What the Hell?

Why didn't I know about this?

Events and More

Okay, I'm trying to quit being a bad beer blogger and get back to tending this thing. Here's a round-up of all kinds of things sitting in my inbox, mostly upcoming events here in Austin:

• Austin's Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery held a groundbreaking ceremony today for the construction of their new brewery. Given that they're actually moving into a building that has already been constructed, they dispensed with digging their shovels into dirt and instead plowed them into a stack of spent barley (see photo.) The Co-op invites the public to a "Construction Zone Beer Social" on Saturday, May 15, 2-5pm. Also, Black Star's next Members' Assembly meeting, open to all member-owners, is on May 22, 3pm, at the Scoot Inn.
  
• Judging in the 15th Annual Big Batch Brew Bash will be held this Sunday, May 16, starting at 1pm at the Saint Arnold Brewery in Houston. The winning English-style barleywine will serve as the "inspiration" for SA's Divine Reserve No. 10, and the winning brewer will be invited to be Brewer for a Day. Four previous Big Batch winners have served as the model for previous versions of the limited-edition DR series: No. 3 (Double IPA), No.5 (Russian Imperial Stout), No.7 (Weizenbock), and No.8 (Scotch Ale).
• American Craft Beer Week will be held May 17-23. I'm sure there are several Austin bars planning events, but the only one who contacted me about it was the Draught House Pub & Brewery, which is planning on having a different brewery representative at the bar each night through Saturday, 5-8pm, and then will conclude the event Sunday, 1-3pm, with a $45 beer and cheese pairing. Go to the Draught House's website for full details.
• If you're a political conservative, you can probably skip to the next item. The nonprofit organization Drinking Liberally needs a little bit of cash, as it's facing a $6,000 budget shortfall over the next six months. If you lean to the left, both in your politics and your barstool, you may want to give to them here.
• My apologies for not posting the LifeWorks May 7 event in time. I hope lots of you made it down there and enjoyed some (512) beer.
• Every Wednesday is Pint Night at Zax Restaurant & Bar. If you get there in the next few minutes (they close at 10pm), you can enjoy something from the Real Ale Barrel Aged Series. Since it's probably too late for that, head down there May 19 for Avery IPA or May 26 for St. Arnold Summer Pils. They also report: "Our current seasonal and rotating taps include Real Ale Devil's Back Bone, St. Arnold Summer Pils, Allagash White, Victory Hop Devil and Trumer Pils. We are also excited to welcome back Live Oak Liberation IPA."

More NPR Coverage of Drinking

God, I've been such a bad blogger lately. I'm just reduced to linking to NPR stories.

Nonetheless, this is a great listen: On Fresh Air, Terri Gross interviews author Daniel Okrent about his study of Prohibition titled Last Call. As a political journalist, the political dynamics of that movement are fascinating to me – the women's suffrage movement, which otherwise I greatly admire, was a leading force in the wrongheaded drive to take away Americans' right to enjoy a drink. And thusly, America's brewers, which I *hic* otherwise greatly admire, became a leading force against women's suffrage. And there was a strong racist/xenophobic element to the prohibitionist movement – many of the leading brewers were German immigrants, and as World War I raged, the Germans became The Enemy and easy targets.

And that's only the tip of the iceberg of this really interesting interview. Check it out.