The loss last November of my part-time beer programming gig at Pints&union left me embittered with more time for writing, which I resolved to apply to tasks such as mustering coherent weekly “Hip Hops” submissions at Food & Dining Magazine’s web site.
I’ve stuck with it for the most part, in keeping with a concurrent vow that self-plagiarism would be kept to a minimum.
As I’ve been hammering away at sentences, and with The Pubcast podcasting project touching on beer with greater frequency than I imagined, it occurred to me that with the exception of the guys over at Louisville Ale Trail, I might be the last local beer writer left standing (and Ale Trail’s output seems to have curtailed lately, for reasons unknown).
Food and restaurant writers, yes, but beer? Not so much around here. A few years ago LEO Weekly had regular beer columnists; probably never the Courier Journal, although maybe I’m forgetting someone.
Following are links to the most recent “Hip Hops” columns at F & D. I’m happy with them, and since I’ve hit a lull here at my website with the ongoing “40 Years in Beer” (life gets in the way, especially when there’s no pay), check into these essays if you haven’t already done so.
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Hip Hops: Death, taxes, generational discord – and a few well-chosen beers in one’s dotage (May 22, 2024)
Given this eternal dialectic, why do I praise young Italian brewers in the late 1990s and early 2000s for wonderful achievements in spicing beer with oregano, chamomile and heaven knows what else, but sneer at a young American brewer for doing exactly the same?
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Hip Hops: Get ready for the Rollin’ on the River Craft Beer Fest on Sat., June 8 (May 15, 2024)
We’re less than a month away from the inaugural Rollin’ on the River Craft Beer Festival, which will take place on Saturday, June 8 from 3:00 p.m. to 7:00 p.m. (2:00 p.m. entry for VIP ticket holders) at the Howard Steamboat Museum at 1101 East Market in Jeffersonville, Indiana.
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Hip Hops: Hometown Brewing, Craft House Pizza, and a KY Craft Bash update(May 8, 2024)
There is an honesty to Craft House/Hometown’s pizza-and-beer ambience that I find utterly refreshing; it reflects my own upbringings as a beer drinker and business owner.
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Hip Hops: Remembering a May Day in glorious Vienna, 1987 (May 1, 2024)
To recap, May Day takes place on May 1, and generally refers to springtime public holidays in the northern hemisphere, where the cultural tradition began long before Marx, Engels and Gus Hall.
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Hip Hops: With practice, beer knowledge is put into practice (April 24, 2024)
In his book Outliers, Malcolm Gladwell advances this famous Carnegie Hall preparatory notion to a whole other level: the “10,000 hour rule,” stipulating that it takes 10,000 hours of determined practice to master complex tasks like playing an instrument, performing surgery or drinking beer.
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Hip Hops: “Welcome to Nail City,” or beers and pews in Wheeling WV (2001) (April 17, 2024)
A few weeks ago I was asked about the wooden church pews that may or may not still offer seating on the pub side at NABC’s Pizzeria & Public House in New Albany, formerly Rich O’s Public House and Sportstime Pizza, where I was a founder and co-owner for 25 years.
