25 Comments
author

This has been one of my favorite collaborations so far! Beer has such a cool and complex history.

Expand full comment
author

It's great working with you!

Expand full comment
Aug 14Liked by Michael Woudenberg, Andrew Smith

Super article. Loved it

Expand full comment
author

Awesome. Beer is a favorite topic. 😃 In fact, I've got a Belgian Trippel I need to brew in the very near future.

Expand full comment
Aug 14Liked by Michael Woudenberg

That's a good brew to make. Hope it comes out well

Expand full comment
Aug 14Liked by Michael Woudenberg

True, been a beer drinker all life, now for the past couple of years - have practically stopped drinking. Just cutting down on the frequency and quantity :-) Never bothered to take interest in learning and understanding the history of beers but now its interesting to read about it all - Thanks to your article - i feel more enlightened, as opposed to light headed :-)

Expand full comment
Jan 16Liked by Andrew Smith, Michael Woudenberg

I've been blogging about beer for years and there was a lot of good nuggets in here that I sort of knew, but was never explained this well. Really enjoyed it.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Ryan! We really had fun here.

Expand full comment
author

Glad you liked it. It's a fun topic. Even better when you read with a beer in hand!

Expand full comment
Dec 10, 2023Liked by Andrew Smith, Michael Woudenberg

Definitely! What really blew my mind was learning that, depending on where it finds itself, water isn't necessarily water.

Expand full comment
Dec 10, 2023Liked by Andrew Smith, Michael Woudenberg

Fascinating article! I never really appreciated how much effort and science goes into making beer.

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Hal!

Expand full comment
author

So glad you enjoyed it. And I'm sure it's got your head spinning as a thick blooded German about the different regional styles of even just that region (like the fantastic flavors of a Vienna Lager vs. the Oktoberfest)

Expand full comment
Dec 10, 2023Liked by Michael Woudenberg, Andrew Smith

Is this AI narration? I'm interested in adding audio for folks who have trouble reading large amounts of text like myself.

Expand full comment
author

For clarification, how did you listen to it and what did it sound like?

I ask because in the app on my phone there's a 'play button' which is embedded in the app and will read aloud any essay and is AI narration.

I also record my own voice-overs which are embedded at the top of the essay. This one starts with some engaging bumper music and then my introduction.

Your posts automatically has the AI one. If you want a better voiceover you can record that like mine (and mine are also pushed to Podcast Players)

Expand full comment

I listened to it on my laptop. Just an option to listen at the start of the post. I read along a little.

Expand full comment
author

Was it a male voice with a music intro or an AI type voice that just started?

Expand full comment
Dec 10, 2023Liked by Andrew Smith, Michael Woudenberg

In the UK there’s an organization called CAMra. It stands for the Campaign for Real Ale. You guys should look it up.

Expand full comment
author

Whew, it was suprisingly difficult to actually find their definition of a "Real Ale" by which they mean a live beer that is casked, not kegged. This looks interesting! Basically mid 1800s beer. Ironically, the image they have on their definition page is actually NOT live beer as evidenced by the amount of foam heading on each glass. You can't get that much foam from non pressurized, carbonated kegs in my expereince.

https://camra.org.uk/learn-discover/the-basics/what-is-live-beer/

Expand full comment
Dec 10, 2023Liked by Michael Woudenberg

My old boss (Jesus 12 years fly by) was an organizer for CAMra in my hometown. Every December we’d have the Dutch and Danish come over and it was always a class weekend.

Expand full comment
author

Gotta love the Dutch! Did you know there's a town in the Netherlands named after me? (At least, that's the story I tell)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woudenberg

Expand full comment

I did not know that. I’d be telling everyone my ancestors were great lords who built the town 😂.

Expand full comment
author

Likely Vikings but I let others infer the story.

Expand full comment

Great read!

Expand full comment
author

Thanks, Aanya! We really had fun.

Expand full comment