By Pete Brown
Published November 2010, Volume 31, Number 5
The holidays have their own hazards.
Swearing, when judiciously employed, is brilliant. Sometimes, there’s simply no non-cuss word that will do, no mild alternative that can add the same perfect spice and flavor to a sentence. Arguably, one of the sweariest – and certainly one of the most quotable – films of all time is the Brit cult comedy Withnail and I. And some of its best swearing relates to the after-effects of booze. The titular Withnail, an out-of-work actor, spends three-quarters of the film drunk, and the rest of the time dealing with the fallout. His potty-mouthed evocations of alcohol-induced suffering are nothing short of poetic.
After drinking constantly through a long car journey, he comes round in the middle of a storm at a dark, countryside cottage. “I’ve got a bastard behind the eyes,” he moans, looking for more whiskey with which to take some aspirin. Read More…
An Insider’s Guide for Beer Enthusiasts and Connoisseurs
By gordonstrong
Published November 2010, Volume 31, Number 5
I’ve gotten some strange responses over the years when I tell people that I’m a beer judge. Some people don’t believe it’s a real skill―“Is that like a bikini inspector?” or that it doesn’t involve work― “How hard is it to drink beer… frat boys must be experts.” Others think I must be quite sly to scam free beer out of people, or they picture judges staggering around like W.C. Fields. Read More…
Take One Down and Pass It Around
By Julie Johnson
Published September 2010, Volume 31, Number 4
There sometimes comes a moment in an evening of hospitality when the host recognizes that a guest is especially appreciative of good beer and offers, “I have something set aside that I think you’d enjoy.”
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The Science, Culture and Commercialism of Beer Flavor
By Julie Johnson
Published July 2010, Volume 31, Number 3
In front of you are two glasses of India pale ale. They both fit the parameters of the style: stronger in alcohol and containing more hops than a classic pale ale, but less of either than an imperial IPA. Both beers are medium gold in color, clear and bright. Both pour with small but persistent heads of foam that are renewed by fine streams of carbonation. Read More…
The Hunt for the Beers of a Lifetime
By Brian Yaeger
Published May 2010, Volume 31, Number 2
Call me BeerMail.
It is no secret that beer fanatics in a certain place (Yourtown, USA) in a certain time (right now) long to plant their lips upon a snifter, tulip or chalice of some rarified, vaunted, practically mythical ale. Likewise, it is no wonder that some people will go through the Ahabesque task of trying to hunt these beers down. The expeditions launched from ports of call—one’s front door step, the office mail room, the nearest FedEx store—are called Beer Trades, or simply “BT”s. The prey are known as whales—primarily White Whales, or “WW”s. Read More…
The Americanization of World Beer
By Stan Hieronymus
Published January 2010, Volume 30, Number 6
Four thousand miles away from Manhattan, in a northern Italian village, Birrificio Troll owner Alberto Canavese was celebrating because his beers had just gone on sale in New York, New York. Only one of the particularly strong beers he shipped off, the 9 percent ABV Palanfrina brewed with chestnuts, was available in his own pub that day. Read More…
