{"id":17323,"date":"2023-01-30T06:12:22","date_gmt":"2023-01-30T12:12:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/?p=17323"},"modified":"2023-01-30T08:10:05","modified_gmt":"2023-01-30T14:10:05","slug":"twtbwtw-unions-ghost-pubs-brewery-cats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/appellationbeer.com\/blog\/twtbwtw-unions-ghost-pubs-brewery-cats\/","title":{"rendered":"TWTBWTW: Unions, ghost pubs & brewery cats"},"content":{"rendered":"

Retweeting Boak and Bailey’s tweet pointing to their weekly roundup of interesting writing<\/a> about beer and pubs, I commented<\/a> “In which I am reminded a ‘thing’ maybe still be a ‘thing’ after it has been written about so much it seems there is nothing ‘new’ to write. Case in point, this morning I learned the Bermondsey Beer Mile ‘is still a thing.'”<\/p>\n

To which Alan McLeod replied<\/a>: “Isn\u2019t ‘a thing’ different from ‘still a thing’ in that to be ‘still a thing’ there needs to be a reasonable length of time when it really wasn\u2019t a thing even if there are those who thought the thing was thoroughly thingy throughout.” That was probably more than I was prepared to think about before breakfast on Saturday (this is where I should insert a photo of my food, but I will not).<\/p>\n

My comment, however, is something I had been thinking about since it was announced Scratch Brewing is a semi-finalist for a James Beard Award<\/a>. In the first few years after Scratch began selling beer in 2013 there many, many stories about the brewery. It was, and is, a great story. But if (almost) everybody writes one time about a place all at once then pretty soon there are no new stories. <\/p>\n

Scratch’s post about the awards had 725 likes on Instagram this morning, and a similar one on Facebook had 594 likes. To many people Scratch is still a thing, even if the story faucet is no longer running wide open. <\/p>\n

You might also enjoy:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Beer<\/p>\n

So you understand I might be biased, I think unions<\/a> are on balance a good thing. I know they aren\u2019t perfect but most of the \u201ccons\u201d on pro and cons lists are bullshit. I once worked for a newspaper in which members of the editorial department were not represented by a union. And I worked for one, both inside and outside of management, where they were. Not only was the second a better place to work, for both union members and those in management, but I think having the union in place made the newspaper better.<\/em><\/p>\n

That said, here is a straight up news story<\/a> from The Red&Black, the University of Georgia student newspaper:<\/p>\n

\u201cOn Tuesday, a majority of employees from Creature Comforts Brewing Company filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board for a secret ballot election for employees to vote to be represented by their newly formed union, the Brewing Union of Georgia, according to a press release from the union. <\/p>\n

\u201cBUG intends to become a fully independent union for breweries across the state. Various community leaders and union members delivered the letter requesting voluntary recognition on Jan. 13 to management requesting a response in three days, the release said. On Jan. 16, management said they would consider the request.<\/p>\n

\u201cSince the company did not immediately agree to recognition, BUG proceeded with filing for the election.\u201d <\/p>\n

Of course, it isn\u2019t that simple. To understand what is going on you really need to be reading Fingers<\/strong><\/a>, Dave Infante\u2019s Substack newsletter. Both his Wednesday report<\/a> and a follow up (scroll down) on Saturday<\/strong><\/a>. Really, go do it now.<\/p>\n

PorchDrinking has a \u201cwhat does it all mean\u201d<\/a> story, and it includes a list of pros and cons (scroll about half way down). You could center an enthusiastic debate in a brewery taproom around any of the first five cons<\/a> offered by Jon Hyman at the law firm Wickens Herzer Panza.<\/p>\n

But No. 6 . . . wow.<\/p>\n

\u201cNothing in the employer-employee relationship is supposed to be equal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Really?<\/p>\n

Brewery cats.<\/strong><\/a> “Working cats” are not friendly or otherwise compatible with normal home life. A Kentucky Humane Society program finds homes for them, including at breweries. “At a lot of shelters that don’t have a working cats program, [these cats] wouldn’t be adoption candidates and they would probably be euthanized,” said the program manager.<\/p>\n

Ghost pubs.<\/a><\/strong> In Brussels. If that doesn’t have your attention, the images are a product of a Praktica L and Kodak Portra 400 film.<\/p>\n

An old story becomes a new story in Uruguay.<\/strong><\/a> This reads like an origin story that has been told thousands of times during the last 40 years in the United States. Things like this happen: “But only a few months before the scheduled shipment was supposed to arrive, the location they thought they had secured fell through. They were left with a fortune in state-of-the-art equipment about to be unloaded into the busy port with nowhere to go.”<\/p>\n

And to be filed under wait-didn’t-these-breweries-just-open?, “they took inspiration from breweries like Grimm Artisanal Ales in Brooklyn, 2nd Shift Brewing in St. Louis, and Tripping Animals Brewing Co. in Miami.”<\/p>\n

Requiem for Fat Tire.<\/strong> “As Fat Tire Moves On, I Miss the Old Belgium.”<\/a><\/p>\n

The official beer of . . . World Axe Throwing League.<\/strong><\/a> The beer is Pabst and this is a real story.<\/p>\n

Mic drop:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\n

Wow. Why didn\u2019t we think of this? Because it\u2019s a dumb idea that tastes awful. Craft beer is better than this. Craft is about flavor, not shock and novelty. Forgetting that belittles the hard work required to make it. #beerflavoredbeer<\/a>#craftbeer<\/a> @avbc<\/a>
https:\/\/t.co\/s2WiO7eK5j<\/a><\/p>\n

— Gordie.McGee (@McgeeGordie) January 28, 2023<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n