It was a day of reading about new things in beer. Not just new new things but things that introduce newness in beer. And not just experimentation either:
- Lew was not struck dumb about the new porter from Narragansett. Uncle Jack has mentioned Lew's capacity to "wax poetic about virtually every single thing he did" but I think Lew is truly on to something - a lower price knockout of a porter. If not utterly new, well, then it is a welcome trend. And my type of innovation.
- Like the rest of the beer blogging world did or had in mind, I made fun of the launch of Molson M, the world’s only “Microcarbonated” lager beer. Stan's wit was dry but look down in the comments. It seems some are wondering if they may actually be on to something that makes a real difference: "if they have developed something that can force carbonate without creating nucleation sites that volatilize the hop aroma, more power to them."
- Stephen B. moves away from what is in the bottle like great budget porter or tiny bubbles and illustrates innovation with Stone's Vertical Epic series. The project will last 17 days under 12 full years to complete. I have three of the nine released so far and will probably keep them until 12 12 12 as there will no doubt be some party worth opening them at. The only additional point I would make is that it is also a program with budget in mind. Stone has released instructions on how to make a home brew clone for each year's chapter in the epic tale. This is in addition to the fact that the bombers retail for well under ten bucks each. Again, innovation need not bankrupt you.
Lesson? Beer is all about what is in the glass at the end of the day but there are many routes to fill your glass. The sort of experimentation that requires exclusivity and high price is only one way to maybe get something interesting in hand.
Did you say more pictures? You want more pictures? Bill of Oregon, the Bill of It's Pub Night, wrote to say "I'm not a great photographer, but I thought I'd waste your time with a few beery pictures." I am fine with that, happy to see them all as long as they are about beer... but I have to admit that I have no idea what is in that photo to the right. It could in fact be the worst entry ever. I like the hop picking ones even if they could be sharper.
And Rob Symes of Toronto, Ontario forwarded these photos from Tokyo, Belgium and the UK.
Fabulous. I quick like that window in the Cantillon attic. I am pretty sure someone else took a photo of a similar scene in earlier years. Can't find it. We've only had something near 700 entries over the years. How the heck and I supposed to find the one with the Cantillon window?