The Year As It Was: Brews, Fests and Damn Foolishness - Jan. 2000
The "He Ain't Heavy, He's Belching Hydrogen" Award for the Best Beer Legend: Early in 1999, an urban legend travelled around the Internet about a Japanese beer called Suiso that was inoculated with hydrogen. The story went that the flammable gas could be lit when expelled by the drinker via a burp, allowing karaoke singers to belch blue flames across the bar. Sadly, the story was untrue.
Great and Greater: World of Beer visited all three "great" beer festivals in 1999: the Great American Beer Festival, the Great British Beer Festival and the Great Canadian Beer Festival. Our favourite? The British classic gets the nod for a fabulous selection of cask ales supplemented by a massive Foreign Beer Bar and a wonderful array of ciders and perries.
Great and Not So Great: The GABF continues to be a spectacular occasion for taking stock of the state of the U.S. beer industry, but equally, the fest's one ounce serving portions continue to be a great annoyance.
Sorry to See Them Go: The year saw the last issues of the North American beer rags BarleyCorn, Brewing Techniques, Southern Draft, Brew Magazine, The Pint Post, Northwest Brew News and the suspension (pending its sale) of Drink Magazine. They will all be missed.
The "Old Rockers Never Die, They Just Run Beer Rags" Award: To Celebrator Beer News publisher Tom Dalldorf for his perseverance in leading the Rolling Boil Blues Band in a string of beer fest gigs under the lamentable "Hoof Arted" tour label.
Where Were You When the Lights Went Out: World of Beer greeted the last eclipse of the 20th century in the south of France, barbecuing steak and sipping from a glass of Ottakringer Helles. The world didn't end then, either.
Leading to a $2,000 Hangover: Bottle number one of the Samuel Adams Millennium beer was sold on Yahoo's auction site for US$4910 to a Massachusetts college professor who "wanted a unique gift for his wife on their anniversary."
The Premature Capitulation Award: To the British financial press for announcing that the sale of the pub holdings of Allied Domencq to the Whitbread Beer Company was certain to go ahead, and that as a result, Whitbread was sure to be leaving the brewing business. (Punch Taverns eventually bought the Allied pubs.) Honourable Mention: To World of Beer for reporting the above under the headline: "Done Deal! -- Whitbread to Quit Brewing Business."
The Measure of a Beer: Are the American authorities really so metric-phobic that they really honestly believe consumers will be confused by bottles measuring 750ml? Instead, they continue to insist upon the unwieldy designation of "1 pint, 9.4 fl. oz."
In the Bad Trends Department: The black appears to be fading in Ireland. A fall trip to the Emerald Isle revealed that Irish beer drinkers are increasingly turning to lagers in place of their classic stouts. If current trends continue, lager should overtake stout in sales within a year or two.
We're very interested in your news, notes, comments and questions, so please feel free to contact SBWoB by clicking on the link below. Or you can add your comments when you sign up for the World of Beer Update, a mid-month e-mail newsletter that brings even more of the world of beer to your computer.
