Sunday viewing (and reading)

I appreciate moving pictures as much as the next person, so for both those who like to watch and those who like to read . . .

* Jack Curtin just posted something you should know about Sam Calagione.

* Laura Deibler sent along the YouTube video of her husband, Dan, singing a variation on Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” It speaks to the power of music, homebrewing and Trappist beer. Plus I really like the wink Dan gives Laura just over two minutes in.

* You think it was just chance that on the morning that Discovery channel debuted “Brew Masters” CBS Sunday Morning had a beer segment? The beer part, including Charlie Bamforth and Wynkoop Brewing, starts about four minutes in.

* Sorry, couldn’t figure out how to embed the next video. It’s from the Bloomberg The Mentor series. Jim Koch of Boston Beer provides advice to the guys from Oceanside Ale Works in Southern California. You gotta laugh when they say that Samuel Adams spills more beer than they brew in a year. At least if you are old enough to remember Jim Koch saying the same thing about Anheuser-Busch and his brewing company.

* I’m a sucker for any beer description that includes “It’s a cracker.” But throw in a Ry Cooder reference and you’re getting a link from me. Even if you are describing a Black IPA called Conqueror.

2 thoughts on “Sunday viewing (and reading)”

  1. There’s been quite a bit of discussion about Sam Caligone’s “Brew Masters” series and whether it will do more harm than good. Frankly, I’m more disappointed in the CBS Sunday Morning piece.

    This is a show that my wife, Brenda and I watch as we do our Sunday morning chores. We DRV as we watch so we can rewind and catch each piece. So we’re fans.

    Let me say at the onset, that I’m sure Marty Jones and Charlie Bamforth had plenty good to say, but it was edited down to this ridiculous frat boy versus College Dean motif.

    Bring in the beer expert to, “Throw down the gauntlet on wine versus beer.

    “The most sophisticated and complex alcoholic beverage”
    “More than wine?”
    Yes”
    “Oh, come on!”
    “Nope, absolutely”
    “How?”
    It’s much more complicated to make… [cut]

    I’m sure there was a detailed discussion there. Where is it?

    Instead they cut to the Wynkoop Brewery in Denver Colorado, “For proof”.

    Description of beers with colorful names.
    B-roll of mash stirring
    Invoke founding fathers, Washington and Jefferson
    Cut to the ball park, Cheers, Norm,

    Then finally a discussion about flavor.

    More stereotypes to support the college boy vs sophisticate.

    James Bond
    John Belushi

    And back to Charlie with a comparison to wine that involves spitting versus swallowing.

    How about a straight up description of the sophisticated flavors in beer versus wine and the complex process and let people draw conclusions from what they learned.

  2. I would have settled for something that made a point. I’m not sure what anybody would have learned from it.

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