the session

Alan McLeod has posted his roundup for the 50th Session, so quickly some contributors may still be hung over.

He concludes: “But, as you see, there was a lot to it but only in the sense of how the answer explains the question. And, as a result, it is I who is the Grasshopper so to you I bow.”

We’ll see if Jay Brooks, the host for Session #51 on May 6, gives us our marching orders with the same Grasshopper-like dispatch.

You can go through the motions with your magic spells
Buy all the potions that Fifth Avenue sells
You can try to call down all the stars above,
but –

Don Henley concludes “you can’t make love.” Were this YouTube you might listen to me instead sing, “you can’t make me buy your beer.” That would surely cure you of YouTube.

I bring this up because host Alan McLeod politely asks that for the 50th gathering of The Session we write about “How Do They Make Me Buy The Beer?”

They don’t.

In all fairness to Alan, I’m probably overthinking this. And the question put to us — well, the first of several — beyond the headline is “what makes you buy someone’s beer?” In fact, it seems today’s sessioners have chosen to reveal what it is that causes them to make their own choice. Not how a beer company makes, or compels, any of us to buy their beer.

Yep, he’s overthinking this. Time to go read what The Beer Nut has to say.

I might be a bit naive, but I’m also old. I understand the advertising-marketing-business-consumer matrix. The only market in our village puts signs on the cooler door to let me know Marble IPA and Alien Amber Ale are “New Mexico’s Own.” The liquor store down the road advises which beers get 99 from Rate Beer users. Selected six-packs of Full Sail are on sale for $4.99 at the grocery store where we stopped to by grapes (on sale) yesterday.

I’ve got a lot of choices. A lot more than just a few years ago. A lot, lot more than 30 years ago. A lot more than in St. Paul, Minnesota, in 1885. For that, a bit from Doug Hoverson’s wonderful “Land of Amber Waters,” in which he writes about “imported brands.”

Most towns had at least one establishment offering “fresh Milwaukee Beer always on tap.” Prestige was also a way to neutralize the increased cost of providing imported beer. It was made up elsewhere, but in the case of a large beer garden where beer was the only product, the cost could make or break the enterprise. Planners of the temporary saloons at the Minnesota State Fair in 1885 estimated that “if Milwaukee beer is used, this will cost $8 — a trifle over a cent a glass, or $576 for the 54,000 glasses. If, however, the purchases of the privilege decides that he must figure close, St. Paul beer can be purchase at $6.50 per barrel, or thireen-fifteenths of a center per glass.” Serving only Minnesota beer at the State Fair to promote the state agricultural products does not seem to have been an important consideration for planners.

I got to thinking about history because of the knee jerk reaction at midweek to totally unsubstantiated claims from Anthony Bourdain (so silly that rather than providing more Google juice for a rumor that search engines will forever turn into fact I’ll give you this one instead). Something bad? Blame it on Big Beer. They’ve got the bucks and the power to make¹ sure all those dufuses who drink Bud and Miller Genuine Draft and something called Silver Bullet remain under their spell.

Go read “Ambitious Brew.” Beer drinkers were complicate. Something to remember when celebrating the diversity of what’s available now. It disappeared before. And not because of the super powers of Big Beer².

OK, I’m done, but I feel obligated to answer Alan was really asking. What’s the best way to persuade me to buy a particular beer?

Don’t tell me. Show me. (I would have typed that even if I weren’t moving to Missouri.)

*****

¹ For the record, I don’t think that’s what Alan was implying when he wrote the headline announcing this month’s topic.

² I’m kind of digging this phrase Big Beer. Hope somebody makes it part of a Session theme.

Not beer related, but as I was tracking down the lyrics to Don Henley’s song the thought occurred to me . . . Moscow girls do actually make me sing and shout. No YouTube video. I promise.

After much brain and soul searching, Alan McLeod has settled on the theme for the 50th Session: How Do They Make Me Buy The Beer?

Think about it. You have until April 1. Then post.

Alan points out the question is “multi-faceted.” The wording itself is intriguing. Does a brewery make you buy beer? Did a relatively few breweries once brainwash the American public into drinking pale, adjunct lager, virtually eliminating any other choice? Were jingles and billboards at sporting events and television commercials really that effective?

Sorry. Getting ahead of myself. April 1. Be there.

Based upon the turn out for The Session #49 it would appear regular beers still matter. So let’s get right to the links.

Best use of graphs
Five Hundred And One Beers. Or as the first comment notes, “Geekalicious.”

My favorite line
“Beer has long been a regulator in civilization and for that, we are grateful.” From Ramblings of a Beer Runner.

Closest to song
The Reluctant Scooper. Also the strongest statement about the relationship between beer, place and circumstance.

It wasn’t written for The Session, but could have been
From KC Beer Blog, because this sentence must tell us something about regular beers, “I’ll take American Pastoral over Moby Dick any day of the week.”

Regular beer? It’s sweet
Alan McLeod makes a case for sweet, “a quality that gets little respect these days.” And he knows how to close the deal. “There’s better and there’s worse but at the end of the day . . .”

světlý ležák
When Max signs off “Na Zdaví!” you just know he’s off to drink a beer you wish you could.

A screenplay
From Kaedrin Beer Blog.

A wish for irregular beer
Jeff Alworth asks, “Will pale lagers always be ‘regular,’ or will our consciousnesses expand such that some future generation has a broader definition?”

Giving the geek within a night off
Or why Mark Dredge promises to keep a regular beer beside the milk and ketchup in his fridge.

When the discussion turns to reg’lar beer
Flagon of Ale points out that light-lager drinkers don’t get to define regular beer.

‘Ein Bier, bitte”
Flinchbot on ordering beer in Germany: “There is no negotiating or asking what beers they have and if they have a beer similar to your favorite beer. It’s pretty simple. They only have 3 beers, end of discussion.”

What’s next?
Mario Rubio’s regular beer is the one he hasn’t tried.

A regular brewer remembered
Joe Stange reports of the passing of “Rupprecht Loeffler, venerable brewmaster of the Cervejaria Canoinhense, said to be Brazil’s oldest craft brewery. He was 93.” Is Canoinhense a regular beer, a relic, a beer that evolved over time?

Bring on the table beer
How Jay Brooks gets there is as important as the conclusion. Flaship beers and “your dad’s beer” included.

Yes, call it table beer
And Sean at Beer Search Party provides his own example, Mission Street Brown Ale (brewed by Firestone Walker).

The regular beer of the moment
Rich at Beer, Baseball, and Other Things Writes Moby D ” isn’t my first regular beer and it won’t be my last.”

The beer you drink ‘every night’
And, yes, Nevitt at Beering in Mind makes me want to try Yona Yona Ale on cask.

Lager
In Pennsylvania it’s not a “style” but one specific beer. Jay Zeis raises his glass to Yuengling.

Whither the Hooker?
It seems that during this exercise Tale of the Ale may have found a new favorite.

Honk if you love Cabot Clothbound
Dave Phillips gives us Goose Island Honkers Ale, then Cabot Clothbound Cheddar, then the two together.

Some times they sneak up on you
Thomas Vincent isn’t one to order the same beer twice in a row, but Big Boss’ Blanco Diablo became his “go to” beer without him noticing.

Make it an Ordinary
Troy at myBrewing figures, “Regular beer is better than craft beer when it’s homebrew.”

. . . and a regular spot
David at Musings Over a Pint picks a regular beer at a regular watering hole – Blue & Gray Falmouth American Pale Ale.

Homebrew a regular again
At Drinking Class, Jim Pavlik writes, “. . . homebrew is again what it used to be, regular beer, a beer that regular people drink fairly regularly.”

Hmmm, brown malt
When you’ve already written the regular pub beers in your neighborhood what’s left? The Beer Nut turns to homebrew. But he promises not to make brewing a regular feature. “It’d be like a cooking blog from the guy who just figured out the manual of his deep fat fryer.”

So where’s the problem?
In Edinburgh regular means Deuchars IPA, once the Champion Beer of Britain. Richard at the Beer Cast exlains why it is one that divides opinions.

Regular, but occasional
Bob at beer.bobarnott.com explains why a regular beer – in his case perhaps Marble Dobber or HardKnott Infra Red – might be the occasional beer.

His six packs are mixed
Don’t ask Ray at the Barley Blog to pick a regular beer? He doesn’t even have a regular style.

Each has its place
“. . . each time I go back I remember why they are regular beers.” – Gregg Irwin at A Beer on the Downs.

Once upon a Rolling Rock
Tom at what we’re drinking provides a list the illustrates how anybody’s personal regular beer can shift over time.

For when you aren’t a snob
At Bottle Chasers that beer is Guinness.

Regular, but works of art
Seth From My Mellin singles out Victory’s Headwaters Pale Ale and Blue Point Toasted Lager.

The beer with no name
John Hambrock at BeerTaster.ca provides a description, but is keeping the name to himself.

When nobody is looking
A regular beer for one occassion might not be the regular beer for another. Bruce Ticknor, also from BeerTaster.ca, explains.

And at this web address
Two non-bloggers had a bit to say so I published their posts here, from Jeffrey McElfresh and Bill Farr. Bill’s candid contents about the effects of alcohol sparked comments beyond this blog. And finally — yes, was the last to post — there was our family visit to Urban Chestnut Brewing in St. Louis.

The final word
Goes to Jon Abernathy at the Beer Site, who has probably made as many Sessions as anybody. “The reality is, it’s respecting the beer that’s offered to me. For instance, when we go to my parents’ house, nine times out of ten there is canned macro lager in the fridge: not because my Dad doesn’t like craft beer, but largely because the American lager is what he grew up with and often because it may be an affordability issue. I respect that, and I’m happy to drink the beer that’s offered. It’s the Regular Beer I unreservedly drink when I’m at my parents’.”

*****

Alan McLeod at A Good Beer Blog will host the next Session on April 1. Now there’s something to think about.