musing

Here are six seconds from my weekend (click on the photo to start video).

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by Stan Hieronymus (@stanhieronymus)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Evan Rail’s essay about beer writing that I linked to last week continues to inspire comments on social media and in the blogosphere. Jeff Alworth asked, “Is Beer Less Interesting, or am I?” and Alan McLeod provided context.

I would add this thought. What is new to me or Evan Rail or Jeff Alworth or Alan McLeod might be different than what is new to somebody finally getting around to visiting a new brewery because one opened in their neighborhood.

And consider this. Saturday, Boak & Bailey wrote, “We’ve been pondering why we like the beer and brewery profiles at Craft Beer & Brewing so much. Because, in some senses, they’re quite boring. But perhaps that’s a feature rather than a bug? There’s comparatively little ‘storytelling’ or mythologising, on the one hand, and a decent amount of technical detail on the other – but pitched at a level we can follow. For example, what makes Rothaus Pils taste the way it does?”

There are many opportunities to write something new, for both the beer experienced and the beer inexperienced audiences.

Or, thinking about publications rather than single stories/posts, there are places where readers from both inside the niche and outside the niche may be served. For instance, looks at the table of contents for the most recent issue of Final Gravity. “Our entire goal is to publish the beer stories that don’t (or rarely) find a home in traditional outlets. We just need more people to be aware of it,” publisher/editor David Nilsen wrote via email.

HEADLINE OF THE WEEK

Tropic of chancer

— From The Beer Nut

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“I was racking my brain for quite a few weeks and eventually realised just about the only thing I could use from the camel to make a beer is the dung.”

— Maris Biezaitis, of South Australia’s Robe Town Brewery

POINT AND COUNTERPOINT

– “Lost in a haze: North American craft beer searches for mojo”
“The once-dynamic North American craft beer market is now stagnant. A lack of innovation in a sector awash with hazy IPAs has been blamed.”

– From X: “Hazy IPA is killing North American craft beer lolololololol.”
Click to see the photo that makes the counterpoint, and perhaps to follow the lengthy discussion.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY

– Let’s Make Craft Beer Great Again
A checklist.

– Why Modern French Beer Culture Never Took Off.
“To the French people 15 years ago, beer was not a product for the table. It was a product for poor people.”

– Character assassination at BrewDog destined to happen
“The problem inherent in (James) Watt’s strategy is the very nature of punk. If it’s true that all political careers end in failure, then all punks end up selling out. Punk is a short, sharp, shock. It’s not meant to last.”

– Is the Good Beer Guide trusted?
“In short, the GBG isn’t the trusted resource it once was.

– ‘I flew to Spain for one beer – turns out it’s in my local but brewmaster blew my mind’
Credit to Alan McLeod (again) for pointing to a tweet from Pete Brown (again) that led me to this. It goes back to the subject at the top; what gets written about beer, who writes it, and who it is intended for. This was not intended for me, and that is OK. But their surely is an audience for it. One that is more patient than I about pop ups and the number of times you need to hit an x to close something in the way of words. You have been warned.

As I commented in reposting Alan McLeod’s link to his weekly roundup, many of the prominent stories last week were best read with a British accent. Give them a read, because there are too many to repeat here.

Top of mind, for me, were these three:

– Thornbridge Brewing is keeping (part of) the Burton Unions alive. Pete Brown has that story and the role Garrett Oliver played in making this happen.

(Offering a Continental hot take, Andreas Krennmair suggests Thornbridge should use their Burton Union to ferment a Bavarian Weissbier.)

– Brewdog boss and co-founder James Watt said he would be stepping down from the top job, and Hannah Twiggs writes about “how the anarchic brewery went from progressive to problematic.” It is a long, but worthwhile, read, because you’ve probably forgotten some of what transpired during the past 17 years.

(Additional reading. A fresh post from David Jesudason: BrewDog Waterloo & sexism – ‘working here scarred me.’ BrewDog Waterloo’s female staff speak about how they were treated at the London pub.)

– Pete Brown (that guy, again!) on The Sad Demise of Worthington White Shield. “Bizarrely, all this means that to many drinkers the last surviving heritage IPA was, paradoxically, not an IPA at all. It wasn’t hazy and didn’t taste like grapefruit, so how could it be? The American Beer Judge Certification Programme (BJCP)—the self-appointed guardians of beer style definition—would seem to agree. According to their latest guidelines, the IPA category is now “for modern American IPAs and their derivatives,” specifically excluding anything that resembles beers like White Shield that gave the style its name. Apparently, IPA doesn’t even stand for “India Pale Ale” any longer; according to the style guidelines, “the term is intentionally not spelled out as ‘India Pale Ale’ since none of these beers historically went to India, and many aren’t pale.” I’m not making this up. I wish I was. Not least because I would be hailed as the finest satirist of our age.”

LEDE OF THE WEEK

It was the 90s. Life was as simple as a pair of 501 jeans and a flannel shirt.

For me, it’s a marker in time. I remember exactly where I was and who I was with when I drank my first pint of Mac and Jack’s beer. I was at a patio party at Grazie Ristorante, the long-since-closed location in Bellevue. It wasn’t a fancy affair, which is good because my hair was impossibly long and I was probably wearing the aforementioned 501 jeans and flannel shirt.

Mac himself poured that first pint for me from a red and white jockey box. I liked it. I remember thinking that it tasted like a hoppier version of Alaskan Amber, which is what all the cool kids were drinking in those days. We talked about beer and brewing. I shook my head in confusion when Mac told me the brewery was in a garage at his buddy’s house. It was the 90s. Life was simple.

— From Marking a huge milestone at Mac and Jack’s Brewery by Kendall Jones

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“When we opened, we thought, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ That was not how it ended up working out. We’ve definitely been making it up as we go.”

— Josh Martinez in Mixed Results: How Sour Ale Producers Make the Numbers Work

WHAT DO THESE BEERS HAVE IN COMMON?

Coors, Fosters, Tiger, Moretti, Lagunitas, Murphys and Beamish.

— From A visit to Heineken’s Murphys brewery

ON WRITING

So perhaps it’s not that what we write about beer has to change, at least not in the sense of the form of that writing. It might be more like we have a new opportunity to focus on truly great writing: not getting there first, so much as covering the subject beautifully; not breaking news (though of course that can be important, too), so much as understanding and explaining its nuances; not reporting on every new beer or brewery that opens (an impossibility, given our current numbers), but writing more selectively about the ones that truly matter.

— From Writing Our Way Through It by Evan Rail at Good Beer Hunting

Like fighter pilots, journalists must be well-trained and confident but without being cowboys. Meekness produces journalism as gray as dishwater and no more tasty. If journalism is ever to regain its former — and rightful — status, it must first regain its swagger.

— From The Collapse of the News Industry Is Taking Its Soul With It by Jack Shafer at POLITICO Magazine

Before getting to posts mostly from the past week, a link from earlier in April, followed by a story from 2020.

The timing for “Have We Hunted the Beer Whale to Extinction?” could have been better, since Russian River Brewing is one of the breweries mentioned at the outset. The story April 17, not long after Russian River wrapped up the annual 14-day Pliny the Younger celebration. Here’s a typical daily report from Instagram:

“Day 7 Pliny the Younger has been another incredible day with a big turnout at both breweries and mostly nice weather! Wait times holding steady at 3-4 hours in Windsor and 2.5-3 hours in Santa Rosa. Running out of bottles most nights and sometimes draft, too!”

Yes, things have changed since 2017 or 2020, but it seems people — hunting something other than whales — will still wait in line for an experience . . . and the line may be part of the experience.

Speaking of which, the Punch story begins describing a line at Other Half Brewing on Feb. 8, 2020, about six weeks before taprooms across New York City shutdown at the start of the pandemic. That was the day after, as reported by the New York Post, a “craft beer hater” and White Claw lover had pulled a gun on “hop hipsters” standing in that same line.

“The guy was telling us we were a bunch of idiots waiting online for beer.”

Related, it would seem, there is this: David Bailey’s cartoon at Pellicle.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

On Thursday, Alan McLeod pointed to dispatches from the Craft Brewers Conference in Las Vegas (that’s Sphere above, the best thing about being in that soul-less city, other than the conference). So start there and also listen to the VinePair podcast, “Is Craft Beer’s Optimistic Tone Defensible or Delusional?”

I spent most of my time in the trade show, which included 750 vendors, primarily talking to people in the hops business. Of course, those on hand to talk about products new or old are duty bound to sound enthusiastic. But many were honest about how supply and demand are out of balance. For instance, “It’s not that we are doing a booming business, but we’re not losing business.”

In aggregate, Brewers Association members sold less beer in 2023 than 2022, but 44 percent sold more beer. Many others sold about the same amount of beer. Some breweries have business plans that don’t require ongoing growth. One size does not fit all. And sometimes is is realistic to be optimistic.

Twenty years ago, I wrote a story for The New Brewer about what brewers could learn from of “Trading Up: The New American Luxury” by Michael Silverstein and Neil Fiske. One of the premises of the book is that consumer spending is polarizing. In order to trade up in a category she really cares about, an avid cyclists might save money by trading down in some that don’t matter to her — such as her brand of toothpaste or beer. The authors labeled such consumers “rocketers.”

I asked Silverstein how brewers, as a group, could identify and group of rocketers and tap into their interests.

“In my opinion, it has never worked where an industry has banded together to make a premium product work,” he said (my emphasis). “Usually, it is an inventors or two with drive, energy, charisma, dedicated followers, who make it happen in a big where. That’s where you see the excitement and energy.”

Perhaps that answer provides perspective.

LEDE OF THE WEEK

“What is the distance between the scent of a rose and the odour of camphor? Are floral smells perpendicular to smoky ones? Is the geometry of ‘odour space’ Euclidean, following the rules about lines, shapes and angles that decorate countless high-school chalkboards? To many, these will seem like either unserious questions or, less charitably, meaningless ones. Geometry is logic made visible, after all; the business of drawing unassailable conclusions from clearly stated axioms. And odour is, let’s be honest, a bit too vague and vaporous for any of that. The folksy idea of smell as the blunted and structureless sense is at least as old as Plato, and I have to confess that, even as an olfactory researcher, I sometimes feel like I’m studying the Pluto of the sensory systems – a shadowy, out-there iceball on a weird orbit.”

— From “How to Make a Map of Smell”

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“The marketplace has pretty unanimously decided that it doesn’t need more variety.”

— Zack Kinney, a founder of Kings County Brewers Collective (KCBC), in “The New Economics of Craft Beer”

COUNTERPOINT

I agree when Jeff Alworth states that writing books is no way to making a living. I would not be comfortably retired if I relied on book writing income. However, it took only a week until a post at Slate, appropriately titled, “Yes, People Still Buy Books,” enumerated what a viral Substack post, “No one buys books,” got wrong.

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY

– How a Beer Baron’s House Became a Dynamic Washington, D.C., Museum.

– The danger of being a quite good brewery.

– Long Live the Sorcery — Brujos Brewing.

– Will the real Olympia Brewing Co. whistle please stand up?

– Beer as cars.

– Gayle Benson’s New Orleans brewing dream fades as Faubourg plant goes up for auction.

ALWAYS FOR PLEASURE

The post that made me smile the most while the lights were turned off here.

I’m the Draft List at This Brewery and No, You Can’t Have a Light Beer

“Sure, we made a ‘normal’ IPA once. But then we were like, why make a beer that’s enjoyable to drink when we could make a beer that’s not? So now we’re brewin’ with the craziest shit, dude, for real. I’m talkin’ ice cream sandwiches, In-N-Out cheeseburgers, grandma’s rigatoni. If it sounds like a mistake, we’re brewin’ it and we’re callin’ it something like, ‘I Bet You’ve Never Seen a Penguin Drive a Sportscar.'”

Administrative note: See you in May. An eclipse, the Craft Brewers Conference and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival will have us otherwise occupied this month.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

There is some heavy duty science in “Predicting and improving complex beer flavor through machine learning.” You might prefer one of many summaries posted last week, such as “Scientists turn to AI to make beer taste even better,” but you’ll be missing plenty of fun details.

I remain skeptical about AI beer recipes, but the information that Kevin Verstrepen’s laboratory at the University of Leuven shares could also be put to good use by humans.

Consider this: “Both approaches identified ethyl acetate as the most predictive parameter for beer appreciation. Ethyl acetate is the most abundant ester in beer with a typical ‘fruity’, ‘solvent’ and ‘alcoholic’ flavor, but is often considered less important than other esters like isoamyl acetate. The second most important parameter identified by SHAP is ethanol, the most abundant beer compound after water.”

Ah, yes. alcohol.

So plenty to read in the Nature Communications article, and a lot of sexy charts. Even more in the lab’s book, “Belgian Beer: Tasted and Tested” (Image below is from the book.) However, because it appears to me the database is drawn from that book, it seems that needs to be a lot bigger.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

QUOTE OF THE WEEK

“Beer at its best is a reflection of a golden field of barley, a reminder of the rich aroma of a hop garden. Scientists can argue endlessly about the merits of the man-made concoctions which go into much of today’s beer but the proof of the pint is in the drinking. . . . the best of British beer is produced from the gifts that nature gave us and by methods which have been proudly handed down over the centuries. The story of beer is a story of nature and of craftsmanship; a story of farmers and brewers who join forces to create beer naturally.”

— The quote, and the photo above, come from “Beer naturally,” called out in Real Ale as Folk Horror. I love the photos in that book so much I had forgotten there are also words.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

LEDE OF THE WEEK

In 1873, the manager of an ironworks in Söderfors, Sweden, was about to retire. When handing his responsibilities over to the next manager, he worried about one issue in particular: the future of a beer barrel.

This was not just any barrel, he explained in the letter to his successor. This was a barrel he had been given by the previous manager when he himself took over the ironworks half a century before, in 1820. In fact, he wrote, the barrel still contained beer from when it was first filled—in 1794.

What the retiring manager wanted was for his successor to continue taking care of this barrel. To do so, every other year, he needed to pull off half the barrel’s contents for drinking, then brew new beer to refill the barrel, and “well maintain it.”

Those three words were underlined in the letter, just to make it clear how strongly he felt about it. His desire was for this 79-year-old barrel to be passed on to coming managers of the ironworks “from each to each, into the remotest future.”

How far the manager got his wish is not known, but in 1952 the barrel—by then more than 150 years old—was still being maintained in Söderfors.

— From Hundraårig Öl: A Hundred Years (or More) in the Making.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

WHEN X AND THE BLOGOSPHERE MEET

– Cask Ale in the North, South, and Very Far West

Seen today in Preston. I think we can all agree with this. pic.twitter.com/7sanp2z5l4

— John Clarke (@Beer4John) March 30, 2024

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY

– Look out for those sneaky strong German beers. Strong in this case may mean 5.2% ABV beers. Wait until 2026, when the United States hosts the World Cup and those British drinkers encounter Double IPAs and pastry stouts.

– After 15 Years Upright Brewing still grooving and improvising to their own tempo. Upright Brewing founder Alex Ganum is a treat. And this true story about how he found the space for his brewery in Portland, Oregon, still seems hard to believe. “I was at Amnesia Brewing on Mississippi having a beer with a buddy and he said, ‘have you found a space for the brewery yet?’ I said no, and a woman was sitting at the table next to us who worked with the owner of the [Leftbank Building]. She overheard us and said, ‘oh you’re looking for a spot for the brewery? I work with this guy who is renovating this building,’”

– Pizzeria Paradiso Reconsidered. An OG.

1) Is there a craft beer bubble? Minnesota brewers say there’s room for everyone, but some taprooms face uncertainty

2) How Fair State Brewing Hit Bankruptcy, and How It Plans to Fight Through It

3) Craft Beer Has Been Flat for Eight Years, and Other Notes

4 What we’ve gained and what we’ve lost in a decade of British beer

The first story is behind a paywall, but I found a way around it and you may as well. If not, OK, because in the second, Fair State co-founder Evan Sallee does a better job of answering the question anyway:

“Even talking about a “craft beer bubble” has been a pet peeve of mine. Craft beer is not a bubble; bubbles are a special thing where prices are inflated, and disconnected from the underlying market. Whereas the growth of craft beer has been driven by a consumer demand revolution. There are a lot of breweries competing for limited consumers, but that does not a bubble make.”

The chart at the top draws on slightly different data than Jeff Alworth uses in No. 3. John I. Haas CEO Tom Davis shared it at the American Hop Convention. It tracks production from Brewers Association defined craft breweries plus brands once classified as craft that are now owned by large breweries. The pink on the right represents barrels of beer that would have been sold had sales simply gone flat in 2020, rather than declining, not completely recovering, then declining again. Obviously, that matters a lot to hop growers. When barrels aren’t brewed then hops aren’t used. In this case, about 20 million pounds of them.

Two thoughts. First, indeed, little difference between production in 2015 and 2023. Second, if you draw an arrow from the top of the bar at 2015 to 2019 it looks much different than an arrow drawn from the top of 2019 to 2023. Production might be the same, but something different is going on.

Finally, I haven’t seen figures that compare British craft production in 2015 and today, but Boak & Bailey’s then and now illustrates what happens over time. Additionally, it is a reminder of how beer blogging has changed. This is the sort of post that 10 years ago would have inspired more of the same.

What would you pick from 2014 to pair with thiolized yeast, with hop water, with 19.2-ounce cans?

You might also enjoy

– How Does a Brewery Move Forward After a Racist Incident?
More out of the Twin Cities. “56 Brewing is still navigating the ramifications of the incident nearly three years on. (Their) story of moving forward with purpose and success in an unforgiving digital landscape is a sound roadmap after a devastating incident.”

– Does European beer have an American flavour?
If so, shouldn’t it be spelled “flavor?” Anyway, the premise: “Last year, through a combination of luck, obligation and planning, I managed to visit a random selection of bars and breweries in some of Western Europe’s major and major-ish cities (Copenhagen, Paris, Barcelona, Berlin, Brussels, and Glasgow). In and of themselves, they’re not particularly interesting; as a set, they arguably illustrate some different ways in which craft beer has landed in related but different cultures.”

– This Is Senne’s Valley
“I really dislike if your aroma and your body don’t combine together,” says Senne Eylenbosch, talking about blending. “If it’s too fruity in the nose, and it’s too slow-drinking in the body—because body is also one of the reasons that something is very slow drinking—it fights. It’s not good when the aroma is not in character together with the body.”

– Homebrew – Cheaper than the Pub?
Plenty of math in this post. “One thing though that is really clear to me from this little exercise is that ingredients are not the bulk of the cost of making the beer, it is a the people, equipment, and place to do so.”