Month: December 2007

Fantasy Beer Dinner #8: Alan McLeod

Alan McLeod, Mr. Beer BlogFor more about what this is part of look here.

Alan McLeod has been writing about beer at A Good Beer Blog since 2003, “allowing the world to follow the highs and lows of his beery education in real time.” In addition to writing a few articles for trade magazines, this year he was asked to join in the writing of “Beer & Philosophy,” contributing a chapter entitled “Beer and Autonomy” that asks one question: why the heck is the law of beer like it is? In the rest of his life he is dad and husband, foster dad and sports fan and in-house municipal lawyer in just about that order.

In case you forgot, the questions are: If you could invite four people dead or alive to a beer dinner who would they be? What four beers would you serve?

It’s a funny thing about me and all this writing I’ve done about beer as, while it is as convivial a thing in life there is, for me it is a bit of a solitary obsession – me, my computer and a cold room in the basement filled with beer. If I am honest, my interests and influences are more English than North American but I seem to be far more fascinated by the great craft beers of America than anything I have had from elsewhere. That may be the classic Canadian compromise.

1. David Line. This 1960s-70s star of the UK home brewing scene was my introduction to making my own beer and appreciating the great beers out there waiting for me. I find the pre-Jacksonian, pre-CAMRA era of beer writing refreshing in that there was much individuality but no hint of snobbery. Recipes were as likely to be for a beet beer as an authentic imperial stout on the wood and the writing was plain. Line’s writings speak of a genial soul, happy to teach and happy not to be that worried about modern concerns for weekly units or extreme beer. I think he would make an excellent table companion.

Beer: cask London Pride, circa 1978, his desert island beer according to his Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy published in that year.

2. Timothy Finn: author of the 1975 book Pub Games of England. I have this idea that drinking beer was more of a side aspect to the life of an English pub compared to the other activities that went on. Being able to go to a pub and hurl massive round wooden cheese at stout pins in a game of London Skittles or playing an elegant if mantis-like game of lawn billiards would surely over-whelm the finer points of the chosen malt or hop in this bitter or that.

Beer: local ordinary bitter on cask, a 3.2% drink that would leave the lawn billiards cue steady.

3. Martyn Cornell. I wanted to pick one contemporary beer writer and I could have picked any one of many but I picked Martyn due to his incredible obsession to both detail and accuracy. His blog, The Zythophile, displays a commitment to drilling down to the actual while following stories not covered by the pack. I wonder how much Line and Finn would be able to teach him?

Beer: I have no idea but maybe a good thick 1700s West Country white beer as a stand alone first course would get the conversation going.

4. The me of 1985 when I was 22. Fresh out of undergrad I think I recollect that I knew a bit about beer but I was too obsessed with the nightlife in Halifax to take advantage of the opportunities to the point that when I went to Belgium in 1986, I stuck to Guinness. Sad. One evening of Line, Finn and Cornell would have given the him that was me a great head start in this interest of mine.

Beer: Just one draft Keith’s followed by a range of Belgian dubbels just to teach the ignorant wee mopey bastard good from bad.

More Fantasy Beer Dinners.

Fantasy Beer Dinner #7: Stonch

The ridiculously famous StonchFor more about what this is part of look here.

Jeff Bell (a.k.a. Stonch) is the freelance British beer writer behind Stonch’s Beer Blog and his work also appears in the print media. He focuses on his hometown of London, but notes, “I get around Europe and am a zealous advocate of Italian artisanal brewing.”

In case you forgot, the questions are: If you could invite four people dead or alive to a beer dinner who would they be? What four beers would you serve?

1. Giuseppe Garibaldi (1807-1882)

To me, Garibaldi is one of the most intriguing and exciting characters in modern history. A adventurer who knew no borders, a hero in the Old World and the New, he even lived in my native Tyneside for some time in 1854. His time there was the subject of a book by my old man, a fellow master mariner, now translated into Italian. He’d have no shortage of tales to tell, and I’d enjoy introducing him to the artisanal Italian beers I’ve been discovering during the course of this year.

The beer: Garibaldi was a heavy cigar smoker, preferring Toscani from his home country. Birra del Borgo, a craft brewery near Rome, uses tobacco leaves to produce Keto RePorter. That’s what I’d serve Giuseppe.

2. Molly Brown (1867-1932)

The “Unsinkable Molly Brown”, an American woman, survived the maiden voyage of the Titanic, so I think she could handle a boozy dinner. After receiving a tip-off from Mark Twain, she and her husband made a fortune mining gold in the Rockies and bought a huge house in Denver. To the end of her life, she was a renowned raconteur. When I’m holding forth, getting a word in edgeways isn’t easy, so I think the other guests would appreciate her presence.

The beer: Her erstwhile home, Denver, is awash with first class beer these days. I’d ply her with Great Divide Titan IPA.

3. Robert Noonan (1870-1911)

Noonan wrote The Ragged Trousered Philanthropists using the pen name “Robert Tressell”. He was a Dubliner who worked in South Africa and then England as a painter and decorator. During his lifetime, he never received the credit he deserved for the masterpiece of working class fiction he wrote in 1905. In a heavily edited form, it was first published posthumously in 1914, with a full edition only becoming available in the 50s. The book provides an astonishingly detailed account of the lives of working people and their families in a southern English town. For the beer and pub enthusiast, there are lengthy and detailed descriptions of pub life. Relatively little is know about Noonan’s life. He died aged 41 of tuberculosis and was buried in a pauper’s mass grave.

The beer: I’d offer Noonan Harvey’s Porter from Lewes, Sussex. In his novel, the protagonists are based in a town on the Sussex coast, and drink porter in their favourite pub.

4. Ron Pattinson (1957-)

Go on then, you old sod. He’s probably the beer writer in Britain with the most to say right now. Give him a few pints and it all comes tumbling out.

The beer: Dark Mild and a nice Franconian Dunkles. What else?

Book review: Land of Amber Waters

Land of Amber WatersIn the preface to Land of Amber Waters: The History of Brewing in Minnesota author Doug Hoverson writes how he came to decide that there might be something he could add to the literature on Minnesota’s breweries:

“Without making this sound like a research grant proposal, I think it is easy to demonstrate that the history of the brewing industry is important in understanding Minnesota’s history and culture, and that Minnesota’s brewing industry is important to the wider history of the brewing industry in general.”

Mission accomplished.

I could likely dash off a quick 2,000 words about this book, but that’s more than would interest you.

Hoverson teaches social studies and coaches the debate team at Saint Thomas Academy in Mendota Heights, Minn. He’s a homebrewer and associate editor of American Breweriana. It’s obvious early on, like when he thanks his family for “the times we drove out of our way to look at a hole in the ground,” this was a labor of love. He writes he spent hundreds (although I suspect it may really be thousands) of hours in local libraries.

The result is information we’ve never seen before. The dude has details on all 290 breweries that ever operated in Minnesota. All but 40 opened before Prohibition and all but 20 no longer exist. That makes for challenging research.

The University of Minnesota Press certainly does the book justice in 340 pages, each 10 inches by 10 inches, printed on heavy stock and packed with illustrations.

But what makes Land of Amber Waters worth its $39.95 price tag is the perspective Hoverson adds on top of his meticulous research. For instance, he introduces the third chapter with a 1902 quote taken from the Pine City Pioneer:

“Mr. Buselmeier makes a purer beer than any that is shipped in here and we are glad to know that the drinking public appreciate that fact. Every dollar that Mr. Buselmeier gets is expended in Pine City and those who patronize him are benefiting the village. The same can be said of every other home industry. … So when in need of a glass of beer, a glass of pop, a good cigar, a sack of flour, a newspaper, or in fact anything that is manufactured at home and will benefit home trade be sure and call for it. This is the way to build up a town.”

Maybe that’s a little rah-rah, but this chapter about the “glory days of the small-town brewer” offers example after example of the role breweries played in communities and the role communities played in beer in the latter half of the nineteenth century.

Small towns have changed a bit since then. Small breweries literally disappeared then came back. We’re not returning to 1902, but as well as doing a terrific job of chronicling Minnesota’s beer history Land of Amber Waters tells us more than a little bit about beer in America today.

Fantasy Beer Dinner #6: Rick Sellers

Rick SellersFor more about what this is part of look here.

Rick Sellers started Pacific Brew News in 2005 (website, blog and podcast) and this year his articles started showing up in print. He recently signed on as Beer Director for DRAFT Magazine.

In case you forgot, the questions are: If you could invite four people dead or alive to a beer dinner who would they be? What four beers would you serve?

Four People, Four Beers

Martin Luther: I doubt my manners would be appropriate for the man, but I have so much respect for a man who was willing to stand up and voice a word of dissent in a time where that wasn’t allowed. I see him as one of the great rebels of history, even though I am certain his persona was humble.

Beer: Could you imagine sitting with Martin Luther (and his interpreter) over a traditional doppelbock? I’d love to find out. The style was reportedly developed in his lifetime and I can’t imagine a more appropriate drink even if he didn’t actually get to enjoy this, I still like the idea.

Anthony Bourdain: I don’t have a lot of celebrity heroes, but this guy simply fascinates me. I love his brash approach to the finer things in life, and from what you see of him (the side he lets us see) he is a true hedonist, a lover of pleasure and I can’t help but think an evening with him would include great food and liberal drinking.

Beer: I’d sit his ass down at Russian River and spend as many minutes and beers as needed to convince him his views on beer are skewed and out of line with his passionate pursuit of better food. He seems to like the area, but when it comes to beer he seems to think crap beer is just fine.

Fred Eckhardt: I’ve had one long talk with the man, and another brief conversation ­ what can I say, I love his stories. Beyond the beer, I love hearing him talk about the travels of his youth, including the days of WWII. Yeah, I’d love to hear a first-hand account in the evolution of the American Craft Beer scene, and who better to walk me through that than the great Fred?

Beer: Hair of the Dog’s Fred? But of course! Legend has it that Fred was named after the beer, but I was able to clarify this with Alan (owner and brewer at HotDog) and he says no, it was actually the beer that was named after the man. I’ll have to let Snopes know.

Douglas Coupland or Christopher Moore: I know, cheating! Both of these men wrote books that brought a passion for reading that hasn’t faded away, and even inspired me to write on my own. They both have quirky styles and a warped world view I appreciate ­I only hope they’re as quirky in person as they are in their works.

Beer: 2004 Sierra Nevada Bigfoot, a beer that’s great for encouraging slow, casual drinking and long conversations. Besides, I think Moore may have some great and interesting tales to spin about the elusive creature of the woods.

Monday morning musing: Don’t blame the beer

The SessionBefore jumping into a bookish week here — reviews plus the requisite holiday suggestions — a few beer links to kick start your week. Don’t forget that its ends with The Session #10: “Let it snow, let it snow, Winter Seasonal Beers.”

– Concern about the carbon footprint of older appliances, particularly refrigerators, is quite valid. But headlines like “Beer fridges guzzling too much power” would seem to blame this on beer. In most cases these are second refrigerators not refrigerators dedicated to beer. An example of how slang, and the fact that any newspaper story will be better read if you put beer in the headline, may tarnish beer’s image.

– Yep, I’m a little disappointed readers didn’t join in last week to answer the question “Who would you invite to a fantasy beer dinner?” Just a list (perhaps you were intimidated by the impressive narratives provided by here by my guests) would have been OK.

A new book, The Last Supper, asks chefs a similar question: How they envision their last meal on earth (guests, menu, who cooks it, etc.). Beyond noting a “last supper” seems like less fun than an ongoing series of beer dinners, I’m happy to leave a review to Stephen Beaumont at World of Beer. He find the “fascinating concept almost ideally executed,” with an exception or two.

Most disappointing to me is the near-complete lack of respect good beer receives from chefs who presumably otherwise care a great deal about the foods they ingest. Jamie Oliver, for example, chooses to sup Hoegaarden, of all things, with spaghetti all’arrabiata, ignoring that the chilies in the dish would render the beer almost flavourless.

Beaumont’s own “Last Supper” beverage list includes beer.

– ‘Tis the season. Jon at The Brew Site is reprising his Advent Beer Calendar.

And Alan at A Good Beer Blog has brought back the Yule Photo Contest and partnered with Stonch’s Beer Blog to make it international. They’ve assembled quite a lineup of prizes, with more rolling in all the time.