As you know, in Canada we like a politician who drinks a beer. It’s practically mandatory of you are going to win an election to show that you know how to pour, how to drink and how to sit in a tavern as time trips along. So it was good this week to see recently elected Canadian PM Carney put less recently elected British PM Starmer to the test in an Ottawa tavern:
Keir Starmer has delivered a veiled swipe at Donald Trump by hailing ‘independent, sovereign’ Canada. The PM gave his strongest response yet to the president’s push to turn Canada into a US state as he met counterpart Mark Carney in Ottawa. Sir Keir and the former Bank of England governor enjoyed a beer in a bar and also talked up the prospect of reviving a stalled trade deal.
Good to see. A little less rarified but, still, exceedingly pleasant by all account was the weekend enjoyed by Chris at Real Ale, Real Music who took us along on a trip to Manchester where he went to undergrad and later worked, a city that serves as the exotic elsewhere of his youth. It’s an extended piece of memory work with a gentle pace:
…my Grandad would take me there sometimes as a young lad in the 1960’s. He was the head of the local Co-op and sometimes he had to visit the head office in the city for important business, the details of which we were never to know, but it never took him long. We would catch the train from Sowerby Bridge station on a Wednesday afternoon which was early-closing day for the Co-op and most of the shops in town back when that was a part of the weekly routine. In those days, the station had the presence of somewhere important, a grand facade with a booking office within, waiting rooms, and the like, now long gone of course. When we arrived in this distant land at the other side of the Pennines, it was a short walk from Victoria Station, across Corporation Street with its huge and daunting buildings and we were there, then left abandoned for a short time in an imposing wood-panelled reception with a noisily ticking clock and a sharp-featured, unsmiling receptionist keeping a stern watch over me and my younger brother as Grandad disappeared into the mysterious world beyond the door.
As a person who walks through many doors into mysterious worlds, Martin on his never ending travels has shared his thoughts on what I would take to be a pretty noxious brew:
2 weeks ago, in Derby, I’d been dissuaded from the Caramel Custard Doughnut Milk Stout by a rascal from Worcester, and regretted my hesitancy ever since. I’d offered Stafford Paul a pint if he could correctly guess what I had in the Alex, but sadly (?) for him he got it wrong, so I’m having to drink the Pentrich Soul Doughnut myself. The Broadfield is a decent bet for your non-threatening craft picks, a Brunning and Price for the under-50s (though the soundtrack is relentlessly late ’70s AOR). The dregs of the Sunday lunch trade are yet to clear, sticky tables a bit of a downer though the Soul Doughnut itself is rather gorgeous, a cool and rich NBSS 3.5. Not as weird as feared, and scarily drinkable…
And ATJ shared an experience that is common in a pub – overhearing. Not prying. In fact, trying not to overhear even though what you hear is worth remembering… and sharing:
The couple’s voices were not foghorn-like in their loudness, but they still carried over to me whether I liked it or not. I switched off, but it was hard not to continue hearing their conversation. ‘I have been happy at times in my life,’ said the man, who I also learned lived locally but that the two of them would be moving back to Essex the following year. ‘The day of my marriage for instance,’ though given the lack of a remark from his companion, I guessed it wasn’t to her. ‘The births of my three kids, and I tell you that you can buy anything you want in the world — cars, houses, travel — but you cannot buy back the times you lost being with your kids when they were growing up.’
Boak and Bailey were also in the pub in their monthly newsletter opened up the question of what beer is the beer you see on offer that makes you want to stick around:
We recently turned up at The King’s Head in Bristol intending to have one last beer on the way home but the range of breweries on the bar made us say, “Ooh!” and stay a bit longer than planned. We have experiences like this from time to time – not as often as we’d like! – and it struck us as an interesting way of gauging the reputation of breweries. It’s not that they’re necessarily ‘the best’, whatever that means. Only that we’ve had enough good beer from them over the years, and especially in recent years, that we’re excited to drink whatever happens to be on offer.
They provided their ten suggestions. For me… here in Canada? Has to be St-Ambroise Oatmeal Stout from Montreal. Seeing as I am there… err, here… maybe I will find me some.
From the “things ain’t what they used to be” file, Henry Jeffreys at Drinking Culture wrote about the now frowned upon mid-1900s English taste in wines and how those tastes were achieved:
The Victorian wine expert Cyrus Redding wrote: “it has been thought necessary to give pure Bordeaux growths a resemblance to the wines of Portugal… Bordeaux wine in England and in Bordeaux scarcely resemble each other.” If you were lucky, your Château Palmer might contain a good dose of Hermitage from the Rhône and if not, brandy and elderberries. You can actually buy a wine today from Château Palmer called “Historical XIXth Century” which contains 10% Hermitage. It turns out that Australian cabernet-shiraz has a noble parentage. When we laugh at how Australians or Americans used to call their robust grenache and other Southern grape-dominated wines Burgundy, we are missing the point—this is the sort of Burgundy they were used to.
And The Beer Nut decided to find out more directly what things tasted like in the past… as long as you wait long enough he leared when he popped the cork of a bottle of HORAL Megablend 2015:
It’s old enough to still bear the name of 3 Fonteinen on the label’s list of nine producers who created it, a lambic house which left the HORAL group not long after. It finished up at 7% ABV and was a deep amber colour in the glass, suggesting that oxidation may have taken place. The aroma has a mineral sharpness mixed with a heavier, richer, cereal side. To taste, it’s not very sour but does have acres of gunpowder and Szechuan pepper spice, which I adore. Usually, you get your spice with a sterner sour acidity and sometimes a rub of waxy green bitterness (if you’re lucky), but here that seems to have mellowed away, leaving a smooth and friendly fellow. Oxidation? Yes, a touch, but it’s more pale sherry than wet cardboard, and confines itself to the finish, so that’s OK.
Speaking of hints from the past, Lars shared this saying this week:
One Norwegian way of saying “he’s a bit slow in the head” used to be “he comes after, like the oat malts.” Back then, everyone knew that oats take longer to germinate when malting than barley does, so at the time it was an apt expression.
Will Hawkes circulated this month’s edition of his newsletter London Beer City and I particularly like this passage about possible trend he may have spotted in pub naming:
The Craft Beer Co, one of the key drivers of London’s craft beer culture a decade back, had decided to rename its E14 pub the Clement Attlee, celebrating the Labour Prime Minister who was Limehouse MP between 1922 and 1950 (when the constituency was abolished)… If you, like me, detect a subtle shift towards a more traditional pub naming model, you might be right, although Hayes rejects the notion that his pubs are following a trend towards “geezer-core” (“I am not sure I buy into all that jazz”). The group’s last opening, The Bear in Paddington, was also more traditionally named – but Craft Beer Co pubs have always looked fairly traditional, with brewery mirrors, handpumps, and comfortable bench seating.
Note #1: not really.
Note #2: could have told you.
Once again, the news from Beer Marketer’s Insights is not great but at least they had the decency to blame the weather:
It’s still cool and rainy in the Northeast and many other parts of US. Natl beer sales reflect that and several other persistent challenges. Volume continued down 5.3% for 4 weeks thru 5/31 in NIQ data, including Memorial Day and the week just after (slightly worse than 4 week trend thru 5/24). So peak selling season began with a whimper. Premium lights (-10%) and beer-centric seltzers (-12.7%) down double digits for 4 weeks. Craft down 8.8%.
There should be a beer consumption forecast opportunity if it’s that tied to the climatic conditions! A great pal who’s long gone would call out on a sunny summer day “it’s a drinker!” And so it was. Things, however, have reached a higher level of weather induced concern, at least in one part of India:
Liquor warehouse owners in Kaushambi, Uttar Pradesh, are requesting police protection due to retailers causing disturbances. Retailers are aggressively demanding specific beer brands amidst rising summer consumption, exacerbating existing supply chain issues. Warehouse owners like Jagjeet Singh report licensees creating undue pressure and refusing to acknowledge distribution challenges, leading to potential shortages.
Far less argumentative is the piece in Pellicle this week, one that warms the heart of any solution oriented lawyer, as Gavin Cleaver tells the story of the Peticolas Brewing Company of Dallas Texas:
…I had to educate them about what it was that we were doing, what we were manufacturing. Took a bit of time ’cause they didn’t fully grasp it. In fact, they had initially said ‘Yeah, you need to do it in this zone’. Every area around town is zoned different, in a different manner. So I found a place in a light industrial zone. And then just before I signed a lease,” he continues, “I found a provision in the Dallas Property Code that made it clear to me I couldn’t manufacture alcohol in that kind of zone.” City Hall were unaware of any of these laws. Eventually, Michael’s work resulted in the statute book being updated—just for him—and a deluge of breweries sprung up in Dallas in his wake.
And finally, another sad loss for the beer world with the passing of Sir Geoff Palmer, Professor Emeritus and OBE. His career was sumarized in the Jamaican Gleaner:
Palmer was born in the parish of St Elizabeth, but raised in Kingston. At 14 years old, he moved to London with his mother. Scotland would become the stomping ground for the Jamaican during much of his adult life. He initially moved to Edinburgh in 1964, to complete a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in grain science and technology. By 1969 Palmer had developed the barley abrasion process, an innovation that enhanced the efficiency, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness of malting across the global industry. In 1989 the Jamaican became Scotland’s first black professor, as he began a teaching role at Heriot-Watt University, which continued until 2005. The academic returned to the institution as a professor emeritus and later as chancellor in 2021.
He was also a dedicated advocate who, as reported in The Scotsman:
…articulately, eloquently, and inspiringly reminded us over and over again that we must remember the lived experience of individuals whose courage and perseverance have greatly contributed to our society…
We chatted a little over the years but more about the legacy of slavery in Scotland than the brewing trade. His work on Dundas got me thinking about more local place names – like Picton. Yikes!
A shorter grouping this week. I am on the road …please check out Boak and Bailey every Saturday. Look out for Stan as he is posting more now that he’s retired from Monday slot. Then listen to a few of the now rarely refreshed Lew’s podcasts and get your emailed issue of Episodes of my Pub Life by David Jesudason on the (sometimes even but never) odd Fridays with the new addition of his Desi Food Guide now on Tuesdays. And maybe The British Food History Podcast. Maybe? And Phil Mellows is at the BritishBeerBreaks. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his London Beer City newsletter and do sign up for Katie’s wonderful newsletter, The Gulp, too, now relocated to her own website, Katie Mather Writes. Ben’s monthly Beer and Badword is on its summer break but there’s plenty to catch up on! And check out the Atlantic Canada Beer Blog‘s weekly roundup. There is new reading at The Glass which is going back to being a blog. Any more? We have Ontario’s own A Quick Beer featuring visits to places like… Michigan! All About Beer has given space to some trade possy podcasts and there’s also The Perfect Pour. Plus follow the venerable Full Pint podcast with an episode just last month!. And there’s the Craft Beer Channel on Youtube. Check out the archives of the Beer Ladies Podcast. That’s quite good but, hmm, they’ve also gone a bit quiet this year. The rest of these are largely dead. And the long standing Beervana podcast …except they have now stood down. As has We Are Beer People. The Share looked to be back with a revival but now its gone quiet. And the Boys Are From Märzen podcast appears suspended as does BeerEdge, too. VinePair packed in Taplines as well. All dead and gone. There is more from the DaftAboutCraft podcast, too. Nope – that ended a year ago. The Moon Under Water is gone – which is not surprising as the ask was $10 a month. Pete Brown’s one cost a fifth of that – but only had the one post. Such is life. Such is beer podcasting and newlettering!
