McSorley’s Shuttered by DOH: The oldest operating bar in New York City was closed by the Department of Health this week, citing unsafe food prep conditions, “rat activity,” and a continuing commitment to not having any fun. We’re hoping for two outcomes here: a fresh, dust-free start for McSorley’s quite soon, and a killer punk band named Rat Activity.
Speaking of Cleaning: A bartender named Geordie Dobson in Keno City, Yukon, has successfully covered his entire house in beer bottles after he accrued 32,000 empty bottles over the course of two years. We admire Dobson’s commitment, but not nearly as much as we admire the fortitude of the year-round population of Keno City, which hovers between 13 and 25 people. You folks are doing some serious work up there, and we salute you.
The Future Is Now: Belgian scientist Dr. Kevin Verstrepen has announced multiple breakthroughs in creating genetically modified yeast, pushing our favorite microbe to new heights of efficiency, flavor creation, and productivity. While his experiments are interesting, brewers are meeting the idea with resistance based in the fact that such modifications “take the magic out of brewing.” We’re mostly afraid of being attacked by superpowered microbes, but magic sounds much more sensible.
In Other Genetic News: Jonathan Mendes became perhaps the oldest finisher of the New York City Marathon last weekend at the age of 96, and celebrated the event with his daily tradition: a shot of Scotch. Mendes is a decorated Marine veteran, former astronaut trainer, and perhaps the most straight-up badass person in the news this week. He is also likely in better shape than most of us, but let’s not focus on that.
Brush Up on Black: Just in time for colder weather, take a minute with this primer on dark beer styles and get your porters, stouts, and so forth sorted out. Just remember the rule of thumb of beer knowledge: when it comes to sharing in public, a little goes a long way.
Take Care Of One Another: And take care of yourselves. That’s it.