musing

Monday beer links: Because this is why we came out of the trees

MONDAY BEER AND WINE LINKS, MUSING, 01.30.17

Our 9,000-Year Love Affair With Booze.
So question No. 1. If “people were imbibing alcohol long before they invented writing” how the heck did they blog about it? This is a long one, so set aside some time. Should you not be convinced, consider this, “You could say we came out of the trees to get a beer.” [Via National Geographic]

Three Notable Breweries of the Wasteland.
Fiction. How ’bout that? Perhaps made more relevant because this “post-apocalyptic future, where civilization has been destroyed and is currently in the process of being rebuilt” feels far too imminent. [Via The Thirsty Wench, h/T @totalcurtis]

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Monday beer links: Sexism, authenticity, and space beer

MONDAY BEER AND WINE LINKS, MUSING, 01.23.17

Thank You for Not Putting Down Women.
[Via Not My Father’s Beer]
Beer industry personnel – Come to daddy!
[Via Beer Compurgation]
Wine, Women and Subtle Sexism.
[Via wine-searcher]
Why I spent a weekend brewing with just women.
[Via The Growler]
Meet the Women Bringing Monumental Changes to the MSP Craft Beer Scene.
[Via Thrillist]
Sigh. It never ends, does it? I’m trying to figure out what constitutes progress and how we’d measure it.

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Values, memories, ideals

Flag at Craftsman Brewing, Pasadena, California

This flag appears in black and white on page 22 of Brewing Local. It seems like a good day to think about it in color, or simply to think about it.

It was hanging high on the back wall at Craftsman Brewing in Pasadena when I visited in March of 2014. It used to belong to Craftsman founder Mark Jilg’s grandfather. “He grew up in St. Louis. His father died when he was six years old. Very do-it-yourself kind of guy,” Jilg said. “Like any flag it is a symbol; a placeholder for values, memories, ideals.”

Conversation about authenticity, as elusive as it might be, comes easily when looking up at the flag. “It’s all about being genuine, tied to a place. It can be inspired by the place you live, by the people around here. It can be conceptually about place, not physically about place,” Jilg said. He talked about the symbiotic relationship that develops when beer is consumed locally. Brewers care about what their friends will be drinking, and consumers take pride in consuming beer made by people they know.

“Once you have that genuineness, it fends off the evils of the twentieth century,” Jilg said.

No beer links (here) this week

01.16.17

At the risk of alienating all of those thoroughly frustrated last June when tickets to see Hamilton in Chicago went on sale, we were among the lucky ones who were able to buy them at face value. Worth every penny, but it means I was otherwise occupied this past weekend and there are no links here. Of course, Boak & Bailey posted their typically diverse selections Saturday: News, Nuggets & Longreads 14 January 2017: Spain, Sheffield and Sober Island

And I do hope you saw these tweets during the week.

Sigh

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Monday beer links: Style tunnel vision & Belgian newcomers

MONDAY BEER & STRAY LINKS, MUSING 01.09.17

Brewmasters Reflect on 2016 and Look Ahead to 2017.
This question pops up about one third of the way into this very long post (drop it in Pocket): What was this year’s biggest surprise in craft beer? And Greg Engert of Bluejacket and the Neighborhood Restaurant Group in Washington, D.C. answers …

I don’t know if I’d call it the biggest surprise, but it has certainly been interesting to watch the craft beer market change as it further enters the mainstream. With more and more drinkers turning to craft, they are mostly turning to two broad flavor profiles, hoppy and crisp. According to the Brewers Association, IPA continues to dominate, accounting for roughly one-quarter of craft beer volume, while sales of refreshing Pilsners, Pale Lagers and Golden Ales are increasing dramatically. We’ve long known that interest in malty British styles, say, or smoky German Rauchbiers had and could likely continue to wane, but I don’t think we expected that stylistic tunnel vision would narrow to exclude the newly vaulted sour ales, along with classic Belgian ales and even roasty Stouts and Porters.

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