musing

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 12.07.15

New words will remain scarce at this url until I’m done sorting out which non-traditional beer ingredients might kill you. Did you know salicin, the active ingredient in willow bark, might have contributed to the death of Ludwig von Beethoven?

Session 106: Christmas Ales Through The Bloggy Years.
I was absent from The Session, shame on me. But I look forward to reading the recap. [Via A Good Beer Blog]

There Are Almost No Black People Brewing Craft Beer. Here’s Why.
“Does it even matter?” Yes. [Via Thrillist]

What Is ‘Drinkability’?
[Via Boak & Bailey]
Drinkability.
[Via Ed’s Beer Site]
The Science of Drinkability.
[Via Ed’s Beer Site]
An Anheuser-Busch campaign back in the day that put the word “drinkability” on billboards did not endear the word to those who would protect the world from bland beers. It may still take rehabilitating, even though it was more than 10 years ago. So before, I think, it was used by that Brazilian doctoral candidate. I’m certain of that because when I was doing the reporting for “Brew Like a Monk” and heard Hedwig Nevin, brewing director at Duvel, use the word digestibility I shook my head to clear my ears. It was a revelation.

The Dirty Secret about ‘Clean’ Plants.
The devil is in the details. [Via Gorst Valley’s Hop Grower’s Blog]

Is the Story More Important than the Wine?
As a consumer my interest in “the story” is different than being fed “romantic back story.” [Via Wine Spectator]

Proposed San Diego County law could change the meaning of ‘local’ wine.
Next up local beer? [Via Los Angeles Times]

This is most of the conversation that started a while back, went dormant, then resumed last week. Click on the 5:10 a.m. link to open it up.

@Thirsty_Pilgrim Thinking about it, Zoigl must be a descendant of German farmhouse ale. Now turned into pils, but earlier very different.

— Lars Marius Garshol (@larsga) November 12, 2015

From Puck Magazine, Feb. 22, 1893

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 11.23.15

The Problem with “Craft”
[Via Beaumont Drinks]
What is an “honest” wine?
[Via Steve Heimoff]
The story of the week was “$1 Billion” or maybe just “B” — because the amount that Contellation Brands paid for Ballast Point Brewing was a bigger deal than another used-to-be-small brewery being acquired by a very large company. (Although whether a writer comments “x sells to y” or “x sells out to y” says as much about the commenter as the commentee.)

At All About Beer Jeff Alworth writes “fuller-flavor lagers and ales (what we used to call ‘craft beer’)” because in the magazine and at the website AAB favors letting the word beer stand on its own. I endorse that philosophy, but I also understand that “craft beer” can be a useful term, a point Stephen Beaumont makes quite well. Curiously, although we can blame the “C” word on America it is important to take a non-Americanized view of how it has become used elsewhere. Because he’s recently been to a lot more countries than you and I go ahead and trust Beaumont on this.

But as Steve Heimoff reminds us, semantics can be painful. I know what Ron Pattinson means when writes about honest beer, but I don’t want to start seeing the term used in just about any other context.

Golden Road Relationship Status: It’s Complicated (If you care).
Item 7. “Golden Road is pumping 25 million dollars into the city of Anaheim and will employ over 100 people.” Makes you think about the relationship between “local impact” and “local ownership.” [Via OCBeerBlog]

St. Louis Zoo proposes buying Grant’s Farm; Billy Busch makes competing offer.
Ulysses S. Grant, the Busch family, free beer, and a zoo. This story has it all. [Via St. Louis Post-Dispatch]

GEEK STUFF

Traditional malting in Morgedal.
[Via Larsblog]
Bright Brewer’s Yeast calls for beer ‘wish lists’ as it develops yeasts through selective breeding.
[Via Beverage Daily]
Watch an Electronic Tongue Taste Wine.
[Via Eater]
Sometimes when the “big picture” questions wear you down it is nice to curl up with a bit of technical stuff.

ON WRITING

Wine media and the internet: are we drowning in a sea of mediocrity?
[Via jamie goode’s wing blog]
Wine Needs Curmudgeons Now More Than Ever.
[Via Fermentation Wine Blog]
And to bring this week’s links full circle, Tom Wark writes: “Worrying about consolidation among the big wine brands makes no sense. And if you are a discerning wine drinker, you could care less. There are more wines and wine brands and wineries on the market today than ever before in the history of the world.”

Alan McLeod has posted everything you need to know about his Xth annual Christmas Photo Contest, which this year comes with a bonus beer writing contest.

I’ve had my hopes and dreams crushed many times in past years. I meant to enter the photo at the top (taken in April of 2014) last year, but apparently neglected to. Maybe that’s why it didn’t win.

MONDAY BEER LINKS, MUSING 11.16.15

7 Paths to Development That Bring Neighborhoods Wealth, Not Gentrification.
Think about this in the context of breweries and beer drinking establishments. Or don’t. Either way, it is important. [Via Yes!, h/T Roger Baylor]