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Nobody could hazard a guess at how many thousands of mugs of beer had been served over the old mahogany bar at Weis Brothers Saloon. Bartender John Mich, who had manned the beer taps at the Milwaukee watering hole since the 1890s, probably could have come closest in his estimate if he had tried. But it seemed only a matter of trivia now for the 20 or so patrons gathered in the back room of the establishment. After all, there was a funeral at hand. They had come together to pay their final respects to their beloved old friend, John Barleycorn.

None in attendance was consoled by the fact that the dearly departed was a mere character of fiction, immortalized in song as the mythical personification of beer. On the contrary, as the ceremony began, some stifled tears, including Mich, whose moans and gurgles were loudest. With hands folded and heads bowed, the somber group encircled the casket, which was artfully decorated with floral tributes placed inside beer mugs and lit candles stuck in liquor bottles.

Saloon employee William Graf delivered the eulogy. “John Barleycorn was foully murdered,” thundered Graf, “and his body found in the back yard of legislation!”

The black-dressed pallbearers then carried John Barleycorn’s earthly remains out of the saloon to the nearby banks of the Milwaukee River. Accompanied by a soft chorus of “Sweet Adeline,” they lowered the casket into the water. (That his final resting place be eternally wet seemed only fitting.) Empty beer bottles, for lack of roses, were tossed in after the sinking casket. The loud splash of the saloon’s cash register being hurled into the river punctuated the ceremony’s conclusion.

The passing of John Barleycorn, of course, meant the demise of Weis Brothers Saloon and thousands just like it all over America. For beer drinkers everywhere, the taps would soon run dry. The year was 1919 and the nation had just ratified what later historians would call “the noble experiment.” Within one year, National Prohibition would officially be under way.

Dry Roots Run Deep

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Mother’s in the kitchen Washing out the jugs; Sister’s in the pantry Bottling the suds; Father’s in the cellar Mixing up the hops; Johnny’s on the front porch Watching for the cops
–Poem by a New York state Rotary Club member during Prohibition

Prohibition accentuated the “home” in homebrewing.

Many American families recount and cherish tales of grandpa’s inept experimental attempts to brew beer in the kitchen and grandma’s gallant efforts to hide the results from Prohibition agents. Although most homebrewers practiced their hobbies with minimal adverse consequences, this homebrewing boom did have a casualty: the reputation of homebrewing.

In an era when intoxicating liquors were illegal, the ingredients to produce them were not. “For so long as the fruits of the orchard, the grain and roots of the field remain, the distiller and home-brewer have an inexhaustible supply of the raw material for producing alcohol. It is a matter of common notoriety that we are becoming a nation of adepts in the making of intoxicants,” wrote John Koren, author of Alcohol and Society, in his essay “Inherent Frailties of Prohibition.”

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American consumers are starting to turn their back on light beers in favor of frou-frou drinks.

This change in taste buds will send domestic light beers sales toward a 10-year low in 2015, according to a recent report by Shanken News Daily. Since its peak in 2008, domestic light beer sales have fallen by 8.3 million barrels in the United States, a decline of 8 percent, according to the Impact Databank. In fact, Americans have been drinking less beer overall. Americans’ per capita beer consumption has decreased 20 percent since the early 1990s, according to the Gallup survey in 2012.

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Scribe understands why low carb is important. REALLY UNDERSTANDS. But couldn’t they find a flavor to pack into this? Looks: if Scribe went to the Doc and a urine sample looking like this was taken the doc would be concerned. Almost nothing to it. Ah, clarity isn’t everything.

Get it in your mouth and, “Eh? What’s wrong with your water here, bartender?” Yup less substantial than some H20 and annoying as hell.

Taste? ARE YOU KIDDING?????????????????????????????????????????????????

Not much about not much. except water is probably a better choice.

Once upon a road trip Scribe visited a friend in Tennessee. You know him: writes for this site. Living near the Cumberland River and having just been jogging Scribe took a drink and immediately spit it out.

Better than Ultra.

In a funny sort of way, homebrewing has come full circle. Thirty-four years ago, our country’s 39th President, Jimmy Carter, signed H.R. 1337 which effectively legalized homebrewing nationwide. And now, shortly after another presidential election, our 44th President, Barack Obama, has released to the public his recipe for the first beer ever brewed on the White House grounds. The fact that this presidential beer—a honey ale—was made with honey gathered from the White House’s own hives is emblematic of what homebrewing has become today, a craft, like cooking (or beekeeping), that empowers people to do for themselves and rely less on packaged, processed, mass-produced food and beverages.

Were it not for Prohibition early in the 20th century, homebrewing may well have been the kind of basic home skill passed on from generation to generation like baking, pickling or hunting. But as we know, that dark period for imbibers had a lasting hangover that affected both the making and consumption of alcoholic beverages for decades. The craft beer revolution, which not coincidentally was kick-started by Carter’s pro-homebrewing legislation, put the artisanal craft of making beer back into the peoples’ hands (basically the definition of craft beer) and opened adventurous beer drinkers’ eyes to the flavor possibilities out there in the many different styles of beer that were increasingly becoming available.

Back in 1980 there were only eight craft breweries in the U.S., but after three decades of strong, steady growth, there are more than 2,000. While macrobrew sales are flat, craft beer continues to grow, even in a terrible economy. The rise in popularity of homebrewing has not only mirrored this growth, it has been further invigorated by the do-it-yourself, locavore foodie movement where people have discovered the satisfaction and challenge of making things from scratch. We don’t know if Martha Stewart has ever homebrewed, but it’s the kind of skill she’d surely approve of. If we can make bread from scratch, how much different or more difficult is it to brew our own beer?

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MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Twins say Target Field is the first major league ball park to serve beer from a vending machine.

The self-serve beer station debuted Sunday during the game against the New York Yankees. A second station is expected to be added in time for the All-Star Game next week.

To buy a brew from the vending machine, buyers prove their age at a concession stand and purchase a vending card. That card is used at the vending machine where buyers can tap up to 48 ounces every 15 minutes. The machine offers four beers: Bud, Bud Light, Shock Top Lemon Shandy and Goose Island 312 Urban Pale Ale.

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Strange woman hangs out in front of Tennessee Brew Works asking for a free beer, Nah, , it’s my wife Millie!

By Ken Carman

  Ken Carman is a BJCP judge; homebrewer since 1979, club member at Escambia Bay, Clarksville Carboys and Music City Homebrewers, who has been interviewing professional brewers all over the east coast for over 15 years.

TBW
809 Ewing Ave
Nashville, TN 37203
(615) 200-8786


  Just telling some folks how Garr brews might make someone who teaches others how to homebrew cringe and a traditional German brewer go, “Gelsobin die augamanchkin haufen mist!”
 OK, I made up some of those words except the last, which I was told by my German teacher in my first high
school meant “hay,” but also a not so polite way to say there’s something disgusting in the hay. As to the rest, why would I make up… words? Just lazy I guess, and no need in offending those who, like I, mostly remember just the curse words.

Part of the great planning at Tennessee Brew Works would be an upper level, eagle nest-like, perch that includes a second bar, where patrons can watch the brewery from up high.

 Let me start by saying that all the thought, the planning and inventiveness that went into making the dream that became Tennessee Brew Works come true, is beyond impressive. Garr Schwartz and Christian Spears did their homework and beyond.
  Garr was raised in Donelson, Tennessee, but he lived in New York City area for a while and worked on Wall Street: Lehman. Yup, that “Lehman.” This is what he went to college for: business and finance. He was selling hedge funds, investments.

  Not the most exciting business to be in these days. It’s contracting. And the skill set I had was not appreciated.”

  What’s so unusual about how Garr brews? Well to mention just two; severely crushed grains: pulverized applies, I would think, and a filter system that essentially does what us homebrewers are told not to do… squeeze grain hard. Similar to squeezing grain bags, sort of, only more high tech. Oh, here’s another example: sparge at very hot temperatures. Continue reading “Brew Biz: Werts and All”

DEXTER (WWJ) – Craft beer is a big business in Michigan, but how do you figure out which one suits your taste? A new business opening in Dexter hopes to put an end to the mystery.

Michigan is the number five craft brewing state in the country, with more than 180 microbreweries and brew pubs, but many people have never even tasted a local brew.

“People are afraid to try new things simply because of the price of a six-pack at a grocery store or at a convenience store,” Lisa Mano, manager of the Beer Grotto, told WWJ’s Marie Osborne.

Mano said most people go to the store and see a display of craft beer, but have no idea where to begin.

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