BEER CULTURE SUMMIT OPENING NIGHT

Various cultures around the world have had different perspectives on the life cycle. Life and death were both considered to be moments of celebration, often connected to the production and consumption of specific kinds of beer and alcohol.

Tonight we hear from three scholars who offer a look into these traditions while also celebrating this year’s Revolution Brewing’s Deth’s Tar, a bourbon barrel-aged beer with notes of dark chocolate, toasted coconut, and vanilla. Guests attending this event will get access to Deth's Star two days prior to the official public release. Attendees will also get an extra special treat with tastings of Deth Mounds.

Historian Lars Marius Garshol (via recording) will share insight into the way beer was tied to the customs of life, death, and the afterlife in Scandinavia and Viking culture. Cesareo Moreno, Chief Curator of the National Museum of Mexican Art delves into the historic and annual traditions of Day of the Dead and their connections to agave based fermented beverages. Dr. Christina Wade (via recording) will take you on a brief tour through a thousand years of Irish funeral ales and feasts, exploring the importance of these Celtic traditions not only for the dead, but also for those left behind.

$45 ticket includes beer throughout the evening including special tastings of Deth’s Tar and Deth Mounds. Food from Papas Chicago will be available for purchase.

THE VIGNETTES

Norse Beer Traditions, From Birth to Death

During the time of the Vikings, it was custom to brew a beer for the birth of a child, just as it was necessary to brew beer for a funeral. A millennium later, both customs were still very much alive. In this talk Lars Marius Garshol will share insight into the way beer was tied to the customs of life, death, and the afterlife in Scandinavia. This vignette will be a recorded talk.

Spirits on the Altar

On November 1st and 2nd Mexican communities gather in cemeteries to await the spirits of their deceased loved ones. In their homes, families then create altars to welcome back these spirits with offerings (known as ofrendas) of food and drinks. From the public festivities in the cemetery to the private commemorations in the home, the age-old agave libations are always present in observing the annual Days of the Dead.  Cesareo Moreno, Chief Curator and Visual Arts Director of the National Museum of Mexican Art leads us in an exploration of this colorful annual tradition.

The Death of the Party: Beer and Burial in Medieval and Early Modern Ireland

In Irish history, we often see beer presented as an important source of nutrition, a part of daily life; but beer wasn't just for the living. From medieval funerals that became festivals to ales specifically brewed for the recently deceased, beer has always played a key role in the art of dying and being buried. In this talk, Dr. Christina Wade will take you on a brief tour through a thousand years of Irish funeral ales and feasts, exploring the importance of these traditions not only for the dead, but also for those left behind. This vignette will be a recorded talk.

Lars Marius Garshol used to be a software engineer, but he gave that up to work full-time on researching and writing about traditional farmhouse brewing. He's spent the last decade researching various aspects of brewing at remote farms throughout northern Europe. He is the author of Larsblog, a blog devoted to sharing his discoveries and travels, along with Historical Brewing Techniques: The Lost Art of Farmhouse Brewing and a book on Lithuanian beer. Lars serves on the Beer Culture Center’s League of Historians. He lives with his wife and daughter in Rælingen, Norway.

Cesáreo Moreno has been the Visual Arts Director of the National Museum of Mexican Art (NMMA) since 1995, and was named the museum’s first full time Curator in 2004. Prior to 1995, he was the Exhibitions Coordinator for three years. He has curated numerous exhibitions for NMMA as well as The Border Art Biennial III for the El Paso Museum of Art & Museo de Arte de Ciudad Juárez (Mexico), Arte Tejano de campos, barrios y fronteras for the Smithsonian Latino Center, and Benito Juarez and the Making of Modern Mexico for the Chicago History Museum. He has curated 15 of the annual Day of the Dead exhibitions. Cesáreo also serves on the Beer Culture Center’s National Advisory Board and co-leads the organization’s annual Beer Culture Journey to Mexico City.

Dr. Christina Wade is a beer historian specialising in the hidden histories of the brewing trade, especially the role of women. She received her doctorate in History from Trinity College Dublin in 2017 and following its completion she has been working on Filthy Queens: A History of Beer in Ireland, which will be published with Nine Bean Rows in early 2025. She also recently published The Devil’s in the Draught Lines: 1000 Years of Women in Britain’s Beer History, published with CAMRA books. Wade has spent much of her time writing about women and beer history on her website Braciatrix which was shortlisted for an Irish Food Writing Award  in 2022.  A BJCP Certified Beer Judge, Wade is also the resident historian, audio editor and co-host of the Beer Ladies Podcast, which was recently featured in Vinepair and shortlisted in the podcast category for the 2023 Irish Food Writing Awards. She serves on the Beer Culture Center’s League of Historians.

OPENING NIGHT IS GENEROUSLY SUPPORTED BY