Hemingway on fermentation
I'll soon be reviewing "A Life On The Hop" by Roger Protz. Not to give much away, if you haven't already had the pleasure, but it's rather good fun. If you've never drank in Belgium - and I know some of you have yet to have the pleasure - then the chapter 'A Belgian Odyssey' is all the inspiration that you need. And don't get me started on the Bamburg chapter...
Anyoldhow. Toward the end of a piece about brewing at Eldridge Pope, Roger says "Ernest Hemingway should have written about fermentation rather than bull-fighting". Which got me thinking... what if 'Death In The Afternoon' went like...
"It is impossible to believe the emotional and spiritual intensity and pure, classic beauty that can be produced by a man, hopped wort and a tub of flocculant yeast stirred with a stick".
Or...
"His repertoire with the wort is enormous but he does not attempt by a varied repertoire to escape from the performance of the fermentation as the base of his brewing work and his fermentations are classical, very emotional, and beautifully timed and executed. You will find no Englishman who ever saw him brew who will deny his artistry and excellence with the wort".
Or...
"To brew a brave beer, have him ferment in ideal condition to the final act and then, through a limited repertoire, not be able to take advantage of conditioning to make a brilliant beer finishes a brewer’s chance of a successful career".
Action and conversation may have been Hemingway's best weapons. Given the choice, I'd probably have gone for a daiquiri as well, rather than a piss-poor local beery alternative. But there's always that sneaky feeling that, given the right brewhouse, Ernie would have been enraptured by beer. To never know feeds the hungry monster of conjecture.
Anyoldhow. Toward the end of a piece about brewing at Eldridge Pope, Roger says "Ernest Hemingway should have written about fermentation rather than bull-fighting". Which got me thinking... what if 'Death In The Afternoon' went like...
"It is impossible to believe the emotional and spiritual intensity and pure, classic beauty that can be produced by a man, hopped wort and a tub of flocculant yeast stirred with a stick".
Or...
"His repertoire with the wort is enormous but he does not attempt by a varied repertoire to escape from the performance of the fermentation as the base of his brewing work and his fermentations are classical, very emotional, and beautifully timed and executed. You will find no Englishman who ever saw him brew who will deny his artistry and excellence with the wort".
Or...
"To brew a brave beer, have him ferment in ideal condition to the final act and then, through a limited repertoire, not be able to take advantage of conditioning to make a brilliant beer finishes a brewer’s chance of a successful career".
Action and conversation may have been Hemingway's best weapons. Given the choice, I'd probably have gone for a daiquiri as well, rather than a piss-poor local beery alternative. But there's always that sneaky feeling that, given the right brewhouse, Ernie would have been enraptured by beer. To never know feeds the hungry monster of conjecture.
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