Posts Tagged: Styles
Do New Beer Styles Just Reflect New Ways... And Stuff?
Posted by on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 in - 8 comments
The other day I read one of the more interesting passages of beery thought that I had read in some time. It's from a response to a post at Jeff's Beervana about the wonky less than linear history of beer styles: • While it’s entirely possible that malt bills and hopping rates of many of craft …
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 …
Was This The Earliest Brewing In English Canada?
Posted by on Thursday, November 3, 2011 in - 17 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 …
Oh, For A Mug O' Fern Ale To Keep Strangers Away
Posted by on Tuesday, September 20, 2011 in - 9 comments
Ron got me thinking. He was making fun of something written by Horst Dornbusch today, the "man of a million unfounded claims," when I noticed something about pale ale coming into being around 1800 when coke was first used. I knew that was wrong so I started digging around for references to straw …
Global #IPAday! It's Global #IPAday!! Global #IPAday!!!
Posted by on Thursday, August 4, 2011 in - 7 comments
Global #IPAday. That's what it needs to be called. I don't like the implications of international #IPAday. It leaves out the stateless and those on ships at sea beyond territorial waters. And, really, isn't that what #IPAday is all about? Inclusion? Or is it exclusion? Who knows. Here are some …
#IPADay: When Good People Try Out New Good Things
Posted by on Friday, July 8, 2011 in - 8 comments
I am a bit of a dork sometimes. I saw these tweets floating around with the hashtag #IPADay and made some smart ass remarks on Twitter. Pure junior high. Or junior B, more like it. Well, some of them were not all that bad, now that I think of it: • Hugely uninterested in #IPADay. Waiting for …
Did Michael Jackson Actually Invent Our Beer "Styles"?
Posted by on Thursday, April 28, 2011 in - 41 comments
This week, I received Brewery History, No. 139, in the mail. A freebie. It was gratefully received as so few packets and packages come my way these days. Time was the mail brought cheques for ads, couriered samples of beer, love letters, job offers. It's been too quiet lately. More mail would be …
Ontario: Black IPA, Church-Key, Campbellford
Posted by on Wednesday, January 5, 2011 in - 1 comment
"...Whoa-oh black bitter... bam-a-lam.... • I gave my opinion of the matter of the name last September so I don't want to revisit that whole kettle of fish - unless you do - so let's just leave it that I was mightily happy to find dinner bottles of Church-Key's Black IPA at the brewery, my local …
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 »
Three Tales Of Beery Negativity Today
Posted by on Tuesday, September 21, 2010 in - 1 comment
It is a rare day that I do not feel that I am a little too negative. I should, frankly, find more reason to cheer up when thinking about beer. So, it was with some pleasure that I read others being crankier than me or at least turning a critical eye on good beer events and news: • Pete Brown is …
