KICKER OF THE WEEK
It was so good that it made Jess switch from Titanic Plum Porter. It was so good that she didn’t even resent the inevitable day after headache. It was so good that, even with the headache, she co-wrote a blog post about it.
From Two decades in pursuit of perfect pints of ESB
PETE BROWN DOUBLEHEADER
– Tasting Notes: The Art and Science of Pairing Beer and Music. Pete Brown is busy promoting his next book, available in May or June, while he still writes it. The photo on the right was taken at a conference in South Africa in 2017, where I was talking about a) hops and b) brewing with local ingredients (they pay your way to South Africa, they keep you working). Brown was refining his pairing beer and music act. His presentation was a lot more fun than mine, and not only because it included drinking beer. He’s done plenty of research since and the book will include a “look at recent research that proves – yes, proves – that on top of all the contextual stuff, our brains have formed deep-seated relationships between what we taste and what we hear, and how changing background music can alter the flavour of your beer.” I’m looking forward to it, even if he doesn’t find a beer to pair with the music of John Moreland.
– Burton Bridge Brewery in Burton upon Trent. Traditions are handed down, from one keeper of the flame to the next. And they change a little bit each time they do. That’s how they become traditions in the first place. You can’t keep the flame alive unless you add new fuel. At Burton Bridge, the flame once again burns brightly.
WHAT IF?
For my Hop Queries newsletter I sometimes interject a random observation. This would be something similar.
Imagine a beer festival without IPA. When Phil Baxter learned Chardonnay was not allowed at the Anderson Valley White Wine Festival, he decided to take a stand. “Once they finally let me in, they told me I could only bring one Chardonnay. So I brought eight vintages of the same wine. It was my way of showing people that my wine isn’t that big, oaky California Chardonnay people rally against. It’s made with purpose, density, texture and grit. And it deserves to be here.”
YOU MIGHT ALSO ENJOY
– The allure of yesterday. “It is often said that good beer is as much about time and place as it is about what’s in your glass. If that is is so then vintage beer can take you, in a moment, back to a different place and time.”
– The pilsner plan. How do you get a German to vote? Give them free beer. “What really gets people emotional? A local beer, the König Pilsener, has been brewed here in Duisburg since 1858, and it’s really more connected to this city than any other brand,” said city director Martin Murrack.
– Scientists found a faster way to brew sour beer—with peas. Yeast cannot metabolize sugars derived from peas. This promotes the growth of essential bacteria. The story sparked multiple conversations on Bluesky about beers brewed with peas.
– How beer sludge is being turned into vegan milk and leather. “If you’d have said to me four years ago that brewers’ spent grain would be a [human] food source, I’d have asked what you were talking about. But we’re on the way to seeing upcycled BSG as a staple in the food industry.”
– This will be the year that Guinness loses its cool. “I’m not sure I can remember exactly when I sensed it. Maybe it was when some of the more gimmicky London pubs introduced “stamp cards” to ration out Guinness after news of a shortage; maybe it was when I was served the 500th London Guinness rating video by my Instagram algorithm.”
– Thornbridge adds new Union beer. Thornbridge will unveil 1838 this week at CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival Winter.
– Did the Super Bowl’s Pumpkin Peach Ale Ad Age Well? As with many stories that are headlined with a question, you already know the answer.