“Victory for Interstate Shippers,” proclaimed the Washington Post headline. Judging from this and other reports in the mainstream press, you’d think that last spring’s Supreme Court ruling on direct shipping unleashed a deluge of alcohol across state borders. Nothing could be further from the truth.
If American readers are confused by the role of the European Union, they are not alone. Many of us who live in EU countries are increasingly reduced to head-scratching disbelief by its activities.
“Welcome to Brigadoon,” Stewart Main, the head brewer at Hook Norton said. As a Scot, he is well versed in the story of the mythical Highland village of Brigadoon that featured in a Gene Kelly movie. The village appears for a single day once every hundred years and bewitches all who come across it.
“Yes, but I don’t inhale.” For generations, smokers have been using those words to downplay the consequences of their nicotine habit. Soon, drinkers may be using that expression as well.
In the 30 years I have written about beer, I have more and more come to agree with the proposition put forward by the radical economist Ernst Friedrich Schumacher that “small is beautiful.” This is the title of his seminal work of 1973 and in it he argues the case that companies worship size for... View Article
In 1980, a homebrew shop, if you could find one, was an unkempt corner of a wine-making shop or Italian hardware store, a few dusty cans of English malt extract crowned by wrinkly packets of dying yeast. On the shelf were boxes or bags optimistically marked “fresh hops,” displaying an autumnal brown glow. Bags of... View Article
The Brewers’ Association of America—which was founded during World War II to lobby for small brewers—will be history by the time you read this. The group’s board of directors voted to merge with the much larger Association of Brewers (AOB), which was chartered in 1979 to promote the fledgling craft brewing movement. The new organization... View Article
If you appreciate fine beer and you plan to tour Europe, then the Czech Republic will be high on your list of places to visit. You had better hurry, though, for the entire European brewing tradition is under threat at the hands of global brewers.
Candidate Coors Handles a Hot Potato Peter Coors, who’s taken a leave of absence from the family beer business to run for the United States Senate in Colorado, has sought to rekindle a long-smoldering issue: the 21-year-old minimum drinking age. At a June 23 forum in Greenwood Village, Coors said, “We got along fine for... View Article
