reputational damage to the image of “real” cider in the mind of the consumer. I’m talking about vinegary acetic acid. I’m talking about the eggy, sewage-like fug of hydrogen sulphide. I’m talking about the gluey nail varnish remover of ethyl acetate, the cardboard of oxidation (no, that cider is not supposed to be mahogany and opaque), I’m talking about the appalling musty kickback of mouse—a horrendous off-flavour (also known as THP) that can be caused by certain types of wild yeast.

Sounds all very much a fail. Oh, for the good old days. Remember way back when? Remember? Well, forget remembering as then is now! What? Well, in the now in the sense that these two images on TwitterX caught my eye and drew me back. The one is from the 1978 Postlip Beer Festival to the left and and the other to the right from the 1980 Greater Manchester Beeer Festival. Are it really “a cacophony of brown beer“? Was it really “a very different beer scene“? I dunno. If you time traveled back to 1978, you could certainly buy Suncrush Squash which I suppose you could pour into any of the ales if you really needed a modern day abombination. Somewhat related in that sense, Jessica Mason reports on a new angle on selling NA beer… or whatever it is:

Speaking to the drinks business, ON Beer founder Chris Kazakeos said: “ON Beer is a revolutionary, zero-alcohol beer crafted with a special blend of superpower plants, that uplift and elevate your feelings.” In querying what makes the beer different from other alcohol-free beers vailable, Kazakeos explained: “ON beer delivers a uniquely refreshing and full-bodied flavour. Infused with our ON X Blend of superpower plants, each sip carries subtle botanical undertones, seamlessly blended with the robust, richly malted flavour that beer lovers crave. The complex layers of taste unfold gradually, creating a balanced, deeply satisfying experience.”

Nice to see that the sucker juice movement has found new and fertile ground.  Why do they still bother calling it “beer”?  Speaking of movements, you know when folk call something “neo-prohibitionist” and it never makes any sense at all? Yes, me too. But in this case, there is no doubt a significant share of one Canadian community that actually qualifies:

After more than a century as one of the last dry towns in Alberta, Cardston’s 3,500 or so residents no longer have to leave to buy an alcoholic beverage.  On Tuesday, Cardston town council voted 5-2 in favour of allowing sit-down restaurants and recreational facilities like the local golf course to apply for liquor licenses.  A non-binding plebiscite in May set the stage for Tuesday’s decision. When asked if they would allow limited liquor sales in the town, the yes vote won in a narrow 494 – 431 victory. 

Speaking of things being over, are big beer convention fest things so… umm… pre-pandemic? Courtney Iseman at Hugging the Bar might be suggesting so:

Earlier this year, I strongly considered finally attending my first GABF. But then this month ended up being the only time that made sense for me to get overseas to visit some friends, and I also came out of CBC thinking…one behemoth beer to-do per year is probably enough. After running into a few people doing this in Nashville around CBC, though, it did occur to me that maybe the least stressful, most fun approach to going to GABF is to not go to GABF—but instead just head to Denver the same week to take advantage of all the external events put on by individual breweries.

Jeff* contends to the contrary, stating that the GABF is relevant but perhaps just not really a true national event – and also concluding with this pro-fest argument:

I have been somewhat dismayed by how much beer chat has turned into industry and/or business chat. Discussions of the pleasurable turn quickly into the salable. The GABF is one antidote to that. People get together in a large hall to select the tastiest beers in the country, and later thousands more gather in an even larger hall to guzzle beer for the sheer pleasure of it. It’s a reminder that the root of our passion isn’t measured in dollars, but something only our tongues and noses can tell us.

I don’t disagree. Beer has sort of run its course or at least its present direction and too often in such a situation all that is left is the business related  stuff. But… think about it… if it takes getting under one conventiton center roof or even one town where the convention is held to find a worthy discussion about beer… whether at the Jeff’s GABF or CBC… doens’t that sort of mean that the discussion of beer is limited to (i) the amount of people who can fit in those spaces and (ii) to those people who can afford the cash and time to get to those places? Are these things also perhaps as isolated fom the average beer consumer as that business side chit chat is? Time for something new in beer, folks… but what? Cacophonic brown beer!!

Somewhat illistrative of the boring stiff, did the Washington Post misplace a word or two in this headling this week: “Explore the evolution of beer, from Stone Age sludge to craft brews“? Those words sit above an odd piece of publishing, a sort of participatory quiz about an extremely summary level of brewing in human history, some of which might actually be nearly true, all with heavy input from the graphics department. The goal is apparently find you your dream beer match, sorta like that quiz in the May 1978 issue of Teen Beat to see if you would be a good match for a dream date with Andy Gibb.

Far more reality based was “Double double. toil and trouble” this week. Jeff uses the phrase as a title to his post about an interesting hopping experiment (perhaps not remembering it is in fact a reference to beer):

A decade ago, then-small Breakside Brewery made a fresh-hop beer using an outlandish process. They froze the hops, still fresh and 80% water, with liquid nitrogen. This turned them into vitreous emeralds, brittle and ready for smashing under what brewer Ben Edmunds likened to a potato masher. Once broken into shards, the lupulin glands were exposed for easy access to the beer they would soon enter. They’ve continued that process ever since, but until this morning, I’d never actually seen it for myself.

There was a bit of a kerfuffle in France where the Rugby World Cup is being played. Apparently the beer service was not up to expectations and the government is rolling up its sleeves:

France’s sports minister is so eager to “reconcile” with England fans irritated by poor organisation at Rugby World Cup games that she will attend their next match on Sunday to monitor security, transport and even the beer supply. Amélie Oudéa-Castéra told the Financial Times she would “personally monitor every detail” at the match in Nice to ensure that fans unhappy about overcrowding, beer running short, and other problems at previous games would be well served this time. “Their experience at the match against Japan must be impeccable from start to finish,” she said… “The English are still mad at us,” Oudéa-Castéra said ruefully.  

“Ruefully”?!?!? Seriously? The world is on fire, World War III is simmering just on the edge of the timeline and yet here is a member of a nuclear power’s cabinet is worry about whether the English get enough to drink? Someone needs some sober self-reflection. Just like Martin did when he had a moment this week that led to reflection about being a pub photography weirdo that in turn led to an invention waiting to be invented:

I don’t know why I didn’t just own up to photographing pump clips, loads of weirdos do it, but instead I said I was sureptitiously Shazamming the track playing at that moment. Shazam was on strike, so the nice lady hunted down the playlist for me, and I dutifully wrote the details in my notes. Anyway, my cover story worked, though when a few minutes later I heard another post-millennial banger I didn’t recognise I was too embarrassed to ask. Pubs should replace those electronic display boards with beer details with ones showing music playlists and county cricket scores.

And Ron finally took Delores on one of his trips. I am not saying he shouldn’t get out once in a while by himself but Delores is my favourite character in Ron’s writings so a trip to the former Yugoslavia is bound to be just the thing:

“This will be my second new country this year.”
“Good for you, Ronald.” Dolores says unenthusiastically
“You don’t sound very enthusiastic.”
“Don’t make such a big thing out of everything.” That’s me telt.

He does make a big thing out of everything Delores, doesn’t he. You nailed it. And how will Ron treat himself to the clinkies and drinkies at the airport this time?

No duty free for me today. “You can buy something in Belgrade. It’ll be a lot cheaper there.” Dolores suggests. And I’m not going to argue with her. I know where that will get me. To not a good place.

Magic! Love it!! Entirely conversely, this has got to be the dumbest logo ever. It’s  slightly nausiating  even. Are you supposed to drink from your thumb now? Does your thumb allow you to grab a glass of another brewery’s beer? I’m sure I am thinking to much about it. In that respect, I believe I am in a similar situation to that of the logo designer.

Finally, Stan’s latest edition of Hop Queries came out last Friday and he is running a contest:

The rules are pretty simple. The winning prediction will be the one that comes closest to total hop production in Idaho, Oregon and Washington. Over or under does not matter; just the closest. Please include eight or nine digits (for example, 99,999,999 or 100,000,000). The USDA will report harvest results in December. The deadline to enter is Sept. 25. You may enter by hitting reply, but I prefer you email your prediction to hopqueries@gmail.com.

How jolly. And way more fact based than that thing in the Washington Post up there. And… that is that. Finito. Unbelievably, still no drunk elephant stories this week. I looked, I tried Stan. Still, as per always and forever, you can check out the many ways to find good reading about beer and similar stuff via social media and other forms of comms to connect – even including at my somewhat quieter than expected Threads presence @agoodbeerblog. Got on BlueSky this week and added it to my IG, FB, X, Mastodon, Threads, Substack Notes and a deservedly dormant Patreaon presence. I am multi! I am legion!! Yet totally sub. All in all, I still am preferring the voices on Mastodon, like these ones discussing beer:

Alan McLeod | A Good Beer Blog (… me…)
Stan Hieronymus | The Man!
Boak & Bailey | The B² experience
Curmudgeon Ale Works | Jonathon is Brewing
Katie Mather | Shiny Biscuit and Corto
David Jesudason | “Desi Pubs” (2023) author
BeoirFest | They say “Let’s Talk Beer”
Ron Pattinson | The RonAlongAThon Himself
Al Reece AKA Velky Al | Fuggled
Jennifer Jordan | US hops historian
Andreas Krennmair | Vienna beer and lager historian
Beer Ladies Podcast | Lisa Grimm and colleagues
The Bar Towel | Toronto’s chat zone for beer lovers
Chicago Beer Society | Folk in Chicago getting social over beer
Jay Brooks | Brookston Beer Bulletin
Joe Stange | Belgian beer expert, beer magazine editor
Cider Bar | Barry makes Kertelreiter cider
Laura Hadland | CAMRA historian and beer writer
Brian Alberts | US beer historian
Jon Abernathy | The Beer Site
Maureen Ogle | US Beer Historian
Lars Garshol | Norwegian Beer Historian and Kveik Hunter
James Beeson | Beeson on Beer
Carla Jean | MAINER!!!
Thandi Guilherme | Beer Ladies Podcast Co-host
Lisa Grimm | Beer Ladies Podcast Co-host
Roy of Quare Swally | Beery ramblings from Northern Ireland
Rob Talksbeer | Podcaster and Youtuber
Anthony Gladman | UK Drinks Writer
Jeff Alworth | Manna Of Beervana
Northwest Beer Guide | Fairly self explanatory… but not NW Latvia…
Evan Rail | Prague based GBH editor, freelance writer, NYT etc.
Todd Alström | 50% of the Alströms
Jacob Berg | Beer talking librarian

Anyone else? And, yes, we also check the blogs, podcasts and newsletters to stay on top of things (though those things called “newsletters” where 1995 email lists meet the blogs of 2005 may be coming to an end of value if the trend with so many towards the dull dull dull means anything) including more weekly recommendations from Boak and Bailey every Saturday and Stan at his spot on those Mondays! Get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on many Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now much more occassional but always wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too. Ben’s Beer and Badword is back! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass. Any more? Yes! Check to see the highly recommended Beer Ladies Podcast. And the long standing Beervana podcast . There is the Boys Are From Märzen podcast too and check out the travel vids at Ontario’s own A Quick Beer. There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too.  All About Beer has introduced a podcast.  There’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube soon celebrating a decade of vids.   And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water… if you have $10 a month for this sort of thing… I don’t. Pete Brown’s costs a fifth of that. There was also the Beer O’clock Show but that was gone after a ten year run but returned renewed and here is the link!

*For the double!