Samuel E. Bring

Samuel E. Bring is my hero. Such dedication and perspicacity. I take my hat off to him. Determined, eccentric individuals drive the quest for knowledge. Mankind generates so much stuff that there aren't enough fully-qualified stuffists to do whatever they do with stuff . . . stuff it, I suppose.

Let's get back to Samuel E. Bring. I discovered archives 20 months ago (or maybe 19, I should have made up an odd number - so much more convincing). My trousers still have the stains from 150 years of filth. (Tasteless joke removed by editor.) Those Whitbread logs are soo dirty.

Huguenots. Proof of the positive effects of immigration. The 5,000 Huguenot emigrés that settled in Berlin had an enormous effect on Prussia's artistic and intellectual life. In Britain, two of the infamous Big Six breweries took their names from Huguenot families: Courage and Whitbread. I'm not sure if that's a good or a bad thing.

Samuel E. Bring. He went through the records. Thirty four years (1930-1964) he spent documenting Stockholm breweries. My efforts are pathetic in comparison. He must have done it for love - how much money could there have been in it?

I had planned to harvest some of the fruits of his research today. But I was too knackered. You'll have to wait. Wienerbryggeriet (most of the breweries Bring writes about have Germanic names - Hamburger Bryggeriet, Nürnbergs Bryggeriet, Neumüllers Bryggeriet) was the subject. And their Bayerskt öl. Intriguing stuff. Challenging stuff. Stuffy stuff. Stuff.

But you'll have to wait until tomorrow. Or the day after. By Monday at the latetst - I promise.

Really.



Almost forgot - I promised more about books. Today I ordered the three last three volumes of Samuel E. Bring's oevre. Unless there's a part VIII.