Before moving on to beer-related links here’s one about one of my favorite topics I try not to bore you with too often: the state of journalism.
The synopsis: 18 years ago a librarian penned a tongue in cheek “survey” about librarians and sex for a humor column in a library bulletin. Nearly two decades he’s retired and blogging. Blog readers suggest he publish the “survey” again. Now it’s being treated as new news (it is neither) by bloggers and more traditional media alike. Will Manley has stirred up craziness on many levels, and it seems to still be growing tentacles in the blog world, on Facebook and everywhere else. So here’s one of his questions:
Here’s what really blows my mind. The newspapers are following the lead of the bloggers in presenting this story. In other words professional journalists are getting their news from blogs that may or may not be reliable. Don’t they care that this survey was a tongue in cheek attempt at humor? Does this worry you about the news industry and journalists in general?
Back to (mostly) booze:
Bill at It’s Pub Night in Portland examines “The Bomber Price Penalty.” He doesn’t pull any punches, concluding “The fact that no other product is priced with a volume penalty instead of a volume discount leads me to believe that bomber pricing is simply a swindle.” He backs this up with numbers, comparing bomber prices to a six-pack equivalents.
And because Oregon has a beer blogging culture as rich as the beer scene Patrick at the Oregon Economics Blog riffs on Bill post by examining Beeronomics: Non-Linear Pricing. Put on your thinking cap and learn about high demanders (probably you when it comes to beer), low demanders and how high demanders may benefit from price discrimination.
Beer styles. Still in Oregon, Jon Abernathy examines indigenous American beer styles, linking to this from Mario Rubio and “600 Words About Beer Styles” by Brian Hunt of Moonlight Brewing in California.
Beer history. Ron Pattinson compares brewery output in in London and Vienna in 1865. “Of course, Vienna’s breweries were later overshadowed by those of Bohemia and Bavaria. Their role in the development of European brewing, in particular the spread of bottom-fermentation, has been largely forgotten. Much as the Viennese style of amber Lager has retreated into obscurity.”
More connecting the dots. Brewers on the continent, particularly in Belgium and even more particularly those who brew and blend lambics, often lament the growing appeal of sweet drinks. Yvan De Baets put it quite succinctly in Brew Like a Monk: “One of the main goals of Belgian brewers should be to fight against the Coca-Cola flavors and those kind of gadget tastes. We should be about cultural tastes, not animal tastes.” This link is a couple of months old — some items get bookmarked and not read for a while, sorry — but Salon gets right to the point in Sugar high: Why your food is getting sweeter. Bottom line: “Regardless of everything we have learned, however, our food just keeps getting sweeter and more sugary.”
Last Call: The Rise and Fall of Prohibition. This review calls Daniel Okrent’s book “the most persuasive and best-documented explanation as to why and how America decided to ban alcohol.” And you thought all he knew about was fantasy baseball.
For the record. The best place to be in America on Saturday was not Munster, Indiana. It was in New Orleans for Jazzfest. The festival continues next week, but getting a room will be a challenge because a big convention is also in town: it’s Digestive Disease Week. I imagine they chose New Orleans for the restaurants.
Thanks for the links Stan. As someone who’s dabbled a bit in economics, I’ve alway found Craft Beer to be rich in a lot of economic phenomena, and thanks for finding another example. You have a link which instead of going to the “It’s Pub Night” blog, goes to a Salon article on the rising sweetness of foods. I believe this is the link you meant to put there:
http://www.its-pub-night.com/2010/04/bomber-price-penalty.html
Thanks, Derrick. I fixed the post. – Stan
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