Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

  • Home
  • About
  • Editorial
  • Birthdays
  • Art & Beer

Socialize

  • Dribbble
  • Email
  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • GitHub
  • Google+
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Pinterest
  • RSS
  • StumbleUpon
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
Powered by Head Quarters Built on WordPress

Harry Potter’s Historic Butterbeer

June 26, 2017 By Jay Brooks 1 Comment

harry-potter
Today, June 26, in 1997, twenty years ago, the first Harry Potter book, Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, was published in the United Kingdom. If that title looks wrong to you, that’s because in America it was titled Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone because the publisher “thought that a child would not want to read a book with the word ‘philosopher’ in the title.” They may have been right, but it’s still a little sad. At any rate, in the seven novels there was something called “Butterbeer,” described as a drink that “can be served either cold with a taste similar to cream soda or frozen as a slush with a butterscotch-like foam on top.” Basically, it’s fake beer for kids. Although it’s also” described as being able to make house elves intoxicated, and having only a slight effect on wizards.” So it actually is alcoholic, although how much is uncertain.

harrypotterhalfbloodprince12

And apparently J.K. Rowling didn’t completely make it up. A few years ago, Food in Literature writer Brayton Taylor discovered that a recipe for butterbeer, or Buttered Beere, was part of a manuscript from 1594 entitled The good Huswifes Handmaide for the Kitchin. And all this time I’d been thinking she’d been inspired by Redhook ESB, the craft beer era’s original butter beer. Here’s the text of the original butterbeer from at least 1594:

To make Buttered Beere.

TAke three pintes of Beere, put fiue yolkes of Egges to it, straine them together, and set it in a pewter pot to the fyre, and put to it halfe a pound of Sugar, one penniworth of Nutmegs beaten, one penniworth of Cloues beaten, and a halfepenniworth of Ginger beaten, and when it is all in, take another pewter pot and brewe them together, and set it to the fire againe, and when it is readie to boyle, take it from the fire, and put a dish of sweet butter into it, and brewe them together out of one pot into an other.

Harry-Potter-alcoholic-butterbeer-Food-in-Literature

Here’s Taylor’s modern recipe for Harry Potter Alcoholic Butter Beer:

Ingredients

  • 1 bottle of British Ale (we used Old Peculiar originally but Speckled Hen is now my favourite)
  • 1 tsp pumpkin pie spice
  • ⅓ cup of brown sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 2.5 tbsp of unsalted butter

Instructions

  1. Start by pouring the ale into a saucepan. To keep it from ‘exciting’ (foaming up), angle the saucepan and gently pour the ale down the side into the pan.
  2. Stir in the 1 tsp of spices.
  3. Gently heat until it comes to a boil, before lowering the heat and simmering for a few minutes.
  4. In these few minutes, whisk together the yolks and sugar.
  5. Lower the heat even more and add in the yolks and sugar to the ale.
  6. Let simmer for 3-5 minutes and remove from heat.
  7. Stir in the butter until fully mixed in.
  8. With a hand blender, froth the ale until foam forms. Let sit to cool.
  9. Using a spoon, hold back the froth as you pour the butterbeer into the beer stein. Leave about an inch of room on the top, spoon on the froth and serve.

harrypotterhalfbloodprince11

And here’s another adaptation of the same recipe, from 12 Bottle Bar, although they give the date of the original manuscript as 1588.

  1. 3 pint (16.9 oz) Bottles of real Ale
  2. 0.5 tsp ground Cloves
  3. 0.5 tsp ground Cinnamon
  4. 0.25 tsp ground Ginger
  5. 5 Egg Yolks
  6. 1 Cup Brown Sugar (Demerara)
  7. 12 Tbsp Unsalted Butter
  1. Add ale and spices to a saucepan
  2. Bring to a boil, then immediately turn to lowest setting
  3. Beat together eggs and sugar until light and creamy
  4. Remove ale from heat, whisk in egg mixture, returning to low heat
  5. Whisk constantly over low until mixture begins to thicken slightly (about 5 minutes)
  6. Remove from heat and whisk in butter quickly until a nice foam forms
  7. Serve warm

Notes: If you’re concerned about the alcohol level, here are some notes: We used Fuller’s London Pride, which is 4.7% ABV. Before adding the egg mixture, letting the beer simmer longer (20 minutes or so) should boil off all the alcohol, if that’s what you’re after. Use your discretion.

Filed Under: Beers, Just For Fun, Related Pleasures Tagged With: Books, History, Humor

Ukrainian Brewery Releases Trump Beer

May 19, 2017 By Jay Brooks 1 Comment

pravda
Just in time for Trump’s first visit to foreign countries as President of the U.S., a Ukrainian brewery, Pravda Beer Theatre, has just announced the release of a new beer, a 7.2% a.b.v. beer called “Trump.” On the website, it’s initially referred to as a “blonde” although on the label it’s listed as an “Imperial Mexican Lager.” Here’s the description from the brewery’s website:

trump-beer_shoptrump-beer-description

And here’s the label, where Trump is said to be the President of the Divided States of America:

pravda_trump_beer

From what I can tell about their portfolio of beers, they like to have a bit of fun with both their beer and the labels for them. This may be their first political beer, but it doesn’t appear to be their last, as several more are listed as “Upcoming” or “Maybe in Future.” UPDATE: I’ve heard from brewmaster Cory McGuinness, who wrote to me to let me know that in fact all four of their political series beers are, in fact, available now. Apparently, with English being not their first language, the English-language portion of the website has not been updated recently.

So the first beer in their politicam series is Frau Ribbentrop, a 4.5% Belgian Wit featuring German chancellor Angela Merkel:

pravda_lviv_frau_merkel

And then there’s Obama Hope, a 7.2% stout, featuring former U.S. president Barack Obama:

pravda_obama-1

And finally, the brewery has released Putin Huilo, an 8% Dry-Hopped Golden Ale, featuring Russian president Vladimir Putin.

pravda_putin_huilo

Does anyone want to bet that Trump will be most upset about this because Putin’s beer is stronger than his?

Filed Under: Beers, Just For Fun, News, Politics & Law, Related Pleasures Tagged With: Humor, Politics, Ukraine

“Beer” By Humorist Josh Billings

April 21, 2017 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

book
You’ve probably never heard of Josh Billing, the pen name of 19th-century American humorist Henry Wheeler Shaw (April 21, 1818 – October 14, 1885). But in his day — the latter half of the 19th century — he was a pretty famous humorist and lectured throughout the United States. In terms of his fame, he was “perhaps second only to Mark Twain,” though his legacy has not endured nearly as well as Twain’s.

Josh-Billings

Shaw was born in Lanesborough, Massachusetts on April 21, 1818. His father was Henry Shaw, who served in the United States House of Representatives from 1817–21, and his grandfather Samuel Shaw who also served in the U.S. Congress from 1808–1813. His uncle was John Savage, yet another Congressman.

Shaw attended Hamilton College, but was expelled in his second year for removing the clapper of the campus bell. He married Zipha E. Bradford in 1845.

Shaw worked as a farmer, coal miner, explorer, and auctioneer before he began making a living as a journalist and writer in Poughkeepsie, New York, in 1858. Under the pseudonym “Josh Billings” he wrote in an informal voice full of the slang of the day, with often eccentric phonetic spelling, dispensing wit and folksy common-sense wisdom. His books include Farmers’ Allminax, Josh Billings’ Sayings, Everybody’s Friend, Choice Bits of American Wit and Josh Billings’ Trump Kards. He toured, giving lectures of his writings, which were very popular with the audiences of the day. He was also reputed to be the eponymous author of the “Uncle Ezek’s Wisdom” column in the Century Magazine.

In addition to wise sayings, he wrote numerous short, humorous pieces, including this odd one, entitled …

BEER.

I HAV finally com tew the konclusion, that lager beer iz not intoxikatin.
I hav been told so bi a german, who sed he had drank it aul nite long, just tew tri the experiment, and was obliged tew go home entirely sober in the morning. I hav seen this same man drink sixteen glasses, and if he was drunk, he was drunk in german, and noboddy could understand it. It iz proper enuff tew state, that this man kept a lager-beer saloon, and could have no object in stating what want strictly thus.
I beleaved him tew the full extent ov mi ability. I never drank but 3 glasses ov lager beer in mi life, and that made my hed untwist, as tho it was hung on the end ov a string, but i was told that it was owing tew my bile being out ov place, and I guess that it was so, for I never biled over wuss than i did when I got home that nite. Mi wife was afrade i was agoing tew die, and i was almoste afrade i shouldn’t, for it did seem az tho evrything i had ever eaten in mi life, was cuming tew the surface, and i do really beleave, if mi wife hadn’t pulled oph mi boots, just az she did, they would have cum thundering up too.
Oh, how sick i was! it was 14 years ago, and i kan taste it now.
I never had so much experience, in so short a time.
If enny man should tell me that lager beer was not intoxikating, i should beleave him; but if he should tell me that i want drunk that nite, but that my stummuk was only out ov order, i should ask him tew state over, in a few words, just how a man felt and akted when he was well set up.
If i want drunk that nite, i had sum ov the moste natural simptoms a man ever had, and keep sober.
In the fust place, it was about 80 rods from whare i drank the lager, tew my house, and i was over 2 hours on the road, and had a hole busted thru each one ov mi pantaloon kneeze, and didn’t hav enny hat, and tried tew open the door by the bell-pull, and hickupped awfully, and saw evrything in the 417 room tryin tew git round onto the back side ov me, and in setting down onto a chair, i didn’t wait quite long enuff for it tew git exactly under me, when it was going round, and i sett down a little too soon, and missed the chair by about 12 inches, and couldn’t git up quick enuff tew take the next one when it cum, and that ain’t aul; mi wife sed i waz az drunk az a beast, and az i sed before, i begun tew spit up things freely.

billings-beer-1
Illustration possibly by Thomas Nast.

If lager beer iz not intoxikating, it used me almighty mean, that i kno.
Still i hardly think lager beer iz intoxikating, for i hav been told so, and i am probably the only man living, who ever drunk enny when hiz bile want plumb.
I don’t want tew say ennything against a harmless tempranse bevridge, but if i ever drink enny more it will be with mi hands tied behind me, and mi mouth pried open.
I don’t think lager beer iz intoxikating, but if i remember right, i think it tastes to me like a glass with a handle on one side ov it, full ov soap suds that a pickle had bin put tew soak in.

The American Humorists
A photo of Billings with Mark Twain and political commentator Petroleum V. Nasby, photographed in Boston by G. M. Baker in November of 1869.

In another collection of his work, entitled “Josh Billings, Hiz Sayings: With Comic Illustrations,” published in 1865, Billings presents his definition of Lager:

Billings-lager

Filed Under: Beers, Just For Fun, Related Pleasures Tagged With: History, Humor, Literature

Beer In Miniature

February 22, 2017 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

miniature-cans
A Japanese photographer, Tatsuya Tanaka, started a daily project back in 2011, photographing a miniature diorama scene every single day, and he’s been at it now non-stop since April 20 of that year, producing (so far) 2,161 pictures. He’s posted them in calendar form, showing a month of thumbnails on a page, at his website, Miniature Calendar. He’s even collected some of them into books, which are available online.

With over 2,000 dioramas created and photographed so far, it’s probably no surprise that some of them are beer-themed. So here’s a sample of some of his photographs. These are not necessarily some of the best ones he’s done, but they’re still pretty awesome, and have something to do with beer. Go over to his website and lose yourself in the rest for a few hours. They’re pretty awesome. Enjoy.

Wednesday, November 2, 2016
161102wed

Friday, October 10, 2014
141010fri

Saturday, September 12, 2015
150912sat

Sunday, April 13, 2014
140413sun

Friday, November 27, 2015
151127fri

Saturday, August 10, 2013
130810sat

Sunday, April 7, 2013
130407sun

Wednesday, November 26, 2014
141126wed

Wednesday, October 28, 2015
151028wed

Monday, August 4, 2014
140804mon

Tuesday, November 29, 2016
161129tue

And because life isn’t all beer and skittles, here are two more featuring other passions of mine.

Monday, October 27, 2014
141027mon

Monday, June 22, 2015
150622mon

Filed Under: Beers, Just For Fun, Related Pleasures Tagged With: Humor, Japan, Photography

Hulk Smashes Beer Cans

February 16, 2017 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

hulk
Here’s a fun series of photographs by a Japanese photographer who goes by hot kenobi on Instagram. Apparently he likes action figures, especially of super heroes, quite a bit. Both his Instagram and Twitter feed are filled with photos he’s taken of them in all sorts of situations. But lately, several of his works have involved superheroes, mostly from Marvel, having some fun with beer cans and bottles. Enjoy.

hotkenobi-superheroes-2
Hulk smashes beer cans.

hotkenobi-superheroes-1
Captain America holds a can of Asahi like a punching bag while Iron Man takes a swing at it.

hotkenobi-superheroes-4
Spider-Man takes down a beer can with his web.

hotkenobi-superheroes-3
Superman easily crushes his can, while the mortal Batman has made only a small dent in his.

hotkenobi-superheroes-5
Just to mix things up, Wolverine opens a beer bottle with his adamantium claws, as Spider-Man holds on to it so it won’t fall over and spill.

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Just For Fun, Related Pleasures Tagged With: Cans, Comics, Humor, Photography

Beer In Ads #2181: Heineken Refreshes Steel Girders

February 8, 2017 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment


Wednesday’s ad is for Heineken, from 1977. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.

In this ad, a two-panel format, a man is carrying a large steel girder, balanced on his head, while carrying a full mug of beer. It’s obviously a poke at Guinness advertising, which had a similar ad with a man carrying a girder. The girder is bent in a curve, essentially drooping in the front and back, as if he was carrying something limp. But in the second panel, after he’s drank some of his beer, the girder has stiffened up and is straight as an arrow. Plus the man has gone from frowning to wearing a smile, but I’m sure that’s just a coincidence.

2014HH4091

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Guinness, Heineken, History, Humor

New Beer Words: Snotter

February 8, 2017 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment

beer-word
Here’s yet another new word that should be added to the beer lexicon. Well, it’s not exactly a new word, but has been around at least since 1824, and most likely earlier. It showed up today in my twitter feed, from Merriam-Webster, as part of their Words at Play series. The word is snotter and has several meanings, the most common being nautical — A fitting that holds the heel of a sprit close to the mast — and others along the lines of “to snivel; to cry or sob.” And more recently snotter is used as another word for snot.

But Merriam-Webster today highlighted an older, less-common meaning of the word in their Words at Play piece entitled “‘Snotter’, ‘Groak’, and 6 More Words Associated with Bad Habits.”

P1010030
Michael Jackson nosing a beer, during GABF judging in 2002.

Here’s the definition that should be folded into our beer lexicon:

Snotter

Definition: to breathe noisily

Snotter is a dialectal British word, and, as is so often the case with dialect words, carries a certain trenchant charm. It also has a variety of closely-related meanings, as it may be used to refer to snoring, sniveling, sniffing, snorting, or simply as another way to say snot.

If you’ve ever been a beer judge, or even were in a room watching other people judge beer, then you’ve most likely encountered a snotter. There’s a whole lot of noisy breathing going on during beer judging, whether it’s one long draw or a series of short, quick sniffs. Frankly, if you’re not a snotter, you’re probably not doing it correctly.

P1010017

Filed Under: Just For Fun, Related Pleasures Tagged With: Humor, Words

Beer In Ads #2174: Heineken Refreshes Medieval Tapestries

February 1, 2017 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment


Wednesday’s ad is for Heineken, from the 1970s. In the later 1970s, Heineken embarked on a series of ads with the tagline “Heineken Refreshes the Parts Other Beers Cannot Reach.” Many of the ads were in a sequential panel, or comic strip, format and they were intended to be humorous.

In this ad, a three-panel format, it resembles a medieval tapestry. In the first panel, and arrow’s heading straight for our ancient soldier’s head. But in the second, he has a mug of beer, which by the third panel has turned the arrow into a rubber-tipped suction cup arrow, saving his ass and causing him to smile.

Heineken-1970s-tapestry

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Heineken, History, Humor

Baby Beer Names

January 22, 2017 By Jay Brooks 7 Comments

baby-and-beer
A few years ago I wrote an article for the Brewer’s Association I called Papa’s Got A Brand New Beer that was for Father’s Day. It featured a number of names that beer people have given their kids, celebrating their love of beer. My old friend, Adam Lambert — who I’ve known since he was in college and working part-time for SLO Brewing — recently tweeted “I think we need a blog for beer related kid names.” While setting up an entire new blog on that topic seemed too much, at least for me, I figured a page of People’s Beer Names could work.

bizarro-kids-beer-names

I can only assume there are more that I haven’t run across. If you know of any to add to this list, please let me know by commenting here. I’m especially interested in names that parents have already given, so if you know a name that’s already been bestowed on a child, please let me know who (I don’t need exact name, just something like “employee at x brewery/bar/distributor/etc.”) so I can refer to without naming names.

Here are the names I already either know of, or seem possible.

Boy’s Names

IMG_1468

  • Brett: confirmed — Brett Porter is head brewer at Goose Island/ABI, and formerly with Deschutes
  • Brewer: theoretical — appears in baby name books
  • Bud: fictionally confirmed — Bud Bundy, character on Married… with Children, named after Al Bundy’s favorite beer
  • Cooper: confirmed — son of a man with 20 years in the draft dispensing business
  • E.S.B. initials: unconfirmed — rumored story told to Jay R. Brooks for a name like “Ethan Sebastian Brown”
  • Flanders: possible — for the Belgian beer style, Flanders Red
  • Porter: confirmed — son of Jay R. Brooks, and also the son of Chris Graham, COO of MoreBeer
  • Stout: confirmed — A Facebook friend knows one

Girl’s Names

IMG_1470

  • Abbey: possible — for Abbey-type breweries
  • Amber: confirmed — daughter of Geno Acevedo, El Toro Brewing, and middle name of the daughter of Colorado beer write Dan Rabin
  • Burton: possible — for the beer-brewing city in England
  • Cascade: possible — for the hop variety*
  • Crystal: possible — for the malt variety
  • Genny: possible — for Genesee Cream Ale, nicknamed “Genny”
  • Heather: possible — for the shrub used in brewing
  • India: confirmed — A Facebook friends knows a couple whose daughter got her name at least in part because they love IPAs and homebrew
  • Iris: possible — for Cantillon Iris
  • Kate: possible — for Portsmouth Kate the Great
  • Mara: confirmed — daughter of British beer writer Martyn Cornell, Hebrew for bitter
  • Matilda: possible — for Goose Island Matilda
  • Sierra: confirmed — daughter of Ken Grossman, Sierra Nevada Brewing
  • Sofie: possible — for Goose Island Sofie
  • Vienna: confirmed — daughter Jennifer Talley, Auburn Alehouse

NOTE: * – I’ve seen many suggestions for different hop variety names, but most seem somewhat forced. Understanding that a name could conceivably be anything, I only want to list names that seem reasonable or have actually been given to a kid by his or her parents. For another example, I’ve seen several mentions suggesting “Bock” or “Lambic” as names, but unless someone’s actually named their kid those, they don’t really seem that likely to me. Unfortunately, there’s a lot of suggestions like that out there on the internet. really more bad suggestions than good ones.

Filed Under: Beers, Just For Fun, Related Pleasures Tagged With: Humor, Words

Beer In Ads #2137: Brewed In The Canadian Tradition

December 26, 2016 By Jay Brooks Leave a Comment


Monday’s ad is for Carling’s Red Cap Ale, from the 1960s or 70s. It was created by well-known cartoonist Jack Davis, who co-founded Mad Magazine. I’m not quite sure what “Canadian tradition” he’s talking about, but it may involve everyone, even inanimate objects and animals.

Red-Cap-Ale-Canadian-Tradition-Beer-Poster-By-JACK-DAVIS

Filed Under: Art & Beer, Beers Tagged With: Advertising, Canada, Cartoons, History, Humor

« Previous Page
Next Page »
Northern California Breweries

Please consider purchasing my latest book, California Breweries North, available from Amazon, or ask for it at your local bookstore.

The Sessions

session_logo_all_text_1500

Next Session: Dec. 7, 2018
#142: One More for the Road
Previous Sessions
  • #141: Future of Beer Blogging
  • #140: Pivo
  • #139: Beer & the Good Life
  • #138: The Good in Wood
  • #137: German Wheat
Archive, History & Hosting

Enter your email address:

Typology Tuesday

Typology-png
Next Typology:
On or Before March 29, 2016
#3: Irish-Style Dry Stout
Previous Typologies
  • #2: Bock Feb. 2016
  • #1: Barley Wine Jan. 2016
Archive & History

Recent Posts

  • Historic Beer Birthday: Jinx Falkenburg, the First Miss Rheingold January 21, 2021
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Ludwig Thoma January 21, 2021
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Gottlieb Storz January 21, 2021
  • Historic Beer Birthday: Grigori Rasputin January 21, 2021
  • Beer In Ads #3615: Budweiser With A Hair Flip January 20, 2021

RSS Brookston Beer in Art

  • American HopsSusanna Harrison2020
    American HopsSusanna Harrison2020

Recent Comments

  • Angeline Ungerer on Historic Beer Birthday: M.K. Goetz
  • Dick DeShon on Historic Beer Birthday: M.K. Goetz
  • John hughes on Beer In Ads Special Edition: John Ireland’s The Gentle Art of Making Guinness
  • John hughesy on Beer In Ads Special Edition: John Ireland’s The Gentle Art of Making Guinness
  • Moe Peppers on Beer In Ads: #2859: A Clear Commitment
January 2021
S M T W T F S
 12
3456789
10111213141516
17181920212223
24252627282930
31  
« Dec    

Find Something

Tag Cloud

Advertising Anheuser-Busch Announcements Ballantine Bay Area Belgium Brewers Association Brewing Equipment Budweiser Business California Christmas Europe Festivals France Germany Great Britain Guinness Health & Beer History Holidays Hops Humor Infographics Kegs Law Mainstream Coverage National Northern California Pabst Packaging Patent Pennsylvania Press Release Prohibitionists San Francisco Schlitz Science Science of Brewing Statistics The Netherlands UK Uncategorized United States Video