The Session No. 89 Round-Up

The 89th edition of The Session has now come and gone. The topic I posed for this month's series of posts was Beer In History.

• Derrick at Ramblings of a Beer Runner took quite an interesting stab at this by delving into the world of politics. He examined Democrats and Republicans that served in the Oval Office and discovered that Democratic Presidents were more likely to take up the bottle or mug than their Republican Counterparts. As a Republican myself, I found this intriguing.
• Liam hailing from Drunken Speculation chose to continue a small series of his by telling more about a local brewery in Brisbane. This post featured a ton of great historical photographs. Be sure to check them out if you're into photography.
• Glen over at Beer is Your Friend took the route of taking a peak at a national beer controversy over in Australia. Have we ever wondered or known who the first American brewer is/was? Maybe I'm just a dolt, but Glen provides the case for both parties.
• Breandan from Belgian Smaak tells the story of how a Belgian brewery developed a "Champagne-Style Beer." We all know that mishaps are a part of the brewing process. Thus, the brewery that Breandan visited is named Malheur which is the work for misfortune in French. This beer sounded like something Dogfish Head here in the States would try.
• The Beer Nut told a quick little tale of the transition of Porter to Lager in Ireland. I got the feeling that he'd rather have it still be Porter ruling the pubs of the land. Even in the heat of July here in America, I can honestly say a pint of Porter hits the spot. Still, the glass of lager he described still sounded appetizing despite his displeasure with it!
• Phirx over at Beer in Nashville detailed the first-ever commercial brewery in the city of Nashville. The only thing missing in this post was a ribs pairing!
• Sean Inman's post at Beer Search Party found a way to incorporate beer cans into this topic! He dug up some tidbits on the history and role of aluminum in the brewing process.. It wasn't always just for cans!
• Thomas Cizauskas from Yours For Good Fermentables took one of the more in-depth looks in terms of going way back and filling in a lot of the blanks up until his ending. This post even included some quotes from a Baltimore area historian. Nice!
• Jon Jefferson hailing from Misadventures in Strange Places remembered an older post when hearing of this topic. So, he tied it in with the birthday of the U.S. Marine Corps and how it might have started over a few colonial brews.
• Alan's post from A Good Beer Blog can best be summed up with a quote - "Beer is neither benign or neutral but a powerful tool. That is what history teaches us. It can trace empires for us. Fortify a frontier. Collapse a region. Give hope. And bring despair."
• Our friends Boak and Bailey examined an issue on a hop substitute when it came to Napoleon and beer for his troops. A very good question lies within.
• Craig from Drink Drank took up my challenge and awoke from his Session slumber to participate in this series of posts. He tells us that beer has become a great measuring stick of how far society has come in a variety of factors.

I think that about wraps it up. I'm pretty sure I got everyone that sent me their link via the comment section on this blog of through Twitter. I sincerely thank everyone for their posts! I rarely admit I learned something new when it comes to history, but I can say that I my attention was held by all of these blog posts this month!

The next edition of the Session is the topic of Beer Fight Club and will be hosted by Jake aka Hipster Brewfus on August 1.