With apologies to Steely Dan, Pete Seeger, The Killers, Archie & Edith, The Drifters and Bob Dylan.
Boston Rag
“It’s also worth noting that the places that seem to charge the most exorbitant prices have something in common: they don’t put their beer prices on their menu (let alone on their website or even their Untappd menu as a verified venue). It’s like they’re actually ashamed how much they’re charging and know that if we saw those prices ahead of time, we wouldn’t order as much beer. Take a freaking hint: if you actively hide your prices from customers, you’re probably overcharging them!”
Where have all the draft lines gone?
Gone to cocktails everyone. Well, not everyone. But consider this, “Where there were fewer than 1,500 draft lines in the U.S. dedicated to non-beer products before the pandemic, there are now roughly 10,000, according to Draftline Data, which provides data and analytics for beer distributors.”
Ooh, baby, we’re a dying breed
“Abick’s was one of about a dozen surviving third-shift bars—establishments that open early in the morning to accommodate workers whose shifts typically run from 11 p.m. to 7 a.m.—that dot the Detroit area, down from what was likely a few hundred during the 1950s manufacturing boom. . . . With vastly fewer late-night shifts at fewer manufacturing plants across the industrial Midwest, many once-busy early-morning bar owners face the same predicament.”
Those were the days
“When did you last see underage drinkers even try to get served in a pub? It’s what you might call a dying tradition.”
Don’t forget who’s taking you home
Save the last dance style for me. “None of these beer styles are truly extinct or even remotely in danger of going extinct. Why? Simply put, thanks to craft beer. Starting in the US, but now really all over the world, there are countless beer nerds who truly care about these old beer types, some rebrew them at home, others brew them commercially, making these beers that were definitely at the brink of extinction better known to beer drinkers all around the world.”
Gotta serve somebody
Kloster Ettal, a “Benedictine monastery was founded in 1330 by Ludwig the Bavarian, but its present form dates to the high Baroque. Following a fire in the mid-1700s, architects and artists orchestrated a symphony of white, gold, and coral-coloured marble crowned by a frescoed dome representing the skies opened to heaven. Ettal was already one of the Alpine region’s significant monasteries; with its Baroque rebirth, it only grew in stature as a place of pilgrimage. Pilgrims need lodging, food, and drink, and the monks have obliged for centuries. The Klosterbrauerei Ettal was founded in 1609. Monks still helm the brewery, offering a small selection of traditional beers.”