The Complete Blog Archive, 2011 to Present
DBB. What it’s good for, and what’s it’s not good for
” … I’ve had a recent surge in traffic on the site so I thought it might be a good idea to summarize what you’ll find at dingsbeerblog, and perhaps just as importantly, what you won’t … “
Marketers and drinkers are two different groups of people
” … Those people are also still able to understand that Hazy Little Thing is a different beer to, say Tree House Julius, but there really is no need for this kind of parsing of styles. This analysis is strictly for … “
The Passing of Alan Sprints – he brewed on his own terms
” … For me, Alan’s beer was difficult, a bit of an effort, and that’s not something that I ever wanted in most of my beer consumption. Of course my preferences – in fact nobody’s preferences – were of any … “
Beer on Hilton Head Island, SC – a 2026 update
” … So, where does that leave us on the island right now? What follows doesn’t include a bunch of beer reviews (although one particular beer will get a shout out as we’ll see), nor is it an in-depth analysis … “
Lessons from Martyn – The Session #150
” … Because of Martyn’s work now there is a definitive record of this small part of beer history. Like me, you may not be especially drawn to the subject matter here, but there will be a few people … “
The end of the beer cellar. This time permanently
” … Yes, I know I’ve said it before, but now is the time. Various reasons that don’t really matter much in terms of the details, but the beer cellar is being completely dismantled. The first stage of that is to … “
Improved Search Function at Ding’s Beer Blog
” … function being seriously tidied, and tightened up. There were prior problems with pagination and large results causing the page and code to break, but now things are up and running much more smoothly … “
We must demand more, and expect better
” … Any criticism has far too often been met with a chorus of, “don’t be a dick”, when in fact the person delivering the criticism was 100% correct. Too often such comments weren’t forthcoming … “
Chapman’s closing – less about them, more about EW
” Chapman’s did a pretty solid job of not alienating me, which today is a minor miracle. The space that they occupied was not to my liking – industrial chic (if that’s what it is) leaves me oh so cold … “
Top 5 Beers of 2025*
*with some rules
” … I’m infinitely more discerning than I used to be. I rarely drink a beer that I haven’t got a pretty good idea that I’m going to enjoy. I really haven’t drunk a lot of beer this year (relatively), so as such … “
Can a tiny can bring new hope? SN Pils to the rescue?
” … I think we have to look to the major, largest independent brewers. Like it or not these guys set trends in the “craft” (I use the term loosely) industry, and they have the power to move things … “
An Englishman in America
Beer Connoisseur Magazine
” … Things were bad in the USA – really bad – and then they got much, much better, and now they are really bad again, but that’s America for you. I pointed some of that out, freely admitted my early shortcomings … “
This is just plain stupid.
Taste the damn beer
” … Ironically, contrary to many American’s ideas, this illustrates exactly why we need to adhere to styles much more closely, because if SNPA is an ESB, then ALL style guidelines mean absolutely … “
The Passing of Martyn Cornell
” … Finally, Martyn and I always saw eye to eye on session beer which made me so very, very happy. I’ll never forget this that he wrote as a reply on a blog/forum back in 2012. RIP Martyn … “
Session 147:
A Break From The Real
” … from time to time The Session has had me pausing for a moment while I try to work out exactly how I was going to contribute. No such difficulties were presented by Session 147 … “
Session 146: (Round-up)
Where do you find value?
” … (Gary) hones in on a pet-peeve of mine, i.e., the beer matching the description/style. This has been something that has bothered me for decades and when they fail to match … “
Session 146: (Post)
Where do you find value?
” … I fully appreciate the subjective nature of ‘value’, but at the same time I still feel there undeniably poor value beers and equally undeniably great value beers. We just might not agree … “
Session 146: (Announcement)
Where do you find value?
” … I’m very in touch with the pub scene in the UK, and routinely I see posts about £7.50 ($9.75) pints of Peroni, and conversely £1.99 ($2.50) 20 oz pints of Cask Ale in Wetherspoon pubs … “
Session 145:
Critique not criticism in beer
” … I’m absolutely staggered when countless numbers of people in those groups appear to have infinitely less knowledge and understanding than I do … “
Session 144: The best beer you
can drink at home right now
” … The stranglehold that melted candy bars (pastry stouts), fake fruited ‘sours’ (kettle sours), and soft flabby orange juice (hazed beers) have had on tap list have driven me home … “
The Session Rebooted
(January 2025)
” … Anyway, putting that aside, and my well-documented pessimism, I still honestly feel that the rise of hazed juice, fake sours, and melted candy bars that has simultaneously strangled … “
The beers that have had the greatest influence on me
” … beers that one doesn’t understand the first (or second or third) time around, can still be beers that one grows into. Not understanding a beer is not the same as not liking it … “
The Packard Taphouse – not a review, just early observations
“Personally, I don’t care for the style much. Now, nobody cares about what I think, and I know that you’ll all make up your own minds, but the second observation might mean a bit more … “
Fort Wayne’s Beer Scene – taking the temperature
“The reasons for these closures are many and various. Problems with buildings/locations/leases, issues with finances, lawsuits, consolidation, venues giving up on beer etc., … “
Chapman’s – a brand that’s about to come of age
In my experience, smart, successful, driven people exude a certain vibe. Whenever I meet someone who is clearly in those categories and is even more clearly exhibiting that energy, I usually find myself quietly asking, "How the hell do these people have so many talents?" Sickening, isn't it? When, at 38 years old, the Indiana native, trained electrical engineer, MBA, stockbroker, software developer, business founder and owner, College Dean, vineyard owner and CEO Scott Fergusson sold his...
Tasting versus Drinking culture in the USA
Anyone who has known me for any length of time, or who has read almost anything that I've written about beer online in the last 20 odd years will know, I have been struggling with US beer culture for the best part of a quarter of century. I've written countless forum and FB posts about it, indulged in umpteen blogs, and had a million private conversations and exchanges that have expressed my frustrations. Most of those discussions have not generated much in the way of definitive conclusions,...
Two Bandits, Two States,
a ‘Regional’ Brewer
A few days ago I made the short drive from Fort Wayne across the Indiana/Ohio state line to meet with Mark Young of Two Bandits Brewing in Hicksville, OH. My mission was to chat with one half of the Bandit team about his story, and the story of beer that he distributes across the the region. Hicksville is a quintessential, northern Ohio one-horse town. To be fair, maybe a two-horse town. Either way, with a population of around three and half thousand, and a website that that describes the tiny...
Things I’m just not going to do …
... in 2023, as a fifty-six year old beer drinker of 40+ years. 1. Use the term, "West Coast IPA". Trying to get people to define what they actually mean by this, usually elicits all manner of responses that lack any kind of consensus, or cohesion or clarity. That's not surprising since there is no such 'style'. What used to be simply a phrase to describe an American IPA that was brewed on the West Coast (and perhaps had some typical, dank, piney, big, bruising palate crushing characteristics...
Buying & Shipping (mostly Belgian) beer inside the USA
Following this post about shipping beer to the US from Belgium I wanted to follow up with a a similar one, this time highlighting a few recent internal buying & shipping experiences of Belgian (and other) beer. Once again this catalogs only three recent experiences, from three specific vendors (I have used many others), but I wanted to make an approx. apples-to-apples comparison for the purposes of this post. The thing to note about the shipping times is that the orders came from different...
So, what came first?
A very quick observation, and a couple of questions. This afternoon I was in a local tap-room. I don't care much for most of the beer that this particular brewery puts out, but I can usually find 1 or 2 out of the 10 or 12 that they have on-tap at any one time that I might drink. So, if I feel like going out to do some work in a public space (as is sometimes the case), and I'm in the mood to sit with a beer rather than a coffee, then I might find myself there. Anyway, two ladies came in...
Shipping Beer from Belgium to the USA. A few recent experiences
Most of you reading this know that I'm an Englishman who has lived in the USA since 2000. Obviously I've had access to a lot of Belgian beer over my lifetime, both from when I lived in the UK, and via my multiple visits to Belgium, but living in America presents a whole new set of problems for the Belgian beer lover. Access to Belgian beer in the USA has ebbed and flowed a lot in 20+ years that I've lived here. Sometimes it's been basically non-existent (for example, prior to 2004 in Georgia),...
Purity, skin in the game, and when Capitalism spits on you
I recently had a brief conversation with a person who is intimately acquainted with a local brewery here in Fort Wayne, IN, and whose livelihood is dependent upon selling the beer they produce. That's a bit of an awkward way to describe the person, I know, but it frames things in such a way that it maintains their anonymity. Nothing that follows is particularly controversial, but if I do things this way it simply means that people will keep talking openly to me about the local beer scene. I'd...
Legacy drinkers and the assault on Belgium, England & Germany
I *think* that I coined the term legacy drinker. I never remember hearing it anywhere else. If that's not true, apologies. So, what does 'legacy drinker' mean? My definition varies from day to day but the general meaning is that of a drinker who mostly enjoys, and drinks perhaps almost exclusively, the classic, well-established styles. Another way to put it is in the negative, i.e., a drinker who eschews fake (kettle) sours, pastry stouts, milkshake IPAs, NEIPAs etc. You get the general idea....
Fortlandia – a true nano production in Fort Wayne
When five blokes get together to brew and drink beer, sometimes things don't exactly go to plan. There's quite a lot of potential for nonsense to be talked, and for fanciful plans to be made. However, on Spring St. in Fort Wayne's northwest quadrant you'll find an outstanding example of talk that was converted to very real accomplishment. Fortlandia Nano Brewery turned three years old* on August 9th 2022, the same day that I visited with co-owners Ken Daly and Jerry Glass. When Jerry, Ken, Dan...
Birdboy Brewing Company – Phoenix Rising in Fort Wayne
If you're wondering what's been happening at Birdboy Brewing Co. of late, and you're a tad confused by some recent comings and goings, then you're not the only one. A lot has been going on both behind the scenes and out in public, and the current state of affairs takes a little unraveling. In an attempt to do just that, I recently sat down with the man whose hand is now firmly on the rudder at Birdboy, Mark Burton. Before we talked about the present and the immediate future, I wanted to get to...
Stone Brewing Co. – an ending that began a long time ago
I suppose that I should throw in my two-cents on Stone, everybody else has. To be honest, were it not for the post that I wrote in 2015 that marked the end of an era for this blog, I probably wouldn't bother, but specifically because of that post I feel like I should comment once more. If you don't want to go back and read that in full, essentially, seven years ago, I wrote that Stone already felt like some kind of corporate monster to me. Book-ending those thoughts and the Sapporo news of...
From Fort Collins, CO to Goshen, IN, beer promotes community
If you happen to feel an enhanced sense of community the next time that you visit the Goshen Brewing Co. (GBCo.) in Goshen, Indiana, it's not by accident. Founder and former head brewer Jesse Sensenig made it that way. I sat down with him a few days ago to ask him about the GBCo. story, and to hear how a vision of local purpose permeates all that he does. Jesse's beer journey is a somewhat familiar one in some ways, but perhaps driven by slightly different motivators in others. I asked him...
The State of Citizen Beer Blogging in 2022
I was toying with the idea of going to the 2022 Beer Bloggers Conference in Asheville in August of this year - that was until I learned that it had been canceled due to a lack of interest. My guess is that the first half of the second decade of the 00s was the peak for citizen beer blogging. I have no real data to back that assertion up - it’s nothing more a feeling - but there were a lot of comments on my blog around 2011-13, so I suppose that represents a sliver of ‘data’. Jay Brooks' The...
Never meet your heroes. The death of elite beer bars?
‘Never meet your heroes’ is a phrase that is probably best used by kids. They are the group that is perhaps most susceptible to thinking that people, places and things are without flaws, and that they will always meet the expectations that may have been built up in their minds. So the fact that I’m now using the phrase myself, a grown man, in the context of beer, might mean that it says more about me than anything else. This weekend I had another let down. A few days ago I went to the Map Room...
More than a decade removed, Todd and beeradvocate.com are still banning!
On 3/31/22 the official Beeradvocate Twitter account manned by Todd Alström, blocked the newly minted dingsbeerblog Twitter account. Yep, it’s true. Quick, to the DeLorean! Todd blocked my other Twitter account years ago, but the latest action was implemented at record speed - the new DBB account has only been active for a few days - I’m so glad he still thinks of me after all of these years. It’s heartwarming; a plimsoll line of consistency if you will. As a result of that action by Todd,...
Come Into My Parlor
When Parlor City Brewing opened in June of 2020, it wasn't exactly the ideal time to be launching a service business of any kind, let alone one in the food and drink sector. With the pandemic raging and a multitude of mask mandates and other restrictions whirling around, it’s fair to say that a new brewery that was determined to follow those rules in a small Indiana town where the politics associated with such things were hardly forgiving, faced a pretty hard start. No matter, Chris Bryant has...
Defining “Craft Beer”. OH NO, not this again!
I think it was maybe around 12 years ago that people (briefly) started to attempt to define what the term 'craft beer' really meant. Perhaps unsurprisingly, this led to a lot of arguing, and no real consensus. I remember that at the time, one of the stumbling blocks was the fact that the term was being used all over the place in the USA, and basically not much (if at all) in the UK. Anyway, like I say, this just led to squabbling and the whole exercise seemed a little pointless. After that...
An Englishman and a Scotsman walk into an American brewery
There's an unusual beast prowling just to the east of the Wells Corridor, north of downtown Fort Wayne. He's a brewer working in a relatively small brewery, in a relatively obscure part of the United States, with a pedigree and résumé of experience that might not necessarily seem commensurate with his current surroundings. In the latest of my chats with the brewers of Fort Wayne, I sat down with Iain Wilson in the taproom at Hop River Brewing on Harrison St. over a couple of his beers where we...
Session beer revisited, briefly
If you know, you know. I've got close to twenty years of online history relating to a single mantra about session beer, which is; beer can only be correctly labeled as session beer if it is 4% ABV or under. If you would like to read the longer version of my thoughts on this matter from 2011, then please take the time to read them here. I think it's worth your time. That post summarizes things fairly completely, so why am I bringing this up once more? Well, today I learned something new, and if...
A (S)ummit (City Brewerks) on styles
This is not really a post about styles or policing styles - at least not an in-depth one - but it may seem like it is. It's actually a post about a much larger issue surrounding styles - the bigger picture if you will. So, here’s a question for a commercial brewer – you know, the guy that must make money by selling beer. Not the homebrewer, not the ‘beer guy’, certainly not a beer blogger, but the person that needs to ultimately turn a profit from beer that they brew. Given that everyone...
Legacy beer drinkers made sad
I want to support new(ish) and local breweries. I really, really do. But as a legacy beer drinker, it's becoming more and more difficult to do so. I suppose I should attempt to qualify what I mean by a 'legacy beer drinker'. I'm talking about somebody who's been drinking beer for several decades, who has been immersed in the beer scene, and is a lover of traditional styles and traditional beers. i.e., me! There are a lot of us out there, we're just under the radar in a vast sea of canned hazy...
The Trubble with Chad Hankee
When Chad Hankee says he's bored, you'd better get ready for some changes. Here's a man whose projects, and indeed life's journey, have been about bending in the wind and changing tack; and that's not just because he's a keen sailor. Chad and I sat down at Trubble Brewing Co.'s mothership on Broadway in Fort Wayne, for a natter about carpentry, web design, science and beer. As Trubble approaches their 6th anniversary in November of 2021, I asked Chad to reflect on what had gone before, and how...
The Tavour myth machine, and staggeringly ordinary, expensive beer
A longer post on my experience with Tavour (some of which is positive) is coming soon, but for now just a quick observation or two. Tavour is selling some excruciatingly expensive beers, many from breweries that are quite often very new, and that have no track record. As such, they need some stealthy marketing. Often, their copy looks something like this; "The Iowan Des Moines Inquirer describes this as the best unplaced beer at The Jackson Lake Lodge Beer Festival in Wyoming last month. It...
Todd Stone & Junk Ditch – Where Plato meets Plato
Todd Stone is a young man with an old head on his shoulders. Trust me, that's a huge compliment in my book. He and I sat down at Junk Ditch earlier this week to talk about his journey to become the head brewer at the Main Street brewpub, and - as it tuned out - our joint love of Saisons. When three guys from Joseph Decuis kicked off their new adventure in the shape of the Affiné food truck in 2012, it quickly became apparent that there was an seriously under-served sector evolving in Fort...
From Prints to Pints
When one reads the draft list of a brewery that's found in a tucked-away corner of an industrial park north of Fort Wayne, one wouldn't expect the head-brewer and I to have much in common. Only 50% of the beer available (maybe even less than that) are things that I would likely ever drink. So on this, my third visit to Dot & Line Brewing Co., I enter with tempered expectations. It turns out that appearances can be deceptive, and that the charming Phil Comparet (said brewer) shares my love...
A conversation with Tom Carpenter of 2Toms Brewing Co.
The resurrection of Ding's Beer Blog is going to be characterized by (at least at first) a focus on the local beer scene. That means Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana are in the crosshairs. I'm starting with a conversation with Tom Carpenter of 2Toms Brewing. Tom and I sat down at the brewery/taproom with a couple of beers a few days ago, to talk about contemporary brewing in Fort Wayne and how 2Toms fits into that landscape. 2Toms (and by extension Tom himself), was a natural place for me to...
The past, the present, the six years between them, and the future
Here we all are. It's been six years since my last blog post on Ding's Beer Blog, but now I'm back. So where have I been? What happened in the period between January 2015 and today, May 26th 2021? The answer is life. Profound, right? However, nothing that you can't imagine, just the usual events, experiences and changes that sooner or later enter everyone's existence. Some good, some bad, and some indifferent, but none of which I'm going to detail here. Suffice to say things have changed; I...
Ambivalence, indifference, me, evolution, and Stone in 2015
Before you read this please know that I'm not really sure what I am trying to convey here, so I think this post is more likely to turn out to be a stream of consciousness rather than anything particularly coherent - apologies in advance. Yesterday I was at Stone's Brewery, Tap Room and Bistro, in Escondido, CA. Many years ago, those words alone would have sent shivers up my spine and sent me into a little bit of a fan-boy, pant-wetting moment. Unconnected to my visit, those beer geek days are...
Session #94 – The Round-up
As usual with The Session, some posts are more interesting than others. Here's the round-up for #94 in no particular order. Miguel gives us this post at Amante De La Buena Cerveza. Unfortunately I don't speak a word of Spanish, so I literally have no idea what he said and cannot comment on it. David at Beer Tinted Spectacles describes himself as a Zealot! At first that sounds a little negative to me, with a danger of getting into beer evangelism (something that I am not keen on), but the tone...
Session #94 – My Role in Beer
As I said in my announcement for session #94, the question of my role in beer was provoked by a quick tweet exchange where @andrewinski1 suggested that rather than dropping pretty much completely out of the beer scene (as I think that I have), that I have simply moved to another place in said 'scene'. I thought it was an interesting observation and question, and in turn thought it would make a good topic for session #94. Contrary to popular belief I never really saw myself as having any kind...
Session #94 – The announcement. Friday, Dec. 5th – Your role in the beer ‘scene’. What it is?
The Session, a.k.a. 'Beer Blogging Friday', is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants, along with a short pithy critique of each entry. Friday December 5th 2014 will see my latest 'hosting' of The Session, #94 in the series. From a point in time when I was...
Hilton Head Brewing Co., 2014 – Light at the end of a VERY dark tunnel
Each year since 2001, often as a result of multiple visits, I have been reviewing and writing about the catastrophe that HHBCo. has become over the years. During that 13 year period, I have probably visited the island and HHBCo. in excess of 20 times, and a pretty extensive list of my previous thoughts can be seen here - you should read that post first. You'll see from what I have written earlier, that for well in excess of decade, HHBCo. has been a shambles, both in terms of the beer and the...
The Session #88 – Beer Mixes
When I first read the announcement post for Session #88 on Boak & Bailey's blog, to be honest, my heart sank. They suggested that in preparation for Session #88 that we, the bloggers, go out and drink some of the beer mixes from Boston's 1976 list, namely; Lightplater – bitter and light ale Mother-in-law — old and bitter Granny — old and mild Boilermaker — brown and mild Blacksmith –stout and barley wine Half-and-half – bitter and stout, or bitter and mild For all intents and purposes, for...
Talkbeer.com
Today I joined the talkbeer.com community. I believe that the site was originally a trading site that grew out of the discontent and disgust at BA, but it now seems to have reached the kind of critical mass that may make it useful. We'll see, and I am entering with an open mind. More to come.
Atlanta Cask Ale (#ACAT) 2014
So here I am, on the morning of another Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting (#ACAT), but this time I am not getting ready to head to the event later in the day. The #ACAT of 2014 will be the first one that I have not attended since the inaugural gathering. The reasons for my decision not to attend today, are outlined in this post that I wrote on this same morning, 12 months ago. I vowed not to return in 2014 and I am good to my word. The post from 12 months ago summed up the whole situation for me then,...
Pant-wetting fanboys and the US beer scene
Last night I got into a bit of a clumsy discussion on Twitter that ended very unsatisfactorily for me. Frankly it was my own fault, and I wanted to clear up my thoughts a little. In a nutshell, I responded to this article in the NYT by sending the Tweet below to @HillFarmstead. I'm rather proud of that tweet since I think it sums up a significant sector, and a very large part of the mentality that holds back the American beer scene. I stand by it and I think that it is actually a pretty...
Ding’s Christmas Wish List 2013
Here I go again with my annual Christmas wish list. The things I want Santa to deliver to my beer world. It goes without saying (I think), that the old chestnuts of me wanting the abuse of cask beer via the addition of crap (i.e., treating a cask as a Randall), and the misuse of the term @sessionbeer, remain front and center for me, and as such I decided to leave them out of the list this year. They are not seasonal or fleeting 'wants', rather they are ubiquitous. Also, I've decided to leave...
Me on (in) Draft (Magazine)
Last Wednesday I received an email from Chris Staten. Chris is an editor at Draft magazine. He asked me to respond to a few, simple questions about my public beer persona for an article that he was putting together. I didn't think much about it, was happy to respond and help, and shot-off some quick answers a couple of days later. Given the relatively trivial nature of the request (and my associated fairly simple response), I was more than a little surprised to see his article on Monday of...
Session #82: Beery Yarns (a REDUX)
Here's my Session #82 post. This month Steve at Beers I've known asks for Beery Yarns. If you recognize this post, you're right, this is a cheat. I've posted it before, but this is such a great story that is close to my heart, I wanted to give it another airing to a wider audience. And you thought The Bruery’s Partridge ‘IN’ a Pear Tree was something to get excited about! 11/12/2011 by Ding If you are interested in beer and live in the USA, you’ll know that The Bruery’s Partridge In A Pear...
Twisted South – the article that never was
In February of this year I was asked by a person that follows me on Twitter to write a counter-point article for Twisted South magazine. After over 9 months of being told that 'it will be published soon', I've given up. Here's what I wrote all that time ago. ‘The South’ and ‘beer culture’ in the same sentence? It’s counter intuitive to me, and I might even say oxymoronic. I suppose that I should examine what I consider to be ‘beer culture’ before moving on. This isn’t an easy thing to do....
Why I’ve stopped going to The Brick Store
After my decision last January not to attend Atlanta Cask Ale ’14 this coming January, the very event that I thought would be the one that kept me sane in terms of real ale in America, I started to reflect upon my role in the Atlanta beer scene in general. Ten months on and as we are approach that time of year again, my reflection has continued and deepened. While I have been contemplating where I stand, I found myself thinking about the time I have spent at The Brick Store over the years. As...
Protected: Session #81: Women in Beer Culture
Password Protected
To view this protected post, enter the password below:
Hypocrisy, FRESH and on tap!
It's always heart-warming to be reminded from time to time that there are so many of us out there that belong to the, 'mistreated by beeradvocate.com', club. My own story is well-documented, and unsurprisingly there are many, many others that are similar and equally disappointing - and it's STILL going on, even years AFTER this. I think there's a pattern emerging here, guys! So, this morning was a good one. I woke up to read Chad's Beer Nut column at timesunion.com where he details, and...
Session #80 – The Craft Beer Bubble
The first Friday in October '13 brings us Session #80, where Derek Harrison at It's Not Just The Alcohol Talking asks, 'Is Craft Beer a Bubble?'. I'm no economist, and in any case economics is a soft science at best, so I guess it doesn't matter, but here's my take. No matter what the relative competence of a brewery in terms of what they brew, or indeed competence in terms of their business plan, infrastructure, finances and strategies, as long as their beer actually SELLS, then it's entirely...
Session #79 – The round up and a few rebuttals
OK, Session #79 is now over and the thoughts of many have been recorded for posterity. There weren't quite as many posts as I was expecting, and some of the writing wasn't very good, but here's my summary. If I have left you out it was NOT intentional. My apologies, and if you contact me I will gladly correct my oversight. The first thing that I want to comment on is my own Session #79 post. Frankly, even after a lot of time and consideration I was still left a little dissatisfied with what I...
Session #79 – USA versus Old World Beer Culture
OK, here we go with the blog post that you've read before. Why do I say that? Well essentially this is a post that I've written umpteen times over, just in varying guises. In those past posts I have generally focused on one particular aspect of the cultural divide, and by doing so I have been able to hone in on one facet of US beer 'culture' that I find deficient. For example, you may have read such classics as, Americans and Cask Ale, Americans and The Beer Middle Class or Americans and...
Session #79 – The announcement. Friday, Sept. 6th – USA versus Old World Beer Culture
The Session, a.k.a. 'Beer Blogging Friday', is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. Each month, a different beer blogger hosts the Session, chooses a topic and creates a round-up listing all of the participants, along with a short pithy critique of each entry. Friday September 6th will see my turn to 'host' The Session, #79 in the series. Anyone with any inkling of my online, in-person...
Session Beer Day. Reflections
Well that was fun. Actually it was surprisingly uneventful, but four interesting things came out of it. Firstly, I was surprised that I didn't lose any Twitter followers, at least I didn't lose any when considering the net numbers. In fact, actually there was a net gain. Given that I was obviously way over my normal tweet quota for ranting about @sessionbeer with 171 tweets yesterday, I thought there would be some drop-off. Apparently not. Secondly the rich, beautiful, amazing and sweet irony...
Session Beer Day 2013
So, it's here again, #sessionbeerday, this time on Sunday, April 7th, 2013. Mmmm, well it wouldn't be right for me to let the 2013 'event'* pass without comment (here's 2012's session beer day post), so here we go with the 2013 rendition of my thoughts. Before you read on, you really should read my definitive post on session beer. That post will give you the basis and the foundation of my position on session beer, and you should always bear that in mind and refer to it, when reading anything...
Back to School Night – 2013 Class & Tasting
February brings 'Back To School Night' at the independent school where I teach, when (as part of Institutional Advancement) alumni are invited 'back to school' for an evening of classes offered by the current faculty. Most of the classes involve something other than would normally be found on the regular school schedule, so I get a chance to talk about beer! I have offered and taught the class 'Craft Beer 101', since 2007. Over the years I've organized many tastings, talks and presentations,...
ACAT 2013 – The follow up
OK, following yesterdays 2013 Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting, and in the wake of this post, I wanted to follow up with a quick run down of the events and the beer as they unfolded. Firstly it was great to see so many people that I hadn't run into in quite a while. A lot of folk that I've come to be acquainted with over the years, and even some people that I actually like! Seriously, it's these folks that I'll miss as I put beer events in Atlanta behind me for the final time. On the downside the...
My cask tears – Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting 2013
So, I'm writing this just a few hours before attending Atlanta Cask Ale Tasting of 2013. In fact, I'm writing as the judging for today's event is actually taking place and I'm texting one of the judges between paragraphs! This year is the ninth annual event, and I think that I have attended either seven or eight of these, missing only the first one or two. This years ATL cask ale will be the final beer event that I ever attend in Atlanta. Don't worry, I know that nobody in Atlanta (or probably...
Beer Review(s): The Celt Experience Beers; Bronze, Dark-Age and Golden
Usually I don't like to review beers in batches, but on this occasion it seemed a little more appropriate for more than one reason. My friend from North Carolina/Yorkshire, Stuart Arnold (of Fortnight Brewing, check 'em out), provided me with this opportunity to hit three organic beers from Caerphilly in Wales. Apparently the Celt Experience Brewery has been operating for a few years and produces organic beer. It's always a huge thrill for me to get a chance to drink relatively low ABV beer,...
Ding’s Christmas Wish List 2012
Following last years Christmas wish list, here goes the 2012 version. 10. Fresh Cotleigh beer in the Atlanta area, please. 9. Death to all, 'Special' beer 'days' (e.g., 'IPA Day', 'Stout Day' etc.) 8. Breweries to think more carefully about limited release and special one-off beers. Far too many of these beers are ill-conceived and mediocre or even just poor. They are quite often horrendous value, too. Many opportunities are being missed. 7. A forlorn hope here. That US beer consumers become...
Beer cellaring – a new perspective and a re-think
To be honest, I never had any interest in cellaring beer until about 2003-04. I read some articles about this relatively new idea, and also became acquainted with kp. Keith (kp) is a pretty interesting fellow, and it's a shame that I don't get to see him nearly as much as I used to, but anyone who is familiar with him, his history on Rate Beer, his 'cellaring antics' and his general demeanor, would appreciate how a person deeply interested in beer (me), could begin to acquire an interest in...
More Growler Stores? Really? Yes, and it’s not over yet.
Last Friday I received a comment on the blog from Brandon, General Manager at the recently opened JUGS Atlanta growler store in Sandy Springs. He invited me to swing by to say 'Hi', and to check out the store. It just so happened that I was almost simultaneously driving right by the location, so quicker than he expected, I was on the doorstep! JUGS (Just 'Ur Growler Store) has been open for a few weeks now, and I had been meaning to visit anyway. I had heard them being promoted by Chuck &...
Chad’z Homebrew
So, I'm writing this against my better judgement, but here we go. Chad, of Chad'z video beer reviews, gave me a couple of his homebrews. First off, full disclosure. Generally I'm not a fan of home-brewed beer, period. There is very little of it that I have enjoyed over the years, and most of what I have had in the past has frankly been pretty average (at best), and often much worse than that. He gave me the opportunity to try two of his beers, 'Chad'z Accidental Session Beer' and his, 'Dave...
The search is over, and at the same time just beginning
Yesterday was a pretty significant day in my little beer world. Was it a day that was characterized by me finding a long sought after bottle? No. Was it a day that I tasted and reviewed a super-rare beer? No. Was it a day when I reached some memorable milestone of some description? No. So what? Yesterday, the close to 3000 digital reviews that I have from my days on beeradvocate, became fully searchable in my own mySQL database on dingsbeerblog.com! With a pretty significant amount of work on...
Growler Stores, Place Reviews, Competition, Cumbaya and Boycotts
In my beeradvocate days, before the unforgivable debacle, I took pride in reviewing just about every beer venue that I traveled to. My view at the time was that I was doing the web site and community a huge favor by adding to the database, and giving information about the various places that I passed through on my travels. Pictures were taken if they were missing from the database, and I was pleased to have close to 300 reviews in my time over there (of course, the pictures are still being...
Hilton Head Brewing Co., more than a decade of thoughts
July 2012, and I find myself on Hilton Head Island for perhaps the 20th time in the last ten years or so. I've been coming to the island long enough to have seen the transition from largely hopeless beer desert, to a more optimistic outlook, finally followed by a slight re-adjustment and correction of expectations in the last 12 months or so; it's been an interesting journey, and it's not over yet. In that time, oddly, The Hilton Brewing Company has been a constant. Not a good constant, but a...
‘Craft’ beer – what the hell is it and does it matter?
Warning: A Stream of Consciousness follows, that may or may not make much sense! A pretty lively and interesting conversation got thrown up on Twitter yesterday, and as usual it was an event (in this case that very 'conversation'), that helped me to precipitate a bunch of thoughts that have been percolating in my head for many years. It all started when Zak Avery (@zakavery), 2008 Beer Writer of the Year in the UK and owner of Beer-Ritz in Leeds, England (I've been there and it's a fantastic...
Real Ale? In Griffin, GA?? You’re kidding, right???
Approximately one year ago, maybe a little less, I first heard about a brewpub that was supposed to be opening in rural Georgia. The idea of a brewpub in such a location seemed fanciful and unbelievable enough (we've seen that fail before), and when someone told me that it was going to specialize in real ale, I immediately laughed out loud! So, around December 2011 when I first visited their facebook page, I was surprised to see that it was all true, and that significant progress had been...
The dearth of an American, ‘Beer Middle Class’
Most people reading this will be more than familiar with my opinions about the lack of beer culture here in the USA. My thoughts are well documented, and boil down to the fact that I do not see alcohol (and in particular good, high quality beer), seamlessly integrated into the fabric of everyday life amongst a wide audience, in the manner that it is in Europe, and in particular in the UK. I've touched upon this subject over and over again, but wanted to expand on it a bit, here. Sometimes it...
Beer Blogging – what the hell are people thinking?
This post has been on my mind for some time, and like most of my thoughts on a particular subject, they tend to require a whole bunch of things to come together before critical mass is achieved and I think I've got something substantial to say. (Remember the phrase, 'I think I've got something substantial to say', it will be important later on in this post). So, a few days ago I tweeted these questions (as part of a longer conversation) out to a number of professional beer writers in the...
Me, Lew, session beer and ‘session day’
OK, this post is not a rant about session beer (at least not a FULL rant about session beer), but rather some reflections about Lew's quest and the subsequent creation of 'session day' on April 7th of this year. I want to say the right off the top I am 100% AGAINST all of these ridiculous attempts to generate interest in beer such as IPA Day, Stout Day and now Session Day. To me, these are nothing more than trumped-up, marketing exercises that expose a true lack of fundamental, underlying beer...
Beer, calories, fitness and being 45 years old – ANOTHER problem with the American ABV situation
For many years I have been conscious of my general caloric intake and also pretty much fundamentally aware of the calories associated with beer. For probably in excess of 10 years now, I have also been very much aware of what I have been consuming in terms of food (not beer) - I'm afraid that simply comes with advancing age, at least if you want to avoid getting huge. In that time I never really felt as though I had to specifically monitor the calories that I consumed, rather I would be happy...
Beer Snobbery
This is an important post. I'm tired of experience, discernment and real knowledge being mistaken for 'snobbery', and people considering all opinions to be equal and all beer knowledge to be subjective - they simply are NOT. For many years a debate has raged in the craft beer community about what constitutes beer snobbery, and what does not. In issue #61 of BeerAdvocate magazine, the Alström Bros define it in the following terms, and I comment on each. 1. You think your palate is better than...
Back To School Night 2012 – Craft Beer 101, Class & Tasting
February brings 'Back To School Night' at the independent school where I teach, when (as part of Institutional Advancement) alumni are invited 'back to school' for an evening of classes offered by the current faculty. Most of the classes involve something other than would normally be found on the regular school schedule, so I get a chance to talk about beer! I have offered and taught the class 'Craft Beer 101', since 2007. Over the years I've organized many tastings, talks and presentations,...
Hopslam – it’s an annual annoyance, but for a new reason this year
It's January and I was expecting the hype machine surrounding Bell's Hopslam to piss me off (again) this year, but didn't really anticipate it aggravating me in the manner that it did. I was expecting the general, stupid hype of this particular beer to annoy me - and it did - and I was expecting the 'how long before it goes downhill' comments to piss me off - and they did - but this year brought a new irritation. Hopslam on cask. Let's get a couple of things absolutely clear; 1. I think...
Ding’s Christmas Wish List 2011
Dear Father Christmas, Here is my wish list for this year. I hope that you can help me with some of these, I would love to find them under my tree. Your friend, Ding. I wish........ 10. That frozen glassware could be banished forever. 9. That the archaic, asinine tipping 'system' in US bars would disappear overnight (it's not a 'system' at all and not even people that have lived here all their lives know what to do with it). 8. That the few, missing place reviews from my old beeradvocate.com...
‘Top 10’ myths that the US craft beer fad has perpetuated amongst the newbs and even …
...amongst those that should know better. It's the time of year when many people reflect on the 12 months gone by, and often those reflections take the form of 'Top 10' lists. Such lists, whilst trivial, are usually good fun, so why not do one myself? Well actually this one has nothing to do with looking back on the last year in particular, but it is in the form of a 'Top 10', and I suppose that some of these have gained momentum during 2011, so here it is. 10. All craft (non-macro) beer is...
An awakening confirmed, and then re-affirmed by (another) return to my roots
About four years ago I drove like a madman, across the city (Atlanta), visiting four or five beer stores in the quest to find a few bottles of a relatively uncommonly distributed beer. A week later I found myself doing exactly the same in order to get a 12 oz pour of a rare beer at a bar, that I don't like much and visit infrequently. That afternoon, as I left the bar, I had a sudden awakening. I was delighted that I did. It occurred to me that in the years between late 2004 and the spring of...
It would be really interesting to have an off-the-record chat with Jason Alström over a beer…
...or even Todd, but I would draw the line at the acidic Candice! In the past couple of weeks I have received a whole bunch of electronic correspondence about the apparently continuing spiral of insanity that is occurring over at beeradvocate.com. I visit the site much less frequently these days, so am frankly a little out of the loop, but as you all probably know I have had a very special interest in such events in the past. If you are not familiar with why my interest lies there, take a look...
And you thought The Bruery’s Partridge ‘IN’ a Pear Tree was something to get excited about!
If you are interested in beer and live in the USA, you'll know that The Bruery's Partridge In A Pear Tree is a beer that has provoked a whole bunch of that typical, American beer geek hysteria that I hate so much. It's a beer that I thought of much as I prepared to write this post. At the end of the post, perhaps you'll see why. In 2009 an American, anglophile colleague of mine here in Atlanta, GA, gave me a hard-copy article from the NYT that was published in July of that year. He thought...
England 2011 – The photo dump, part 2
More iphone photos from the trip. Still some editing to do here, but you get the picture.
England 2011 – The photo dump, part 1
Just got back from my first trip home to England in four years, and as you can imagine I found it to be a trip of much gravity (despite the relatively low gravity!). I'll be blogging about the trip as a whole sometime soon, but for now I wanted to dump a few photos from the visit to give you a flavor of what was going on over the nine days of sheer heaven. More to come, much more.
In defence of the Oxford Companion to Beer (sort of … well, not really … )
The much heralded arrival of 'the only beer book you'll ever need', AKA 'The Oxford Companion to Beer', has been characterized by some well respected folk (including a number of contributors to the book itself) systematically defrocking the work by exposing factual error, after factual error, after factual error. It should be noted that in at least one case, the book has still not yet undergone a nit-picky, line by line analysis (rather it has only been subject to some randomly chosen...
American beers for the English?
OK, which six, American beers to take back home to show (not necessarily 'showCASE') what American brewing is all about in 2011? They need to be either on hand, in the cellar or at the store here in GA. I've already agreed to to take a DFH 120 min, and I think an Arrogant Bastard is a likely candidate too. Even though I disliked the beer, I also think Stone 15th might be another beer that shows what American brewing is all about, too. After that where do we go? I probably need a hoppy American...
John’s Tasting – a quick summary
Over the years I've organized many tastings, talks and presentations, ranging from the very formal to the much less 'official', but each time catering to the specific needs of the situation or the person that I am organizing things for/with. The latest of these events is a semi-formal, 'fun' tasting that doesn't involve my full-on, Craft Beer 101 presentation, but rather just gives a few notes, pointers and other general beer facts with a selection of six beers, (plus a bonus beer) to a group...
The REAL thrill of (not) beer-hunting
Following all the ridiculous bullshit associated with the CBS release of last week (that I wrote about here), it was somewhat ironic (and tremendously gratifying) that at an almost simultaneous occurrence acted as the perfect antidote to the pant-wetting, destructive geekery that was exhibited by the frantic mayhem that ensued with the Founder's release. Last Friday I happened to be casually surveying the singles shelf of a store that I visit at least once a week, and as usual I was not...
Previous trip home (England 2007) – The Beer List
As I prepare to head home for the first time since 2007, I was reminded of the three week beer odyssey that my last trip was in the summer of 2007. Amongst many great moments, pub visits and time spent with friends, I made a careful list of all of the beers that I sampled & made notes on during the visit. Here's the full list from just over 4 years ago. 6X Wadworths Abbott Ale Greene King Admiral's Ale St. Austell Brewery Adnams Bitter Adnams Adnams Bitter Adnams Adnams Regatta Adnams...
Discretion. Where’s it gone? Actually, it was never here!
A little background: When I moved to Atlanta, GA in the summer of 2000, one of the first questions that I asked one of my new colleagues was, 'Where can I buy great beer in this town?'. Being a person who had lived here for many decades, he immediately replied, "Green's". Encouraged, I trotted off to Green's on Ponce de Leon Avenue with a sense of great excitement and anticipation. Much to my dismay, I was confronted with a bewildering selection of macro nonsense, and not at all the...
A beer revolution? No thanks!
If you are really, really 'into' beer and live in the USA, there's no way in the world that you don't know what the (beer) abbreviation 'CBS' stands for. If you are really, really 'into' beer but live outside of the USA, there's a pretty strong probability that you won't have even heard of Canadian Breakfast Stout, or indeed of the brewery that makes this beer (Founders), here in Michigan. Trust me, you are infinitely better off remaining devoid of that knowledge. Here's why; By all accounts...
I’ll be down the PUB; or will I?
DISCLAIMER: I don't know if this post will make much sense since I am trying to get a load of stuff whizzing around my head into focus, but for now this is my best effort. I hope it conveys something of what I am struggling with. 'I'll be down the pub'. A phrase that countless generations of British males have uttered to describe most of the waking hours that they devote to socializing, and a phrase that I intend to use extensively myself when I travel home to England later this month. This...
Cellar Notes – Allagash Victoria and Victor
In the last few days I pulled both an Allagash Victoria and a Victor from the cellar; both were purchased fresh in August of 2008. Here's a quick note on what I found with these vintages. I cellared both of these purely and simply on the basis that I really enjoyed them as young, fresh beers. They seemed like they could have been a couple of interesting candidates for cellaring, with their grape elements and their ABV's, so after just over 3 years the experiment was complete. In a nutshell,...
Beer Gallery (aka old iphone photo dump) – Part 1
I know that many beer geeks love beer 'porn', so I had an idea when swapped my old 3G iphone out for a new iphone 4 a few weeks ago. Why not dump all the beer related photos on to the Blog? There's no rhyme or reason here, no order and no specific point, it's just a dump of the beer shots that were accumulated on my iphone over the last few years. Obviously the quality will not be stellar, but it's a neat, somewhat incomplete record of some of my recent beer encounters. If you want me to...
No wonder I STILL can’t find any session beer in the USA (and, please re-run the numbers Ken)
Anyone who knows me, also knows that my constant bitching & moaning about the lack of session beer in the US is a feature as fundamental to my being as my 'Englishness', so it has become a bit of a joke in the beer circles that I move in; 'Oh, here comes '4% Ding', order him a session Russian Imperial Stout' etc. On the surface I laugh it off, but of course many of you know that this is a serious business to me and quite frankly those comments wear a little thin. Having said that, they are...
Beer Thoughts
Two weeks solid vacation with some superb beer behind me, it's time to get back to blogging. Some of you may have gathered by now that this blog only exists as a result of me being ejected from beeradvocate.com. If you are familiar with the site, you will know that as part of each member profile page there is a 'free-write' section where one can add ones own 'Beer Thoughts'. Deep philosophical musings, rampant inane bullshit and all points in between appeared in my profile over the years, but...
The ‘Grand Pooh-Bah’ is dead! Long live the ‘Ding’!
I wanted to draw a line under my beeradvocate.com experience once and for all, but couldn't realistically do that to my own satisfaction until I had collected all of the reviews that I had contributed to the site over the years. As best I can tell, at the time of my ban, I had approx. 2600+ beer reviews in the BA database, plus 305 place reviews. That added up to Beer Karma Points totaling 8117.08 and with them, 'Grand Pooh-Bah' status on the site - not a small contribution over nearly 7.5...
ABV’s & session beer; sanity & insanity – Part 2
Continuing my quest to highlight the misuse of the term session beer, here is part two of the 'Sanity & Insanity'. Read Part 1. References to Insanity William Bostwick in the Wall Street Journal gets it 100% wrong in his deluded piece entitled The Connoisseurs' Light Beer. Rate Beer's Top 50 American Session Beers is only 32%correct! Food Republic goes 0/5.
ABV’s & session beer; sanity & insanity – Part 1
Following Sunday's, Session Beer rant, I'm going to start listing 'References to Sanity' and 'References to Insanity' as I come across them on the web. Here's the first installment, much more to come! References to Sanity Wadworth's describe all of their beers here, and only ONE is described as a 'session beer' - at 3.6% Colchester CAMRA uses 'session' to describe many beers at their January '11 festival - all under 4%, with none of those over 4% listed as session beers. The same again from...
New York Ale Project’s take on Session Beer, featuring …
...yours truly. Thought it was time to air this again in the wake of my session post of yesterday. Session Ales - The Ultimate Battle For the record, if standing up for tradition and fact makes me a snob, then I embrace the moniker and am proud of it! Cheers.
Session Beer – an amalgamation of years and years of thoughts
OK, it's time to tackle the session beer post. Anyone that knows me (or has read my comments in beer cyberspace over the years), understands that this is a serious subject for me, and that I get really tired of the term 'session beer' being abused left, right and center in the USA. Here, I am going to attempt to bring the years and years of posts that became shunned on BA, plus all of the stuff that never made it to the web but simply resided in my head, together in one place and in a single...
10 reasons why it was better when fewer people knew about good beer
1. When a limited beer was released it used to be possible to stroll leisurely down to the store, anytime within the first couple of weeks of it being out, and pick up as much as you wanted. Now one has to be monitoring Twitter, Facebook, beeradvocate.com and untappd constantly, and logistical nightmares ensue as plans have to be changed, journey's have to be made and store owners need to be befriended before one has a hope of even finding a single bottle. It's taken the joy out of it for me,...
Bad Batches, Infection and other QC issues – a follow up
Seth asked me to re-direct you to this new link for the QC issues spreadsheet with updated and enhanced features.
US beer distribution spreadsheet
While we're on the subject, I forget about this Google Doc Spreadsheet that also originated on beeradvocate.com that summarizes beer distribution in the US. Again, not necessarily gospel, but a potentially useful document.
Bad Batches, Infection and other QC issues
Some folks over at beeradvocate.com are trying to put together a list of beers with QC issues. They have summarized the collective, anecdotal and factual wisdom in a Google Docs Spreadsheet that you can find here. I know Seth to be reliable, but of course he can only be as good as the data that he has been given. As such, take it for what it's worth, but it may be useful to you. I have personal, first hand experience of problems with the following beers on that list, all of which matched the...
Imposter on Twitter Part 2.
The rogue Twitter account (@D_I_N_G with extra _ at end) been removed BUT the name has now been changed to use a lowercase 'L' in place of uppercase 'I'. Looks identical to my real account, but is not. Please report if and when you see it. Thanks.
What’s in a style? And are you in ‘Raptures’ over them?
OK, as far as I can tell there was no Rapture yesterday, so since I am still able to, I thought I should go ahead and blog about the Rapture's relationship with beer styles - yes, there IS a relationship between the two - well, sort of! What's in a style? Well a bit like religion, that depends on who one asks. In the USA the BJCP identifies around 80 beer styles (plus Meads & Ciders), the Brewers Association identifies a bewildering list of close to 150 , beeradvocate.com identifies over...
Imposter on Twitter
Please note that there is a child acting up on Twitter. They have created the Twitter account @D_I_N_G_ (NOTE: extra underscore added at the end of the name) and stolen my avatar. Please report them ASAP. Thanks.
I fixed the RSS feed (I *think*!) – thanks for the heads-up
RSS Feed
beeradvocate and me – a brief follow up
A few extra thoughts and just to clarify a few things. This will be my last, direct post on the matter for now, then it will be back to beer. 1. Thanks to everyone that has voiced support (both privately and publicly), it's truly appreciated. The overwhelming majority of those comments have taken the, "I didn't always agree with you but have respect for your tenacity and knowledge", stance - thanks, it means a lot. I think the positive comments and general agreement with my assessment of BA...
beeradvocate.com and me
Having been locked out of my beeradvocate account for nearly four weeks now (and only having received the most curt reply from Todd about the situation plus having one subsequent email totally ignored), I am coming around to the realization that I may never be back on the site ever again. That resignation leaves me with very mixed feelings indeed, and it seems fitting (and will perhaps be a little cathartic) to air some of those feelings here. To see a little of the background that I posted...
My beeradvocate.com account status
This is NOT the 'beeradvocate and me' post that I promised on Twitter last week (which is still in the hopper and goes into much greater depth about my history and relationships with the site - its publication is on hold until my status at BA is resolved and perhaps it will never see the light of day), rather this is simply an update on the status of my account as of today with just the facts and NO commentary. I wrote this since I have received so many emails and questions about the...
NOT a post about the ABV of session beer, but …
... still me bitching and moaning about session beer! OK, I'm gonna hold the "correct ABV of session beer" rant for another post (that's going to be a long one!), but I just wanted to get this quick thing off my chest. In the USA it has now become 'trendy' to like/produce/talk about 'session beer' amongst a whole generation of beer geeks that have been brought up on quite the opposite. Frankly, many of these people wouldn't know a tasty, well-crafted, 3-5%, malt based brew if it bit them on...
A ‘golden age’ of brewing? My ass … and BTW, get off my lawn
As I travel both literally and virtually around the US beer scene, I am constantly reminded by those that purport to 'know' that we are currently enjoying a 'golden age' of brewing. I suppose, that if one were to look at the relatively recent past, AND restrict ones view to the USA, AND one were to simply look at numbers then one could see a grain of truth in the statement, but closer inspection of even that narrow view suggests that the 'golden age' is being exaggerated a great deal....