@velkyal
Scot living in the VA Piedmont. Corbynite, Mitteleuropaphile. Unbashed lager boy. Hiker, gardener, reader, writer, gourmand, all round fascinated by the world and life. Twin dad. Author of "Virginia Cider: A Scrumptious History" - https://a.co/d/8fVpwcZ
You know you're British when you travel for work and the thought of making tea with a pot of hot water of indeterminate age, a bag of Lipton tea, and a splash of half and half fills you with sufficient horror to drink conference venue coffee.
Rant...dear breweries that add a cider.
Please know what fucking apples are in your blend, don't respond with "whatever is in concentrate".
That approach is the antithesis of the "craft" label you parrot so proudly.
Get in a local real cider from an actual cidery instead.
#realcider #craftcider
Well done! At my annual physical last year I was told I was pre-diabetic, so I have made several changes that have lead to losing 35lbs so far. With everything I am doing I am hopeful to be on a much better footing at my next physical come October.
Heard a stat today that 1 hour of video streaming on something like Netflix has an approximate environmental impact as between 500 and 600 generative AI interactions.
Obviously, I'm going to dig into that but if that is accurate it is quite stunning.
The conference I am at seems to be playing 80s hits, and currently playing Bruce Hornsby and the Range's "The Way it Is".
Showing my age, but I am having flashbacks to watching Football Focus on Grandstand as a kid, and that was used when they showed last weekend's goals.
#ERL2026
Something about 10 years in Czechia makes me realise I love hockey.
Yes, Czech brewery names can look difficult to say, but really, they often are not (unless they have a "Ε" in them).
Examples:
ΓnΔtickΓ½ - OON-yeah-titz-kee
BudΔjovicky - BUDD-yeah-yo-vitz-kee (for "Budd" think like in Buddha)
Hostomice - HOS-tow-mitz-uh
Next week I will be in Stavanger for work, looking forward to trying some local beers. Anyone got any recommendations or inside tips?
#stavanger #Norwegianbeer
Pet hate with craft breweries...when they boast about stealing the IP of bigger breweries as if using their logos is somehow edgy and out there .
Tennents are 100% in the right here.
Since my kids were born in 2017.
Scotland has won or retained the Calcutta Cup 7 times and lost it twice.
From 2000 until 2017, we won it 4 times.
#AsOne #ScottishRugby
Ah....6 Nations time.
Well, this obsession with glassware ruined the traditional Bohemian use of ceramic mugs for a start. And don't forget that hefeweizen started life as bilΓ© pivo in Bohemia.
Absolutely. Thing that grinds my gears is picking a point in time and defining that as "traditional" to the exclusion of all other points on that timeline.
And this is true for any country. Tourist areas are rarely reflective of the everyday sitz im leben.
It's not even necessary to leave Prague, just get away from the tourist zones and go to regular hospody. Even a neighbourhood local pouring beer from the big boys, Prazdroj (and Gambrinus or Kozel)/Staropramen/Budvar is a world away from places in tourist areas that make beer fru-fru.
Sadly, most folks never make it out of Prague 1 or 2, perhaps 3 if they are feeling adventurous.
Minor rant...if you want to get Czech beer culture, get out of Prague. Actually, don't bother with PlzeΕ or ΔeskΓ© BudΔjovice either. Go to the towns and villages, go to Malenice, go to Mlada Boleslav, Γsti nad Labem, Jablonec nad Nisou, places tourists have never fucking heard of.
Loved that place!!
Looks like I am heading to Stavanger for work in a few weeks, never been to Norway before and really excited about the trip.
GOOD MORNING! Here's this week's edition of news, nuggets and longreads, with thoughts on publicans with personality, among other things. π»πΊ
boakandbailey.com/2026/01/news...
In 1913, there were about 90 breweries in Egerland, NW Bohemia. About 1 per 5.5k people. Today, there are, fewer than 10.
If that per capita number were true throughout just Bohemia, today would need 1200 breweries.
There are about 600 in all of Czechia today.
www.fuggled.net/2026/01/lost...
New post on #Fuggled, looking at brewing in Egerland on the eve of the Great War:
www.fuggled.net/2026/01/lost...
Cracking read from @barmas.bsky.social in Cider Review. We have cideries in Virginia that make both great traditional cider and interesting experimental stuff. Makes for a great cider culture in Virginia.
If you read my post on Fuggled this week about not doing Dry January as a result of not going going insane over the holidays, it will come as no surprise that I am already back to pre-Christmas weight. I have lost 13kg since October, and have at least another 15kg to go.
Absolutely, but that distinction doesn't seem to be apparent to folks who treat most "public" spaces as extensions of their houses. There needs to be some balance, though. Pubs should never become monastic scriptoria.
I like the older British pub idea of having multiple rooms so that if you don't want to be part of the general hubbub, there is a quiet space to go to. Being open plan just exposes everyone to the behaviour of the worst patrons.
I wonder if the law of unintended consequences is at play here? We pub lovers extol the pub's virtue as a "third space" or "living room", and when folks use it as they would their own, we are surprised. There is a broader societal issue here, where people have forgotten how to behave in public.
Some thoughts on why I decided not to bother with Dry January this year:
www.fuggled.net/2026/01/why-...
Pet annoyance...restaurants that bleat loudly about being farm to table, committed to local, and high quality artisanal products....and then have a distinctly third rate beer list, and a desultory single cider. What to pair with my $25 appetizer...Miller Lite? Yeah, fuck off.
Having done my review of beer, time to move on to cider...
www.fuggled.net/2025/12/fugg...