‘Wet river stones’ & other thoughts on tasting notes

This a take is from a wine guy, but perfectly relevant to beer:

“The best notes go back and forth, some sentences, some fragments, and this is right and proper.

“We are following the squirmings of an animated mind attempting to grope with the limitations of languages and with kinetic information that moves faster than it can be apprehended. Wine (Beer) doesn’t stay still on the palate! In fact the moment it enters the palate it starts to mingle with the taster’s saliva, and if the damn thing could just be inert for a second you might be able to say how it tastes. But it doesn’t work that way.

A few links to things you might have missed last week

– Should The Complicated Legacy of Worst Beer Blog and Craft beer’s “99% asshole-free” myth have made you wonder what the mythical Peter David sounds like you can listen to these two archived podcasts. a) Steal This Beer, March 30, 2020. b) Have You Tried The Hef? The Full Pint, Sept. 24, 2019.

– On Twitter, Em Sauter had a question. “Drawing craft beer heroes/pioneers today for the P&P book. Who are some of your craft beer heroes?” Good luck finding the bottom, let alone defining craft beer and pioneer.

– Finally: The Death of Keg.

– Pete Brown is is staring an online book club.

– Wine Influencers Inspire Strong Reactions.

Ales Through the Ages registration opens

Ales Through the Ages

Martyn Cornell will be talking about the origin of pale ale, from Sumeria via Norway.

Ron Pattinson will discuss the transformative story of UK brewing during World War I.

Pete Brown is giving the keynote address.

In person, in Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia, November 12-14.

Could there be a better reason to get vaccinated?

Registration is open now for 50 in-person attendees and an unlimited amount of virtual attendees. As more people are vaccinated, and travel and other restrictions ease, more in-person spots may open up. I certainly hope so. The first Ales Through the Ages in 2016 (read Cornell’s recap) would not have been as much fun without a larger audience.

Learn more about the conference here, links to register and the full list of speakers included.

(A bit of disclosure: I’ll be among the speakers, and the conference will pay for my travel and lodging, as well as providing an honorarium.)

There’s more than one way to pay for beer

Threes Brewing in Brooklyn is accepting cryptocurrency. You know, like Bitcoin.

Compare and contrast with Scratch Brewing. You likely know the name because Marika Josephson and Aaron Kleidon have made an art out of brewing with foraged ingredients. Good beers, but the real reason people keep going back is the joy of simply being there. Not the sort of place you’d pay for a beer with digital money. In fact, if case you aren’t seeing the image below, they only take cash.

Scratch Brewing, cash only reminder

Local man brews white beer

Anybody have an idea who this unnamed brewer is?

(Page 116, The World Guide to Beer, edited by Michael Jackson.)

Page 116, The World Guide to Beer, 1977

Please wait for the answer.

Here you go . . .

Pierre Celis had been brewing beer in Hoegaarden for more than 10 years when Jackson’s beer-changing book came out in 1977, so it is surprising that it appears Jackson knew of him but not his name. I happened to notice this because currently I am reading “Celis Beer: Born in Belgium, Brewed in Texas.”