NEW BEER RULE #9: You cannot know all there is to know about beer.
It’s fine to give it a shot. But no matter how positive you are about what you think you know there’s always a chance that Martyn Cornell or Ron Pattinson is going to dig up incontestable proof you are totally wrong.
Remain humble when talking about beer.
Cheers to the Newark Star-Ledger for featuring Greg Zarcardi and High Point Brewing in Butler, N.J., today.
The hook (why he’s getting the attention now) is that Zacardi “was selected to represent the United States this weekend at The Mondial de la Biere Strasbourg-Europe in France where he will speak about the history and evolution of American microbreweries.”
Zarcardi has been making excellent weissbiers in the tradition of southern German breweries (like Schneider-Weisse or Weihenstephaner Hefe Weiss) since 1996 without getting much attention. That can get a little frustrating, as he explained when I talked to him for Brewing With Wheat.
“The biggest consumers of wheat beers want German wheat beers,” he said. When he conducts blind tastings, which he calls the “Ramstein Challenge,” locals like those at the Deutscher Club in a nearby town prefer his beers to well-known German weiss beers. “You can taste the difference in a locally brewed wheat beer. They love our beer, but it’s not German. They still buy the German beers.”
Although his original plan was to make only wheat beers, non-wheat beers now account for about 40 percent of his production. But somebody is going to have to explain this to me:
His recipe won him several awards, and was recently rated No. 1 at Oktoberfest in Germany.
Huh?
This week a group of scientists reported they’ve discovered how mice taste carbonation. Feel free to wonder why you should care about a bunch of Champagne-swilling mice. Not light reading but the relationship between carbonation and how we perceive sour tastes certainly pertains to beer.
– Philadelphia beer writer Don Russell visits Baltimore Beer Week and further examines “the sudden emergence of the Beer Week phenomenon.” He’s one of the founders of the first and biggest, Philly Beer Week, but that possible bias doesn’t change perfectly valid positives: Beer Week is a tourist attraction; Beer Week spreads the gospel; Beer Week honors the tavern; and Beer Week promotes civic pride. You need to go look, if only to confirm that Boog Powell is no longer Mr. Miller Lite.
– UK writing heavyweights (but not big-waisted fellows) Roger Protz, Pete Brown, Zak Avery and Jeff Evans describe “the 50 best beers” for The Independent. Only bottled beers, but not limited to Britain (at all). Curious that The Independent files this under “gadgets and tech.”
– Not sure how I missed this before, but from the Rogue Ales Wire Service that Sarah Palin did not seek the Rogue Nation approval in choosing to call her new book “Going Rogue.”
We are proceding on 2 tracks:
1. The matter has been referred to Brian Schweppenheiser, the Attorney General for the Rogue Nation.
2. Led by Captain Sig Hansen of the Deadliest Catch and the Newport fishermen who ply the Alaskan waters, we are investigating where she was born and other issues of character.
– Just in case you hadn’t noticed, Lyle Lovett has a new recording coming out Tuesday and it includes a song by Townes Van Zandt. This follows recent releases by Robert Earl Keen and Guy Clark that have Van Zandt songs (of course earlier this year Steve Earle recorded one with nothing but). Which is an excuse to point you to this story about Kerrville, Texas, even though its in the “homes” section of the New York Times because Keen talks about song writing: “The refrigerator there is full of beer and Big Red. I’ll spend several days writing and eating bologna sandwiches. Every man should have a shed.”
In 1881, the brewery workmen of Cincinnati drew up a number of demands to be presented to the brewer. These were:
1. A reduction of work day from thirteen to ten and a half-hours.
2. A reduction of Sunday work from eight to four hours.
3. A minimum wage of $60 a month.
4. Freedom for the worker to seek board and lodging wherever he liked.
—Herman Schluter, The Brewing Industry and the Brewery Worker’s Movement in America, 1910
Before you even get to the dedication page of St. Louis Brews: 200 Years of Brewing in St. Louis, 1809-2009 the authors offer a page of similar quotes and an explanation. “When co-author Henry Herbst began toying with the idea of doing a book on St. Louis brewing history, he though that Wooden Barrel and Iron Men would make a good title, serving as something of a tribute to the vital ‘little guys’ in the brewing industry. . . . Simply put, there would have been no beer barons, the stars of this book, without the hard work and expertise of their employees. May this book also serve to preserve their efforts.”
This weekend I’ll be drinking to Iron Men — and thinking I’d like to write a book called Iron Men and Wooden Barrels (a small edit) — and to authors Henry Herbst, Don Roussin and Kevin Kious. I don’t want to bore you with the whole FTC thing still again but I bought this book the moment I saw BeerBooks.com was selling it, signed by the authors no less. However, I once had a pleasant conversation with Herbst and he said something I used in a story. Consider my endorsement of his book tainted if you like.
Or give this song by Steve Earle a listen and think FTC every time he sings FCC.
Added Oct. 19: Today I learned that Henry Herbst has died. Sad news, but at least he got to see his book in print.
Heineken, which owns Scottish & Newcastle, announced it is closing the brewery that currently brews Newcastle Brown Ale and moving production to Tadcaster, North Yorkshire.
Newcastle Brown first went on sale in 1927 and was brewed next to the St. James Park football ground in Newcastle. In fact, brand owners won Protected Geographical Indication status from the European Union, meaning Newcastle Brown Ale had to be brewed in the city. That lapsed in 2005 when production moved a couple of miles across the River Tyne to Gateshead.
The Telegraph writes about an appellation lost:
The day after “Broon’s” launch, it was said the local police appealed to the brewery to make it weaker because the cells were full of drunks.
The ale was also dubbed “dog” by drinkers, as they would make the excuse of going to “walk the dog” when nipping to the pub.
The first move took it a few miles from its ancestral home. Now it’s moving 90 miles away to the same brewery where John Smiths is produced.