Beer Lover’s Britain

November 24, 2009 By Jay Brooks

inside-beer
Looking for a nice overview of the beer scene in Great Britain? 2001 British Beer Writer of the Year Jeff Evans has a comprehensive and affordable solution. He’s written Beer Lover’s Britain and it’s available at his Inside Beer online store as a pdf e-book for less than $10.

At a little more than 100 pages, it’s packed with information about British beer, how best to enjoy it and where to find the best beers that England, Scotland, Wales and even Northern Ireland have to offer.

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From the press release:

The first e-book in the series is Beer Lover’s Britain, a comprehensive guide to enjoying beer in the United Kingdom, written by award-winning British beer writer Jeff Evans. With the UK pound trading low against most foreign currencies, including the US, Canadian and Australian dollars, there’s never been a better time for beer fans to check out what the British Isles have to offer, especially with this new publication to guide them through.
British pubs are often spoken of as ‘the envy of the world’, with their historic charm and embracing conviviality, and Beer Lover’s Britain reveals how to make the most of them with tips on everything from which type of pub will suit you best to how to order a pint. Essential information on pub food, games, gardens, opening hours, children’s facilities and entertainments is also provided, along with recommendations for the very best pubs to visit around the UK.
The British brewing industry – father of such beer styles as pale ale, IPA, stout, porter and barley wine – is explored in just enough detail for visitors to understand the context of what they are drinking, with recommendations provided for beers and breweries to seek out as they travel around the country.
What is real ale? Where can I find it? Should my beer be warm? Have I been overcharged? What can I eat? Where should I stay? These are just some of the important questions Beer Lover’s Britain answers in more than 100 packed pages.
According to author Jeff Evans, travellers are often baffled and a little intimidated when they first encounter British beer and the British pub.
‘The British pub is quite unlike many pubs and bars found elsewhere in the world and visitors can be more than a little confused if they don’t know the procedures and etiquette’, he explained. ‘Beer Lover’s Britain aims to demystify the pub and the British beer scene for travellers from other countries by offering sound advice and handy hints to smooth the course of their travels and boost their enjoyment of British beer.’

Beer In Art #53: George Morland’s Alehouse Politicians

November 22, 2009 By Jay Brooks

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Today’s artist comes from the very early days of England’s artistic beginnings. Before the 18th century, there was little that could properly be called “English art.” At that time, most art came from France, Spain, The Netherlands, Germany and a few others. That’s who English painters studied. But that began to change in the mid-1700 with such painters as Thomas Gainsborough, William Turner, John Constable, George Romney, Henry Raeburn and today’s featured painter, George Morland. While others painted portraits and some city life, Morland concentrated on rural life and, naturally, the county inn was often featured in his works. The initial painting that led me to Morland, pictured below, is known as Alehouse Politicians,, most likely painted during the 1790s.

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Like most of Morland’s popular paintings, others made copies of them as engravings to be sold to the public, such as this Mezzotint by W. Ward, published by Wards and Co. in 1801.

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Plenty more of Morland’s rural paintings depicted inns, such as the Fox Inn, painted in 1792.

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Or The Bell Inn, from the Metropolitan Museum of Art:

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Which itself was redone as a black and white engraving:

Morland-bell_inn

From his biography at Wikipedia:

Morland was born in London on 26 June 1763. His mother was a Frenchwoman, who possessed a small independent property of her own. His grandfather, George H. Morland, was a subject painter. Henry Robert Morland (c. 1719 – 1797), father of George, was also an artist and engraver, and picture restorer, at one time a rich man, but later in reduced circumstances. His pictures of Jaundry-maids, reproduced in mezzotint and representing ladies of some importance, were very popular in their time.
The finest of Morland’s pictures were executed between 1790 and 1794, and amongst them his picture of the inside of a stable, in Tate Britain, London, may be reckoned as a masterpiece. His works deal with scenes in rustic and homely life, depicted with purity and simplicity, and show much direct and instinctive feeling for nature. His coloring is mellow, rich in tone, and vibrant in quality, but, with all their charm, his works reveal often signs of the haste with which they were painted and the carelessness with which they were drawn. He had a supreme power of observation and great executive skill, and he was able to select the vital constituents of a scene and depict even the least interesting of subjects with artistic grace and brilliant representation. His pictures are never crowded; the figures in them remarkably well composed, often so cleverly grouped as to conceal any inaccuracies of drawing, and to produce the effect of a very successful composition. As a painter of English scenes he takes the very highest position, and his work is marked by a spirit and a dash, always combined with broad, harmonious coloring. He exhibited regularly at the Royal Academy from 1784 down to 1804, but few of his academy pictures can be identified owing to the inadequate description of them afforded by their titles.

Here’s yet another one, Outside the Alehouse Door, painted in 1792.

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And here’s one final painting, Outside an Inn, Winter, painted around 1795, and part of the Tate Collection:

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If you want to know more about George Morland, his Wikipedia page is a good start, but there’s also a good biography at the Online Encyclopedia. The Sterling Times has the most complete collection of his prints and Google Books has an online book about Morland, George Morland: his life and works. ArtCyclopedia has a good collection of links and more of his works can also be seen at The Old Print Shop, Intaglio Fine Art, the Art Renewal Center and the Tate Collection.

Pubs Becoming Hubs?

November 20, 2009 By Jay Brooks

My friend and colleague, Pete Brown, who wrote Hops and Glory, tweeted this interesting editorial that ran on today’s Guardian Online, entitled Are Pubs Finally Becoming Hubs?. Definitely worth a read.

Pete Brown On Beer Marketing

November 15, 2009 By Jay Brooks

While you should know Pete Brown from his books, especially what is arguably the best beer book of the year, Hops and Glory, he began his career in marketing and worked on several high-profile ad campaigns for well-known beer brands. On Wednesday in the UK’s Daily Mail, Pete had an interesting article giving his perspective on the present state of beer marketing. It’s entitled “The rise and fall of Britain’s favourite beers: Why brewers are desperate for us to spend £4 on a pint of lager”. Although it details British ad campaigns you may not be familiar with, it’s still worth a read, as many of the points he makes I think are universal.

Beer In Art #39: Phoebus Levin’s Life In The Hop Garden

August 16, 2009 By Jay Brooks

art-beer
Today’s work of art depicts Life in the Hop Garden, and is by illustrator Phoebus Levin. It was painted in 1859 and today the original resides at the Towneley Hall Art Gallery and Museum located in Burnley, Lancashire.

Phoebus_Levin-hop_garden

Levin lived from 1836-1878 and was born in Berlin, but exhibited in London from 1855-1878. That’s about all the biographical information I could find about him. You can see a few more of his works at My Art Prints and ArtNet.

A Good Tip: Don’t Lose A Friend To Booze

August 16, 2009 By Jay Brooks

Accompanying a story about the JD Wetherspoons pub chain offering very cheap pints, the chart below offers some sound advice on keeping your over-indulging buddy stay alive. In a sense, it seems to be their commentary on what offering cheap pints will do, making it funny, but it’s also a good tip should you ever encounter someone passed out. It could happen. Now you’ll know what to do.

rescue-position

The original story ran in Bad Idea, a UK magazine which bills itself as “the magazine of journalism, ideas and opinion for intelligent young Britain. Reinvigorating the form of narrative journalism, it’s the new stomping ground for ambitious young British writers, a braggadocious melting pot of tragedy, parties, love, death, cybersex and stretched cricket metaphors.” Which still makes me wonder if they’re serious or have their tongue firmly in their cheek.

Beer In Art #38: Lawson Wood’s Nine Pints Of The Law

August 9, 2009 By Jay Brooks

Since I just returned from England and the Great British Beer Festival I thought it made sense that today’s work of art is decidedly British. It’s a humorous work entitled Nine Pints of the Law by famed illustrator Lawson Wood.

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One website describes the painting like this:

World-worn and weary after a hard day’s work, these British bobbies still have the strength to heave a hefty pint of ale. Artist Lawson Wood takes a lighthearted look at his country’s comical constables in characteristically British style.

And here’s a brief overview of Wood, according to one biography:

Clarence Lawson Wood (1878 – 1957) was born at Highgate, the grandson of the landscape painter L J Wood. He studied at the Slade School and at Heatherley’s and was the chief artist on the staff of C Arthur Pearson Ltd for a number of years. He served in the Kite Balloon Wing of the Royal Flying Corps during the First World War.
Wood’s work is usually in ink and watercolour and most of it is humorous in style and content and he was a member of the London Sketch Club. His repertoire of characters includes policemen, army officers, Stone Age people with dinosaurs and, most popularly, the orang-utan, Gran’pop, introduced in the 1930s.
Gran’pop appeared weekly in the Sketch for a number of years and his fame translated to the US, where Wood prepared at least four animated cartoons for production in Hollywood.
Lawson Wood, as he signed his work, retired from the world of illustration and lived in Kent in seclusion until he died at the age of 79.

For a more thorough biography, check out Been Publishing, I’m Back, and there’s also Art in a Click. To see more of his work, try the Baron Fine Art Gallery, Chris Beetles or Poster Unlimited.

Beer Birthday: Stonch

February 28, 2009 By Jay Brooks

Today is the 30th birthday of Jeff Bell, whose alter ego is Stonch, one of England’s best bloggers. He also runs a pub, The Gunmakers, in Clerkenwell, a village in the heart of London. When I was in the UK late last summer, I stopped by to meet Jeff on my way back from Burton-on-Trent, slogging my way from the train station with my rollerbag in tow through the darkened streets of London, weaving this way and that until I finally made my way to his pub. It was great to finally meet him in person since we’d been corresponding for so long, and I had a fun, albeit short, visit, which I thought I’d share on the occasion of his birthday. Join me in wishing Stonch a very happy birthday.

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Jeff Bell, a.k.a. Stonch, at The Gunmakers Pub in central London.

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The pub’s centerpiece mirror opposite the bar.

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I had a wonderful Theakston’s Old Peculiar on cask, an entirely different beer from the bottled version. And Stonch had some terrific cheese to pair with it that was delicious.

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But for Jeff it was a work night, so I left him to it, and set off on the long journey to stay with one of my old best friends near Greenwich, who over ten years ago moved to London after marrying an Englishwoman, Alex.

Beer in Art #6: Charles Spencelayh’s Good Health

December 14, 2008 By Jay Brooks

Most works of art are locked in museums, completely out of reach for ordinary people. But once in a while, they do become available at auction. Case in point is today’s work, entitled Good Health by English artist Charles Spencelayh.

The painting is currently at auction at Artnet Online Auctions. The price of the work is 50,000 British Pounds, or around $73,970 U.S. Dollars. Of course, when I say “ordinary people,” I mean ones with 75 Grand to blow on a painting.

While Charles Spencelayh is not a household name in art, he appears to have been well known in his day and Queen Mary loved his work. Here’s what little biographical information there is about him, from Wikipedia:

Charles Spencelayh (October 27, 1865 – June 29, 1958) was an English painter of the Academic style. Born in Rochester, Kent, he first studied at the National Art Training School, South Kensington. He exhibited at the Paris Salon, but most of his exhibits were in Britain. Between 1892 and 1958, he exhibited more than 30 paintings at the Royal Academy, including ‘Why War’ (1939), which won the Royal Academy ‘Picture of the Year’ for 1939. He was also a founder member of the Royal Society of Miniature Painters. Many of his subjects were of domestic scenes, painted with an almost photographic detail, such as ‘The Laughing Parson’ (1935). and ‘His Daily Ration’ (1946). He also painted still life subjects including ‘Apples’ (1951). Spencelayh was a favourite of Queen Mary, who was an avid collector of his work. In 1924 he painted a miniature of King George V for Queen Mary’s dolls house.

Supposedly, he may have done a painting commissioned by the Bass Brewery for them to use in advertising entitled The Steward, depicting a steward opening a bottle of Bass. But so far I’ve been unable to find anything more about it or see what it looks like.

Five of his paintings are at the Tate in London and a few more are shown at the online Art Renewal Center and Bridgeman has quite a few. There are also some links at the ArtCyclopedia.

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