Stan Hieronymus

Beer links, musing 05.01.17: Blue collars & beer

Vinnie Cilurzo, Sam Calagione

Beer and Blue Collar Cities.
A scholar somewhere is probably getting close to publishing a related thesis. The premise of “working cities” is tricky, because weren’t all metropolises working cities when they were born? I’m not sure I ever thought of Chicago as a glamorous city (or to lean on Carl Sandburg: Hog Butcher for the World/Tool Maker, Stacker of Wheat/Player with Railroads and the Nation’s Freight Handler/Stormy, husky, brawling/City of the Big Shoulders) but the yuppie/hipster and beer question question Jeff Alworth poses continues to be provocative.

In 1985, Philadelelphia Inquirer food editor Gerry Etter wrote, “Today, beer is invited everywhere. It hobnobs with vintage wines and attends formal parties, it slides effervescently into crystal glasses held by long-gowned hostesses.” This caused another writer for the Inquirer to counter, “I’ve never hobnobbed in my life (and if I did, it was only once and with a consulting adult), and I don’t intend to start now. One doesn’t hobnob while drinking beer, one shoots the bull.” Thirty years later this has not been resolved.

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The Session #123: CyberBrew

The SessionHost Josh Weikert has announced the topic for the 123rd gathering of The Session will be CyberBrew – Is the Internet Helping or Hurting Craft Beer?

Ocassionally somebody will point out that these days a growing number of consumers never suffered through a time they couldn’t order flavorful beer. And, of course, the internet has always been a part of their lives. This leads to Weikert’s basic question: How is beer drinking/brewing different in the internet age, and how is the internet changing the way brewers and craft beer drinkers do business?

He suggests several, optional of course, topics:

– Marketing beer in the internet age
– The astounding influence of beer bloggers to make or break breweries (just kidding, but seriously, what’s the effect of all of this quasi-journalistic beer commentary on the drinking and brewing public?)
– How are beer reviews (expert and mass-market) affecting what gets brewed and drank?
– Are beer apps for tracking and rating overly-“gamifying” beer (or does that make drinkers more adventurous)?
– Just how fast do aleholes on message boards and elsewhere turn off prospective craft beer enthusiasts?

Post a Session contribution May 5 and leave a comment to be included in the post-Session roundup.

Coming in May, a newsletter for hops lovers

'For the Love of Hops' newsletter

I don’t plan to call it Postcards from an Oast House, or The Lupulin Letters, but these days a newsletter seems like a good place to park bits of hop-related flotsam that you’d rather see remain infobits a good idea.

Sometimes we are talking bad rumors. For instance, that the collaboration beer brewed by Pinthouse Pizza, Wicked Weed Brewing and Creature Comforts Brewing to showcase some of the new Cryo Hops from YCH Hops contained seven pounds of LupuLN2 powder per barrel. That would be comparable to 14 pounds of hop pellets or 7% of a 200-pound hop bale for in 31 gallons of beer. The day after I heard the rumor I saw Creature Comforts head brewer David Stein at the Craft Brewers Conference trade show. He and his fellow conspirators “only” used the equivalent of 6-and-half pounds of pellets per barrel, most of that powder. Crazy, but not insane. So infobits that merit more than a tweet, less than a post.

Expect a bit of agriculture, a dash of science, an occasional new variety, and always some hop geekery. As often as not you will be reading the questions I am asking hop scientists, hop farmers, hop breeders, brewers and anybody else who will put up with my questions.

It took me a little while to figure this out. That’s why some sentences are crossed out. I’ve decided to call the newsletter Hop Queries, because I know better than to promise Hop Answers.

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Beer links, musing 04.17.17: Categories vs. appellations

What's the next beer style on the rise? CBC 2017Monday musing and linking began in 2008 as a way to stay in touch during our semi sabbatical, but there hae often times I am not sure what reality I am in touch with. So rather than force the issue, next Monday there will be no links because I will be in Brazil. And I understand that because most of this week’s links were collected while I was in the midst of the rather insular experience of the Craft Brewers Conference they might look different in bright sunlight.

Gonzofest literary contest winner: The Great American Smoker.
Larry Bell said Monday he’s not sure when he last missed a Chicago Cubs’ home opener (which was Monday), but he thought it was important to be at CBC even though the company hums along fine with a minimum of intervention on his part. There are a lot more parties at CBC (and the Great American Beer Festival) these days, bigger, sometimes more lavish, more everything. Well, maybe not more fun. [Via Leo Weekly]

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