March 2011
Session 50: April Fools! I Really Meant "Let's All Talk Lager!!!"
Posted by on Thursday, March 31, 2011 in - 20 comments
No, I didn't. Didn't switch. I do want to know about you, not the globe's least interesting most pervasive food and beverage production process. And, know what? I have to stick with my original as I have an entry already that exemplifies the approach I am looking for. It's about what beer means to …
Again, In Canada No Politician Refuses The Beer Vote
Posted by on Thursday, March 31, 2011 in - 4 comments
Even though we are freakish in our cultural fear of untamed beer and booze flowing through the land, beer is big in Canada. So big, as noted before, that no Canadian politician in his right mind would fail to support it. Up there, that's Prime Minister Harper in the middle of this Federal election …
Session 50: It's Coming And It's About Your Call
Posted by on Wednesday, March 30, 2011 in - 3 comments
This Friday is April 1st and its the 50th edition of The Session and I will be in the States for the day and... and... and... here's the topic: • ...what makes you buy someone's beer? • Is that it? That's all? Well, that is the short form. Go see. I went on and on and then Mr. B made fun of me …
What If InBev Keeps Everything But Lowers The Price?
Posted by on Tuesday, March 29, 2011 in - 10 comments
I find the debate between those who like big US craft beer but hate big macro beer always a bit odd. For me, neither now speak to anything but industrial scale production even if twenty years ago the owners of big craft breweries were something more like revolutionaries at a cottage industry level …
Great News Out Of A Michigan Court House
Posted by on Monday, March 28, 2011 in - 6 comments
Good to see. For too long we have had to pretend that craft brewers are some weedy set of rotten businessmen who aren't really making a buck at their chosen profession obsession. As Andy notes, big craft beer selling out is great news. And so is this: • Flying Dog Brewery has filed a federal …
Great Beer Shop News From Zak Avery In Leeds
Posted by on Sunday, March 27, 2011 in - 1 comment
I have a huge soft spot for the good people who put great selections of beer at good prices on their store's shelves. For me, retail is my main route to good beer - not the pub and not the brewery. So, it was glum news we heard from Zak in Leeds a few weeks ago telling us his shop had apparently …
Beer In Space... No, Really - Beer In Space
Posted by on Saturday, March 26, 2011 in - 1 comment
No, really. That crater with the red dot? That the Beer Crater on the Moon. I would have preferred that it was called the Crater of Beer but that's just me. Google Moon places it a few hundred miles due west of the landing site of Apollo 15. Apparently there's one on Mars, too. I like that trail …
California: Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale, Stone
Posted by on Thursday, March 24, 2011 in - 3 comments
Two reviews in a row? Two stouts? Rut. Rut? Maybe rut. Really rut? Rutty at least. Too bad. Not really. I have a guilty secret. Maybe two. I really like Stone's big format beers... and I really like Canadian Federal elections. And we are moments away from the dropping of the writ up here and the …
Ontario: Working Man's Stout, Barley Days, Picton
Posted by on Wednesday, March 23, 2011 in - 3 comments
I went to the brewery the other Sunday as I hauled the kids out of the house to give the place a sense of sanity for an afternoon. Handy (if you are on the east side of Picton, Prince Edward County, Ontario) - Barley Days Brewery deserves respect for making tasty lower strength solid beers. This …
The Beer Blog Comments Thread That Has It All
Posted by on Monday, March 21, 2011 in - 13 comments
I was going to comment over the weekend at Jack Curtain's Liquid Diet on the interesting discussion about whether "session beer" is or isn't... but then I notices something more abstract about whether the beer blog post and comments as a whole. It seems to sum up all internet beer discourse on one …
What's The Difference Between Cheap and Good Beer?
Posted by on Sunday, March 20, 2011 in - 2 comments
So, it's all about value this weekend for me. Mainly because I haven't been in the mood for beer. Bought a bike. Made birthday dinner for Mom. Spring cleaning. Can't be much gooderer than that. Then I see this story and, again, I wonder... except today I wondered as I biked: • A budget-priced …
Would I Buy Beer With A Discount Voucher?
Posted by on Saturday, March 19, 2011 in - 1 comment
I am a little worried. Maybe Mr. B is right and my choice of a question or rather questions - or it is subject or rather subjects - for the next edition of The Session is way too broad. But then I read about this and it gets me thinking: • People will be able to buy a special £10 set of vouchers …
Trendy German Inspired Beer Bars In Los Angeles?
Posted by on Friday, March 18, 2011 in - 3 comments
This is an interesting story in the Los Angeles Time during a week awash in green beer and all things Irish: • Last month, Angelenos saw the debut of nighttime hangs SteingartenLA and Berlin Currywurst, and in the coming months at least two more spots serving up German-themed late-night thrills …
Next Session Topic: How Do They Make Me Buy The Beer?
Posted by on Wednesday, March 16, 2011 in - 7 comments
Fifty. • Five. Zero. That means something for Canadians... and guys like me in their late forties. It's the balancing point. The line between passing and failing. Your share of the draw. What topic to pick for such an important moment in beer blogging history? • I posted a few days ago about …
What Did The Chicken Drink Across That Road?
Posted by on Tuesday, March 15, 2011 in - 8 comments
Bock. Bock. Bock. • And that, ladies and gentlemen, is why blogs were created. To share stupid jokes. And reviews. People generally crap on reviews these days. It's trendy. But, really, blogs without at least occassional beer reviews are shatteringly dull, aren't they? And some, like Ireland's …
Super Size Me + Lent = 46 Days of Beer
Posted by on Monday, March 14, 2011 in - 5 comments
Oh, dear God. We gave up these things for a reason: • An Iowa man who is subsisting solely on beer for the duration of Lent says he is trying to combat the “teetotalling, neo-prohibitionist tendencies” of some elements of Christianity while also paying homage to the beer-making Bavarian monks of …
Stan Blames Me... Again... Then Lies To Everyone!!!
Posted by on Saturday, March 12, 2011 in - 12 comments
I can't believe that all I have gotten out of beer blogging is being Stan's whipping boy - but, yes, again I am to blame apparently this time for being along with him on a list posted by Jay of people supposed to write a post about seven things you don't know about them. A meme! How 2006. Jay … read more »
When The Gods Go Bowling With A Japanese Brewery
Posted by on Friday, March 11, 2011 in - 7 comments
Martyn Cornell, the Zythophile himself, posted this at Facebook. Apparently it's one of the breweries in Sendai, Japan - likely Kirin's he says - "where the earthquake knocked over four of what look like lager conditioning towers: that's foaming beer all over the bottom of the picture." I wonder …
New York: Java Sutra, Three Heads, Honeoye Falls
Posted by on Thursday, March 10, 2011 in - 3 comments
What a dream notation on the bottle: • Three Heads Brewing Company • brewed and bottled by • Custom Brewcrafters Inc. • Honeoye Falls, NY • Truth in labeling. Makes me so much more comfortable knowing where it all comes from. Three Heads is only a few months old but chose to get help … read more »
Session 50: And I Have No Idea What Topic To Pick
Posted by on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 in - 18 comments
The fiftieth month-a-versary of The Session coming up on 1 April and - how appropriate - I get to host this Fool's Day edition. Five-Oh. I believe I have written a post for every one of the 49 editions to date since February 2007... when the idea was first announced... back when I were but a lad …
Prices Set To Soar To Point Well Below 2008
Posted by on Monday, March 7, 2011 in - leave a comment
We forget things. Things like what things cost us. Things are expensive now, we say. But we often fail to keep the receipts around it seems - at least at the wholesale level: • Poor weather in Canada, the world's largest malting barley exporter, and in Australia have cut supplies of barley short …
I Must Write Better... Must Write Much Better...
Posted by on Sunday, March 6, 2011 in - 15 comments
I have to admit it. Had I had more space for yesterday's headline it would have read "Thing #2597 To Not Give Rat's Ass About? Fretting About Wine Fans." It was an imprecision on my part. The whole fretting thing is the fault, not those wine fans oblivious to how some beer fans crave their passing …
Thing #2597 To Not Give Rat's Ass About? Wine Fans.
Posted by on Saturday, March 5, 2011 in - 9 comments
It is gratifying to see all the hype about beer and fine dining dying away. "Pairing" is so 2009. Sadly, there is one vestige of the neediness of good beer lovers still lingering on: making wine fans love what we love. Yawn. Pete recently told the tale of seeking legitimacy though a wine v. beer …
Session 49: Sweet! Season 5 Starts With Regular Beer
Posted by on Thursday, March 3, 2011 in - 7 comments
Stan blames me - and why not? I have plenty to answer for. Generally. In life. And in beer. You know. I know. But do I care? No. Well, not much. In this case, it's OK as it's the beginning of the fifth year of these sessions and I am happy to take the blame. Stan is the host this month and he …
Other Beer Video Makers Might Be Jumping Off Cliffs
Posted by on Tuesday, March 1, 2011 in - 2 comments
Proud of British Beer from Society of Independent Brewers on Vimeo. • I was so delighted with this trade video produced for the Annual Trade Conference of Britain's Society of Independent Brewers that I went and bought some British beer on the way home. You will have to excuse my unabashed …
