Beer blog roundup w/e 27th July 2012

Double helpings this week, as I was frankly too dog-knackered to write last week.

Wadworth are one of those brewers that bloggers often refer to as being "distinctive". As in having "distinctive yeast". Even when they're not entirely sure what that distinctiveness actually is. Thankfully, according to Tandleman, that distinctiveness doesn't get in the way of their Beer Kitchen range. When a brewer of Wadworth's size and heritage starts brewing with orange peel and espresso, I get the feeling that the plates underlying English brewing are beginning to move in the right direction.

I'll be drinking in Burton tomorrow unless you're reading this after Saturday the 28th, in which case if I'm still drinking in Burton I'm in a whole world of sticky stuff. So it was interesting to read the Pub Curmudgeon's lament on some of the town's lost pubs. To be frank, I'm of the opinion that the scrote pubs went to the wall because even the scrotes didn't want to drink in them anymore. Those pubs that smartened up in both decor and attitude - step forward the Burton Bridge estate - are being rewarded.

No apologies for including Alistair Reece's blog for the second time on the trot. His piece on beer bottle labels that lack cogent information is a triple winner: for forwarding the argument that more detail is better (not sure I agree, but there you go), for citing Ricoeur's hermeneutics of suspicion and for using the word 'bimbling'. A bimble about for a beer is a joyous thing.

It seems some of you still don't listen to the podcasts of the BBC's frankly fantastic Food Programme. Knut Albert can point you in the right direction. Extra kudos points for the picture of the Fuller's London Pride can.

The fetishisation of beer is on Adrian Tierney-Jones' mind this week. And I suspect this post is only the start of something. No, it's not a call for Gimp IPA or Nipple Clamper Porter. ATJ sees a predilection towards "dealing with beer that all too often gives it a arcane, fetishitic glow". I'm with him on that one. And I'm wondering to what extent beer writers, professional and amateur, contribute to that effect.

Someone else who's had the big-picture thinking hat on is Zak Avery. His piece on the symbiosis of British and American craft beer is interesting in many ways but particularly for the Sierra Nevada references.

Moreso if you then read Andy Crouch on how Sierra Nevada Pale Ale may be the victim of a generational shift in the US beer market.

I won't mention the ever-excellent Desert Island Beers just because they interviewed me recently. Nor just because Fergus Fitzgerald, Adnam's brewmaster, chooses Orval as his highly regarded beer. But it's mainly because he chose Orval. And he ought to brew an Orval clone. And I ought to be on quality control for it.

Last, but not first, is Stan Hieronymous at Appellation Beer. And I'm not mentioning him just because he mentions me. I'm not that vain. Honest. But it's interesting to see that I'm not the only one who's thinking about the zing in hoppy beer.

After all that, I need a beer. Hope you're drinking one whilst reading. This beer blog malarkey is thirsty work.