Intellectual Ferment of a Different Kind
Imbibing Culture
~Setting the Stage~ I’ve been saying for years now that I’d post some of my material about the Reinheitsgebot (Beer Purity Law). Turns out it’s been one of the more difficult pieces of work to get across the finish line—not because I’ve had writer’s …
~Evoking Gemütlichkeit at the Wirtshaus~ It was the early 1990s. I had only recently discovered what German beer was all about, and was doing my level best to try as many of them as possible. Occasionally, my friends and I would find our …
Back in January I sat down with All About Beer Podcast hosts Don Tse and Em Sauter to talk about beer travel with co-guest Chris O’Leary of Brew York. The timing was fitting: I had just arrived back in Oklahoma after a 24-hour journey …
My Kind of Beer Around this time last year I penned a series that began with an account of my tastes in beer, followed by an exploration of the kinds of beers I like. The series ended with a list of twenty-five beers that …
Medieval Inns and Taverns The Wirtshaus is a Central European institution with deep roots in medieval times. During the early and high Middle Ages, inns with taverns sprung up along trade and pilgrimage routes, offering food and accommodation to weary travelers, along with stables …
The rain caught us unawares. A veil of mist rapidly descended, shrouding the hills in the distance. The first few drops announced themselves with a rattle through the leaves. Soon the path was a series of tiny rivulets. Leaves in autumn hues swirled around …
What could be more typical of Austrian cuisine than the Wiener Schnitzel? You see it on just about every menu in just about every type of establishment, from the most modest to the most elegant. And you’ll find it as Vienna’s culinary calling card …
A Tectonic Shift At first blush, the Munich Baker-Brewer Dispute might look like a curious footnote in the annals of medieval history.[1] But it’s much more than that. Flaring up sporadically between 1481 and 1517, this inter-guild dispute is not only a colourful …
Beers I Like A few weeks back I wrote about the cultural dynamics that influence our taste, while also giving an account of what has shaped my own tastes in beer. I followed up with an exploration of the kinds of beers I …
Accounting for My Tastes in Beer It’s axiomatic that we drink what we like. But what shapes our tastes? And how do we account for our tastes in beer? In the first part of these reflections, I considered taste on a general level before …