October 2010
One Of My Favorite Beer Blog Web Stats
Posted by on Sunday, October 31, 2010 in - 3 comments
Web states are the greatest of mugs game. I have no idea really how many of you are there out there reading this stuff. I know there are almost 9,000 readers via Google Reader, about a tenth of that on Twitter and less via the direct stats counting apps like Google Analytics. I check in and look … read more »
Discussing Science Down At Your Local Brew Pub?
Posted by on Sunday, October 31, 2010 in - 7 comments
I have noticed a few stories from time to time about churches and other faiths getting into the pub to spread the good word... but now the scientists are up to it, too: • Wouldn’t it be nice to just knock back a beer with an egghead at your local watering hole? Welcome to Tacoma Science Caf … read more »
CJ's And Big M: Beer Shopping in Potsdam, New York
Posted by on Friday, October 29, 2010 in - 5 comments
The shore road running southeast along the St. Lawrence between Ogdensburg and Alexandria Bay New York is a pretty quiet time on a Friday evening in mid-autumn. Bottles clinked in the back. They and I were unaware that we were minutes from a duty free customs wave through. Joy. Bliss. Forty bucks …
Revisited: Do We Love The Beer Or Vagabond Brewers?
Posted by on Thursday, October 28, 2010 in - 13 comments
A few years ago now, in February 2007, I asked whether we should love the beer or the brewer. A post by the excellent Joe Stange last week led me to comment and majestic Stan Stan the Hieronymus Man to post... which made Joe post again. And of course, I commented. The issue? Vagabond brewers. Here …
Delaware: Theobroma, Dogfish Head, Milton
Posted by on Wednesday, October 27, 2010 in - 1 comment
Mark Dredge has a piece in this morning's Guardian out of the UK entitled "The Beer of Yesteryear" which scans the range of recent brewing efforts to recreate beers older than, say, 500 years ago. These are beers which use ingredients available to former culture including Theorbrama by Dogfish …
Is This An Anti-"Pairing" Movement Starting?
Posted by on Monday, October 25, 2010 in - 2 comments
Well, maybe it's an anti-mandatory pairing movement going on in my old home province of Nova Scotia: • Restaurants on Quinpool Road in Halifax are being allowed to serve alcohol without food. Regional council agreed Tuesday to change the zoning law so restaurants can have lounges. Each business …
The 2010 Christmas Photo Contest Is Coming!
Posted by on Sunday, October 24, 2010 in - 7 comments
I suppose I better gear up for another onslaught of Yuletide beer photography and copntest award gathering. Heck, it's two months to Christmas tomorrow. And this will be the fifth edition of the annual contest. I can't believe it but it is true - it all began in 2006. If you want to read all the …
Beware Aficiandos: Utopian Soaking May Be Nigh!
Posted by on Saturday, October 23, 2010 in - 5 comments
I just about dropped my spoonful of Lucky Charms when I read this passage in Josh Rubin's column in the Toronto Star: • News of the beer’s impending arrival has already created a stir among Toronto’s beer aficionados. “I’ve been waiting six years to get this in,” says Brian Morin, owner/chef of …
What Does It Mean When We All Talk About Style?
Posted by on Thursday, October 21, 2010 in - 7 comments
Now Stan has jumped into the fray on the usefulness of "style." It reminds me of all the little words we use to convey something other than the personal experience: expert, connoisseur, judge. There is so often a downside to any of these things. Consider what Hemingway said of "aficionado" … read more »
New York: Young Barley Wine Takes On Rotten Cold
Posted by on Wednesday, October 20, 2010 in - 1 comment
A rotten cold has kept me from a snarky yet clever retort to the spree of posts in the UK beerblogoverse about styles. It's quite remarkable to read all the comments - even my telling, Jack Hughesian... nay, incisive contributions. Yet I have no energy and no appetite for such things jsust hours …
Canada: A 1970s Newfoundland Tavern
Posted by on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 in - 3 comments
From a Facebook page for Port Aux Choix, Newfoundland. Dobernette Lounge. The next picture in the series shows just the gas pumps at the other end of the building, alone in the white blur of snow. That, in case you were wondering, is what Canada really looks like. It's a colour photo, too.
Let Us All Forget The Simple Joys Of A Taxi...
Posted by on Tuesday, October 19, 2010 in - leave a comment
How embarrassing. We all know there are certain truths. That, before cars, there was no drunk driving is one of them. Which leads me to this: what the heck sort of problem do people have with jumping into a taxi? You know what that need to get behind the wheel after a few now is leading to? It …
Are These $170 A Pound Hops Worth Growing Or Not?
Posted by on Monday, October 18, 2010 in - 7 comments
Who would have thought that the processes of mass agricultural production actually lead to a cheaper ingredient? Not me. But what do I know? And, well, is that the issue? Given the relatively small percentage hops represent in a craft brewer's overall costs, isn't it worth the difference to eek … read more »
Beer And Ethics: Charges Not In The Public Interest
Posted by on Saturday, October 16, 2010 in - 2 comments
Remember that odd case last June when firefighters saved and then drained a keg they liberated from the scene of the fire? Well, the case is now closed: • Oliver city council urged the RCMP to look into the matter and Mounties alleged the kegs were removed as firefighters responded to the flames …
Aged Beer: Smashed Pumpkin Ale, Shipyard, Portland
Posted by on Friday, October 15, 2010 in - leave a comment
Because I believe calling anything "world class" is quite unfortunate, I could not contribute productively to Stan's recent question "Can a Pumpkin Beer be World Class?" Usually "world class" - like "premium" - ends up meaning whether people who know not all that much can brag about something to …
Finnish TV Newsman Fired For Holding Phoney Beer
Posted by on Thursday, October 14, 2010 in - 7 comments
I've told you my Finnish joke, haven't I. I heard it years ago on BBC shortwave when they were doing a half hour on Finland. I expect it was early on in the show: • Two Finns go to a cabin in the woods for a long holiday weekend of drinking. On the second day one says "shouldn't we have … read more »
Albany Ale: A Biography of John Taylor (1790 to 1863)
Posted by on Tuesday, October 12, 2010 in - 18 comments
OK, so it wasn't salty. I blame the scientific principles of mathematics. Math blames me. You be the judge. • But manic butterfly that I am, I am now past it, now on to the next thing and today the next thing is a whack of biographical data set out by some fine geneologist at rootsweb.com on the …
Book Review: Yeast, C. White and J. Zainasheff
Posted by on Monday, October 11, 2010 in - 2 comments
This came in the mail last week and I have to tell you - there are a lot of really big words in there. It even comes with its own warning in the Introduction: • This is not a book for the highly successful regional or larger brewer who already has multiple labs and a doctorate in microbiology …
What To Drink With Canadian Thanksgiving Muskox?
Posted by on Sunday, October 10, 2010 in - 2 comments
OK, we don't actually eat Muskox for Thanksgiving in Canada. The world can't be that perfect apparently. We tend towards turkey with nods to joints of lamb and ham. We watch sports on TV, rake leaves if need be and, if I am indicative, have a nap after lunch after a morning in the pew. • All of …
Beer Giving Back A Welcome Sort Of Gas
Posted by on Saturday, October 9, 2010 in - leave a comment
Excellent. A gastro-intestinal pun based on this story: • Adnams brewery in Southwold has opened its new biogas plant, which converts malted barley leftover from its ale production into purified methane through anaerobic digestion... According to Adnams, brewing 600 pints of beer is enough to …
Albany Ale: Where Did The Creeks Run?
Posted by on Thursday, October 7, 2010 in - 28 comments
The neat thing for me with the Albany ale stuff is that it is all micro. It is hard to make generalizations or abstractions because this is about one place. Yet it is one place over 400 years. There are a lot of eras over 400 years, maybe each with its own beer. • And, yes, yes, I know I might …
Nova Scotia: Revisiting Garrison's Imperial IPA
Posted by on Wednesday, October 6, 2010 in - 2 comments
I reviewed this beer already, just sixteen months ago. Why mention it again? Because Cass Enright, as part of his examination of the weird system of beer in Ontario called "Free Our Beer" has imported it into the province. Yee-umm. • See, the FOB project is sort of like a business meets …
Reality Show Meets Infomercial Meets Beer?
Posted by on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 in - 14 comments
I hope appearances don't play out to be true - but the press release that good Mr. Brooks has posted for the upcoming TV show entitled "Brew Masters" looks a lot like more Cake Boss to me: • From chocolate to oysters to tomatoes, Sam is constantly pushing his team and himself to innovate and …
Is Historic Brewing Taking Off A Wee Bit More?
Posted by on Tuesday, October 5, 2010 in - 16 comments
Despite my initial thought from the headline that we were talking about a lost beer of the Old Testament, it did appear for a second there that a small brewery in Scotland was actually exploring its inner Victorian side: • Robert Knops took the idea for his new creation, Musselburgh Broke, from …
Albany Ale: Was It Beer Made With Spa Water?
Posted by on Sunday, October 3, 2010 in - 24 comments
I had read this 1827 letter published in The American Farmer but had not twigged to what it was saying about the water in the well being drilled by notable brewers Boyd and M'Culloch: • About the middle of May last, Messrs. Boyd and M'Cullock, commenced boring for water, in their extensive …
Question: Is "Open Beer" Bad Where You Are?
Posted by on Saturday, October 2, 2010 in - 10 comments
We up here - the people of the north - like out generalities, our ways of saying something that looks benign when we are really saying something else. As with the odd phrase "visible minorities", Canada has some unique euphemisms like "open beer": • A 30-year-old man has been arrested after … read more »
Session 44: Frankenstein Beers? What Isn't?
Posted by on Saturday, October 2, 2010 in - 4 comments
OK - so it is not Friday. Here is the subject for this month: • Many craft brewers are like Frankenstein. They have become mad scientists obsessed with defying the laws of brewing and creating beers that transcend style guidelines. These “Frankenstein Beers” challenge the way people perceive …
What Is My Methodology? Perchance Schmethodology?
Posted by on Friday, October 1, 2010 in - 4 comments
I have found myself wondering what the heck I am doing with all this Albany Ale stuff but I'm not too concerned. It is interesting in itself and I think it is informing me on a pretty interesting big picture question - what makes the Albany and the Hudson River so different from the St. Lawrence …
