Labor Day
Today’s Finger’s newsletter from David Infante, “How the Twin Cities became a hotbed for craft beverage unionizing,” is timely and essential reading.
Crushable
I still do not understand, but perhaps this will help you figure it out.
Is White Claw Surge crushable?
“‘You can make the argument that ‘crushable’ and ‘sessionable’ parallels with American binge-drinking culture,’ says Elle Holcomb, a Portland, Oregon–based winemaker and alcohol sales representative. But she stops short of this conclusion, offering that the initial intention of ‘crushable’ is less about indulgence than it is an accessory for socializing.”
Change
I don’t usually point to podcasts, but Yakima Chief Hops has started a new one called “Bigger Than Beer,” which each year will explore a new subject. The first topic is “Women+ in the Industry,” and the initial conversation with Tessa Schilaty and Tiffany Pitra from the YCH sensory lab is exceptional.
I visited the “Aroma Dome” week before last and wished I could have spent much longer talking with them. (Technically, we weren’t in the “dome” itself. Pitra was teaching YCH staff members to recognize the aroma of onion-garlic – a lamentable character that may arise in hops that otherwise tropical aromas. She had chopped up onion and garlic, and it smelled great in there although it would not have in beer. We stepped outside.)
Schilaty and Pitra are not necessarily thinking about hop aroma, about evaluating that aroma and understanding that aroma like everybody else. Take notice.
Find it on Spotify or Apple Podcasts.
Neomexicanus
This story wild hops in New Mexico would not be nearly as much fun if I reported it. I’d treat it more like a teaching moment, and insist on adding more facts and more history. It is more enjoyable to read it as it is, and listen to Joe Ely sing Silver City.
Styles
Boak & Bailey nicely summarized the outbreak of posts about beer styles (fourth entry) last week. To that I will add (and pardon the internal link) this post from 2010 about something Fred Eckhardt published almost the same time Michael Jackson’s “World Beer Guide” came out.
Always for pleasure
A fresh hop seminar.