Yankee Brew News Archive

Letters

Originally Published: 07/95

Dear Capo di Capo Tutti Gosselin,

Good news and bad news...I picked up a copy of YBN and absolutely loved it.

In fact, we are considering the Vermont Brew Tour and have made reservations for a Brewmaster's Banquet at Redbones.

In fact, in fact, I went out last night and bought a six-pack of Saranac Adirondack Lager and, yes, loved it.

Now...the bad news - the column "Ask the Beer Doc" does not live up to your editorial standards. The premise is juvenile and the language is unnecessary. It just doesn't fit what looks to be an interesting publication.

Our decision to subscribe is now on hold. I hope you lose the "Beer Doc" and instead give us more factual information, similar to the rest of your fine magazine.

Sincerely,

Ed and Katie Duggan

Danvers, Massachusetts

(Home of Stone's Copper Ale by the way)

Dear Ed and Katie:

Don Gosselin was away on a visit to the Beer Doc, but permit me to respond in his stead. First of all, thanks for supporting our advertisers. Thanks also for the praise for our publication.

Reviews on the Beer Doc are indeed mixed. Some people love him, others hate him. Don told him he was becoming the Howie Carr of the beer newspapers; you can imagine his response, but it was not in praise of professional journalists or people from Massachusetts in general.

Dr. Brasseur does resent the idea that he does not offer factual information, however; every one of the recipes he publishes have actually been brewed and can be replicated by the average homebrewer.

- Editor-in-Chief

Hello YBN,

I enjoyed the Narragansett article in your paper. However, as a Jersey boy and long-time drinker of Ballantine IPA, I felt the need to make a point not mentioned in the article.

Ballantine India Pale Ale was originally brewed at the Newark, New Jersey brewery and headquarters of P. Ballantine & Sons. Ballantine was at the time a huge regional brewer like Narragansett. Their principal area was the New York metro, New Jersey, Eastern Pennsylvania, and southern New England markets. Just as many of your 40-plus New England readers will recall "Hey, neighbor, give me a 'Gansett," "Baseball and Ballantine" was the call for Yankee and Phillie fans in the '50s and '60s.

It wasn't until the Falstaff brewery from St. Louis purchased and then closed the Newark location that Narragansett, part of the same merger, began making the Ballantine product line.

No slight intended on the fine old brewery in Cranston, Rhode Island. I just felt the original producer and brewery deserved some mention.

Lest we forget,

Mel Zulker

Pitman, New Jersey