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January 05, 2009
Strange reasons people make drinks choices

Posted: January 5th, 2009, 3:16pm EST by Stan Hieronymus

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It’s Monday, so muse on this link from Parade magazine. Two bits of drink related information in the same story:

- The birth of the Corona-and-lime ritual. Did this trend really become a trend because a bartender wanted to see if he could start a trend?

- Oom-pah-pah, ein Deutsche bier, bitte. From the story: “British researchers played either accordion-heavy French music or a German brass band over the speakers of the wine section inside a large supermarket. On French music days, 77% of consumers bought French wine, whereas on German music days, the vast majority of consumers picked up a German selection. Intriguingly, only one out of the 44 customers who agreed to answer a few questions at the checkout counter mentioned the music as among the reasons they bought the wine they did.”

I’d have been more impressed if the customers had put back wine on German music days and gone with beer.
Off topic: Songs of conviction

Posted: January 5th, 2009, 11:11am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Well I used to run from the past
But the world got to spinnin’ so fast
I run from the future now
I run as fast as I can
Tryin’ to be a simple man
I just want to slow down.

- Chris Knight

Best recording of 2008? I spoke too soon.

When Sean Lilly Wilson asked for a few sentences for the Fullstream Brewery newsletter about the best “album” we purchased in 2008 I took the request seriously. Didn’t want to forget something because our long journey has experiences running together. So I re-listened to my finalists — James McMurtry, Billy Bragg, B.B. King, Randy Newman, Mary Gauthier and company.

What I found was a lot of recordings that I’ll listen to forever, dang good, but not quite great. So I picked “Another Country” from Tift Merritt, in part because her songwriting just keeps getting better and because, by a bit of luck in July, we caught a wonderful free concert in Burlington, Vermont. Or maybe just because she is from North Carolina and Fullstream is in North Carolina. A karma thing.

Not until the day after Christmas did I notice Chris Knight had released “Heart of Stone” a few days before we departed for Germany. Easy given the amount of press coverage he doesn’t receive, although his Amazon sales prove he’s got a bit of a following.

I’ve been listening to it a lot since. If you must drink at least two full servings (six is a better idea) of a beer before you evaluate it then you gotta listen to an album ten or a hundred times. Do the easy-to-listen-to-lyrics get cloying? Do you find something new and rewarding (kind of like the stuff in the background of a Simpson’s episode) each time, maybe as simple as the way he delivers a phrase?

This recording (it’s not an album or a CD; I bought a download) keeps getting better. Knight writes haunting lyrics — usually grim and sometimes violent &#151 about less-than-perfect lives. The music is dense whether acoustic (as the “Basement Tapes”) or with a rocking band in this recording. He’s a wonderful story teller, as opposed to telling stories about wonderful lives. Here’s an example from “Hell Ain’t Half Full”:

Get up in the morning
Fall out of bed
Go down to the basement
Cook up a little meth
All the young folks love it
Coming back for more
Ain’t it good to be working
Got your foot in the door

You’ve got to buy the recording to get the full story, and then maybe to the five that came before it to begin understand what life lessons Knight has to offer. He’s a working guy from the blue collar town of Slaughters, Kentucky. You figure he might be a beer drinker, one of us, but even if he isn’t there’s a comparison to be made. Nashville and industrially produced beers on one side of the ledger, artists liked Chris Knight and the beers we drink on the other.

Chris Knight writes and sings songs of conviction.
Session #23 roundup and #24 announcement

Posted: January 5th, 2009, 10:47am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Beerme (Mike) at Beer and Firkins has posted the roundup for The Session #24, a round of looking back and forward.

And February host David Turley has picked what some of us would consider a romantic theme for #24: “A Tripel for Two.”

If you have a beer or beer-related blog, it’s easy to participate in The Session. Pick a Belgian-style Tripel to review. Tell us why it’s your pick to share with that special someone. Be sure to include a review of the beer so that others might be inspired to choose that beer for a special moment. Bonus points if the person with whom you are sharing the beer includes their review as well.

The date is Feb. 6.

Now the shameless plug. If you want to learn more about tripels you’ve got time to order and read “Brew Like a Monk.” My wife, daughter and 16 customers think it is pretty good.
January 03, 2009
#22 - Where in the beer world?

Posted: January 3rd, 2009, 3:06am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Do you know where in the beer world this photo was taken?

Leave your answer as a comment. And, as always, you are free to comment on the photo even if you don’t have an answer.

Sorry, no clue this week. Every clue I tried and then plugged into Google yielded the location way to easily.
January 02, 2009
Session #23: Beery things I’ll miss in 2009

Posted: January 2nd, 2009, 9:06am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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This is my contribution to The Session #23. Visit Beer and Firkins for the roundup of what dozens of bloggers had to write.

The question: What will you miss about 2008 and what do you expect will excite you most in 2009?

Let’s start with the second part of the assignment. a) I don’t have a clue what beers will leave me babbling or where they will come from. b) I’d like to see 2009 be “The Year of The Session” but is that something you’re supposed to get excited about? c) I am looking forward to tasting what’s new in New Mexico when we get home.

Now back to 2008. Should we talk about moments or particular beers? You only get one “first time” with Isabelle Proximus. And when will we next hike to an overview of Alaska’s Mendenhall Glacier, then refresh ourselves with Alaskan Stout?

With that in mind I made a quick list of five things that we did or drank in 2008 and surely won’t in 2009, or perhaps ever again. Not meant to be inclusive and certainly not ordered.

- Opened a 1968 bottle of Thomas Hardy’s Ale. That’s the cork on the left, leaving the impression the beer was in a hurry to come out and meet us.

- Slept in the Bell’s Brewery parking lot. We were sober, sleeping in our beds away from home (the RV), and John Mallett offered us the place to park. Impossible to resist.

- Drank Zoigl beers on Reunification Day in Germany, the only day each year all the Neuhaus house breweries serve their beer.

- Discovered the keller beer Back Street Brewing in San Diego served during the Craft Brewers Conference in April.

- Opened the bottle of Cantillon’s Rosé de Gambrinus we hauled through 13 countries. When we bought the beer at the brewery in September they suggested we let it condition as long as possible, until the last night of our trip, making it the last beer we had in Europe. It got warm in the car and it got cold. No other bottle will taste exactly the same.
December 28, 2008
Monday musing: When the other shoe drops

Posted: December 28th, 2008, 8:40pm EST by Stan Hieronymus

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In fact it is Sunday as I post this, but by the time you read this Monday we should have the RV pointed south. Might not see you until the New Year. If that’s the case celebrate carefully . . .

- Will the economic slowdown dampen sales of small-batch beers? Common sense says yes.

So I read Jeff Alworth’s “When Restaurants Die” with particular interest. The story is about the restaurants of Portland, Oregon. But it’s Oregon, and it’s Jeff’s blog, so of course there is a beer ingredient.

I worry that if the best restaurants begin to die off in Portland (we’ve lost 20 this year, including renowned Genoa), the creative minds who founded them will leave. The erosion of talent in the restaurant scene is just generally bad. I don’t know that it will have immediate or long-lasting influence on breweries.

Portland has been the poster city for craft beer success. If there’s a problem there then bigger problems seem likely everywhere else.

- I did not write this. It comes from Pete Brown. I’m going to say that twice because while blogs are a wonderful for pointing to well written words sometimes people end up giving the second blog (in this case mine) credit. I wish I’d written this, but I didn’t.

It comes from Pete’s year-end roundup, interesting, though more so if you live in the UK.

Any writer writes because they have a need to be listened to, and whatever that says about our psyches and frail egos, I’m gratified that people read this blog and link to it and recommend it. I apologise to anyone I’ve offended on here - I try not to. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading most of what I’ve written, and wish you a happy and prosperous 2009.

Something of an answer to the question Andy Crouch raises about why we blog. Repeat, I wish I’d written the paragraph. I did not.

- Thanks again, to Alan and Jeff for the Yuletide 2008 Photo Contest. Winning a hat was cool, but looking at all those photos was the real fun.

- Don’t forget The Session #23 hosted by Beer and Firkins on Friday. Include a drinking note if you can, because we’re back on the road and I’m looking for interesting local beers to try between now and August.
#21 - Where in the beer world?

Posted: December 28th, 2008, 9:09am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Do you think you know where in the beer world this photo was taken? Then leave a comment.

Other comments are welcome as well.

I don’t expect you to know where this table was, but there’s a good reason you should be able to name the country.

Or at least I thought so until I saw an interesting photo on another blog (to be revealed with the answer). That probably doesn’t qualify as a hint, so . . . a lucky search of the New York Times archives will get you on track.
December 26, 2008
Budweiser Budvar: Not so small

Posted: December 26th, 2008, 7:26pm EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Compared to Anheuser-Busch, Budejovický Budvar in the Czech Republic — the other producer of Budweiser — is small. But there’s small, and there’s small.

Budvar brews more than a million hectoliters a year and soon will be able to make 1.3 million. I wouldn’t necessarily call that small. Here’s about a minute of video shot in the bottling hall, which also isn’t small. I used our pocket camera to record the video, so excuse the production quality. (If you click on over to YouTube to watch it, then hit “watch in high quality” it’s a little better.)

In contrast, Pilsner Urquell is so big that I’m not sure how you’d try to capture the bottling plant with a video. Then there is Berliner-Kindl-Schultheiss in Berlin, which brews 1.6 million hectos a year. The brewery has two plants within one hall, each aiming to package 50,000 bottles an hour. There’s a large display at each end which counts just how fast the line is running. The digital display will read 49,893 one second, 49,896 the next, then 49,894.

That’s a lot of beer.
December 22, 2008
Monday musing: What’s the opposite of Zima?

Posted: December 22nd, 2008, 1:43pm EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Before we begin Phase III of our grand odyssey we’re holed up in snowy New Jersey through the holiday, leaving me a bit of time for Monday musing.

- I paid little attention in October to the final demise of Zima, and just caught up with the excellent piece at Slate about its long and torturous death. A fine lesson about marketing, and an interesting contrast to the rip-roaring success of small-batch beers focusing on flavor and making sure there is a there there.

- We like year-end lists in our house, and not just because I can make fun of the beer-related ones. Books, best recordings, best movies, that stuff. And when Sierra gets it organized we’ll post our Best of the Trip - Europe Edition at The Slow Travelers.

But I’ve given up trying to assemble a “best of beer” for the year, for the European leg, for Germany, for Liechenstein. I can’t even decide on my favorite beer from Cantillon.

Instead I’ll point you to a list done right. It makes me wish we had managed to collide with Boak and Bailey as all of us bounced around Germany and the Czech Republic. They were in Leipzig when we were in Prague. We were in Dresden when they got to Prague. They blogged about Christmas markets, we went to dozens (Berlin alone has 50).

It’s not that I agree on all their favorite beers (had six, but part of the point of these lists is to discover new things, right?). Daria and I really didn’t care for the sourness in U Flecku. However we loved the Mahrs Bräu Ungespundet-hefetrüb, and since we were staying one block from the Bamberg tavern and had no ticking agenda were happy to order more.

- Visit Alan and Jeff to see the winners of the 2008 Yule Beer Blog Photos contest. It seems I have a photo in there. Probably a sympathy selection after I whined about getting my butt kicked in previous years. I probably shouldn’t be so flip, because - amazing as it may be - run a contest, give away a lot of nice prizes and somebody is still going to give you grief.

- Interesting to see in “How many cult wines can dance on the head of a pin?” that the number of cult wines has exploded since the mid-1990s. Can you think of a parallel? Here’s a hint.

- And I’ll finish with a press release from home (yes, a bit sad I missed this):

“Blue Corn Brewery (Santa Fe) celebrates old traditions as well as new beginnings with the release of Aztlán Winter Ale on December 13, 2008. The first commercial beer to feature certified organic, native New Mexican hops, Aztlán Winter Ale also incorporates organic malts from the United States and Canada, and clean, pure Northern New Mexican water. This winter warmer has malt overtones of chocolate and plum with hints of orange and spice from the hops.

“Ralph Olson of U.S. hop supplier, HopUnion, reported to a source he knew of no other brewery having used these hops in the past. Blue Corn head brewer Brad Kraus, said, ‘In all my years of research about brewing in New Mexico, I have not found a single reference to the use of Humulus lupulus var. neomexicana, or New Mexican native hops, in the brewing of beer here. Since these were grown organically, I felt it fitting to use only organic ingredients.’

“Todd Bates and business partner Steve Johnson grew the hops just north of Embudo, New Mexico. They have been growing and breeding native New Mexican varieties for four years on their small organic farm.”

I visited Todd and Steve in August of 2007 (mentioned here) and Todd frequently comments here. Hi, Todd.
December 21, 2008
How I survived my Lupulin sabbatical

Posted: December 21st, 2008, 4:18pm EST by Stan Hieronymus

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I was first exposed to the concept of Lupulin Threshold Shift* when Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing and Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker collaborated on an online presentation, about hops of course, for Brewers Association members. I’ve since seen it on Russian River apparel and heard real live human beings use the words “Lupulin Shift.”

As a defender of the excessive use of hops I probably should have checked with my doctor before leaving the United States last September. Was it safe for my family to be in the car with me, traveling on some European back road, were I to seize up because I desperately needed an American IPA?

But, you know what, I didn’t end up fantasizing about Double IPAs or Simcoe hops. Downshifting hops was just as pleasant as getting off the German autobahn and on to roads that wound through picturesque small towns. No, not down into first gear; beers with single digit bittering units with imperceptible hop flavor or aroma.

I had plenty of beers with underlying bitterness and undeniable hop character. Turn down the volume a bit and it’s astounding what you can hear, or taste. Saison Dupont, Senne Taras Boulba, Schönramer Pils, and Koutský 10° Svetlé Výcepní for starters. Oh, and Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel at the brewery cafe — it drills a hole directly to the back of your brain.

And there were beers with American hop character, most notably those at the 1516 brewpub in Vienna. When I saw Birra Del Borgo’s Re Ale on cask at Ma Che Siete Venuti A Fa’ in Rome in late October I knew it would be my first beer of the evening. Daria went right for it too.

The smell of citrusy hops arrived well before I got my nose right over the glass. “Smells like home,” I said to brewer Leonardo di Vincenzo. He smiled the look of a man whose seen hop-deprived Americans linger over this beer before. More important, it is his best seller. And customers eagerly await the release of each batch of Re Ale Extra — the first was a “mistake.” He forgot to add hops until the final five minutes, then dumped a whole recipe’s worth in the kettle.

Am I happy to see crazily hopped beers again? You betcha. Was I surprised to find that brewers in other countries understand how to use hops? Of course not. This Lupulin sabbatical reminded me how important hops are even when they aren’t playing lead guitar.

************************

* If you can’t see the image at the top, it reads: lupulin threshold shift/lu·pu·lin thresh·hold shift/n 1. When a once extraordinarily hoppy beer how seems pedestrian. 2. The phenomenon a person has when craving more bitterness in beer. 3. The long-term exposure to extremely hoppy beers; if excessive or prolonged, a habitual dependence on hops will occur. 4. When a “Double IPA” just is not enough.
December 19, 2008
Discovery gives us another reason to miss Michael Jackson

Posted: December 19th, 2008, 11:13am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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A couple of minutes into watching Discovery’s Channel’s “How Stuff Works” show on beer last night I was wishing my mother-in-law had Internet access to I could read what was being typed on Twitter and comment myself. Did he really just say Sierra Nevada produced 750 barrels a year (rather than 750,000)? When did Germany and the UK discontinue brewing?

Oh, how the times have changed.

Our family watched the show with particular anticipation because when we were in Prague last month Evan Rail had Sierra nearly falling off her chair in laughter by telling stories about the filming process when he joined the Discovery production team at nearby Pilsner Urquell. It was exciting to see that Evan didn’t end up on the cutting room floor.

But ten minutes into the show Daria announced she was exhausted. Watching the footage at Pilsner Urquell made it quickly apparent how different television is in the Twitter era from twenty years ago when Michael Jackson devoted one of his half-hour Beer Hunter segments to the brewery. What last night’s program lacked in fact checking it tried to make up for with glossy magazine production.

How many times did we see Jim Koch of Samuel Adams sticking his face into freshly rubbed hops or at a brewing kettle? Or footage at Yuengling? Or mugs of Budweiser Budvar being poured? Or Steve Dresler of Sierra Nevada at work? Maybe I got lost in the blur &#151 everything kept moving so fast, I figured if there were a test I was screwed &#151 but I don’t think any of them was ever identified.

Perhaps that’s what happens when you try to do too much in an hour. Or when you are producing for 140-character attention spans. This was Beer 101 and more (“We talk to the experts, brew masters and beer connoisseurs about how they’re innovating new ways to make beer”). It made wish I could haul out my tapes, also from Discovery and packed away at our New Mexico home, of Jackson’s epic series. It’s hard to believe it consisted of just six half-hour segments, because he sure packed in a lot of information. And because, in retrospect, of its impact.

The production quality was plenty hip for the late ’80s — Michael took a particular pride in that — but the pace certainly was different. Maybe it was just Michael’s British accent, but his presentation seemed not only authoritative but educational. And pretty much from the time it aired in the United States until his death he was asked when the next series would come out.

He answered the question at his website in 1999, indicating he was ready to take on the task if somebody offered.

The Beer Hunter meanwhile achieved very respectable ratings, was positively and widely reviewed, sold extensively overseas and won a Glenfiddich Award for Television. Since then, there have been endless discussions with assorted networks, including Channel 4, Discovery, several strands of the BBC and A&E. As none has dismissed the idea, each discussion has lasted for many months before finally fizzling.

Watching the show last night I realized they’d probably never give Michael the freedom he had back then, for instance to devote minutes or even seconds to Anchor Brewing employees sitting around a campfire during a company outing. He’d likely be an on-screen star, but a producer?

There’s a thought. Imagine how he’d present Dark Lord Day at Three Floyds Brewing or German Reunification Day in Neuhaus. Think about how he might “mash up” footage from Pilsner Urquell shot in 1988 and 2008. Or . . . I’ve got to quit, because it ain’t gonna happen.

Dang.

Dang. Dang. Dang.
December 18, 2008
Are American beers really THAT good?

Posted: December 18th, 2008, 11:44am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Speaking of lists, your can read Beer Advocate magazine’s Planet Earth Top 25s at the Stone Brewing website.

I’m a little surprised that 23 of the All-Time Top Breweries are American. And that 22 of the top 25 Top Beer Bars are in the United States.

I’m a little surprised that I’ve had all 25 of the All-Time Top Beers (”New beers comes and go. These are the ones that stuck around.”), and I almost feel a sense of relief that only 17 of them are from North America. But I’m hardly shocked that 24 of the 25 are 6% abv or stronger, most much stronger (the average of the 24 is 8.5% abv).

OK, “a little surprised” might not be the best choice of words. Let’s try “appalled by such American arrogance.”
Beer book of the year: Amber, Gold and Black

Posted: December 18th, 2008, 11:32am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Makin’ a list and checkin’ twice, it’s that time of year. I’m woefully behind so breathed a sigh of relief when I discovered a few books that were supposed to be here when we returned from Europe, so that I might provide an opinion if you should buy them, were not to be seen.

Thus no beer book shopping list, something I generally enjoy compiling, from me this holiday season.

Instead I’m going to give you a list of one, a book — Amber, Gold and Black, The Story of Britain’s Great Beers — that works perfect for the procrastinating shopper because it is available via download. Call it the beer book of the year if you want.

I’ve already written something of a review, so instead consider one paragraph:

“In 1802, a writer called John Fetham wrote three pages on porter brewing in a guidebook called The Picture of London. Feltham’s version of the history of porter, which includes the claim it was invented by a brewer named Harwood, has been repeated hundreds of times over the past two centuries as the allegedy authentic story of porter’s origins. Unfortunately very little of it is backed up by independent evidence, and much of it is demonstrably wrong.”

Are you thinking you’ve repeated this story a time or two yourself and now you are feeling like a first year law student who just got called on in The Paper Chase? Read the book and instead you get to be one of the cool kids watching a classmate squirm.
December 17, 2008
Answer: Troegs Mad Elf

Posted: December 17th, 2008, 12:28pm EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Question: What was my first American-brewed beer in more than three months?

Why not start with an 11% abv beer brewed with honey and cherries? What could be more American? When I saw it at Oak Tree Liquors in South Plainfield, N.J., a store definitely worth the drive, I knew it would be the one. We last had Mad Elf two years ago and quite liked it. A little boozy, but layers of flavor. Walked out of the store with more beer than we needed, but we may be back in a few days because Dave Hoffman of Climax is supposed to be delivering growlers of his legendary doppelbock.

And a second answer: Rosé de Gambrinus.

Question: What was our last beer in Germany (and Europe)?

It was spectacular. We finished with the Cantillon beer because when we were at the brewery in mid-September it was only recently bottled and they suggested we wait as long as we could before opening. Couldn’t do any better than the night before we flew home.

We enjoyed a more proper German sendoff the day before in Nurnberg during a very nice meal at Hütt’n (located a couple of hundred of meters from the Christmas Market and found with the help of Ron Pattinson’s city guide). They’ve got a long list of Franconian beers on the menu.

Daria and I finished (we were sharing) with Fischer Rauch, a little buttery but good with spicy Nurnberger goulash, and Gutman Weizenbock, a dangerous 7.2% winter specialty. By a bit of chance, Gutman was also my first weizen of the trip (September in Rothenberg), in this case the weizen hell, a delightful balance between fruit and clove. Had never heard of the brewery, but two impressive beers.
December 12, 2008
What should be my first beer back in America?

Posted: December 12th, 2008, 2:10am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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This is something I’ll start thinking about in a few days when we get on a plane to fly home. Right now I’m focused on what my next Franconian beer will be.

How am I ever ever going to get caught up on new beers and drink my favorite holiday beers? I’m not, particularly since we’ll still be “limiting” ourselves to drinking regional beers. So I think I’ll start with a simpler question: What should my first local beer be?

I know it will be a seasonal release, and I wouldn’t be surprised it its hoppy. It will be from the mid-Atlantic states, because we’ll be in New Jersey, where there are plenty of stores with excellent bottles choices (though not nearly as many great bars).

Please leave a suggestion as a comment.
December 11, 2008
Franconian winter

Posted: December 11th, 2008, 12:54pm EST by Stan Hieronymus

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A hopyard just outside of Markt Ingensdorf (southeast of Bamberg).
Session #23 announced: Old and new

Posted: December 11th, 2008, 4:38am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Beer and Firkins has announced the topic for The Session #23 (Jan. 2) and it doesn’t exactly fit into a short headline:

What will you miss about 2008 (feel free to list your tasting notes, if that item is a particular beer) and what do you expect will excite you most in 2009, in the “Beer World”? Again, if that is a beer, what about it is special and worthy of being excited about?)

I’m posting this as we prepare to head off to the somewhat snowy Franconia countryside. Yesterday I finished my last interviews, for the wheat beer book and a magazine story I’m working on. Seven notebooks are full, so no taking of notes today.

But I know I’m sure going to miss the swath of beer drinking land between Bamberg and Prague. Maybe that’s what I’ll write about. I promise not too be long and to include something about actually drinking specific beers. This topic leaves room, you’ll note, for a simple drinking note or two.
Session #22 roundup posted

Posted: December 11th, 2008, 4:28am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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21st Amendment has posted the roundup for Session #22: “What Does Repeal Mean to Me?”

If you are working on a term paper about beer blogging and want examples of the diversity of the beer blogosphere I’d suggest starting with December Session posts.

We’re only talking about a few dozen of the hundreds of beer blogs operating, but a pretty interesting tip of the iceberg.
December 08, 2008
#20 - Where in the beer world?

Posted: December 8th, 2008, 3:18pm EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Do you think you know where in the beer world this photo was taken? Then please leave a comment.

When I started this feature I didn’t mean it to turn into a contest. I simply planned to post a photos I find interesting, sometimes to make a point. I didn’t necessarily expect readers to know where they were taken. But from the get-go you surprised me.

As a result I might have lost my way, trying to post images I figured somebody would know but ones that weren’t “too easy.”

This week we return to Plan A. Maybe you will know in an instant where this was taken. Maybe you will be a bit surprised when I tell you, and I sure hope you’ll find it interesting.
December 04, 2008
The Session #22: Prohibition, what Prohibition?

Posted: December 4th, 2008, 2:14am EST by Stan Hieronymus

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Shawn and Nico have asked us to write about Prohibtion today in Session #22.

Specifically: “What does the repeal of Prohibition mean to you? How will you celebrate your right to drink beer?”

I’ll start with a bit of a confession. My great grandfather ran for local office in the 1890s on the Prohibition ticket. He was a berry farmer and lay preacher who also wrote about community news for two nearby newspapers. A.A. Applegate was no neo-convservative. In a time when graduating from high school wasn’t the norm he reared six children who went to college on state scholarships. Some became artists and musicians. He is one of my heroes.

He didn’t use his newspaper columns as a pulpit so I don’t have any information why he chose to run on the Prohibition ticket. But read any of many histories about taverns and pubs during the final decades of the 19th century and you can see these were not family friendly places. Sometimes they weren’t even people friendly.

In contrast you have what we’ve seen during the past 14 weeks in Europe. This includes teenagers drinking (wine as well as beer) in the company of their parents. This includes shopkeepers getting together right after work at a cafe in Switzerland, some drinking coffee, some wine and some beer. And tables reserved on a standing basis (”Stammtisch”) in Germany. And the way they keep a tab with marks on coasters in Franconia or the simple slips of paper in the Czech Republic. And regulars solving the problems of the world in the back room of a German pension, beers in hand before most of the guests had finished breakfast.

Connect the dots.

I’m sure you will read lots of great posts about why the repeal of Prohibition was important, but it’s a topic I don’t feel like taking more time to write about when I can enjoy drinking beer some place where there was never was Prohibition and I can’t imagine there ever will be. Yes, I understand that might be shortsighted.

Fact is I’m pre-posting this because Friday we’ll be in Munich, and I’ll be focused on how to get from our hotel to Neuhauser Strasse 27.
November 30, 2008
Being right and wrong about the New Yorker

Posted: November 30th, 2008, 4:19pm EST by Stan Hieronymus

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I give Jeff Allworth credit for bucking the crowd and suggesting the New Yorker feature on Sam Calagione and Dogfish Head Brewery wasn’t perfect in every way.

It wasn’t.

But his post titled “Wrong” is just as wrong when he writes “I see that he [Burkhard Bilger] has done a great injustice to the world of craft brewing” and that “Calagione’s model for brewing seems to be: pull something out of your ass, think it through incompletely, run with it, and sneer ‘neener neener’ at the naysayers along the way.”

In the second case he totally overlooks innovative and terrifically drinkable beers. Later he implies that Dogfish Head’s brewing style is less than disciplined — despite the fact the story documents Dogfish Head’s growing level of sophistication when it comes to quality control.

That’s not my real point, since Sam hardly needs my help defending himself. Instead . . . My initial reaction to the story was “How can you write about ‘extreme beer’ and not mention a brewery whose clock is not set to Eastern Standard Time?” Then I refocused and viewed it as a feature on one brewery (and its founder). It gets a lot better.

Jeff’s post makes me realize others viewed the story as I did on first reading. So he’s right. Even if he’s wrong.

Further reading: The Beer Advocate discussion includes input from the author, Sam and plenty of Garrett Oliver (in case you missed it).
November 29, 2008