Monday beer links: Because this is why we came out of the trees

MONDAY BEER AND WINE LINKS, MUSING, 01.30.17

Our 9,000-Year Love Affair With Booze.
So question No. 1. If “people were imbibing alcohol long before they invented writing” how the heck did they blog about it? This is a long one, so set aside some time. Should you not be convinced, consider this, “You could say we came out of the trees to get a beer.” [Via National Geographic]

Three Notable Breweries of the Wasteland.
Fiction. How ’bout that? Perhaps made more relevant because this “post-apocalyptic future, where civilization has been destroyed and is currently in the process of being rebuilt” feels far too imminent. [Via The Thirsty Wench, h/T @totalcurtis]

Old Style, SchltizSigns Of The Times: How Chicago Bars Got So Many Old Style Signs.
These signs were last produced in the 1980s, but there are still plenty around. [Via WBEZ]

The yeast scream.
How long until we see a beer called “gjærkauk” on the market? [Via larsblog]

Charting all the beer styles.
“A series of charts for all 100 styles. Mouseover any style for more details and commercial examples. Rectangles to the top right corner represent beer that is high in alcohol and high in bitterness. In contrast, a rectangle in the bottom left corner represents a beer that is low in alcohol and low in bitterness.” [Via FlowingData]

“Where Everybody Knows Your Name” – No Thanks.
“I inhabit a bubble. Both socially and politically. Which is why I find myself occasionally shocked by events both politically (blah blah blah Brexit, blah blah blah Trump….) and socially like those things that Mark deals with above.” [Via BeersManchester]

SPEAKING OF POLITICS

This is Why I’m Drunk, Good Beer Hunting and A Good Beer Blog each had posts last week about politics, primarily — but not exclusively — about choices facing breweries when it comes to politics. Added later Monday (don’t know how I missed it): Beervana contributes to the political discussion.

WINE

Judgment of Paris No Clear-Cut Decision.
This kind of ruins a story people have been telling for 40 years. “While the event has been held up as the defining moment for American wine, it was – like the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand – probably just a catalyst for what was going to happen next anyway. What it has done has shown that wine scores are useless junk numbers that have almost no base in reality, especially when there are multiple scorers involved.” [Via wine-searcher]

Smelling Terroir: A New Study Suggests People Can Smell the Difference Between Wines Solely Based on Terroir (but can we, really?)
The discussion here reminds me why it took so long for me to get comfortable with the term beer terroir. For instance, this is listed as a problem with the study: “(W)hile the results of the study highlighted in this post have shown that people can smell the difference between two wines from different places, there is no way to know if they are, in fact,’smelling terroir’ as the researchers suggest, or perhaps smelling the varying viticulture and/or winemaking procedures employed by different wineries.” To switch this over to a more important topic, say beer, I don’t view it as a problem. Neer terroir exists when brewers choose to allow the place where the beer made to express itself or the ingredients use to make it do the same. [Via the academcwino]

SENTENCE OF THE WEEK

“It’s nice to think that even in barbarian lands it’s possible to receive the sacrament of the one true living beer.” [Via Ed’s Beer Site]

FROM TWITTER