Atlanta day one

This going to be a strange day. I’m travelling to Atlanta, but my train doesn’t leave until 2:30 PM. Leaving me quite a few hours to kill in downtown Birmingham.

At first I consider strangling it at Paramount. Then I realise that they’re closed on Mondays. Damn. Until I recall somewhere else I stumbled on while researching the trip: Rogue Tavern. It’s not too far away and seems to have a decent choice of beer. I leave my luggage at the hotel and head off.

On the way over it becomes clear that the regeneration of downtown Birmingham is far from over. Away from the shiny new office blocks there are plenty of dead buildings and empty lots. Not the cheeriest of sights. Not raining.

Though I’m starting to wish it was. In the sun it feels effing hot. And just as humid as when it was raining.

At last I’ve found a bar downtown that’s open. Away from the gleaming skyscrapers, it’s a bit rundown. I leave my change with a polite gentleman down on his luck.

This is where I used to waste my breath employing those wordy things to describe stuff. Barn, lunching office workers, look at the photos:

It’s not yet noon, but the waitress asks: “Are you eating.”

“Later. I need to work up an appetite.”

A good place to start seems:

Good People Snake Handler

A very popular beer, according to Stuart. And highly sessionable at just 10% ABV. (I’ve made that joke before, haven’t I?) It’s a pretty amber colour, with only the slightest haze. [Beer description warning] The aroma is citrus, with maybe a hint of peach. In the mouth there’s a load more fruit, malt hiding somewhere behind the settee, afraid to come out. Not stupidly bitter, as seems to be the trend.

Not so sure a double – or is it triple? – IPA is the most sensible beer to kick off with. But I’ve only a couple of hours before getting on the train. For 5 hours, I’ll be booze-free. Best get tanked up now.

Trying to stick with Alabama beers, I’ve ordered:

Back Forty Truck Stop

Billed as an English Brown Ale, it’s 6% ABV. Guess it’s a Northern Brown, then. The colour is deep amber, just about nudging up to fully fledged brown. Something a bit weird tasting about it. That funny straw flavour Bass XXXX Mild from Taddy used to have.

Don’t want to pig out so soon after breakfast. Southern Brisket Sandwich it is. Just what I needed. Not stupidly huge. Tasty and served with a few chips.

I get another snake handler. Liked me that stuff. It is surprisingly drinkable – much more so than the Brown Ale.

None of the lunching office people are drinking beer. Only me. But I’m on holiday. And Americans don’t drink during during work hours. Mostly.

Just as well this is a short session. Snake Handler is going down way too easy.

Not raining when I leave – whahay!

After picking up my bags, I get a cab to the train station. It’s not far, but my luggage weighs a ton. It’s all those books. The station is a shockingly small affair, a good bit smaller than Newark North Gate, which only caters for 35,000 inhabitants. It brings home how marginal train travel is in much of the US.

The train is a bog-standard Amtrak affair. The type with the very narrow windows. Thousands of these coaches must have been built. They’re getting a bit long in the tooth, but are comfortable enough and quite spacious.

On the way out of town we run alongside a dead steel works. It’s just like being back in the north of England.

I while away the journey finally looking at the TV progs Dolores has put on my netbook. Though it’s a bastard keeping the plug in the socket. Again. Had the same thing on the Vancouver – Seattle train.

We pass this, which I think will impress Andrew:

The Amtrak station in Atlanta is small and bizarrely far from downtown. I manage to miss Crawford Moran, who’s hosting me tonight. He waits in the baggage hall. But I had no checked in bags.

I take a cab to my downtown hotel. The location is great. Something I hadn’t been able to work out from looking at maps. The centre of a US city can be strangely elusive on maps.

I check in. Brilliant. I’ve a suite. With a wonderful view.  Shame I have to jump in a taxi almost straight away. No time to enjoy the luxury. I’m almost already late for the 9 PM event at 5 Seasons Westside.

My taxi driver has the radio tuned to a crazy right-wing shock jock. Though he doesn’t seem impressed. “This guy is crazy.” Why are you listening to him, then?

I’m pleased to find a few people assembled to greet and bullshit with inside. It’s quite late and a school night. Everyone is very nice.

Crawford has brewed 1853 Younger XP. I love this beer. A style nazi confusing hoppy Scottish beer. Brilliantly, he’s serving haggis to accompany it. Dead cool.

Before taking me home, Crawford gives me a tour of the brewery in the basement. I’m surprised at its size. And the quality of the brickwork on the back wall. Geeking out about bonds – that’s even rarer than than geeking out about beer.

I sleep the just sleep of the moderately intoxicated with a bottle of water within reach.








Rogue Tavern
2312 2nd Ave N,
Birmingham, AL 35203
http://www.roguetavern.com/

5 Seasons Westside
1000 Marietta St NW #204,
Atlanta, GA 30318
http://www.5seasonsbrewing.com/



Buy my book:





The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Brewers-Guide-Vintage-Beer/dp/1592538827

Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's

Mmm. I’ve already written this once, but somehow managed to lose the text. I hate doing that.

Continuing with my look at the beers on sale in Britain in the 1950’s, I’ve come to imported Lager. Back then there were only two types of beer imports: Stout from Ireland and Lager from the Continent. Lager brewing was still in its infancy in Britain, at least outside of a few specialists like Tennent’s, Barclay Perkins and the Welsh Lager Brewery. Only towards the end of the decade did other brewers start dipping their toes in the Lager pool.

Once again, I’ve arbitrarily divided the beers into random groups, this time with highly scientific names: watery stuff (1030-1035º), not quite to watery stuff (1035-1040º), normal-strength stuff  (1040-1050º) and strong stuff  (>1050º).  The groups are just for my own convenience and have no real significance.

The origins of the beers is revealing. Holland delivered the most samples, but almost a third came from Scandinavia. Germany scores quite poorly, though that could be a lingering effect of the war. I don’t believe the American samples were on general sale. The lack of a price is a sign. The one which did have a price was listed as being sold on a US base.

Here’s that information in a handy table form:

Country	no. samples	%
Australia	2	4.00%
Belgium	7	14.00%
Canada	3	6.00%
Czechoslovakia	2	4.00%
Denmark	7	14.00%
Germany	6	12.00%
Holland	10	20.00%
New Zealand	1	2.00%
Norway	7	14.00%
Sweden	1	2.00%
USA	4	8.00%
Total	50

Let’s start with the watery stuff. These all look like beers specifically brewed for the UK market. The Dutch ones for sure, as all domestic Dutch Pilsners were 5% ABV. Carlsberg and Tuborg were both over 4% in Denmark. Foreign brewers weren’t always that keen on making such weak beer, but it was largely what the UK market demanded. Partly because Continental-strength beers would be too expensive.

Even these watery beers were eye-wateringly expensive, averaging over 3 bob a pint. A pint of draught Mild – about the same in terms of strength - would cost just 12-14d. The high rate of attenuation of some of the lowest-gravity examples seems designed to wring as much alcohol out as possible.

Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's - watery stuff
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Price per pint (d)	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1957	Tuborg	Denmark	Lager	40	0.05	1030.7	1005.8	3.23	81.11%	10
1959	Tuborg	Denmark	Tuborg Lager	42	0.05	1030.7	1005.8	3.23	81.11%	13
1959	St. Pauli\	Germany	B.B. Lager		0.02	1030.7	1010.3	2.64	66.45%	7
1957	Amstel	Holland	Lager	42	0.02	1030.8	1007.2	3.06	76.62%	9.5
1957	Carlsberg	Denmark	Danish Pilsner		0.02	1030.9	1009.7	2.74	68.61%	10
1957	Carlings	Canada	Black Label	42	0.05	1031	1006	3.25	80.65%	4.5
1959	Bierbrouwerij "De Wereld"	Holland	Piraat King Size Ale	27.5	0.02	1031.1	1005.6	3.31	81.99%	10
1959	Vanderheuvel	Belgium	Ekla Lager	32	0.02	1031.2	1006.1	3.26	80.45%	10
1957	Tuborg	Denmark	Tuborg Lager		0.04	1031.2	1007.4	3.09	76.28%	13
1957	Carlsberg	Denmark	Danish Pilsner	40	0.04	1031.5	1008.4	2.99	73.33%	9
1957	Z.H.B.	Holland	Export Pilsner Lager	42	0.02	1031.6	1006.2	3.30	80.38%	10
1957	Amstel	Holland	Amstel Lager		0.04	1031.9	1006.9	3.24	78.37%	12
1957	Z.H.B.	Holland	Export Pilsner Lager		0.05	1032.3	1005.8	3.44	82.04%	13
1957	Bierbrouwerij De Wereld	Holland	Piraat Lager Beer	30	0.04	1032.8	1005.7	3.52	82.62%	9
1956	NV Bierbrouwerij	Holland	Breda Lager	48	0.04	1033.2	1005.3	3.63	84.04%	7
1957	Oranjeboom	Holland	Dutch Pilsener	42	0.02	1033.3	1007.8	3.31	76.58%	9
1956	Frydenlund	Norway	Peak Lager	30	0.04	1034.3	1005.7	3.72	83.38%	12
	Average			38.13	0.03	1031.7	1006.8	3.23	78.47%	9.88
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Moving on to the slightly less watery, the next group also looks like beers solely for the UK market. With the exception of Pilsner Urquell. That beer looks like the 10º version. Something that would have been on sale back home, unlike the others. That so many foreign brewers were prepared to brew something just for the British market a demonstration of the money to be made.

I’m surprised Heineken is in this group. Because I know from their brewing records of the early 1950’s that the version for the UK was brewed to 8º Plato, or 1032. They must have beefed it up during the decade.

A few of these beers – Heineken, Carling and Stella – are currently big players in the UK Lager market.

The price is even more scary for this set – 4 shillings a pint for Carling and Urquell. You’d need plenty of cash to get pissed at that price. They must have been fairly exclusive drinks. Lager continues to be more expensive than Ale in Britain, though the price differential has become much smaller. Price was one of the reasons I never drank Lager. It seemed like just throwing money away for no good reason.

I have my doubts about the colour given for Black Label. It wasn’t ever a Dark Lager, was it?

Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's - not quite so watery stuff
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Price per pint (d)	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1957	Oranjeboom	Holland	Dutch Lager		0.04	1035.4	1007.5	3.62	78.81%	10
1957	Carlings	Canada	Black Label	48	0.05	1036.3	1007.7	3.71	78.79%	75
1957	Pilsner Urquell	Czechoslovakia	Pilsener	48	0.04	1036.3	1010	3.41	72.45%	9
1957	Pilsner Urquell	Czechoslovakia	Pilsener		0.04	1036.4	1010.1	3.41	72.25%	12
1959	Frydenlund	Norway	Peak? Lager		0.02	1036.6	1007.5	3.78	79.51%	17
1957	Carlings	Canada	Black Label		0.04	1037.5	1007.8	3.86	79.20%	10
1957	Heineken	Holland	Lager	42	0.04	1038.7	1009	3.86	76.74%	5
1957	Artois	Belgium	Stella Lager		0.05	1039.7	1006.5	4.32	83.63%	9
	Average			46.00	0.04	1037.1	1008.3	3.75	77.67%	18.38
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

We now get to beers which do look like standard domestic versions, what I’ve called normal-strength stuff. Again, there are a couple of familiar beers: Stella, Fosters, Holsten, Miller and Pabst.

You’ll notice that prices are fairly random. Some beers in this set are the same price or cheaper than ones in the watery group. It’s a trick that’s easy to pull when drinkers have no idea of your beer’s strength. It seems any strength of Lager cost 3 to 4 shillings a pint. There’s a simple explanation why Miller High Life is an exception: that was sold on a US base .

Note the very high degree of attenuation of these samples. Only a couple are under 80%.

Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's - normal-strength stuff
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Price per pint (d)	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1959	Schous Brewery	Norway	Norwegian Beer	36	0.03	1041.2	1005.5	4.66	86.65%	8.5
1957	Schous Brewery	Norway	Norwegian Beer		0.05	1042.2	1006.6	4.64	84.36%	12
1957	Dortmunder Union	Germany	Pilsener	42	0.04	1042.8	1007.4	4.61	82.71%	8
1959	Pilsor	Belgium	Lamot Lager	42	0.04	1043.8	1003.2	5.31	92.69%	7.5
1957	Artois Breweries	Belgium	Stella Lager	40	0.06	1044.3	1007.6	4.78	82.84%	8
1957	Holsten	Germany	Pilsner		0.05	1044.7	1007.4	4.86	83.45%	8
1957	Holsten	Germany	Pilsner	42	0.04	1044.7	1008.2	4.75	81.66%	8
1959	Vanderheuvel	Belgium	Ekla Lager	42	0.04	1045.6	1009.6	4.68	78.95%	10
1956	Miller	USA	High Life	20	0.04	1045.7	1012.3	4.33	73.09%	6
1957	Carlton United	Australia	Fosters Export Lager	48	0.05	1046	1005.8	5.25	87.39%	8.5
1956	Carlton United	Australia	Export Lager	48	0.05	1046.2	1004.5	5.45	90.26%	8
1957	Vanderheuvel	Belgium	Ekla	42	0.05	1046.3	1008.2	4.96	82.29%	7
1955	Pabst	USA	Blue Ribbon		0.05	1048.9	1011.7	4.84	76.07%	9
1958	New Zealand Breweries	New Zealand	Steinecker Lager		0.04	1049.1	1006.5	5.57	86.76%	85
1955	Liebmann	USA	Rheingold Extra Dry Lager		0.04	1049.8	1011.6	4.97	76.71%	6
	Average			40.20	0.04	1045.4	1007.7	4.91	83.06%	13.30
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

The final group would have been pretty strong by UK standards in the 1950’s. These, too, look like Continental-strength beers. Though the Löwenbräu Bock looks a bit weak. I thought Bock had to have a gravity of at least 16º Plato by German law. That’s about 1064º.

Tuborg are most confusing. They were selling both a watered down version and a full-strength one. And the stronger one was actually cheaper. Weird. How would drinkers have been able to work out what was good and what was bad value? Impossible, unless you had the beers analysed.

Imported bottled Lager in the 1950's - strong stuff
Year	Brewer	country	Beer	Price per pint (d)	Acidity	OG	FG	ABV	App. Atten-uation	colour
1955	National Brewery	USA	Beer		0.04	1050.9	1011	5.19	78.39%	10
1957	Tuborg	Denmark	Export Beer	40	0.06	1052.3	1011.5	5.31	78.01%	7
1957	????brau	Germany	Light Beer	60	0.04	1052.3	1014.4	4.92	72.47%	9
1957	Tuborg	Denmark	Export Tuborg Beer		0.06	1052.4	1006.9	5.95	86.83%	7
1957	Ringnes	Norway	Export Lager Beer		0.05	1052.5	1006.9	5.96	86.86%	13
1955	Swedish Beer Export Co. Gothenburg	Sweden	Three Towns Beer (Lager)	30	0.05	1052.9	1008.7	5.77	83.55%	9
1956	Artois Breweries	Belgium	Sparta Special Lager		0.06	1053.2	1015.2	4.93	71.43%	20
1955	Ringnes	Norway	Export Pilsener	48	0.04	1053.8	1010.9	5.59	79.74%	11
1957	Ringnes	Norway	Export Lager	48	0.05	1054.5	1008.8	5.97	83.85%	9.5
1957	Löwenbräu	Germany	Pale Bock	52	0.05	1061.9	1014.3	6.20	76.90%	6
	Average			46.33	0.05	1053.7	1010.9	5.58	79.80%	10.15
Source:
Whitbread Gravity book held at the London Metropolitan Archives, document number LMA/4453/D/02/002.

Maybe Brown Ale next. But it’s a long set and I’m very lazy.

Birmingham day two

I’m stopping in quite a nice hotel downtown, Hampton Inn & Suites-Downtown-Tutwiler. But the free breakfast buffet has paper plates and plastic cutlery. I’ve come across this a few times in the US. It looks really, really crap.

Stuart Carter picks me up after brekkie with his toddler son, Jamie. We head off on a slow ramble around Birmingham’s beery spots.

On the way to our first stop, Stuart explains the geography of Birmingham. Railway tracks run approximately East to West, slicing the town in two. With the Southside to the South and the Northside to the East. (Little pop culture reference there.) Most of the breweries are in the Southside, which makes sense as it’s the more industrial half of the city.

We start at Hop City, a bottle shop and growler filling station. It’s quite an impressive selection, including lots of beer from the UK and the rest of Europe. Even better, all those draught taps mean we can enjoy a glass of beer while we watch it piss down with rain outside. The weather continues to be dreadful.

Our second stop in North of the tracks. It’s still raining when we get there and I rush inside quickly to avoid a right soaking. You find some odd combinations in the US. Bottle & Bone is certainly one: restaurant, butcher and bottle shop. And I mean a proper butcher that makes its own bacon and sausages. There’s draught beer, too. A little Spartan, but the meat looks dead, dead good. A shame it isn’t quite time for lunch yet.

Back over the tracks again, the rain has finally stopped for a while as we pull up outside Avondale Brewing. A brewery Stuart tells me has been pivotal in revitalising what had been a very run-down part of town. I’m surprised to spot a room full of open fermenters as we enter. For their sour beers, Stuart tells me.

We chat to a bearded (aren’t they all) brewer a little but he’s very busy. The brewing crew is leaving for the CBC tomorrow and they have lots to finish up. I’m intrigued by one of their beer names: Brothel Brown. It seems the building used to house a seedy bar with a house of ill repute upstairs.

Remaining Southside, Trim Tab, another brewery, is next on the list. Quite a barn of a place is some sort of former workshop. Stuart recommends their ESB, but there’s only the very bottom of a keg left. The brewer squeezes a little out. It’s past its best but still nice. (Excuse the over-technical beer descriptions.  I’ve left my thesaurus at home.)

We decant to the taproom, where we can sample cask. Always my first choice, if I believe it’s been looked after. It’s an Old Ale, dark and full. It’s another space untouched by luxury. Like the Lucha libre-themed art.

Eating. I find it’s a good idea to indulge in it a couple of times a day. Barbecue seems a good idea. We try Saw's Soul Kitchen, just a few doors away. But it’s packed. Waiting in a small, crowded place for an indeterminate time with a toddler doesn’t seem a great idea.

Stuart suggests Jim 'N Nick's. I’m easy. Anything that makes life simple. The cheese biscuits are never-ending and they sell beer. I’m sold. We chomp down some barbecue while Jamie charms the women in next booth. Gets much harder when you get older, champ. Charming the ladies.

The rain is now gone, though the streets are drenched and every step challenges to engulf your shoe in red mud. We head for the final brewery in the set of four Birmingham breweries, Good People. I’ve already tried their beer.

The brewery is cavernous, industrial and opposite Regions Field, home of Birmingham Barons baseball team. There seems to be something going on there as part of the road is closed and people are milling about inside.

Stuart recommends Snake Handler IPA. Seems they shift as much as they can brew of it. I settle for an alternative IPA. But luckily once I’ve downed that, the Snake Handler IPA is back. And very nice it is, too, in a alcoholy way.  It’s a sessionable 9.3%.

We finish in in J. Clyde, an Englishy-style pub that has cask beer. The Trim Tab Old Ale. It’s still raining.

I won’t tell you the horrors of trying to find somewhere to eat later. Let’s just say the Paramount was closed and I ate in my hotel.








Hop City Beer & Wine Birmingham
2924 3rd Ave S,
Birmingham, AL 35233.
http://www.hopcitybeer.com/


Bottle & Bone
2311 Richard Arrington Jr Blvd N #200,
Birmingham, AL 35203.
http://www.bottleandbone.com


Avondale Brewing
201 41st St S,
Birmingham, AL 35222
http://avondalebrewing.com/


Trim Tab Brewing
2721 5th Ave S,
Birmingham, AL 35233
http://trimtabbrewing.com/


Jim 'N Nick's Bar-B-Q
1908 11th Ave S,
Birmingham, AL 35205.


Good People Brewing Company
114 14th St S,
Birmingham, AL 35233,
http://www.goodpeoplebrewing.com/


The J. Clyde
1312 Cobb Ln,
Birmingham, AL 35205
http://jclyde.com/



Buy my book:





The Home Brewer's Guide to Vintage Beer
http://www.amazon.com/Home-Brewers-Guide-Vintage-Beer/dp/1592538827

Van driver cleared of drink charge

It's random article form the newspaper archives time again.

I can't remember what I was searching for when this spilled out. Probably "Light Ale". Just checked. It was actually "Mild Ale".

There's something I've noticed about prosecutions for drink driving back in the day. Unless the accused was seen by several witnesses to knock back a couple of bottles of whisky they almost always got off. Even in cases when it was pretty obvious they had been totally smashed.

The problem seems to have been lack of hard evidence. It was only in 1967, with the introduction of the breathalyser and a legal limit on the amount of alcohol drivers were permitted to have in their blood, that convictions increased. Before then, drivers had a pretty good chance of getting away with drink driving. It's a scary thought. And the increasing number of accidents caused by drunks was what prompted the change in the rules.

What do you think: was Mr. Doyle pissed?

"Van driver cleared of drink charge
JOHN DOYLE, 47, a newspaper van driver at Chelmsford, und whose home address Pit field Street, N.1, was at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court yesterday cleared of summonses alleging that he drove a van while under the influence of drink, and that was in charge of the van that condition.

Mr. J. Sharman. defending, pleaded not guilty, and the end of a long hearing the Bench dismissed both cases.

The allegation was that Doyle was seen in charge of the van at Great Baddow, where he went into a public-house.

Later he was found the police dumped in the driving seat of the van, which was in Day's yard at the junction of Park Road and Duke Street. Chelmsford. He appeared dazed, and had to be assisted.

He clung to the van, and was most unsteady on his feet. His breath smelt strongly of alcohol, and his speech was slurred. At the police station, he said: " Nothing to say: I think it’s a carve up."

A submission by Mr. Sharman that Day's yard was not a public place, and therefore there was no right of arrest, was rejected by the Bench, and Mr. Sharman went on to deny that Doyle was in any way under the influence of drink.

Doyle, who has held a driving licence for eleven years, and has a perfectly clean record, said he had been employed his present employers for 14 years. He was under treatment for duodenal ulcer. That evening, while on his round, he had just one or two drinks of mild ale or light ale - he was very careful about drinking because of his complaint — and was in no way affected by it.

When he got to the yard he had a violent pain in his stomach, and folded his arms and stayed in the van."
Essex Newsman - Friday 16 June 1950, page 1.

Sounds as pissed as a rat to me.

It's interesting that Mild and Light Ale were mentioned specifically. Presumably because they were known to be low in alcohol. Odd that he couldn't remember which, seeing as one is a draught beer and the other a bottled one. Maybe he'd too many to remember properly.