Category Beer
Jury Duty
May 2001 The last time I was summoned to the Onondaga County Courthouse for jury duty, I got as far as the “voir dire.” The defendant’s lawyer asked, “What newspaper do you read?” I said, “The New York Ti…” “Excused,” he said. Last month, I didn’t even get that far, and it’s probably just as […]
The Bard of Beer Visits
October 1996 Being out with Michael Jackson is like being out with Santa Claus — everywhere, people are glad to see you. It is impossible to overstate Jackson’s influence on the worlds of beer and whiskey. He wrote the book, several of them in fact, and is the single best known beer writer on the […]
Long Nights, Strong Beers
This article was written for Zymurgy in 1987, rewritten for the Syracuse New Times in 1996. * * * Long Nights, Strong Beers: The Holiday Beer Tradition If, as the days grow shorter and the holidays approach, you feel an urge to put a little something extra into your homebrew, you are not alone. Rather, […]
Fruit Beers
This article appeared in the Syracuse New Times, August 20-27, 1997. * * * Imagine for a moment that Adam had shown some backbone. That when Eve advanced and held out the apple, Adam said, “Thank you, but no.” Might not Eve have huddled once more with the serpent and returned saying, “Adam, how about […]
Dry Beer
How Dry We Might Be: Dry Beer, Malt Liquor and the Second Coming of Prohibition This article appeared in the Syracuse New Times, September 21-28, 1988. The statistical and brand information is thus dated, but there are some larger truths that remain relevant. * * * We are a jaded people, forever searching for something […]
Brewing Politics in New York
This piece was written for Great Lakes Brewing News in November 1996. * * * Brewing Politics in New York: The Franchise Bill of 1996 The growth of microbreweries and brewpubs in New York State made the organization of a craft brewers’ association an eventuality, but the small brewers got a rude shove in 1996 […]
Beer Cocktails & Beer Blends
This article first appeared in All About Beer magazine in 1996. It was revised in 2003. * * * To most brewmasters, their finished product is a masterwork, perfectly balanced and pleasing in every regard. To mix it with another beer, or worse, some foreign substance, is like whipping out a marker and drawing a […]
Three Millennia of Beer Styles
This article first appeared in a different format in All About Beer in 1999. * * * Three Millennia of Beer Styles in 4 Minutes and 32 Seconds As many people cannot remember when they last saw their car keys, it is not surprising that beer historians cannot pinpoint the exact date of birth for […]
Gusto Lives: Beer in Japan
This piece was written for All About Beer magazine in 1995. * * * Remember “gusto”? Can you recall the time in America when a voice from the clouds told you to “go for it”? Alas, the era of gusto seems as distant and faded as a tintype. Today, you can’t even drink beer on […]
Two Encounters
April 2000 I had a quintessentially Skaneateles encounter at the post office a few Saturdays ago. A man was wrapping two packages while waiting in line, and he was wearing a cap bearing the Sleeman’s Brewing and Malting logo. “Nice hat,” I said. “I have a friend who is a big Sleeman’s fan.” And he […]
Faithful Readers 