Today’s infographic is a travel guide to visiting English breweries and other beer destinations by train, entitled the Rail Ale Trail. It was created last year by Red Spotted Hanky, a UK travel website.
CLick here to see the infographic full size.
Beer In Ads #913: Ethel Merman Has Graduated To Carling’s
Wednesday’s ad is for Carling’s Red Cap Ale, from 1950. The ad is graduation-themed, with a disembodied Ethel Merman wearing a mortarboard hat with a tiny red cap on top. I love the way they characterize the beer as a “light-hearted ale.” For some reason that sounds better than light-bodied.
Zlaty Mok: Czech Beer Facts & Figures
Today’s infographic is about beer from the Czech Republic. Created by Jan Turnovec for Denik, a national newspaper. If only I could read Czech.
Clic here to see the infographic full size.
Beer In Ads #912: C.L. Centlivre Brewing Co.
Tuesday’s ad is for the C.L. Centlivre Brewing Co. of Fort Wayne, Indiana, from around 1880. It’s another one of those wonderful illustrations of the industrial magnificence that old breweries used to do back in the 19th century. It was done by the Henderson Lithographing Co. of Cincinnati, Ohio.
Anchor’s History Of Beer & Baseball In San Francisco
Dave Burkhart, Anchor Brewing‘s resdient historian, put together a great little video all about the connection between beer and baseball in San Francisco, along with its rich history, of course. The video brings to mind this great quote, by Peter Richmond. “Beer needs baseball, and baseball needs beer — it has always been thus.”
The Hopometer
Today’s infographic is an interactive one called The Hopometer, which is subtitled “Visualising beer strength and bitterness.” It was created by Peter G in London, whose blog Paint by Numbers is used for “focusing on [his] experiments with data visualisation predominantly using Tableau Software.” That’s why you really need to look at it on his page.
Click here to see the interactive original version of the Hopometer.
Date Announced For 2013 Brews On The Bay
The San Francisco Brewers Guild today announced the date for this year’s Brews on the Bay beer festival aboard the S.S. Jeremiah O’Brien, docked at Pier 45 in Fisherman’s Wharf. This marks the 10th anniversary of the festival, which will take place on Saturday, October 19, from Noon to 5:00 p.m. According to the press release:
Enjoy over 50 different beers made by San Francisco breweries, while soaking up the salty air, sunshine, live music, food, and spectacular views of the Golden Gate Bridge, Alcatraz and San Francisco.
This year’s event is shaping up to be our biggest and best yet. Although we’re still finalizing some of the details, you can expect our member breweries to serve unlimited eight ounce pours of their latest and greatest IPA, farmhouse ale, session beer, barrel-aged sour, imperial stout, and many other beer styles. The brewers will also be on hand to answer any questions about your favorite beers.
In addition to the local beer, we’re going to serve up local food and music. San Francisco’s best food trucks will line the pier to fill your mouth-watering needs. We’ve also enlisted The Brothers Comatose to play their lively roots music on the ship’s deck.
Brews on the Bay tickets will go on sale August 5th at 10:00am.
Weigh In On What’s The Big Deal About IPA?
For our 77th Session, our host is Justin Mann, who writes his eponymous Justin’s Brew Review. His topic is to question the popularity of craft beer’s fastest growing category: IPAs. Or as he puts it, “What’s the Big Deal About IPA?”
For quite some time now, I’ve been wondering what makes the India Pale Ale (IPA) style of beer so popular. Don’t get me wrong–I thoroughly enjoy it and gladly participate in #IPADay. I’m just wondering, why all the hype? What is it about an IPA that makes craft beer enthusiasts (CBE) go wild? Is it because CBEs want to differentiate craft beer from crap beer? I don’t care if a watered-down pilsener is labeled as “triple-hops brewed”; it wouldn’t satisfy someone looking for an IPA.
At the same time, not all CBEs prescribe to the IPA way. The author (a beer writer!) of a recent article proclaims that “hoppy beer is awful” and that it is allegedly “alienating people who don’t like bitter brews”. I happen to like IPAs and DIPAs, so I’m not going to preach about only non-hopped craft beer, as the author suggests, just to turn people away from over-commercialized yellow-colored water. Besides, maybe the bitterness and hoppiness of an IPA is exactly what some beer drinkers that have yet to be introduced to the ways of craft might want.
So what’s the deal? Let me know what you think by sending me a link to your blog post on July 5. Or if you’re not a blogger, I’d still love to hear what you think. Leave a comment [on his announcement post], or connect with Justin’s Brew Review on your favorite social media platform.
So on Friday, July 5 — the day after celebrating American independence with a hoppy beer — weigh in on what’s the big deal with these hoppy brews, these “eepas.”
My daughter Alice in the hop fields on harvest day several years ago.
Beer In Ads #911: Is This Something Special?
Monday’s ad is for Ballantine Ale, from the 1950s, I believe. To the question “Is This Something Special?” a couple of men sitting on a sofa at a dinner party, the other answers. “It certainly is … that’s Ballantine Ale.” I sure miss dressing up every time a few friends come over for a beer. Oh, wait. That never happened. But that would be special, wouldn’t it.
U.S. Beer Imports In 2007
Today’s infographic is entitled U.S. Beer Imports in 2007 and was created by Matthew Bambach for, I believe, a newspaper article about beer imports. But I like how it neatly shows the flow of the beer from different places into America.
Click here to see the map full size.