January 2010
Your Vital Japanese Third-Category Beer Update
Posted by on Sunday, January 31, 2010 in - 2 comments
We've discussed the beer-like substances of Japan before even though I have never had one. A story in today's' edition of the UK's Independent newspaper provides both an introduction and an update: • Japanese brewers are launching a range of new beers that tap into a growing taste for …
A Beer Can Nerd In 360 Degree Wrap Around Vision
Posted by on Saturday, January 30, 2010 in - 1 comment
An interesting use of panoramic digital photography... if a neat and tidy basement full of beer cans is your thing. Spot the Old Scotia can, a short lived Nova Scotian favorite. Spot the thrilled patient spouse.
All Saisons All Weekend All For Me
Posted by on Friday, January 29, 2010 in - 1 comment
Time was I used to post review posts that I added a bit here and there over time. I stopped when one reader noted that there was no way of knowing when these posts got updated. He was right. The internet sucks when you get right down to it, doesn't it. Why isn't there an autobot dedicated to the …
Where Are We With The Price Of Inputs In Early 2010?
Posted by on Thursday, January 28, 2010 in - 1 comment
Inputs. Or as the Teutonics might say "ingapüts". It's the short form for the costs of things that go into your beer. When the price of hops and malt went north in October 2007, we started reminding ourselves that when we are told costs have gone up we better check whether prices in fact have gone …
The New York Times Examines The Growler
Posted by on Tuesday, January 26, 2010 in - 10 comments
It has to happen sooner or later. The mainstream media has gotten the good beer bug and for the most part has added to the discourse. Stories about ingredients and techniques, stories about rare beers and beers from places that are hard to reach. And, now, the story of the growler beginning with …
Massachusetts: Baby Tree, Pretty Things, Holyoke
Posted by on Monday, January 25, 2010 in - leave a comment
The second Pretty Thing in a week. A quadruple ale with dried plums. Hmm. Where I come from that's a prune. And what better beer to have of Rrrrrrrrobbie Burrrrrrns than one with prunes - "the beerrrrrr that gud fir yir bowellllls." So, maybe I shouldn't quit my job and go into marketing. • I …
Beer Described As Both Salvation And Pointless Luxury
Posted by on Sunday, January 24, 2010 in - leave a comment
Two news stories caught my eye in the British press today and both were about events in Haiti. In The Independent one we are told "Beer and Biscuits Saved Man Trapped in Rubble for 11 Days" while in the Daily Mail we learn "Aid Piling Up at UN's 'Cold Beer' Compound". The role of beer in the …
Who Are The "We" In The Good Beer Community?
Posted by on Saturday, January 23, 2010 in - 14 comments
Martyn, the wise Zythophile, made an observation yesterday that includes a per-supposition that I am not sure has been explored: • It's not said often enough in this argument: we drink because we enjoy it, and the overall happiness that brings to society, I would suggest, vastly outweighs any …
CNY Roadtrip To Stock The Stash
Posted by on Friday, January 22, 2010 in - 2 comments
Back. I made it back. I hit four beer stores over around 500 km and nine and a half hours. Now, whereas Pretty Things was just a one time bottle that I passed in the night, now I have seven bottles representing three of their brews and any number of batches. Those canny little cap labels are … read more »
Are There Too Many Questions About What's Too Many?
Posted by on Thursday, January 21, 2010 in - 4 comments
Lots of talk around these days. Pete has posted his series on the media and stories about representing alcohol use in the UK. Jay has had a mirroring series that has been a theem for sometime. I am still not fully satisfied because, while Pete and Jay each have honestly shared past experience … read more »
Massachusetts: Jack D'Or, Pretty Things, Holyoke
Posted by on Wednesday, January 20, 2010 in - 4 comments
If you have read this blog for a while you will appreciate that I like saison. A few years back I wondered out loud if it was going to ever be the next big thing and I may have had my wish granted to some degree as they are out there even if they haven't exactly bumped macro pilsner off the shelf …
Is It Required That I Box If I Drink Boxer Lager?
Posted by on Monday, January 18, 2010 in - 9 comments
We read in the Toronto Sun this morning that: • "Majit and Ravinder Minhas, the sister and brother who own the Minas Creek Brewing Company, received a letter from the AGCO in December about the name of their Boxer Lager. The complaint seems to centre on the beer’s name, which could be construed …
Has An Unacceptable Level Of Drinking Been Described?
Posted by on Sunday, January 17, 2010 in - 8 comments
Pete Brown has run a series of posts this week and last that delve into stats being issued by various government agencies and health lobby groups in the UK. It is important work that Pete is doing as there is no stat worse than the unexamined stat. Today's post was called "More Hilarity with …
Why Does The RSC Want A Can Of Watney's Party Seven?
Posted by on Sunday, January 17, 2010 in - 3 comments
I was trolling Google for beer stories this weekend when I came across a story in Britain's Daily Mail about Britain's Royal Society of Chemistry looking for an unopened can of Watney's Party Seven Draught Bitter. Though a venerable brewer, the name "Watney's" rings though the recent decades for …
New York: Rejewvenator, Shmaltz, Saratoga Springs
Posted by on Friday, January 15, 2010 in - 6 comments
A beer made of fig. Who knew? Not me. I found this in the stash and it was good. I was pleased. • I have really enjoyed the He'Brew branded beers from Schmaltz Brewing that I have been able to get my hands on. Perhaps my best beer bottle pr0n even. This one is no different. The label proclaims … read more »
FTW: My Lamb's Wool Express Ale Mulling Experiment
Posted by on Thursday, January 14, 2010 in - 6 comments
I finally got around to making that Lamb's Wool, an 18th century form of English mulled beer that I wanted to try to make over Christmas. But I never found the time to core the apples, bake the apples, heat the beer, baste the apples and sit down to a meal of hot backed apples and mulled beer …
Is Canada The Nation Best Built For Beer?
Posted by on Wednesday, January 13, 2010 in - 18 comments
I am having a nice glass of beer. Belgian beer as it turns out. I was trying to read Pete Brown's series on "Answering the Neo Prohibitionists" but I am reflecting on how nice it is to live in a country where there really isn't any organized political outcry against beer as in the UK or any shock …
Book Review: A Life On The Hop, Roger Protz
Posted by on Tuesday, January 12, 2010 in - 2 comments
I bought a copy of this book after looking around and only finding Knut's observations from last summer on the difference between its marketing and that of Pete Brown's Hops and Glory. There was a press release by its publisher CAMRA, a nibbly bit by the NUJ, a smidge from his editorial assistant …
Why Does That Word "Pairing" Make My Temples Ache?
Posted by on Sunday, January 10, 2010 in - 44 comments
This has bugged me for a while. And that it bugs me bugs others, too. Here is what I know. Someone somewhere in the last few years decided we needed to "pair" beer with food. Prior to that, people just drank beer with their food and were generally happy with the many ways that great beer goes with …
Rhode Island: Lager And Porter, Narragansett
Posted by on Saturday, January 9, 2010 in - 7 comments
I got a few emails from very nice people representing Narragansett over the fall asking if I would like some samples and, of course, I said yes. From Great American Beer, I learn that the brand was bought back from Pabst in 2003 by Mark Hellendrung, a local businessman. So, while I was not …
Scotland: Chaos Theory and Its Prototype, BrewDog
Posted by on Friday, January 8, 2010 in - 2 comments
I heard the news today. Chaos Theory was being delisted. Discontinued. One of the sure signs of a brewery moving into a next stage is rationalization and we have seen a bit of that with BrewDog. They have new staff and a new range for their experimental beer ideas. But once upon a time they were …
Allsopp's Arctic Ale And Arctic Homebrew In 1852
Posted by on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 in - 3 comments
There is a bit of beery backroom buzz about plans to make a movie about the Allsopp's Arctic Ale, the beer which accompanied a British navy expedition in the Canadian high Arctic in the mid-eighteenth century. The film maker's website is not up yet but there is a Facebook page which reports …
Trends 2010: Is There Really Simplicity In Beer?
Posted by on Wednesday, January 6, 2010 in - 5 comments
I wrote this in the year end review but I am not sure I know what I mean or even if I mean it: • ...bigger craft brewers and even some regionals are making interesting beers which are not bombs. Lew recently noted both Magic Hat Odd Notion Fall '09 and Narragansett Porter both of which I also …
Book Review: 33 Bottles of Beer, Dave Selden and Pals
Posted by on Tuesday, January 5, 2010 in - leave a comment
I got an envelope from Dave Selden of Portland, Oregon right after the end of the end of the photo contest. In it there was a real letter on real letterhead and two copies of the booklet 33 Bottles of Beer. I should have been a lesson to me as I still haven't mailed out the three prizes I was …
So Many Questions About Beer From Today's News
Posted by on Monday, January 4, 2010 in - 4 comments
There are days when the themes in the news do not weave a story but look like broken pieces upon the floor. I was going to consider this all in the form of epic multi-stanza haiku but there was only noise amongst the beer news: • Can Negro Modelo really ever be considered a rare find in the big …
Doctor Who Regenerates Just As Stonch's Blog Ends
Posted by on Sunday, January 3, 2010 in - 4 comments
Co-incidence? Just a fluke that the same holiday weekend sees Jeff close down Stonch's beer blog and the tenth Doctor making his exit? I was going to photoshop a Dalek in replacing the keg above but that would be a little too much effort on my part. • Jeff, first as "Stonch" and then as himself …
Canadians Need A New Word For "Not Beer" Beer
Posted by on Sunday, January 3, 2010 in - 3 comments
It was with sadness but not surprise that I read yesterday's interview of Richard Musson, the vice-president of marketing for Labatt Breweries of Canada in the Globe and Mail. Even with his focus on marketing, the answers come across like he is talking about about an unknown product from a …
S35: Looking Back And Looking Forward And Asking Why
Posted by on Saturday, January 2, 2010 in - leave a comment
Here we go again - session time on the first Friday of the month. Except it's Saturday now. The question was posed by Christina Perozzi and Hallie Beaune, the authors of The Naked Pint: • So we want to know what was your best and worst of beer for 2009? What beer mistakes did you make? What beer …
Belgium: Oude Geuze, Drie Fonteinen, Beersel
Posted by on Friday, January 1, 2010 in - leave a comment
New Year's Eve. You want a cork on New Year's Eve, right? This wee pal says it was bottled on 17 January 2006 but it's not going to make its fourth birthday. The Shelton Bros label assures me that it would be good for a full decade but who knows where we'll all be in 2016. And where would that bit …
