the session

Session #72 announced: ‘How We Love Beer’

The SessionHost Ryan Newhouse has posted the topic for The Session #72: “How We Love Beer.” Sort of a Valentine’s Day theme. The key word in there, he points out, is how.

Think of this topic and discussion in terms of being in a relationship (again, a good primer for Valentine’s Day!). You can say to your partner, “Honey, I love you.” But think of the saying, “actions speak louder than words.” From my personal experience, it’s always better to show your partner the ways you love them instead of saying simply, “I love you because you make me happy.”

How, rather than why. Ryan wants to make that clear: “Again, think of the phrase, ‘actions speak louder than words,’ so I’m not looking for what characteristics beer has that makes us love it, but what we do to show our love for it.”

The Session is Feb. 1. Everybody is welcome to participate. Simply write a post and send Ryan a link.

The Session #71 roundup posted

The SessionShowing the organization you might expect from a homebrewer, as long as that homebrewer is not me, John at Homebrew Manual has posted and neatly organized the roundup for The Session #71: Brewers and Drinkers.

I too quite enjoyed Darren at IDREAMOFBREWERY’s “biology lesson on the sub-sets of brewers and drinkers” and the Venn diagram that I’m not quite sure was related to the topic but you want to look at.

The Session #71: A life lesson from brewing

The SessionJohn at Homebrew Manual made Brewers and Drinkers the topic for the 71st gathering of The Session today, and suggested many directions a post might go. However, I kept coming back to this: “(It) is about your relationship with beer and how it’s made.”

(In his post, The Beer Nut writes, “. . . when The Session rolls round, I try and twist the theme to whatever I’m currently interested in or am already thinking of blogging about.” Perhaps that is what I am doing here, pulling that line slightly out of context.)

My relationship with beer and how it is made might be more complicated than yours. I don’t spend my working hours focused on that, but instead on other people’s relationships and how they make beer, or grow ingredients, or analyze results, or run a bar, or whatever. By the end of the day, introspection that includes beer has little appeal.

I’ve learned a fair amount about various aspects of beer, from history to science, by reading. A lesser amount by doing; that is brewing at home. And far more by listening and observing. Sometimes all those experiences come together.

I’m pretty sure I’ve already told the story here about a late morning or early afternoon (I might have been hung over, so details get fuzzy) at Cantillon in Brussels. I was talking with Leonardo Di Vincenzo, founder of Birra Del Borgo in Italy, a brewer who has done collaborations with Cantillon, at the time.

The conversation stopped when Jean Van Roy poured something he had hauled out of the cellar.

Leo looked at my face when I took a sip. “Humbling,” he said.

Making beer is humbling. But so is life.

If it turns out well, I did a good job of staying out of the way. If it doesn’t turn out well, then I did something wrong. Humbling.

Reminder: The Session #71 is Friday

The SessionA reminder that The Session #71 happens Friday. John at Homebrew Manual has announced the topic is Brewers and Drinkers. His explanation:

Brewers and Drinkers is about your relationship with beer and how it’s made. Do you brew? If so why? If not, why not? How does that affect your enjoyment of drinking beer?

Here are some things to think about if you’re stuck:

* Do you need to brew to appreciate beer?
* Do you enjoy beer more not knowing how it’s made?
* If you brew, can you still drink a beer just for fun?
* Can you brew without being an analytical drinker?
* Do brewers get to the point where they’re more impressed by technical achievements than sensory delight?
* Does more knowledge increase your awe in front of a truly excellent beer?

To participate, write a post and leave a link in comments that follow the announcement.

The Session #70 recapped; No. 71 announced

The SessionDavid J. Bascombe has recapped the The Session #70: Don’t Believe the Hype. Lots of interesting thoughts, and — this is one point of The Session — I added a few more bloggers to my “read regularly” list. Oh, and I still don’t believe the hype.

John at Homebrew Manual has announced the topic for #71 in January: Brewers and Drinkers. It comes with an explanation:

Brewers and Drinkers is about your relationship with beer and how it’s made. Do you brew? If so why? If not, why not? How does that affect your enjoyment of drinking beer?

Here are some things to think about if you’re stuck:

* Do you need to brew to appreciate beer?
* Do you enjoy beer more not knowing how it’s made?
* If you brew, can you still drink a beer just for fun?
* Can you brew without being an analytical drinker?
* Do brewers get to the point where they’re more impressed by technical achievements than sensory delight?
* Does more knowledge increase your awe in front of a truly excellent beer?

Just in case the world is ending Dec. 21, here are my answers now: no, huh?, yes, yes, some, and yes. Perhaps they will be better explained Jan. 4, and perhaps I’ll ramble on about something entirely different.

To participate, write a post and leave a link in comments that follow the announcement.