Hail the Ale! Beer Blog

I’m off tomorrow to Kansas City and I’m looking for suggestions for good beer spots. We’re staying in Parkville so I’ll definitely be hitting the Power Plant. Those of you familiar with or from that area: what do you suggest?

From their email list:

DOPPELBOCK RELEASE PARTY!

This week has finally arrived. Come in and join the fun. We will have live entertainment and the release of Orlando Brewery’s Winter Fest Doppelbock.

WHERE: Orlando Brewery, 1301 Atlanta Ave.
WHEN: Saturday, December 15, 2007

If you’re in the area, check it out. Sadly I won’t make it but I plan on going soon after to try this one.

If you have a Total Wine in your area you may have been like me and checked out their online inventory only to be disappointed that it only listed wine and spirits. Well, my buddy Phil was smart enough to contact them and they sent him a PDF of their Buying Guide which lists their beers (and wine and spirits) as well as prices.

It looks like the Buying Guides are specific to location and are compiled every few months. I’m assuming they also have printed versions available in-store, but I’ve never noticed one. Plus, I’m lazy so being able to browse this from the comfort of my recliner with a beer in hand makes me happy.

Beer and Philosophy: The Unexamined Beer Isn’t Worth Drinking is book about beer and philosophy (this is how all my grade school book reports started out, so it’s all I know..). It is a collection of short chapters from philosophers, beer lovers, beer makers, and beer drinkers–with most authors being more than one of those–and edited by a philospher and beer lover, Steven D. Hales. I’d be remiss if I didn’t point out that Alan McLeod, a fellow beer blogger at A Good Beer Blog was one of the authors. I was sent a review copy of this book courtesy of the editor/publisher.

The book begins with a foreword from “The Beer Hunter” himself, Michael Jackson followed by an Editor’s Introduction. Both set the stage for the philosophical questions brought on, related to, and maybe even answered by beer. From there, Part 1 is The Art of Beer, followed by The Ethics of Beer. Not to be outdone, The Metaphysics and Epistemology of Beer and Beer in the History of Philosophy round out Parts III and IV. With the exception of Part 1 which has six chapters, the parts contain three chapters each. Since the chapters are written by different authors with very different backgrounds and writing styles, you may want to treat this like a collection of short stories and read one and let it sink in before tackling the next one.

Since this is a beer blog, here’s a quick list of the chapters written by beer folks:

• The Beer Matrix: Reality vs Facsimile in Brewing by Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery.
• Quality, Schmaility: Talking Naturally about the Aesthetics of Beer; or Why is American Beer So Lousy? by Martin Stack and George Gale. Martin Stack is an Associate Professor of Management at Rockhurst University who’s scholarly work is focused on the brewing industry.
• Extreme Brewing in America by Sam Calagione, the founder of Dogfish Head.
• Beer and Autonomy by Alan McLeod from A Good Beer Blog.
• What’s a Beer Style by Matt Dunn, a homebrewer who wrote his biology master’s thesis on brewers yeast and evolution and is now completing his PhD in the History and Philosophy of Science.

These were my favorite chapters since they were written in a more natural writing style about topics I’m familiar with. In contrast, the chapters that were heavier on the philosophy ranged from very interesting to unreadable for me. I don’t fault the authors for this since they were writing about what they know in a more academic style that they are familiar with and for their audience.

Overall, I enjoyed the book and would recommend it to anyone even if you don’t think you’re interested in philosophy. Many of the topics brought up by the authors were likely thoughts you’ve had while enjoying a beer but may not have taken the time to think about so it is nice to see someone take the ball and run with it. You can buy the book at Amazon (referral link which I make a few pennies from)

Hail the Ale! beer links for December 9th:

• KegWorks Blog: Wait for It?
• Beer Philosopher: Good Beer … Bad Acting.