Tag: The Session

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The Session for June 2025

Today, I will be portraying the role of the curmudgeon, the old guy yelling at clouds.  Why?  Can I not let the trivia folks enjoy their day in the sun?  This is as the moderator notes, a “flippant” month.  If it brings people into a brewery taproom or pub, what does it matter?

Well, first let’s watch this….

Though not a perfect reenactment, for trivia nights to get this minor roasting on Family Guy means that there are enough people out there who have encountered that scenario.  Though I tend to put my brewery visits into time slots where trivia nights are not, I have sat down with a pint only to see a lone person setting up a microphone and a computer and then noticing clumps of groups milling about.

Then the Charlie Brown Adults Talking occurs.  It may be Star Wars trivia, football trivia, whatever the topic du jour, you will only ever hear part of a question.  Who was the 19th……. Where is ….. located?

All phone and microphone issues aside, I know there are people, extroverts mostly, who dig nights out but I am always looking for that one person who was drug there or who is part of a work group and is not really participating.  The person glancing towards the door. That is my tribe.

Not that I am against any brewery or pub activity.  Darts or cornhole? Fine. Paint nights. Brush away.  My problem is that I have a hard enough time talking to the bartender or a friend in normal times with the usual jukebox playing let alone when a persons amplified voice is in competition with the iPhone playlist and all the other conversations swirling around me.

For now, I will just avoid those nights as best I can and when I do run pint first into one, I will be the guy at the table in the farthest reaches probably close to the exit door.

You can read all of the Session posts about this topic right HERE.

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The Session – May 2025

The May 2025 (or # 147) edition of The Session wants to “take us out of the ‘real world’ for a moment to share the beers and pubs in art and fiction that have grabbed our attention, whether they were sublime, surprising, moving, amusing, somehow significant, or symbolic of something — or awkward and out of place, if you like.”

Since I will be in Ireland when this post will go live, what immediately came to mind was the novel, Love by Roddy Doyle.  The author who you may know as the writer of The Commitments.  It is a book that could be more specifically titled Dublin Pub Crawl or The Really Long Session as it follows Davy and Joe, two friends who have reconnected later in life and who both have a River Liffey full of water under the bridge as it were.  Each pub and each pint brings new revelations but also paints a picture of how life passes and becomes filled with memories and actions both good and bad and imagined.

I won’t go into specific plot points because the different pubs like Sheehans, George’s, The Sheds, Grogans become a third character, more than just a setting, akin to a vibe as Davy and Joe reminisce and bicker in equal measure and those words hang in there like the smoke that encases an Irish pub even years after smoking was banned.

And the beer in the book has that same lived in feel, this isn’t some made up beer name or brewery.  No this is a pint of Harp, golden in the glass.  You can see it sitting on the bar in the branded glass.  You can imagine you and your bestie a few pints in and talking more emotionally and about moments that have been hidden from view as your tongue is loosened a bit.

I have read other books where characters go to a brewery and order an IPA or one of the friends works at a brewery and it is cool to read a shout out but it rarely goes much deeper than that which is why I appreciate a book like Love.

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The Session – April 2025

For the April 2025 edition of The Session (#146), Ding’s Beer Blog asks us where we find the greatest value in beer.

For me, value has been an evolution. As my beer education has continued, I have learned the how’s and why’s behind the price of a sour or a pastry stout. I have taken in the economics of where I live (Los Angeles) and how it affects the price of a can here versus the price somewhere else in the world. Now, I can make better value judgements / guesses.

And that leads me to being even more picky now than I ever have been. I will take a flyer on a beer but usually only one can or bottle not a four or six-pack. I will stop at one beer if the price is higher than average or I will opt for a taster flight instead. I do not give out trust to a brewery as fast or hold onto it for as long if quality dips.

Boiling it down, I value the recipe and its ingredients the most. I want to find a beer drinking experience that stops the world for a moment and becomes something more. There are plenty of great beers that I can easily drink without noticing a sip but an IPA that has an aroma that reminds me of a farmer’s market or a barrel-aged stout that takes me back to a moment in a Kentucky rickhouse holds more to me than the a brewery origin story or a piece of label artwork or frankly, for that matter the price.

A four dollar can might be seen as value in quantity but, for me, one sixteen dollar can will be more valuable in quality and if I can be transported by that one can, I will pay (up to a point since I do not descend from royalty) and I will be satisfied.

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Return of the Session

The Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday was the long running monthly digital get together for beer bloggers around the world to write about a single subject of beer-y interest.

The series was on indefinite pause at the end of 2018 but was re-started in 2025. (Though I missed hearing about it until this month) I hosted twice in the initial run and participated many more times and my contribution is below ( in italics) from the writing prompt of beer critique.  See the full assignment HERE so you can ponder your own response.

You can also go back and read past musings HERE.

There are some Session themes where the response just flows and others that are tougher nuts to crack. For March the assignment of a critique stymied me. Partially because the poser of the question, Matthew Curtis from Total Ales seemed to be looking for a certain type of response within tight parameters. (and even reserved the right to not add to the after party round-up if the brief was not met.)

After reading the instructions and reasoning behind the topic a few times, I could have done something new in my jocular, pointed and opinionated style or expanded on a past post to shoe-horn it into the Session but neither felt right to me because I think my idea of criticism and critique and when and where it should be used seems to be different from Curtis.

That is all to say that after consideration, I am going to pass and come back for the April subject of conversation.

We do need to hold breweries and craft beer to the mark and readers of the this blog have read my past takes and there are more constructive criticisms to come. In three days time, I will post my thoughts on brewery social media posts. And I will be reading what others have come up with this month because it is bound to be thought provoking.

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The Session – The Recap

UPDATED
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Well, the weekend started late Friday with an April Fool’s prank from Lagunitas which spiralled into less than a stellar response to my Session writing prompt.

Maybe my example of the long form tweet from Ray Daniels wasn’t the best see the Appellation Beer 1st paragraph but I thought it might break people out of the bubble of looking at Twitter. Further on in his contribution he let us in on some “could have been” Michael Jackson tweets that I think would make great beer conversation starters.

Speaking of conversation, Derrick from Ramblings of a Beer Runner brought up part of my issue with Twitter. How it doesn’t really lead to an exchange of ideas. He also doesn’t see the usefulness in comparison to Facebook or Instagram which I also agree with.

The Beer Nut took the tack of relaying the story of how Twitter piqued his interest in a beer from the British brewery Cloudwater. But he also worries that it is the same five or six breweries that seem to be getting all of the Twitter love.

Reuben Gray from The Tale of the Ale folded in the the foolish holiday and Twitter to show an example of using the day and social media together. More importantly he talked about the Daniels tweets in relation to Ireland craft beer.

Jon Abernathy who covers the Bend, Oregon beer beat under the Brewsite Blog threw a curve ball and used photos to talk up a brewery hundreds of miles away on the beach of Pacific City at the lovely Pelican Pub. It shows the power of photography and his skills at shooting glasses of beer.

Jack Perdue over at Deep Beer (which has a great logo) gave some insight into the world of beer in Baltimore in both the past and present. Having lived there for a few months a long, long time ago, his tweets made me nostalgic. Not for the beer scene then, but for what I missed and wish I could do over. Certainly there is Brewmore going on there.

Sadly that was the lot. I was hoping to hear a bit of vitriol maybe a bit of Twitter love but obviously my topic did not resonate. I was a bit put out that Jay Brooks, one of the Session founders couldn’t add something to the mix. I would have loved to read his thoughts.

Keep blogging’ about beer and have a great April!

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The Session # 110 – Twitter Beer

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It is easy to hate social media. It is cluttered, loud and repetitive. Then there is the privacy angle to untangle or the trollery from really hateful people. The sheer number of posts and photos and links is enough to make me turn off my iPad and head to the ‘fridge for a beer.

So, why then did I choose Twitter as a topic for beer bloggers? There were external factors such as the 10th anniversary of the first Tweet that happened in March as well as the possibility of Twitter expanding to more than 140 characters but really, I wanted to show that it is woven into the fabric of craft beer. With six tweets, I can show a concise little history of Los Angeles beer evolution. (Thanks in part to the First Tweet website)
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Starting with me and my blatantly stolen quote from Fred Eckhardt. That I joined Twitter a full two years+ after I started beer blogging lands me directly into the late adopter crowd. Unlike the brewery that is the base for L.A. brewing, Eagle Rock Brewery. They jumped right onto the bandwagon and said hello.
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At around the same time as Eagle Rock both Strand Brewing and Ladyface Ale Companie opened up shop and L.A. beer drinkers could entertain joining the ranks of cities that celebrate their local beer with a Beer Week all of our own. And later in 2009, LA Beer Week tweeted out the ticket information for the first fest that was held at Descanso Gardens.
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After that, more breweries started opening around Los Angeles. One that has gone on to great Great American Beer Festival acclaim is Beachwood Brewing based in Long Beach. Back in 2011 they were just getting ready to open. Little did they know that the block they live on would soon house two restaurants with craft beer an integral part of the menu but also their own Belgium-styled Blendery as well.
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Not all the news was rosy though. Just as it seemed LA was hitting its beer mile stride, Golden Road sold itself to SABInBevMiller (or whatever mashed-up name it is AKA now). I could find many an expletive filled tweet to illustrate this point but instead, chose another craft beer industry tweet to show that beer can be promoted on Twitter and then talked about over a pint while the video streams across the world.
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But that is so last year, it would take a lot of scrolling to find that vitriol now especially when at about the same time, another brewery on the same road that was golden opened up. Brewyard has taken the mantle of the small and local brewery and will hopefully be Tweeting for years to come.
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In the Tap Lines for April 2016

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Water retention is up in NorCal but the weather has been 99% dry here in SoCal. Maybe April will bring some wet weather which would be better for drinking some cozy up by the fire stronger beers. Maybe that is just the hopeful April Fool in me.

~ e-visits to three breweries in North Carolina and Georgia. The theme being states under fire for possible/future oppressive laws
~ special featured reviews of beers from Portland (continues)
~ Heads-Up on Los Angeles Beer Events
~ Three suggested beers to buy this month. One light, one medium and one dark
~ A Book & A Beer reads the One City-One Book for Glendale.
~ I will tap the Firkin and give my no holds barred opinion on the craft beer world
~ … and Session # 110 is hosted by ME! and covers the topic, “Twitter”

Here are two events to get your April started in the Los Angeles craft beer world:
1) April 1st – The Doughroom will tap a rare keg of Panil Barrique.
2) April 3rd – Southland Beer will host a sipping session with Tahoe Mountain Brewing

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Session # 110 – Reminder

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Here is my pitch for the April Fool’s Edition of The Session:

With the possible lifting of word sanctions on Twitter, the Dickensian multi-part tweets from the likes of Patton Oswalt may become a quaint relic of the past.

But in February, Ray Daniels, the man behind the Cicerone program used the platform for a thirteen Tweet theory about how many breweries, are too many and if craft beer could become like wine with consumers buying based on varietal and not producer. You can read his tweets HERE or if you have great eyesight check out the image below.
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So, before the 140 letter limit is lost, how about us in the beer blogging realm take one last crack at “original” Twitter.

Some possible routes to take:
-write your own beer theory in multi-parts. Be it 1/15 or 1/20
-use Twitter for your own craft beer April Fool’s Day prank
-channel your inner web troll and go all negative on a topic
-debate or applaud the points made by Daniels in under 140 characters
-talk about brevity and how it affects writing about beer

You can do it on Twitter or on your own blog or both. Just no Instagram.

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Session # 110 – Announcement

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Here is my pitch for the April Fool’s Edition of The Session:

With the possible lifting of word sanctions on Twitter, the Dickensian multi-part tweets from the likes of Patton Oswalt may become a quaint relic of the past.

But in February, Ray Daniels, the man behind the Cicerone program used the platform for a thirteen Tweet theory about how many breweries, are too many and if craft beer could become like wine with consumers buying based on varietal and not producer. You can read his tweets HERE or if you have great eyesight check out the image below.
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So, before the 140 letter limit is lost, how about us in the beer blogging realm take one last crack at “original” Twitter.

Some possible routes to take:
-write your own beer theory in multi-parts. Be it 1/15 or 1/20
-use Twitter for your own craft beer April Fool’s Day prank
-channel your inner web troll and go all negative on a topic
-debate or applaud the points made by Daniels in under 140 characters
-talk about brevity and how it affects writing about beer

You can do it on Twitter or on your own blog or both. Just no Instagram.

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The Session # 109 – “Porter”

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Mark Lindner has announced the topic for The Session #109 will be Porter. Before you say “That’s so 2007” hear him out.
Possibilities include:
•Contrast and/or compare two or more of the styles
•Contrast and/or compare two or more beers within/across porter styles
•The history and development of the style
•Your love/hate relationship with any porter style
•Baltic porter – ale or Lager or a mixed fermentation?
•Is hopping the only difference between English and American styles?
•Food pairings with your favorite porter or style of porter
•Review the porter(s) you are using as a creative springboard
•Construct a resource along the lines of Jay Brooks’ Typology style pages, see for example American Barley Wine or Bock.
•Recipe and procedures for brewing your version of a great porter

There is probably no way for me to write an interesting look at Porter. Sounds defeatist, I know, but that is the strength and weakness of the style. Much like its brethren in the style that I call “Sturdy” (amber ale, brown ale, ESB for example). This is a style that can be dressed up and fussed with but you still don’t forget who they are. And what they are is, well, boring and solid.

If I were to really bore you, I could review different porters. Boy would you love to read the same descriptors repeated like Marco Rubio in a debate. Or I could pair porters with hearty fare fit for a “sturdy” beer. That would stun a reader. Maybe delve into the weirdest ingredients put into a Porter. Followed by how it mostly still tasted like a Porter basically.

If I could work up enough rancor, I could write a scathing piece about my hatred of the style but even the most troll-y of trolls would be hard pressed to come up with insults against Porter. It is more Teflon than Donald Trump’s hair and poll numbers. You can hate some experimental chili pepper Shandy but a Porter? Nope.

On the flip side, I couldn’t work up much enthusiasm either. Like the inevitable coronation of Clinton come November, it doesn’t have the piss and vinegar of Bernie Sanders who would most certainly be a Single Hop Simcoe Sour IPA.

Others can talk at length about the history and others can compare recipe notes with education and practice backing up their thesis statements. As a craft beer fan, all I can do is say that if I had the top five porters on tap in front of me and an experimental beer from some unknown brewer, I would pick the experiment. The only reason that I bought the one porter in my ‘fridge is because it has former Trailblazer and eponymous namesake Terry Porter on it.

You can argue that American Craft brewers have changed the face of Porter and I would be hard pressed to filibuster that contention. But even the most obscure and near extinction beers have been put into the American brewing blender and come out the other side ready for their close-up. Porter isn’t special in this regard.

America likes its craft beer flashy and its politicians even flashier so let’s wrap up the political tie-in. John Kasich might be the Porter doppleganger. Low poll numbers, probably a good vice-presidential pick but seriously edged off of any stage by the flashier beers.