Month: September 2015

What’s a hop picker look like?

Let’s start with two bits of nostalgia. Here’s a postcard from 1912 depicting a hop-picking crew in Washington’s Yakima Valley.

Hop pickers, Washington state, 1912

And here’s a photo from 2008 at Hoppefeesten, the beer and hop festival held every three years in Poperinge, Belgium. An area resident illustrates how hops used to be picked.

Hop picking, Poperinge, Belgium

And here’s a photo taken last week at Perrault Farms in the Yakima Valley, which this year began using two new Dauenhauer hop picking machines, set up basically in tandem. I guess I should have shot a panoramic photo to depict the size of the operation. It is stunning.

Perrault Farms, Washington, new hop pickers

When Alberic Perrault began growing hops in 1928 it took 100 people 30 days to harvest his 13 acres — or almost 8 workers per acre. These days in the Yakima Valley instead of workers per acre production is measured in terms of acres per worker. The average is about 20 acres per worker, and most of those acres yield considerably more pounds of hops.

Labor Day beer links

Labor Day beer links

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 09.07.15

Beer links seldom take a holiday, but this is pretty close.

Three Judges And A New Beer Writing Contest.
Disclaimer: I am one of the judges. But there’s cash involved (for a writer, not us judges). [Via A Good Beer Blog]

Right of Reply: James Watt, BrewDog.
Point and counterpoint. [Via Stonch’s Beer Blog]

Three Kinds Of Beer.
A view from outside the hive we live in. [Via Sediment]

An Anchor Brewing Anniversary.
I do think Anchor “qualifies as the spark that ignited what we now call the craft beer revolution,” making this story even a bit more important. [Via Beervana]

The Search for Authenticity.
Bryan Roth seeks to put some numbers to a topic I’m pretty interested in, and therefore understand just what a minefield it is. [Via This Is Why I’m Drunk]

What future for expertise?
I put it last because you may feel you’ve read more than enough on this topic. But Jacis Robinson provides a nicely balanced view from somebody who has a definite stake in being an expert. [Via Jancis Robinson]

Session #103: The hard stories are about more than beer

The SessionOops. The Session #103: “The Hard Stuff” kind of snuck up on me.

Natasha Godard at MetaCookBook’s marching orders include two parts:
– What do you want people in beer culture to be talking about that we’re not?
– What do you have to say on the topic(s)?

Reading Boak & Bailey’s contibution this morning first reminded me that I’d totally forgotten what day it was, and second led me to realize I jumped the gun last week when I asked, “Is gentrification good for more expensive beer?”

“More expensive beer” being code for “craft beer” and that is part of a larger question: Does that entity people call craft beer have a different role in society than beer has had for the last 200 years (or 50 years, or 400 years, you pick)? It is certainly related to the hypothetical book Maureen Ogle wrote she’d write (if she were writing one).

But, here’s the thing, that’s a big topic, one that requires research, and supporting statements with facts. Granted, I’m a bit obsessive, so coming up with the first question is relatively easy; committing to the “what do you have to say” before I’ve collected the facts is a non-starter.

Beer does not need to be a vehicle for “doing good,” but it gets extra credit when it does (as I started typing this sentence a tweet from James Schirmer buzzed on my phone, pointing to one such story). It’s easy to find stories when there are press releases and press conferences. It’s also more fun to write the feel good stories, the brewer who started out working as a server at the local brewpub who gets pour the first beer she wrote a recipe for.

But would be better if a hard question or two were asked, and answered. For instance, how many stories have you read about the role a brewpub (or several of them) played in upgrading a neighborhood? How many of them included anything about the people who used to live there? There’s a difference between improving a neighborhood and improving a community.

(I promise to feel guilty the rest of the day for not writing a post that actually tackles the hard stuff, but it’s a long way home and I have a plane to catch.)