{"id":19048,"date":"2017-04-28T10:48:10","date_gmt":"2017-04-27T22:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=19048"},"modified":"2017-04-28T13:48:32","modified_gmt":"2017-04-28T01:48:32","slug":"fresh-hypocrisy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/","title":{"rendered":"Fresh hypocrisy"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_19052\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19052\" style=\"width: 1200px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baxendale-hops.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[19048]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19052\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/baxendale-hops\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baxendale-hops.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"1200,480\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;So fresh&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baxendale-hops-300x120.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baxendale-hops-1024x410.jpg\" class=\"size-full wp-image-19052\" src=\"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baxendale-hops.jpg\" alt=\"Hops at the Baxendale family estate, Golden Bay (March 2016)\" width=\"1200\" height=\"480\" srcset=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baxendale-hops.jpg 1200w, https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baxendale-hops-300x120.jpg 300w, https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baxendale-hops-768x307.jpg 768w, https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Baxendale-hops-1024x410.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1200px) 100vw, 1200px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19052\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">So fresh*<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Last week saw a nicely-timed bit\u00a0of beer journalism: just as us New Zealanders were settling down to enjoy this year&#8217;s batch of green-hopped<span id='easy-footnote-1-19048' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/#easy-footnote-bottom-1-19048' title='&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;A photo like the above is mandatory, this time of the year. Two caveats for mine: these ones aren&amp;#8217;t so much fresh as &lt;em&gt;unripe&lt;\/em&gt; since they had a couple weeks&amp;#8217; growing left to do \u2014 and they&amp;#8217;d be super-stale\u00a0&lt;em&gt;now&lt;\/em&gt; anyway on account of that photo being from early March 2016 when I was visiting a friend&amp;#8217;s family&amp;#8217;s property in Golden Bay, where they grow their own. But at least I didn&amp;#8217;t use &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/www.google.co.nz\/search?tbs=sbi:AMhZZivK8qMA5ihVTpka7ynNzahY_15TUhIj1LvpIkVH0syzPQr19TYfa0XZN9HR_1lhFb8tXna2due1i-l6xHyeXExFlR-jS_1zm_1ftF3U_1gYJ8Htp7wpBjiOwAAL4sO-oO54QA0HnenIFIo2FlmbfId6yZZ6B0xLPMgRqlb0-h-tXpnunFf_1qbKKHeR6piIu_1n3j3ydtALh0iBLYaRhiejbcifOQSD1LJL843ZGUtjv4yl03FwMJlKgeaMrXsuzfT1JEnQI_1eP0gZg4wFLj717gtZ-ruN9KWB7XzA_1ssRqSXBlcWd-VTj7zz61RhceqGojk3qJMB3aIWo-6C4blBmcg3f445ccFqSTeFz9xekMLwGgLpByftGpr07AX6-3v8FK65mWZlXFJy62hX5pT31axPlm1qwOlG5DiVZsz1nxD8K0FP0DFdf8ToZ26IqjlHQs4Pox2s4D58rMzcdi0ljGT_1Ro2PxEZEqsH1scq5IaA1PNINhuUis1qVMVLCTLwj-NRNS037ZKSn7P4qdKJX0RJZ-J712KV5qTz3aB3MZbfRMV8rEQt5RDnYusRFjmQIAthk1SLtZDKyvEz8m8uB2-CcFojkwlvGAHQeo9AX3TB9KSHHiwFGkvx8ekTljIVoL-gMKasRwQL8aI5QSHRqG7J4C5D7FnJzjiur_1_13-aXhbZ6zGnFDQ7q1IxSdWjV2CoLGsGU3K4vYldqeIGQHw6WtmfF-pVQq96bImftLD4TeEJLqvJuhvp_10h3MePBa3mj3utfBRXcgM9BiRoL7Wal2jLYbpe_1y5_17dV1ZhX9082TQIwKuRQR64I7yBqwJTwulTF1ep-Obb-5sWU6E9okQ_1a7dFl-X7_1VlXqMLYi3breo4a-HWLyIEiSCyGMCOipJYtvFALevI5yysLC0rwb4824R4T_1QhRShbSn_17OYmw7M7UvyPHnyhGPq5lwRU3pgbYbPmCbOtoFryxmQG96dlhmyQPafW3auH_15IILBEgOkPec_1WK7tCICHC8iv0HJS-8GhEjuO-dmkIN7LgVPjp0owJUH3kSQAtR20U0m5gcGZqMjkFxtzHiPDQRkpGnJjE3qK-XJxSjsWPnCj96ABos5SP2gYlcgcBIp_1MwGxF_1tDMofWDwAWWYmYrpv592agthIRLKp82e_1ztKJPYbfcFy2hq09hAccoAFnIxyJ6UIKIIYzPesMK_1kAKVMoqsLiQU0xAw-W8UA8q6lo8HYWN-omM_1rDvELKLMNVzMnZQGVo_16vF4nie8CdLEZHFLJKCorXVPoLjQlXGvBlvEiy2-lRfsJBr1GU_1UUlDejnHaZg9q1pzBobMRhEerzvubcSVoaq39PMS0aTTNjpy2-JmfCnRvrLWKLQltDV8er-imicn8FloGPunHsO4baf-rTckBoqX_1cI5q5AqnUNGond7z5yU0CKtqBcsiTzcKROnnIckFLCaVotqFUK-Oi-X3lX-YDVzZ9NSguImkJDtj8HwPfcZkI6QK49i1QMab3qtxZYTlz2dOcY5rTLLHVJ_1z0dLIYcNsbr4CsAsTW5gh1JZzu6oz7D3HRWKAkz7fYmb0sw9ocJKfzPP2pRqqfr4zJiBnv4B0-R_14meAYO_1zUkK9SRgV866P2XQTFgtPVUo3vfBNT281FbNxG2Ex-w9P9obqJc6rU83c3T-Y5uKcHd-y7Q1cYpM7uQRwvnG6NBy8RJHS5qow8AjYUVcrs0kkp6XWFqcWkttx1eNuiV82VcALWs9FqvA3yMppfM7AOWOGBNR7SeVTQe0p6yPoz12-kJSGRvHTtHJ7aGlIsB1vGlFJXk1BLOkVQdabv72E3w&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;that one image\u00a0from Wikipedia that gets recycled endless millions of times online&lt;\/a&gt;.&lt;\/span&gt;'><sup>1<\/sup><\/a><\/span> beers\u00a0\u2014 served within days of their release \u2014 a flurry kicked off online about the dodgy practice of some U.S. breweries putting longer &#8220;best before&#8221; lifespans on beers they send to Australia than what they are labeled with back home. So a can of, say, Stone&#8217;s Go To IPA will have a <a href=\"http:\/\/www.stonebrewing.com\/freshness\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">much-hyped<\/a> 120-day &#8216;expiry&#8217; in California, but get given a whole year on the shelf in Canberra. It&#8217;s a saga worth reading through, if you haven&#8217;t already, and perfectly illustrates a nice little point of moral philosophy<span id='easy-footnote-2-19048' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/#easy-footnote-bottom-2-19048' title='&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;Which, by the way, is &lt;em&gt;a&lt;\/em&gt;) the thing I&amp;#8217;m technically trained in, and\u00a0is in turn &lt;em&gt;b&lt;\/em&gt;) probably why I&amp;#8217;m still a bartender \u2014 and also coincidentally &lt;em&gt;c&lt;\/em&gt;) what I&amp;#8217;m supposed to be working on right now, since I re-enrolled in some postgrad for some daft reason and I have an assignment due.&lt;\/span&gt;'><sup>2<\/sup><\/a><\/span> \u2014 that hypocrisy is a\u00a0<em>special kind<\/em> of dickishness.<\/p>\n<p><!--more--><\/p>\n<p>The reading order, if you&#8217;re keen, goes like this:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/beerisyourfriend.org\/2017\/04\/17\/hops\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Glen Humphries&#8217; post on\u00a0<em>Beer Is Your Friend<\/em><\/a> (skip the comments, for now)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/AleofaTime\/posts\/1196932947072690\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke Robertson&#8217;s Facebook sharing of said post<\/a>, which attracted a back-and-forth among a few people who weren&#8217;t entirely forthcoming about (though didn&#8217;t try to actually hide) the fact they worked for Australian distributors of such beers<\/li>\n<li>(For extra credit: the wall-of-text comments from John Latta, first on Glen&#8217;s post then on Luke&#8217;s, who also runs one of those distributors)<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/goodbeerhunting.com\/sightlines\/2017\/4\/18\/stone-australia-date-codes-exports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Good Beer Hunting&#8217;s summation of the issue from the U.S.<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/aleofatime.com\/2017\/04\/spoiler-alert-age\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Luke&#8217;s follow-up and elaborated thoughts on beer freshness<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Patterns quickly emerge in the responses from the brewers who adopt this strategy and the distributors who play along (or perhaps suggest it in the first place): it&#8217;s a commercial necessity (given the extra shipping time and such), and anyway it matches the practice of others in the Australian market\u00a0\u2014 so what&#8217;s the big deal..?<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_19083\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-19083\" style=\"width: 300px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout.jpg\" rel=\"lightbox[19048]\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"19083\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/stone-w00tstout-square-crop\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout-square-crop.jpg\" data-orig-size=\"575,575\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"&lt;p&gt;W00tstout \u2014 a Stone beer that&amp;#8217;d age gracefully&lt;\/p&gt;\n\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout-square-crop-300x300.jpg\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout-square-crop.jpg\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-19083\" src=\"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout-square-crop-300x300.jpg\" alt=\"Stone W00tstout at their 'City Tap Takeover' here in Wellington\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout-square-crop-300x300.jpg 300w, https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout-square-crop-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout-square-crop.jpg 575w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-19083\" class=\"wp-caption-text\"><a href=\"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2014\/03\/24\/stones-city-tap-takeover\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">W00tstout in Wellington<\/a>, served unnecessarily fresh<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>And, admittedly, freshness <em>is<\/em> a fraught issue. Like almost everything else in this business, subjectivity complicates things; there&#8217;s a reason that #freshisnotbest is a running joke around here.<span id='easy-footnote-3-19048' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/#easy-footnote-bottom-3-19048' title='&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;Popularised most aggressively by Yeastie Boy Stu McKinlay, &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/twitter.com\/search?q=%23freshisnotbest&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;and still going strong&lt;\/a&gt;. Mark Johnson also had an excellent recent post about how &lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/www.beercompurgation.co.uk\/2017\/04\/freshness-can-we-stop.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;the freshness obsession can easily go too far&lt;\/a&gt;.&lt;\/span&gt;'><sup>3<\/sup><\/a><\/span> Some styles \u2014 usually boozier, darker, maltier stuff \u2014 of beer are widely\u00a0regarded as candidates for extended ageing, and nevermind that, if <em>you<\/em> individually enjoy a beer that a hundred other people roundly dismiss as &#8220;past it&#8221;, their opinion doesn&#8217;t make your satisfaction somehow invalid. But even if we&#8217;re just taking the more limited case of beer that doesn&#8217;t usually age gracefully (say, overtly hoppy pale ale) and a hypothetical customer who knows they prefer it &#8220;fresh&#8221; there&#8217;s still the technical questions of how well the beer was packaged and shipped and stored<span id='easy-footnote-4-19048' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/#easy-footnote-bottom-4-19048' title='&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;Which Luke gets to &lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/aleofatime.com\/2017\/04\/spoiler-alert-age\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;in his follow-up piece&lt;\/a&gt;.&lt;\/span&gt;'><sup>4<\/sup><\/a><\/span> \u2014 all of which are hugely complicated and any\u00a0of which could dent the perceived liveliness of a beer just as badly as the mere passage of time. At\u00a0<em>best<\/em>, the date stamped on a beer is a wildly unreliable proxy (but the only one\u00a0you&#8217;ve got) for a host of other things you&#8217;re unlikely (as a consumer) to be able to trace.<\/p>\n<p>But\u00a0<em>none<\/em> of that complexity absolves breweries like Stone, here. This is the handy thing \u2014 philosophically speaking \u2014 about hypocrisy: it simplifies things so cleanly. Saying one thing (crowing about short shelf lives) and doing another (quietly tripling them in another jurisdiction)\u00a0is just inherently bad,<span id='easy-footnote-5-19048' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/#easy-footnote-bottom-5-19048' title='&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;There&amp;#8217;s a nice passage about this in Neal Stephenson&amp;#8217;s &lt;em&gt;The Diamond Age&lt;\/em&gt; \u2014 &lt;a href=&quot;https:\/\/steveedney.wordpress.com\/2006\/11\/08\/hypocrisy-relativism-and-the-diamond-age\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;excerpted and discussed a little here&lt;\/a&gt;. In this case, of course, given how loud the crowing, we&amp;#8217;re not talking about garden-variety spirit-is-willing, flesh-is-weak hypocrisy, here; this is the real deal. I&amp;#8217;ve mentioned this point before, as well, &lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2013\/07\/02\/brewdog-boundary-road-and-becoming-the-villain\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;in reference (inevitably) to a bit of nonsense from BrewDog&lt;\/a&gt;.&lt;\/span&gt;'><sup>5<\/sup><\/a><\/span> whatever you believe about the results as far as the beer&#8217;s concerned. The rank bullshit of Greg Koch indignantly saying <a href=\"http:\/\/goodbeerhunting.com\/sightlines\/2017\/4\/18\/stone-australia-date-codes-exports\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">&#8220;we have no choice but to use an Australian system, or nobody will buy the beer, period&#8221;<\/a> is just sadly predictable. Of\u00a0<em>course<\/em> you have a choice: don&#8217;t send the fucking beer all the way to Australia if you don&#8217;t think there&#8217;ll be time to sell it in good condition once it arrives. This is the same guy who flipped his lid at grey-market imports of his beers for precisely that reason,<span id='easy-footnote-6-19048' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/#easy-footnote-bottom-6-19048' title='&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;Which I mentioned, years ago, here \u2014 coincidentally-enough (since they&amp;#8217;re the &lt;em&gt;other&lt;\/em&gt; subject of Glen&amp;#8217;s initial post)\u00a0in relation to &lt;a href=&quot;http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/11\/15\/sierra-nevada-pale-ale\/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot; rel=&quot;noopener noreferrer&quot;&gt;some (grey-market) Sierra Nevada, which was pouring at work&lt;\/a&gt;.&lt;\/span&gt;'><sup>6<\/sup><\/a><\/span> and who said we drinkers should have his beers &#8220;fresh-and-as-intended, or not at all&#8221;. Well, okay then. <em>Keep them in California<\/em>.<span id='easy-footnote-7-19048' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/#easy-footnote-bottom-7-19048' title='&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;Maybe just send the less-fragile stuff, if you like. And\/or keep the short-lived hoppy stuff for special occasions and make sure it&amp;#8217;s actually all sold through in the apparently-sincerely-determined timeframe. Don&amp;#8217;t just plonk it on the shelves at bulk retailers and act like we&amp;#8217;re the assholes for noticing and giving a damn.&lt;\/span&gt;'><sup>7<\/sup><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Avoiding hypocrisy isn&#8217;t hard: it starts with listening to yourself speak, and meaning what you say when you do. If you do change your mind, say so, and say why.<span id='easy-footnote-8-19048' class='easy-footnote-margin-adjust'><\/span><span class='easy-footnote'><a href='https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/#easy-footnote-bottom-8-19048' title='&lt;span style=&quot;font-size: small;&quot;&gt;Don&amp;#8217;t just\u00a0\u2014 you know, for example \u2014 bleat on about being all punk and independent and just slowly make a liar of yourself by taking on VC funding and selling a fifth of yourself to a faceless conglom that also invests in things like, say, Pabst Blue Ribbon. I am\u00a0\u2014 obviously and exasperatedly\u00a0\u2014 looking at &lt;em&gt;you&lt;\/em&gt;, BrewDog. I do wish you&amp;#8217;d stop getting my attention.&lt;\/span&gt;'><sup>8<\/sup><\/a><\/span>\u00a0Plenty of issues are hard to untangle and rich with moral complexity \u2014 but others just aren&#8217;t, even though\u00a0some people will try to convince you otherwise to distract from the fact they fucked up.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last week saw a nicely-timed bit\u00a0of beer journalism: just as us New Zealanders were settling down to enjoy this year&#8217;s batch of green-hopped beers\u00a0\u2014 served within days of their release \u2014 a flurry kicked off online about the dodgy practice of some U.S. breweries putting longer &#8220;best before&#8221; lifespans on beers they send to Australia &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2017\/04\/28\/fresh-hypocrisy\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Fresh hypocrisy<\/span> <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-19048","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interesting-finds"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":703,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/01\/27\/orkney-northern-light\/","url_meta":{"origin":19048,"position":0},"title":"Orkney &#8216;Northern Light&#8217;","author":"Phil","date":"January 27, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Another beer from the island that gives me my beloved Highland Park whisky. This was a Christmas present to myself, and enjoyed on the occasion of a big family barbeque when my Aunt and Uncle were over from Canada. It's bordering on midstrength \/ sessionable at 4.0%, and is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Actual Diary entries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Orkney 'Northern Light'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Orkney-Northern-Light-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1172,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/12\/22\/croucher-hef-et-al\/","url_meta":{"origin":19048,"position":1},"title":"Croucher &#8216;Hef&#8217;, Burleigh &#8216;Hef&#8217; and Red Hill Wheat Beer","author":"Phil","date":"December 22, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I'm not crash-keen on wheat beers. I mean, I do like several of them very much (Three Boys Wheat is a stand-out example), but I'm rarely quite in the mood -- if I want something this light, I usually reach for a golden ale. But that's just me. It was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Actual Diary entries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Croucher 'Hef', et. al.","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Croucher-Hef-et-al-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":901,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/10\/05\/thornbridge-halcyon-ipa\/","url_meta":{"origin":19048,"position":2},"title":"Thornbridge &#8216;Halcyon&#8217; IPA","author":"Phil","date":"October 5, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"An interesting contrast against their 'Jaipur' IPA (and a worthy thing in itself), 'Halcyon' is a fresh-hopped IPA of higher strength but lighter body than usual. Its Best Before date had been set quite conservatively, to encourage people to drink up and enjoy it while that madly-fresh hoppy aroma was\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Actual Diary entries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Thornbridge 'Halcyon' IPA","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Thornbridge-Halcyon-IPA-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":803,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/09\/18\/unibroue-trois-pistoles\/","url_meta":{"origin":19048,"position":3},"title":"Unibroue &#8216;Trois Pistoles&#8217;","author":"Phil","date":"September 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"I get mistaken for Canadian, sometimes (I have very idiosyncratic accent -- and no idea why I do). I have Canadian relatives, I've been to Canada (though I was not of beer-buying age), one of my favourite bands (The Tragically Hip) is Canadian, as are some of my most-beloved TV\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Actual Diary entries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Unibroue 'Trois Pistoles'","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Unibroue-Trois-Pistoles-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":512,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/10\/07\/malt-shovel-new-norcia-abbey-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":19048,"position":4},"title":"Malt Shovel \/ New Norcia Abbey Ale","author":"Phil","date":"October 7, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Another recommendation from the guy in the markets, and he's two for two. Which also backs up my earlier praise for the James Squires people. Fairly heavy at 7%, it's a very appealing golden amber, and smells utterly gorgeous -- all flowery, fruity and citrusy. The taste is fresh, with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Actual Diary entries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Malt Shovel Abbey Ale","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Malt-Shovel-Abbey-Ale-225x300.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":313,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/04\/28\/hofbrau-schwarze-weisse\/","url_meta":{"origin":19048,"position":5},"title":"Hofbrau Schwarze Weisse","author":"Phil","date":"April 28, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Hofbr\u00e4u Schwarze Weisse. 28\/4\/08, 500ml, $5. Watching Hellboy. Not overly schwarze. Rich brown, really. Good head, lightly fruity nose, not too wheaty. Maybe a good intro to peculiar things. Nice fresh taste. Afterthoughts, October 2010: I do continue to be gripped with the search for ways to introduce people\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Actual Diary entries&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Hofbrau Schwarze Weisse","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1045-Hofbrau-Schwarze-Weisse-300x195.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19048","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19048"}],"version-history":[{"count":38,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19048\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19090,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19048\/revisions\/19090"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19048"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19048"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19048"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}