New Pete Brown posts are rare (the last before Friday was June 4), but these 1,300-plus words were worth waiting for. They aren’t all his words. He has mined comments from thet “sewers that run below the lines of Daily Mail articles” and, well, maybe I should back up.
CAMRA has asked its members to fill out a questionnaire.
Brown explains, “After years of being criticised for only being relevant to white middle-aged men, CAMRA is asking how it might broaden its audience from that base. After decades of women reporting that they are patronised, ignored ridiculed, harassed or even assaulted at beer events, CAMRA is asking people for their experiences, to gauge how serious the problem is and, if necessary (spoiler alert: it is) to do something about it.
“Speaking as an overweight, bearded, middle-aged real ale drinker, I’d say this is long overdue, and is to be welcomed.”
Not by those he cites.
Easy to read. Hard truths.
GOTTA SERVE SOMEBODY
The governor of Oregon ordered flags in the state be flown at half-staff to honor Austin Smith, a volunteer firefighter, who suffered critical injuries Thursday from an explosion while he was fighting a barn fire in his hometown of St. Paul, population 480. I know this because Friday multiple hop farms I follow on Twitter and Instagram sent their condolences. Smith, a sixth generation hop farmer, was manager of B&D Farms and also had plans to open a brewery.
The story I linked to does not mention hops or beer. Alan McLeod describes himself as “a beer community denier.” I don’t necessarily agree, but sometimes I would rather think about beer and community and their impact on each other than the fraternity of beer/brewing. This story is a reminder of what it means to serve a community.
NATIVE LAND
Each can of Native Land beer acknowledges the ancestral land the brewery that made the beer is located on. Here’s another reason that matters.
LEDE OF THE WEEK
“Wherever there’s a row of railway arches, a brewery is inevitable.”
And so begins “Little Martha: a new stop in Bristol’s brewery quarter” from Boak & Bailey.
MESSAGE IN A CAN
In this case one that contained Labatt Ice. “A phenomenon like craft beer, itself in constant evolution, is not the final arbiter of beer taste.”
NA
-Dry January in Germany.
-Dry January in Chicago.
ON HOLD
Flagship February.
STOP OVERTHINKING IT
The shape of your wine beer glass doesn’t really matter. Actually, it does, but not that much. And clean matters a lot more. The important message here is, “Stop overthinking it.”
QUESTION OF THE WEEK
I often wonder how I would view beer if I learned about beer today instead of 15 years ago
— Scotty (@Artifact_Scotty) February 3, 2022
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