{"id":612,"date":"2009-10-20T00:01:52","date_gmt":"2009-10-19T11:01:52","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/?p=612"},"modified":"2011-10-20T00:22:44","modified_gmt":"2011-10-19T11:22:44","slug":"my-entry-for-the-peoples-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2009\/10\/20\/my-entry-for-the-peoples-blog\/","title":{"rendered":"My entry for the People’s Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"

The weekly blog<\/a> on the Malthouse’s website<\/a> has a semi-regular feature called ‘The People’s Blog’, where regulars and hangers-on and (occasionally) staff are invited to \/ dragooned into writing a little blab about their “two favourite Malthouse beers”. I was one of the “volunteers” for the second edition<\/a> of that, and so this probably rates as my earliest, most-official piece of Rambling About Beer:<\/p>\n

It’s chronically unfair to ask me for my “two favourite” Malthouse beers since I’m a fairly fickle and promiscuous drinker with tastes that vary pretty wildly depending on the weather, the plan for the evening (or morning…), what my previous beer was and general whims.\u00a0 But okay. Let’s play along and pick two enduring favourites, at least.<\/p>\n

Emerson’s Bookbinder<\/strong> (Dunedin, 3.7%). Absurdly flavourful for its moderate weight, Booky serves brilliantly as an after-work restorative (and actual book-binding is damn hard work, I can assure you) or as a sessionable fuel for long hours of talking nonsense with friends and generally laughing asses off – which won’t leave you too blurry in the small hours, or too hungover the day after.\u00a0 It’s a reminder that, if you’re clever enough, you don’t have to climb to boozy heights to make a tasty beer, and that often there’s merit to be had for finding that perfect balance between your malts and your hops.\u00a0 Both factors run nicely contrary to some frequently-silly fashions, and are worth celebrating.\u00a0 So raise a glass.\u00a0 Then another.<\/p>\n

Cooper’s Sparkling Ale<\/strong> (Adelaide, 5.8%).\u00a0 My first good Australian beer, upon which I luckily stumbled while beer-shopping for an Australia Day while off at university in a forty-degree Canberra summer. Hardly “sessionable” at 5.8% (not that that stopped me…) but a truly gorgeous golden ale with a wonderfully easy, fruity, lively and lingering taste that can be a great way to ease lagerheads into other styles, or to bring those who don’t consider themselves “beer drinkers” (maybe because lagerheads just offer them lager…) into the fold.<\/p>\n

With its optional ritual of rolling the bottle to kick up the sediment, it’s also a great introduction to the joys of natural, unfiltered, bottle-conditioned (and so, arguably, “real”) beer.\u00a0 It’s effortlessly delicious.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/p>\n

Afterthoughts, November 2010:<\/strong> That was a pretty fun exercise, putting together some fit-for-consumption thoughts for an audience of whoever-shows-up. But then Neil — the usual writer of the blog, and so the editor \/ wrangler of the People’s Blog editions — added the following critique, on his way to introducing the second, er, People:<\/p>\n

[…] bonus points for using \u201cpromiscuous\u201d, \u201csessionable\u201d[,] \u201cgeneral whims\u201d and \u201clagerheads\u201d in context.\u00a0 Conversely, a small number of points off for starting a sentence with \u201cbut\u201d and the unparalleled Victorian passivity of \u201cupon which I luckily stumbled.\u201d[…]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which instantly fired up my fairly-militant aversion to Silly Old Rules About English Usage. If you ask me, the usual ‘rule’ is that rules are for the French<\/em>. There’s not a damn thing wrong with starting sentences with words like ‘And’, or ‘But’, or with splitting infinitives, or with most of the things that Some People Say You Mustn’t Do. The only rules should be ones concerning comprehensibility<\/em>, and I’d go further and add a maxim that if something sounds perfectly natural in spoken<\/em> English, it’s welcome in text.<\/p>\n

Ironically, the daftness of the ‘rule’ against And- or But-starting is laid bare by Neil’s comment. He starts his complaint<\/em> with ‘Conversely’, which is what “but” means<\/em>. There’s no good reason why someone would approve of “Additionally” and “However” as ways to open a sentence, but think that their synonyms<\/em> And and But were uncouth. (Is it because “but” sounds like the word for bum<\/em>? But then what’s wrong with “and”?)<\/p>\n

\n
\n
\"Emerson's<\/a>
Emerson's 'Bookbinder'<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n
\n
\n
\"Coopers<\/a>
Coopers Sparkling Ale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The weekly blog on the Malthouse’s website has a semi-regular feature called ‘The People’s Blog’, where regulars and hangers-on and (occasionally) staff are invited to \/ dragooned into writing a little blab about their “two favourite Malthouse beers”. I was one of the “volunteers” for the second edition of that, and so this probably rates … Continue reading My entry for the People’s Blog<\/span> →<\/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":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4],"tags":[27,15,14,28,31,42],"class_list":["post-612","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-blahblah","tag-ale","tag-australia","tag-nz","tag-golden-ale","tag-irrelevant","tag-sessionable"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":823,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2010\/09\/23\/coopers-original-pale-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":612,"position":0},"title":"Coopers Original Pale Ale","author":"Phil","date":"September 23, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This entry from Diary II is unique (so far), in that it contains absolutely no tasting notes. 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Picks: Fuller's 1845; Croucher Pale + Pils; Cock & Bull Dark Star Afterthoughts, October 2010: From the timing of the guest beers, this appears to be an\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Malthouse","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1049-Malthouse-300x168.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":7156,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2014\/03\/24\/stones-city-tap-takeover\/","url_meta":{"origin":612,"position":2},"title":"Stone’s ‘City Tap Takeover’","author":"Phil","date":"March 24, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"Late-breaking news that beers from Stone, a legendary but rather isolationist Californian brewery, would be available \"legitimately\" in this part of the world was greeted with some surprise by local beer geeks. Stone have never exported to New Zealand (nor even to all parts of their own country) and Greg\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Stone 'W00tstout' \u2014 in collaboration with Drew Curtis and Wil Wheaton (Malthouse, 13 March 2014)","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Stone-W00tstout.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x"},"classes":[]},{"id":595,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2008\/11\/15\/three-boys-ipa\/","url_meta":{"origin":612,"position":3},"title":"Three Boys IPA","author":"Phil","date":"November 15, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Verbatim: Three Boys IPA. 15\/11\/08 $8.50 @ Malthouse, 5.2% Had it lots, but it warrants an entry. Gorgeousness personified. Slightly less traditional than a Tuatara IPA, but proudly so. Wonderfully balanced (cf Epic...), slight grapefruity hint, not hoppy for the sake of it. Full damn marks. Afterthoughts, November 2010: I'd\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Actual Diary entries"","block_context":{"text":"Actual Diary entries","link":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/category\/diary\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"Three Boys IPA","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/wp-content\/uploads\/Diary-1065-Three-Boys-IPA-300x219.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2214,"url":"https:\/\/philcook.net\/beerdiary\/2011\/03\/26\/n%c3%b8gne-%c3%b8-aku-aku-lemongrass-ale\/","url_meta":{"origin":612,"position":4},"title":"N\u00f8gne \u00d8 ‘Aku Aku Lemongrass Ale’","author":"Phil","date":"March 26, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Hanging out at the bar at Hashigo was doing my addled brain some good, so I stayed for another. 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