San Diego Beer Blog had the news today that Jeff Bagby is leaving his position as head brewer at Pizza Port in Carlsbad. Nacho will taking his place for now, though Jeff will be staying on in a consultant role while he firms up plans to open his own brewery. That’s awesome news for Jeff and I’m sure that whatever he does will be amazing.
Jeff and his fiance Dande at GABF a few years ago.
The December 2011 standings may have been updated for December, though since there’s no North American presence or website, it’s hard to be sure. For those of you who still have a widget on your blog’s homepage, you may have noticed that the name has changed from Wikio to eBuzzing. As the so-called “consultant,” they told me that would coming back in September. My contact at Wikio also told me his employment contract was ending and he was unsure as to whether it would be renewed. In case it wasn’t, he also copied me on another person there who would be my contact in the event his contract wasn’t renewed. I’ve written e-mails to both of them since September and thus far have received no replies from anyone at eBuzzing.
If you have a widget and clicked on the link, you may also have noticed that it goes nowhere, to a “404 Error Not Found” page. Several people have written me, wondering what’s going on, and sadly, I’ve been unable to shed any light on the situation. They’re not exactly showing that the North American market is very important to them or their business. Gerard Walen, from RoadTrips4Beer, posted on their UK blog and got the following reply:
For the moment US rankings have not been incorporated into the site. We will notify you once the US rankings are once more included at the same high quality as our European rankings.
And to his follow-up, half-joking, question, they said:
For the moment we are focusing on European countries, but will be looking to include more filters for more countries in the future.
So apparently there are no North American rankings or website for now, and they thought it fairly unimportant to let anybody know, or even post that information on the new eBuzzing website. They don’t necessarily owe us an explanation, but it sure would have been nice if they’d let someone know or at least let that information be readily available for anyone who might have been interested in finding out what happened instead of just shutting down their North American operations.
Though curiously, the widgets that are still out there have changed, as if they’ve been updated for December. Every one of them except Jeff from Beervana has plummeted, dropping quite a bit, though a few that weren’t in the Top 20 last month now are. I only know this through the completely unscientific method of having visited every blog on the Top 20 list for the last six months to see if they have a widget and, if so, what their ranking is now, and comparing that to November.
UPDATE: Thanks to Bill Night from It’s Pub Night who figured out how to check any URL using the code from the widget. (Thanks Bill.) Based on that, I was able to sort out the Top 16, and several more using all the beer blogs that made the list over the last six months. Obviously, numbers 17-20 include some blogs that hadn’t made the list before. There are also others below 20 that haven’t been on the list lately, but I can’t really go through the complete list of beer blogs to fill in the missing ones. (Note: If you know your December ranking and it isn’t listed here, please drop me a note and I’ll add you.)
This, of course, may be the last month for these rankings. I always stressed that this was just a bit of fun and that we shouldn’t take it too seriously. But I have to say that the way they’ve handled the transition from Wikio to eBuzzing has left a bad taste in my mouth. I certainly understand that changes have to be made when companies merge, but keeping the people who might want to know in the dark is never the right way to go about it, at least in my opinion. Especially when you consider that the merger was first announced two years ago, in December 2009. C’est la vie. It was fun while it lasted.
This week’s work of art is by the Golden Age Dutch artist Pieter van Anraadt. He’s mostly known for painting historical subjects and portraits, but he has done some still lifes, such as this one: Still Life with Earthenware Jug, painted around 1658.
One description of the painting is the following:
Beer drinking has often been associated with smoking, as many still lifes and genre scenes of the seventeenth century reveal. This still life by Pieter van Anraadt, who was better known as a portrait painter in Deventer, is a good example of a painting which unites these two pleasures. It shows a jug and a glass of beer on a table; nearby are several clay pipes and some tobacco on a tray, and a brazier. The simplicity of the scene and the perfectly balanced triangular-shaped composition is offset by the jumble of pipes forming a mesh of crossed lines.
You can read van Anraadt’s biography at Wikipedia or at the Mauritshuis, the museum where the painting hangs. There are also a few links to other works, such as ArtCyclopedia, and ArtNet.
Our 96th Guinness ad shows the iconic Guinness toucan with a man sporting a toucan-like nose of his own. They say pet owners resemble their pets, and this would seem to support that theory. They both seem to have a nose for Guinness. I guess it really is a “Lovely day for a Guinness.”
Sierra Nevada Brewing sells its beer in all fifty states, and has sold increasingly more over the last few years. Not surprisingly, there have been rumors circulating for some time about them building a brewery farther east, in such places as Tennessee and Virginia. It seems they had also identified a site in Black Mountain, North Carolina, which is near Asheville. Sierra Nevada had been considering building there “a beer facility and retail outlet that would employ as many as 140 people.” According to ABC Channel 13 in Western North Carolina, “[t]he company requested an interchange at Blue Ridge Road and Interstate 40. The Black Mountain town board asked the state to build it in hopes of luring the business but, it was not approved by the North Carolina Department of Transportation.” No word as to why the state would turn down the request.
Today in 1818, Illinois became the 21st state.
Illinois
Illinois Breweries
Illinois Brewery Guides
Guild: Illinois Craft Brewers Guild
State Agency: Illinois Liquor Control Commission
Package Mix:
Beer Taxes:
Economic Impact (2010):
Legal Restrictions:
Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.
For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.
Friday’s ad is for Budweiser, from their “Where there’s life …” series, probably from the 1950s or early 60s. The scene shows a smiling and way-too-shiny-faced couple on the beach, having a weenie roast, while the woman pours a can of Bud into an already full mug.
Thursday’s ad is another ad for healthy beer, somewhat similar to yesterday’s Budweiser ad. This one is just a few years later, from 1907, and was sent to me by fellow blogger Lisa Grimm from WeirdBeerGirl (thanks Lisa). The ad is for Rainier Pale Beer, from Seattle Brewing & Malting Co., and shows a group of children using a giant beer bottle as a Maypole. Mother can be seen in the background, arriving on the scene with a tray full of beer bottles and glasses. Again, can you just imagine that ad today? The copy is equally interesting.
Pure Air, Pure Food, Pure Drink are essential to healthy growth … for Pure Drink get Rainier Pale Beer
Another beautiful sentiment.
Wednesday’s ad is a Ladies Home Journal (LHJ) ad from 1904 for Budweiser. It’s an interesting ad. First of all, check out the cage and cork on a Bud bottle. That’s not something you see every day. And the endorsement by LHJ is priceless. Can you imagine this today?
Mr. Edward Bok, editor of the Ladies’ Home Journal, in a page article in the May issue gives a list of 36 medicines, with official analysis, asserting them to contain 12 to 47 per cent. of Alcohol!
The ad goes to suggest the reader think of beer, with a mere 2 to 5 percent, is nothing compared to many of the medicines that mothers might give their child, some of which are “stronger than whisky.” At this point, Budweiser suggests that their beer is much healthier even than water with its low alcohol content.
Budweiser contains only 3-89/100 per cent. of alcohol. It is better than pure water because of the nourishing qualities of malt and the tonic properties of hops.
Budweiser is pre-eminently a family beverage; its use promotes the cause of true temperance—it guards the safety of health and home.
Now that’s a beautiful sentiment.
Tuesday’s ad is for an old Bronx brewery, the J&M Haffen Brewing Co. The brewery was only in existence from 1856 until 1917. As far as I can tell, this was used for a 1906 calendar for the brewery. Is it just me, or is one of the mermaids showing a bit more cheek than is usual?
