beer. festival fun. hops.

A parade at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival

Yesterday, Jeff Alworth wrote, “One comment I hear a lot is that beer ‘isn’t fun’ anymore. I certainly have as much fun with beer as I used to, and indeed in these fallen times, sitting with a pint and a friend is about the funnest thing I do.”

I also had pints with a friend yesterday, but funnest thing, sort of, was the “cubes” for the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival posted. Skip the rest of this paragraph and the next if you don’t care for this digression; I understand. One of the first things Daria and I did when we quit “real jobs” in 1992 was start “Music Festival News,” a guide to music festivals across the country. Eventually, we produced an annual guide they sold at Tower Records (RIP), and in the Jazz Fest bookstore (also RIP). That was a hoot.

The lineup for Jazz Fest, which we’ve been attending since 1990 (but not every year), arrives in pieces. First, the list of artists, followed by the weekend they will appear (that happened at the same time this year). Later, which days they will appear, and finally, what time they will be playing. Hence, the cubes. You know there will be painful conflicts. That you’ll have to choose between Rod Stewart, David Byrne, The Isley Brothers, Jon Batiste, Left Over Salmon (five of the nine closers April 26). But then there are the surprises. The Revivalists, Jason Isbell, Burning Speer, John Boutte, Sonny Landreth and Pine Leaf Boys are not closing, but they are all up against each other. Taking all of this into consideration and making a plan to maximize our music experience is part of the fun.

That’s the spirit with which I approach the Colorado Collaboration Fest. It’s a special event because talking to the brewers pouring their collaborations it is apparent how much fun they had making the beers. Also because there will be 130 beers none of the attendees has had before; these are one-offs. That they have not been perfected across multiple iterations adds to the appeal.

Take a little time to enjoy the list. Perhaps your eyes will pause each time you read the description of a beer in the weird category. Or you will be struck by some of the names: Naming Beers is HARD/Blending Beers is FUN, Buzzword, Liquid Thanksgiving-Get Basted, or Semicolon > Em Dash.

What also caught my attention is the presence of “Cold Pressed Hop Juice,” to be found in a New Image/Casey collab called Fresh Eyes and in American Ninja Keyboard Warrior from Milieu and Lady Justice.

Read more

One link, one paragraph

Walken/walkon cooler at Dark City Brewing (you know if you know)

Walken (or walk-on) cooler at Dark City Brewing (RIP) in Asbury Park, New Jersey

The link.

The paragraph:

But can the likes of (Christopher) Walken really pass on the pub-going habit? The youngest generation of drinkers have proven their penchant for nostalgia and a keenness for the analog age in other areas of the economy. Whether they’re thrifting clothes from a decade of their choosing, buying the latest print magazines to leaf through, or patronizing a vinyl listening café, Gen Z has already put consumer dollars behind pre-digital products. While retail sales of alcohol are declining (meaning people are drinking less at home), spending at bars is still strong.

One link, one paragraph, one bonus link

The link.

The paragraph:

However, as I am doing now, I could speculate and take liberties with the advance of time, but all I know is that this pub was now as dead as Jacob Marley and one day no one would ever know that this was a place where those who called it their local felt at home and one last laugh from Ricardo and Howey rent the air like the sound of splitting fabric.

The bonus, a post that has been bouncing around a month now, but is relevant and worth your time (it is not short). Britain Lost 14,000 Third Places. They Were Called Pubs. Is Your Local Next?

Hop object #3

Hops and barley farm outside of Bamberg, Germany

This is a stereo viewer card, a 19th century invention. Each card held two almost identical images that, when viewed through a stereoscope, created a realistic 3D scene. When viewed through the stereoscope’s lenses, each eye sees a slightly different perspective, and the brain merges these perspectives into a cohesive scene.

In this case, the scene is from a farm near Bamberg, Germany. Those are hop bines in the background.

One link, one paragraph

The link.

“We think the toughest challenge in the beer and art business world like ours in 2025 was going up against the all-consuming digital devices and the media on them that intend on isolating people and alienating them to each other,” (Dave) Bartman said. “We need safe and compassionate gathering spaces and real-life experiences now more than ever as an act of resistance to the alternative.”

From a story in Ashland.news. Credit for pointing it out to the Celebrate Oregon Beer Newsletter.