Proper foam on a proper pint at Hogshead Brewing in Denver (see Quote of the Week I)
This, too, could have been a quote of the week: “We had every intention to be here for another 157 years. However, that was an unfortunate decision. I am just incredibly sorry that this is happening. I’m sorry for our family. I’m sorry for this community, and most importantly, I’m really sorry to the employees who have done so much for us over the past, you know, several decades.”
Molson Coors last week announced it will close the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. main brewing facility in Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin, which has been operating since 1867.
But, because nostalgia still pays, they will keep Leinie Lodge open. Visitors will still be able to sample beer, browse in the gift shop, and spend time in a mini-museum that showcases more than 150 years of brewing history. Everything they used to do while waiting to take a tour of the expansive brewery and grounds. That, obviously, will also be history.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK I
“[Cask beer] is something that has always been important to me. As soon as I was educated on cask beer, it was something that I knew was special. it’s something that’s not readily available, it’s something unique, that sets us apart from pretty much any brewery in Colorado, not to mention most breweries in the United States.”
— Robert Bell
From And Cask For All — Hogshead Brewery in Denver, Colorado
LEDE OF THE WEEK
“Here,” says Ken Jauval. “You had a white bar and you had a black bar.”
Jauval is talking about the Breakspeare Arms in Brockley, Lewisham in South East London, which closed around the mid-90s. He is part of a large community in the area with Caribbean origins – Saint Lucian in his case – and is with his friend Kilroy Gladstone, who came to Britain in 1957 from Jamaica. Unlike Gladstone, Jauval has a London accent as you’d expect from anyone who grew up in this country from the age of nine and is aged 60 (he told me he was “nearly 60″ in August last year).
In fact, Jauval is a fast, excitable talker and when he recalls the Jamaican pubs in the area, such as the Golden Anchor in nearby Nunhead (the only one left with a Jamaican landlord, Lana) or the bars owned by Ivan ‘Leggie’ Legister and an elusive ‘African’ called Nelson, he becomes even more animated.
However, when he talks about the reception he received when he visited the Breakspeare Arms there’s more pauses as he considers his words carefully. “There was a problem,” he says and then laughs nervously. “There was a problem. There was a problem. I don’t know if you want to write about this: but they had a thing with white and blacks.
“It had a colour bar. It wasn’t acceptable to me but you played along with it.”
From Brockley Barge – how JD Wetherspoon broke its colour bar
QUOTE OF THE WEEK II
“Every day another sliver of the craft beer world I knew disappears. The industry isn’t the same, its about the money more than ever. Hopefully this will push the beer lovers of the world as it once did to start small and brew beer for the passion, for the craft. Cheers to EJ, JJ and the entire Phair family, blood and brew. Thanks for the memories.”
— Mario Rubio
From a post on Facebook, reacting to E.J. Phair Brewing announcing it would close.
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
– Astoria’s brewmaster, reinvented. Why did Jack Harris walk away from a highly successful brewery at the age of 54? It’s a long read with several interesting detours. Like disc golf. “Dodging piles of elk scat, he strides from hole to hole. Strapped across his shoulders is a special backpack brimming with 15 discs of different colors and thickness – ‘putters’ and ‘drivers’ and more.”
– The Difference Between Non-Alcoholic Beer and Alcohol-Free Beer. Because NA beer can, and probably does, contain alcohol . . .
– History always intervenes. As does geography. Czech and German pilsners.
– Black and danker. Am I reading a post with that headline? Of course. That it stars a new hop called Krush is a bonus. That the beers are made by Kinnegar is still another bonus. On our first full day in Ireland In September, we spent a few hours with John Duffy and one of the breweries he had us looking out for in the following weeks was Kinnegar. We were not disappointed.
– Things to buy along with a 30-roll package of toilet paper at Costco. Vintage ale, aged in barrels.