May 2010
Sometimes The News Is Quite Acceptably Untrue
Posted by on Monday, May 31, 2010 in - 3 comments
You would think that the headline "Alcoholic ginger beer set to be most popular summer drink in England" might mean that someone is claiming that alcoholic ginger beer set to be most popular summer drink in England. But it isn't. There is no way in Hell that beer or tea or even fruit juice will be …
Maine: 11th Anniversary Ale, Allagash, Portland
Posted by on Saturday, May 29, 2010 in - leave a comment
Memorial Day weekend el norte continues with this four year old treat from Allagash in Maine. Sixteen bucks for 750 ml at 9.2% in 2006? I have no idea. Pre-recession pricing is meaningless to me now. • The brewery speaks highly of this creation which finds itself this far into its life looking …
Wisconsin: Moon Man Pale Ale, New Glarus
Posted by on Friday, May 28, 2010 in - 1 comment
It's Memorial Day weekend in the USA and I am celebrating. Mainly because I've been sick since the middle of last weekend's Victoria Day long weekend up here. Being in a border town it's not a great stretch even if I can't get over to witness one of the glories of the western world, a small town … read more »
Who Has The Greater Moral Right To Sell Me Beer?
Posted by on Wednesday, May 26, 2010 in - 3 comments
I think I find this weirder than I might if I ran a pub or a CAMRA local branch but it seems to me that there might have been some unwritten unspoken arrangement between pubs and CAMRA not that far from CAMRA’s national administrative centre in St Albans, Hertfordshire if the pub owners quoted in …
Pizzaria Owners Advised To Short The Public
Posted by on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 in - 3 comments
I came across an extraordinary bit of beer business advice in PMQ which I take in this context to be "Pizzaria Marketing Quarterly"¹ Read this and let me know what you think: • ...It’s also important to know how many servings you should get from a keg. For example, most owners know there are …
Lots Of Club Soda And A Pity Barbeque
Posted by on Monday, May 24, 2010 in - leave a comment
I hate not getting to get the BBQ going even if I am sick. And no, in true Canadian style, it wasn't really a BBQ even if I smoked the rib steaks for the last bit of the grilling. As our dinner guests took the hint, it was more of a pity 'que. Just a man, briquettes and meat. At least it wasn't a …
Planning Sessions For The Upcoming Beery Seminars
Posted by on Sunday, May 23, 2010 in - 1 comment
Gaffel Kolsch has shown up in the LCBO after, my guess, a 15 year absence. I used to get this up in the Ottawa Valley when the LCBO used to do things like stock beer preferred by local communities. My part of the Ottawa valley had an army base which included a lot of former residents at German …
That Oddly Named Canadian Holiday May Two-Four
Posted by on Saturday, May 22, 2010 in - 1 comment
The 24th of May does not need to fall on the May two-four weekend for it to be a holiday even if this year Monday will really be the 24th. As this food feature in the National Post implies, this holiday has become something of a celebration of beer for Canada. "Two-four" is our slang for a 24 …
Are Fingers Crossed Behind Beer Writers' Backs?
Posted by on Friday, May 21, 2010 in - 3 comments
Writing about beer writing is both boring and interesting. Mark Dredge, a young lad in London, poses the occasional enjoyable question of this sort and I have to admit they draw me in. Here is his latest post about the propriety of describing having had too much to drink and this was my response …
Not Beer: What Is In Your Liquor Cabinet?
Posted by on Thursday, May 20, 2010 in - 12 comments
I am fairly old school. I have red wines, a bottle of Plymouth gin, black rum, sweet Cinzano, Pernod, bourbon, various sherries and the Pimm's added today. When I think of it, Kingsley Amis would not get lost amongst those bottles. I also have Angostura bitters, cans of club soda and tonic water …
Quebec: Porter Baltique, Les Trois Mousquetaires
Posted by on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 in - 1 comment
This must be the best value in Baltic porters on the planet at $7.99 a 750 ml at 10%. Dated and "grand reserve", too. I don't know what "grand reserve" means in this particular case as I picked it up at Marche Omni and it didn't come out of a deep dank cavern but... • The beer pours inky brown …
When Is A Stonch Not A Stonch?
Posted by on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 in - 1 comment
When it's his business. Jeff the artist formerly known as Stonch has announced a blog for his pub The Gunmakers will be updating soon. Excellent news. Now, if he can just work on closing the street for Tuesday night London Skittles league play.
Adnams Seeks End To Small Brewery Tax Break
Posted by on Monday, May 17, 2010 in - 18 comments
[Note: I have been well chastened by a generous application of the facts by Mr. Stephen Pugh in the comments and now am compelled to consider his objections to the format of the tax subsidy far more seriously. This post has been edited accordingly but done so in a way to ensure continuing … read more »
Err... About The Pub As A Campaign Issue
Posted by on Sunday, May 16, 2010 in - 1 comment
So, when the government gets the boot and is replaced by a coalition you know that what plays out is the true feeling of the population mixing with the true intentions of the parties. And, all of the sudden, it seems like the pub is not the flavour of the month with the new British government …
A Brewery Trapped By Local Culture
Posted by on Saturday, May 15, 2010 in - 1 comment
Josh Rubin has a good article in the Toronto Star today about Creemore Springs and the real or perceived pressures it faces in moving its business model forward. Let's count them, shall we: • A former owner who remains vocal and opinionated.A brand that is too closely tied to location.A village …
What Would I Tell Ohio About Beer If I Could?
Posted by on Thursday, May 13, 2010 in - 3 comments
I got a very nice email this week inviting me to be a speaker at Ohio Brew Week. We've never been in southeast Ohio and July needed a new destination assigned to it so this may well happen. But what to talk about? What theme should I focus on? • Economics: walls filled with rapidly flashing … read more »
Toronto Gets Breakfast Beer For The World Cup
Posted by on Wednesday, May 12, 2010 in - 4 comments
OK, with a month to go to World Cup soccer from South Africa I am glad this has been cleared up... at least for Toronto: • The sun will be over the yardarm a little bit earlier during the FIFA World Cup, thanks to Deputy Mayor Joe Pantalone. “We’re approaching more of a European attitude to …
New York: Rare Vos, Ommegang, Cooperstown
Posted by on Tuesday, May 11, 2010 in - 3 comments
I haven't mentioned Ommegang's Rare Vos in something like seven years of being aware of it. I haven't mentioned other things but I keep them to myself. It is called a Belgian-Style Amber Ale on the neck label. Sad that the regulators of such things couldn't have settled on Belgianesque instead of …
Another Fact Or Two Relevant To Albany Ale
Posted by on Monday, May 10, 2010 in - 5 comments
Reading a book on Mohawk political figures called The Two Hendricks when I came upon a few facts that may become relevant to the Albany Ale question: • In 1721, Albany developed a trade in flour and bread to the West Indies.In the 1740s, the loyalties of the Albany Dutch were held suspect by the …
Ontario: Our First Craft Beer Week Is Coming
Posted by on Sunday, May 9, 2010 in - 1 comment
As I think you all might know, I live in eastern Ontario and have often cast an envious eye towards other nearby jurisdictions especially New York but also recently Quebec. I was south just yesterday to buy some Ommegang, Brooklyn, Sierra Nevada and Goose Island at a grocery store. A grocery store …
Session 39: Collaboration? Call O' Bore-a-tion?
Posted by on Friday, May 7, 2010 in - 6 comments
That's not very clever. Or polite. But one must pun as one can. And one has to be always on watch for indulgence - especially when it comes to marketing... or is it marketability. That is what Stan mentioned: "Collaborations are good business, good marketing, good fun and often result in …
Is Gin Lane Being Rebuilt With "Kamikaze" Prices?
Posted by on Thursday, May 6, 2010 in - 1 comment
Shock and outrage in Scotland with prices for beer dropping to, frankly, insanely low levels: • Nationalist backbencher Ian McKee said: “What’s being reported as a kamikaze supermarket beer war has started in advance of the World Cup.” Caseloads of 24 cans of popular brands are being sold for as …
Politics, Pubs, Leadership and Density
Posted by on Wednesday, May 5, 2010 in - leave a comment
Interesting observation in the Montreal Gazette today about why it is that the two-dimensional Pub Minister and other cynical forms of political band wagoning over the pub trade has gotten such attention in UK election: • Few commentators question the need to help out a sector of the economy … read more »
Where Else Hides The Culture of Entitlement?
Posted by on Tuesday, May 4, 2010 in - 5 comments
Pete Brown's piece this morning about, according to my finger count, seven members of CAMRA and two incidents entitled "CAMRA's Noxious Culture of Entitlement" got me wondering. Craft beer is funny stuff as any fan-based hobby is. People lose perspective. So, somewhat related to the Hedonist Beer …
BBADD: New Rules in British Columbia
Posted by on Monday, May 3, 2010 in - leave a comment
Newspapers are full of the new heightened administrative penalties for blowing over the limit(s) in Canada's left coast province of British Columbia. Here is a good explanation of what the new rules look like: • Anyone who fails a roadside breath test will face a 90-day driving ban, a $500 fine …
Beer Also Makes You Taste Better
Posted by on Sunday, May 2, 2010 in - 2 comments
Not only does it make you funnier, more attractive and a better dancer but it also tastier to insects in the family Culicidae: • The tents used a complex system of tubing to direct the volunteers' body odour into boxes in such a way that the mosquitoes could choose which scent to go after. Half …
