12May2010: Beer linkorama

You do have to live within the Greater London area to apply for this position, but what better reason to move?

London’s historic Old Spitalfields Market has announced it’s looking for a candidate to resurrect the ancient role of Ale Taster. Entries are due by May 23. From the website:

In medieval times, ordinary citizens were appointed to oversee and inspect various aspects of everyday life, effectively doing the work of our modern Inspectors of Weights and Measures. Not surprisingly, one of the most popular offices to be held was that of the Ale Taster also known as Ale Conner. His duties involved visiting stalls and inns on market days and during the town’s fairs to ensure that the ales, beers and other produce on sale were of good quality.

“Ale Tasters would have been a familiar sight in London.” explains Malcolm Ball, chief executive of Wellington Market Company, the company responsible for Old Spitalfields Market.

He added that he felt that the ancient office would still hold its value even centuries on. “Although the attraction of such a role may seem obvious at first, the 21st Century version would incorporate many more responsibilities than the original. Our ceremonial Ale Taster would become an ambassador for the promotion of drink and food in the area. Modern tastes have evolved and become so much more sophisticated in recent times and people demand ever greater levels of quality and variety.”

The site also explains: “The candidates will really have their knowledge tested by a number of different rounds. Blind-tasting will be the order of the day and contestants will be pitted against one another in a bid to claim the ceremonial role. The final round will consist of a one minute pitch to the panel of judges to demonstrate presentation skills.”

I’m already thinking a cage match pitting the English Ale Taster and the Wynkoop Beerdrinker of the Year might be in order.

  • Tomme Arthur did a better job of explaining why collaborative brewing leads to better brewing than I last week in writing for The Session. To understand the sweet spot brewers are in right now he points to a less-good scenario: “But I do fear the day when Collaborative beers are less about imagination and more about SKU’s and push pull scenarios.”
  • Think Batch 19 from MillerCoors could turn out to be the next Blue Moon White? Me either. Right now it is being tested in four markets, and no matter how it does in the tests it doesn’t look like the brewing company would wait for the same organic growth it allowed Blue Moon (pardon the plug, but details in “Brewing with Wheat”). A mini-interview with Keith Villa — the brewer who wrote the recipe for Blue Moon White and came up with the idea of serving it with a slice of orange — is worth your time.
  • This isn’t exactly new, but Lake Placid Craft Brewing closed its brewing facility in Plattsburgh, N.Y., and F.X. Matt Brewing in Utica now produces all Lake Placid beer for distribution. Lack Placid still brews its own beer at its brewpub. I heard it suggested at the recent Craft Brewers Conference we should expect more of this. Many small-batch breweries have built up a certain following, but recognize that at their size production is be too labor intensive and inefficient to make them sustainable — that is a business that would be passed from one generation to the next. Meanwhile they can find breweries, like F.X. Matt, with excess capacity and well-run packaging plants, perfect operations to produce better quality controlled beer than they can make themselves. Nothing wrong with this. For instance, Matt has long brewed beers for Brooklyn Brewery. But let’s hope these breweries are honest telling the whole story behind their beer.
  • Speaking of the importance of where. Emerald City Beer will soon be making beer in Seattle’s old Rainier Brewery and will focus on lager. Founder Rick Hewitt plans to use Washington-grown ingredients.
  • From the New York Times: “Pairing a DVD and a Drink Takes Care.” No, no, no. Not if it’s beer. Keep it simple. A good movie. A good beer. Am I missing something?

    • 5 thoughts on “12May2010: Beer linkorama”

    1. I am aiming to add Ale Connor to my list of municipal duties. Maybe in the next round of job specification negotiations.

    2. I would gladly become Ale Connor of any area the United States, or even work for a specific Brewery checking out their beers, and informing people on their brews.

      I sort of view the Ale Connor in the 21st century as perhaps a bit like the Whiskey brand Ambassadors Several Major Whiskey companies have.

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