All posts by The Beer Professor

Neil Reid is Professor of Geography and Planning and Director of the Jack Ford Urban Affairs Center at the University of Toledo. He studies and writes about the beer industry.

Taking Stock of the Swedish Beer Scene

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Prästgatan (“The Priest’s Street”) where Hans’ apartment is located

I was in Stockholm, Sweden last week. I was there attending a meeting of the Regional Science Academy. The Academy meetings only lasted for two days but due to the vagaries of airfares I was able to save over a thousand dollars on my plane ticket by arriving three days before the meetings started. This of course could have meant two extra nights in a hotel but my good friend Hans Westlund came to my rescue on that score. Hans has an apartment in Stockholm’s Gamla Stan (Old Town) and as he was not going to be there during the first three days of my visit he generously gave me the keys to his place. This proved to be an excellent base from which to explore Stockholm’s beer scene.

Continue reading Taking Stock of the Swedish Beer Scene

Beer and Bagpipes

My local brewpub, The Black Cloister, had a couple of bagpipers entertain patrons last Tuesday evening. These weren’t your run-of-the-mill bagpipers (if indeed there is such a thing). Andrew Bova and Dan Nevins are World Champion bagpipers – both members of the Shotts and Dykehead Caledonia Pipeband who were crowned the Grade 1 World Champions at the 2015 World Pipeband Championships. Continue reading Beer and Bagpipes

School Days

Beer and college tend to go together. Those of us who attended an institution of higher learning, in all likelihood, consumed huge volumes of beer while pursuing our studies. I know I did. But then again I was in college for ten years straight while amassing an undergraduate and two graduate degrees. So between 1981 and 1991 I had plenty of time to drink beer. And like most college students on a tight budget it was Continue reading School Days

Community Space

Community space. Lots of craft breweries have this – a space where members of the local community can come together for the purposes of hosting or attending some kind of event. At my own local craft brewery, The Black Cloister, this space comprises a room. It is called the Wittenberg Room. You see, the CEO and Founder of The Black Cloister Brewing Continue reading Community Space

Around The World in 800 Beers

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The Beer Professor meets The Beer Doctors at Toledo’s Black Cloister Brewery

Last week I got a visit from two fellow Geographers – Mark Patterson and Nancy Hoalst Pullen. Mark and Nancy are faculty members at Kennesaw State University which is located about twenty miles north of Atlanta, GA. I first met Mark and Nancy in New York City in 2012 at the annual conference of the Association of American Geographers. I was Continue reading Around The World in 800 Beers

1873 and all that

November 2015 was an auspicious month for the American beer industry. According to data provided by the Brewers Association the number of breweries in the United States reached 4,144. At no other time in our country’s history has America had so many breweries. The previous high was 4,131 in 1873. The current number of breweries in the Continue reading 1873 and all that

A Question of Beer

Last week I was the after-dinner speaker at the annual meeting of the Maumee Valley Growers Association (MVGA). MVGA is a non-profit organization that works to strengthen the economic vitality of the northwest Ohio greenhouse industry. I was on familiar ground attending this event. I knew many of the growers very well. With funding Continue reading A Question of Beer

Portland: City of Beer and Roses

I visited Portland, Oregon earlier this month. I was there attending yet another academic conference – this time the 62nd North American Meetings of the Regional Science Association International. And yes, I talked about beer at the conference – about the large regional craft Continue reading Portland: City of Beer and Roses

Not Quite Turkish Delight

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Ankara’s Railway Station, next to which over 100 people were killed and another 400+ were injured by two suicide bombers

Last month I spent three days in Ankara, Turkey. As with much of my work-related travel these days I was there to talk about beer. The International Geographical Unions’s Commission on the Dynamics of Economic Spaces was holding its annual meeting there and I was giving a Continue reading Not Quite Turkish Delight