What I love about the craft brewery revolution is the appearance of quality darker beers: Porters, Stouts (including Imperial Stouts), Brown Ales, and Scotch Ales. If you can't chew the beer then it's probably not worth drinking, IMHO.
Unfortunately the breweries here have decided that they will only do stouts and dark ales in the winter. During the summer, it's all pale IPAs, all the time.
The beer market may well be the original spark that drew me away from newspaper journalism and into economics. I had decided that a good newspaperman had to understand some economics, so I enrolled in some classes. One of them was a course in antitrust. Among other things, we studied Falstaff's takeover of Narragansett, the subsequent United States v. Falstaff Brewing Corp. (1973) ruling and the whole question of how one defines a market. The material and the teacher hooked me, so I went off a year later to Columbia to get a PhD in economics. A key theme of the class discussion was the banality of American beer at that time.
By the way, at UVa (1972-76), my fraternity repurposed a Coke machine to dispense beers for 25c. There were four slots of bottles, which we designated Schlitz, Budweiser, Miller, and "Wildcard." The later was filled with odd brands the brothers would bring back after vacations. Rolling Rock, Coors, etc. Whatever was NOT available in Charlottesville. Soon, it was apparent that people were desperate for the unusual and would ONLY push WILDCARD, so we filled the machine with a jumble of small-brand beers. Just to make things interesting, every 10th or 12th bottle was Champale, which everyone hated. Someone would drop his quarter in, hear all the machinery moving and clunking, and watch as a random can would tumbled out. THen, you'd hear cussing and gnashing of teeth, and the sad purchaser would travel around deliriously trying to see his Champale for whatever he could get.
Years later, Charlottesville became a haven fro craft brewers--including WIlliam Faulkner's daughter, Jill.
In Britain in the late 70s-early 80s, the revolution against tied houses led to the popularity of the Campaign for Real Ale, which did more than anything to promote beer diversity.
One thing I greatly appreciate about my Masters swimming routine is that brings people from their 20s through to the 80s to engage together in a fun, healthy activity.
Glenn: in your photo, you look a bit like Dave Garroway, the first host of the Today show in the late 1950s to early 1960s. See the resemblance?
I hit your “tip jar” to show my appreciation, and it now leads to Substack. I guess that’s your new “Thanks, Glenn!” vehicle. I’m already a subscriber, but I hit it again!
If you’re not already a subscriber, I encourage you to seriously consider it!
When I was in RVN in 1969, Hamm's was one of the free beers that were given to us by the pallet when we came in on stand down. The other was Black Label which we dubbed Rusty Bud because of the mostly rusty cans. Hamm's also had some of the neatest animated signs that used to adorn the walls of the taverns of the day.
God bless ye, Insty. Enjoyed todays; specially liked Father's Day missive. Yeah but ... are all of them Knoxville beers nasty IPAs? Or is someone local brewing a nice, tasty German lager that you can slug instead of IPA, with your tongue turning orange and the attendant cee-gars tasting nasty? Hmmm?
The IPA fad has faded. My favorite Knoxville brewery is still the DGB, which offers an array of traditional German and Czech beers, usually brewed with grains and hops imported from their home areas.
I have only a few memories of TV from when I was a kid in Minnesota around 1960. One is watching Paladin with my dad, and one is the Hamm’s bear and “from the land of sky-blue waters”. I’m glad he is still remembered.
Agreed about your observations about the state of America. I think most of us just look at the insanity of social media culture and our head spins. We're starting to wake up to the plots of the Cultural Marxists, however. I'm hoping we did so in time...
Amen. I remember my first trip to England in the 1980s and the beer... I walked into a non-tiered house and asked about beer. There was this row of 30 or so taps. The bartender named six. I asked about the others and he said, "Lager, ales, ciders, porters...you asked for a beer?"
It was heaven. Now the local white-bread fern bar has close to that selection.
In the 1970s just about all British pubs were "tied houses." Thatcherdom changed all that; now they're mostly "free houses" dispensing the brews they choose. For some reason she doesn't seem to get much credit for this.
I wish that the USDA and FDA would wake up and allow for the same innovation in things like cheesemaking and charcuterie production. France has some of the world's best cheese, but also the same European overlords. The quality of American beef/pork has also increased and would get better with less regulation. We are seeing more education around food, and a corresponding demand. Inflation is causing people to eat at home and cook more, and figure out what to do with cuts of meat that are not the usual cuts. What's in the way: American govt regulation and the lobbyists.
Back in the 80s / early 90s I was living in the Tampa Bay area and my wife and I belonged to the local Mensa club.
Another married couple of members had begun brewing their own beer. (‘Is that legal?!’ “Yes!”) And we’d gather at their place most months to put together the newsletter and sample their beers.
Ahhhh. That was some really good beer.
Not long after I moved to Georgia brew pubs started becoming a thing, and one opened near the local mall. That was really good beer too, but they had the audacity to charge for it. Wanted to stay in business I guess. Go figure.
Not only was Prof. Don Paine esteemed in the legal world, he was on the cutting edge of beer (and mead) brewing in the 1990s. I had the privilege to work on a batch with him, at his beer brewing/TLI compound, a little apartment on Cedar Lane. Beer brewing takes time, and I got hungry, eventually starving. Typical bachelor, he had no food, so I resorted to eating spent barley grains that he steeped in the wort. That decision had consequences.
What I love about the craft brewery revolution is the appearance of quality darker beers: Porters, Stouts (including Imperial Stouts), Brown Ales, and Scotch Ales. If you can't chew the beer then it's probably not worth drinking, IMHO.
agree about the proliferation of darker beers (also fewer calories in a darker beer for what it is worth!)
Unfortunately the breweries here have decided that they will only do stouts and dark ales in the winter. During the summer, it's all pale IPAs, all the time.
The beer market may well be the original spark that drew me away from newspaper journalism and into economics. I had decided that a good newspaperman had to understand some economics, so I enrolled in some classes. One of them was a course in antitrust. Among other things, we studied Falstaff's takeover of Narragansett, the subsequent United States v. Falstaff Brewing Corp. (1973) ruling and the whole question of how one defines a market. The material and the teacher hooked me, so I went off a year later to Columbia to get a PhD in economics. A key theme of the class discussion was the banality of American beer at that time.
By the way, at UVa (1972-76), my fraternity repurposed a Coke machine to dispense beers for 25c. There were four slots of bottles, which we designated Schlitz, Budweiser, Miller, and "Wildcard." The later was filled with odd brands the brothers would bring back after vacations. Rolling Rock, Coors, etc. Whatever was NOT available in Charlottesville. Soon, it was apparent that people were desperate for the unusual and would ONLY push WILDCARD, so we filled the machine with a jumble of small-brand beers. Just to make things interesting, every 10th or 12th bottle was Champale, which everyone hated. Someone would drop his quarter in, hear all the machinery moving and clunking, and watch as a random can would tumbled out. THen, you'd hear cussing and gnashing of teeth, and the sad purchaser would travel around deliriously trying to see his Champale for whatever he could get.
Years later, Charlottesville became a haven fro craft brewers--including WIlliam Faulkner's daughter, Jill.
Bob at Bastiat's Window
In Britain in the late 70s-early 80s, the revolution against tied houses led to the popularity of the Campaign for Real Ale, which did more than anything to promote beer diversity.
Would that we have 1000 Salenas. She is a force of nature. And one has to love her boots. 😎
I've never seen her boots but I do like her writing.
Nice article!
One thing I greatly appreciate about my Masters swimming routine is that brings people from their 20s through to the 80s to engage together in a fun, healthy activity.
Glenn: in your photo, you look a bit like Dave Garroway, the first host of the Today show in the late 1950s to early 1960s. See the resemblance?
https://images.app.goo.gl/dZQaVT25EoR7vkfFA
Thanks also for the “reader blurb” in Instapundit last week for the new expanded and revised edition of my book, “A Whack on the Side of the Head.”
—> bit.ly/whack24
It generated a lot of sales on Amazon.
I hit your “tip jar” to show my appreciation, and it now leads to Substack. I guess that’s your new “Thanks, Glenn!” vehicle. I’m already a subscriber, but I hit it again!
If you’re not already a subscriber, I encourage you to seriously consider it!
When I was in RVN in 1969, Hamm's was one of the free beers that were given to us by the pallet when we came in on stand down. The other was Black Label which we dubbed Rusty Bud because of the mostly rusty cans. Hamm's also had some of the neatest animated signs that used to adorn the walls of the taverns of the day.
God bless ye, Insty. Enjoyed todays; specially liked Father's Day missive. Yeah but ... are all of them Knoxville beers nasty IPAs? Or is someone local brewing a nice, tasty German lager that you can slug instead of IPA, with your tongue turning orange and the attendant cee-gars tasting nasty? Hmmm?
Best,
Pat Keefe
Baton Rouge (then)
Maine now
The IPA fad has faded. My favorite Knoxville brewery is still the DGB, which offers an array of traditional German and Czech beers, usually brewed with grains and hops imported from their home areas.
I have only a few memories of TV from when I was a kid in Minnesota around 1960. One is watching Paladin with my dad, and one is the Hamm’s bear and “from the land of sky-blue waters”. I’m glad he is still remembered.
Grain Belt Premium isn't a bad beer for a large production beer and available in MN.
We're definitely in the Golden Age of Brewing!
Agreed about your observations about the state of America. I think most of us just look at the insanity of social media culture and our head spins. We're starting to wake up to the plots of the Cultural Marxists, however. I'm hoping we did so in time...
Amen. I remember my first trip to England in the 1980s and the beer... I walked into a non-tiered house and asked about beer. There was this row of 30 or so taps. The bartender named six. I asked about the others and he said, "Lager, ales, ciders, porters...you asked for a beer?"
It was heaven. Now the local white-bread fern bar has close to that selection.
I enjoy your writing. Beer is fun, but alcohol is a pleasant poison.
"The poison is in the dose," as with anything else. Also: https://nypost.com/2021/07/01/our-bossy-society-is-completely-losing-sight-of-the-value-of-risky-behavior/
In the 1970s just about all British pubs were "tied houses." Thatcherdom changed all that; now they're mostly "free houses" dispensing the brews they choose. For some reason she doesn't seem to get much credit for this.
I wish that the USDA and FDA would wake up and allow for the same innovation in things like cheesemaking and charcuterie production. France has some of the world's best cheese, but also the same European overlords. The quality of American beef/pork has also increased and would get better with less regulation. We are seeing more education around food, and a corresponding demand. Inflation is causing people to eat at home and cook more, and figure out what to do with cuts of meat that are not the usual cuts. What's in the way: American govt regulation and the lobbyists.
Bluegrass and beer.
Yup, getting out more here too!
Back in the 80s / early 90s I was living in the Tampa Bay area and my wife and I belonged to the local Mensa club.
Another married couple of members had begun brewing their own beer. (‘Is that legal?!’ “Yes!”) And we’d gather at their place most months to put together the newsletter and sample their beers.
Ahhhh. That was some really good beer.
Not long after I moved to Georgia brew pubs started becoming a thing, and one opened near the local mall. That was really good beer too, but they had the audacity to charge for it. Wanted to stay in business I guess. Go figure.
Not only was Prof. Don Paine esteemed in the legal world, he was on the cutting edge of beer (and mead) brewing in the 1990s. I had the privilege to work on a batch with him, at his beer brewing/TLI compound, a little apartment on Cedar Lane. Beer brewing takes time, and I got hungry, eventually starving. Typical bachelor, he had no food, so I resorted to eating spent barley grains that he steeped in the wort. That decision had consequences.