Posts Tagged ‘brewing’
“Beer is made by men, wine by God”*…
On this day 500 years ago, an obscure Saxon monk launched a protest movement against the Catholic Church that would transform Europe. Martin Luther’s Protestant Reformation changed not just the way Europeans lived, fought, worshipped, worked and created art but also how they ate and drank. For among the things it impacted was a drink beloved throughout the world and especially in Luther’s native Germany: beer…
How the protest that Luther launched 500 years ago revamped not only how Europe worshipped but also how it drank, as he and his followers promoted hops in beer as an act of rebellion against the Catholic Church: “The Other Reformation: How Martin Luther Changed Our Beer, Too.”
* Martin Luther
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As we tap the keg, we might recall that it was on this date in 1948 that the Ames Brothers recorded “More Beer,” released the following year as the b-side of “You, You, You Are The One” (and on the 10″ LP Hoop-De-Doo).
“Here’s to alcohol, the rose colored glasses of life”*…
People have found ways to live in the most inhospitable places on earth. Nearly immediately after finding a way to survive, they have found a way to get drunk.
Likely because of, rather than in spite of, the challenges of living in the far reaches of the world, establishing a communal space is a survival necessity. Be it at the base of an active volcano, inside a 6,000-year-old tree, or even on your way to Mount Everest, no matter how far off the grid you end up, you are likely to find a place for strong spirits and lively conversation…
From Antarctica (where the drinking is robust there’s talk of importing breathalyzers) to Pitcairn Island (one of the most remote inhabited locations on Earth; its closest neighbor being Tahiti, which is over 1,300 miles away; pictured above), ten of the most remote watering holes in the world: “The bars at the end of the world.”
* F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Beautiful and Damned
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As we belly up, we might recall that it was on this date in 1978 that President Jimmy Carter, a teetotaler, signed the Cranston Act, which (when it took effect the following year) loosened restrictions and lowered taxes on home and small-scale brewing… thus igniting the explosion of craft beers in the U.S.
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