Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Happy International Brewers Day

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Today is the 4th annual holiday celebrating brewers around the world, International Brewers Day, which I created in 2008. While I haven’t been able to put as much effort into it as I might have liked, someday I will. In the meantime, some parts of the international brewing community are carrying on with celebrations, most notably in Australia. For now, a quiet celebration involving beer and any brewer you happen to encounter today is in order.

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You could see the original idea, the plan and why I chose July 18 at the old International Brewers Day website, but unfortunately it’s currently down. I’ll have to get that moved and back up again one of these days.

Here was my original driving thought:

Brewers have given so many of us the pleasure of their artistry and enriched our lives with their beer since civilization began. So I think it’s time we recognized their efforts by celebrating their lives, their commitment and their craft. We’re all beer people, but without the brewers what would we be drinking?

Did I mention that hugging brewers is a big part of the holiday?

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As the old Czech saying goes:

“Blessed is the mother who gives birth to a brewer.“

Guinness Ad #77: Free Kick

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Our 77th Guinness ad features a free kick in a soccer … er, football match that the goalie is unable to stop because it was kicked hard enough to propel both the ball and the goalie into the net for a score. The source of that force can be found sticking out of his back pocket: a bottle of Guinness.

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Beer In Ads #414: Burgie! Original California Beer

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Thursday’s ad is for Burgie, from 1974, and makes a big deal about its California origins. “The California life. You can live it anywhere, because most of all it’s a feeling. Burgie beer was made for that special feeling. Light. Golden. With the true Western taste. If you live our life, you’re going to love our beer.” The can shows an old-time San Francisco scene and that’s where the can says it was brewed, too. So he kicker is that after lavishing all that attention on California, the tagline veers eastward. “Burgie: Original California Beer. Now in Chicago.”

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Travel + Leisure Chooses The Best American Beer Cities

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Travel + Leisure magazine, in their July 2011 issue, made their picks for America’s Best Beer Cities. Actually, the title is a bit misleading. It’s not really the “best” cities so much as the most “popular;” and most popular according to the magazine’s readers; and not all of their readers but specifically the ones who took the time to answer the poll. Looking more closely, the readers polled were asked to choose among 35 pre-chosen cities, too, meaning there was no chance for any town not on the starting list, too. Asheville, NC, for example, was presumably not among the 35 cities on Travel + Leisure’s list.

So that’s a very different thing and probably accounts for what I can only describe as some odd, but interesting, inconsistencies with other similar polls. Certainly Portland deserves the top spot, though it probably goes without saying I’d place San Francisco a tad higher than ninth. But Philly fourth from the cellar — along with San Diego even lower? — that seems like a travesty.

It does, however, tell us how people who like travel enough to subscribe to a periodical devoted to it perceive which cities are best for beer. Undoubtedly, many people voted for their local city so in a sense it’s partly a reflection of the magazine’s geographic readership. But that probably doesn’t tell the whole story. When asked to rank 35 cities, most people (apart from the very well traveled) I’d wager have not been to all of the cities. That would mean they’d be inclined to go with what they’d heard or read about the cities they hadn’t personally visited. They’d make a value judgment based on that particular city’s perception of beer-worthiness. Seen through that prism, it’s a more interesting list, to me at least. It also means I need to visit Savannah. What’s your take on the list?

Travel + Leisure’s 2011 Poll: America’s Best Beer Cities

  1. Portland, OR
  2. Denver, CO
  3. Seattle, WA
  4. Providence, RI
  5. Portland, ME
  6. Savannah, GA
  7. Boston, MA
  8. Austin, TX
  9. San Francisco, CA
  10. Nashville, TN
  11. Kansas City, MO
  12. Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN
  13. Charleston, SC
  14. Chicago, IL
  15. Anchorage, AK
  16. New Orleans, LA
  17. Philadelphia, PA
  18. San Diego, CA
  19. Phoenix/Scottsdale, AZ
  20. Houston, TX

Minnesota Government Shutdown Also Stops Beer Production In State

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Here’s a weird consequence of our stunted economy; when the state government in Minnesota shut down July 1, MillerCoors “had 39 ‘brand label registrations’ that expired last month, and the employees who process renewals were laid off when state government shut down July 1 in a budget dispute,” according to an AP story published today online entitled MillerCoors becomes casualty of Minnesota shutdown. Area wholesalers and then retailers could be out of the effected brands in as little as a few days, the story cautions. Hopefully, there’s enough craft beer in the pipeline to satisfy demand and maybe even create a few converts in the process.

Beer In Ads #411: Time Out For Schlitz

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Monday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1952. It shows a domestic scene where a couple is trying to decide what color to paint a room. But the husband seems far more interested in the color of his beer than any of the swatches on the wall. He’s taking “Time out for Schlitz.” And how about those red socks he’s wearing? I’m not sure he’s the best person to ask for color advice anyway.

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Beer In Art #135: Michael Pacher’s Mary Of Burgundy

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This week’s work of art is by an Austrian artist, Michael Pacher, who painted this portrait of Mary of Burgundy in 1490.

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Mary of Burgundy “ruled the Burgundian territories in Low Countries and was suo jure Duchess of Burgundy from 1477-1482. As the only child of Charles the Bold, Duke of Burgundy, and his wife Isabella of Bourbon, she was the heiress to the vast Burgundian domains in France and the Low Countries upon her father’s death. Her mother died in 1465, but Mary was on very good terms with her stepmother Margaret of York, whom Charles married in 1468.”

But today, for the beer lover at least, what Mary’s most famous for is that the Flanders red ale, Duchesse de Bourgogne, from the Brouwerij Verhaeghe, is named for her though the label is a different painting of Mary.

Their importer, Specialty Beer, describes the beer like this:

DUCHESSE DE BOURGOGNE from Brouwerij Verhaeghe is the traditional Flemish red ale. This refreshing ale is matured in oak casks; smooth with a rich texture and interplay of passion fruit, and chocolate, and a long, dry and acidic finish. After the first and secondary fermentation, the beer goes for maturation into the oak barrels for 18 months. The final product is a blend of younger 8 months old beer with 18 months old beer. The average age of the Duchesse de Bourgogne before being bottled is 12 months.

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You can read Pacher’s biography at Wikipedia and there are more links about him at ArtCyclopedia. You can also see more of Pacher’s paintings at Artilim, Jitiky and the Web Gallery of Art.