Before pointing to interesting beer reading for the week March 3-9, a quick follow up to my journey last week along parts of the Gulf of Mexico. I saw the sign pictured above while heading in Cedar Key, Florida.
Matthew Curtis will be hosting The Session #145 on March 28, and the topic is “Critique not Criticism.” He explains:
“The aim is not to be judgemental, subjective or to showcase any particular bias; this is not some finger-wagging exercise. Whereas criticism involves building an argument about why you think something is simply good or bad, critique involves taking a more holistic approach, using carefully researched and considered analysis to build a reasoned, objective, and possibly even entertaining take that benefits readers by giving them good quality information to consider.”
This reminded me that the most commented on post ever here, by far, was almost 17 years ago when I cited a quote from Kenneth Tynan that, “A critic’s job, nine-tenths of it, is to make way for the good by demolishing the bad.”
To that, in the midst of the lengthy discussion, I added another from Tynan: “A good drama critic is one who perceives what is happening in the theatre of his time. A great drama critic also perceives what is not happening.”
There are certainly parallel examples to be found around beer, and I look forward to reading them March 28.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“It’s very frustrating because it’s hard enough running a small business when your supply chain is intact. But when you have these ridiculous disruptions in the supply chain, it just causes chaos.”
— Bill Butcher, Port City Brewing owner
From Alexandria brewery owner worries about Trump administration-imposed tariffs
KICKER OF THE WEEK
Possessing our entwined starter was much more viable than visiting a cemetery, placing a stone on a stone; here Joe could respond to me. Oh, I understand enough about sourdough science to know that very little of Joe’s original culture existed in the starter. But it didn’t matter. There was a little bit of his DNA in there—enough to make me believe that Joe was back, carrying my original starter on his shoulders, returning after hours in the fields during a blizzard. In a way. Not in the way I wanted, but in a way.
From Life, Death, and Sourtdough, and by Alice Feiring
LIST OF THE WEEK
10 Female-Owned Breweries That Are Changing Beer. In 2021, the Brewer’s Association reported that 41.4 percent of breweries are owned by at least one woman. So this list could be a lot longer.
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
Bookending the seasons in the beer garden at Pensford. Boak & Bailey begin and end the beer garden sessions of the year at the same pub. “Sitting on a slightly wobbly, slightly damp bench, we turned our faces to the sun and listened to the sound of running water, laughing children, and church bells ringing. And we drank.”
Single-Farm beer. The barley, hops, water, grapes and yeast in Alesong’s Single Origin all come from the Willamette Valley. “It’s so cool we live in a place where can make a beer like this from one source,” said Alesong’s Brian Coombs.
You missed Schell’s Bockfest. It was Saturday. But there are some interesting takeaways in this story. They quit (briefly) making seltzers. The are canning Deer Brand. They opened a taproom, but only after carefully considering its impact. “We didn’t want to take away customers from all the bars and restaurants in [New Ulm] that had been serving our beer for so many years,” said Kyle Marti, a sixth-generation Schells family member. “Hopefully, though, we’re helping bring more people to town now.”
In the end, there is always IPA. When Occidental Brewing opened in 2014 the plan was to brew only German-inspired beers. Co-founder Ben Engler said he saw no reason they would ever brew an IPA. Now they are. “Anyone in service industry-related things has had to adjust rapidly. We found that we just can’t hold ourselves back by tying ourselves to some perhaps outdated ideal,” said Engler.
Here’s why you can’t find Lone Star Beer in San Antonio or the rest of Texas. Lone Star traces its roots back to the early 1880s, when Adolphus Busch took over the Alamo Brewing Association and turned it into the Lone Star Brewery. The brewery closed long ago and Pabst (which itself does not have a brewery) owns the brand. Molson Coors brewed the beer for decades, but AB InBev recently took over production. So back to Busch. How about that?
SO SILLY I CANNOT RESIST
Presidential Pack. Moosehead Breweries has released a giant crate of 1,461 cans of lager — which, assuming about one beer a day, is “just enough to get through the full presidential term” of Donald Trump.