The Museum of Edinburgh, on the Royal Mile, will be running an exhibition on the full social and cultural impact of alcohol and drinking in the Capital going back over 500 years.
The exhibition, entitled “Here’s Tae Us!” and will be at the museum from December 10 to March 3.
It will chart the history of some of the Capital’s oldest bars, the rise of temperance societies in the 19th century, the cultural change in the 1960s – when women first began to regularly socialise in the city’s bars – and the relaxation of laws curbing Sunday drinking in the early 1990s.
Famous landlords and landladies will be recalled, including Willie Ross, the famously rude boss of the Oxford Bar in the city centre, and Betty Moss, who used to signal last orders at the Old Chain Pier, in Newhaven, by firing a starting pistol and would clear drinkers with the use of a sword.
It will also have a large collection of products featuring the Tennents “Lager Lovelies”, who began appearing on the Tennents’ cans and remained a staple for over 30 years.
They came about by accident after Tennent’s, which was already featuring scenic pictures of Scotland on their cans, started using pictures of model Ann Johanson, who featured in a series of images.
TV presenter Carol Smillie has previously spoken of her disappointment at missing out on the chance to be a “can-girl” when she was an aspiring model.
Edinburgh Evening News: Show cheers bevvy of beauties
Tennent’s Lager Lovelies Archive
Octoberfest is in full swing. Ah, I wish I could be there.
For those of you who, like me, are thousands of miles away from Munich, I offer you this poor substitute:
The history of Oktoberfest: Getting ready for Oktoberfest
What is an Octoberfest (Marzen) beer: Oktoberfest Style
Of course, what’s Octoberfest without Beermaids in traditional dirndls? LIVE – from Octoberfest
We did a series of posts comparing and contrasting a number of different Octoberfest beers.
Octoberfest: Sam vs. Saranac
Dogtoberfest – Flying Dog Brewery
Oktoberfest Beer Battle: Round 2
Octoberfest Beer Battle: Defending Champion from Brooklyn
Oktoberfest Beer Battle Champion
Of course, you can’t forget the food: Bratwurst w/ Sauerkraut for Oktoberfest
Maybe you can’t make it to Munich, but the most famous of beer festivals has inspired countless imitations. There are a couple of websites that can help you find one near you: Looking for a beer festival this weekend?
Of course, Ron and I, along with my brother Don and our good friend Max have our own version of Octoberfest:
Oktoberfest 2006 – Part I
Octoberfest 2006 – Part II
Octoberfest 2006 – Part III
Octoberfest – Postscript
This year’s version kicks off October 5.
So says SABMiller CEO Graham Mackay in a Fortune Magazine interview.
Oh really? I doubt SABMiller is going to get any of my business.
Tom Cizauskas at Yours for Good Fermentables has some interesting analysis of Mackay’s statement.
When you go camping in areas where there are bears, you need to take precautions to protect your food. Like hanging it in a tree, for instance.
Apparently, you also need to protect your beer as well.
At a campground about 80 miles northeast of Seattle, a black bear got into someone’s beer and downed three dozen cans.
BBC News: Boozy bear plunders campers’ beer
The bear also apparently is a bit of an enthusiast.
Fish and wildlife enforcement Sgt Bill Heinck said the bear tried one can of Busch and ignored the rest – then got stuck into three dozen cans of Rainier.
To capture the bear, the rangers used a trap of doughnuts, honey, and, of course, some more Rainier beer.
This seems an appropriate time to tell you my favorite bear joke:
How do you tell the difference between a black bear and a grizzly bear?
If you climb a tree to escape the bear, and the bear climbs the tree and eats you, it’s a black bear. If it knocks the tree down and eats you, it’s a grizzly bear.
The Coors Event Center is located on the University of Colorado campus and the home of the Buffaloes’ Men’s and Women’s Basketball teams.
The arena was given that moniker in 1990, in exchange for a $5 million contribution from the Adolph Coors Foundation.
Recently, it was announced that beer would no longer be served at University basketball games.
No more beer at games in Coors Event Center
Or maybe that should be “The Devil Went Down to Georgia”.
Georgia is not a state for beer enthusiasts. A decade ago there were eight breweries in Georgia. Now, there are three. Colorado, with half the population, has 44 breweries.
And it could get worse.
Fortune Small Business: Georgia breweries dry up
New rules governing brewery tours could reduce that number to zero, says Fred Bensch, owner of Sweetwater Brewing (sweetwaterbrew.com) in Atlanta, by driving away thirsty crowds and eliminating the brewers’ best marketing tool.
“This would totally cripple us,” he says. The dispute has been fermenting since May, when the Georgia Department of Revenue proposed limiting tastings to two ounces per brew. Under pressure, the revenuers raised the limit to 24 ounces, but with stipulations: Breweries can’t serve samples until tours are over, they can’t pour any beer if they charge admission (Sweetwater charges $8), and Sunday tastings are verboten.
It seems the entire Southeastern United States, excepting perhaps, Asheville, North Carolina, is rather hostile toward beer and alcohol. I guess none of us should be surprised that the NeoProhibitionists are so strong in the Bible Belt.
(This just came across my desk, so I apologize for it being less than a week before the event.)
Maryland Microbrewery Festival
SEPTEMBER 29, 2007 11AM – 7PM
Sanctioned and legislated by the State of Maryland as an Official State Event
Union Mills Homestead
3311 Littlestown Pike – Westminster, Md. [map]
The Union Mills Homestead, a nationally recognized historic landmark, will host the second annual Maryland Microbrewery Festival on September 29, 2007 11AM – 7PM. This fun-packed festival will celebrate and promote the best of Maryland’s handcrafted and distinctive microbrews.
Brewers represented at the 2007 festival
For more information – 410.848.2288
“You’re taking one for the team, so your buddy can live the dream.”
http://youtube.com/watch?v=UEVa2swtC10
I have good friends for whom I would do that. Or, rather, would have, since we’re all already married.
Remember:
Friends will help you move. True friends will help you move a body.
“Necessity is the mother of Invention.”
Or, to borrow from one of my kids’ favorite movies, Robots: “See a need; fill a need.”
That’s what Matt Younkle did. It seems the line at the bar was always too long. The reason? It took quite a bit of time for the bartenders to pour each beer and ensure that there wasn’t too much head. There had to be a better way.
Popular Science: How to Pour a Perfect Beer
To limit foam, Younkle grounded his design in fluid mechanics. He extended the tap nearly to the bottom of the glass and added an internal diverter shaped like a Hershey’s Kiss, which gently guides the beer outward as it exits the tap, preventing turbulence. Bartenders can crank up a keg’s pressure until it delivers a pint every three seconds and still create an ideal 1.5 inches of foam on every pour.
His invention is now being sold as the TurboTap, which claims: “One perfect pint. Two seconds.”
I suppose if you’ve got a long line thirsty people, pouring your beer as fast as possible is a good idea. Having the shaft of the tap in the beer, though, I would worry about contamination. For myself, anyway, watching in anticipation while my bartender pours the beer is part of the experience.
