History of the Week

Alcohol History Links for Feb 17 - 24
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Hops in Benton County

The Oregon Hops & Brewing Archives are diving into the history of hop farming in Benton County, Portland.

"I​’m currently in the midst of a quest to learn more about the history of hops in Benton County, more specifically the land in south Corvallis owned by the Lilly and Seavey families. That’s a post for another day, but in talking to folks about hops in Corvallis and digging into some research on labor for a food history guide, I got distracted by the story of German POWs who picked hops during WWII. Again, a story for another post. Looking for info about POWs in Salem didn’t lead in a straight line to my field trip to Independence, but it did FINALLY get me to the Heritage Museum."
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Cuneiforms

Great piece on exploring Mesopotamian cuneiform text.

"Which leads to another thought. Is that pattern a constant? Four grades of beer naturally created solely by the relationship between the sparge fluid and mash?  Following these rules you will have a 11%-ish beer, a 4%-ish one and a 1.25%-ish one. As well as whatever the heck double double was to create all that toil and trouble. A constant pattern. Could be. Could be."

Moving a Brewery

"Back in the early 1950’s Edinburgh city council had rather grand plans for redeveloping the Holyrood Palace end of the Royal Mile. Which was home to several breweries, including the Abbey and Holyrood breweries of William Younger."
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Pictures from the 60's

Boak & Bailey just scored some photos of pubs in the 1960's.
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Lentil Beer

Some tasting notes for the lentil beer brewed by the Brewing Classical crew.
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Symposium

A look into the definition and history of the symposium.
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African Beer Extinction

I feared this would come up eventually. Hope it doesn't happen!

"Traditional South African beer, brewed for centuries by peoples such as the Xhosa, is in danger of disappearing, according to Slow Food International, an organization trying to revive local food cultures."