History of the Week

Alcohol History Links March 24 - 31
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On how to run a Pub

Boak & Bailey review a book from 1965 which details how to properly care for a pub.

"He opens the book with what we now recognise as the traditional ‘Abandon All Hope’ warning:

So you fancy entering the Licensed Trade? You have thought it over and made up your mind that serving drinks to an unappreciative and sometimes downright rude public is just the life for you? … To make a real success of Barmanship you have got to like it… From the customer’s side of the bar some very strange ideas prevail about the ‘wonderful life’ behind the bar. These often stem from semi-alcoholics who think it must be heaven to be surrounded by unlimited drink."

Pondering on Cream Ale

An ad from the Jewish Daily News from November 1916 promoting Wiedenmayer's Imperial Cream Ale.
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Millet Beer Tasting

Brewing Classical Styles taste their millet beer they brewed a few weeks back! Also be sure to check out their weekly translation, this time from Athenaeus's Deipnosophists.

Mr. Reynolds of New Haven

The wine and liquor merchant from New Haven, Mr. Hugh J. Reynolds, and his fight against calling neutral spirits Whiskey.

"And so, a local paper devoted many column inches in 1911 to Reynolds’ opinions on the now-resolved whiskey labelling question. In summary, he approved of long aging of straight whiskey, not even four years (a modern industry standard), but between 10 and 12 years."
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Bert Grant's Brewpub

An attempt to find the first brewpub to open in the US in Yakima, Washington.

Brewing in 1869 era London

A brief look into the brewing industry of London.

"Assuming two bushels of malt to a barrel of beer, I calculate that in 1859 around  3.9 million barrels were brewed in London, an average of around 26,000 barrels per brewery. In total, 19,152,564 barrels were brewed in the UK in 1859*, leaving around 15.3 million barrels brewed outside London. Dividing that by the 38,976 brewers outside London gives an average of just 392 barrels per brewery. Clearly brewing in London was on a much grander scale."
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Musselburgh brewing

From April 6 to June 3, the Scottish Brewing Archive Association is putting on an exhibit on the history of brewing in Musselburgh.
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Smithsonian Brewing Historian begins

Theresa McCulla  begins her trip through the US researching American brewing history.

"Embarking on a research trip is always an exciting time for a historian, but this trip is especially important to me because it's the first one I'm making as brewing historian for the Smithsonian's Brewing History Initiative. I'll be on the road in northern California conducting oral histories with brewers, touring their operations, and delving into storage rooms to identify objects for possible future collection."
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Century old Czech Beers

(I never thought I'd link to a Daily Mail article) Recently, researchers uncovered three beers which were stored in a brewery cellar around World War I. According to the sensory analysis team, the flavors ranged from fecal to fruity.

Serbian Beer History

Apparently I need to go to Serbia.

"Beer has been steadily gaining in popularity in Serbia and two new beer museums have opened in the last few years alone. A third is set to open in 2018."