Hey, JOURNALISTS!

And bar-owners, too...could we get something straight? A "BREWPUB" is not a bar that sells beer, even interesting "micro-brewed" beer. A "BREWPUB" is a "pub" where they "brew" the beer they sell. It is a brewery. Don't brew beer at a place? Not a brewpub.

While I have your attention...If you have a bar, don't name it "The [somethingsomething] Brewery" or "The [somethingsomething] Distillery". Again, these are real types of places, more importantly, they are real types of places that your bar is not one of!*

Can we get this settled, please? Because you're screwing up my Google Alert, not to mention all the people who are walking into your place expecting fresh-made beer. Thanks.



(Tip of the hat to beer writer Don Tse for bringing that one up.)

Can I get some technical help?

There's a blog out there called Doc's Tavern that is copying beer blog posts (mine, The Beer Philosopher, and Musings Over A Pint, among others) in entirety and posting them without attribution, credit, or linkage. Can someone more technically adept than me find out who's hosting the site and find an address where I can send a Takedown Notice? At this point, all I have is an e-mail address (abuse@websitewelcome.com), and I have to get an address to send a paper copy (or a FAX number).

I know some of you know this InterWeb stuff; can you give me a hand? Thanks!

Okay! Thanks, I've got what I need. Time to take care of business.

Legal torpedo deployed. We'll see what happens.

Got a response from the web host telling me to change the format of my complaint. Okay, doing that. (When I find out what works, I'm telling everyone.)

Heh. Sweet.

Things That Make Me Say Bad Words, Part I

"Heineken N.V. today announced that it is to close its Beamish & Crawford brewery in Cork in March 2009."

Dammit. Beamish & Crawford was the first foreign brewery I got excited about, way back in the 1980s, and we dropped by on our honeymoon in 1989. The brewery had a history, and a place, and a well. And Heineken got hold of it, and closed it, and 120 Irish jobs are lost. There are other breweries closing, of course, and pubs continue to close in the UK at a stunning rate (with surprisingly little blogger reaction that I've seen, which is puzzling...maybe), but this one hit home.

I say many bad words.

Photo of the Beamish & Crawford Brewery by kman999 on flickr.