DRINK

Hip Hops: I won’t apologize for %!@$&* hating Stella Artois

Cover canine photo credit: Care. Diligent readers may recall that I participate in a weekly podcast called The Pubcast, which originates at Donum Dei Brewery in New Albany. There isn’t an overarching theme to our discussions, although guests often are drawn from the food and drink trade, and beer talk regularly lands on the docket. […]

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Hip Hops: Dispassionate, objective thoughts about Louisville’s landmark beers (version 2.0)

Back in February the American Craft Beer Hall of Fame (ACBHOF) inducted its first membership class of twelve brewery owners, brewers, writers, educators, and importers, who were “recognized for their involvement in, and support of, the American craft beer industry.” ACBHOF Announces its Inaugural Inductees In August came the ACBHOF’s first selection of Landmark Craft […]

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Hip Hops: The Reinheitsgebot matters, except when it doesn’t

I remember the day many years ago when my German friend drew one of those proverbial lines in the sand. We were debating the merits of a blueberry chocolate stout, long before such hybridized stylistic Frankensteins became the daily norm in craft beer. “It just isn’t right,” he said. “According to the Reinheitsgebot, you must […]

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Hip Hops: Might as well go down swinging, right?

Recently we stopped for beers at a Louisville brewery taproom, and it was fine. There were no problems. Customers brought their own food, all ages were present, and the atmosphere felt suitably festive. The recorded music wasn’t terribly intrusive, and we were able to chat without shouting, which was a pleasant change. Edibles & Potables: […]

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Hip Hops: An obligatory Oktoberfest (beer style) three-way, and grudging pumpkin ale

As our schoolteachers will attest, repetition is an inescapable element of their working lives. Students in second grade this year may be different, but the lessons are the same as those taught to last year’s cohort. Level by level, building from the previous ones, we’re introduced to the basics, intended for us all, reserving more […]

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Hip Hops: Cold beer conversation (a little truth, a little frustration)

With apologies to George Strait. If you grew up as an American during the 1960s and 70s, nothing could have prepared you for a future of stylistic diversity as it pertains to beer and brewing. Naturally the same might be said of food and dining, in a broader sense, given that our role models back […]

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Prova Spirits, a nano distiller in Phoenix Hill, opens this weekend

Liqueur: Technically, liqueurs are liquor because they are distilled spirits. The general difference is that liqueurs are sweetened spirits with various flavors, oils, and extracts added; rum, whiskey, brandy, and other liquors can serve as a base spirit for liqueurs. —The Spruce Eats At Louisville Business First, Michael L. Jones describes the advent of Prova […]

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Hip Hops: But what if brewing wasn’t supposed to be EZ?

A year and a half has elapsed since it was first revealed that beer would be “brewed” for the first time since the 19th century (was it ever?) in Georgetown, Indiana at a restaurant to be dubbed Rails & Ales Brew House. The time has arrived for the eatery’s soft opening days, and it plans […]

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The Cocktail Contessa: Cocktails from the garden, sipping on summer’s bounty

In our current print edition, Heather “The Cocktail Contessa” Wibbels takes a walk through the garden in search of inspired summer sips, including recipes for Berry Mint Tea, Lavender Lemon Smash, Peach Basil Gin Sour, Garden Sparkle and School’s Out Margarita. COCKTAIL CONTESSA | Sipping on summer’s bounty  Fresh herbs and flowers can infuse your […]

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Hip Hops: C’mon, you’re just buttering me up (or, Harry Potter’s diacetyl beer)

Having recently celebrated my 65th birthday, each passing moment brings another reminder that my life’s chronology largely predates today’s image-driven, post-literate world. My grandparents were born in the late 1890s. I taught myself to read by looking at the pictures in actual books, and we had a black and white television set until around 1971. […]

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The Bar Belle: Globetrotting and bar hopping in 2025

In our current print edition, Sara “The Bar Belle” Havens recounts her travels so far in 2025, which have included London, Scotland, Mexico and Baltimore, MD, home of The Horse You Came In On Saloon in Fell’s Point, reputedly Edgar Allan Poe’s last stop before oblivion (cover photo). BAR BELLE | Globetrotting and bar hopping […]

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Hip Hops: “The Beer World According to Spike,” a 1999 polemic

I tend to get testy whenever someone who works in the craft beer business takes to praising insipid High Life or bland Banquet. That’s because craft beer exists as an explicit rejection of the mainstream, which at one point 40-odd years ago was an effective monopoly of one principal beer style manufactured by a tiny […]

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Hip Hops: Does beer knowledge matter? If so, how do we know for sure?

Does knowledge matter? If so, how do we know for sure? Such a discussion might have occurred at the agora in Athens, with Socrates merrily harassing thoughtless passers-by. The question might also be ripped from today’s headlines, as when Secretary R.F. Kennedy Jr. lip syncs Pink Floyd in a post to X: “We don’t need […]

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Hip Hops: R.I.P. Jack McAuliffe (New Albion), who focused on BEER, not ephemera

There is a frequently quoted aphorism by the philosopher George Santayana, from his book Reason in Common Sense. Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it. Admittedly, I’m old. Old enough to remember a time when beer in America was uniformly bland, watery and golden; manufactured by a handful of monolithic corporate […]

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Hip Hops: A few Czechoslovak lagers at Mamut in Bratislava (1991)

Today’s post is adapted from a vignette previously published as part of my “40 Years in Beer” series. Because writers enjoy being read, links to my web site will continue to be featured here, as with yesterday’s installment: 40 Years in Beer, Part 80: Running Gravity Head’s daunting gauntlet (Act I: 1999 – 2009). Once […]

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