A friend sent me this link to a list of “The 86 Rules of Boozing” from Modern Drunkard Magazine — which by the way is Fal Allen’s favorite magazine. Most are essentially good bar etiquette and I’d say agree with the vast majority of them. See what you think.
A full bottle of Allsopp’s Arctic Ale, brewed and bottled in 1852, sold recently on eBay for a record $503,300. The eBay listing gives a great deal of historical information about the Arctic expedition, as well as the bottle itself:
Until the 1850s Allsopp’s Brewery was most notable for brewing some of the first India Pale Ales for export to the colonies. However, Samuel Allsopp was approached about a different recipe; Sir Edward Belcher was about to led an arctic expedition (1852) to search for the lost explorer Sir John Franklin. The Expedition needed a brew that withstand arctic and sub arctic temperatures, and provide a degree of sustenance and nutritious value. “Captain Belcher reported that Allsopp’s Arctic Ale proved to be “a valuable antiscorbutic”, helping fight off scurvy, the bane of all sea voyages in those days.” He added that the beer was “a great blessing to us, particularly for our sick” and that it refused to freeze until the temperature dropped well below zero.”
What you are looking at is an actual museum quality sealed and intact bottle of Samuel Allsopp’s Arctic Ale brewed for the 1852 Expedition to the Arctic lead by Sir Edward Belcher. This bottle of beer is likely the rarest, oldest, and most documented bottle of beer in existence! Not to mention the unbelievably unique history surrounding it. Accompanying the bottle is an actual limited handwritten history about the bottle itself.
That laminated card you see hanging off the bottle is the handwritten note, which reads:
“This ale was specially brewed and bottled in England, in 1852, for Kane’s Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. A portion of the lot was cached in the Arctic; and was afterwards taken back to England, where it was bought by Allsopp, from whom Mr. Jus. Fennell obtained a part.
This bottle was given to me by Mr. Fennell May 13, 1919. Should I depart from this (by that time probably) dry world before consuming the contents, let my son and brethren perform my duties and enjoy my rights in that respect, on the eve of my funeral (if they find it in time) – unless such act be then illegal, in which case those of the aforesaid trustees who sufficiently learned in law shall advise ac-????? To the rule of ey fares.
Two bottles of this ale were guests of honor at the banquet given to Shackleton and Peary, in Boston, some years ago. (1907/1908) The skeletons of said guests were preserved as mementos of Sir John Franklin! (Useful suggestion regarding the “cast off shell” of the spirit.)
Signed: Percy G Bolster
A short history of the Allsopp’s Brewery from MidlandsPubs.co.uk page on Staffordshire breweries:
Based in the High Street of Burton-on-Trent, the history of this company can be traced back to the 1740’s. Samuel Allsop acquired the brewery in 1807. A new brewery and offices were constructed in 1859-60 close to the railway station. Throughout the 19th century Allsopp’s brewing business was second only to Bass in size. The new brewery site alone stretched between Station Street and Horninglow Street. They retained the original brewery in High Street, built a large maltings at Shobnall and numerous premises elsewhere. Samuel Allsopp was the first to export Burton Pale Ale to India in 1822. By 1890 their output had reached 460,000 barrels and they had a workforce of 1,750. However, the 20th century was not so favourable for the company and they went into receivership in 1913. Allsopp’s was eventually merged with the neighbouring Ind Coope & Co.Ltd. to form Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd. The offices of the new brewery were later used as the headquarters of Punch Taverns and the Spirit Group.
There’s another interesting lecture transcribed that goes into great detail about what led to the Allsopp’s Brewery’s demise, entitled “The Fall of the House of Allsopp” by an R.G. Anderson.
What a fascinating little tale. I just hope they don’t open the bottle.
UPDATE: An alert Bulletin reader (thanks Scott) found a similar looking bottle that sold on eBay in June for a mere $305 and wondered if there was something “hokey going on.” A closer look at the two listings reveals that the person who bought the bottle for $305 is the same one who turned around and sold it for a half million. Now that’s a good return on investment.
I got the good news over the weekend, the Homebrew Chef, Sean Paxton, has a new apprentice. On Thursday, July 12, at 6:28 a.m., his wife gave birth to a baby girl, their first. She was 8 lbs., 1 oz., and 22 in. Her name is Olivia Rose Paxton. Join me in wishing her and her parents all the best.
Olivia Rose. She already has good taste in beer.
According to lawn expert, Brad Fresenburg, beer can make your grass more green, thanks to the carbohydrates in it. Fresenburg is an extension and research associate at the University of Missouri at Columbia and he’s testing an internet lawn mix called “The Perfect Lawn Tonic” that uses five common household ingredients, one of which is beer. KSDK CBS Channel 5 in St. Louis, Missouri has asked Fresenburg to try out the tonic scientifically.
The five ingredients are beer, non-diet soda, mouthwash, household ammonia, and dish soap. “It’s really a home remedy that is simulating a lot of the bio-stimulants,” said Fresenburg. “There really isn’t anything in the ingredients that are going to be harmful to grasses.” Fresenburg believe the beer will benefit from carbohydrates in it to feed microbes that are in the soil.
When asked if the tonic will work, Fresenburg replied. “Yes and no, but it is going to do what they say it’s going to do as far as green color and maybe perhaps having a lawn look a little more green and lush,” said Fresenburg. “Especially at this time of year when grasses are struggling a little bit due to drought and perhaps turning a little bit brown … it will help with that effect.” At the end of the month, Fresenburg will be re-interviewed to gauge the results.
Here’s the tonic recipe:
The Perfect Lawn Tonic
1 beer (except light beer)
1 can of non-diet soda
1/2 cup mouthwash
1/2 cup household ammonia
1/2 cup dish soap (except anti-bacterial)Mix all ingredients and pour into a 10-gallon hose end sprayer.
Spray on lawn after mowing — just enough to wet the grass.
Reapply every three weeks.
While I may not be a fan of the beer, this is a pretty impressive cake made to look like a Heineken crown! Perhaps more amazing is that this is easily one of the less impressive ones displayed at Hemmy’s Awesome Cake Art. It’s my daughter Alice’s third birthday today, but we went with a princess cake for her, which is what she’d been telling us she wanted for weeks now.
It’s been a busy week. I just got back from almost a week in Colorado for my cousin’s wedding. Of course, I did a little sightseeing and was fortunate enough to sample the special edition of La Folie that New Belgium did for the Falling Rock’s 10th anniversary. Chris Black, along with New Belgium brewer, Eric Salazar, blended beer from 10 foders (four 60- and six 130-hectoliter wood tuns) into one pretty spectacular beer. I missed seeing Chris while I was there, which meant I didn’t get to hear his version of what will undoubtedly be come to be known as the Twisted Pine Debacle, which culminated in the wooden sign that hangs above the center booths being sawed in half diagonally. The second-hand story I was regaled with was pretty good but I can only imagine it coming from the horse’s mouth. More reports from Colorado will follow this week.
All of which has nothing to do with this post’s title, except by way of explanation of the two reasons there haven’t been as many posts or rants lately. The second reason is I’ve been working on something new. I’m pleased to announce the launch of The Brookston Beer Pix, a beer-themed photoblog. For no better reason than I thought it would be fun for me, each day I’ll post a new photo that I’ve taken over the years that has something to do with beer. To be sure there will be gleaming stainless steel and glowing copper along with lush green hops, but also some other fun and more unusual shots as well. The hope is to showcase beer, brewing and the brewing community in a more artistic way and feed my own creative side. Plus, it gives me something to do with all those photographs that I can’t sell. Who knows, perhaps it will make me a better photographer. Take a look and let me know which pictures you like and which you don’t, and, of course, why.
In my recent screed over Tennessee’s decision to make carding for off-premise beer purchases mandatory, I mentioned that I still have my Pennsylvania drinking card, or PLCB card. A couple of people called me on it and so while I knew I had it somewhere, laying my hands on it I knew might prove more difficult. Surprisingly enough, I found it in the very first place I looked. So for Shaun and Jim, and anyone else curious to see what these things used to look like, here is my 27-year old PLCB card.
Front: Well, the first thing you’re bound to notice is that unflattering photo of me when I was 20, and that helmet hair. Sheesh, that’s embarrassing. Notice that it’s called an “IDENTIFICATION CARD” and follows that up with the peculiar “(For Proof of Age Only)” which is, as I said, the only thing the card was good for, proving you were old enough to drink in Pennsylvania.
Back: The legalese about the card representing that I had presented “documentary evidence” — my birth certificate — when I submitted the form at the State Store.
Sorry about the headline, but I’m pleased to announce that Yuko and Quentin Falconer, who founded the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation is honor of Quentin’s brother, have a new baby boy. Yuko gave birth to Colin Yuji Hay Falconer on the morning June 21. He was 6 lbs., 10 oz. and 19 3/4 in. According to the e-mail I got, “Mother and child are both doing well. Colin is a healthy baby who at any given moment can be found feeding, crying, or sleeping.” Join me in congratulating the proud parents on their happy news.
Yuko and Colin in the hospital. | Colin looking wide-eyed and adorable. |
A friend and colleague sent me this story from his local area around Washington, D.C. (thanks Gregg). Rustico Restaurant & Bar, a great beer restaurant in Alexandria, Virginia, began serving “beer-sicles” last week. They make frozen beer pops shaped like the Popsicles you remember for $4 or a larger cone size for $6. They’re made from 99% beer using all-natural ingredients, executive chef Frank Morales claims, and he created the new pops with the help of the restaurant’s Beer Director, Greg Engert. Don’t you just love the idea that a restaurant has a beer director?
Executive Chef Frank Morales with his new beer-sicles. |
So far, four flavors have been offered. Fudgesicle (made with Bell’s Kalamazoo Stout), Raspbeer-y (made with the very sweet St. Louis Framboise), Plum (made with Chapeau Mirabelle) and Banana (made with Chapeau Banana). Since their debut last week, they’re a big hit with customers, and men especially, Morales noted. Apparently they worked on the right combination of ingredients for weeks before being satisfied, so I guess that 1% ingredient is quite an important one. So what otherwise seems like a simple idea — freeze beer in a Popsicle mold — may actually hinge on a particular secret ingredient. Of course, I’m open to experimentation. Unfortunately, according to the AP story, the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control believes that “the beer-sicles might violate state regulations” which state that “the law requires beer to be served in its original container, or served immediately to a customer once it is poured from its original container.” Apparently the Virginia ABC is investigating, but their initial reaction appears to be that it violates state alcohol law. |
This is apparently because the purpose of that law is so the ABC can keep tabs on where the alcohol goes along it’s journey from manufaturer to consumer. According to Philip Disharoon, the special agent in charge of the Alexandria division, he’s worried that he “would have no way of knowing where the beer product came from.” The idea that they may have to stop making these just because the Virginia ABC can’t track the path of the beer from bottle to mold to freezer to customer, all in a single location, strikes me as bureaucratic nonsense. I imagine that may have been more of a concern during bootlegging days, but I have a hard time believing it’s much of an issue any longer.
Virginia’s alcohol laws do include an exemption for beer used for “culinary purposes” (3VAC5-70-40), which would appear to make it legal for Rustico to continue selling beersicles. Since it appears that they’re already using beer in many of the dishes served at the restaurant, perhaps they’re already covered. The regulation does give the ABC broad authority to “refuse to issue or [t] suspend or revoke such a permit for any reason” which seems rather unfair, to say the least. But that’s the nature of many alcohol laws, in which fairness is rarely a priority. Also, alcohol used for cooking must be kept completely separate from beer that’s for sale to patrons, which also seems quite ridiculous.
But the more you examine each state’s own arcane alcohol regulations, you realize that over time they’ve become bloated bureaucratic gibberish that few people can understand, even among the state employees charged with interpreting them. I know firsthand that in some states ABC employees will give different interpretations to the same regulation, leaving brewery and restaurant/bar owners completely baffled as to what the law actually says or how to comply with it. And even relying on one state employee’s interpretation can land you in hot water if another’s interpretation is different. That certainly seems fair, doesn’t it? At the very least, you’d think they could either get their stories straight or at least respect their colleagues interpretation that someone relied on in good faith. But sadly that’s not the way government works, especially when it comes to the hot button issue of alcohol.
But the idea of beer-flavored Popsicles seems a natural. Perhaps the folks that own the trademark on the name Popsicle, which is Unilever (although in 1993 they changed their name to the more appetizing Good Humor-Breyers® Ice Cream Company) could make beer-flavored Popsicles for adults that we can all buy at the grocery store. Can you just imagine the hue and cry from neo-prohibitionists when beer pops show up in the frozen food section? It would almost be worth it just to see them come unglued. Plus, I just love the idea of a green, 100 ibu, real honest-to-goodness Hopsickle.
UPDATE 7.22: Two new news sources also include video of the beersicles so you can see what they look like and see a bit more about how they’re made. The first is from WLBZ in Bangor, Maine and the second is from CBS 3 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
UPDATE 7.22 – #2: Courtesy of Reason magazine, Senior Editor Radley Balko went to Rustico this afternoon hoping to try a beer-flavored Popsicle but was told “they’re no longer serving them. At least until the state alcohol control tyrants give them the okay.” Apparently they’re trying to figure out how to cook the beer and/or add more ingredients so it will fall under “culinary purposes” as I detailed above. Sounds to me like the Virginia ABC has lost touch with reality. If freezing beer in a mold, with a stick, and serving it as a dessert doesn’t qualify as a culinary use, then I have to conclude it’s not about the law anymore, but about control. That’s the word everybody forgets in “ABC,” but it stands for “Alcoholic Beverage Control.” State agencies take that part of their job perhaps most seriously of all in their zeal to do their job. These agencies really should work with alcohol manufacturers and retailers because for the most part all they want to do is comply with the law. But many times, because of the nature of bureaucracy, an adversarial relationship is created over time and the agencies spend more of their resources on enforcement and punishment, forgetting that they’re charged with keeping alcohol in society in a safe manner, not controlling it to the point of killing it.
I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry. Pizza and beer, of course, are one of the most beautiful pairings and one of the most natural, rivaling such other hit duos as peanut butter and jelly or warm apple pie and vanilla ice cream. But it may have been taken too far, as homebrewer Tom Seefurth has combined the two into one beer, which he calls Mamma Mia Pizza Beer and claims is the “world’s first culinary beer.”
Since Walter Payton’s Aurora Roundhouse has been brewing and selling Tom’s Pizza Beer, the local and national media has been covering the novelty beer in print, television and radio. Sunday’s Daily Herald, a local paper covering Kane County, Illinois where the Seefurths live, has probably the most comprehensive account.
It sounds like an herb and spice beer leaning heavily on Italian seasonings. Adjunct ingredients include tomatoes, oregano, garlic and basil. The Herald article describes it as “tast[ing] of oregano, onions and tomatoes” and they offer that it should be paired with pizza or pasta, though that seems a bit too obvious. I’d be more interested in trying it with some strong Italian cheeses. There have been plenty of herb and spice beers I’ve tasted over the years, using both common and more unusual ingredients. To my way of thinking, they’re a mixed bag. Sometimes they work and sometimes not and it’s not always clear why that is. Some I’ve enjoyed and others not so much. So while my first reaction is somewhat apprehensive, I’ll reserve judgment until I can actually try some, if that’s even possible. I love beer. I love pizza. If it’s all about the beer then who knows, maybe it will be great.