No imported beers for us in the next year and change.

Oh, we’ll drink Bavarian beer . . . when we are in Germany. And beers brewed in West Flanders . . . when we are in West Flanders. Beers from upstate New York? You guessed it.

We’ll be drinking local. That means the local water, beer and wine. What’s local coffee? That discussion belongs in another blog.

We don’t have a precise definition for local, but I’m sure that when we’re in New Jersey that we have to consider a Michigan beer an import.

So I can already think of times we’ll feel challenged. Like December, when we won’t be in California. Will a holiday season without Sierra Nevada Celebration feel like the holidays?

– Interesting to see the New York Times explore if the ‘real’ Ireland still exists while the Chicago Tribune has story from the Washington Post I previously overlooked about how Ireland’s growing affluence has led to 1,000 pubs closing.

The “closed” sign abruptly posted on Carney’s door — and on the doors of 1,000 rural Irish pubs in the past three years — was another sign of the profound lifestyle changes that have accompanied the country’s rise to affluence.

“It was like a sudden death in the family,” said Anthony Scanlan, 51, a farmer who lives near Carney’s. “Everything has changed in Ireland. It’s as fast as New York around here.”

A few links to get you to Happy Hour.

– The first is to my own post about Flying Dog Kerberos, because it’s a tripel and those are the sorts of beers Brew Like a Monk is about. Flying Dog recently shipped bloggers a package with the new beer plus others in the Canis Major Series (since they’ll be available in a mixed 4-pack) and World Beer Cup medaling beers so you might want to look for varying opinions at rsbs (just search for Kerberos).

You might call Kerberos a different sort of collaboration. About the time last fall Flying Dog was releasing its Open Source Doppelbock brewers in Denver — this was before operations moved to Maryland — began making test batches of Kerberos. The doppelbock recipe was based on input from Internet visitors and tweaked through the discussion. For the Kerberos, each brewer came up with a recipe that was brewed on the pilot system. The final recipe came from that.

– The Champagne of Blogs has a wonderful recap of FredFest — photos, facts and just plain good reading.

– The Sun, the UK’s largest tabloid, is getting into the beer business, including a cask ale under the Sun brand. Rupert Murdoch and real ale should scare us a little.

Pete Brown has questions.

Will it be shit beer because most things The Sun does tend to be lowest common denominator? Or given that what they do, they do well (Sun journalism is actually very skilful), will they produce something that’s accessible, but decent quality?

He’s even created a poll.

Tired of hearing about trading up? How about a little trading down?

This from the Association Press:

Cash-strapped drinkers are starting to trade down to economy beers, the chief executive of Miller Brewing Co. said Thursday.

The Milwaukee-based brewer saw some shift between higher-priced, premium beers and economy beers such as Miller High Life and Milwaukee’s Best starting in January, Tom Long told reporters on a conference call.

“We think it’s primarily driven by decline of disposable income and pocket money that American consumers are feeling right now,” he said.

Mr. Long said the volume of beers sold remains stable, but the company expects to sell more lower-priced beers this year if gas prices continue to rise.

Look closely. This is a discussion about drinkers already wed to industrial lagers moving from one price level to another. Also, if you read on in the story you’ll see that Milwaukee Best sales were down. Doesn’t that present a contradiction?

Brewers of more expensive beers face plenty of challenges between rising ingredients prices and an economic slowdown, and maybe beer drinkers will opt for less expensive beers, but has anybody seen that yet?

I’m not going to tell you that Shiner Bock is my favorite beer or even that it is a bock. I think it deserves better than it gets at the ratings sites (2.6/5 at Rate Beer and C+ at Beer Advocate), but we don’t seek it out when eating smoked meat in Texas. Just as a f’rinstance.

But I like some of the beers more — the Shiner 99 is a pretty nice Helles, at least if you have it fresh, as I did — and that this little brewery with a certain amount of German heritage and Texas terroir will soon celebrate 100 years of business.

Now they’ve produced this commercial that gives us one more reason to appreciate the old fashioned Western saloon.

Pencil us in for a visit on their 100th anniversary.