A rundown of pitching barrels and why it was done, according to Julius Thausig circa 1882.
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​Your weekly translations from Brewing Classical - if anyone out there knows the color of Roman wine, please let them know!

​Stan Hieronymus stops by the BeerSmith vlog to talk about his new book, including a discussion about the start of the brewing industry in America.

A timeline of breweries in Alexandria, Minnesota.
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Wild forms of an old hop yard were used in a batch of cream ale from ​TWB Cooperative Brewery, London.
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A write up on the recent efforts of reviving food and drink from residue analysis and historical recipes.
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This one was brought to my attention by Merryn Dineley, and talks about a recent archaeological discovery of an old drying kiln. Although there is no mention of brewing, it was more than likely used to make malt.
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A recent study makes the claim that the short dormancy periods in barley is more ideal for beer brewing.

"The wild barley’s long dormancy means that, initially, the grain will not germinate in response to transient moisture availability and will therefore survive hot, dry summers. As a result seeds like wild-type barley that undergo a long state of “dormancy” at maturity – during which they will not germinate –are favoured for food crops. In contrast a short dormancy is more efficient and preferable for beer making."

Things have cooled (or at least the fear has subsided) down this week, but still hard to wrap my head around whats been going on back home. Time to get back to researching and writing! Anyhow, your weekly history links:
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Translations of a text from Theophrastus, stating how Egyptians use Malinthalle (Tiger nuts) in brewing. Be sure to check out the homebrew follow up!
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A few links from vimeo which document the current pub scene in Britain.

"The similarity in tone of these films and others — wistful, slightly sad — says something about how the pub is viewed in 21st Century Britain. We suppose it’s because it feels fragile or endangered as an institution that people feel motivated to document it, while they still can."
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The history behind the American Brewing Company in St. Louis.

"One might think A.B.C. was a small player in 1903. Not the case. Kargau correctly explains that most businesses which gain success do so over a lengthy period, but there are “exceptions” and A.B.C. was one. As he showed, St. Louis actually counted fewer breweries in 1903 than 1860, when no less than 40 dotted the city. The reason was telling: the scale and technological sophistication required of brewing by turn of the century meant the future was for large, well-capitalized concerns. Small players could not survive, they hadn’t the time to grow slowly over decades."
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Although this doesn't divulge into brewing history, it is a nice short piece on the political situation in the US and the brewing industry.

​"But it's worth mentioning, on a week in which it at least feels like we've had a political earthquake, that elections do matter. And they can affect things as remote and unconcerned with politics as beer. We know this because the beers we drink were in so many ways shaped by politics, near and distant. The history of beer is a political one."
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What a week it was, too...Hopefully this will provide some distraction!
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Remembering the hotel guide writer John Willy:

"Modern-day pub crawlers, you have nothing on them.

The drinks described up to dinner point are various: whiskey, Champagne, sparkling burgundy (a pre-Pro favourite in America). But the group itself posed finally the obvious question: where’s the beer, we’re in Milwaukee!"
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Translations of a quote from Strabo, mentioning beer from Iberia.
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"On the 8th and 9th of September (2016) our whole project team headed over to Sussex to participate in a ‘Knowledge Exchange Workshop’ with the Weald & Downland Open Air Museum. In basic terms this involved us telling museum workers some of our findings about work activities in early modern England, and in turn them showing us how some of the activities would have been done in the period. The event was fascinating and fun in equal measure, and I wanted to take the opportunity in this blog to provide a brief account of some of the highlights and offer some thoughts on how this type of interaction between ‘academic history’ and ‘living history’ can be particularly fruitful."
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Crowdfunding campaign for a beer museum.
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The folks over at Boak & Bailey's graciously indulged my question as to why "the cask hand-pump system didn’t develop in mainland Europe? Or am I missing something?"  It's something I've always wondered, since its so prolific in England. Yet, as usual, the rabbit hole goes much deeper.
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​Breweries and distillers during the 1800s used to produce books discussing the history and evolution of their business. Although it was simply a marketing tactic, has proved to be an invaluable source of information about brewing history. This takes a look at a book “ from the former P. Ballantine & Sons, now part of Pabst. It has its own twist, however: the theme of revisiting the “inn” or “tap-room” of 1840. That was the year the brewery relocated to larger premises in Newark, NJ from its start in Albany, NY seven years before.”
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Your weekly translation! But be sure to check out this ​spontaneous fermented ale write up.

​Some thoughts on snug bars and winter warmers in the UK.
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​18th century demonstration of brewing.
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Write up on the recent efforts to recreate a Jewish beer from Quebec, thanks in part to Gary Gillman!

See another write up here

Recreating a braggot from residue analysis on a cauldron found in Tuebingen, Germany.
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The founders of a bar in Atlanta, USA awarded knighthood by the Brotherhood of the Brewers Paddle in Belgium for promoting Belgian beers.

Earthquake destroyed historic basilica, which housed a recent monk-run brewery.
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The announcement of a new book on the brewing history in Burton from Ian Webster.
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If you have memories of living with and working at Burton's breweries from any time from the 1940s to the 1980s, contact Ian Webster on 01283 343323, email burtonsbrewingmemories@gmail.com or find the groups on social media.
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A recent dig at an ancient cemetery uncovered a few complete beakers.
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A brief look into beer in Baltimore.
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As stated by Brookstone Beer Bulletin:The Session, a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday, is an opportunity once a month for beer bloggers from around the world to get together and write from their own unique perspective on a single topic. This month The Session is hosted by Beer Meets Business, who would like to know what we think we will see more of in the future of craft beer. Tough topic, as it 's hard to separate what I want to see and what will actually happen.
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The same. We will see new breweries popping up, offering the same flashy keywords they need to deliver to attach themselves to the craft beer market. Whether they're brewing hop-forward beers to make the next great IPA, sessionable beers for drinkability, or wild ales to capture a region’s terroir, the craft beer market is still a niche. There is still plenty of room for other brewers to come in, and each will find a way to brew beer in their own way. Essentially, the boring answer is, the brewing industry will carry on as normal. Breweries have bought other breweries in the past, others have brewed the most popular style, while others were dedicated to ‘traditional’ beers. So, I guess we’re at the new age of the normalization of the brewing industry.

I’m not trying to be pessimistic. The more the merrier, as they say. It’s just, looking at history, shake-ups in the brewing industry only come once in a long while. Look at Egypt; they had a (seemingly) continuous brewing culture for 3,000 years until the Greeks came and messed it all up (apologies to Brewing Classical). But really, the biggest changes to European beer have been the industrialization of brewing, the proliferation of hops, Pasteur’s work on S. cerevisiae and the advent of lager beer. One could make the argument too that all-brett beers are the newest form of beer, but that remains to be seen.