Category: Porter

The “Gotta Mow And Gotta Pay My Taxes” Time Of Year Beery News Notes

 

Late April reminds you why it is the cruelest month. Taxes and lawns. Taxes and lawns. You know, the neighbourhood’s lawns may look a bit crap because people can’t figure out and if the “No Mow May” thing applies (i) up to and including May or (ii) just during May.  Me, I am just lazy. See, I have one of those whirly manual mowers that doesn’t cut so good so it takes five times longer than it should and leaves me beat. What’s new this year, however, is news that “No Mow May” might actually be bad for bees! Apparently it’s like feeding your children by leaving hard candies around the yard. Not sure how that fits into my lazy plan… but I’m working on it. That’s my Grandfather up there, by the way, out with the lads about a century ago when he was in his twenties. Second from the right. In case it isn’t obvious to one and all, his name was Jimmy.

Speaking of the crop to come, I wondered to myself when I saw this report in the Western Producer on the forecasts for the next Canadian barley harvest:

Canadian barley supplies are likely to be burdensome in 2024-25, according to a market outlook published by the Saskatchewan Barley Development Commission. Supplies are forecast to be in the range of 10.7 to 11.7 million tonnes. “This is well above the 2023-24 supplies at 9.65 million tonnes and the five-year average of 10.3 million,” stated the report authored by LeftField Commodity Research.

Last time I heard the word “burdensome” used like that was when I was eight years old and asked too many questions about the rules of the hockey as Dad was trying to watch an NHL playoff game on a snowy black and white TV.  Seems the language of barley forecasting is all rather ripe. We read “…lower prices combined with poor movement have cast a shadow…” and “…supplies will be bloated…” as well as “…France has got some problems…”

While we are on the subject of brewing malts, Matty C has been busy scribbling away and shared his story “How British Heritage Malts Are Making a Comeback” at CB&B starting with the tale of one particular ale:

That grist includes small portions of amber, black, brown, and chocolate malts—each about 5 percent of the bill. The most significant twist, however, is that McKenzie replaces 20 percent of the pale base with malt made from a specialty heritage barley variety known as Chevallier, produced by Crisp Malt of Great Ryburgh, Norfolk, in the east of England. A two-row, narrow-eared variety, Chevallier dominated barley farming in England throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries, beginning to fall out of favor about 1920. By 1940, production of Chevallier had ceased. In 2017, however—after four years of small-batch trials—Crisp commercially released a five-ton batch produced at its traditional floor maltings at its headquarters in the east of England. At RedWillow, McKenzie was one of the first brewers to get to play with it.

Sounds good – but bring me my Battledore Porter and I’ll be right in there.  Speaking of wishes come true,  NHS Martin moved beyond the boundaries of mere beer when he and she explored a rather empty Sophia, the capital of Bulgaria, this week:

Blimey. 9 million in 1985 before Communism crumbled; 6.5 million and falling now. And further Googling revealed plenty of commentary on the ageing and depopulation of Bulgaria, the result of migration, falling birth rates (1.6, same as UK) and the sporadic availability of London Pride on hand pump. It had certainly felt “spacious” on our night out, and though those craft beer bars we’d visited were busy enough I guess there’s your warning about judging a place by its craft beer bars.

Speaking of wandering worldly ways, the Tand has been considering the pubs of Oz and found one away from the tour group that made his day, The Exeter Hotel in Adelaide:*

…we found ourselves in a proper public bar, with a central bar serving the room we were in and another room opposite. It was basic, unspoilt with wooden floors, a few bar stools, a handful of characterful locals and a couple of rather fearsome women serving. We immediately knew we were in safe hands. It was stunningly good. Even on a warm Adelaide night, indoors here was way preferable. This was smashing. It turned out to be a Cooper’s of Adelaide tied house, with a reasonable number of their beers on offer. I settled on Pale Ale – fermented in the keg as are all their beers – and took in the scene. It was amusing to see some people – tourists I assume – entering, looking round and leaving with a look of dismay and concern on their faces. This was a proper pub. 

However fabulous that proper pub on that wonderful evening might have been, it still can’t rank to probably the most fabulous beer related object ever… as witness by Lars:

Just saw this: the Oldenburg horn. A family relic of the Danish royal family, kept in the vault with the Danish crown jewels, so this really is the Danish royal drinking horn. And it has a legend attached to it… According to the legend, Otto, first of the house of Oldenburg, was out hunting back in 989 when he became thirsty and said “How I wish I had something to drink,” whereupon an elf maid appeared out of a hill with the horn…

You will have to read on for more of the elven lore. We of MacLeod are totally here for these sorts of things.

In Pellicle this week we have a good bit of writing from Rachel Hendry on the phenomenon known as Babycham, its cultural meaning, its logo as well as (a bit to my surprise) its content:

Thankfully an alternative name was already being used. Be it short for champion or champagne, Baby Champ—as the legend goes—was the term used by workers in the factory to distinguish the smaller individual bottles of Champagne de la Poire from their larger siblings. This term of endearment was overheard in an early marketing meeting held at the premises and adopted as a result. Baby Champ, then, became Babycham. Ralph Showering, you may recall, had been appointed head of sales and marketing, a position he did not take lightly. The Showerings family had purchased a small herd of Water Deer from Herbrand Arthur Russell, the 11th Duke of Bedford, for their growing property and it was here that Ralph took inspiration for Babycham’s logo.

I say a bit to my surprise as I spent my high school years over forty years ago in Truro, Nova Scotia. “Of course” you say, “the connections slaps one in the face!” But… in that place there was a factory next to the facory where I made carpets on the night shift for only one week one summer** which made such delights as Moody Blue sparking wine made in part from blueberries as well as Baby Duck made of God knows what. You may still be able to buy a magnum of it for $13.95.

Some classic Ron just after last week’s deadline, starting with a photo of a plate of breakfast and summing up like this:

I fiddle around on the internet for a while. While sipping whisky and stuffing my face. Eventually it says my flight is 45-minutes late. Though, by the time it leaves, it’s delayed by more than an hour. Not much to report about the flight. We take off, fly for a bit, land and then spend forever taxiing to the terminal. When I open my front door, there’s a cup of tea ready. Andrew tracked my flight this time.

Good. Cup of tea and a rest. That’s what Ron needed.

I’ve done a few modest sponsorship deals so it was interesting to read that the English Premier League is moving forward with a four year deal with Guinness as sponsor:

English football’s top flight is toasting a £40m sponsorship deal with Guinness after the Diageo-owned brand saw off competition from Heineken. Sky News has learnt that the Premier League has informed its 20 clubs, which include Everton, Manchester City and Sheffield United, that it is backing a £10m-a-year agreement beginning next season. The deal, which has not yet been formally signed, represents a big financial uplift on the Premier League’s existing partnership with Budweiser’s owner, AB InBev.

The match makes more sense than Bud… except it seems a bit, you know, cheap even though it is up from £7,950,000 a year for Bud.**** When you do a deal like this you should get some exclusive access to the fans in all those twenty fitba stands. That’s a lot of thirsty people. Unlike most naming rights sponsorship deals, the sponsor here actually should get a enhanced revenue stream in addition to loads of advertising and name placement. This boils down to £10 million divided by 360 games or £27,777 per league game not counting Cup or other games. Average game attenence so far is 38,486 meaning its 72p per attendee per game. Won’t this deal generate more value to Guinness than that?

Note: one of the reasons I look away whenever I see the word “neo-prohibitionists” is that the arguments from those who use it are so poorly made. Their cause may have a point… maybe… but, face facts, no government is shutting down the alcohol trade – the taxes are too sweet even if the behaviour causes so much harm. Which is the other reason: the dumb calls to liberty. It’s like that call for the liberty to starve under the highway overpass. The only argument that makes sense is that this is all about taking reasonable risks.

Much conversely, Boak and Bailey wrote a review of Dr. Christina Wade‘s The Devil’s in the Draught Lines which immediately saw me reaching for my iPhone so I could buy my own copy online:

Structurally The Devil’s in the Draught Lines resists the simplicity of chronology. Instead, each chapter covers a different angle and whizzes us back and forth through hundreds of years, from the mediaeval world to the 21st century. There’s also room for stories around race, culture, gender identity, with names and faces unfamiliar to us, like Lizzie and Lucy Stevens of Closet Brewing, and Apiwe Nxusani-Mawela of the Tolozaki Beer Company. In fact, there’s the equivalent of about 25 Pellicle articles hidden throughout the book – and we mean that as a compliment to both parties.

Inspired by the clever as I scanned the wide world for more beer reading, I saw that The Journal of The Institute of Brewing had released a few issues for 2024 on its relatively recent site and, while some can thrill to tales such as the “role of temperature in sporulation was investigated at 25, 27 and 30°C by measurement of the rate of sporulation over ten days,” this article drew my eye perhaps a bit more avidly towards the screen as it deals with that old chestnut, the diastatic variant:

Diastatic variants of Saccharomyces cerevisiae are unusual in producing an extracellular glucoamylase which enables the breakdown of starch to fermentable sugars. Diastatic S. cerevisiae has long been viewed negatively as a contaminant of especially beer packaged in cans or bottles. However, this view is being reconsidered due to the opportunities that diastatic strains present for niche fermented products and distillation applications…. This review highlights the utilisation of diastatic S. cerevisiae for its flavour potential, and processing applications in the brewing, distilling, and biofuel industries.

“Whachamacsayin’?” I hear you cry out? More in laypersonspeak over here at Escarpment Labs*** but I think we can all agree on need for increased oppportunities for niche fermentated products. Unless that means White Claw.

Treat of the week? Check out “Eating high” the 1966 video of the London Post Office Tower’s rotating restaurant included with this post at A London Inheritance.

Aaaaannnnnd… 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.***** 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.

*The actual scene that very evening as personally witnessed by the Tand.
**See, the shift was from midnight until noon for some unknown reason. Plus I was coated outside and in at the end of every shift with polyester from the spinning machines I was to operate. Good wage but goodbye.
***See, for example: “Saccharomyces cerevisiae var. diastaticus is beer yeast that can break down longer-chained carbohydrates (dextrins and starches) that regular yeast can’t. It doesn’t actually consume them directly, but it secretes an enzyme (glucoamylase) that breaks down dextrins outside the cell into smaller sugars that the yeast can then metabolize.“
****All stats via Lord Goog. Math by me. Govern yourselves accordingly.
*****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 128) rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (down one again to 915) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (up five to 4,472) 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!

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 Thrilling Week When I Got That Head Cold Edition Of The Thursday Beery News Notes

First cold after the pandemic started. Felt very weird. Runny nose. Sneezing. Pretty much gone. Or at least a new thing every day. But, you know, it’s sorta nice to have an ailment that doesn’t mean you are at great risk. And it’s all over the place here, half the folk at work are hit. (No, you’re right… I am struggling with the tie in to good beer, too. Got it!) It makes you appreciate the little things, perhaps. Things without DOOOOOOMMMM in the title. Like how the warm weather this year may see the maple sap running very early… oh, no that is a little doomy. Endtimesy even. Maybe more like this: Jeff, he of Rye, posted that a friend:

…bought an old Victorian frame a while ago. Opening it up, he’s discovered this old brewery advert used as a filler piece behind the print itself! Brewery wound up 1866 so it’s at least 160 years old!

Nice. Click on it. The image is amazingly crisp and colourful for something forgotten at least 158 years ago. A good way to start the week off.  Somewhat similarly, A London Inheritance has a great post this week on the history of the Lamb and Flag pub in Rose Street, near Covent Garden. The structure of the blog is updating older photos taken by the author’s father, contextualizing them with current images all to set up wee histories of the City’s hidden gems:

This is my father’s photo of the Lamb and Flag pub in Rose Street, near Covent Garden, taken in 1948. The name Lamb and Flag can be seen just above the entrance to the Saloon. On many London pubs of the time, the name of the brewery was given much greater prominence than the name of the pub. Barclay, Perkins & Co. Ltd were a major London brewery operating from the Anchor Brewery in Park Street, Southwark… The source of the name Lamb and Flag has a religious basis. The “lamb” is from the Gospel of St. John: “Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of the world” and the flag being that of St. George. The pub was also once known as the Bucket of Blood due to links with prize fighting.

Delightful. I wonder if that was supposed to be an attraction back then? Speaking of which, Boak and Bailey discussed the modern equivalent (perhaps) this week when they inquired into what new trends make a pub attractive these days:

As well as the aforementioned board game cafes, we’ve also noticed in Bristol a growing number of (a) video game bars or grown-up amusement arcades and (b) dessert cafes. The video game places are interesting. In both of those we’ve visited there was draught beer but you were absolutely free to ignore it. You were paying your way by paying to play games with drinks as an additional amenity. And the desert cafes will sell you a disgustingly huge plate of ice cream and waffles, or whatever, and then let you and several friends spend hours picking at it. 

I like me a good video game bar. The particular preference is an Atari table to play Asteroids on. It’s apparently called a cocktail table. I usually had a beer when these things were more common. And finding one with wood paneling finish is a big bonus. Stepping back from that dailiance with the modern, Martin is back with a bit of a calculation on how much beer did a 1860s farmer brew for his operational needs:

Going back to Samuel, if he, or rather one of his servants, was brewing 96 barrels of beer a year, that works out at eight barrels a month. If he had a two-quarter brewery, that is, one capable of mashing two quarters, 650 pounds or so, of malt at a time (a reasonable assumption, I think, judging by the sizes of small commercial breweries in Hertfordshire in the 19th century), then he was brewing only once a month, at an average of four barrels to the quarter, to give a beer of six to seven per cent abv. Clearly it would not take much of a step up to increase output considerably: brew once a week, and you are now making almost 420 barrels a year, which you could retail for almost £1,000, at 48 shillings for a barrel of XXX. That’s a fairly staggering £110,000 a year in 2024 value, a healthy addition to a farm’s income.

I’ve just remembered something. I was never very good at math. Pellicle has published an excellent article and photo essay by Jemma Beedie on the The Horn Milk Bar, an old school cafe halfway between Perth and Dundee, Scotland which is preserved itself:

…we have time-travelled. This is the place my parents (and maybe yours) are longing for; the spaces they insist still exist. Instead of the cloying nostalgia of brand-new retro-styling, this place is visibly old. We were expecting the polished vintage world of the music videos by Autoheart and Logan’s Close—this is not that. Shades of brown and beige wash over us. Wipe-clean plastic chairs and tables surround us. Outside it is bright, one of the clearest, bluest skies we’ve had since May, but the sunlight struggling through the wall of windows does not penetrate the suffocating room of wood veneer. 

Again, wood veneer is good. I once lived in a town with a veneer factory. Unrolled big logs like they were paper towel rolls. Match factory too. Back to beer!  There was a bit of a kerfuffle (yes, I said it) after Jessica Mason‘s story on the revival of Black and Tan was published after last week’s deadline. She updated the story with grace and speed to include the connotations of the name in Ireland:

…in Ireland, the ‘black and tans’ referred to constables recruited into the Royal Irish Constabulary (RIC) during the Irish War of Independence. They were nicknamed so because of their uniforms being a mixture of dark green (which appeared black) and khaki. During that time, the ‘black and tans’ gained a reputation for brutality and as such exacerbated Irish opinion of the British. With these elements in mind, despite the beer serve being termed so due to its colouring, ordering a black and tan at an Irish bar could be viewed as a contentious move, especially by a British patron. However, taking a piece of history back, many Irish bars – especially in the US – are now beginning to offer the serve, sometimes with a nod to Irish history, but otherwise simply to upsell more Guinness.

There’s another form of the two level cocktail that you can also see in America in bottled form from venerable micros like Saranac as well as Yuegling. BeerAdvocate lists 77 examples of beers by that name, listed under the American Porter category. I wonder if this dates from the earlier post US Civil War usage as it related to the Republican Party, as summarized by Wikipedia:

Social pressure eventually forced most Scalawags to join the conservative/Democratic Redeemer coalition. A minority persisted and, starting in the 1870s, formed the “tan” half of the “Black and Tan” Republican Party, a minority in every Southern state after 1877. This divided the party into two factions: the lily-white faction, which was practically all-white; and the biracial black-and-tan faction. In several Southern states, the “Lily Whites”, who sought to recruit white Democrats to the Republican Party, attempted to purge the Black and Tan faction or at least to reduce its influence. 

Very interesting – or at least so said Artie Johnson. You know, I’ve said it before and I will say it again. Forecasting is a mug’s game, a fool’s errand, a… a… add your own analogy please… but, still, you gotta love how little credibility this sort of listicle entry conveys:

…there’s an expected 8.51% compound annual growth for the next three years, putting seltzers at the forefront of increasingly important alcoholic beverages.

Interesting, too, is how many in the list of trends in “craft” are as devoid of the word “beer” as the title to the article. Just dislocated “craft” is all there is left. And remember: hop water isn’t a style, it’s a recipe.

Allistair wrote at Fuggled about a brewery he wrote about in a Pellicle feature last summer, as we discussed,  on Virginia’s Black Narrows Brewing. An unfortunate update:

Yesterday, Josh Chapman, owner and brewer at Black Narrows Brewing on Chincoteague Island announced that they have decided to close their doors – their final weekend in operation will be February 16-18th… It was also just last year that their magnificent malted corn lager “How Bout It” was awarded a Good Food Award – the corn in the lager being an heirloom variety, grown on the Eastern Shore, malted by Murphy & Rude in Charlottesville, and fermented with a yeast strain derived from a Chincoteague oyster. Beer does not get much more local than that…  In announcing the closure, Josh noted that “we watched our ingredients, equipment and labor costs increase. It was all too much”. In the end, the finances of being a hyper local, community supporting brewery just couldn’t sustain the business…

Relatedly and perhaps conversely, it’s certainly daring to suggest that craft malt is “Central to Taking On Beer’s Industrial Complex” but it might have been nice if something backing that claim up was actually included in this GBH article.* It’s on new small scale malting barley trends methods by Don Tse. I think the nub of the tale is really this, that these new methods may help small farmers and small maltsters:

Farmers are more likely to grow whatever is most profitable, and since so much research has been invested in improving the yield of corn and other crops, old barley varieties cannot yield sufficient income to compete. Indeed, in a typical crop rotation, barley is likely to be the least profitable unless there is a premium buyer like a maltster… Thanks to new barley varieties bred for a broader range of environments and thanks to craft maltsters creating a market for these varieties, Heisel says he is witnessing regions that had been growing feed barley—Maryland and Delaware, for example—switching to malting barley…

Good. A perfectly acceptable point. Speaking of which, the next edition of Prohibitchin’ from Beth Demmon is out and this month’s focus is Rae Adams who works in a particularly challenging location:

Dry January is behind us, and Rae couldn’t be happier about it. “Dry January is a murderous thing,” she says, only half jokingly. “Let’s change it to Dry July.” A month of widespread sobriety during the slowest part of the year for many food and drink establishments is hard enough on its own. But Graham County, where Rae works as the director of sales for Wehrloom Honey & Meadery, is one of the four remaining dry counties in North Carolina. You can still find and purchase alcohol in dry counties, but not much, and not everywhere. Even on a good day, it’s challenging for producers and retailers.

Speaking of dry, a lack of imported beer to Zanzibar‘s spice islands tourist zone has thrown the industry into a mess:

“We are running short of beer at my bar, and I just have a stock of soft drinks,” he told the BBC. “The government has to take action. It is the high season now, it is very hot and these tourists need joy, they need cold beer on these beaches.” An American tourist, who did not want to be named, said: “I love Zanzibar and its beaches. The people are amazing and only challenge I feel now is I can’t get hard liquor. I want to have spirits or even whisky but nothing is found in the hotel – they instead advised me to order it from Stone Town.” The local manufacture of alcohol is banned in Zanzibar, whose population is largely Muslim.

Why? Permits!! And 90% of the regions income is from tourists and, as the Sex Pistols taught us, tourists are money. The BBC reports that Simai Mohammed Said resigned as tourism minister last week, citing “unfavourable and disruptive working conditions.” Heavens. Why can’t everything work as smoothly as in Poulton? And finally… oh dear:

No one really knows why it’s called a “cream ale” as it is more akin to an American lager and does not contain any cream at all.

That’s expertise for you!** And now… 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 118 rising up to maybe… probably… likely pass Mastodon (stalled at 911) in value… then the seemingly doomed trashy Twex (4,442 – up again) 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 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!

*The whole idea of craft beer is taking on industrial beer like it’s, you know, 2011 or so, is sweet and nostagic and charming and all. And it also would be nice to know why “People were still growing it for feed, but any malting barley was going to Canada.” I mean I think I know why it goes to Canada but it need explaining or tightening. And, yes, there are native North American barleys. Conversely, wouldn’t have some publication wanted this piece for publication, Jeff‘s survey of change at Rogue? Neat and tidy and yes pretty trade positive. It’s a weird week. Check out the next footnote if you don’t believe me! [Update: Stan’s BlueSky comment was “There’s even treasure in the footnotes. “The whole idea of craft beer is taking on industrial beer like it’s, you know, 2011 or so, is sweet and nostagic and charming and all.” My first thought as well.” which is really nice but I just would point out as I know Stan agrees that headlines are not written by authors. I know a guy who inserts “bus plunge” in the headline whenever he can.]
**Want to know? Start here, then go here, then look here, then… 

Your Thursday Beery Beer Notes For When He Hardly Makes Any Real Effort

It’s been a week. Four out of seven days on the road, driving in a car for about 21 hours. No time for blogging much. The upside? Rhubarb ginger ice cream at the fabulous Slickers of Bloomfield in Prince Edward County, our nearby wine growing region of Ontario. Downside? Highway 401 from Halton to Kitchener upon which I had to drive coming home, telling my son to be quiet as we had 50 km of 130 km/hr traffic packed tight with what felt like a foot or two between cars. Evil. Fortunately, the ice cream came second. On the way there Saturday, as noted on Le Twit, we also ate at the highly recommended Northern Dumpling Kitchen which blew our minds. That image there? That’s the Chinese broccoli with garlic. Very simple. Nutty nutty good. And lamb and leek dumplings. Imagine! The restaurant looks like this. It’s located here along with 25 other small food spots. Go. But don’t go when I go. KDK only has about 30 seats. Wednesday’s dash to Syracuse, NY for a work meeting with some of my favourite business clients was a treat. And I hit the Watertown Hannaford grocery for, you know, Dinosaur BBQ sauces and oyster crackers. Things denied to Canadians.

Enought about me! In the world of beer, Jessica Mason guided us to consideration of a new thing in the UK’s pub trade – the label “fresh ale” as seen in the wild or at least in pubs asking if the new beer category will help lager drinkers migrate to cask or if it actually cannibalises real cask ale for good:

A new beer category, named ‘fresh ale’ has been created by Otter Brewery to bridge the gap between craft beer, cask ale and lager. ‘Fresh ales’ are beers that are initially brewed as cask ales, but instead of being filled into casks they are gently carbonated before being put into kegs. The Devonshire-based brewery’s first beer being launched as a ‘fresh ale’ is named Amber Fresh and paves the way for “a new form of ale for pubs, designed to be fresh in name and fresh by nature”.

We are told that the beer will stay in great condition for longer, remaining fresh to drink for weeks, rather than days. Which is interesting.

Pellicle posted an interesting tale, the story of state of American Porter which paired last evening with a Godspeed Kemuri Porter at this very minute as my fingers do their dance. And what’s that state look like?

In 2023, only a few legacy porter brands remain. Fitz is still ubiquitous here in Ohio and the Midwest in general. Deschutes Black Butte from Oregon is still around, though it’s getting harder to find here on the opposite side of the country. Bell’s Porter can occasionally be spotted, though who knows for how much longer. Anchor’s and Sierra Nevada’s porters have not been seen in the wild in years and are presumed extinct in these parts. Sales figures from Bart Watson, Chief Economist at the Brewers Association (the trade body representing small, independent breweries in the United States) show porter’s share of total craft has dropped by 60% by sales volume since 2007, the earliest year for which numbers are available.

Fitz is good code. And, not really relatedly, Katie Mather is back with another edition of her newsletter, The Glup, this time sharing thoughts on the role of music in one’s thoughts:

Where the void (a term used in BPD circles and treatment to reference the absence of or inability to define emotion—the void can last moments or days depending on the episode) can be a black hole taking in and vaporising thoughts of comfort, in these playlists I can find ways to play with its distortion of reality. Daydreaming has always been my preferred state of being, and learning to find and clarify these powerful places in my mind has been empowering. Liminal spaces have always fascinated and terrified me…

I am a big time daydreamer, me. Katie also advises that she has upcoming articles in Pellicle as well as Hwaet! and Glug and Ferment, too – and that her book(!) will by published by Wine52 later this year.

Gary continues to speed though the archives and provides us a take of mid-century drink, Tenpenny ale:

In comments to my recent post “Walker’s S.B. Sherry Bright Ale”, Ron Pattinson pointed out that the name Tenpenny, shown proximate to the Sherry Bright name in adverts I considered, denoted a separate beer. He indicated it was 5.4% and quite dark in 1951. Edd Mather added that this Tenpenny was a brand originally made by George Shaw & Co. Ltd. of Leigh, Lancashire, a brewery bought up by Peter Walker’s parent company, Walker-Cain.

I shared that this brought back memories of a dear departed but distinct Ten Penny ale. Your uncle’s beer… well, maybe your great-uncle’s.

As noted in B+B’s Saturday round up, Mark Johnson has shared some thoughts about his relationship with alcohol under the grim but honest title of “Chasing Oblivion“:

It would have potentially been helpful for me to find something else as a lifestyle or as a hobby. As it was, my genuine love for tasting beer and visiting different types of pubs pulled me away from oblivion. As much as social media aspects of beer and self-proclaimed bloggers are routinely mocked, that energy made me approach beer differently . It made me focus on the positives without the need for pushing it that extra few drinks. I’ve made no secret that writing about my struggles with depression, my suicidal thoughts and some of my issues from the past have probably kept me alive. Before I had no such outlet. It has never truly occurred to me that my previous release was alcohol. It wasn’t every day. It wasn’t inhibiting my day-to-day life. But I was using it as both therapy and medication. Seeing alcohol purely through the beer lens helped me recalibrate.

An interesting story in the continuing saga of craft buy outs and closings this week sees a CNY veteran brewery buying out one of the top micros of days gone by. As my co-author Don Cazentre* reports from the scene:

Utica’s F.X. Matt (Saranac) Brewing, makers of the Saranac line of craft beers and the traditional lager Utica Club, has agreed to purchase Flying Dog Brewing, a large craft brewer based in Maryland. News of the deal was broken by Brewbound, a site that covers the national brewing industry. The deal announced today will likely make combined Matt / Flying Dog one of the ten largest craft brewers in the country, according to statistics compiled by the national Brewers Association, based in Colorado.

Mike Stein added that this may be a relief to those transitioning to the new leadership given the seemingly poor record of the former.

There is nothing good to report on the Bud Light market these days. Transphobic customers walk, good union jobs perhaps at risk and a welcome inclusive marketing plan gutlessly abandoned as fast as possible:

Bud Light is offering generous rebates for Memorial Day that in some cases amount to free beer as Anheuser-Busch continues its scramble to recover from the Dylan Mulvaney controversy… The rebate offer comes as Bud Light sales have worsened for the sixth consecutive week since April 1, when trans influencer Mulvaney shared an Instagram post of a custom Bud Light can the Anheuser-Busch brand sent her to celebrate “365 Days of Girlhood.” Rebates have already been offered on Bud Light by individual vendors looking to rid themselves of the embattled company.

Question: if your kid was in a local sports organization which, by Jeff’s reckoning, had only 80% committment to being the sort of place that “welcomes all, that straight up supports human dignity with action“… would you stick around? Not me. I am not picking on Jeff at all by saying this as I think he has the numbers shockingly right when it comes to craft beer. He also added another bit of math this week, a verbal description of the graphical representation of data this time which, again, is quite correct:

Nevertheless, the situation arises, at least partly, from a fault line that has always bedeviled the organization. From the very start, the Brewers Association saw itself as not just a trade association, but the central champion of a new culture of beer and brewing. This put them in the position of speaking for an industry far larger than their member breweries, and necessarily created compromises when the interests of their members deviated from the industry’s in general.

So, that entity with 80% top drawer actors is also just one side of a fault line – “fault” being an excellent double entendre – with people who are not produces on the other side of the line. Fans, hangers on, most beer writers, consumers, the public I suppose. People, as Jeff correctly says, who are not makers but are, according to the BA, still seemingly supposed to line up in lock step with them under the banner of the unified champion. Which we already consider to be 20% dodgy to one degree or another. Gotta tell you: if this is that rec league situation me and my kids would out of there in a spray of gravel as fast as I can get the car our of the ball field’s parking lot.  In particular, I share the opinions expressed by a reader identifying as “gingersnap” in the comments at Jeff’s post on the underlying situation and how the mechanism actually works:

The problem with the language is that privilege is not a superpower to be used as an instrument of leverage. Privilege, in this case for white brewery owners, is a result of systemic oppression of non-white folks, it is not something that was earned. To talk about leveraging this power of privilege is part of the “white savior trope” and suggests that those without privilege should be grateful for whatever efforts are made on their behalf. That kind of thinking is hurtful, elitist and white-centric.

That cause is pretty all purpose for the effect of bigotries, if history is any sort of teacher. And I have also long thought and even said that this sort of thing (along with all the BA’s upward pricing encouragement and flaky faddish brewing technique promotions) is exactly why North America needs its own verion of CAMRA which sits apart from and even faces the BA. A consumers’ group for and led by beer drinkers, that’s whats needed. Why? Because it would appear that currently, the people in charge of the construct, the culture, the dialogue are not the consumers who actually control the cash with their spending decisions.

Such a plan would be reasonable, given the BA was formed twenty years ago in part to address some late micro era rogue weirdness while protecting the trade and perhaps cushioning the still prominent actor dabbling in some outrageous sexist marketing… as John Noel has confirmed. The yikky pattern continued, for example, two years before #MeToo in the sexist choices of certain prominent trade members at the CBC in 2015 as well as the 2018 Zwanze Day mess again involving a prominent man in beer. Still, all is presented as A-OK in the big craft picture. And still all associated with what gingersnap above called the “white savior trope” or what I have called “Great White Male Hero Theory Problem” in craft beer.

And while the Brewers Association is this keystone in the craft culture it is yet not, as Jeff says, able to respond in any effective manner to these issues. It “wants to be politically neutral in terms of state politics” and, when facing toxisity, found it “impossible to relocate this event.” That all being the case… is your kid still playing in this sports league? Why are you showing up to sit in the stands knowing or even experiencing the bigotries within ear shot form the stands or the benches? Why support the BA? Because it’s all we have?* And why do you think it’s all we have? Probably because we have forgotten what we should have.

Oh… and one last thing. Jeff also wrote that:

…the BA itself bringing smart people who think like these folks (and there are a lot of them!) into BA’s upper management would be a good first step in transforming the way the organization thinks.

Sadly, and as I noted two weeks ago, the BA does have at least one such excellent leader already in their organization and has for a number of years: Dr. J Jackson-Beckham, the Brewers Association’s Equity & Inclusion Partner. Seems there’s been plenty of stumbling at that first step. More on this from Stan, Robin and Stephanie Grant.

That’s it! That’s enough from me.  I’m having a glass of wine this evening and relaxing. Let the others now scan the beer news for you! As per, you can check out the many ways to connect including these voices on Mastodon:

Stan Hieronymus | The Man!
Boak & Bailey | The B² experience
Katie Mather | Shiny Biscuit and Corto
David Jesudason | “Desi Pubs” (2023) author
Ron Pattinson | The RonAlongAThon Himself
Al Reece AKA Velky Al | Fuggled
Jennifer Jordan | US hops historian
Alan McLeod | A Good Beer Blog (… me…)
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
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 – 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. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s now 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!***

*I just note that he and I are on the team writing the hitory of New York State brewing for SUNY Publishing. He knows everything one needs to know about the CNY brewing business and more.
**Update: well after my press time, Courtney Iseman went so far in her newsletter to carefully suggest and also plainly express a few things about the power dynamic that the BA imposes on craft beer culture when she wrote: “There are good things about CBC, and there are good people at the Brewers Association. I’m not comfortable telling people they should never go to CBC again. I’m not optimistic the BA will really take the note and meaningfully improve CBC, but I’m hopeful, so while I have no plans to attend again for the foreseeable future, I think it’s too soon to make any certain, sweeping statements… I think it’s important for us to remember that there are many people in the industry who don’t have as much of a choice. Their jobs might essentially require them to regularly attend CBC.” Which is absolutely nuts when you think about it for three seconds: get in line or get another job. Thanks BA.
***And finally the list of the departed newsletters and podcasts or those in purgatory. Looks like  both Brewsround and Cabin Fever died in 2020, . We appreciate that the OCBG Podcast is on a very quiet schedule these days – but it’s been there now and again.  The Fizz died in 2019.  Plus Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch seems done and the AfroBeerChick podcast is gone as well! The Fingers Podcast packed it in citing, umm, lack of success… as might have been anticipated, honestly. Did they suffer a common fate? Who knows?

This Week’s Jam Packed Most(ly) Fascinating Beery News Notes

How I picture you all…

Here we are. A cooler quieter sort of week. Except for those harvesting. The backyard air conditioning units in the neighbourhood are still. Local schools have finally gotten back to the job of public education after two months of focusing on being the warm evening hangouts of bottle smashing teen… I’ll say it – neerdowells. Which means it will soon be sweater weather. Leaves will soon turn colour. Which makes it time for greater drinks options. Need to finish of that G with the last of the T and get in some brown drinks. Mmmm… brown…. soon. On the other side of the continent, Jon (the oldest beer blogger in the known world) has been obsessing about the local fresh hop ales and exactly how, where and when to get them. Jeff covers the what and why. That’s a sign of the season, too.

Up first this week, The Beer Nut found a beer branded with three unrelated geographical locations this week. Which was great. It also has a “D” in there which might be Danish… so who knows. He also* opened my mind a bit with this post about a thing that he thinks might be a new thing:

Fruit-flavoured sour beer, as brewed by modern craft breweries, is not something I get very excited about. There are a lot of them out there, reflecting how easy they must be to produce in assorted varieties. I like sour beer to be sour and these are very often not sour at all. Nevertheless, my curiosity has been piqued by the sub-genre that Brazilian brewers have made their own: the Catharina sour. Reports from jaded old cynics like myself have been positive, so when a brewery closer to home slapped the label on one of theirs, I was straight out to buy it.

What I would like to know is about process and percentage. How much fruit is added to the base beer, what is the base beer and what’s in the fruity stuff other than fruit. Apparently we can fret about IBUs and SRM hues but no one has any idea what’s in the fruit purée. See… I am allergic to certain surprise preservatives hidden in the sauce at the wholesale level. And it is not just me. Check out what Eoghan wrote this week. Label your beers please.

This week’s craft brewery sell out news really isn’t news:

Beer news: Heineken have bought the 51% of Beavertown Brewery that they did not already own. Was always gonna happen really but that’s another “craft” brewery taken out by the big boys. CEO Logan Plant steps down to become an “advisor”.

Beavertown really sold out when they gave away the 49% subject likely to a shareholder agreement that gave the practical oversight to Heineken. But it likely really sold out when it was created and structured in a way to sell, born as it was at the outset of the “craft loves to sell itself” era. But it really sold out when it was just a brewery as selling breweries has been part of the entire history of brewing as Thales would have predicted.

Beth Demmon has released another edition of Prohibitchin’ – this month focusing on Gabriela Fernandez, host at 1440 AM / 96.9 FM in Napa, podcaster at The Big Sip and host of Latinx State of the Wine Industry Summit:

Using storytelling as the medium to expose would-be wine lovers to the beauty of it, as well as promoting representation within the industry, became paramount. She was already the first Latina producer to be a part of Wine Down Media, the Napa radio station behind her MegaMix morning show, so building a bridge between the local Latino community and the wine community was something already well within her skill set, starting with the very words used to describe wine.

This is an interesting exposé on a UK developer focused on converting old pubs into luxury homes:

A property tycoon is continuing his quest to gentrify London by closing down pubs and other community assets that could make more money as luxury flats. The Junction is one of the only places in south London where you can watch live jazz for free most nights of the week – but not for long. It was reported recently that the venue in Loughborough Junction is not being offered a new lease by its landlord, Manlon Properties Ltd. Manlon Properties Ltd. is linked to Asif Aziz, a multi-millionaire landlord with a reputation for closing down pubs and redeveloping them into luxury housing.

Apparently it all relates to money… but perhaps there is an anti-jazze theme… perhaps only… anti-free jazzers… which is about money…

Note: Martyn has teamed up with a brewery, Anspach & Hobday**, to preview via tweet some porter facts in the lead up to the publication of his book on the stuff. A cheap and cheery approach to getting the word out.

Lisa G and Matty C made the same joke about Bell’s on their respective jaunts around Northern Ireland. On the broader topic, Lisa was keen on a number of motivations:

We had been told that it was a magical city full of cask ale (OK, I confess, that’s a slight exaggeration – we were told we could find some without looking around too hard, and that it would be in good shape) and that there would be some interesting museums. Also: ice hockey, though we aren’t quite there yet, season-wise. But perhaps the most exciting part of the journey itself was that we were promised an actual trolley on the train, with tea and snacks – something sadly still absent from non-border-crossing Iarnród Éireann trains since Covid began. As it turns out, much of this was, indeed, true.

London pie and mash, as seen today. London pie and mash, the archives.

When you have finished the pub tick marathon that Martin has, there is an accompanying soundtrack.

Many of you* have asked me what bangers I’ve been listening to as I rack up hour after hour on the UK’s motorways and single track bumpy roads this year. 96 hours in August, says Google… Now if this was BRAPA you’d get a selection of punk (‘s not dead) classics like “Oi ! open yer frecking micro NOW !”, “Don’t dribble on my GBG, Twild” and “Time for a third (3rd) ESB, then“. But stuff that. These are five records I’ve played on repeat this year.

Speaking of loads of travel, would you go to Qatar’s 2022 World Cup with the intention of drinking so much beer that the slightly limited access to beer would be enough to not go to see Qatar’s 2022 World Cup?

“Beer will be available when gates open, which is three hours before kick off. Whoever wants to have a beer will be able to. And then when they leave the stadium as well for one hour after the final whistle,” the source said. Additionally, Budweiser will be permitted to serve beer in part of the main FIFA fan zone in central Doha from 6:30pm to 1:00am every day of the 29-day tournament, which kicks off on November 20…

Now, check out Boak and Bailey on the history of Smiles Brewery, Bristol (1977-2005). Then, check out Gary post about  the First Lager Brewing in India: 1928. Then, check out Will Hawkes on Munich’s Giesinger Bräu in Pellicle. Then check out the Canadian soldier having a very good afternoon until later. Then, check out the only 226 words GBH published this week.***

And, finally, best comment of the week: “I just asked who he was. Not for a biography.” Second best: “Huh?”

There. Not that much happening in the world of beer this week. As we wait for more entertainments, check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and perhaps now from Stan once in a while on a Monday. Check out the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the mostly weekly OCBG Podcast on most Tuesdays or Wednesdays or Thursdays – and also sometimes, on a Friday, posts at The Fizz as well (Ed.: we are told ‘tis gone to 404 bloggy podcast heaven… gone to the 404 bloggy podcast farm to play with other puppies.) And the long standing Beervana podcast (Ed.: which I have missed from this list for some unknown reason.) There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now… nope, there was a post on July 25th… in 2022 even.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And sign up for Katie’s (Ed.: now very) irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Still gearing  up, the recently revived All About Beer has introduced a podcast, too. (Ed.: give it a few weeks to settle in and not be as agreeable.) Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given… still not on the radio dial…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water. There has also been the Beer O’clock Show but that’s now wound up after ten years.

*For the double… el doublay… bardzo podwójnie!!
**A brewery apparently named after two popular but now forgotten Georgian poultry roasting techniques.
***No, I have no idea either…

A Slightly Less Puffed Up Edition Of Your Thursday Beery News Notes

Here I am. Still on vacation but at least at home making dinners rather than forking out for them. Let’s be clear. I am not a cheap date when out and about but at the same time I do have my limits. Big city fun can hit that after a few days so nice to be back in the backyard for week two. Well, once the rain lets up. Gotta say, though, Montreal is my favorite big city even though I am maritally prohibited from rooting or the Habs. Drove past the front gate of the original and still operating  Molson brewery established in 1786 when I got a bit lost in traffic coming into the downtown. Quite the edifice.

Speaking of working, on Wednesday Gary posted an image of a 1938 Quebec beer delivery truck out in winter. Looks like a display as those boxes look empty and stacked way too high. I cropped this image out of the right hand corner. I love the guy’s look. Button suspenders over a tucked in sweater, high lace leather boots, fedora and tie. And look at the window in the background. Signs – perhaps in neon – for Brasserie Frontenac, Boswell Cream Porter as well as Dow Old Stock Ale. These brands were all related to provincial firms that merged in 1909, the amalgamation which inspired a young E.P. Taylor two decades later to start off on his global merger mania.  The truck and many of the boxes are also labeled with Dow’s Black Horse Ale. Cream Porter was still a thing when I lived in the Ottawa Valley in the mid-1990s under the Champlain brand made by Molson and in fact and early beer review on this here site was for Labatt Porter. Now there is a style that needs revival.

What else is going on? A few more ripples caused by the long piece in Pellicle on the state of IPA today are worth noting. JJB himself wrote positively of the explanation and agreed with how the code of IPA (as opposed to the definition) is effective for Stonch as a publican:

I can tell you that consumers with only a cursory knowledge of beer know what IPA means to them, and moreover that concept tends to be very similar across the board. When someone asks for an IPA, I know which taps to point them to.

Matt himself was unhappy with his thoughts being “torn apart in a @BeerAdvocate thread…” but that is a bit of an unfair statement as it was also praised there. His tension is reasonable.* There is a dismissal of old school thread writing but it is always good to remember that many there (folk who have no interest in blogging or certainly no interest in the dead end world of semi-pro beer writing) who know a hell of a lot about beer even though there are, yes, many oafs. For example, I entirely agree with this from someone on the site for fifteen years:

Once breweries realized that some of us were well and truly over the murkbombs, they started relabeling, or at least redescribing. It’s one of the reasons I’ve been shying away from any packaged beer called IPA unless I’m already familiar with it.

And also this from a seventeen year BA veteran:

It appears to me that the craft beer industry is viewing IPA = money and given this consideration I suspect that we will continue to see more and more beer brands with this labeling. They may be brands that can fit within one (or more?) of the categories that Matthew Curtis listed in his article or maybe they will be some brand-new name (e.g., New England style Wheat IPA) that some person just willy-nilly comes up with to make money.

Exactly. See, along with avoiding humour and any actual grasp of much of history, good beer culture has a very hard time with debate. It’s apparently uncomfortable for those trained on the short course who then have decided that they know what needs to be known, like a teen watching a movie with their parents when a dirty bit come on  No, in craft beer culture it is a fundamental principal that you have to all sing from the same hymnal because it is all… great! That is why it generates no serious academic discourse – or even researched to and fro anymore.  “Expert” is sorta of a participation award. Can you even call doing something “taking a course” if it fails to generate any deliverables that aren’t just repetition by rote? No, to discuss and disagree is rude. And that is one main reason why general good beer culture isn’t taken seriously.

Related perhaps, Ron summed up a trip to the USA and his observations on the beer scene this way:

I’m just back from the US. Wasn’t that impressed with the beer selection. Mostly: IPA, Sludge IPA, Sour Shit, Sour Shit with fruit, Sludge IPA with shit, Sludge IPA with fruit and shit, Pilsner.

Boak and Bailey unsettled me with a related consideration following up on a post from Jeff on the idea of session a few weeks back:

Jeff Alworth is right – most people (quite wisely) haven’t let themselves get bogged down in precisely what these terms mean. They just know that a brewery choosing to use a relatively more obscure word to describe its product is saying “You’re no rube, you know the lingo, welcome to the club.” As Matt points out, though, these terms are suffering the same fate as ‘craft beer’, becoming applied so widely, to products of such varying character, that consumers are beginning to distrust them. When you’ve decided you tend to like beers labelled IPA, and habitually order IPA, there’s only so many times you can be served something that doesn’t fit your mental model without getting irritated.

I am not sure what “quite wisely” is meant to suggest here. Basically, there isn’t much light between what is being said about the meaningless of craft beer’s terminology as code and Ron’s observations about how shit IPA has become due to the breakdown of meaning. Meaning it is no longer even code. You have to take a cartoon character approach to still suggest there is any integrity in all this. Which is what is being done, of course.

My thoughts?  What’s the level below lowest common denominator? IPA might as well be “eBeer” or “iBeer” now. The meaninglessness has hit max and all it serves to do it shout “drink me, fool!” which is why I focus on the adjective and not the noun EEEPAH. And avoid anything like a flogged flavour wheel in favour of the theater of the mouth.** Fortunately, as we know, things have three names. In this case, there will be the name on the can or tap handle, the name the brewer uses and the name the beer knows itself by.

Which is perhaps why the lager boom is so attractive. It retains far more stylistic integrity that the botch US craft has made of the IPA everything concept. Paste magazine has gone so far as to say this is the best thing in the good beer world these days:

That’s the biggest thing that has changed, in the last few years—i.e., the pandemic era—ease of access to good craft lagers has increased exponentially, and breweries have seemingly gotten much better at making them! Even breweries not particularly known for lager are now frequently producing excellent examples, and I’ve seen a notable number of breweries also rebrand themselves to revolve more tightly around lager as a central philosophy.

One more thing.  Stan picked up a thread from the IPA story, an actual fact about a yeast strain and unpacked it to explain how beers branded as Steam Beer do or at least did actually display a unique trait even though Steam Beer has little unique to do with steam:

In 1911, while conducting tests as part of another project at the University of California, T. Brailsford Robinson discovered just how different steam beer yeast acquired from California Brewing in San Francisco was from lager strains. “The yeast of the steam beer has accommodated itself to these conditions (warmer fermentation and the clarifier) to such an extent that it can no longer be employed for the preparation of lager beer, while lager-beer yeast may without difficulty be used for the manufacture of steam beer,” he wrote.

Neato. Also neato? Old lost Halifax Nova Scotia bars. Also neato? A Doctor Who based brewery. Less neato? The fall of certain people in the brewing trade that I know little about. Never been that much into the individual as a cornerstone to all of this, now that I think of it. Not neato? Possible signs of the market crashing.

For 22 years, Neal Stewart worked in sales and marketing for breweries like Pabst, Flying Dog, Mark Anthony Brands, Dogfish Head and Deschutes Brewery. He is leaving beer behind and left with some very powerful parting thoughts:

I had plenty of time to reflect on my time in the beer biz and quite honestly, it was a painful process. I discovered two things. First, my self-identity was wrapped far too tightly with my profession. My primary identity was my job. I wasn’t “Neal, the husband” or “Uncle Neal.” I was “Neal, the beer guy” or “Neal, the (insert one of the 47 breweries I’ve worked for) guy.” I was enamored with that identity and my ego needed it. Second, I really think I was addicted to stress. I’ve done some research and although “stress addiction” is not a clinical term, it is known that stress causes the brain to release cortisol and dopamine… When my life suddenly changed from 70 hours a week of non-stop calls, meetings and thinking about the business, to silence, I didn’t know how to react.  

Wow. If that is you, get out. What ever it is you do. And one more thing. I hadn’t expected that this beer would be as good as it turned out to be. Glutenburg Pale Ale out of Quebec. A bit of a rarer find in the Ontario LCBO but out there if you check the inventory. Made without barley but perfectly tasty as a base beer in one’s life. Which is what it might become. Through an odd sequence of absolutely low level medical matters it turns out that I may have a degree of gluten intolerance. See, I had to have a small four stitch operation on my right eyelid, which led to an observation about how my left eye sat, which led to a couple of CT scans in nearby quieter county town hospitals which led to an ENT guy sticking a camera into my sinuses, which led to connecting the dots to a very high wisdom tooth, which led to a removal operation, which led to me having a very tiny bit of my skull removed as a door for the wisdom tooth operation. All of which left me breathing better… unless I ate bread. Hmm. Bread made me puff up a bit. All over. Unpleasantly so on rare occasions. And feel like I had hay fever. Stuffed. So I dropped bread. Clearer head. Breathing better. Had a beer. All came back. Uh oh. So I bought this beer. Didn’t come back. Hmm. I had put the feeling when having a beer down to water bulking up or general alcohol reaction but it appears to be a third aspect of the beer – the gluten. Going to keep up the experiment for a bit. All of which I mention as ungraphically as I can as a recommendation to try it yourself for a week perhaps. See, being puffed is not good. Tiny important passages restrict. Blood pressure rises. Things not ticking along optimally. Leads to other things… more serious things.

There. The beery zeitgeist for another week has been summarized! Want more? Well, check out the updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday and perhaps now from Stan once in a while on a Monday. Check out the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, and at the mostly weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesdays or Wednesdays – and also sometimes, on a Friday, posts at The Fizz as well (Ed.: we are told ‘tis gone to podcast heaven… gone to the podcast farm to play with other puppies.) And the long standing Beervana podcast (Ed.: which I have missed from this list for some unknown reason.) There is a monthly sort of round up at The Glass. (Ed.: that seems to be dead now… nope, there was a post on July 25th… in 2022 even.) There is more from DaftAboutCraft‘s podcast, too. And sign up for Katie’s (Ed.: now very) irregular newsletter, The Gulp, too. And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. Still gearing  up, the recently revived All About Beer has introduced a podcast, too. (Ed.: give it a few weeks to settle in and not be as agreeable.) Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. The AfroBeerChick podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword (Ed.: …notice of revival of which has been given… still not on the radio dial…)  And remember BeerEdge, too, and The Moon Under Water. There has also been the Beer O’clock Show but that’s now wound up after ten years.

*I would not want to fail to mention Beth‘s similar sentiment: “I don’t have enough money to enter work for awards I don’t have enough money to fund my own press trips I don’t have enough money to buy a hundred samples to try I don’t have enough money for all the subscriptions or memberships How do writers do it? Actual question…” I may play a grump on social media but I am utterly sympathetic to the plight of the beer writer coming to the realization that for all the money in beer there is little money in beer.
**Make your own copy of the chart if you like. It’s also free and actually useful.

The Death Defying Mid-July 2022 Thursday Beery News Notes

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

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

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

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

Note: Cookie advises don’t get Humphed.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Your Very Merry Christmas Edition Of Beery News Notes

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

 

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

 

 

 

Your Thursday Beery News Notes For When July Is Closer Than May

I will be positive. I will try to be positive. That’s what I say to myself. Every week. I will try. I do try. But it is trying, isn’t it. Not even sure it is all that interesting.  Far better being interesting than being positive. That’s why #ThinkingAboutDrinking >>> #BeerPositive.  Not schmarmy.  No need of that. Nope. I will try to be interesting. I will be interesting. I will. I will try.

As a start, it was interesting to see in The Telegraph the vision above of Canadian PM Justin Trudeau looking like Castro and Zappa’s love child while drinking a pint of ale as HRH The Queen had her back turned and Chuck looked pained but also comfortably numbed by the gin. By way of my review, an excellent G7 moment captured. Canadian politicians must love beer.

Elsewhere, there are few people writing about beer these days as interesting as Dr. Christina Wade of Braciatrix who wrote this week about a topic near and dear to my heart – beery references on cuneiform tablets within the records of Sumerian society:

Administration was a key part of these organizations. According to Peter Damerow, beer was not a simple agricultural product but, ‘belonged to the products subjected to the centralised economy of Sumerian states’. Indeed, he stated that the consumption and production of beer were separate entities and beer held this positon even after the decline of Sumerian culture. 

I say near and dear as I wrote of a similar thing in 2017, shared that info and had a merry chat with the good doctor.

Sticking with history, Martyn also wrote an extremely interesting piece this week drawing information out of the William Helliwell* diaries of the 1830s (much discussed in Lost Breweries of Toronto) that Jordan shared – and then contextualizing the info into London’s porter scene of that time:

William seems to have seized every chance to look round breweries on his journey: he visited two in Rochester, New York state and two more in nearby Albany on his way to New York to catch a ship to England, where he arrived in mid-June after a six-week journey from Canada. In London he had an introduction to Timothy Thorne, owner of the Westminster Brewery on Horseferry Road, from Thorne’s son Charles, whom William knew in York. The brewery, which made ale and porter, had been founded by Timothy Thorne in 1826. 

Leonard Lispenard of NYC took a similar trip in 1783 and trained under his cousins the Barclays. Did he keep a diary? Hmm…

Even more recent history was discussed by Boak and Bailey as they wrote about the demise in the later 1980s of a traditional pub in London’s Docklands, victim perhaps of a misplaced application of the new Duran Duran laced lifestyle:

We came across this small story of the loss of a specific pub through ‘Eastenders’, an episode of the ITV weekly documentary series World In Action available via BritBox. Jess being a Londoner, and Ray being a hopeless nostalgist, we often find ourselves watching this kind of thing and there’s invariably a pub somewhere among the grainy footage.

Never a good look for a writer to look for an expert to confirm a premise after the article’s been approved. Far more interesting was Max’s walk to Litoměřice:

I needed to have my computer serviced, which meant that I would have to do without it for a couple of days, which meant that I wouldn’t be able to do much else than fuck all at home. The thing had been acting up for some time already – some issue with the hard drive – and I’d decided to wait until I finished with a couple of big projects I was working on, always hoping it wouldn’t give up on me. It didn’t, and the timing could not have been any better. With the covid restrictions on all the fun stuff mostly lifted, and the weather finally nice, now I had the perfect excuse to take a couple of much needed days off to partake in one of my favourite activities: getting a train or a bus somewhere to go on a long walk in nature, with a brewery as destination. 

Sadly but interestingly so, the car crash within the wider sexism in craft car crash that is the Brewdog story keeps on giving and it is always wonderful when a beery bit of news gets the attention of someone in journalism** like this excellent balanced opinion piece by Camilla Long in The Sunday Times:

Will anyone now work for Brewdog? Thirty years ago the answer would probably have been a grudging yes. For people over 40, a cut-throat, stressful working environment — or as Brewdog’s founder put it, “a fast-paced culture” — is still closely associated with good results… But if you are under 40, the idea of working for somewhere that isn’t calm and friendly is horrifying. Young people simply won’t work for places that don’t offer good vibes. In America, where companies these days can’t hire people fast enough, hotels are offering free holidays and stays to attract good staff. Jobs are competing for people, rather than the other way round.

People still looking for a better placement within the beer industry don’t get that direct in their writing. As usual, Matty C comes closest but still hedged the best with the unfortunate use of “snafus” and describing Brewdog’s investors as “wolfish” even though it was the owners of Brewdog who took the cash. As noted these hesitancies jar the reader, leave doubts. Charlotte Cook in Beer 52 also added to the story with her personal experiences as relatively early BrewDog staff:

The inability to read the room also astounded me, women are finally speaking up for the horrible treatment they have endured in the craft beer industry. The lack of an apology from James, or any assurance of the steps being taken to improve things, suggests to me that BrewDog has not yet understood the moment of change we are going through. 

Who? indeed, would work there? Or buy the beer. Not even me and I used to take from them when they were wee needy advertising sponsors of this blog. Relatedly, Jemma Wilson succinctly shared her suspicions as to the Cicerone sexism situation. Gotta love an an independent investigation report that states “…Cicerone will be more responsive…” That’s not an investigative finding or even a recommendation.

Finally, Eoghan Walsh published the story of how and why Brussels’ grand new beer museum came to be:

Krishan Maudgal has worked in Belgian beer for over a decade, for the likes of Alken Maes and its well-known Abbey brand Affligem. In 2021 Maudgal was appointed to Gatz’s old position as director of the Belgian Brewers Federation, and he’s worked for the brewers on the museum concept almost from the beginning, helping to shape what the project will be – and what it won’t. “It’s not a showroom for only the international major brewers of our country,” Maudgal says. “It’s to promote the Belgian way of living. Eating, drinking, beer and food.”

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

*Helliwell would likely have called himself “British” or “English” but unlikely “Canadian” as there was no unified Canada of the British sort at the time. Canada then was still the name for French Canadians given they had lived in what they called Canada since the early 1600s. There was an Upper Canada which Helliwell did live in. In Nova Scotia, Ontarians are still called Upper Canadians even though the jurisdiction ceased to exist in 1841. This is all unpacked here to another degree or so…
**meaning having qualifications which do not include being on a first name basis with the subject of the beery news story.  H/T to the Tand.

 

The Day After St. Paddy’s Day Beery News Notes

There, at least that’s over. That’s him there to the right, apparently ordering two. You know, this may have been the St. Patrick’s Day that I’ve always wanted. Quiet. By force of law. Even last year, during the first week of something being quite wrong, there were college idiots half smashed on a Tuesday loitering around the downtown square, wearing green things made of plastic. Amateurs. Appropriating plastic coated amateurs. In 2017, I asked why craft beer hated the day. I don’t think that is the same now but it’s mainly because craft beer has ceased to exist in the same sense four years on. Not much taking a unified stand against anything these days. Not much of a soap box to stand on anymore so much as being an object of the inquiries.

Breaking: craft beer loves generic globalist multi-internationalism.

In days of yore brewing news, Martyn has undertaken the work I’ve been begging him to undertake for at least a decade: exploring the 1898-1899 Canadian Inspectorate of Foods and Drugs study on stouts and porters:

…the average strength of the Canadian porters was 5.73 per cent abv, nearly 20 per cent less than the average stout strength. The two beers had almost identical average apparent attenuation, at 81.4 per cent for the porters, and 81.5 per cent for the stouts. Other analyses show big differences, however. The average percentage of maltose in the finished beer was 0.594 per cent for the porters, and 0.747 per cent for the stouts. The average percentage of solids in the finished beers was 4.99 per cent for porters and 5.6 per cent for the stouts…

Whammo! Kablammo!! Now you can all shut your pie holes about it and face facts.  “What about McDonagh & Shea porter out of  Winnipeg, Manitoba brewed to 8.8 per cent abv?” you say? Shut up. Get out.

Speaking of relatively recent history, sad news of a pub closing trade in Burton England was tweet-paired with this fabulous image of a 1962 price list for brewers and pub chain operators, Mitchells and Butlers. A great opportunity to identify grannie’s top drinks as well as the relative price of things. Fact: Dubonnet is not vermouth.

And in even more recent recent history, this picture of Eugene Levy and John Candy as the Shmenge Brothers of SCTV fame in the 1984 Kitchener Octoberfest parade posted this week by the University of Waterloo Library is as cheery as it gets. Careful fans will recall how pivotal the same parade is in the plot of the 1983 film Strange Brew, staring fellow SCTV alumni Dave Thomas and Rick Moranis. That’s an actual production vehicle, by the way – a Messerschmitt Kabinenroller.

Thing you couldn’t do in 2019. Going back into past restaurant reviews and finding evidence of unidentified covid-19 symptoms being the unwitting basis for complaint.

Not quiet sure what to make of this supply chain news out of Australia, whether it means Asahi are switching their malt purchases to be more local or just that it is now going to be tracked as local:

The new supply chain means that local barley will be used to brew Australian beers like Victoria Bitter and Carlton Draught for the first time in decades. Asahi, which developed the new direct sourcing program after it purchased Carlton & United last year, will now buy more than 70,000 tonnes of malted barley direct from farmers in Victoria and southern NSW to be used at its Yatala and Abbotsford breweries. Growers in northern NSW are expected to join the scheme before this year’s harvest while the first beers brewed under the program will be rolled out in April.

This one program appears to include 7.6% of Australian malt production so what ever it is it is significant.

Not unrelatedly, though he will fully disagree and it pains me when he does, Stan captured one of the best examples of craft beer nonsense that I’ve ever seen:

Breweries have terroir as well. But instead of revolving around a patch of land, ours are centered on a group of people. We operate our business on a human scale and with a human face. 

Remember when people used to say stuff like that? Many copyright law suits later and the firings of all the women in the craft beer bar and… and… and… Speaking of which in a sort of contrapuntal way, diversity in brewing and the craft beer trade continues to be a big discussion circling about the topics of both inclusion and actual identify as this article in Foodism Toronto discusses:

Sandhu has a beer on his menu dedicated to his grandfather, Chanan, which includes Indian coriander as one of its ingredients. “I actually do see a high percentage of Indian customers ordering the beer that’s named after my grandfather,” Sandhu says. “I think these populations feel safe and they feel comfortable at our brewery. We don’t just see them coming in just once, but they become regulars.”

Unlike the samey “I miss the pub” teary tales or the quite uncomfortable “beer has been the only thing that gives my life meaning” confessionals, Mr. G. Oliver has looked to the future and sees hope as well as these three interesting trends:

What use is a “share bottle” you can’t share? It’ll be interesting to see if the stemming of the pandemic brings the 750 back at all. I think people are doubling down on case sales; we haven’t wanted to make any more trips to retail than necessary. People are also buying fewer expensive specialty beers.  I also think that the pandemic is helping fuel the rise of the non-alcoholic category. A lot of people are now home for lunch every day. What are you going to drink with your sandwich for lunch? NA beers can provide a perfect answer, and there’s nobody watching you “drink a beer” at lunch in your kitchen. NA is getting normalized faster than it would have otherwise.

By the way… does anyone know how you are supposed to find a story on GBH? What a hot mess of a front page.

Stonch, well known pub lad and operator of Britain’s longest-running beer blog, praised CAMRA on its 50th anniversary this week for, yes, achieving its goals:

Yes, there’s been a growth in excellent keg, and that has perhaps pushed cask ale out of the limelight in many beer-focused bars. Yes, the immediate after-effects of the pandemic will produce challenging conditions for cask-centric brewers. CAMRA has plenty to be keeping busy with, and without doubt can remain relevant and vital if it so chooses. Speaking as a publican, I can say with confidence that there is no way that a significant part of today’s pub-going public would be happy to visit a pub that didn’t offer reasonably well-kept cask conditioned ale. That commercial reality will preserve this particular part of Britain’s heritage for years to come.

And from the other side of the bar as well as knees under the organizational table, the Tand praised CAMRA on its 50th anniversary this week for, yes, achieving its goals:

I’m a relative newcomer, my tenure in the Campaign being a mere 40 years, but happily my anniversary as a member coincides, more or less, with the fiftieth year of our venerable organisation.  Like many, I’m looking forward to Laura Hadland’s book outlining CAMRA’s rich history and to reading the tales of those who have made this epic campaigning journey, both with and before me. Of course, while the organisation is to be congratulated, it is also an excuse for members to raise a glass to themselves, whether they are grey in beard and sandal or – like some of us – still youthful and inspired. Young or old, we are all the Campaign for Real Ale, and we can justifiably bask in our own reflected glory, even if just for a day.

For an alternative view, consider the Viz magazine perspective.

Best actual brewing thing I have seen this week? This:

OH MY GOSH – sooo excited!! Today’s the day we’re brewing our 1st 2021 Vintage Ale @FullersBrewery and I got the honour of mashing it in! Thanks @FullersGuy!

Me, I’d make my own now… but they employed a cunning strategy and reversed the image so we will never know how the beer was made. One thing is for sure. There aren’t any ambering hops in there.

There. Saturday is spring. Yes, the second spring of a pandemic but still spring. So while you turn the soil and plant the seed, check out the weekly updates from Boak and Bailey mostly every Saturday, plus more with the weekly Beer Ladies Podcast, at the weekly OCBG Podcast on Tuesday and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well.  There is more from the DaftAboutCraft  podcast, too. And the Beervana podcast. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, The Gulp, too. Plus the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. There’s the AfroBeerChick  podcast as well! And also look at Brewsround and Cabin Fever. And Ben has his own podcast, Beer and Badword – when he isn’t in hiatus as at the mo, more like timeout for rudeness. And remember BeerEdge, too.