An off-brand website recently posted the latest in the series of supposedly quantified “best beer cities” lists. The problem with these lists—any best cities list, really—is that they haven’t decided what a good beer city looks like. Here’s a run at some better standards.
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Humans, at base, are no more independent than an individual tuna in its shoal. But good luck trying to figure out which direction the school will turn. I think there’s a lesson in there for sellers of malt beverages.
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Today I wrap up AI week with a consideration of the nightmare scenarios—as well as the lesser examples that might be just as bad. What happens, for example, when a distributor replaces its sales team with AI?
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Users can plug the name of living artists into AI generators to get art that looks like Banksy or Jeff Koons or Em Sauter. But should they?
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We kick off AI week with an update. A year ago I first explored AI, but the advances since then are startling. In this post, I discuss the ways it can research a beer style for a new release, name your beer, write a press release for it, and create a label. But the real advantage is the way it will make the creative work we already do a lot faster.
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I’m not a beer geek. I am a beer nerd—there’s a difference.
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Pew Research just released a report on journalists’ attitudes about their profession. There’s just one problem: Pew apparently thinks we all write about politics.
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Seltzer is made with buckets of highly processed “natural” flavor, which doesn’t seem very crafted. But that same flavor is used in some beer—does that mean it’s not crafted, either?
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Here are two beer reviews, one written by a human at BeerAdvocate and one by AI software. Can you tell the difference? Whether you can or not, this is an unnerving demonstration for those of us who write for a living.
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Beer styles are an agreement, shorthand to describe something we think we all understand. But scratch the surface even a little bit, and you fall into an epistemological void. Three examples this week illustrate their paradoxes and predicaments.
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We love good beer, finding good beer, talking about good beer. But identifying what that “good” is in beer—that’s a lot harder. Truly great beers are defined by subjective, often subtle elements of a beer. Yet they aren’t unknowable. Here’s a proposal for how to identify them.
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Following each new disruption, I keep looking for a return. Normalcy can’t be that hard to restore. Yet each disruption carries darker connotations than the event itself. I feel the need to publicly acknowledge that sense of danger the small animal feels. It has been growing in me for years now.
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As an echo to Martin Luther’s famous 95 Theses, nailed to a church wall 500 years ago, I offer 9.5 theses on the essence of beer.
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Historian and archaeologist Alexander Langlands has a new book called Cræft, the purpose of which is to reclaim the meaning of "craft" as it existed before it became a marketing slogan or an expensive item available at boutiques. How might this apply to beer?
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The past year has been so tough because it forced us into bubbles of stasis. We are creative, social beings who crave the way new experiences rewire our brains. We hunger to mix our minds with others. Few places are as good as breweries in delivering that charge of electricity we need to live.
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A new documentary looks at craft brewing through a familiar lens—scrappy, unorthodox risk-takers setting out to make their mark. The movie brings in founding figures and places their story in a familiar narrative. It’s a fun movie and well-told. But what if the story is all wrong?
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So many forces are now scrambling the beer industry—including Covid, which may change it forever—that the very meaning of “craft beer” is up for grabs. It may help to consider the era through different lenses to take its full measure.
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A moment passing through a warm, cheery pub brought back vivid memories of cozy evenings I’ve missed the past nine months. As 2021 dawns, I kindle the hope we’ll be drinking together sometime this year.
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A few Friday morning thoughts from the heart of the apocalypse.
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The president and head of the Department of Homeland Security have called Portland a “war zone” under "siege" by local terrorists. That’s one story. Here’s the real story.
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