The Great American Saloon Series
(Page 2 of 2)
But let us pass to greener, or, rather, yellower pastures. For one of the most outstanding modern achievements of a “westernized” Japan is the existence of a thriving, high-quality brewing industry. Tradition has it that the trade was founded under the tutelage of imported German brewmasters, which would help explain the success of smooth, delicious Japanese brands like Kirin and Asahi. Less commendable are some of the innovations of lesser Japanese brewers, including, rumor would have it, the use of formaldehyde as a flavor additive.
Closer to home, Canada deserves praise for several splendid ales, the name of Molson coming to mind in particular, and Mexico is not without its distinguished brands, notably Carta Blanca beer and an excellent ale, Bohemia. Which brings us back to the States, and the end of this bibulous ramble. I would only add that, next to the beer itself, and the company in which it is drunk, the most important thing is the container. Silver, pewter, porcelain, earthenware, and glass all have their special advocates. Silver is fine, except that it tends to taste tarnished even before it looks so. A good, highly polished pewter tankard, preferably Cornish, has always seemed to me a more practical substitute. In former years, most thriving breweries and taverns produced their own tankards and steins, and special editions were issued to immortalize everything from hangings to horseraces. In my own collection is one mysterious item — a tall, dignified white porcelain piece, which proudly but enigmatically commemorates “Ivanhoe 36, Reading 42, August 17-18, 1910” in fine Old English characters along with an odd heraldic crest and “Reading Pa.” in smaller print. All of which is very impressive, but I haven’t the slightest clue as to what it means. Far less mysterious is the rhymed message on a small earthenware mug manufactured for “Celebrated Royal Pilsner Beer of Kansas City and Weston, Mo.”:
Here’s to the lying Lips we meet,
For truthful Lips are bores,
And lying Lips are very sweet,
When lying close to yours.
What luxury of sentiment and economy of expression — and how appropriate here in Washington, D.C. There are times, however, when one inclines to the melancholy rather than the romantic, and when that mood seizes me, I invariably resort to a lidded clay beerpot of German manufacture, fashioned in the form of a human skull and reminiscent of a more celebrated verse than the one chosen by the makers of “Celebrated Royal Pilsner Beer” — Lord Byron’s Lines Inscribed Upon a Cup Formed from a Skull:
Start not — nor deem my spirit fled:
In me behold the only skull,
From which, unlike a living head,
Whatever flows is never dullWhy not — since through life’s little day
Our heads such sad effects produce?
Redeem’d from worms and wasting clay
This chance is theirs, to be of use.
At any rate, it beats leaving your brain to science. Bottoms up, everyone.
About the Author
Aram Bakshian, Jr. served as an aide to Presidents Nixon, Ford, and Reagan and writes frequently on politics, history, gastronomy, and the arts.
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Albert Constantine Jr.| 9.28.12 @ 8:42AM
The state of beer availability and cost for the average consumer is one of the advances of the last four decades. Though not without its bleak periods, the choices currently on the shelf of imported, regionally licensed, national and boutique brands is staggering.
I recall seeing a bottle of Kronenbourg for the first time in 1978, because someone brought it from France. These days, I can find it at many local package stores alongside Singha from Thailand, and compare and contrast it amongst dozens of other entries. I can have my Yuengling Lager, or default to an ice cold Coors Light on a hot day.
For those who enjoy beer, these are good days. It is such a shame they are bad in so many other ways.
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.29.12 @ 5:33PM
German beer is the best, I had a glass of German beer in Warnemunde, it was the best I ever drank-- that's where Nazism came from: Germans drank beer and listened to Wagner!
Alan Obama Fan Brooks | 9.29.12 @ 8:34PM
but I prefer the grain alcohol and rainwater that general Jack D. Ripper liked at the army base. I wrote about it at a white nationalist site and they took it seriously, they said they liked natural food and drink. It's bewildering when you write something in jest and someone takes it seriously. Don't these white nationalist ever watch old films? Do they think Peter Sellers is a Jew?
2Anglico| 9.28.12 @ 10:28AM
I have tasted about 95% of the beer mentioned in the article. Paulaner Oktoberfest, on draft, available all year in Florida, is my favorite.
Stilton A. Cheese| 9.28.12 @ 10:51AM
What lovely writing. I have a TAS Saloon series mug/stein which I treasure greatly. Please, dear Spectator, bring back the Saloon Series even if it means $125 and you, again, send my magazines to far corners of the earth and not where I actually live in Europe.
Frog in Arms | 9.28.12 @ 6:55PM
As a Frog in Uniform, I don't care too much for the regular Kronenbourg stuff, the much tastier 1664 is to be prefered. Other French beers worth trying are the Jenlain and St Omer from up north, and quite a few breweries in Brittany make some awesome stuff. I'm surprised the writer turned a blind eye to Spain's San Miguel and Cruzcampo that are definitely worth a try. But the shocking surprise in this otherwise fine article, is the blatant omission of the Belgian stuff. This would require a full issue of the AmSpec and might be of marginal interest to some but, believe me, an article about beer should always include Belgium.
Also, when this was written, the legendary poet and songwriter Robert Charlebois from Quebec had not started yet his new venture; suffice to say that La Maudite, la Fin du Monde and la Blanche de Chambly are outstanding beers.
Bob K| 9.28.12 @ 10:55PM
I remember reading this article when it first arrived in my mail box in 1976. I saved all those old issues but in the process of moving they became misplaced. I think that back in 1976 The American Spectator was still published in the heartland of America and had not yet moved to Washington D. C. so it's staff could live among the Brie Eaters. We can trace the decline of America from the date of that move.
Nothing has changed in the liberal, left wing outposts like Denver and Tacoma where watery beers are still brewed. But, if anything, the state of the brews in America have improved since 1976. Sadly no one who lives and breathes in the Boston to Washington DC corridor will ever find this out.
Take just Pennsylvania for example. There are brew pubs throughout it's cities now, even in small towns like Adamstown, PA in the Pennsylvania Dutch heartland.
http://www.stoudtsbeer.com/
Old breweries like Yuengling, the oldest brewery in America, located in Pottsville, PA are thriving. Small ones in the rural northwest of PA like Straubs in St. Marys, Elk County have their limited productions sought out by cognoscenti.
I doubt if Bakshian or anybody else involved in the political industry of elective politics ever leaves Washington DC anymore to travel around the country to sample beers such as these in other states out here in flyover country!
Moe Blotz| 9.30.12 @ 10:47AM
A few corrections are in order: Rauchbier is brewed with smoked malt, the hops are not smoked. San Miguel from Philippines proclaims on its label,"Pale Pilsen". A Pacific Pilsener, what? Coors was well known in all states to the west of the Mississippi River in 1976, the eastern terminus of their marketing program. I hauled a few cases back east hidden under my bunk in a 1974 Kenworth. Anchor Steam Beer is actually a lager, and the brewery was saved by Fritz Maytag who had owned it only a short time in 1976. British beer is served at cellar temperature, about 50 degrees F and for good reason. The flavour and aroma of the malt and hops are at the their peak when served properly form a beer engine or stillage at the recommended temperature. Mr.Bakshian obviously did not have the pleasure of supping any of the UK's great real ales. Pity that the gentleman never discovered the real Budweiser that is brewed in Ceske Bubdjovice, Czeck Republic. Brewed with Bohemian malt and Saaz hops, aged for weeks instead of days, and full of flavour that you will not find in the Anheuser-Busch swill. Cheers.