Archive for the ‘Brew-Losophy’ Category

What’s up with beer and bikes?

Sunday, March 29th, 2009

There’s a fair number of connections I notice between beer and bicycles. How is there any natural commonality between bikes and beer, you might ask? What do bicycles and beer brewing have in common? Honestly, not a whole hell of a lot, but I dare you to do a google search for “beer and bikes,” or “bikes and beer” and see what comes up.

New Belgium Brewery out in Colorado sponsors a number of different events all related to bicycle use. Most interesting on their list of bike and brew gigs is Team Wonderbike, which asks people to pledge to bike rather than drive at every opportunity. Being that New Belgium is focused on environmental sustainability, it makes sense that they would support bicycling as an alternative, green means of transportation.

Oskar Blues — which makes Dales Pale Ale — has an interesting blog focused on beer, biking events, and the occasional musical recommendation. (more…)

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BJCP Class 1

Monday, March 9th, 2009

Wow.

I’ve taken some classes in the past that did a pretty good job of trying to intimidate students on that first class, and the BJCP exam study course I attended yesterday is right up there with certain physics courses in terms of breadth and depth of material.

I expect to have to really improve my ability to memorize, but I also expect to exercise certain other abilities that I think are generally less common to the average person, much less the average beer drinker. I’m going to have to exercise my ability to make aesthetic judgments while suppressing my own personal preferences in a disinterested way. (more…)

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Brew-Losophy: Hard Times for All

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

America is currently suffering through its worst recession in generations. People are out of work, jobs are scarce, incomes are down, but liquor sales are up.

Traditionally, it has been said that during rough economies like the current one people turn to the bottle. As such, the alcohol business has been regarded as being relatively “recession-proof.”

FDR ran on a platform that included Prohibition repeal during a time of absolute economic crisis, and shortly after his election he saw to it that the 21st Amendment was ratified so people could go back to their local bar.

Recent news reports have delcared that despite worldwide current financial woes, people are still drinking, and even spending money on the good stuff. Given, a goodly portion of this news is related to us by the industry itself.

Other media outlets report general concern that the economic crisis is actually spurring liquor sales, and the numbers indicate that the sales are to individual consumers, not to wholesale purchasers like bars, which would suggest that people are drinking at home.

Unemployment tends to mean downtime, and with that an unhealthy dose of boredom and depression. Reports of substance abuse in general increase during times of financial hardship. Finding oblivion is sometimes easy in a bottle; it’s the climbing out once the economy improves that’s difficult. Experts recommend examining behavior in these times and thinking about whether we need help. Remember the Aristotelian ideal: All things in moderation; both drunkenness and sobriety.

Times are tough, but I think it’s important to remember to ask ourselves the big questions: Why are we drinking? Are we self-medicating? Are we merely drowning our sorrows? Is now the time to begin working for a beer distributor?

Good luck out there, and here’s to the new boss, hopefully not the same as the old boss; may he swiftly right the ship.

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