The Eurovision Song Contest was first broadcast in 1956. In the age before satellites, the simultaneous linking of television outlets across all of Europe was a stunning technological achievement that foretold the future of the broadcast industry. It was also the beginning of a wonderfully peculiar and uniquely European institution. The pan-European celebration of musical [...]
Where to begin? Between the National Homebrewers Conference and the St. Paul Summer Beer Fest, the last five days have been a whirlwind of beer in the Twin Cities. It began on Wednesday with the pre-conference events. While I only participated in the Nightcrawler Pub Crawl, there were many on the bus that I chaperoned [...]
The thirty-second annual National Homebrewers Conference, Chillin’ in Minnesota, takes place this week in my hometown of Minneapolis. Well nearly in my hometown. Bloomington, Minnesota is properly the place, a metro-area suburb about fifteen miles south of the Twin Cities. The actual conference runs from Thursday to Saturday. But there are plenty of activities both [...]
Beer geeks and craft beer drinkers (yes, there is a difference) are quick to disparage the macros. The yellow lagers brewed by these behemoths have been variously described as flavorless, watery, boring, bland, soulless, swill, and crap, along with a host of other even less flattering descriptors. We easily discount the argument that whether or [...]
