The Friday Mash (Lion in Winter Edition)
On this day in 1152, King Henry II of England married Eleanor of Aquitaine, one of medieval Europe’s most powerful women. Their turbulent marriage was the subject of James Goldman’s play The Lion in Winter, which was made into a film starring Peter O’Toole and Katharine Hepburn in 1968.
And now…The Mash!
We begin in Finland, where scientists are trying to re-create a beer brewed in the 1840s. Bacteria from the golden-colored beer were found in a ship that went to the bottom of the Baltic Sea.
New Zealander Katrina Hayman won’t apologize for drinking beer backstage at a Bride of the Year competition. She says the controversy never would have happened had she sipped wine instead.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, a group of homebrewers in the area have formed The High Five Co-op Brewery. Now comes the hard part: navigating the legal and administrative hurdles.
Author Rob Kasper takes us back half a century and explains how brought major league baseball to Baltimore. The Lone Ranger’s silver bullet plays a role in this fascinating story.
In 1963, brewer Alfred Heineken and architect John Habraken designed a house made of Heineken bottles. They used “World of Beer” bottles, which lent themselves to construction.
On his Pencil and Spoon blog, Matt Dredge wonders whether it is possible to pair hoppy beers and hot and spicy foods.
Finally, Burnside Brewing Company apologized for giving the name “Kali-ma” to an ale flavored with Indian spices and hot peppers. Kali, a four-armed goddess, is revered by Hindus.
Hong Kong’s First-Ever Beer Festival
Some weeks ago, a festival organizer named Jonathan So asked us to add his event, Beertopia Hong Kong, to the calendar. We happily obliged, and wished him luck.
It turns out that Beertopia, Hong Kong’s first-ever beer festival, was a rousing success. British beer writer Martyn Cornell, who helped publicize the event, was there in person, along with a capacity crowd that emptied the Hitachino Nest beer stand long before closing time. By Cornell’s estimation, one-quarter to one-third of the crowd were Hong Kongers, evenly divided between men and women.
So explained to Cornell why he put on the festival. A native of Toronto, he developed a taste for craft beer while studying at Columbia University. Afterward, he moved to Hong Kong to work for a software company.
On an excursion to Singapore, So attended the highly-popular Beerfest Asia and asked himself, “How come Hong Kong doesn’t have anything like this?” Eighteen months later, Beertopia opened its doors. Don’t be surprised if a larger-scale second edition finds its way onto the calendar next year.
Beer…by the Numbers
Brewing and Rocket Science
If you ever belonged to a homebrewing club, someone probably told you, “brewing isn’t rocket science.” However, rocket science played a role in the creation of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. Ken Grossman, Sierra Nevada’s founder, explained the connection to Tom Rotunno of CNBC.com’s Consumer Nation:
When I was growing up in Southern California I had a neighbor that was actually a rocket scientist, he was an accomplished homebrewer and home winemaker. His son and I were best buddies going through elementary school, junior high, and high school. His dad would be brewing something on his stove every weekend and had rows of carboys fermenting away. I was just intrigued by all of that and think it sort of stuck.
Grossman also talked about the 1957 Chevy truck he used to haul supplies to his brewery, his intention to keep his business in the family, and which Sierra Nevada beer he likes best. Actually, he punted on the last question, telling Rotunno, “I would never publicly say I have a favorite child, so I’m not going to tell you my favorite beer!”
Back to the Drawing Board
A beer-pouring robot fails miserably at its job:
The Friday Mash (Land of 10,000 Lakes Edition)
On this day in 1858, Minnesota was admitted to the Union as the 32nd state. Its name comes from a Native American word meaning “sky-tinted water.” Small wonder, then, that Hamm’s Brewery advertised its beer as “from the land of sky-blue waters”–a lyric taken from a century-old song written by Charles Wakefield Cadman.
And now…The Mash!
We begin in Ocean City, New Jersey, which voted down BYOB beer and wine in restaurants. The town, which has been dry for more than a century, calls itself “America’s Greatest Family Resort.”
Japan’s Suntory Liquors is producing Rolling Hop beer to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the formation of The Rolling Stones. The hops used to make this 4% ABV brew are infused with citrus.
Yes, you can find craft beer in the Magic Kingdom. Since 1997, a brewery has operated at Disney’s Boardwalk Hotel. It’s owned by the Big River Brewing Company.
In case you missed it, here is the list of winners at the 2012 World Beer Cup. They were announced at the Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego.
Man’s best friend, indeed. Bes, a Labrador retriever, has been named Australia’s Most Talented Pet. Her talent? She can open the fridge, and fetch her owner a can of beer.
Ashley Rouston, The Beer Wench, introduces us to ten women in craft brewing who deserve to be celebrated.
Finally, in Debary, Florida, a bear has wandered the streets near the marina, chugging beers found on back porches and popping in at a local tiki bar. Maybe the bear wanted to be in a Hamm’s Beer commercial.
Hong Kong’s First-Ever Beer Festival
Some weeks ago, a festival organizer named Jonathan So asked us to add his event, Beertopia Hong Kong, to the calendar. We happily obliged, and wished him luck.
It turns out that Beertopia, Hong Kong’s first-ever beer festival, was a rousing success. British beer writer Martyn Cornell, who helped publicize the event, was there in person, along with a capacity crowd that emptied the Hitachino Nest beer stand long before closing time. By Cornell’s estimation, one-quarter to one-third of the crowd were Hong Kongers, evenly divided between men and women.
So explained to Cornell why he put on the festival. A native of Toronto, he developed a taste for craft beer while studying at Columbia University before moving to Hong Kong to work for a software company. On an excursion to Singapore, So attended the highly-popular Beerfest Asia and asked himself, “How come Hong Kong doesn’t have anything like this?” Eighteen months later, Beertopia opened its doors. Don’t be surprised if a larger-scale second edition finds its way onto the calendar next year.
Bar-Hopping “North of the Bridge”
The Upper Peninsula of Michigan is remote (it’s a 300-mile drive from Detroit to the Mackinac Bridge), cold, and a frequent target of lake-effect blizzards. Which makes it a great place to drink.
If you’re headed “north of the bridge,” a guidebook to the Upper Peninsula’s bars is now available. Titled “Yooper Bars,” it was written by Kevin Kluck and his father, Randy. The two logged nearly 5,000 miles visiting the U.P.’s watering holes, and selected 110 of them for the book. They include the Pine Stump Cook Shack & Drinkery, in Newberry; The Satisfied Frog, in Sault Ste. Marie; Cat-man-do’s, in Escanaba; Chuck’s Remember When, also in Escanaba; and the Hoop ‘n Holler Tavern, in Merriweather.
The Klucks insist there is something special about U.P. bars you can’t find downstate: “It’s just the community center–the atmosphere, the entertainment. It’s just a social hub.”
Bend, Oregon: The Beer Economy
A quarter century ago, no one could have predicted that Bend, Oregon (population 80,000), would become a leading American beer city. It was a struggling lumber town with no university and no interstate highway; and it was cut off from the state’s major cities, more than 150 miles away, by a steep mountain range.
The city’s beer boom started in 1988 when Gary Fish opened a brewpub, which grew into the Deschutes Brewing Company. Other craft brewers set up shop in Bend, and beer has grown into a major industry. Four hundred and fifty residents work in breweries and brewpubs. That’s 15 percent of Oregon’s total brewing employment, even though Deschutes County accounts for only four percent of the state’s workforce. Beer aids the local economy in another way: people are finding their way to Bend specifically to drink the local beer.
The city’s beer boom couldn’t have come at a more opportune time. The recent recession hit Bend especially hard due to the collapse in housing prices.
Beer Porn!
This film has been rated PG-21 for sexual overtones and graphic depictions of adult beverages.
Beer Porn from NW Film Center School of Film on Vimeo.