One link, one paragraph, one footnote

The link.

The paragraph:

I can’t be too critical of these because they’re both jolly nice beers with not a thing wrong. It is evident, however, that they’re for the supermarket, and have a crowd-pleasing, low-common-denominator factor about them: created to the spec of someone who wears a suit rather than overalls. To be expected from Marks & Spencer, I guess.

The footnote:

At the American Hop Convention, brewing panelists were asked by one attendee about new styles or new releases on the horizon. “If it is beer flavored beer it comes from the brewing side. If it is not, it comes from the marketing side. (FW’s) Michelada did not come from the brewing side,” answered Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson.

One link, two paragraphs

The link. I hope this link works for you, because it comes from a Bluesky thread. Two paragraphs because they are short.

You’ve got a company that’s expanding wildly and injudiciously across the planet. Expanding just to expand because it is foretold in their business plan that they must expand.

This happens because Craft Beer is a cult. You remember the Craft Beer Jesus? Well, Berlin doesn’t.

Expanding wildly and injudiciously. Sound familiar?

One link, one paragraph

The link.

The paragraph:

“You can choose completely how you define your company, how you run it, what you stand for and how you communicate that to consumers,” (Brewers Association CEO Bart Watson) said, calling those elements the most defensible sources of differentiation for small producers in the years ahead. In a period of instability, Watson added, community and trade associations can provide support and coordination, but long-term success will depend on how clearly individual businesses define and communicate why they exist and why they matter.

One link, one paragraph

The link, for all those who curious about tastes from the past, including Ron Pattinson*.

“Olfaction helps shape our cultures, although it often does so unknowingly or without us noticing,” says (Inger) Leemans, who led the Odeuropa project. “When we talk about cultural heritage, we can think about religious rituals, but we can also think about specific scents that we’ve been cherishing and living with for a long time.”

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* Something he told be for Brewing Local: “Why do I want to taste extinct styles? On one level it’s purely from curiosity: how did it taste, what did it look like, how did it drink? All the things you can only really learn about a beer by having one in a glass in front of you. That simple need to know could be satisfied by a pint or two.

“But then there’s the cultural aspect. Beer styles—and especially those associated with a specific place—have a wider significance than just being a drink. Because every beer style is a unique cultural item. When one disappears, the culture it came from is diminished.”

Hop object #2

A hop worker's shoes, seen at Deutsches Hopfenmuseum in Wolnzach, Germany

Spotted in Deutsches Hopfenmuseum in Wolnzach, Germany. The shoes were worn by a worker processing hops. When a bag was filled, a worked would jump into it, stomping down the hops to make sure the bag was full. When I dug this out, I wondered if these could have been called Hopfenstopgen boots. That’s because in Hop Queries Vol. 4, No. 6, I wrote about dry hopping in Germany in the 19th century. That was called Hopfenstopfen, which can be translated at hop plug.

Simon Moosleitner, a subscriber in Germany, suggested there is more to think about, writing:

“I would give it a slightly different translation. You’re definitely right with translating Stopfen as plug or bung. However, in this case the word Stopfen is a nominalization of the verb to stopfen (you may notice the difference in capitalization, in German nouns are always written with a capital letter).

“The verb stopfen has a slightly different meaning. It is used when repairing clothes or to be more precise darning socks. But more importantly it’s the same word (potentially even etymologically) as to stuff. Whether you want to say one stuffs a pillow with feathers or food into oneself, the word stopfen can always be applied. Hopfenstopfen is therefore the act of stuffing beer with hops, which I guess is an even more fitting term now with all the hazy beers around.”