Beer Roundup (Summer 2020)

COVID continues. Therefore… so, too, does the need for caution. So, too, does the need for beer. At least the latter is the conclusion of a 103-year-old woman who survived the virus. As multiple news outlets reported in late May, Jennie Stejna of Massachusetts was at the doorstep of death. Her family was even urged…

Beer Roundup (Spring 2020)

Itā€™s neither funny nor appropriate to make jokes about something when people are suffering, and this applies to the COVID-19 outbreak, which has caused widespread financial distress as well. Now consider this: obesity is an epidemic in many parts of this world. Its related diseases cause thousands to die on a daily basis and its…

Beer Roundup (Winter 2020)

Not much has happened in the beer world recently. This is the result of everyone, from unborn babies to the elderly on their deathbeds, abandoning all interest in craft beer for hard seltzer. At least thatā€™s the impression you might get reading beverage journalism and social media in America. First, for the unfamiliar, hard seltzer…

Beer Roundup (Autumn 2019)

Ceaselessly the river flows and yet the water is never the same. So begins Kamo no ChĆ“meiā€™s essay HĆ“jĆ“ki (ā€œAn Account of my Hermitageā€, 1212), the opening lines of which most if not all students of Japanese literature have to read and memorize. Later in the work, he writes, ā€œBecause I was born into a…

Beer Roundup (Summer 2019)

What stirs in the far-flung corners of this world among those who follow the strange and wondrous path of beer? To unveil such mysteries, we embarked upon a wandering adventure lasting many moons. And then…Ā  Rumor grew of a shadow in the East, whispers of a nameless fear, and the Ring of Power perceived its…