February 2011
Beer Lines So Dirty It Was Surprising Beer Could Flow
Posted by on Monday, February 28, 2011 in - 10 comments
Gak. Yik. Gross. Gross Me Blue: • Industry insiders say there's a dirty, little secret that needs to be exposed. The problem they say is dirty beer lines, the lines connect the keg to the tap. "It's one of the big, big problems in the industry," Luke Purcell, of Great Lakes Brewing said. Purcell …
Mmm... What I Need Is A Big Bowl Of Thick Beer!
Posted by on Sunday, February 27, 2011 in - leave a comment
I knew this. I think I knew this anyway: • "This process is much like how you would do in a fourth-grade germination science project, where the grains would be soaked in water for about 24 hours, drained and then laid between sheets of cloth until they sprouted," said Amanda Mummert, an …
Book Review: Punched Drunk by Thompson and Genosko
Posted by on Saturday, February 26, 2011 in - 4 comments
Again, with the exhibits for your consideration: • Russia: "Normalising the beer production market and classifying it as alcohol is totally the right thing to do and will boost the health of our population," Yevgeny Bryun, the ministry of health's chief specialist on alcohol and drug abuse, said …
Ontario: Two Winter Specials From Beau's Brewing
Posted by on Thursday, February 24, 2011 in - 2 comments
Snowman: I am evil. • Sea Devil: Me, too. • Sea based Silurians and or over caffeinated snowmen? Which is more evil? Which will be our future overlords? Masters of the winter or the secret lizard army of the deep? These beers from Beau's beg these questions. Soon, you will have to choose. Soon …
What The Heck! I'm Posting This Craft Beer Video, Too.
Posted by on Thursday, February 24, 2011 in - 1 comment
Just in case you do not read Lew or Troy (which is inexplicable if you are reading this blog) I, too, post this for your consideration: • That is the two-term Premier of the Province of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty. He's released this video statement along with a number of proposals on how our … read more »
Looking For A Moment's Beer Blogging Quiet
Posted by on Tuesday, February 22, 2011 in - 16 comments
Exhibit A: I hate the poncey, arrogant, cicerone crap. If there has ever been a greater crime committed in the name of wine-ifying beer, I don’t know what it is. • Exhibit B: I've always hated it too, because it's boring as hell. And what is this supposed "Belgian" character? • For a social …
Paul Goes To Iceland And Drinks Beer
Posted by on Monday, February 21, 2011 in - 3 comments
She: (In Icelandic) ...he appears to be taking a photo of that beer... • He: (In Icelandic) I wish I had the daring to do such things. • Discounting Yorkshire, Iceland is the first Scandinavian country that I’d ever visited. I’m a chilly mortal. Why would I choose to holiday in the frozen … read more »
Haiku On Being In A North Syracuse Motel In February
Posted by on Saturday, February 19, 2011 in - 18 comments
It doesn't take much to excite a Canadian. A roadside chain hotel in central New York with a pool to placate the kids. A grocery store with a great selection of beer and many other things at great prices. I am moved to haiku. • Grocery store beer • Bests Our Government Store's shelves …
Hop Bomb: Hoperation, Phillips Brewing, Victoria, B.C.
Posted by on Friday, February 18, 2011 in - 2 comments
Canada is big. You knew that, right? So, when a pal takes a plane for hours and hours to the other end of the nation and is good enough to bring back a few, well, all the beer labels may as well be written in Hungarian. You never see this things back here. Happy then was I to be handed a Phillips …
2011's Masses of Boozy Stats From Around The World
Posted by on Thursday, February 17, 2011 in - 5 comments
That is what I would call this document from the World Health Organization instead of the rather dull Global Status Report on Alcohol and Health 2011. I had no idea that over 50% of Andorran women did not drink. Why did Canadian drinking peak around 1982 while it happened 20 years later in the UK …
Does The Stash Need Short Or Long Term Balance?
Posted by on Tuesday, February 15, 2011 in - 4 comments
Let's be honest. The stash is an extension of one's own day dreams and we know that such dreams can vary. Sure, there are the questions of reasonable budget and reasonable storage but there is the need to have balance. At this point in the winter, for example, I am a little light on hop bomb IPAs …
Oz Not Adopting Oddly Low Blood Alcohol Limit
Posted by on Monday, February 14, 2011 in - 1 comment
It must be Australia week and, finally, a story that is not so much about weird culture as a weird misappropriation of science. Apparently officials in the Australian state of Victoria are not interested in following up on the idea of introducing a far lower blood alcohol content (BAC) limit …
Beer As "Emotional Currency" Down Under
Posted by on Sunday, February 13, 2011 in - leave a comment
One of these days, I need to consolidate all these odd news items I post about Australia from time to time under its very own tag. It would take me half a second but I think I suspect that each odd tale would be my last. Then there is another like this one: • Beer has become what Innisfail …
"Not Until I've Let It Sit Overnight And Come Back To It"
Posted by on Saturday, February 12, 2011 in - 6 comments
The symposium on sucking continues here and there and maybe elsewhere. Regular contributor made this comment and it, too, got me thinking: • I do think all too often writers (beer- and other) are incautious in their use of derogatory terms- superlatives, too. I make it a habit never to hit …
Is It Fair To Say A Brewery Sucks... Or Even A Beer?
Posted by on Thursday, February 10, 2011 in - 18 comments
This is an interesting idea from a beer writer in Alabama - the relationship of sucking and beer production: • The internet has once again given us an important topic for discussion: whether or not “that brewery sucks.” My friend Sean Lilly Wilson recently wrote a thought-provoking post bearing …
Sign Of The End Times: A Call For Higher Beer Prices
Posted by on Wednesday, February 9, 2011 in - 3 comments
I like Troy and Cass as much as anyone and consider them a two-headed monster that has pushed and pulled and tugged Ontario into the good beer revolution as much as anyone else in recent years. But I can't go along with Troy's approval of Cass's post entitled "Bring On the Expensive Beer": • Not …
A New Beer And Science Action Photo!
Posted by on Tuesday, February 8, 2011 in - 4 comments
There is simply not enough beer and science photography going around. So it was with some relief that I saw the image apparently from the Technical Research Centre of Finland (VTT) attached to this story from the BBC. • At first I thought it was stock photography pasted onto a story about …
Canadian Conservatives Are My Kind Of Conservative
Posted by on Monday, February 7, 2011 in - 2 comments
Political culture is a weird thing. It doesn't translate well from nation to nation and leaving the words associated with themselves rather meaningless. Conservative or liberal? Anarchist or patriot? Who know what any of this stuff means? Yet, there are moments when you know that being a Canadian …
Why Can't They Hold Championship Games On Saturday?
Posted by on Sunday, February 6, 2011 in - 1 comment
I don't usually have a beer or anything much on Sunday or the first half of the week for that matter. One of the things that keeps me from wanting to move into more professional beer writing, consulting and that sort of thing is having to drink and attend and consider every day of the week. I have …
Session 48: How Do We Drink Thee? Let Us Count.
Posted by on Friday, February 4, 2011 in - 3 comments
I park well. Well, I park well in Toronto at least. I have found a way to get right into the heart of the city and out by car without spending all that much time in, you know, the city. And, as it turns out, my trick now comes with a brew pub, Duggan's Brewery. I won't tell you which building it … read more »
Holy Frig! The Session Is Tomorrow Already!!!
Posted by on Thursday, February 3, 2011 in - 1 comment
Life dashes. Then it sprints. Then it tears away from you looking back and giving you a rude gesture. The Session has become a marker for me, telling me about the pace of my life over its last four years of existence, reminding me that I need to fill each month with something worth doing or …
Breaking News: Their First Beer Festival In 400 Years
Posted by on Wednesday, February 2, 2011 in - 5 comments
Big news out of Lyme Regis in Dorset, England as they are reviving or at least reinterpreting a festival that ended back in 1610. • The ale will be in full flow at Lyme Regis when the town hosts its first beer festival in 400 years. A festival called The Cobb Ale started in Lyme in the 14th …
The Most Offensive Morality Play Beer Story Ever
Posted by on Tuesday, February 1, 2011 in - 4 comments
Did I say "ever"? I suppose I did. I suppose it is because this news combines such a sense of bean counting, superiority, triviality and, frankly, sheer sadness so as to define a point which we may have reached. I quote in reasonable fullness: • ...West Linn-Wilsonville School District teachers …
