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November was all about Watney’s (again), Porter (again) and J.D. Wetherspoon (again). Here are the headlines:

→ We published a short ebook called*Gambrinus Waltz*for the Amazon Kindle, about the rise and fall of German lager beer in Victorian and Edwardian London.
→ After all this time, we finally got round to putting together a home brew recipe for the famously reviled Watney’s Red (not Red Barrel) based on original paperwork from 1971.
→ After tasting about 25*different examples over the course of more than a month,*we decided on our favourite porter for winter 2014. (And told readers of the*Guardian Guide about it here.)
And the rest, in order of publication:

→ Testing out the new Craftwork menu at our local branch of Wetherspoon, we concluded that it was probably, on balance, a good thing.
→ Responding to the topic set for the 93rd beer blogging session, we used Kölsch as an example of why travelling is sometimes the only way to really*‘get’ a particular style of beer. (The hosts posted their round-up here.)
→ We recommended a few pub-crawling blogs less po-faced and sedentary than ours.
→ Finally, after years of anticipation, we got to try a mild brewed at the Star Inn, Crowlas, and found it pretty good.
→ Here’s our attempt to produce a usable home brewing recipe for Watney’s Brown Ale c.1965.
→ Conclusively, once and for all, and brooking no debate, we have declared the best beer in the world, for all time.
→*With some archive digging, we attempted to get to the origin of clichés about*‘chemical beer’ in the conversation about good beer.
→ We over-thought the question of ‘beer of the year’.
→ Tap East’s APA really floated our boat.
→ Responding to a question from Chad Polenz, we set out our thinking on whether tasting/judging certifications are helpful for beer writers.
→ We tasted some beers with ingredients intended to evoke or express their place of origin and concluded that a pinch of a novelty ingredient does not make ‘beer from a place’.
→ More archive digging, this time seeking to work out when and where people started pairing specific beers with particular foods.
→ We concluded the month with a #BeeryLongReads entry called ‘Welcome to Adnamsland’ — an attempt to evoke the culture and landscape in which Adnams sits rather than a profile of the brewery.
→ And here are all the #BeeryLongReads from around the blogoshire.
→ We also wrote our usual weekly round-ups of links and news.
The Month That Was: November 2014 from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007


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