Well, it\u2019s done. I enjoyed it all. And I am glad it is done. In fact, on reflection, I like how the World Cup becomes a process of a sparcer and sparcer schedule that end in a boring game<\/a>. You are left without any wish for more. Even with auspicious weekend timing of July 4, big celebrations for America\u2019s 250th and the World Cup tournament taking place on US turf, total beer $$ fell 1.1% and volume dropped 2.4% for 1 week thru July 5 in Circana off-premise channels.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Soooo\u2026. maybe not so much.* Final numbers yet to come. Next up? It\u2019s wheeeeeeee\u2026.<\/em><\/a> baseball all the way to the first frosts. And hand modeling. [BTW, before we move on, Eoghan has mapped<\/a> his 48 multi-national stops around Brussels if you want to recreate his World Cup hometown studies.]<\/p>\n And now\u2026. it is official! Beer blogging is back baby \u2013 as The Tand<\/a> has declared:<\/p>\n Ah the good old days. Back then when I used to post a lot \u2013 and I\u2019ve been having a look at my old stuff and you should too \u2013 it\u2019s great stuff and a lot of it short. A remark about a pub or two, or a beer, or a little industry comment.\u00a0 Maybe a longer piece about a more complex subject.\u00a0 Much more enjoyable and frankly a lot easier to do.\u00a0 It doesn\u2019t take much to see my enthusiasm for blogging has slowly but surely declined and actually I\u2019d like to arrest that. I\u2019ll never get back to the heady days of hundreds of posts, but on the basis of little and often I think I might manage a few more.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Makes sense. We yearn for the recent past. [In fact, our own youngest has dug out one of the old digital cameras from the dawn of this very blog to take out to the bars when she\u2019s on a crawl with her gang.] And just to prove his point, The Tand posted his thoughts<\/a> about one scene he encountered him this very week:<\/p>\n Speaking to various landlords and landladies too \u2013 even handed me \u2013 the picture is again rather mixed with pubs with beer gardens or at least usable outdoor space doing well, though inside has been quieter.\u00a0 Just as you\u2019d expect I suppose.\u00a0 My own observation backs this up.\u00a0 Approaching pubs I\u2019ve noted the busy exteriors and the not so busy interiors.\u00a0 It is difficult to tell whether those who would normally sit inside have just decanted to the outside, but chatting to the bosses, trade is slightly up with a noted shift to lager, soft drinks and ros\u00e9 wine.\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n Boak and Bailey<\/a>, leaders of this retro-nuevo, came to a similar conclusion from the different entry point of two particular beers that sat before them \u2013\u00a0 as they explained in their beers of the weekend post:<\/p>\n They were both very chicken-soupy-looking, and both had that familiar combination of fruitiness and onion. The stronger beer had quite a burn, too, almost as if it had been dosed with raw chilli pepper. But, for all that, we enjoyed them, because they were also (a) cold and (b) bitter \u2013 perfect for yet another warm evening.<\/em><\/p>\n Time for some money talk. If you have a cellar, there is a very good reason why it makes sense to stock away bottles there to age as opposed to buying them later when you want to drink them, as explained by Sara Danese<\/a> at Everyday Drinking<\/em> this week:<\/p>\n A good barrique costs around \u20ac1,000 and can be used new or seasoned. Assume it\u2019s used once: after losses you get 200 liters of wine, so the barrel cost is \u20ac5 per liter. Labour and electricity add \u20ac0.40 per liter. Storage costs \u20ac6 per month per barrique \u2014 about \u20ac0.40 per liter per year. Financing adds another \u20ac0.30 per liter if you borrow at 5% on \u20ac5.80 (barrel + handling + storage). That\u2019s roughly \u20ac6 per liter, or \u20ac4.50 per bottle. If you use the barrique three times, the additional cost drops below \u20ac2 per bottle.\u00a0<\/em>Bottle aging is cheaper but still significant. Storage might cost \u20ac6 per month per pallet (600 bottles), or \u20ac0.12 per bottle per year. The real cost is the so-called opportunity cost: if a wine could sell now for \u20ac10 but doesn\u2019t, the producer must finance that cash flow, adding roughly \u20ac0.50 per bottle in interest. The total cost for an extra year in bottle is around \u20ac0.62 per bottle.<\/em><\/p>\n Speaking of the economics, bottled Old Speckled Hen<\/a> will be a thing of the past in the not so distanct future and Le Protz explains why with characteristic restraint:<\/p>\n Writing in What\u2019s Brewing, CAMRA\u2019s Roger Protz called the move \u201ca shock decision\u201d resulting from the \u201crapacious profiteering of giant supermarkets\u201d.\u00a0He added: \u201cOld Speckled Hen is one of Greene King\u2019s major brands but the income from sales to the off-trade is tiny as a result of the deep discounts demanded by the retailers.\u00a0\u201cGreene King owns a massive estate of 2,600 pubs, restaurants and hotels. It supplies those outlets with draught and packaged beers.<\/em><\/p>\n And in a piece pushing 2,500 words, Laura Hadland<\/a> has explored in depth the pros and cons of how some smaller British breweries are taking advantage of the tied networks yet still retaining a degree of their independence, all as illustrated by a deal entered into by Jamie Lawson of the SALT Beer Factory :<\/p>\n In 2021, [Molson Coors] approached Jamie, with a view to distributing some independent craft beers through their wholesale network. An agreement was struck to trial the arrangement in bars in the north of England. At first, two beers were used for the pilot \u2013 SALT\u2019s flagship session IPA, Jute, and its NEIPA, Huckaback. The experiment went so well that Molson Coors were keen for a national roll out. Jamie jumped at the opportunity and ultimately the partnership was invigorated by the signing of a 3 year deal in 2023.\u00a0<\/em>\u2026 The macros want the indie brewers to retain that independence. Their authenticity is the thing that makes the relationship profitable for both sides. But it also flags a potential downside. Some drinkers, seeing SALT or Northern Monk beers so widely available, think that the breweries have been taken over and worry that the beer\u2019s quality will change for the worse.<\/em><\/p>\n Excellent stuff<\/a>. Similarly excelling is Lars<\/a> who wrote about an eastern Latvian farmhouse style from the Latgale district for Craft Beer & Brewing, <\/em>explaining the locale this way:<\/p>\n Latgale is somewhat different from the rest of Latvia. It had an earlier stint as part of Russia in the 16th century, and the people here speak a variant of Latvian that the rest of Latvia sometimes has a hard time understanding. Latgale also has a larger Russian population than the rest of Latvia\u2014including a group known as the Old Believers, who broke away from the Russian Orthodox Church to escape religious persecution in Russia centuries ago. Today, the Russians in Latgale mainly make moonshine, while the farmhouse brewing is very clearly Latvian.<\/em><\/p>\n We also have Old Believers in Canada<\/a>, a community<\/a> that first moved here in the 1920s. Not sure about their moonshining. Lars also explained that the local malt drying technique in their saunas:<\/p>\n Their saunas included a small hatch in the ceiling, which they would open when drying the malt; that hatch allowed the smoke and heat to waft upward into the drying box (\u0101zn\u012bca) on the floor above.<\/em><\/p>\n I mention this as it is necessary to remind folk that not all ale was smoky in the past before a certain point. As shared in 2014<\/a>, smoky ale \u2013 at least in medieval England \u2013 was considered a fault and other means of drying the malt were available, like in kilns or cooling bread ovens where the heat and smoke were separated. People in the past were resourceful and could control variables through trusted technologies to suit local taste. So both sauna smoked or pale sweet kilned malt were possibilities. Just don\u2019t dry it over ferns<\/a>. That\u2019s just gross.**<\/p>\n Note #1<\/a>: \u201c\u2026would you care for some blouge?<\/em>\u201d And Max<\/a> has reported in from the Czech Republic describing a march of more than 20 kms to put himself in the comforting arms of Pivovar Kladno Kro\u010dehlavy,\u00a0 a walk he undertook on a tender ankle hoping to find a few beers along the way only to find many spots on his path had shut:<\/p>\n I don\u2019t care, most of the way is either along fields or in the shade of trees, far from any roads, and once I set my pace, I soon enter an almost meditative state, with my thoughts running free while I pay close attention to everything that surrounds me, sounds included\u2014birds, trees, the wind, a creek, the rhythm of my footsteps, the flowers, the houses and the few people that cross my path.\u00a0That idyll lasts until I enter\u00a0Kladno, under the watchful eyes of the cooling towers of the local heating plant, and the route takes me through the remnants, if not the carcass of what once was one of the hearts of Czechoslovak heavy industry. It is quite disheartening, but it doesn\u2019t affect my spirits, because I\u2019m getting closer to my destination. My legs are beginning to feel heavy, but they quicken the pace regardless, because they reward is near.<\/em><\/p>\n And, closer to his home,\u00a0Retired Martin<\/a> shared some shocking personal admissions this week:<\/p>\n Back in Sheffield from a cruelly curtailed\u00a0Cask Camino\u00a0(CCCC), a man\u2019s thoughts turn to\u00a0tomato gose.\u00a0I constantly read how exciting (ugh) the UK beer scene (ugh) is these days, how folk who drink Bass are to be ridiculed\u00a0etc etc. But can you be a proper country without a brewer of alcoholic gazpacho ? I think not\u2026 We don\u2019t drink at home, bar Mrs RM occasional pint of Malbec with Crispy Beef, so I rarely visit the specialist offies. But I was sad to see the closure of longstanding\u00a0Beer Central\u00a0mentioned by Chat GPT.<\/em><\/p>\n I hadn\u2019t expected that a pub man was practically dry at home but it makes sense. Focus. Makes more sense than any tomato gose did, too. Speaking of odd drinks, The Beer Nut<\/a> encountered a Triple IPA Quebecois \u2013 as if it was 2014 or something \u2013 and his conclusions neatly identify a number of issues:<\/p>\n You get a dash of vermouth or madeira in with your hops here, and I\u2019m not convinced that that\u2019s a good thing. The sticky finish coats the palate with marmalade and triple sec: Paddington\u2019s breath on Saturday night. I\u00a0guess it passes muster as a triple IPA, but it tastes a little elderly and overwrought. Maybe as an end-of-the-night finishing beer, but even then I suspect it\u2019s better in smaller doses than this. I don\u2019t make a habit of buying the double-digit-priced cans, and this is a prime example of why. It\u2019s just not worth the risk. Beer of better quality is available from breweries much closer to home at significantly more reasonable cost.<\/em><\/p>\n Conversely to such exactitude \u2013 but sadly customary \u2013 a certain type of inflationary take plays an unfortunately regular role in drinks reporting. So it was with some suspicion that I met the headline at BrewBound \u201cGen Z\u2019s Moderate Drinking Reputation \u2018Conclusively Debunked,\u2019 per IWSR Survey<\/em><\/a>\u201d this week. The IWSR is\/was International Wine and Spirits Record, <\/em>a London based publisher of trade data and opinion founded in 1972 that is now known as IWSR Drinks Market Analysis Limited<\/a>. BrewBound led its summary of the report with the statement \u201cThe bev-alc industry can no longer blame Gen Z for slowed sales\u2026<\/em>\u201d but, oddly,\u00a0 James Bayley (no relatyon) in the Drinks Business<\/em> quoted<\/a> IWSR president and managing director Marten Lodewijks who said:<\/p>\n Although Gen Z participation has risen, the generation continues to approach alcohol differently from its predecessors. More Gen Z consumers reported drinking cocktails during the past six months than any other age group, with 84% choosing the category. They were also the most likely to follow government health guidance on alcohol consumption, with 49% saying they paid attention to official advice. The generation was also more inclined to drink in larger social groups, with 18% reporting their most recent drinking occasion involved five or more people\u2026. ****<\/em><\/p>\n Which means\u2026 they drink less leading\u2026 to slower sales. Unless they are still buying but just sticking it in the shed. Is that it? The study seems to \u00a0mix participation rate (not much lower) with consumption levels (lower). Leading to the headline\u2026 I suppose.*****<\/p>\n That\u2019s all for now\u2026 well, not counting the footnotes below. As you chew your way through those over the next few days, please check out Boak and Bailey posting on Saturday<\/a>\u00a0and adding to their fabulously entertaining footnotes week after week at\u00a0Patreon<\/a>. And do look out for more of Stan\u2019s new \u201cOne Link, One Paragraph<\/a>\u201d format. \u00a0Then hunt out something in someone\u2019s archives! Leave oblique comments on someone\u2019s post from 2009!! Listen to a few of\u00a0Lew\u2019s podcasts<\/a>\u00a0and get your emailed issue of\u00a0Episodes of my Pub Life<\/em><\/a>\u00a0by David Jesudason on certain Fridays. And Phil Mellows is at the\u00a0BritishBeerBreaks<\/em><\/a>. Once a month, Will Hawkes issues his\u00a0London Beer City<\/em><\/a>\u00a0newsletter \u2013 but it may not be pay per view. Do sign up for Katie\u2019s wonderful self-governing totes autonomous website featuring\u00a0The Gulp<\/em><\/a>, too. \u00a0Ben\u2019s\u00a0Beer and Badword<\/a><\/em>\u00a0remains on pause but there is reading at\u00a0The Glass<\/a>\u00a0which is going back to being\u00a0a blog<\/a>. Any more? We have\u00a0Ontario\u2019s own\u00a0A Quick Beer<\/em><\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0All About Beer<\/em>\u00a0is still offering a range of\u00a0podcasts<\/a>\u00a0\u2013 and there\u2019s also Mike Seay\u2019s\u00a0The Perfect Pour<\/a>. Plus follow the venerable\u00a0Full Pint<\/em>\u00a0podcast<\/a>! And there\u2019s the\u00a0Craft Beer Channel<\/a>\u00a0on Youtube as well as the archives of the\u00a0Beer Ladies Podcast<\/a>.<\/p>\n *Yet locally\u2026 also according to BMI<\/a>: \u201c\u2026Burke Distributing sold 600 bbls of Tennent\u2019s Lager in Boston, 10x its annual vol, as the Scottish \u201cTartan Army\u201d descended on the city. Burke saw a 20% vol lift for Jun, with on-prem up 46% and draft up 53%. \u201cThe two weeks the Scots were playing were two of the largest weeks we have had in decades,\u201d said chief growth officer Kristen Burke. At the Sam Adams downtown taproom across town, which almost ran out of beer on the first weekend, \u201cwe were pouring them a Sam Adams Boston Lager every 12 seconds,\u201d said ceo Jim Koch. In Philadelphia fans drank 290K beers across six games in the stadium alone, FIFA reported.<\/em>\u201c<\/small> Well, it\u2019s done. I enjoyed it all. And I am glad it is done. In fact, on reflection, I like how the World Cup becomes a process of a sparcer and sparcer schedule that end in a boring game. You are left without any wish for more. Time to go hang out in the garden […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7027883,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[156682,191849,128641,119663,104566,12167,102378,104560,191850,104561,104562,175634,191851,128643,104564,164655,104565,126953],"tags":[3171,13054,3767,1837,46585,1416,101577,1820,388],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7027880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-beer-in-the-end-times","category-blogging-and-the-internet","category-craft-fibs","category-czech","category-diners-and-restaurants","category-economics","category-england","category-estonia","category-fruit-and-veg","category-latvia","category-lithuania","category-malt","category-medieval","category-not-beer","category-pubs","category-quebec","category-tavs","category-value","tag-beer","tag-beery","tag-blog","tag-edition","tag-gee","tag-good","tag-mbappe","tag-news","tag-notes"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/abetterbeerblog427.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/berry.jpg\")
<\/a>Time to go hang out in the garden and study for my second career as a hand model. You know, the first two rounds of the group stage are the best, when the players aren\u2019t exhausted and the managers are\u2019t scared of losing. Was it worth it all for the US beer trade? BMI<\/a> reports:<\/p>\n
Note #2<\/a>: Ballast Point\u2019s whimper soon to be whimped.
Note #3<\/a>: Jeff provides a fine remembrance of the late Alan Sprints.***
Note #4<\/a>: Gary reported in from Oxford, England.<\/p>\n
**See me in 2011<\/a>: \u201cIn an edition of A Way to Get Wealth by Gervase Markham from 1668, a book first published in 1615 or about 200 years before the start date picked by Horst, we have an opinion on the preference for straw\u2026 and not just any straw: \u2018 \u2026our Maltster by all means must have an especial care with what fewel she dryeth the malt; for commonly, according to that it ever receiveth and keepeth the taste, if by some especial art in the Kiln that annoyance be not taken away. To speak then of fewels in general, there are of divers kinds according to the natures of soyls,and the accommodation of places-in which men live; yet the best and most principal fewel for the Kilns, (both tor sweetness, gentle heat and perfect drying) is either good Wheat-straw, Rye-straw, Barley-straw or Oaten-straw; and of these the Wheat-straw is the best, because it is most substantial, longest lasting, makes the sharpest fire, and yields the least flame\u2026\u2019 \u201d <\/em>Note again. the Maltster is presumed to be a \u201cshe\u201d!<\/small>
***My interactions with Hair of the Dog twenty years ago were both entertaining<\/a> and scientific<\/a>. Ron Jefferies<\/a> laughed out loud when I told him how the yeast had saved the day.<\/small>
****Furthermore<\/a>: \u201cLodewijks believes this reflects a long-term shift rather than a temporary response to economic pressures. \u201cThe number of people drinking remains consistent, but the frequency with which we drink and the amount we drink per occasion is dropping,\u201d he said. \u201cThe moderation trend increasingly appears to be driven by lifestyle choices, resulting in a structural, rather than cyclical, change.\u201d Again, they drink less.<\/em><\/small>
*****All of which allows me to reference my quote of the week from an asrticle in June 29, 2026 issue edition of the The New Yorker<\/em>, \u201cSomething Is Very Wrong with Modern Longevity Science<\/a>\u201d by Dhruv Khullar describing how data can be extremely skewed yet accepted: \u201cOkinawa was the site of a devastating American bombing campaign during the Second World War; much of its infrastructure and essentially all its civil records were destroyed. U.S. authorities reconstructed the civil registry by asking survivors to report their age, a process complicated by language barriers and a traditional Japanese calendar that differed from the Gregorian. The country\u2019s postwar welfare system distributed some benefits based on age, and many Okinawans requested that their records be updated. There is a strong correlation between the number of requests made in a village and the supposed life span of its residents.<\/em>\u201d The longevity miracle of Okinawans is a fibber-fibber-onie based on fibby-bibsters.<\/small><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"