the session

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.

The Session #70: Beyond the hype

The SessionThe topic of discussion today for The Session #70 is “Don’t Believe The Hype.” That’s easy. I don’t. Which is liberating. It allows me to appreciate beers that are highly hyped, in fact.

I might have more to say, but not the time to do it.

So instead, I’m doing the internet thing and pointing you to Simon Johnson’s excellent post on the topic.

And, off topic, I’m thinking it would be great if the Reluctant Scooper got together with the HoseMaster of Wine for some sort of wine-beer collaboration.

Look for more, on topic, Session posts in the comments following the announcement post.

Session #70 announced: Don’t believe the hype

The SessionDavid J. Bascombe has announced that The Session #70 will be all about hype.

He explains: “Back in the summer, I shared a bottle of Westvleteren 12 with my brother and my father. Whilst I was aware of it’s reputation as ‘best beer in the world,’ they were not. Whilst we all enjoyed it, we all agreed that we much preferred the other beer we had that night. The question that came into my head was this . . . If I had told them it was the best beer in the world, would their perceptions have changed?”

So the ground rules for The Session on Dec. 7:

How much does hype have an effect? Are we much better off knowing nothing about a beer, or is it better to have the knowledge as to what the best beers are?

Which beers do you think have been overhyped? How do you feel when a beer doesn’t live up to it’s hype.

Is hype a good or bad thing for beer?

Participating is easy. Post on Dec. 7 and drop David a note or leave a comment.

Session #69 roundup posted

The SessionJorge does not mess around. He’s already posted the roundup for The Session #69: A Perfect Beer World.

Alas, my post didn’t make the cut. This happens every few months, although in this case it appears it is because I pissed off the comment gods. I see my comment (with a link) is still being held for approval. I don’t really mind, because it also has a typo. Quite obviously, news that Sierra Nevada Celebration had hit town rendered my mind, and fingers, pretty much useless.

Anyway, and this could change, but there’s also no link to Alan McLeod’s fine post (So What’s Not Perfect So Far?). Much better thought out than mine and worth your time.

In a better beer world, more beer is local

The SessionThe topic for The Session #69 is “The Perfect Beer World,” a concept I’ve struggled to wrap my head around. How does that fit in with the idea of a perfect world? Can you have a beer utopia without achieving overall utopia? These are the sort of questions you need a beer to help sort out.

So here’s one suggestion for a better beer world, which according to my logic, makes the world a better place in general: More local beer.

I could have typed “in a perfect world all beer is local,” but that would require overlooking the fact that some people here have wanted the beer from there for hundreds of years, and sometimes that beer was from pretty far away.

And I’d also be overlooking the fact that we’ve been waiting for the 2012 vintage of Sierra Nevada Celebration to arrive. I probably rambled on long enough about drinking local during our Great Adventure in 2008 and 2009, but it’s worth adding . . . pardon the interuption, but it appears there is news from the Wine and Cheese Place:

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Sorry, gotta go.