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Blogging and writing

A Change to the Scheduled Programme

This is what Sheffield is like, right?
This is what Sheffield is like, right?

We probably won’t be blogging this week while we’re on the road carrying out research and interviews in Sheffield, Leeds, York, Derbyshire and maybe Manchester, too.

We’ll be posting photos and news of any interesting finds on either Twitter or on Facebook.

If you find yourself twitching for a blog post to read with your morning coffee, during lunch at your desk, or on the bog, here are few recommendations from earlier in the year:

Elsewhere in the Blogoshire, why not have a look at these:

See you on the other side!

Categories
Blogging and writing

Long Articles About Beer for May 2013

Cain's brewery logo

1. ‘Cain’s: the final chapter?’  and ‘Chapter 9: Full Circle’ by Chris Routledge

Routledge wrote Cain’s: the Story of Liverpool in a Pint and has followed the ups and downs of the brewery under the Dusanj brothers throughout the last decade. Now, as it looks as if it might finally be on its last legs, he offers a sort-of-insider’s view of the current crisis (actually not that long…) which is best read alongside the chapter from his 2008 book to which it refers.

Richard Marx

2. ‘Right Here Waiting’ by Edward McLelland

We found this through either Longreads or Longform — we can’t remember which — and enjoyed it for two reasons: first, because it’s a funny story about a journalist winding up a touchy local celebrity but, secondly, and more importantly, because of the lovely pen portrait of a Chicago bar and the universal struggle to become ‘a regular’.

Truman's ales sign, East London.

3. ‘When Brick Lane was Home to the Biggest Brewery in the World’ by Martyn Cornell

The king of the longform beer article doesn’t really do short. This piece tells the story of Truman, Hanbury & Buxton and its colossal ‘Black Eagle’ brewery in the East End of London from beginning (1683?) to today.

Brewdog bottle label.

4. ‘Byron, Brewdog, and the recuperation of radical aesthetics’ by Jonathan Moses

Moses is a left-wing political activist and teacher and so has an interesting perspective on Brewdog and what he calls their ‘aversion to association with the corporate market’.

Pub saved by irony

5. ‘The Pub That Was Saved by Irony’ by The Gentle Author (Spitalfields Life)

How an architectural heritage museum wanted to demolish a Victorian pub, and the campaign to save it, juxtaposed with the memories of George Barker who grew up in the Marquis of Lansdowne before World War II.

We read articles like this using Pocket. Beer writers and bloggers: why not stretch out and write something loooooooong?

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Uncategorized

Ten More Long Articles on Beer

A horse-drawn brewer's dray loaded with beer barrels.

As the beer blogs enter their Christmas hibernation, and you find yourself on a long journey home, or twiddling your thumbs on the sofa, novelty hat askew, it’s a great time to catch-up on some of those longer pieces you might have missed. Here are ten we bookmarked.

1. The Plot to Destroy America’s Beer (Bloomberg) — this article got tweeted and retweeted by everyone on earth in October but we didn’t get round to reading it until now. Lesson: monopolies threaten choice and quality for ‘ordinary drinkers’ of ‘normal beer’.

2. The History of Pilsner Urquell in Three Parts (Evan Rail) — the Why Beer Matters author tells the story of the founding of Pilsner Urquell, analyses its founding document and then sets straight various myths, fairy tales and downright lies that have built up over the years.

3. Shades, Dives and other varieties of British bar (Martyn Cornell) — ever wondered about the difference between the saloon, lounge, snug and public bar? This article will sort you out. (Or confuse you further by throwing in the vaults, the shades, the ladies’ bar…)

4. Terror at the Wenlock Brewery (Stephen Sadler) — on 11 September, 1940, hundreds of people sought shelter from a German air raid in the basement of a London brewery, with dreadful consequences.

5. Shakespeare’s Local and the Austrian Tyrant (Pete Brown) — a handy leftover bit of his latest book, this piece tells the story of how Southwak brewery workers kicked a war criminal’s butt in 1850.

6. Albany Ale: Going Dutch (Craig) — one of several posts by this blogger on the history of Dutch brewers in Albany in the state of New York.

7. Complete Guide to All-grain Brewing(Neil at MashSpargeBoil) — he makes it sound so easy! (Which it kind of is.) If brewing is one of your 2013 resolutions, read this for encouragement and advice.

8. Yeast ploys…(Charles Bamforth) — brewing scientist Charles Bamforth argues that yeast isn’t the be-all and end-all when it comes to pinning down a specific character in brewing. (Contrarian much?)

9. Oxidation: good beer gone bad (Chris Bible) — a slightly dry but very clear piece explaining (a) what oxidation is; (b) how to spot it in your beer; and (c) how to prevent it.

10. History of Ignatz Bier(Homebaseproject) — the story of a Jewish-owned brewery in Berlin from 1907-2011, including it’s ‘Aryanization’ in 1933.

BONUS: The Pubs of Old London(Spitalfields Life) — not many words in this one so not especially suitable for ‘reading later’, but the pictures…. oh, boy, such pictures!

If you’re still hungry for more, our previous ‘longreads’ lists are here and here

We recommend Pocket (formerly Read it Later) for iOS and Android as a great way to consume long web articles on the move.

Categories
Blogging and writing

Must-reads and longreads

A few more long articles on beer to read later

The ten links we posted a couple of weeks ago prompted a few suggestions from others on long articles worth saving with Pocket or Instapaper to read later; we also spotted a couple ourselves.

  1. Seven abandoned breweries open for exploration — with great pictures for the less adventurous. (Via Alessio Leone.)
  2. Pilsner Urquell: An Old Czech Fairy Tale by Des de Moor.
  3. Northern Renaissance: a new generation of Belgian brewers by Betsy Andrews for Saveur. (Via Stan Hieronymus.)
  4. A  San Diego brewery’s hidden artwork, parts one and two by Kelly Bennett and Angela Carone for San Diego Voice. (Via Alessio Leone.)
  5. Black Metal Troy or, How to Drink Online by Robert Moor for the Brookyln Rail. (“Before Bruz, the world of online drinking had mostly been populated by wussies sipping imported shit and using words like “session beer” and “mouth feel” and “Belgium.”)
  6. Guinness Myths and Scandals by Martyn Cornell.

 

Must-reads around the blogoshire

  1. Ron Pattinson’s accounts of his search for Zoigl are as near to a trip to Franconia as we’re going to get this year. Great photos, too. Parts one | two | three | four | five.
  2. On a similar note, we enjoyed this post from Pivni Filosof about dropping into a homely Czech pub.
  3. Simon Johnson’s post on 28 days without beer is interesting, as ever, but it’s the idea of the ‘hard reset’ of the palate we’ll be stealing.
  4. Kristy McCready continues to give away top-notch PR advice to organisations (including breweries) willing to listen. Here she is on how (not) to use Twitter and here on making the most of Facebook.
  5. Sid Boggle, who we wish would post more often (no pressure) gives another angle on the experience of visiting a Brewdog bar. We especially liked his description of falling into conversation with someone still in the first throes of passion for craft beer: “he was enthusiastic as a kid about what he was discovering”.
  6. The Beer Prole’s piece on the culture of rounds in British pubs was a great read. The etiquette differs from region to region, country to country, generation to generation.