Brewnotes

Via Stan Hieronymus – Pierre Celis has died.    He brought wit, AKA “Belgian White”,  back from the dead in the form of Hoegaarden and the now defunct Celis Brewing in Austin, TX .     Thank you Pierre – well done mate.

No, I wouldn’t even think of trying this myself, but this interesting nonetheless.    He is giving up all food and attempting to live solely on beer.   Check out this link for the full story.

"Three hundred or four hundred years ago, a group of Paulaner monks in a Bavarian region had made a stronger beer in a town called Einbeck and they called it bock. The monks started making a stronger beer, a double beer, called doppelbock," Sorensen said. "The story goes the monks would give up eating and literally would drink this ‘liquid bread’ to sustain them through their Lenten fast."

It allows 18 shipments per year, but Maryland citizens are only allowed to buy wine shipped directly from wineries. The bill does not allow people to buy wine from retail outlets or auction houses.

Sorry everyone – you aren’t going to be shipping in that hard to find beer.  

More details here.

Hooray – some of my civil rights were actually restored today.     Maryland has finally done what 37 states have previously recognized.

It’s clear that this bill isn’t everything that everyone wanted, but it represents progress and I’m glad to take it.       With that said, I still feel that the distributors are entirely too strong in this state.    Short and simple – their lobby killed the effort to be able to buy wine from any retailer.

UPDATE: More info here.

Considering that Sen. Joan Carter Conway was instrumental in not allowing the bill to get out of committee last year, this is great news.

Via CNBC…. “Sen. Joan Carter Conway, D-Baltimore, on Thursday told lobbyists and two lawmakers during a gathering in a Senate committee room that a bill to legalize direct shipping would be passed.”

Conway later states the obvious…..

"We’re going to give you something," Conway told the group. "It might not be something you’re all going to be happy with."

Stay tuned.

This article from the BBJ says that Baltimore City, Baltimore County and Frederick County all support this effort.     I’m all for it, but doubt it will get the traction it needs to really happen.

The simple fact is that the restaurant association is against this because this is cutting into their highest profit margins.    It is a reality that restaurants charge 2-3x the wholesale cost they are paying for liquor, wine & beer.

Just a small note that it isn’t wise to leave a full Corny keg of sanitizing liquid outside during freezing weather.    Yeah – it’s ruined.  

Stephen Beaumont has a great post today – Lessons on Beer Style From Keef

The BA’s categories do work well in the role for which they have been fashioned, specifically to provide medal categories for the Great American Beer Festival and the World Beer Cup. But in using them for anything beyond that purpose, we’d be wise to recall that one person’s jazz is another’s blues

My take: beer categories are a good reference point so that we can communicate about a beer.    Outside of that context, they really are bullsh*t – right up there with the 100 point rating system on wines.