Ales Through the Ages canceled

Ales Through the Ages in Colonial Williamsburg has been canceled.

Scheduled for Oct. 19-21 in Virginia, ticket sales by the end of August did not meet a level that would guarantee the event would be successful.

The program looked as strong as somebody interested in beer history could hope for, but it would appear I might be wrong. That those who had signed up to attend were notified almost two weeks ago and that little conversation followed beyond some exchanges on Twitter also suggests (taking a deep breath) an overall lack of interest in beer history.

On a personal level, I am disappointed because I enjoy the company of the speakers who were to be there. As important, it is a learning opportunity lost.

Monday beer links: Institutional amnesia?

BEER AND WINE LINKS, MUSING 08.27.18

Aministrative note: Monday links will be on hiatus for, well, I’m not quite sure how long. Upcoming travel and work plans don’t align with collecting links and posting them on Mondays. I hold out hope that I will have time for an occasional post (and those have been rare, to be honest) from Norway and other destinations. After I mentioned last week I wasn’t finding much new of note recently Alan McLeod commented I was starting to sound like him, but that’s not the reason for the hiatus. (And I might point out there are other curmudgeonly voices chirping away too.) Before I begin packing, just one bit of musing this week, before some more links as thanks for showing up.

– It’s Lit — The Unfortunate Trend of Exploding Cans in Craft Beer.
– Craft Beer Was Built on an Us-Versus-Them Ethos. Now It’s Tearing Us Apart.
This one-two punch left me thinking about community. No, not beer community. Community. I had a wonderful rambling conversation with Mark Jilg at Craftsman Brewing about this a few years ago, some of which made it into Brewing Local. He talked about the symbiotic relationship that develops when beer is consumed locally. Brewers care about what their friends will be drinking, and consumers take pride in consuming beer made by people they know. In such a setting a beer that might blow up cans would not be served, would be served on draft, or a brewery would go to the trouble and expense of acquiring and using bottles guaranteed to withstand higher carbonation.

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You know you’re a hop geek

When I tell you a hop named Ernest is back in production in England.

And you think, “I sure hope it was named after Ernest S. Salmon.”

It is. Details in the next Hop Queries, the free newsletter going out Monday.

Monday beer links: Adjective-juggling courtiers in action

BEER AND WINE LINKS, MUSING 08.20.18

There is no solution. This should be a concern for all.
Spoiler alert. That’s not the headline on this story, but the last line. An absolutely fascinating, and damning, essay about how money changes everything about wine, including the stories about it. Leaving those who write about the beverage in a not so great place.

This makes those writers, at best, outside observers of a world to which they will never belong (there’s honour, if little insight, in that). At worst, they become a set of adjective-juggling courtiers, fools and jesters, there to lubricate the relationship between wine-making kings and queens and their luxuriously wealthy global public.”

I may have to find space for “adjective-juggling courtier” next time I order business cards.

BEER

First, a couple calls to action:

Brewery compensation survey.
At least it is a call to action if you work for a brewery. There are plenty of people looking forward to reading the results.

From Twitter

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Monday beer links: The Twitter Edition

BEER AND WINE LINKS, MUSING 08.13.18

In concluding his beer newsy notes last Thursday, Alan McLeod wrote, “No need to link to the usual bland beer travel puff, beer pairing puff or puff-packed beer style announcements.” At that moment I paused to realize I heart more tweets than I save links to pass along here because it seems to easier to stay interesting for 280 characters than even a simple paragraph (not that there isn’t puff on Twitter). There was, in fact, some excellent reading last week related to beer and wine that I feel compelled to share. But before getting to them, The Twitter Edition (and be sure to notice those that lead to conversation).

GIVE ME AN I, GIVE ME A P, GIVE . . .

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