The last two chapters of my beer book cover the "microbrewing revolution" (or "real beer movement" or whatever tern you prefer). I interviewed a number of people involved in changing the American beer scene. One of my most important sources of information was Don Barkley.

In the 1970s, he was an avid homebrewer who enrolled in the UC-Davis brewing program with the goal of going professional. More important, he was one of two "employees" at New Albion, the nation's first microbrewery (he got paid in beer; I guess that made him an employee....). His recollections of what happened there proved to be an unexpected and priceless treasure for me.

I met Don in person at the 2006 GABF, and then got to drink some beer and enjoy serious talk time with him and his wife in San Francisco in October 2006.

Anyway -- I just learned, thanks to Stan, that Don has retired from Mendocino (where he went after New Albion closed) and joined a new small-scale craft-brewing venture called Napa Smith Brewing Co.

I'm delighted to hear this. Someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I believe that Don is the longest serving brewmaster now working in the United States. And he's young (53). He's got a lot of great beer left in him. And I know this much about being in my fifties: new challenges are crucial to keeping the mind and spirit young.

So this is exciting news about a guy that I ilke and admire. You can read about the venture here and at Bill Brand's blog.

Don, here's to you!

And a BIG tip 'o the mug to Stan for alerting me to this news.

Posted by Maureen Ogle at 03:31 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Okay, more cool stuff. Check out beerhaikudaily.com,which is precisely what the name implies.

Thanks and a tip 'o the mug to the folks at Imbibe magazine.

Posted by Maureen Ogle at 09:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

There's a comment from a reader regarding my previous post about the meat recall. He says my attitude is callous.

Perhaps I wasn't clear enough in my original post. I'm not advocating cruelty to animals. My first point was that there's nothing unusual about what happened at that meatpacking plant (which is apparently now closed).

My second point was that IF Americans want animals treated more humanely, they're going to have to adopt new methods of meat processing.

Right now, meatpacking houses are factory operations that prize efficiency and speed. If packinghouse employees are told to slow down, wait for the animals, move lame animals out of the way carefully rather than with forklifts-- well, that kind of humane operation is going to move more slowly than an inhumane one.

Packers won't be able to process as many animals in a day as they do using forklifts. The company won't make as much profit, in part because its labor costs will rise, and the owners will compensate for that by raising prices.

Think of a widget factory: one factory makes the widgets by hand. Workers carve each one, using hand lathes and planes, and plenty of human labor. The factory turns out one hundred widgets a day. The supply is relatively small, and consumers pay high prices for those "natural" hand-crafted widgets.

Now consider a second widget factory. The owners have mechanized the entire operation, eliminating all hand craftsmanship. The widgets are made entirely by machine, rather than by humans. The factory cranks out thousands of widgets a day, and the price of one widget is half the price of the widgets made by hand.

The analogy holds true at meatpacking plants: treat each animal with respect and dignity, and workers will turn out fewer carcasses in a day. The packinghouse owners will have to pay the workers more money per carcass. That price will be passed on to consumers.

Is that good or bad? Depends on what you value. If you don't like seeing images of lame cows being tossed around by forklifts, then you'd better be prepared to pay more for your meat.

If what you value, however, is hamburger that only costs two dollars a pound, then you have to accept that you live in a society where packinghouses use "inhumane' and "callous" practices.

Bottom line: Americans want something for nothing. They want "pure" meat and happy cows, but they don't want to pay the higher price necessary to make that happen.

We can't have it both ways.

Posted by Maureen Ogle at 12:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

As every beerdrinker knows, beer prices are rising to infinity and beyond. There are many reasons, but one of them is that there's a serious shortage of hops in the United States. Serious enough that some brewers have not been able to buy what they need.

Jim Koch to the rescue. Jim is the brains behind the Boston Beer Company, which makes the Sam Adams line of beers. He's also a good guy (I interviewed him for the book) whose head is screwed on straight.

A fact he demonstrated this week when he announced that he would sell his extra hops to any brewer that needed them. You can read the announcement here at Stan's blog. Entries for February 15th and 18th. (I can't seem to open the relevant page at the Sam Adams site, otherwise I'd send you there. But the announcement is on the company's front page.)

Posted by Maureen Ogle at 10:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

So the US Department of Agriculture is recalling 143 million pounds of beef.

Why? Because of alleged "animal cruelty."

According to a report in the New York Times, the "Humane Society of the United States showed videotapes on January 30 showing workers at the plant using several abusive techniques to make animals stand up and pass a pre-slaughter inspection. These included ramming cattle with forklift blades and using a hose to simulate the feeling of drowning."

I don't know whether to laugh or cry. Does someone actually think this is new or unusual activity in American slaughterhouses?

Answer: it's not. I'm writing a book about meat in America since just after the Civil War, and this news report sound exactly like newspaper reports from the 1870s!

Folks, this is how you get affordable meat. This is it. This is business as usual in American meatpacking.

You want "humane" meat? Okay. Fine. Great and noble goal.

You prepared to pay, oh, $20.00 a pound for hamburger?

I didn't think so.

I don't have any great conclusions to draw here (except the questions I just posed). But before people get all excited and huffy and carried away ... well, a little perspective works wonders.

Posted by Maureen Ogle at 10:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Not that I'm the most regular blogger in the world -- but entries will likely be more sparse than usual in the next week or so.

Tomorrow (Feb. 13), I'm going under again so that the surgeon can "manipulate" my arm.

This is doctor-speak for: "The surgery didn't quite work the way I had hoped, so I'm going to knock you out and pull, push, twist, and otherwise yank your arm into full range of motion."

All I have to say is: thank god for anesthesia. (When he told me this a few days back, he said "Well, I could do it right now here in the office, but the nurses object to the screaming." Ho. Ho. Ho.)

So.......... I won't be doing much typing the next week or so. If nothing else, because I'll be going to physical therapy every day for the next two weeks.

This is my last chance to regain full use of my arm. If it doesn't work --- well ..... I'm going to be like Scarlett and worry about that later.

Here's hoping.

Posted by Maureen Ogle at 09:19 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Okay, this falls into the "seriously cool" cateory:

There's a piece in today's New York Times about a device that uses the human knee as a power generator. With it, one "minute of walking can power a cell phone for 10 minutes."

That's amazing -- because of course cell phones have to be charged, and that requires electricity and electricity ain't cheap (especially in "third world" countries) or "green."

You can read the article here.

As always, a BIG tip 'o the mug to the Times' for its free content. (Also in today's issue, a truly grim article about plunging profits at newspaper around the country. I have to wonder: how many newspapers will still be around in two years?)

Posted by Maureen Ogle at 10:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I often think that someone could devote an entire blog to the topic of Stupid Liquor Laws, said laws being a good indicator of this country's screwball attitudes toward alcohol. (Well, okay, now that I think about it, Jay comes pretty close to doing just that.)

Anyway, file this under Stupid Liquor Laws:

Today's Wall Street Journal features a piece about a guy named Ralph Erenzo. (I can't provide a link to the piece because the WSJ doesn't provide free content.) Erenzo lives in upstate New York, a mostly rural area with a mostly depressed economy.

He's doing his bit for creating a locally based, "green" economy by operating a small distillery, where he makes vodka, bourbon, rye, rum, and other spirits. He hires local labor, and relies as much as possible on local crops.

So what's the problem? New York laws forbid him from selling his stuff directly to customers. So he can't operate a California-type tasting room where you can sip the goods and then buy a case. A hundred people a day might drive by during summer tourist season, but they can't buy his goods.

Erenzo and his business partner lobbied the state legislature to change the law, much as micro-brewers did in California twenty-five years ago so that they could operate brewpubs and sell their beer to consumers.

After four years of lobbying, the legislature finally passed and the governor finally signed a law that created a new category of liquor license.

So where's the dumbass part? The law requires such small distillers to use ONLY ingredients found in New York. Nothing else.

Sooooooooo, as the columnist at the Journal (Brendan Miniter) points out, that lets out rum (sugar cane doesn't grow in New York), and Erenzo uses Candian rye. Which means he can't sell the stuff direct to customers.

So here's a guy who's trying to revive New York agriculture and support the local economy -- stymied by yet another example of dumbass liquor laws.

There's no moral to this story. Just more head-shaking and eye-rolling on my part.

When when when are we Americans gonna grow up and stop infantilzing the making and consuming of alcohol?

Posted by Maureen Ogle at 07:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)