The Session is a long-running and recently-rebooted series in which bloggers (and posters of other kinds) collectively contemplate a given prompt and respond however it moves them. For the May 2025 edition, I invited folks to think about the beer and pubs in art and fiction (broadly defined) that captured their attention, and to say a few words about why. And so now it’s my pleasure to share the many different (if interestingly overlapping) places people’s minds went from there.
Sometimes, I still wonder about a late career change into puppetry. I grew up with The Muppet Show and the wider Jim Henson universe of creatures (Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, Labyrinth; all that) and it had a lasting impact. I’m always quick to recommend one particular incarnation that has been unfairly overlooked, and I’m going to take the opportunity1 to do so again here and now — partially because of its excellent depiction of pub life, and one perfect jab at craft beer.
The other Wedgetail, with a suitably-high vantage point — original photo by John Tann (2014, CC-BY licensed)
The first fun fact I noticed about the recent Australian International Beer Awards was that the two headline Champion Beers were both dead straight lagers: the dark lager from Western Australia’s unassuming Wedgetail Brewing, and the flashy and award-laden American version of Trumer Pils2 — opposites, in some ways, but united in being untrendy simplicity that stood out among a crowd of thousands. For the rest, I needed a few days with a messy dataset and a massive spreadsheet…
You can tell it’s a nerdy one when it starts with a diagram rather than a photo
I’m going to try and convince you that this an interesting graph. It charts the relative performance, at last year’s Australian International Beer Awards, of all the beers that were entered twice; once in keg, and again packaged. This year’s judging is currently underway in Melbourne, so the process is on my mind, and this is a rare opportunity to test a common belief that breweries more able to sacrifice a whole keg are at an advantage.3 Short answer: only a little, if at all.
Closeup of Peter Krøyer’s ‘Interior of a Tavern’ (1886)
I’m hosting the May 2025 edition of The Session,4 and I’d like 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. Gather your thoughts, or keep an eye out over the next few weeks, and let’s enjoy them together at the end of the month.
ABAC v. Hop Nation, as perceived by craft beer nerds
Launched at Australia’s biggest beer festival and allegedly the first local commercial hazy IPA, Hop Nation’s ‘Jedi Juice’ had a strong following. In 2019, many of its fans were outraged when, after a complaint, the alcohol advertising regulator ruled it in breach of standards, prompting the brewery to slightly change its branding — though they still often reference the saga. So, for May The Fourth, let’s look back.
Disclaimer-disclaimer: I do not approve of their message
Excise tax might be the hot-button issue in Australian beer at the moment. It’s quickly mentioned whenever troubles with the industry (such as brewery closures) are discussed, and has become an election issue with parties in and out of government making various promises of reform or relief. Sadly, the ‘debate’ is undermined by half-truths and misinformation. I want to push back against that, focusing on a particular widely-shared clip by Queensland’s Blackflag Brewing.
I’ve worked in the beer industry for nearly two decades. I met a huge proportion of my friends through it. I write this. It is a significant part of my identity. And it’s not an easy time for beer, right now. But it makes me extremely uncomfortable when people — in the business, or the wider subculture — call for direct, targeted support from government. I want to try and explain why, with help from a simple piece of moral philosophy nicely illustrated by, of all things, an episode of Bluey.
Not quite “free to a good home” — but just a few dollars
For the April edition of The Session, we’re asked where we find the greatest value in beer. I think overall I want choice, because I believe in context and the many moods of beer — in a given moment, I might be anywhere on spectrum from risk aversion to adventurousness, or from frugality to go on then, which isn’t quite the same thing. When breweries, retailers and venues push too hard on price-per-unit narrowly defined, that puts a thumb on the scale, distorting my deliberations and eroding other senses of the value of beer.
The Washington Monument in 2277 — at least according to Fallout 3
Ever since reading an excellent travelogue through, and review of, all the bars in The Witcher 3,5 I’ve been taking better notes about the beer I find when I play games. It’s the same impulse that leads me to document the relevant clues in the crossword; where and how beer shows up can tell us something about its place in the wider culture. And since moving to Washington D.C., I’ve had occasional flashbacks to the Fallout games6 — the first one I played is set here, so let’s start with that and then compare and contrast a few others.
