The Session #104: The failure of beer blogging?

The SessionAlan McLeod has stepped in at the last moment to host the 104th gathering of The Session. And he expects an answer to this question: If we just “take the philosophical approach, that the Session has run its course”* aren’t we really admitting that beer blogging is a massive failure?

* That’s me being quoted.

I think the answer is no. Obviously, or I wouldn’t compile a weekly list of links to good reading (not all are blogs, of course). Or otherwise post here.

When I suggested to a group of bloggers, including Alan, that The Session might be fun I wasn’t thinking a year down the road, let alone eight-plus. If it lives on (I voted yes in the poll Jay Brooks posted) I will continue to participate, and volunteered to play host again. But if it goes away beer blogging is no less successful than it was last month.

I don’t know how “success” should be defined in this matter. But for starters, the blogging platform has made a bunch of people more aware of the work of Ron Pattinson and Martyn Cornell. That in turn has raised the bar for writing accurately about beer history. However that’s blogging, not The Session.

If this is part of a wake, as was suggested somewhere (but I lost the link), then here’s a pleasant memory. It is the first entry from the roundup of the first Session.

Young’s Oatmeal Stout
a head tall and firm
like whole wheat pancake batter
atop darkest stout

Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
the old Yeti howls
as he breaks from his oak cage
and threatens to bite

Written by Captain Hops

Beer Haiku Daily ceased publishing March 9, 2013, and ceased to be daily before that. It was not a failure.

1 thought on “The Session #104: The failure of beer blogging?”

  1. I agree Stan but with great deference to the subject of beer history, in which I’ve taken no little interest myself, blogging has had a huge impact on beer and the beer business, beer history is the least part of it.

    Chatter by bloggers was responsible for the spread of IPA, the unlikely gose and many other beer styles around the world. It has created a single community of beer fans where, say an English and American blogger speak pretty much in the same language.

    BA and similar sites simply extended and interconnected with this process.

    Blogging was the new Michael Jackson and still has an enormous impact. The Session shares much credit as a spin-off but if it’s has come that cannot affect the larger phenomenon of which it was simply a part. Nor has Twitter really touched the essence of blogging or even it’s comment function.

    Gary

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