This stuff is so unbelievable to not post for your consideration with a big tip to Paul:

In a letter to the company, the Portman Group has warned that BrewDog's products are potentially in breach of its official code of conduct. David Poley, the Portman Group's chief executive, told The Scotsman: "We have asked this company to take remedial action to address potential problems that have been highlighted to them. "If a company fails to remedy the perceived breach, the matter will be formally referred to our independent complaints panel and, if a case is upheld, we will issue an alert advising retailers not to stock the product until it has been amended."

Whew - what's that smell?!? The only issue I have with the article is the claim that BrewDog's beers are in Canada but as to the rest of it, crazy. Note that the Portman Group is a trade organization which will mainly represent firms who may be losing market to the innovative if cheeky lads from BrewDog. A very good point is made as well as to who is responsible for making cheap booze available to the market - other members of the Portman Group.

You know you are doing something right when this sort of stuff comes crawling out of the woodwork. Read BrewDog's full response here.

Pete has this story today but I think it is so unbelievable I am going to play the role of oath bolsterer:

A cashier told Dominic Zenden, 45, that he could not leave with the Budweiser bottles in case he gave any to his 15-year-old daughter, Devon. Mr Zenden said that the alcohol was for his own consumption and he would not give any to the teenager but the cashier refused to back down and he left empty-handed from the store in Sprowston, near his home in Norwich.

Mr Zenden, who has worked as a spiritualist medium for 25 years, said: "I was dumbfounded. There was absolutely no indication that my daughter would be drinking the alcohol. It was for me. I fancied a nice cool beer on a warm evening. But the woman told me that they don’t sell alcohol to people who have children with them." A Tesco spokesman said that staff were entitled to ask for proof of age from anyone present when alcohol was being purchased if it was suspected that they might consume it. He added: "We are doing lots of work to try to stop under 18's getting alcohol, and one of the biggest problems has become adults buying for people who are underage."

A few legal notes for you. Suspicion is meaningless if it is not reasonable. Here there seems to have been no reasonable relationship between the refusal of service and the policy. Further, it's nice to think of the wonder that is our human rights legislation and how it provides that

every person has a right to equal treatment with respect to services, goods and facilities, without discrimination because of race, ancestry, place of origin, colour, ethnic origin, citizenship, creed, sex, sexual orientation, age, marital status, family status or disability.

So, at least in Ontario, if someone tried to pull this stunt, they could be slapped with a complaint against a tribunal faster than you can say "My, what a good reason to boycott Tesco!" because telling me I can't buy beer because I have a child is a little like saying I can't have that job because I have a disability.

So, will the beer drinking Moms and Dads of England buy elsewhere and make a big stink? Why not? Stamp out this foolishness. However, before they do, one question - if this guys was a spiritualist medium...errr...why didn't he see this coming?

Ah, the new issue of Beeradvocate magazine and its cupie doll tap handles. There was quite an outrage over this among circles so small that they might not even form circles. Funny no one thought that they were in drag or just detritus of toy box.

Anyway, this is a very light take on barley wine from Vermont's Rock Art Brewery. Plenty of pale malt graininess with a nice seam of apple butter, smoke and brown bread lightly cut by twig hops and, I think, a little black malt. A bit of mineral drying in the water. It pours a gorgeous brown that is a notch redder than beer bottle brown and sits under rich lacing deep cream froth. And at 7.5%, the brewery - interestingly - calls this a mild barley wine. So maybe this is a beer living in a parallel universe with Scots wee heavy ales or even Ron's beloved Victorian high-test mild. Not overly complex but also none of that beer broth thing that can pop up in the higher test barley wines if not handled well.

Good BAer support.

This is a funny book. Guide books can be. You see they are to guide people from "X" around about a little old place we like to call "Y". If you are from "X" or "Y", you are likely going to understand what's going on but if you are not it gets to be a bit of an exercise in cultural anthropology with a decent bit of literary deconstruction thrown in.

"What the hell are you on about?" you might ask - and well you might. Have a look at Stan's review from last week in which he describes the authors: bright well-placed beer journalists from the UK who spent a total of 56 days in situ to learn what they needed to tell the story of a number of the great brewing cities which have emerged in the world. The sense of pace is set out in the book as is their odd idea of normal - TVs and shuffleboards in bars are noteworthy, for example. Yet, there is a really handy seven page idiot's guide to US beer styles. There's also a bit plummy text that gets a bit distracting to someone trying to interpret the guidance being offered. The same page contains the phrases "brews from Blighty" and "carefully curated array of bottled beers." You get the sense from some shorter pub or brewery reviews that a thesaurus was enlisted in an effort to make sure samenesses observed were not so conveyed. However, there are some fantastic photos of the eye catching that are up there with the beer porn Evan Rail was handing out left right and centre in his sibling guide to Prague and the Czech Republic.

What can I say in a few sentences that can sum up a book addressed to someone other than me about a place I haven't visited since I was three? It's useful and very well laid out. It's handy and the maps are great. If I was on the ground I am sure that I would find it indispensable and that the British asides would not be so obvious. But it will take a place of honour with my other travel guides. But if I wanted to learn about any particular brewery or beer they discuss, I would find far more information on the internet. But that's just it. This is not an encyclopedia. It's a guide or, as birder books better say, a field guide for keeping in a glove compartment when you are out and about. Except you'd be taking public transport, right?

There's plenty to read on this label. The beers full name seems to be "Nightmare Yorkshire Porter" and it's brewed by "Nick Stafford's Hambleton Ales" - there's even a subtitle "Legend of the White Horse" plus a blurb on the side about the damn white horse. In the UK it appears to be labeled as a stout. Did I ever tell you about the time when I could order a beer and I got a beer?

And it's not porter season either but I've getting all this angst that I shouldn't leave my beer around too long. Actually, I have a Burton Bridge porter souring test going on with a 2006 and 2007 being left in a window sill waiting for a 2008 LCBO offering to compare them to.

Anyway, what about this beer? Licorice and dry cocoa on the nose off of this mahogany ale with mocha foam and rim. A nice lighter take on the style with layers of roastiness as well as both milk and dark chocolate, twig hops, a good milky cream yeast and lots of soft water in the wash and swish. A long finish of cocoa with a bit of black rum keeking out. Moreish. Plenty of BAer respect.

It's just a short article in Wired but it provides a good summary of where we are with the hop and barley price jumps and gets me thinking about that other elephant in the room - value:

"My jaw hit the floor when I saw the price," Ansari says. And next year, he'll have to reformulate his brown ale Bender beer, a blend he described as a "flagship" flavor requiring the "Willamette" hop from the Pacific Northwest. "We were informed by our supplier that next year we can't get that hop. It's just gone," Ansari said. "We're going to have to make changes. Everybody," he says, "is crossing their fingers there is going to be good hop crop."

I haven't got my copy of the May Beer Advocate magazine yet but I understand this issue has an article on prices (as Andy discussed in March) that takes some bars to task for the degree of price increase they are asking customers to bear. The Alstrom lads have been addressing the question of price and value fairly consistency with their recent articles on the monks of Westvleteren wanting the inflated reselling of their beers to stop as well as their raising of the issue of paying for beer fest beers.

As you know, I've been thinking about it, too, but even more so this weekend as I realize how much of the bitterness in those low-priced, thirst-quenching Sam Adams Summer Ales over the BBQ is from those wee grains of paradise - and how I don't mind at all. The Wired article mentions how 21st Amendment brews a Watermelon Wheat with virtually no hops. It will be interesting to watch how this crisis becomes for some a reason to unreasonably soak and how for others it will be an opportunity to innovate. Do you plan to reward the innovators with your support?

I got to spend my work day in another country today and be home in time for supper. Not a bad Friday on a loverly spring day. And what better for a spring day than summer ale. I picked up a 12 of Sam Adam's Summer Ale at the Watertown Hannaford for 13 bucks which, when the Canadian customs duties and taxes and mark-ups and other taxes and stuff were added, still worked out to less than 3/4s the cost of beer in Canada.

But when I checked the label (after checking the bottle...no, this is an N26 but thanks for the heads up, Lew) I remembered that I had been quite hard on Sam's summer seasonal back in 2005 and this looks a lot like it - except it's not Sam Adams White with Lemon and Grains of Paradise but Sam Adams Summer with Lemon and Grains of Paradise. Hmmm.

This one pours a slightly clouded orange-amber with a fine white clinging lace and foam. The nose is sour lemon yogurt, the good sort. In the mouth it's a bright lemon and herbal brew with pale ale graininess over cream from the yeast and malt. Great balancing twiggy bitterness right where you want it, too. Definitely not kraphtt. Like their Scotch Ale this is craft and at $12.99 a 12-pack also great value. Gotta go - I'm having another. BAers are on board.

Ron's plate o' meat

Ron's Spring '08 central European road trip with Andy has been fun to follow but today's installment has to be the best. In it he uncovers a local brewing tradition played out in one small German region, watches people eat a lot of meat, finds a new hop-based spirit to drink and decides to spend the night. But the traditions of brewing this one beer, Zoigl, is a little weird:

Back at our hotel, Andy has a chat with the landlord. Yes, he does have Zoigl on. Hooray! Even though the official Zoigl time ended on Sunday (it's Tuesday, if you've lost track). He has a little flyer with the Zoigl schedule for the year printed on it. They're very well organised. Each of the five brewing families in Neuhaus takes it in turns to sell Zoigl Thursday to Sunday. Like I said, it's Tuesday. Once a year (3rd of October in 2008), all five Zoigl families sell beer simultaneously. I'll mark that date in my calendar.

It's Zoigl-tastic! It's so Zoigl-tastic I suspect if this beer were called Neuhausbrau or, say, zblat or something else I would not be nearly as interested. But what really amazes me is that there isn't a TV crew following Ron around on these tours. Surely - if there is a golf channel and a world fishing network - there must be an appetite for a station that follows a group of eloquent middle aged beer hounds around rooting out the back woods beer traditions of small communities. And describing the local smoked meats that go with them. As they get snapped.

We need to put out nickels together and make this happen.

Some days are just slow for beer news but this photo caught my eye. What dramatic perspective...and a natty choice of slippers. A classic from the school of "nutty old guy in basement" art. Whippersnapper irony? Bah! To me, he's a sort of hero - but what would the caption be? Here are my best guesses:

• "...and I call this one the big can."
• "She said carpet but I said beer cans."
• "No, it's all the result of a misguided bladder health study I was in back in '68."

You got any?

So far with this Dutch brewer, I have liked Zatte more than Struis. Why must these things be? BAers, approvingly, tell me this is a Belgian pale ale and the bottle tells me it's a 9% brew. So far so good.

This beer pours an attractive orange amber with a huge fine cream head and a wicked case of the floaties. It gives off a very refined scent: floral, peach icing and oranges. In the mouth there is lots to love. A mouth feel that is more delicate than I would have thought at this strength. Marmalade, Irn Bru, cream, a reasonable dose of heat, some sub-astringent tea in the finish. Rich without being either cloying or heavy. Very nice stuff. Lekker even. $4.99 at Bella Vino last fall.