June 2010
Will We Know It When Beer Jumps The Shark?
Posted by on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 in - 10 comments
I love the "jump the shark" idea but only because I was a pre-teen when Happy Days and the Fonze was on TV. It combines my love of taking a adolescent view of things with my habit of taking a adolescent view of things. So it was with interest that I read this from Joe Stange this morning: • It's …
Book Review: 500 Beers By Zak Avery
Posted by on Tuesday, June 29, 2010 - leave a comment
I don't know if this is the cool new blue cover or the boring old blue cover but it's quite blue. I did knew from the outset that the book was not written by a Canadian as then it would be titled "500 Beer" as the plural and the singular are written the same up here. But it written by Zak, he the …
Stuck In My Own Town's Mid-1800s Beery History
Posted by on Sunday, June 27, 2010 in - 2 comments
I had intended to get into the 1900s but have gotten stuck in the newspapers out of my town from the nineteenth century. From its first days at the western edge of the British Empire, as this pretty poor image of an early 1800s map shows, Kingston had a Brewery Street. Its still there even if …
For All The Bad News About Soccer Fans...
Posted by on Saturday, June 26, 2010 in - leave a comment
...It ain't all that bad. Sometimes - and more often than we think - it is a far less incident provoking experience than the media would have you expect: • Despite the long-standing rivalry between the teams, which meet in a last 16 clash at the Free State Stadium, everyone was basking in the …
Ontario: Dark Ale, Muskoka Cottage Brewery, Bracebridge
Posted by on Friday, June 25, 2010 in - leave a comment
Just learned that my camera died. Also just learned what a crappy camera I bought my kid last birthday. No focus. No warm tones. The corner of the cold room looks like the corner of a cold room. Sad. • Today for Ontario craft beer week, I went out to the LCBO and bought a few cans of beers that … read more »
Who Made Ontario's First Lager And Where?
Posted by on Wednesday, June 23, 2010 in - 2 comments
In the 1868-69 edition of Sutherland's City of Hamilton and County of Wentworth Directory there is listed a little listing that says "Eckhardt, August, brewer, Hamilton Lager Beer Brewery..." This corresponds with Sneath's first listing for a lager brewery in 1868 which states: • Edward Eckhardt …
Ontario: Stock Ale, Mill Street Brewery, Toronto
Posted by on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 in - 1 comment
Where was I? The 1830s and 40s? About there. Local breweries popping up as settlers move west, filling up southern Ontario right up to the Lake Huron coast. Familar names start popping up. In 1835, James Morton is operating out of the old Molson brewery on the Kingston waterfront. John Sleeman …
Beer And Ethics: Does One Tap The Saved Keg?
Posted by on Tuesday, June 22, 2010 in - 5 comments
This moment in the lives of a couple of small town Canadian firefighters has got me thinking: • As the smouldering site was being demolished, some firefighters noticed the six kegs of beer and decided to save the valuable merchandise, Oliver Mayor Pat Hampson told The Province Monday night. But …
Why Did Ontario Beer Have To Make Its Own Way?
Posted by on Sunday, June 20, 2010 in - leave a comment
Why did Ontario have to make its own path to beerdom? Well, a war and a river for one thing. As we discussed yesterday, the land that is now Ontario was settled in 1783-84 by Loyalist refugees from New York state after the American Revolution. For the first five years, Kingston is a military town …
The Origins Of Ontario's Good Beer Tradition
Posted by on Saturday, June 19, 2010 in - 20 comments
Beer. It only gets to you in so many ways. You make beer and provide it to your community. You make beer and ship it to another community. You ship beer in and provide it to your community. There are not too many other options for the beer trade whether you are talking about 1810 or 2010. Today we …
I Am An Ontario Craft Beer Week Event
Posted by on Friday, June 18, 2010 in - 2 comments
I love it. Things are getting interesting. In response to Troy and Cass setting up a beer crawl, I asked and have been personally declared an Ontario Craft Beer Week event in my own right. Me. Not me going somewhere. Not even me doing something. Just me. Mr. Event. I had some Beau's in the back …
Jeff Of The Gunmakers Considers Twitter
Posted by on Thursday, June 17, 2010 in - leave a comment
Amongst the many things one misses in this post-Stonch portion of of the history of the information superhighway is Jeff Bell's optimism - you know, the optimism that shined through the pessimistic grouchiness which itself was framed by a cheery glint of sunshine? No? Me neither. Well, he's doing …
First There Was Albany Ale... Now Taunton Ale
Posted by on Tuesday, June 15, 2010 in - 21 comments
I have a great pal with whom I have a recreational and professional interest in events in the Mohawk Valley of New York from around 1750 to 1785 and particularly William Johnson or rather Sir William Johnson, 1st Baronet of New York. Johnson was the landowner whose tenants become rather successful …
Straining Reality To Keep "Craft Beer" Meaningless
Posted by on Monday, June 14, 2010 in - 9 comments
I have every sympathy for the Boston Beer Company and their Sam Adams brands if for no other reason that they keep coming up with brews that surprise me unexpectedly with their quality and value. That being said, it is getting silly out there with the efforts being made to continue their right to …
Oregon: Hop In The Dark, Deschutes, Bend
Posted by on Sunday, June 13, 2010 in - 1 comment
From the fine people at Deschutes, this one pours deep mahogany. Cola even. With a frothy rim and foam of light mocha. On the nose, it is a West Coast US IPA - pine hoppy Cascade. Makes sense as this is a "CDA" or Cascadian Dark Ale. In the mouth, it's going in the same direction and then it's not …
The Joy Of The Pub To One Who May Well Hate It
Posted by on Sunday, June 13, 2010 in - leave a comment
We beer geeks can be a bit too precious. We can forget that the joy of being in a bar is that you are in a place with other rules. Watching France v. Uruguay Friday in a neighbourhood pub, I was reminded of the din and the confusion, the sideshow of bar staff and the human churn that is a packed …
Talking About Beer In The Garden On Friday
Posted by on Saturday, June 12, 2010 in - 2 comments
Do you like the lawn furniture? The bit of gardening? Very pleasant early evening yesterday with a few staff from Beau's and friends talking about beer. It's become apparent that the ability to hold symposia is a bit problematic for me. I had to decline the very tempting call from Ohio Brew Week …
It's A Great Big Beer Drinking Pot!
Posted by on Friday, June 11, 2010 in - 1 comment
I had no idea until the opening ceremonies that Soccer City, the main stadium build for World Cup 2010 is a replica of a South African communal beer drinking pot - the calabash. Please refer to your copy of Xhosa Beer Drinking Rituals for more details as to how to use one's own village's calabash.
Ontario: Lemon Tea Beer, Mill Street, Toronto
Posted by on Wednesday, June 9, 2010 in - 1 comment
I wasn't expecting to like this beer. The enamel stripping effect of Chapeau Lemon might have been at the back of my mind. But I received a swell sample pack from the brewer and gave it a whirl. • The beer pours an orange amber with a rich off white head that resolves to a rim and foam. The … read more »
Illinois: IPA, Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago
Posted by on Monday, June 7, 2010 in - 4 comments
On a Monday night when elementary school children are melting down all around you, it is hard to imagine Friday. Friday is that tiny light at the end of a long tunnel. A legend you hear about only in whispers in that place between waking and sleeping. And, worse, it's four days away. • But at …
Session 40: Session Beer Is All Around Us
Posted by on Saturday, June 5, 2010 in - 18 comments
There is a joke in Canada about why drinking American beer is like making love in a canoe. The punchline notes their common proximity to water. We may protest that those days are long gone if they ever existed. But who are the "we" who protest? One of the fallacious ideas popular among craft beer …
Denmark: Helene Heather, Nørrebro Bryghus
Posted by on Thursday, June 3, 2010 in - leave a comment
You know that you've been hanging out with the wrong crowd when you have a sip of a new beer and think it tastes like Pimms or rather those cucumber sticks that sit soaking in Pimms. But it sort of does. The taste opens. Soon the aroma is like a lumber yard in a light damp rain. My guess at rye in …
What Books To Choose To Start A Beer Library?
Posted by on Wednesday, June 2, 2010 in - 8 comments
I had the idea that part of my playing at training brewery staff might be to recommend the beginnings of a library. I figure most long distance sales rep and junior brewers have plenty of hours to flip through the pages of text books. I just needed to figure out which ones to select. Right? Then …
"Beer Banned From Dwile Flonking Championship"
Posted by on Tuesday, June 1, 2010 in - 1 comment
That is what the headline read. I heard it from Paul and thought "it's a joke, right?" • No joke. See, there are things that don't go with beer like driving a car and then there are things that not only go with beer but are only really about the beer - dwile flonking is one of them. But not …
