June 2011
So, If You Were Looking For A Good Employer...
Posted by on Wednesday, June 29, 2011 in - 4 comments
While the little debate about whether Rogue has let craft brewing fans down by letting their employees down still simmers, one post from by own personal adopted man crush on a brewery, Beau's, points out exactly what I am looking for in a standard that I frankly do expect other brewers to try to …
Polling Canada's Beer Consumers Via Twitter
Posted by on Tuesday, June 28, 2011 in - 2 comments
I am enjoying watching the results of a Twitter-based information gathering effort under the hash tag #BeerEh. What seems to be going on is a wide-raging study into the Great White North's beer consumer mindset and it is playing out in a number of ways. For example, what might be originally … read more »
Scotland: Canada Day 2011, Innis & Gunn, Edinburgh
Posted by on Monday, June 27, 2011 in - 8 comments
The good folks at the Ontario's importers of Innis & Gunn's beers forwarded this sample a few weeks back and, as Canada Day is this coming Friday, I thought I better give it a go before the big day. And as I let one of their beers sit too long and another got taken out by a freezing delivery van I …
Announcing The "Beer In The Shed 2011" Festival!
Posted by on Sunday, June 26, 2011 in - 2 comments
I haven't thought this out at all so bear with me. See, I read about this event in the UK called "Beer in the Boat Shed" and thought that it was actually about having a beer in a shed. Turns out that "shed" means different things in different contexts: • Over 1,000 people turned up to this …
Ontario: Pan-Ontario, BeausFlyMonkGrandGreat Brewing
Posted by on Friday, June 24, 2011 in - 4 comments
They are still at it over at the Kingston Brew Pub as I write. Steve is to the left and Dave to the right, both Beauchesnes and both of Beau's All Natural Brewing of Vankleek Hill in the furthest eastern edge of the province, roughly east of the eastern tip of Cuba if you must know. The release of …
It's Beer And Sausage Week At Finland's Cottages
Posted by on Thursday, June 23, 2011 in - 2 comments
I can't tell you my Finnish joke because I told you in 2008. It was in a post entitled "Tonight Is The Night To Drink Like A Finn!" but I now understand that this week is the week to drink - and eat - like a Finn: • The amount of sausage Finns consume during the Midsummer week is approximately …
Two Cautionary Tales Of Good Beer Bad Behaviour
Posted by on Wednesday, June 22, 2011 in - 16 comments
We like to ascribe so many positive things to good beer and those who love it we often forget that we make most of it up. We pretend brewers are rock stars. We pretend thinking about beer began (and sorta stopped) in the 1970s. But most of all we pretend people who make and enjoy craft beer are … read more »
Beer And Brewing As Economic Cornerstone
Posted by on Monday, June 20, 2011 in - leave a comment
This is interesting from NPR today - beer is not only recession proof but perhaps recession busting: • ...mounting evidence suggests that beer in particular, and the beer industry that surrounds it, may be as good for growth as excess sobriety. In some of the world's toughest investment climates …
Ontarians Apparently Find Returning Bottles Offensive
Posted by on Sunday, June 19, 2011 in - 2 comments
Out of all the many confused messages that Ontarians are subject to about beer and booze consumption, this has to be the stupidest: • The policy at the Liberty Village outlet is specific to that location, said Jeff Newton, a spokesman for The Beer Store. “This is a very unique store. It is an …
Maine: Fluxus 2010, Allagash Brewing, Portland
Posted by on Saturday, June 18, 2011 in - leave a comment
Infanticide. Pure and simple. It did not have to be this way. If I had only stocked the stash properly I wouldn't be dipping into the bottles I have no business opening. • Too much hop still around after the best part of a year, right now I am getting something like a white grapefruit section …
Must I Ask A Kiwi What A "Rigger" Is?
Posted by on Thursday, June 16, 2011 in - 8 comments
I enjoy the language of beer. Wort. Bung. Mash Tun. But I really like the local words for quantities or container sizes of beer. Like "rigger" which I saw for the first time today in this oddly detailed article: • It took a little adjusting for us to appreciate the plastic soda bottle-type …
There Is No Good Beer Blogging During Game Seven
Posted by on Wednesday, June 15, 2011 in - 1 comment
I shouldn't be posting. It's game seven in the Stanley Cup. This means nothing to Knut. Nothing to The Beer Nut. But driving back from the kid's after supper softball game the empty streets were eerie. These guys in fifth century B.C. France? Probably Habs fans. Habs are the last Canadian team to …
Calling All Brewers! Send Me More Samples!!
Posted by on Monday, June 13, 2011 in - 5 comments
Have I been far too shy about this? I am having a bit of a meeting of the administrative department evening here at "La Maison De La Bonne Blog Des Bieres"¹ - sending out invoices for ads, planning summer beer shopping trips - when I realized it had been a little while since I got a good slew of …
Belgium: 't Smisje Grande Reserva, Regenboog, Brugge
Posted by on Sunday, June 12, 2011 in - leave a comment
What I weekend. I was up to this and then was at this. 700 km or so - plus about 2,000 military vehicles and 16 Red Sox runs. Today was homey. A bit of a mow then weed then making supper and then, well, glad I took tomorrow off, too. • I forgot this was in the stash. The stash is a bit sad …
Found A Place I'd Never Found But Didn't Have A Beer
Posted by on Saturday, June 11, 2011 in - 2 comments
Squeezed in between leaving the Sox's thrashing of the Jays and retrieving the family from a showing of The Lion King in time for a three hour drive home, I walked around the block near Adelaide and John only to come across Smokeless Joe. I stepped through the door at the tiny dark bar, balanced …
NB Ceases Sales of Stockholm Syndrome Ale
Posted by on Friday, June 10, 2011 in - 1 comment
Remember that story out of the Canadian province of New Brunswick that it was going to brand it's own beer in part to dissuade locals from going to Maine or Quebec to get good beer at an honest price? Well - surprise, surprise - it's an utter failure: • In 2008, Dana Clendenning, the liquor …
What Is The Etiquette of Beer Blog Photography?
Posted by on Wednesday, June 8, 2011 in - 19 comments
Ron has explained that he has had a run in with this man above due to the use of a camera. In his post from last Sunday, he describes the salient facts: • ...the boss came and told me I had to show him all the photos I'd taken and erase them, even the ones that were just of my beer. He … read more »
Internet Based Bootlegging In Australia
Posted by on Tuesday, June 7, 2011 in - leave a comment
Bootlegging is a word that gets a lot of different meanings. In some cases, it is running an illegal bar... sometimes quite glibly ignoring the law. In others, it is about getting after hour deliveries. My summer job painting a house when I was 17 gave me a real education on that sort when I … read more »
A Detailed Good-Bye Beer Blog Note Of Sorts
Posted by on Sunday, June 5, 2011 in - leave a comment
Keeping in mind that it's not only about beer, it's more than a blog and it's not quite a good-bye, the extended note from Sheryl at Taste T.O. is well worth reading. Run for yoinks with co-person Greg of the now relaunched Beer, Booze and Bites it has been by far the most ambitious personal …
Zak States Another Point Of View On CAMRA
Posted by on Saturday, June 4, 2011 in - leave a comment
Not to go on, but I missed Zak Avery's defense and explanation of CAMRA posted last Wednesday and I have to admit I find it a little (not a lot but a little) odd. Especially this bit: • I'm also amazed by so many bloggers' complete misunderstanding of what CAMRA is, and how it works. CAMRA is a …
Session 52: Breweriana Or Those Things In The Mail
Posted by on Friday, June 3, 2011 in - 2 comments
Collecting? That is what this month's edition of the Session is about: • As host of Session #52, I’ve decided not to focus on the substance of beer, but the material that plays a supporting role. Bottles, coasters, cans, labels, ads, tap handles, church keys, hats, t-shirts, tip trays, glassware …
Another Anonymous Brewer Speaks Out
Posted by on Thursday, June 2, 2011 in - 6 comments
A few years ago, a brewer asked that I post something s/he wrote anonymously and I did. I thought the point was a good one. This morning, another anonymous brewer posted a comment over at the blog of England's Melissa Cole and also makes some very interesting points: • ...Basically this journo …
