Stan Hieronymus

Monday beer briefing: My favorite story is the first one

04.01.19, BEER AND WINE LINKS

ADVERTISEMENT: If you haven’t offered an opinion about the most influential hops ever, please leave a comment or drop me an email.

Picking hops in nineteenth-century Wisconsin.
This is such a delightful discovery, and not the first Jennifer Jordan has found in Wisconsin. Maybe wishful thinking, but there must be dozens more diaries like this waiting to be discovered, particularly in New York.

Hear Me Roar — With Magic Rock Purchase, Lion Acquires Second U.K. Brewery in as Many Years.
Boak & Bailey noted, “It’s interesting that of the four breweries involved in the founding of United Craft Brewers in 2015, three have now been bought by multinationals.” I was a bit surprised to see that Magic Rock would be classified as a microbrewery were it selling beer in the United States. The brewery produced 15,500 hectoliters in 2018, comparable to 13,208 U.S. barrels. That’s almost exactly the same size as KC Bier Company in Kansas City, which produces wonderful beer although most beer fans from more than a few miles away have never heard of it. Better known breweries such as Jackie O’s, Reuben’s Brews, Other Half and Port Brewing/Lost Abbey are of similar size, but it is hard to imagine a multinational purchasing them.

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What is the most important hop ever?

It was not long after John Henning at the U.S. Department of Agriculture explained the science behind terroir to me.

We were sitting in his office on the Oregon State University campus eight years ago and I had more questions to ask than we had time for. This one wasn’t even on my list. It was a frivolous passing thought.

“Is BB1 the most influential hop ever?”

He paused for a moment. I don’t recall his exact words and they aren’t in my notes. But he said that might just be true, because the release of Brewer’s Gold (a daughter of BB1*) set hop breeding in the direction it would take from early in the twentieth century into the twenty first century.

I think I’ve only asked a variation on that question one other time — in this case the more open ended, “What is the most important hop ever?” — and Jason Perrault of Select Botanicals and Perrault Farms said to give him a little time to think about it. I haven’t pressed him on it since, but now might be time.

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When, and why, Oberon became Oberon

Bell's Solsun - the beer that became Oberon

A quick quiz. What was the original name of Bell’s Oberon?

I thought of this for two reasons. Second, Twitter reminded us that next Monday is Oberon Day.

First, last week Good Beer Hunting reminded us that Sol and Sol Chelada are a big deal.

And I was left remembering that Oberon was once called Solsun. I’ve posted the whole story in this space before, so I won’t again (although I really like the photo at the bottom of license plates at the Eccentric Cafe).

Monday beer briefing: Hyperventilating saliva glands, data dump, and the sorry state of beer publishing

03.18.19, BEER AND WINE LINKS

New Mexico cactus
Green chile alert: No links here next Monday. We’ll be visiting friends, human and edible, in New Mexico next weekend.

Brussels beer x Brussels food face-off #4 // Pottekeis.
Before linking to stories about the business of beer, issues of the day, whatever, a reminder that we pay such close attention because of what some people like to call the magic of beer. The aroma, the flavor, and perhaps how a splash of alcohol makes us feel. “Unsurprisingly, the Cantillon accentuates the tang of the ettekeis and of the gueuze, causing my saliva glands to hyperventilate and flood my mouth.”

How hard is it to name a new beer?
And one more for pleasure before getting serious. I would have missed it were it not for ReadBeer.com.

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Monday beer briefing: Diversity, when the moon howls, and the meaning of wild

03.11.19, BEER AND WINE LINKS

“I am STILL not the Diversity Police”: Some thoughts on the Division of Labor in Activism and Advocacy in Craft Beer.
When J. Nikol Jackson-Beckman nailed her core values to the Twitter wall last month I did one of those low whistles you save for when you are really impressed. This post is the extended version. There’s a lot to take in, and I suggest reading it more than once. Should you not remember, Dr. J is, among many things, the Brewers Association diversity ambassador.

Related to “prioritizing the development of mutually workable solutions” there is this: The Activist Introducing Intersectionality to Hospitality. Brewpubs and brewery taprooms are clearly part of the hospitality industry, and “inequality is built into the structure of the hospitality industry.”

Widmer Brothers’ Slow Descent.
The descent doesn’t look all that slow from here. Jeff Alworth writes that when he began the research for The Widmer Way (official publication date: March 26) the brewery sold 175,000 barrels of beer. After declining 20 percent 2018 it, sales dipped to less than 100,000. To be clear, Widmer doesn’t look to be going in the way of BridgePort Brewing. Still, not a pretty looking trendline. (More here on Craft Brew Alliance’s fourth quarter report.)

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