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Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Art #47: UC Berkeley’s Historical Beer Exhibition

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art-beer
This past Saturday, October 10, the Heart Museum at UC Berkeley held a special beer fair and symposium for their latest exhibit, 99 Bottles of Beer: Global Brewing Traditions 2500 BC – Present.

99-bottles

I’m fascinated by the history of beer and especially the notion that beer just might possibly be responsible for civilization itself. The Berkeley exhibit was also the subject of one of my recent newspaper columns. I was able to meet with the curator, Ira Jacknis, and preview the collection as he spoke about the exhibition.

The artistry of many of the pieces is obvious, but instead of choosing just one or two, here is the entire collection and a summary of the Beer Fair and Symposium that kicked off the beer exhibition, which will be on display at the Hearst Museum at UC Berkeley for at least one year. Stop by and see it in person when you have a chance.

Cat. No. 6-19811
The oldest piece in the collection was from the Old Kingdom in Egypt from the 5-6 Dynasty (2465-2150 BCE). It’s the figurine of a servant woman “straining mash for beer” in painted limestone.

Cat. No. 4-5255
A corn beer tumbler in gold from the Ica Valley of Peru. It dates from the Late Intermediate Period (1000-1476). According to the museum, “Incans graduated their drinking vessels, according to material. The lowest-ranked used gourd bowls, the better-off had finer ceramic and wooden cups, while gold and silver cups were reserved for the elite. The cups were often used in pairs, especially the ornate ones of the emperor.”

Cat. No. 16-14917
Another corn beer cup from Peru, this one made of polychromed lacquered wood. It was found in Cuzco and is believed to be from the late 16th-17th century. “Like the ancient Incan cups, these wooden cups were made and used in matched pairs. While the shape was conservative, the decoration was innovative, the figures and flowers showing a Spanish influenced. Apparently, they ceased being made after the 1820s. The beer was sprinkled or poured on the ground as a divine offering.”

Cat. No. 7-6408
An English mug from the early 1800s, probably from the first quarter of the 19th century. It’s made of lead-glazed pearlware and was found in Staffordshire.”

Below is a slideshow of the day’s events, the collection itself (including press shots) and some photos from my preview of the collection. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.

Beer In Ads #1: Beer Belongs

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ad-billboard
For nearly a year now, every Sunday I’ve been exploring the intersection of the world of art with beer in my Beer In Art series. In searching for more art to showcase, I keep coming upon wondrous examples of advertising illustration. So far, I’ve been reluctant to use them because there’s plenty of fine art involving beer to keep my Sunday’s busy for quite some time. So instead, I figured I’d start featuring advertising art with beer as a separate series. Every Thursday I’ll highlight a beer ad, usually one from the past, that has some impressive artwork associated with it.

To begin, there can be no better choice than the Beer Belongs series that the United States Brewers Foundation (USBF) did from 1945-1956. The bulk of the series, known as the Home Life in America series, ran from 1946-1956 and included 120 numbered ads. In addition, there were several more unnumbered ads that both preceded the Home Life series and were run after its conclusion. They were so popular, even Mad Magazine did a spoof of the ads. You’ve probably seen them at flea markets and antique shows. I have several of them framed in my hallway. About a year ago, I became curious about how many ads were produced and tried to learn about their history. Unfortunately, there wasn’t much out there and after trolling auction sites and the internet for a good six months, off and on, I put together a complete list of all the ads. I collected graphic versions of all the ads with the help of the Beer Institute and got a taste of their origins and history by reading the minutes of meetings by the USBF and looking at old trade publications and books that mention the ad campaign.

That led to an article about this popular ad campaign in this month’s All About Beer magazine (the November 2009 issue, beginning at page 44). Obviously, All About Beer couldn’t run all of the ads, so I’ve put them into a Flickr gallery so you can view all 120 of them, possibly for the very first time anywhere. That’s at the bottom of this post. You can also see the rest of them (the ones that came before and after, along with the spoofs) at my Beer Belongs … Enjoy It! page. There, you can also read some more about the ads and find out a little bit more of their history, though I’d also encourage you to pick up the article in this month’s All About Beer, too, to get the full picture.

bb-header

Here are three representative examples from the Home Life in America series:

019. Week End In the Country by Austin Briggs, 1948
#19 in the Home Life in America series. Week End in the Country, by Austin Briggs, 1948.

042. Getting the Boat Ready by Douglass Crockwell, 1950
#42 in the Home Life in America series. Getting the Boat Ready, by Douglass Crockwell, 1950

086. World Series U.S.A. by John Falter, 1953
#86 in the Home Life in America series. World Series U.S.A., by John Falter, 1953.

You can see all 120 of the Home Life in America series in the gallery below. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each ad’s title, artist and the year it ran.

Beer In Art #45: The Hindu God Shiva As Bhairava, Bestower Of Beer

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art-beer
Today’s work of art is an unusual one. I chose it because it’s on display at the Denver Art Museum, where a good portion of the beer community has been all last week for the Great American Beer Festival. It’s a sculpture from around the 1600s of Bhairava, one of the forms the Hindu god Shiva can take.

bhairava_1967

It’s originally from Nepal and is “polychromed wood, 33 1/4 in. high.” The museum described the work as follows:

Here, the Hindu god Shiva is shown in his terrifying form, Bhairava, which he assumes to destroy evil. He stands menacingly astride a prostrate human figure and is framed by an ornate multi-colored archway carved with deities and mythical creatures, including the sun-bird Garuda at the top. The hole at the front of the lotus base was perhaps used with a spout attachment in festivals when from an elevated position Bhairava would dispense beer to devotees below.

Searching around a little more, it seems Bhairava is also commonly known as “The Bestower of Beer.”

Wikipedia has some basic information about Bhairava:

Bhairava (Sanskrit: भैरव, “Terrible” or “Frightful” Tamil: பைரவன், வயிரவன்)), sometimes known as Bhairo or Bhairon or Bhairadya, is the fierce manifestation of Shiva associated with annihilation. He is one of the most important deities of Nepal, sacred to Hindus and Buddhists alike.

He is depicted ornamented with a range of twisted serpents, which serve as earrings, bracelets, anklets, and sacred thread (yajnopavita). He wears a tiger skin and a ritual apron composed of human bones. Bhairava has a dog as his divine vahana (vehicle).

At the Rubin Museum of Art in New York City, there’s a mask of Bhairava on display, also from 16th century Nepal.

Bhirava mask

From the Rubin’s description:

While in his peaceful forms Shiva is depicted in human form, his wrathful form, the terrifying Bhairava, is shown as more monstrous than human, with demonic features that reflect his ultimately destructive purpose. Still this wrathful emanation remains connected to his non-violent alter ego. Not only does Shiva’s serene countenance gaze down from the center of Bhairava’s crown, but the terrible form also shares several important iconographic attributes with his peaceful counterpart, reinforcing Shiva’s dual role as destroyer and regenerator.

The Hindu god Shiva is a many-sided god. In this mask he appears in a wrathful state as Bhairava, while you can also see his peaceful alter-ego at the top of his crown. As the embodiment of Shiva’s destructive power, Bhairava eliminates ignorance and the ego to help practitioners reach spiritual enlightenment.

Bhairava is very popular, particularly in the small Himalayan country of Nepal. He is worshipped in temples and during festivals and by Hindus and Buddhists alike. Large Bhairava masks, such as this one, are unique to Nepal and play an important role in the festival celebration of Indra-jatra (a festival in the Katmandu Valley, celebrated by both Hindus and Buddhist practitioners.) On specific evenings home-brewed beer, stored in a hidden pot, is dispensed through a tube that emerges from the mask’s mouth. Devotees consume this beverage (created as an offering to Bhairava) with the belief that it will bring blessings upon them in the coming year.

Yet another mask can be found at the Art Institute of Chicago. In the description on Knile’s Flickr page (who took the photograph of the mask below), he also mentions the beer aspect of the Bhairava.

Nepalese-made copper head of Bhairava, a form Shiva takes. A vat of beer sat behind the head, and tubes went down to the mouth from the vat. Believers would drink from these tubes.

bhairava_mask

In 1999, the Philadelphia Museum of Art acquired a mask of the Nepalese God Bhairava, Bestower of Beer, which they describe with this story:

Lavish public festivals were vital to the politics of the Malla period. Some Malla kings revived fading traditions, while others introduced new practices to public worship in order to reinforce their claims to the throne or sway public opinion. This mask of Bhairava, a wrathful form of Shiva, was created during the Malla period for such a celebration. During a festival like Indra-Jatra, which is celebrated annually over several days in early fall, a mask like this is connected to a large pot filled with home-brewed beer. At an auspicious moment, the mask, garlanded with leaves and flowers, is wheeled out on a wooden platform and the sanctified beer is released suddenly, spurting out of its open mouth. As music plays, crowds of worshipers jostle to catch a mouthful of beer, considered a gift and a blessing from the god. Both Hindus and Buddhists worship this deity who is honored as the protector of the city of Kathmandu.

bhairava_mask-3

Known as the Face of Bhairava, it was made in the Kathmandu Valley, Nepal during the Malla Period (1200-1769), but is most likely circa 16th century. It’s made of mercury-gilded copper alloy repoussé with rock crystal, paint, foil, and glass and measures 29 x 25 x 18 inches.

In a 1999 press release, they elaborate:

The Hindu god Shiva bears many different names and forms across South Asia. In Nepal, the most important of these is Shiva in the form of Bhairava. Bhairava is a feared and ferocious god, needing to be pacified with offerings, but he is also a powerful guardian and the destroyer of evil. The Philadelphia Museum of Art welcomes a newly acquired image of this terrifying-yet beloved-deity. Fierce, powerful, elegant and delightful, the Face of Bhairava glares at visitors from high on a wall in the Gallery of Himalayan Art.

A huge, mask-like face, the Museum’s image of Bhairava is two and one-half feet high. Three bulging eyes, tangled hair, bared fangs, and ornaments of skulls and snakes indicate the god’s fierce nature. The gilded sculpture is constructed of multiple pieces of hand-beaten copper. Its face is topped with an exquisite crown wrought with lusciously realistic flowers and foliage, and inset with large cabochon rock crystals and glass jewels. Four perky serpents intertwine their bodies to form the crown. Their scales are overlaid with helmet-like skulls disgorging pearl chains and a small head of Shiva in his peaceful form. This sculpture most likely dates to the 16th century. Red pigment and ritual powder coat the curling flames that fan out above the crown, evidence that the image was worshiped for many years. Although missing its original round earrings, neck, and two lower hair segments, this fragile image of Bhairava has survived in an astonishingly complete state.

Monumental heads of Bhairava are made in Nepal for various festivals but most notably for Indra-Jatra, an important and complex multi-day event that takes place in early fall in the city of Kathmandu. Named after Indra, king of the gods’ heaven, the festival focuses on the reaffirmation of Nepal’s more worldly ruler. Along with honoring the dead, activities include the re-consecration of the king by the Kumari (the living goddess), and the commemoration of the conquest of Kathmandu by King Prithvi Narayan Shah, who conquered Nepal in the 18th century and founded the present dynasty. Another activity of Indra-Jatra is the honoring of Bhairava, who is not only one of the servants of the Kumari, but also the protective deity of the city of Kathmandu.

On the afternoon of the third day of the festival, an enormous mask-like copper image of Bhairava, much like the Museum’s sculpture, is specially garlanded with leaves and flowers and placed on a cart. The actual image in use today in Kathmandu was consecrated in 1795 and during most of the year is sequestered behind a latticework screen near the royal palace. During the festival, it is brought out and a large clay pot of home-brewed beer is placed behind and within the face. A copper pipe is run from the pot through a hole in the mouth of the image (the grinning mouth of the Museum’s Bhairava bears a hole the size of a penny between its fangs). After the Kumari has been honored, sanctified beer spouts from the pipe, drawn by gravity but appearing to spurt from Bhairava’s open mouth. As music plays, worshippers jostle to catch a mouthful of beer, for it is considered a gift and a blessing from the god. Other smaller images of Bhairava, made of metal, clay or wood—and also rigged to dispense beer—are used during the festival; the Museum’s Bhairava was originally intended for this purpose.

In the The Roots of Tantra, by Sunthar Visuvalingam and Elizabeth Chalier-Visuvalingam, there’s a fascinating chapter called Between Veda and Tantra: Pachali Bhairava of Kathmandu (Towards an Acculturation Model of Hindu-Buddhist Relations) in which they reveal just how closely beer is associated with the worship of Bhairava:

In the Newar tradition, each god has generally two temples. One is situated outside the town, and the god is venerated there in the open-air temple called a pitha. The other is inside the town, and the god is venerated in a closed temple called a dyahche in Newari. This dyahche is, in fact, a special room inside the house of the family who keeps the Bhairava jar. In the closed temple, Pachali Bhairava is represented by and worshiped as a jar filled with beer.

You can see yet another Bhairava mask at the Dallas Museum of Art and one being auctioned at Christie’s.

On a website about the Himalayan Gods, they reveal in that tradition “the inter-relationship between the worshiper and the worshiped is demonstrated each year on the night of the full moon during the Indra Jatra festival when the great mask of Bhairava, dated 1795, in the palace square in Kathmandu, issues sacred beer from its open mouth through a bamboo pipe to waiting devotees below.”

In Part 6. “Socio-Political Levels in the Sacrificial Schema, “they describe how at “[t]he annual festival of Pachali Bhairava is based on the Hindu sacrificial schema, where there reappears the ancient theme of the theft of the Fire and Soma (ambrosia), represented in the present case by the jar of beer.”

A God known as “The Bestower of Beer” and “worshiped as a jar filled with beer!” How have I never heard of this before?

Beer In Art #30: Emblem of Beer Carriers Guild from Jerusalem Chapel

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art-beer
Today we’re heading into the Wayback Machine again, this time to circa 1778 in Leiden, which is in the Netherlands. Back then, the town was spelled “Leyden,” and “like many other cities, had a Jerusalem Chapel, maintained by citizens who had returned from a pilgrimage to the Holy Land.” The Chapel is no longer standing, but part of it was preserved and today can be seen at the Stedelijk Museum De Lakenhal in Leiden. The particular bit from the chapel highlighted today is a Baroque sculpture showing the emblem of the Dutch Beer Carriers Guild.

Dutch-beer_guild-lg

There’s not much information about the work itself or even who created it. But the notion of a guild for a profession whose only job was transport beer I thought might of interest. Though not Dutch, here’s a description of “The Beer Carriers of Bruges,” from the website of Global Beer, who import several Belgian beers to the U.S.:

It was in 1477 that the municipal authorities forbade breweries from transporting beer within the boundaries of Bruges. At the same time, they created the guild of ‘biervoerders’ (beer carriers). The purpose was to control tax evasion. Tax on beer was the main source of income for a city. For example, at the end of the 16th century, these taxes
represented more than 60 % of the receipts of the city of Antwerpen. Because beer was the normal beverage for every one, with an average consumption of more than a half gallon per head per day, taxing beer was a guaranteed source of income for a city.

It must have been a picturesque spectacle in the streets of the inner cities, two men carrying a cask of beer, fixed to long poles resting on their shoulders. Not only the local brewers had to use their services, also the brewers from surrounding areas and the importers, who delivered beer to Bruges, stopped at the gates of the city and gave their loads to the carriers. The carriers had a typical uniform, with the logo of their guild, two casks, embroidered on the front and the back. The president of the guild was named ‘king’.

He had 5 deputies, one for every section of Bruges. Every month, a drawing of lots indicated to which section of the city each beer carrier-team was appointed. Each member of the guild was constrained to face certain obligations, that won them the appreciation of the brewers for their efficiency and their strict neutrality in respect of the different beers that they were appointed to transport. For the carriers, beer was only a merchandise like any other, and they were wise enough to remain outside the rivalries which prevailed between their clients.

A document of 1650 teaches us that a new member of the guild had to pay a certain sum of money, and had to donate a cask of beer during a feast he had to organize to celebrate his entry in the trade. The organization of trades in brotherhoods or guilds, was an early form of social security. Each day, work completed, the carriers met together in their local ‘thuyscken op de markt’ (the little house on the marketsquare) to submit to the paymaster the receipts of their deliveries. At the end of the month, the distribution of profits took place, and all carriers received an identical sum, even those who had been forced to interrupt their work during the month on account of illness.
It was only at the beginning of the 20th century, that the independent carriers disappeared and were replaced by the lorries of the breweries. The guild of the beer carriers was one of the rare guilds, holding a monopoly, that had survived the French Revolution

There’s some more fascinating information about Dutch beer carriers at the genealogical page, Barent Jacobsen Kool and Marritje Leendertse De Grauw, from which there are some interesting tidbits below.

Under the Court Minutes for 1654 (for the Burgomasters and Schepens of this City of New Amsterdam):

And in order to prevent all fraud and smuggling in the one and the other, the Burgomasters and Schepens aforesaid with the approbation of the Honble Director General and Council have appointed and accepted as sworn Wine and Beer Carriers Barent Jacobsen Cool and Pieter Caspersen van Naerden and no person, be he who he may, except such Beer Carriers, shall be at liberty to work at, lay in, or remove any wines or beer from one warehouse, cellar, or brewery to another or to bring foreign beer within this City’s gates on pain of forfeiting said wines or beer and arbitrary correction at the direction of the Court.

And here’s a table of how much they could charge for their services:

The appointed Wine or Beer Carriers for what they may convey here within the walls of this City from one Brewery house or cellar into the other, shall not be permitted to receive more than the following.

For one pipe of brandy………………………………………..24 stivers
one pipe of wine…………………………………………………Twenty stivers
one hogshead of wine…………………………………………Twelve stivers
one Aam (40 gallons) ………………………………………..Ten stivers
one half-aam……………………………………………………..Five stivers
one anker…………………………………………………………Three stivers
half anker…………………………………………………………Two stivers
one tun of strong or small beer…………………………..Eight stivers
one half-barrel………………………………………………….Four stivers
one anker…………………………………………………………Three stivers

And according to the “History of the City of New York in the Seventeenth Century: Volume I: New Amsterdam” by Mariana Griswold Van Rensselaer, there were beer carriers in New York City in the mid-1600s, too.

Dinosaur Beer

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t-rex
No, I don’t been those lumbering giants making flavorless beer-like industrial beverages which we all hope might one day become extinct, I’m talking about a beer made with roughly 45-million-year old yeast found in a bug entombed in amber, and extracted just like the plot of Michael Crichton’s Jurassic Park. This time around, the story involves Fossil Fuels Brewing Co., whose owners include Dr. Raul J. Cano, the Emeritus Professor at Cal. Poly in San Luis Obispo who originally made the discovery. According to the story in today’s Washington Post, the breakthrough came last month.

“I was going through my collection, going, ‘Gee whiz — this is pretty nifty. Maybe we could use it to make beer,’ ” says Cano, 63, now the director of the Environmental Biotechnology Institute at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo.

Last month? Hold on just a second. First of all the article mentions the following:

In April, at the World Beer Cup in San Diego, “we had one judge give us the highest marks, one just below and one who didn’t like it,” says Chip Lambert, 63, the company’s other second microbiologist. “We learned that the issue was that in these competitions, you brew to match the traditional concept of the style, which these yeast just don’t do.”

Ignoring for the moment that the World Beer Cup isn’t judged like that (there are no “highest marks” or anything similar), the Washington Post published this article yesterday, September 1. That would mean the World Beer Cup took place five months ago, not to mention that to enter that competition you have to register and submit your beer well in advance of the actual judging. I’m not trying to quibble with the story, a least that wasn’t my original intent, but this just doesn’t add up. Last month? Setting all that aside for the moment, I wrote about this two years ago, when Stumptown Brewing, in Guernville, California, made a beer called Tyrannosaurus-Rat, also using Dr. Cano’s ancient yeast.

This is part of what I wrote in Fall of 2006 in the Celebrator Beer News, reviewing a beer and barbecue festival held along the Guernville River at Stumptown:

But as good as the barbecue was, I was there for the beer. I was particularly keen to try what Stumptown was billing as a beer made with the world’s oldest yeast. Their “Tyrannosaurus-Rat” — or T-Rat for short — was essentially their popular “Rat Bastard,” but brewed using yeast that was 30 million years-old, give or take a few million years! How it got to be in Stumptown’s beer is nearly as interesting as the beer itself. It was discovered in the Dominican Republic trapped inside of a bee that was also trapped inside of a piece of amber, a terrific preservative. And the bee had been there for somewhere between 25 and 40 million years. Dr. Raul J. Cano, Emeritus Professor at Cal. Poly in San Luis Obispo, made the discovery in 1995 and managed to extract living bacterium, including a few strains of yeast, directly from the bee’s stomach. The ancient microorganisms were patented and also inspired the movie “Jurassic Park II.” It fell into Stumptown’s lap during a ski trip where the Hackett’s met a friend of Dr. Cano, and the rest, as they say, is literally ancient history.

I tried the T-Rat alongside of its modern counterpart, Rat Bastard, as they were the same in all respects except for the yeast. The Rat Bastard is a well-made pale ale, with good aromas and a crisp, clean palate. It has a generous hop bite that finishes bitter, then drops off sharply in the end. The T-Rat was much smoother, with softer, fruity flavor characteristics and just a touch of lemony sweetness that wasn’t tart. The finish is quite clean, with just a quiet hop presence lingering. While they’re both good beers, I think the T-Rat has a more complex, developed taste profile but its smoothness makes it great. The fact that it was made with such an old yeast is fascinating and given how good the beer is, no mere novelty.

There are also other anomalies. In my story, which relied primarily on Stumptown’s information, the yeast was found in a bee from the Dominican Republic. The Washington Post account, however, lists the Lebanese weevil as the yeast carrier. On top of that Dr. George Poinar, who was also involved in finding and extracting the DNA from amber, says on his biography web page that its age was 125 million-years old.

And here is the original press release for Stumptown’s version of the beer, from June 27, 2006:

For the first time, 25-40 million year old yeast has been used to brew a commercial batch of beer (“Tyrannosaurus Rat”) to be made available to the public on July 8th at Stumptown Brewery (15045 River Rd. Guerneville, Ca.). Dr. Raul Cano, Lewis “Chip” Lambert, and Peter Hackett will be celebrating this historic event and available for questions from 11:00A.M. on Saturday July 8th.

The public tasting of the T-Rat is the culmination of coincidences that involved a 20-40 million-year old bee trapped in amber and discovered in the Dominican Republic, a pair of renowned scientists, a ski weekend and an award winning microbrewery.

Amber is nature’s perfect preservative. It desiccates its specimens and protects them from damaging radiation of all types. Man has successfully used it to preserve their dead for thousands of years; Nature has preserved many of its inhabitants, including the recently identified spider web, in their elegant tombs for tens of millions of years.

Dr. Raul J. Cano, Emeritus Professor at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, reported in Science (Volume 268, May 19, 1995) that he extracted a living bacterium from the gut of a stingless bee entombed in amber 25 – 40 million years ago. Independently, Lewis (Chip) Lambert, Fremont, CA, at the time Director of Pre-Clinical Research at a Bay Area biotech company, confirmed his work in a very skeptical scientific environment that has, for the most part, accepted its validity. In addition, Raul’s work became the underlying premise for the movie Jurassic Park.

The patented ancient microorganisms (USPO#5,593,883) became the focus of a new company based on the potential use of these microbial isolates for industrial and medical applications, and the hunt began. From the ancient-amber library came a few yeast strains and with them, the question, could they be used to make beer? The answer was a resounding yes as very good beer was brewed for the Jurassic Park II cast party and Raul’s daughter’s wedding reception.

After this initial success, Fossil Fuels Brewing Company was born with the motto “We bring good things back to life.” Using ancient yeasts that had all been thoroughly tested and selected for their beer-making properties, Fossil Fuels Brewing Co. planned to produce high quality distinctive beers with yeasts that had been isolated from amber.

The partners then proposed trials of these ancient yeasts to numerous microbreweries. Much to their surprise, in an industry that thrives on innovation, found a lack of enthusiasm among commercial breweries.

Fast forward a few years to the snowy slopes of Alpine Meadows where Carla Hackett was taking a ski lesson from Raul’s now friend and business partner, Chip. Carla had all the attributes of a great skier that her husband, an Aussie who owns the Stumptown Brewery in Guerneville, lacks. On the second, never the first, ride up the chair lift, an important relationship was established when the question was raised, “would you like to make some beer with some patented, 35-million year-old yeast?” The affirmative response started a brewing relationship between Stumptown Brewery and Environmental Diagnostics, Inc.

This random path led the ancient yeast to Stumptown Brewery on May 6th where Peter, Owner/Brewer, put the yeast to work. On June 21st came the news that “T-Rat” had finished fermenting and was conditioning. Perhaps most importantly, that it’s “very good, very unique. The yeast character is unusual, exotic, and very pronounced”.

fossil-fuels

On page two of the Post piece they finally do mention Stumptown’s involvement. The new versions, which include a wheat beer and a pale ale, are made at Kelley Bros. Brewing, which is in Manteca, California. I really enjoyed the pale ale version that Stumptown brewed and will eagerly try these two new versions. But I’m still a bit bewildered by the discrepancies that seem to accompany this story. But I guess history itself is a lot like that, so maybe it’s fitting after all. I wonder what “Cheers” is in dinosaur-speak? “Here’s tar in your eye?”

America’s Oldest Bars

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pub-sign

NOTE: This post and the list of the oldest bars has been moved here: The Oldest Bars In America. Please direct any comments or additions to that page, as this one will not be updated.

I stumbled upon this list of The 10 Oldest Bars in the United States on the blog for SloshSpot, an online portal for nightclubbing. Their original list:

  1. Jean Lafittes Blacksmith Shop; New Orleans, LA (1775)
  2. Bell In Hand; Boston, MA (1795)
  3. McSorley’s Old Ale House; New York, NY (1854)
  4. Old Ebbitt Grill; Washington, DC (1856)
  5. McGillin’s Olde Ale House; Philadelphia, PA (1860)
  6. The Saloon; San Francisco, CA (1861)
  7. The Little Shamrock; San Francisco, CA (1863)
  8. Ear Inn; New York, NY (1874)
  9. White Horse Tavern; New York, NY (1880)
  10. P.J. Clarke’s; New York, NY (1884)

My first thought was that seemed to missing some I’d heard of that were older than many on their list, and apparently I wasn’t the only one. Here is a more comprehensive list based on reader comments to the original post plus some of my own research and poking around. If you know of any others that should be on this list, please do let me know by posting a comment or sending me an e-mail.

NOTE: Updates will no longer appear here, but instead on a separate Page that I’ll continue to update as new information becomes available.

  1. White Horse Tavern; Newport, RI (1673)
  2. Jessop’s Tavern; New Castle, DE (1724)
  3. Red Fox Inn; Middleburg, VA (1728)
  4. General Lafayette Inn & Brewery; Lafayette Hill, PA (1732)
  5. Middleton Tavern, Middleton, MD (1750)
  6. Fraunces Tavern, New York, NY (1762)
  7. City Tavern, Philadelphia, PA (1773)
  8. Jean Lafittes Blacksmith Shop; New Orleans, LA (1775)
  9. Horse You Came In On; Baltimore, MD (1775)
  10. Griswold Inn; Essex, CT (1776)
  11. The Tavern; Abingdon, VA (1779)
  12. The Union Hotel (a.k.a. The Allentown Hotel, now DiMattias Restaurant & Lounge);
    Allentown, NJ (1779)
  13. The Warren Tavern; Charlestown, MA (1780)
  14. Gadsby’s Tavern; Alexandria, VA (1785)
  15. Wiggins Tavern; Northampton, MA (1786)
    [tavern moved from Hopkinton, New Hampshire]
  16. Bell In Hand; Boston, MA (1795)
  17. Old Absinthe House; New Orleans, LA (1815, possibly 1807)
  18. Broadway Hotel & Tavern; Madison, IN (1834)
  19. Knickerbocker Saloon; Lafayette, IN (1835)
  20. The Old Tavern; Niles, MI (1835)
  21. Spread Eagle Tavern & Inn; Hanoverton, OH (1837)
  22. Landmark 1850 Inn; Milwaukee, WI (1847; but currently closed for renovations)
  23. Ye Olde Trail Tavern; Yellow Springs, OH (1848)
  24. The Slippery Noodle; Indianapolis, IN (1850) [Wikipedia]
  25. Deer Park Tavern; Newark, DE (1851)
    [occupying the same spot as St. Patrick’s Inn, founded in 1747, but burned down in 1848]
  26. Breitbach’s Country Dining; Balltown, IA (1852)
  27. Genoa Bar & Saloon; Genoa, NV (1853) [new]
  28. McSorley’s Old Ale House; New York, NY (1854)
  29. Anvil Restaurant & Saloon; Ste. Genevieve, MO (1855)
  30. Old Ebbitt Grill; Washington, DC (1856)
  31. Tujague’s; New Orleans, LA (1856)
  32. McGillin’s Olde Ale House; Philadelphia, PA (1860)
  33. Arnold’s Bar and Grill; Cincinnati, OH (1861)
  34. The Saloon; San Francisco, CA (1861)
  35. Waterfront Hotel; Baltimore, MD (1861; building built in 1771)
  36. Pete’s Tavern; New York, NY (1864)
  37. Schloz Garten; Austin, TX (1866)
  38. The Original Oyster House; Pittsburgh, PA (1870)
    [Bear Tavern also opened on same site in 1827]
  39. Ulrich’s Tavern; Buffalo, NY (1870)
  40. Puddler’s Hall; Milwaukee, WI (1873; historical info)
  41. Ear Inn; New York, NY (1874)
  42. Shooting Star Saloon; Hunstsville, UT (1879)
  43. White Horse Tavern; New York, NY (1880)
  44. P.J. Clarke’s; New York, NY (1884)
  45. The Uptowner; Milwaukee, WI (1884)
  46. The Little Shamrock; San Francisco, CA (1893) [thanks to LS bartender Mike Flynn for correcting the date. The LS opened October 28, 1893, not 1863]

white-horse-ri
Arguably America’s oldest bar, the White Horse Tavern in Newport, Rhode Island.

The following are also contenders, but for one reason or another it isn’t clear if they were originally bars. They’re old, but they weren’t necessarily bars from their beginning or at a remote enough date in the past to make the list above.

Also, the Green Dragon in Boston, MA opened in 1654 so presumably might be considered the oldest. In 1764, the St. Andrews Lodge of Freemasons bought the tavern. Unfortunately, the original location on Union Street was demolished in 1854. Its present location at 11 Marshall Street was built at a later date, but I can’t find out exactly when. It’s certainly old, but probably not more than 100 years, if that.

UPDATES: Karsen Luthi sent me information about the Genoa Bar in Nevada (thanks, Karsen).

Martin Luther’s Beer

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lutheran
I stumbled upon this interesting write-up of the Beers of Martin Luther on a Lutheran website, Cyberbrethern. The post is based on notes from a talk given at a Men’s Breakfast at Good Shepherd Lutheran Church, Fayetteville, New York in April of 1997. Keith Villa of Blue Moon Brewing is thanked for “describing how the beers of Martin Luther’s era would have looked and tasted.”

martin-luther

The article discusses German beer in the middle ages, both homebrewed beer and brews made at Abbeys, and then speculates which beer of the time would have been Martin Luther’s favorite. This proved easier than you might imagine.

Frederick Salem, in his Beer, Its History and Its Economic Value as a National Beverage (1880) notes, “Luther’s fondness for beer is well known, and on the evening of that eventful day at Worms, April 18, 1521, the Duke Erich von Braunschweig sent him a pot of Eimbecker (Einbecker) beer, to which he was specially addicted.”

Michael Jackson also mentioned this connection in his New World Guide to Beer, saying “Luther received a gift of Einbeck beer on the occasion of his wedding.”

The article goes on to suggest that Luther preferred homebrew over beer from commercial breweries, finding the latter to be “a curse for Germany.” But in an apparent contradiction, Luther “drank at home.”

One biographer notes, “The German prophet became a patriarch, and the living room was dominated by his presence. He enjoyed his beer and had a great mug with three rings on it, one ‘the Ten Commandments’, the next ‘the Creed’ and third ‘the Lord’s Prayer’. He boasted that he could encompass all three with ease.”

But he was also a champion for moderation, and in sermon he gave in 1539, preached the following:

“It is possible to tolerate a little elevation, when a man takes a drink or two too much after working hard and when he is feeling low. This must be called a frolic. But to sit day and night, pouring it in and pouring it out again, is piggish… all food is a matter of freedom, even a modest drink for one’s pleasure. If you do not wish to conduct yourself this way, if you are going to go beyond this and be a born pig and guzzle beer and wine, then, if this cannot be stopped by the rulers, you must know that you cannot be saved. For God will not admit such piggish drinkers into the kingdom of heaven [cf. Gal. 5:19-21]… If you are tired and downhearted, take a drink; but this does not mean being a pig and doing nothing but gorging and swilling… You should be moderate and sober; this means that we should not be drunken, though we may be exhilarated.”

luther-bier

There is at least one Luther-Bier, a German-style pilsner brewed by Einsiedler Brauhaus. I’m not sure what that adds to the story, but I found in interesting all the same. As far as I can tell, it was a special release and there’s even a separate website for Luther-Bier, but there’s almost no additional information there. But you can see the special box it comes in an etched mug at a Wittenberg website.

And I found this great quote on another church’s website:

“We old folks have to find our cushions and pillows in our tankards. Strong beer is the milk of the old.”

     — Martin Luther

Random Beer Names

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I’m not entirely sure why this exists, but I did have fun with it — so perhaps that’s enough of a reason — but Strange Brew, a Canadian software company that makes programs for homebrewers, also has an online Random Beer Name Generator. My first beer name:

Flying Squirrel-Mash Oud Bruin

Being a huge fan of Rocky & Bullwinkle, I thought this one was a great name for a beer. But some others were equally intriguing, such as Craptacular Loch Ness Monster Tripel, Barney and Spiderman’s Transgendered Bière de Garde and even The Squid Formerly Known As Winston Churchill’s Unbefreakinglievable Pilsner. I don’t know how many names are in there. I tried quite a few and never got a duplicate. Give it a try. Let me know your best ones.

 

A Sad Commentary

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We’ve had the Big Three — Bud, Miller and Coors — for so long now that it would probably take me a few years to stop using the term. In the UK, once upon a time it was the Big Six; and they included Allied Breweries, Bass Charrington, Courage Imperial, Scottish & Newcastle, Watneys, and Whitbread. Until yesterday, only S&N remained. With the announcement earlier today of Carlsberg and Heineken’s buyout of Scottish & Newcastle, the last vestige of a bygone era will soon disappear, as well. England’s esteemed Financial Times today has a somewhat sad commentary on this entitled Few Crying into Beers at Decline of Big Six Breweries. As they observe, the change in the beer market and the mergers that began around 1989 have now come to a final solution, and with no one left to mourn them.

Here’s a few statistics. Since the turn of the century, imported beer to the UK has increased by 50%. During that same time, the number of large breweries fell by two-thirds. Today, a mere six remain, with 34 more considered regional breweries. Since the 1980s, the number of breweries has actually tripled, but that’s because of the UK’s own microbrewery revolution, which today includes over 500 small breweries whose total production accounts for only 2% of the nation’s beer market. Before today’s buyout, Heineken enjoyed only 1% of the total British market, but after the deal is approved they will have something in the neighborhood of 30%, making them Great Britain’s biggest beer company.

Maybe none of this matters. After all, as the FT’s editorial makes clear, British pub-goers, publicans and pub operators, and even CAMRA’s real ale aficionados will all be dishearteningly unmoved by today’s news. I can’t help but think that’s a mistake. So much of our early microbreweries owe such a great debt to the heritage and history of English ales that it seems a shame to let this dismal milestone pass so cavalierly. Perhaps I’ve romanticized these old breweries too much, but I don’t feel the same loathing for their products or their business practices that I usually do for our Big Three. That may simply be the 1,000-mile expanse of ocean separating me from everyday contact, who knows? But even though the British beer industry is nowhere near deceased, this is just one more wound that will again forever alter its landscape. I, for one, in the words of the immortal Edgar Allen Poe, “am drinking ale today.”

 

Backlash Brewing?

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There was an interesting item in yesterday’s USA Today called Frustration Over Liquor Laws Brewing. The story details just a few of the battles around the country to update their state’s antiquated alcohol laws, which in many cases haven’t been updated since Prohibition’s repeal in 1933. I’m sure the neo-prohibitionists will be fighting these tooth and nail, employing their usual bag of dirty tricks, but perhaps it’s finally time to stop playing defense and pick up the ball. In Mississippi, for example, it’s still illegal to sell beer in excess of 6% abv. The argument against raising it, predictably, is, according to William Perkins of the Mississippi Baptist Convention Board, that an “intellectual argument ignores the ill effects of alcohol.” Well, I’d sure hate for logic or intelligence to interfere with his world view, but you can buy wine and liquor in Mississippi already and, unless it’s some weird watered-down varieties, those are all well above 6% so please tell me how that makes any sense whatsoever? Not to mention there are plenty of positive health claims that can be made not only about beer, but the moderate use of alcohol in general. If Perkins’ thinking shows nothing else, it’s illustrative that logic plays no role at all in the anti-alcohol league’s canon. By any means necessary seems to be the only rule. So perhaps it’s time to mount an offensive. After all, a good defensive very well may be a strong offense.