When you drink a Yard of Ale, you’re going to be the center of attention, so you must dress appropriately. Avoid white. Rather, let the hand that chooses your wardrobe be guided to darker shades. And regardless of color, leave your cashmere favorites at home. Lean towards the informal, something perhaps in a waxed canvas, […]

In the pre-dawn hours, even the birds are asleep in England’s hop country, and the sun has yet to gild the clouds gliding over from the west country. On the shoulder of a narrow lane, a light breeze rustles the hedgerow and, across the way, the first hint of dawn reveals the profile of an […]

March 27, 2004 In 1987, because I had included Coors Winterfest in an article about Christmas beers in 1986, the Syracuse New Times received a letter from the local council of the AFL-CIO expressing astonishment that such a liberal, alternative publication would include any mention of this notoriously anti-union brewery. The letter was accompanied by […]

As a young beer drinker in the 1960’s, I could not understand why mainstream American beers were so pallid compared to their Canadian, English and German counterparts. In the U.S., brewers said, “the public demands it,” but that hardly explained the popularity of Canadian and imported beers, travelers’ enthusiastic reports on beers in Europe, and […]

Horses have played two important roles in the history of brewing, one very public, and one very private. Publicly, we are all familiar with the beauty and power displayed by a team of draft horses, dazzling our eyes with polished brasses and shaking the ground under our feet as they pass. But behind the scenes, […]

With no lines to memorize or dues to pay, beer occupies an enviable position in the movie industry. When directors want to make a point without troublesome dialogue or narration, they call for beer. Less than a star but more than a prop, beer is a time-honored player on the silver screen. Beer has a […]

In the early days of brewing, the judging of beer was largely confined to casual conversations. To have drunk various beers in the places where they were made was to a man’s credit, and his tales were welcomed by those less informed, as well as those who leaped at a chance to tell of their […]

In which we explain why a celebration called Oktoberfest begins in September and features a beer called Märzen (March) The first Oktoberfest was indeed in the month of October, hosted by Bavaria’s King Maximilian Joseph to honor the marriage of his son, Crown Prince Ludwig, to Princess Therese von Sachsen-Hildburghausen on October 12, 1810. After […]