Stan Hieronymus

Ales Through the Ages II

Sorry, this event has been canceled.

Some of the world’s brightest beer scholars and I will be returning to Colonial Williamsburg for another round of Ales Through the Ages. The last one was terrific (read Martyn Cornell’s recap) and the next one is Oct. 19-21.

My brochure arrived yesterday.

Ales Through the Ages, Colonial Williamsburg
Here’s the speaker lineup (there are also receptions and speakers roundtables Saturday and and Sunday):

FRIDAY, October 19
5:15 p.m. – Keynote presentation. Pete Brown.

SATURDAY, October 20
9 a.m. – From Caelia to Celctic Brews & Brigid to Benedict: Beer Beyond Roman Rule. Travis Rupp.
9:45 a.m. – The Sexual Habits of Hops: How They Changed Beer, and Changed It Again. Stan Hieronymus.
(Pardon the whining, but I also followed Travis last year. This is a lousy position. He is an engaging speaker who actually knows what he is talking about.)
11 a.m. – British Fungus: Brettanomyces in British Brewing. Ron Pattinson.

2 p.m. – Messing About with Old Ale & Beer. Marc Meltonville.
2:45 p.m. – Pale Ale Before IPA: The Birth of a Legend. Martyn Cornell.
4 p.m. – Speakers Roundtable.

SUNDAY, October 21
9 a.m. – Gruit: Back to the Future of Brewing? Butch Heilshorn.
9:45 a.m. – Molasses Beer, Hops and the Enslaved: Brewing in 18th Century Virginia. Frank Clark and Lee Graves.
11 a.m. – Albany Ale: 400 Years of Brewing in New York’s Hudson Valley. Craig Gravina.
2 p.m. – The Nobel Failure: How Vermont’s Period of Prohibition Shape the Present Culture and Landscape. Adam Krakowski.
3:15 p.m. – Speakers Roundtable.

What is wrong with this picture?

Nuevo Mundo Draft Bar, Lima, Peru

Jennifer Talley judging beer in PeruWhy do so many beers on the menu board at the Nuevo Mondo Draft Bar in Lima, Peru, contain 6.1% alcohol by volume? Yes, that is a 6.1% Berliner Weisse on the board and elsewhere I drank a 6.1% beer called “Kolsch.”

Because in Peru breweries pay less tax on alcoholic beverages (not just beer) with 6.1% abv to 12% abv than they do on those with less than 6%. As you know, in the rest of the world beverages with more alcohol are generally taxed at a higher rate.

Which might be why Jennifer Talley, author of Session Beers, began her presentation at Copa Latinoamericana de Cervezas Artesanales wondering out loud why she had been invited to judge and speak.

The Session #136: Farmhouse Brewing

The SessionHost Dave S has announced the topic for The Session #136 is Farmhouse Brewing.

He’s left options pretty wide open, among other this suggesting this:

You could talk about how the word “farmhouse” is used in modern craft breweries, or about historic brewing traditions. You might want to think about how, if at all, the two are related.

And this:

Conversely, if you think that the modern idea of a farmhouse brewery is largely just about marketing and aesthetics then you could have a go at dissecting and deconstructing it. Where did it originate and what are its roots? Who popularized it? How is it constructed and signalled? Most importantly, why are people so keen to buy into it?

Or you could write about the 200-plus operations in New York the state officially recognized as “farm breweries.”

Meet me in Asheville

Hops for the future, beers from the past. My kind of weekend fare.

Mike Karnowski at Zebulon Artisan Ales in Ashville, N.C., has invited me to ramble on at a couple of events during Asheville Beer Week. So we rounded up a bunch of experimental hops to try in beers one evening, and grabbed some recipes from Brewing Local and elsewhere that Mike turned into beers I’m certainly looking forward to tasting the following afternoon. He’s done the hard part.

We’ll taste beers made with sexy hop names like CF212 and Auss 016 from 5 to 7 p.m. May 27 at Zebulon (details). The lineup of 1800s beers (1-3 p.m. May 28) includes early American porter, Albany Ale, Brilliant ale, pro-Prohibition pilsner, Kentucky Common and Swankey. Yes, the elusive Swankey. (Details.)

In case you are wondering, a clip from the Newport, Pa., News, March 24, 1910:

Swankey clips

Monday beer links: Will work for diversity

Administrative note: Monday links will be on hiatus until June 4. Get your links fix from Alan McLeod each Thursday and Boak & Bailey on Saturdays.

BEER AND WINE LINKS, MUSING 05.07.18

The digital revolution is leaving black people behind.
Nothing about beer or brewing in this story, but Thursday morning the North American Guild of Beer Writers announced the winner of its first Diversity in Beer Writing Grant. And the topic came up more than once in panel discussions at the NAGBW meeting that followed. As often as not it was about diversity in the marketplace, but this story and one about women and STEM jobs in brewing Bryan Roth wrote about 18 months ago seem directly related to something the Brewers Association’s new brand ambassador J. Nikol Jackson-Beckham said during a presentation later in the day.

If you’re going to grow, you cannot simply sell beer just to white dudes with beards,” she said. According to Jackson-Beckham, beer companies have three main growth opportunities: their customers, their employees and their brand’s packaging and marketing.”

Their employees. A series at Good Beer Hunting (next link) should make anybody realize that working in the beer world does not necessarily equate to getting rich. However there are STEM opportunities, long term and short term (trainees or entry level employees who are going to move on to better paying jobs). Brewing companies should be actively recruiting more than white dudes for both.

Read more