Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog - News, Nuggets & Longreads 25 February 2017: Babylon, Ol
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Here’s everything that grabbed our attention in the world of beer- and pub-writing in the last week, from memories of a glamorous landlady to, yet again, the question of sexism in beer.
It’s true: when any archive releases a new batch of digital content, public domain or otherwise, it is a beer blogger’s duty to search that collection for*‘BEER’. That’s how Alan Mcleod came across a Bablylonian cuneiform tablet from the 1st Millenium BC containing information on beer:
How is it that I can read a Mesopotamian clay tablet and pretty much immediately understand what is going on? If it was about religion, governance or astronomy I wouldn’t have a clue. But beer and brewing are not strange. They are, in a very meaningful way, constant. You can see that if we go back to column 2 where you see words for 1:1 beer, 2:1 beer, 3:1 beer and even triple beer. The ratio is the relationship of grain input to beer output.
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For the*Guardian*Rachel Roddy*uses a recipe for cheese and onion pie as an opportunity to reminisce about a childhood spent in and around an Oldham pub:
A good slice of my childhood was spent at my granny’s pub, The Gardeners Arms: a large, red-brick Robinson’s pub at the bottom of Durham street…*I remember her both in her housecoat buffing the brass tables and flushing out the pipes – good bitter comes from a clean cellar and clean pipes – then, later, when regulars had taken their place, coming down the stairs ready for the night. ‘You look a million dollars Al,’ my grandpa Gerry would say, Bob Seger curling out of the juke box in agreement: ‘She was looking so right, in her diamonds and frills…’
(Via @phil55494)
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Martyn Cornell wants to know where the hell all the 2016 Fuller’s Vintage Ale has gone:
Fuller’s is being tight-lipped about why the 2016 is now impossible to find: there are rumours that something went terribly wrong with the packaging, but no one seems willing to say. It’s a great pity, because the 20th iteration of Vintage Ale since it was first brewed in 1997, is a lovely, lovely beer, already, at approaching a year old, deep and remarkable.
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Barm has been in Cologne and paints a wonderfully evocative picture of a busy session at a pub with a cult reputation:
When we arrive at 1620 there are already 60 people waiting for the pub to open at 1630. By the time the doors open the crowd has swollen to 80 or more. Thirty seconds after the doors open, every seat inside is taken…*Because there is no choice, the beer pours constantly, never becoming flat or warm. One waiter is dedicated to pouring beer. Clack-clack-clack go the small glasses as he rotates the round tray underneath the tap.
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We’ve been ignoring the so-called*‘Iceman Pour’ — a weird trend among a small group of drinkers on social media that has some beer folk growling with irritation — but we couldn’t resist*Richard Taylor’s attempt to explain its origins and appeal:
Users like theiceman13 and benhur345 love nothing more than running out of room in their glassware, pushing the limits of fluid dynamics by leaving a gently convex beer surface clinging to the tops of their Tekus. The rest of us look on in bemused wonder thinking that in our day something handed over like that would result in a trip back to the bar for it to be be-frothed once again. Although when the meniscus is wobbling like a week-old jelly it takes some skill to take the glass anywhere without it dribbling down the sides. As I discovered for myself.
After all, if in 50 years time we’re all drinking our beer this way, Richard’s blog post might end up being an important historical document.
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If you’ve been trying to find an excuse to wriggle out of boycotting Wetherspoon*pubs over CEO Tim Martin’s vocal support for Brexit*Henry Jeffrey’s has you covered in an article for*The Spectator:
This seemed to me the definition of cutting your nose off to spite your face; imagine turning down cheap beer because of the EU! But it also disrupts one of the fundamentals of a liberal society: that you do business even with those whom you disagree. Voltaire marvelled at this concept on his visit to the London Stock Exchange: ‘Here Jew, Mohammedan and Christian deal with each other as though they were all of the same faith, and only apply the word infidel to people who go bankrupt.’
There’s been a fresh flurry of articles about sexism in beer lately but John Holl, editor*All About Beer, is doing more than merely talk about the issue:
We will not be quiet about this important issue. We want to do our part so that the next generation of beer drinkers can focus on the fun, the flavorful and the future. Beers that demean women or promote rape culture will not be reviewed or promoted in this magazine or on AllAboutBeer.com.
A lot of angry comments follow the article —*‘Take this leftist PC garbage and shove it.’ — and it is possible*All About Beer will lose some readers and subscribers over this.*But maybe it’ll gain some too.
(DISCLOSURE: We are occasionally paid to write for*AAB.)
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Not happy about UK craft breweries switching over from 500ml packaging to 330ml? It’s only going to get worse, said Ed. And then, as if on cue, Weird Beard made an announcement…
And, finally, here’s an interesting nugget of news:
Possibly the most interesting thing I learned at
@WinterAlesFest is that UK looks like getting a Trappist brewery
— John Clarke (@Beer4John)
February 22, 2017
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