Posts directly inspired by The Session — the group beer-blogging exercise from the beforetimes, revived in 2025
In the brief for the latest round of The Session, Matt Curtis calls for a piece of critical writing about beer or pubs. I feel like that’s what I usually do around here, but I’m going to take his invitation to focus on a particular aspect of bar culture — something that I think very few venues get right, which is both a problem in itself and a handy metaphor for other issues worth fixing. Please, bartenders of the world, I beg you: do not build an unbroken barricade of barstools.
Given that I built this place and can visit any time, it’s a little strange to say “I miss being here” — but I do. I know why I haven’t been around more often; a mix of factors internal and external that’d be familiar-enough to anyone else who does this kind of thing: timing, distractions, self-doubt, and difficulty gathering the energy to do the work on a deep-dive, or to brace for the blowback on something critical, or push past feelings of futility. It’s oddly comforting the reasons are so mundane — they’re all addressable (if not actually solvable) problems. So I’m going to try.1
Continue reading Better to write a ramble than to curse the darkness
For the second installment of The Session’s 2025 reboot (despite best intentions, I missed the first one for reasons that may soon be obvious), Boak & Bailey asked: “What’s the best beer you can drink at home right now?” In normal circumstances, I might’ve gone on a riff about the troublesome idea of “best” (or even “good”) but right now it’s the notion of “home” that’s more complicated for me. Anyway, the answer is still clear enough: it’s National Bohemian — Natty Boh, to its friends.
Continue reading Home is where the six-pack of plain pale lager is
Preamble for beginners:1 The Session is a long-running monthly collaborative blog-thing wherein diverse people muse over a certain predetermined topic. Despite reading a possibly-unhealthy amount of beer-related writings,2 I’ve never joined in before, but was moved to do so when invited / challenged by James Davidson (of Beer Bar Band), to make a pithy (i.e., short) ‘elevator pitch’ for better beer.
The four word version of my answer came to me immediately, but I’m entitled to a somewhat-roomier 250, so I might as well use them. I’m looking forward to seeing what else people come up with today, but for what it’s worth, here’s me:
It all comes down to that.3 And it doesn’t matter whether you’re in the elevator talking to a consumer, producer, commentator, or — let’s face it — yourself.
Drink what you like, how you like.4 Be open to new things, but an informed and tested preference is unimpeachable — and you should assert it. Don’t be cowed by fashion or peer pressure or the tragic one-way-street of ‘brand loyalty’. Sensory experiences occur privately in the brain; cherish that, and leave others to their weird decisions while you enjoy yours.
Brew what you like, how you like. If you’re worrying about what “leading breweries” are doing, you aren’t one and likely won’t become one. Doing anything well will steadily stoke demand for exactly that thing. Don’t mislead your customers about who you are or how you operate — there’s nothing inherently wrong with any particular scale or business model, but there’s a lot wrong with bullshit.
Say what you believe, with your own slant. Objectivity’s basically unattainable, and little fun anyway. Be up front about your biases, nail your colours, and speak truth — whether brutal, rhapsodic, ramblingly personal, or partisan. Every unique and genuine voice is valuable signal in the ongoing conversation. Inauthenticity is noise pollution.
Know thyself, as our friend5 Socrates (probably) said. A little more honesty — internally and externally — will get us a long way.
1: Including myself. ↑
2: Seriously, you should see my Feedly. Which is, by the way, proving very handy since the demise of Google Reader. Actually, you probably should see my Feedly. I must do a round-up for Beerpeople I Like To Read, one day. There’s buckets of good stuff out there. ↑
3: In just 1.6% of the allocated time! ↑
4: Just be moderate — in moderation.a ↑
— a: Which apparently isn’t Oscar Wilde — and he’s also wrongly cited for the “Be yourself, everyone else is taken” which could nicely sum up my (unusually brief) ramble, here. (Though he does have a somewhat-similar “Most people are other people” in De Profundis, apparently.) ↑
5: He’s in the Bruces’ Philosophers Song twice; surely he counts as a friend. ↑