Now that I am six months (yikes!<\/em>) into retirement, I am moving into a bit of a more organized approach to doing nothing. My plan is to really really achieve a state of active non-achievement and, so, on Tuesday I spent the morning an hour and a half to my east to meet up with an old pal who drove an hour and a half to his southwest. He retired on the same day I did by pure co-inky-dink. We had coffee in Prescott, Ontario and looked across the big river at downtown Ogdensburg, NY as we talked about not being employed and the related turning off many mental light switches. These two ships above did the decent thing and passed each other right in front of us just before we jumped back in our cars to make the way home for lunch. We also noticed the leftovers of crayfish<\/a> strewn along the waterside path. Happy are the gulls. And at 11 am, the bells of the Ogdensburg City Hall clocktower<\/a> rang clear across the water, taunting me with thoughts of the now forbidden delights of upstate NY such as white hots<\/a> and top level NCAA hockey at the beautiful Appleton Arena<\/a> a bit further inland. Once the current tariff war is settled, I will be back.<\/p>\n On a similar theme, first up in the beer news\u2026 more tariff time. This week, the US took the next retaliatory<\/a> steps against Canadian booze:<\/p>\n President Donald Trump\u2019s ban on Canadian booze kicked in on Tuesday, an unprecedented move that underscores the breakdown in one of the closest trading relationships in the world\u2026 President Donald Trump\u2019s ban on Canadian booze kicked in on Tuesday, an unprecedented move that underscores the breakdown in one of the closest trading relationships in the world\u2026 For beer, though, the ban is virtually impossible to get around without an American bottling arm because it covers the bottles, cans and kegs that consumers typically buy. A Canadian business could technically ship beer to the US in a tanker, but that\u2019s hardly practical.<\/em><\/p>\n Apparently 50% of Canadian spirits are exported and 93% of that goes to the US. But many brands like Crown Royal<\/a> heading to the US market are already bottled in the States. And I think years ago I read that Unibroue<\/a> in Quebec was supplying bulk beer (or maybe wort) for finishing and packaging in the USA so it might be something that can be worked out. Also, brewing brands under license<\/a> occurs. But only to a point. So we shall see how this plays out.<\/p>\n And my very own<\/a>* North Country Public Radio has made the update this week with the story of how tarrifs in the other direction have imposed on one cidery<\/a> that focuses on the local as much as possible:<\/p>\n The problem is that most people drink Nine Pin\u2019s ciders in cans \u2014 around 2.4 million cans each year. And while those cans are manufactured by Ball Co. in Saratoga, about 25 miles away, they\u2019re made from imported aluminum sheets.\u00a0Nine Pin co-founder Sonya del Peral said that a local business relying on a nearby harvest should be insulated from the trade war. But it isn\u2019t.\u00a0\u201cIt feels like that\u2019s some global thing, and it is, but the aluminum sheets that Ball uses to make the cans come from Canada,\u201d Nine Pin cofounder Sonya del Peral said. \u201cOtherwise, we\u2019re such a hyperlocal business.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Elsewhere, over on Facebook Laura<\/a> has shared some information about Sam Smith\u2019s dealings with their pub assets:<\/p>\n Two weeks after publishing the story about the sale of the Wellington Inn at Knaresborough with a \u201cnon-pub use only\u201d covenant on it, which we discussed here at length, the York Press has realised that the covenant is actually the real news here and got comment from CAMRA<\/span><\/span><\/span>. I\u2019m wondering whether Tom Gordon MP<\/span><\/span><\/span> is being kept apprised of the situation and what his thoughts are on Sam Smiths taking a number of local pubs out of circulation without any proper recourse to the change of use procedures built into the planning system. It\u2019s clear that a number of the SS pubs currently up for sale (21 it seems), though not all, have this restriction on them. It would prevent the local community for applying for Asset of Community Value status, for example\u2026 The Oldham Times is reporting on the same situation in their patch, relating to the Commercial Inn on Smallbrook Road in Shaw\u2026\u00a0Another \u201cnon-pub use only\u201d sale.<\/em><\/p>\n A more vibrant scene was described in The Guardian<\/em> which published a story by Scott Antcliffe<\/a> on the search for the true k\u00f6lsch in Cologne and provided a portrait of a number of fine establishments, including this on Brauhaus S\u00fcnner im Walfisch:<\/p>\n Down a cobbled alley in the old town, S\u00fcnner im Walfisch is pure historical theatre. Housed in a striking 17th-century step-gabled building, dismantled and rebuilt brick by brick on its current site, it serves as the old town outpost for S\u00fcnner, Cologne\u2019s oldest operating k\u00f6lsch brewery. Inside, narrow timber-framed rooms and low ceilings transport you back to medieval Rhineland. The beer is fantastic \u2013 crisp and dry with a peppery hop finish that makes it dangerously easy to drink \u2013 and it\u2019s quieter and more intimate than the echoing halls near the station, its k\u00f6besse still delivering drinks with a wink of humour. A favourite for decor and character, if not quite for atmosphere.<\/em><\/p>\n Decor also was the question I hereby poach from Boak and Bailey\u2019s Saturday update last week where the comments<\/a> had some very interesting views of the origin of the long bar and queuing in UK pubs, including this:<\/p>\n When the Great Western Railway opened to Bristol in 1841, all express trains made a stop at Swindon so that passengers could stock up in the refreshment rooms (there were no on-board catering facilities in those days). Those refreshment rooms were fitted with exceptionally long counters so that the rush of passengers could be dealt with quickly and efficiently. Indeed, there was much comment in the press about the length of the counters.<\/em><\/p>\n Contrary-wise, as reported at ProBrewer.com, White Labs<\/a> have announced a significant downsize:<\/p>\n White Labs, the well-known yeast supplier to the homebrewing and craft brewing industry has sold its San Diego facility and will be moving operations into a smaller location at the nearby Home Brew Mart. No changes will be made to its product availability or services, but the company will auction off its brewery, cellar and taproom equipment from its old location\u2026 The company will now run most of its yeast production and storage out of its Asheville, North Carolina location which it opened in 2017. The West Coast operations will be moved to a smaller facility and contain mostly administrative personnel and laboratory operations.<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cThis is infrastructure loss,\u201d said Drew<\/a>. Jason<\/a> shared a link to the auction. Speaking of loss, in his latest edition of Hop Queries<\/em><\/a> Stan has listed the effects of climate change on the European hop crop this year:<\/p>\n The Association of German Hop Growers estimates they will harvest 33,779 metric tons (about 75 million pounds), compared to 43,141 in 2025. \u00a0The Czech Hop Growers Union estimates production will be down about 25% from 5,207 metric tons in 2025. The official results from alpha screening by the Czech Chmelarsky Institut show historically low alpha values of 1.8% for Saaz. In Slovenia, in addition to the heat repeated hailstorms damaged about half 4,000 acres strung for harvest, with losses in yield between 10% and 100%. In Poland, frost damaged hops in some fields at the beginning of the season and the area suffered through the same high heat and low moisture conditions as the rest of Europe.<\/em><\/p>\n The new Good Beer Guide has dropped (ugh); it would have been poetic to blame my injury on the descent of this massive brick of a book (forgot to mention that last post), but it arrived while I was in Dewsbury and flattened Mrs RM instead. Having made every effort to limit the walk to and from the football (even took the metro to Piccadilly) the only sensible option was to get home and rest. But \u201csensible\u201d isn\u2019t a criticism often directed at me, and when the internet returned somewhere near Dore I started planning a \u201ccheeky\u201d (ugh) pint at a closest GBG new entry\u2026<\/em><\/p>\n Viva cheeky pints!! Viva!!!<\/em> Here are some notes:<\/p>\n Note #1<\/a>: A massive personal wine collection. About a month ago, I posted a short post on a tavern in my fair town and, on their next Patreon footnotes<\/a> page, Boak and Bailey commented this way:<\/p>\n It\u2019s always cook when a theme emerges in the post we\u2019ve gathered together in the round up. This week, it\u2019s obviously about what makes pubs feel relaxed, informal comunity spaces. Alan McLeod\u2019s \u201ctavs\u201d are alien to us, although he does a great job evoking their atmosphere and vibe: \u201cWhen I paid my bill on the way out, I got called \u201chon\u2019\u201d by someone less than half my age. \u201cWe good\u201d she said with a thumbs up. The beer was a buck cheaper too. We good.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n Happy then was I as I came across an incredibly good set of short videos on Facebook called \u201cEvery Dive Bar in New Brunswick<\/a>\u201d where the documentarian (whose name I can\u2019t spot) goes into tavs and describes what she sees. This one<\/a> for me is a \u201ctavern\u201d<\/em> or a \u201ctav\u201d <\/em>more often as not. This one<\/a> as well. Notice the really informal but bright busy vibe. Folks are \u201cbuddies\u201d too.\u00a0 Plus very little attention to the finishings of the place that needs to be respected for the punishment they can take. And this bar recorded (on another Facebook page) in Iowa<\/a> also appears to be a \u201ctav<\/em>\u201d to me. But this one<\/a> is not a \u201ctav<\/em>\u201d so much as a true \u201cdive\u201d to my mind. Looks a notch harder with darker interior and maybe more male oriented. Yet, there is much overlap\u2026 and the man who calls Keglers Bar in Moncton \u201cour drinking home<\/em>\u201d nails it.<\/p>\n Observing another more rarified snack bracket, Eoghan<\/a> shared the hallmarks of summer\u2019s end he has spotted in Brussels inlcuding this ceremony:<\/p>\n I know summer is over when I see men in grey smocks amassing at the entrance to Brussels\u2019 town hall on the Grand Place, on the first Friday in September. Usually I arrive too late to see the portly men in their traditional brewer\u2019s outfits, some carrying wooden brewer\u2019s mash paddles and others shouldering in quartets mock wooden barrels, arriving at the end of their ceremonial parade down the hill from Brussels\u2019 cathedral cathedral. The parade, and the official church service that precedes it and features a priest dousing the beer barrel in holy water as an official blessing, is the starting shot for the Belgian Beer Weekend, a festival which occupies the whole of the Grand Place across the first weekend in September, and which is very committed to its pageantry.<\/em><\/p>\n Some holy moly archeological news care of Merryn<\/a> from a few weeks ago in The Smithsonian<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 A 13,000 year old burial site on Mount Carmel<\/a> shows evidence of brewing by a pre-ag hunter-gatherer culture<\/a>:<\/p>\n The evidence of brewing comes from \u201cboulder mortars\u201d: a stick can gouge out a hole in limestone, widening or exploiting existing water-formed low places. Inside these holes were found \u2018phytoliths\u2019: microscopic fragments of silica from inside plant cells & starch granules with evidence of malting. Together, these tell the story of a process: Someone gathered seeds by hand, stored them in fiber bags, placed them in a bedrock mortar & smashed them up, then transferred them to a hole where they soaked, germinated & malted. The mash was heated & left to ferment with windborne yeast.<\/em><\/p>\n So\u2026 lambic in terms of airborne yeast but using malted field grass seeds?\u00a0 Very cool.<\/p>\n And finally, Boak and Bailey<\/a> have given further consideration to the crap that A.I. is foisting upon us via PR crap sent out the beer scribbling set and how it conflicts with their thoughts about how good digital communications products and services are designed and delivered:<\/p>\n One key principle is that you start by putting a lot of effort into researching and identifying something people need, or at least want; and then you build it.\u00a0But most of these AI-generated websites and apps seem to start from the other end: think of something you can easily make with AI to boost your limited coding and writing skills; then see if anyone is interested.\u00a0AI makes this feasible because there\u2019s so little effort involved in making something that you might as well take the \u2018throw enough mud and some of it will stick\u2019 approach.\u00a0Except \u2013 except! \u2013 you\u2019re then creating a bloody big tidal wave of mud for everyone else to wade through on your behalf.<\/em><\/p>\n They wisely advise \u201cignoring emails which have obviously been written with AI.\u201d On a similar\u00a0theme, apparently the US is going to remain A.I. as \u201cSuper Intelligence<\/a><\/em>\u201d which seems to be a throwback to the Information Super Highway era. Quite appropriate as cousin Wee Donnie wants to have us all living in the past. And seeing as everyone, like me, called \u201cAL\u201d are being\u00a0 blamed for everything that AI does or doesn\u2019t do, I completely support the idea of a new term. But I have a modest proposal for a better alternative. \u201cShitelligence<\/em>\u201d which, if you can\u2019t immediately see the beauty of the idea is a combination of Intelligence with an honest acknowlegement that it is\u2026 shit. The same \u201cS.I.\u201d acronym can be used. Plus it is mellifluous. Trips off the tongue: \u201c\u2026shi-telly-gents\u2026\u201d<\/em> You are welcome.<\/p>\n That is it for now. Until next week, please look tothis week\u2019s doublist due Boak and Bailey\u2019s postings on each and every Saturday<\/a>\u00a0along with the coincidenal and fabulously entertaining footnotes week after week at\u00a0Patreon<\/a>. They do put in the effort. And do look out for more of Stan\u2019s \u201cOne Link, One Paragraph<\/a>\u201d format. Then it\u2019s your turn. Read and recommend, please. Scour the world for news tips \u2013 then let me know. Then hunt out something in someone\u2019s archives! Leave oblique comments on someone\u2019s post from 2009!! Listen to a few of Lew\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. 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>. What else?<\/p>\n *Scroll down!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Now that I am six months (yikes!) into retirement, I am moving into a bit of a more organized approach to doing nothing. My plan is to really really achieve a state of active non-achievement and, so, on Tuesday I spent the morning an hour and a half to my east to meet up with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":7073924,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[141791,11784,168013,104566,99858,179977,234653,104307,109037,104564,156684,104565,106929],"tags":[3171,13054,3767,6854,1416,3053,5491,1820,388,15984],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-7073923","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ancient","category-belgium","category-books-and-beer","category-diners-and-restaurants","category-germany","category-hops","category-industry-marketing","category-law","category-new-brunswick","category-pubs","category-seasons-and-weather","category-tavs","category-yeast","tag-beer","tag-beery","tag-blog","tag-ends","tag-good","tag-halloween","tag-month","tag-news","tag-notes","tag-starts"],"yoast_head":"\n![\"\"](\"http:\/\/abetterbeerblog427.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/Oburg-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a>Happier thoughts next as I quite enjoyed last Friday\u2019s cartoon in Pellicle<\/em><\/a> by Dave Bailey (no relation) who took on the plight of the rejected Landlord logo lads and told the tale of how logo lads get on with their lot in life. And, showing me the way,\u00a0 Retired Martin<\/a> shared the moment he faces every year when the Good Beer Guide<\/em> comes out and he gets his marching orders to investigate the new entries:<\/p>\n
Note #2<\/a>: The first \u201cnews photo\u201d from 1853.
Note #3<\/a>: \u201cHealth beer\u201d!?!?<\/p>\n