Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Go Mild For The Next Session

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For the 99th Session, our host is Alistair Reece, who writes the Fuggled blog. He’s also the founder of American Mild Month, which will take place for the first time this May. Intended as a companion to May is Mild Month, which is a month-long promotion of mild ale sponsored by CAMRA in Great Britain, there’s also a Facebook page and so far he’s gotten 45 breweries to commit offering a mild ale during the month. So for the May Session, the topic is “Localising Mild,” which he describes below.

Each May CAMRA in the UK encourages drinkers to get out and drink Mild Ales. This May is the first, as far as I am aware, American Mild Month, which has 45 breweries, so far, committed to brewing mild ales. Of those 45 breweries some are brewing the traditional English dark and pale mild styles, while a couple have said they will brew an ‘American Mild’, which American Mild Month describes as:
a restrained, darkish ale, with gentle hopping and a clean finish so that the malt and what hops are present, shine through

An essential element of the American Mild is that it uses American malts, hops, and the clean yeast strain that is commonly used over here. Like the development of many a beers style around the world, American Mild is the localisation of a beer from elsewhere, giving a nod to the original, but going its own way.

That then is the crux of the theme for The Session in May, how would you localise mild? What would an Irish, Belgian, Czech, or Australian Mild look like? Is anyone in your country making such a beer? For homebrewers, have you dabbled in cross-cultural beer making when it comes to mild?

The first Friday of May is also the first day of May. May Day, or International Workers Day, and it is apt that a beer style closely associated with the industrial regions of England should be the theme for the Session. Have at it folks!

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So don’t go crazy, don’t go wild, instead this May go mild. To participate in the May Session, leave a comment to the original announcement on or before Friday, May 1.

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The Beer Breakdown

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Today’s infographic is entitled The Beer Breakdown to shows some of the basic differences between ales and lagers, some examples and the brewing process. It was created by Chloe Hoeg for an illustration class she took at Ohio University, where she graduated from in 2012.

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Click here to see the infographic full size.

The ABCs Of Beer

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Today’s infographic, The ABCs of Beer, was created by graphic designer Lise Statelman who works for Kloudless in Berkeley, California. She made this poster in 2011, while still a student, “displaying 60 styles of beer organized into 5 categories with their respective color and bitterness ranges, alcohol content, and country of origin.”

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Click here to see the chart full size.

Varieties Of Beer Venn Diagram

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Today’s infographic is a Venn Diagram showing the basic divisions in beer styles, created by A Drinker’s Guide to Beer. I might have preferred “hybrid styles” to “mixed,” but it’s an interesting way to show that some varieties are neither an ale or a lager, but share elements of both.

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Click here to see the venn diagram full size.