November 2011
History, Heritage and Plain Old Marketing Actually Differ
Posted by on Wednesday, November 30, 2011 in - 12 comments
I think this is one of the more naive articles I have ever read about beer: • “The story is critical because it’s what differentiates a beer from any other beer,” Calagione told me. Still, he added, “just because you hear of some creepy group of Norwegians that 300 years ago put the blood of …
An Update On The OCB And The Commentary Wiki
Posted by on Monday, November 28, 2011 in - 5 comments
So, the forecast for the last four weeks over at the wiki that was set out in my Halloween post "And Quiet Flows the OCBeerCommentary Wiki" came to pass. This is going to be a longish process. But it advances. I just finished loading the Index of Articles by Author to the point Stan managed to get …
Day Nine: Now That US Thanks Are Done - It's True Yule!
Posted by on Sunday, November 27, 2011 in - 7 comments
When does Yuletide begin? The first snow? The first child's question about Santa? Or is it the photo contest? Who knows. In any event, we are well and truly underway and have more announcements of prizes: • ♦ New Jeff Alworth of Beervana, who is madly researching in Europe for his book The Beer …
Oregon: Sanctuary, Full Sail Brewing, Port Hood
Posted by on Friday, November 25, 2011 in - leave a comment
A beer. Imagine writing about a beer on a beer blog. It's about time. I am finally past a bug and waves of ramifications that have basically hammered me since early October. No more. As Phoenix rises so do I turn to beer for purposes other than medicinal. • A tan head resolves to froth and rim …
Can A "Style" Ever Be More Than A Helpful Generality?
Posted by on Thursday, November 24, 2011 in - 6 comments
Levels of abstraction. That is what this style stuff is about. Not about what it is but how it can be grouped. I think. Two articles got me thinking about this today. In The New York Times, Eric Asimov talked about "sour" beer and got into a range of beers that I would never consider to fall under …
Day Five: More Entries More Prizes And That Green Sign
Posted by on Wednesday, November 23, 2011 in - leave a comment
I will inundate you for a bit here. The prizes and entries do flow in and I have to get them out of the inbox and into the... hmm... what would Protz call it... the information super highways. Plenty to do. No time to doddle bothering with that sort of thing. First, here is the updated prize giver …
Day Four: The First Photo Contest Entries Roar In
Posted by on Tuesday, November 22, 2011 in - 6 comments
It is fun when I get to see these entries for the first time every autumn. The first blizzard of the season is just missing us to the south tonight but it is starting to feel Christmas around here. Think I will mull me a little something as I consider what we have received in the inbox. First …
Your Late November Monday Night Beer Round Up
Posted by on Monday, November 21, 2011 in - 1 comment
While this contest gets some traction, there are other things worth thinking about. Well, other things that are about beer. Plus, I want to do more fancy bullet pointy lists on this blog. Fancy lists are a clear sign of quality. You agree, right? • Θ Is it just me or is it great that the …
Day Two: The Prizes And Entries Start To Come In
Posted by on Sunday, November 20, 2011 in - leave a comment
I always wonder if anyone might participate in this contest. I get slightly anxious 'round about early October. But it begins. Entries arrived by email this very morn. I have yet to truly begun hitting people up for prizes but so far we have the following fine folk pledging: • ♦ Roland and …
Ready, Set, Go! 2011's Yuletide Photo Contest Is On!!!
Posted by on Friday, November 18, 2011 in - leave a comment
Stan announced it, too. Send your entries to beerblog@gmail.com. Some rules here. More later if required. Up there is one of Andrew Mason of Illinois's entries from 2007. You can do that. Couldn't you? Could you? Have you? • What prizes do you want? Many confirmed already but many more to be …
Table Ring Anger And Forgetting About The Fun
Posted by on Thursday, November 17, 2011 in - 6 comments
I am not a professional beer writer and this column is a good example of why. Pete Brown achieves a balance in this column that I don't think I could in my writing - but it is a challenging one.... which is why it is a very good read: • ...I think this proves that you can perhaps take beer too …
Book Review: The Economics Of Beer - Swinnen, ed.
Posted by on Wednesday, November 16, 2011 in - 3 comments
I bought this because Simon told me to. Simon said. • This book is a series of essays related to the 2009 conference of The Beeronomics Society. It says on its back cover that it "is the first economic analysis of the beer market and brewing industry" but that is just silly puffery. There have …
Beer Shopping Ethics - How Many Do You Buy?
Posted by on Monday, November 14, 2011 in - 18 comments
Finally! An ethical question that is not about the ethics of beer writing. I ask because, as I mentioned, Fuller's XX Strong Ale came to town on Saturday. Bought three, had two, gave away one. Then I noticed I was out. So I went back today. I had noticed 17 bottles were listed on the LCBO web site …
It's The Week The 2011 Xmas Photo Contest Began
Posted by on Sunday, November 13, 2011 in - 5 comments
Do you have the Xmas beer pr0n photo fever yet? It is coming. Indeed, it is nigh. Right about now nigh in fact. A few prize packs have been pledged so far but we will hunt high and low for more. These are the rules. Because you can't have a good contest without strictly enforced arbitrary rules …
A Few Saturday Afternoon Stories You Need To Know...
Posted by on Saturday, November 12, 2011 in - 10 comments
... or not. Saturday afternoon is the Dark Ages of the internet, after all. But here are some stories about things beery that could colour how you look at the world this weekend. How could I not share? • • • Brian Stechschulte of San Fran has confirmed on Twitter that DRAFT magazine has agreed …
Alberta: Loaded Goat, Alley Kat Brewing, Edmonton
Posted by on Friday, November 11, 2011 in - leave a comment
There are not many things fun about getting pneumonia but gifties left at the door are among them. This was delivered last week as a gifting on from someone who brought it from Alberta. It was a special release from last spring but at 7.3% it should still be a fairly safe bet. • Caramel coloured …
Book Review: Great British Pubs, Adrian Tierney-Jones
Posted by on Thursday, November 10, 2011 in - 5 comments
I have to say that this book is a bit of a shock. I never knew you could mix so much porn with this degree of authoritative statement. How does one react? I have learned things I will share... yet I have wallowed in the depths of my deepest private imagination. AJT is good. He's like a pusher … read more »
I Think I Asked Joe "How Do We Value Beer Pr0n?"
Posted by on Wednesday, November 9, 2011 in - 4 comments
Joe had a good post this week about Chuck Cook self-publishing some information and photos he had gathered about Brasserie Dupont - and then putting being a click-through payment button offering access for $4.99. It is at the upper right at Chuck's blog if you want to go check it out. Joe … read more »
That Odd Tension: Wishing To Find Any Answer But Beer
Posted by on Monday, November 7, 2011 in - 2 comments
That's footnote 27 at page 134 of New Sweden in America which is exhibiting something between a quibble and a theme. It's actually in a chapter in that book, "Lenape Maize Sales to the Swedish Colonists: Cultural Stability during the Early Colonial Period" by Marshall Joseph Becker in which there …
Toronto's York Brewery And Playter's Tavern 1801-05
Posted by on Sunday, November 6, 2011 in - 4 comments
I have been playing around with some passages on Toronto in the first years of the 19th century. Here is what I started with: • ⇒ "A recent Fact will corroborate what I have said; A Brewer from Kingston removed to York lately and, on application to the Governor, obtained one of the King's … read more »
Session 57: Of Vom And Corn, More And Waugh
Posted by on Saturday, November 5, 2011 in - 2 comments
Steve Lamond has stepped up to host this month's edition of The Session and posed the following to us all under the title "Beery Confessions: Guilty Secrets/Guilty Pleasure Beer": • I'd like to know your beery guilty secrets. Did you have a particularly embarrassing first beer (in the same way …
Was This The Earliest Brewing In English Canada?
Posted by on Thursday, November 3, 2011 in - 24 comments
Sneath, Pashley and Rubin all mention the 1600s brewers of New France - Hebert (1617), Ambroise (1646) and Talon (1670). But I just came across this reference in a footnote in the Minutes of the Hudson's Bay Company, 1671-1674, published by Toronto's Champlain Society in 1942, describing payments …
Book Review: The Art And Mystery Of Brewing in Ontario
Posted by on Thursday, November 3, 2011 in - leave a comment
While I stand by my statement: • "...brewing history can be a tool or route to understanding for some but is ultimately unimportant if you do not need to tap into it..." • ... I have to admit that I do like dabbling in it - as long as I stay within the reach of my own capabilities. I … read more »
Black Sheep Brewery And The Two Fat Ladies
Posted by on Tuesday, November 1, 2011 in - 3 comments
I have a soft spot for Yorkshire's Black Sheep Brewery as it is one of the brands imported from time to time by the LCBO for over a decade. It's dependable, tasty ale. Good to hear, then, that they are moving ahead with getting ahead: • The company is also trialling Black Sheep in a can in Tesco …
