Kindly allow this periodic reminder that each Monday, I contribute a beer column to Food & Dining Magazine called “Hip Hops.” It’s very seldom “hip” in the word’s implied trendiness, but that’s the whole point of being grounded in the classically hip. After all, I reserve milkshakes for soda fountains, where they belong — and the next time a can of Pilsner Urquell explodes will be the first.
- The tally from 2021 follows. View them all here:
- Hip Hops: Upland Jeffersonville draws near, so here’s an overview
- Hip Hops: Erin Go Blagh, or a timeless St. Paddy’s Day reminder
- Hip Hops: The back story of Bock, because the time draws near
- Hip Hops: There is no envy in green beer, with one exception
- Hip Hops: An excellent day at the Augustiner in Salzburg, 2003
- Hip Hops: NABC, Hi-Wire, Noble Funk, and what’s German, anyway?
- Hip Hops: On old books, new beer labels and timeless bung-starters
- Hip Hops: Pilsners, Trappists and Monnik
- Hip Hops: Learning about cask-conditioned “real” ale
- Hip Hops: Two regional beer writers you should know
- Hip Hops: Schlenkerla’s unique smoky place in the beer cosmos
- Hip Hops: Mile Wide Beer Co.’s 4th anniversary is this week
- Hip Hops: Welcome my son, welcome to The Machine (at TEN20 Craft Brewery)
- Hip Hops: 107 ways to describe hop aromas and flavors
The end-of-year edition (Hip Hops: The search for the perfect “comfort” pint should last a lifetime) included this “it’s the hill I’ll die on” excerpt.
My personal course, both personally and professionally, will continue to be a little bit of tasting new beers, and a lot of finding the most comfortable ones, with the aim of getting to know them better.
I want Louisville metro to be the kind of place where 20+ breweries can operate their taprooms at something close to full roar again, and brew 40 beers each year if their business models permit. Sampling their wares invariably cheers me.
But I also want to know where the comforting and comfortable classics are being decanted, places like the Irish Rover, which has kept Fuller’s ESB on tap for a quarter-century. Probably most readers of F&D are getting plenty to eat; their achievements lie elsewhere, and drunkenness has long since ceased being a victorious pursuit, at least for me. Sipping beers that should be on a UNESCO world heritage list is my new norm.