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Coming back from Christmas full of vim and vigour and writing resolutions we managed a pretty decent number of posts this month.
→ We kicked off the year with our predictions for 2015. (On a related note, here’s Richard ‘Beercast’ Taylor’s list of breweries to watch in the next 12 months.)
→ Our contribution to the 95th beer blogging Session was an attempt to summon into being a readable but scholarly modern history of beer in continental*Europe.
→ We gave some thought to what the embryonic buzz-phrase ‘beer architect’ might mean in practice. (Which prompted some comments from Stan Hieronymus.)
→ From our archive of*Brew Britannia interviews, we shared a first-person account of the creation of the lately deceased Draught Burton Ale. (There have also been several interesting pieces in the*Burton Mail, most notably this account of how brewers at first produced the beer for their own pleasure.)
→ We revived an old Facebook post, ‘Ten Beers to Try Before You Die!‘, which people seemed to enjoy. (Here’s a response from Neil Walker, and another, in Portugese, from Brazilian blog Bebendo Bem.)
→ Lynn Pearson’s book*Built to Brew rather impressed us.
→ Our resident etiquette expert, R.M. Banks, advised on whether it is appropriate to cheer when bar staff break a glass. (No.)
→ Having acquired a copy of*Pubwatching With Desmond Morris, we shared the author’s attempt to categorise pubs as they were in 1993.
→ After interviewing St Austell’s Roger Ryman we shared his recollections of how Proper Job IPA, our favourite cask ale of 2014, came to be.
→*We announced the launch of our new email newsletter.
→*We visited two craft beer bars in Exeter: The Beer Cellar and St Austell’s new flagship ‘smoke and ale house’ The Samuel Jones.
→ With the 1991*East London & City Pub Guide*in hand, we pondered the pubs of Walthamstow, London E17.
→ Mixing Proper Job and Orval gave us Proporval, which we loved. (Others have since recommended Ovalcyon — Orval and Thornbridge Halcyon.)
→ We cried for help in re: some of our ongoing research projects.
→ Why do big breweries take over little ones? We suggested that it is an attempt to ‘buy themselves cool’, prompting much disagreement in the comments.
→ Off the back of our first email newsletter, Kyle asked us to look into the history of ‘bar snacks’*— sheep trotters, tripe, black pudding, and then crisps and more crisps.
→ And, finally, we prodded at the sore point where traditional-family-regional brewing meets ‘craft’.
→ Beers tasted in January:
→ There were also a few*hopefully thought-provoking quotations, offered without comment; a gallery of photos from Bailey’s family album; and a couple of videos, too.
The Month That Was: January 2015 from Boak & Bailey's Beer Blog - Over-thinking beer, pubs and the meaning of craft since 2007
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Boak and Bailey's Beer Blog - The Month That Was: January 2015
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