Thanks for the thumbs up from Todd last week about focusing only on pleasure. I’ll be doing that Friday when Boak & Bailey host The Session #144: The best beer you can drink at home right now. Meanwhile, a little chin scratching along with pleasure and not necessarily great news.
QUOTE OF THE WEEK
“I was born in the ’50s, raised in the ’60s and ’70s. Both sides of my family have always been pretty healthy. I’ve been smokin’ dope, drinkin’ beer, and wine, and whiskey, and tequila, and vodka, and smokin’ cigarettes my entire life. If somebody comes from the surgeon general and says that a few beers are gonna cause cancer, I’m gonna tell them to kiss my ass.”
— Rex Porter, Lakeview, Arkansas
From Americans are Rethinking How and Why They Drink
THINK SMALL
Tiny beers through history Walk (well, read) through the process of developing a theory, and stay for the lovely illustrations. “All study of history is an inexact science, reflecting the current state of our knowledge and discovery.”
How Low Can You Go? This is the a good chunk of a longer post from Beer Crunchers; you’ll need a subscription to read it all. I don’t subscribe, but if I were in the business of making and/or selling beer I would certainly consider it. This post offers quite a bit at no charge, including a list of 15 reasons to drink 2.5% ABV beer, starting with “Because the last time you drank big beers you had to leave the family minivan at Top Golf.”
Remember The Session Beer Project? I do. It is fun to sift through the archives.
HMMMM
On the American Craft Brewing Hall of Fame. Jeff Alworth writes about his “confusion about why the Hall of Fame exists.” When he posted a link on Bluesky to this post, Jeremy Danner commented, “Can you imagine how mind numbingly boring it would be to visit the beer HOF?” For the record, I provided nominations and I voted in the election. I nominated Joe Owades (cited within the post), not because of the role he played in developing light beer, but because he was a key advisor to the early giants of microbrewing (even if the beer was not made a small breweries; goodness those were confusing times) such as Boston Beer and Pete’s Wicked Ale.
As you will see when you read the entire post, people like to talk about this. Want still more comments? Visit the Beervana page on Facebook.
The soft brewery boycott: disenchantment and ennui. For me, this was the most interesting post of the week to think about. There are beers I choose not to drink today for non-beer reasons, but I don’t think I have experienced this: “At The Kings Head in Bristol last Sunday, seeing one of (Magic Rock’s) beers on the bar just made us feel sad – like bumping into an ex, or a friend with whom you’ve parted ways. Those associations we’d formed between Magic Rock and joy have been replaced by feelings of melancholy, regret and – if it’s not too dramatic – betrayal.”
ALWAYS FOR PLEASURE
Different Class — The Rutland Arms, Sheffield. I want to drink here. I want to break the rules when choosing what to play on the jukebox. “The jukebox policy at the Rutty is notorious. Insert your pound but choose wisely, abiding by the rules on the chalkboard above. The ‘permabanned’ list features local acts—Arctic Monkeys, Pulp, Richard Hawley—and the sort of bands that Guardian readers know they should never admit to liking: U2, Frank Turner, Foo Fighters, et al. And Taylor Swift, she’s also permabanned, though I suspect it didn’t need saying. Staff decide what’s in the ‘Recommended’ and ‘Forbidden’ columns according to whims, mainly, with a hint of current affairs-based silliness. Even co-owner Chris Bamford can’t overrule it.”
Rutland Arms + 9. The London Times has added a regular beer column, and it is OK to wonder why some US newspaper isn’t doing the same. Pete Brown — you might have heard of him — will be reporting weekly, he writes at Bluesky: “This column will run for as long as it gets engagement. It’s the ONLY regular beer column to run in a UK broadsheet newspaper or magazine, first one for over 20 years. If you’d like it to stay there, and you can access it, please CLICK, DWELL AND COMMENT if you can.”
A Belfast Beer Break. We could have used this list when we were in Belfast. As it is, I managed to find the worst Timothy Taylor Landlord of my life.
Bad Beer Be Gone. This seems like a good idea, but then I live in Colorado.
OUCH
The U.S. Hops Business Is in Bad Shape. I’m quoted within, but otherwise good stuff.
Britain loses 100 breweries in a year. 41 breweries closed in Colorado. Just throwing the numbers out there. Do with them what you will.
I’m watching a college pal who smoked, did dope and drank die in their fifties, sharing the grim experience online. 25 years ago I knew a guy named Bob who smoked and drank and said he’s gonna live like he wants to. Died around 51. Rex Porter sounds pretty stunned.
I like the quote, but I hope people read the entire story.
Yes, the range of anecdote covers the range of responses to sensible professional advice. Nurse Lucchesi reminded me of this skit: https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=4-QiLHdsNN8
On the issue about health and drinking, I would make this point. Everyone always knew, or should have known, too much was no good. It’s common sense and communities organized life accordingly, self-regulated, that is. The more recent evidence of links to cancer, if it holds up (some of these findings seem to change over time) cannot change that history. No ever claimed going on a toot was smart or good for you. Further, too much of anything may get you in trouble, sugar, fat, salt, whatever. We need people to exercise personal responsibility, including parents for their children, as to the health and other risks of drinking, as for any other potentially dangerous predeliction, eg overeating, eating too much of the wrong things, not wearing your seat belt, and similar.
Government regulations will never do as good a job. People need to take responsibility for their own lives, which includes seeking and assessing information about their habits. Certainly it’s never been easier in an online world to find information.
Indeed.
(With the disclaimer that not all the information you find online can be trusted.)