L'Histoire de Beer 101: Worlds Fairs and Beer

Course Description: This is a course on a non-telelogical study of beer and "smound." (Smound is a hybrid sense that scientists are researching as a combination of smell and sound). This course covers words about beer, songs about beer, debates around beer, as well as the techniques and technologies of beer making and distributing over history. Prerequisites: a love for learning and an open mind. Recommended: a little bit of a crush on malts or hops. Course meets sometimes. Instructor: One Woman.

Welcome to class, everyone. The history of beer as a beverage goes back pretty far (wikipedia says 6th millenium BC!). But as Shanghai's Worlds Fair opened its gates yesterday for what some have called "the worlds fair to end all worlds fairs" (though, by nature of the event, it seems like that's way someone says about a lot of worlds fairs...), it seems like a timely moment to think about a the Columbian  Exposition of 1893. The "last great fair" of the nineteenth century meets the first great fair of the twenty-first.

In this image, Anheuser-Busch flexes its brewing cultural muscle with all the opulence of a powerful brewery already at the top of its game. And what's going on with that miniature city that's part of the exhibit?? --Answer: according to beer historian Maureen Ogle, it's supposed to be a replica of Anheuser-Busch's brewery. But it looks so imposing! It's a cross between Plaza San Marco, the Kremlin, and Trafalgar Square, flanked by beer bottles larger than buildings. Is this a dream or a nightmare? Is this the Anheuser-Busch of the Bud that you know? Your homework: Write a few sentences reflecting on this image and explain your thoughts on the question. Extra credit for someone who can tell me if there is an official beer of the Shanghai expo this year.

Musical Accompaniment: Charlie Parker, "Just Friends." This performance is a sort of bizarre and uncomfortable, yet beautiful meeting between bebop jazz and a super saccharine string orchestra. And still, Bird seems to soar above the orchestra, but at the same time trapped in this strange exhibition space that's enchanted and dazzling but in a way that you can never believe it. But it's so good that you want to... you have to believe it.