Sign in

Phil Cook

@beerdiary.bsky.social
752 followers 730 following 376 posts

Beer diarist (at philcook.net), bartender, and various beer industry miscellany for a decade and counting. Continually disappointed optimist. He/him. From: Te Whanganui-a-Tara / Wellington Recently: Naarm / Melbourne Now: Nacotchtank land / Washington DC

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Phil Cook
The New York Times @nytimes.com · 08/10/2026
Margaret Hamilton, who led the 100-person team that wrote the onboard software for the Apollo missions, has died.
nyti.ms
Margaret Hamilton, Whose Software Guided the Apollo Missions, Has Died
Margaret Hamilton, the first female programmer hired to work on the space project at M.I.T., was 90.
342022841
Reposted by Phil Cook
Brian Alberts @brewedculture.org · 06/10/2026
Image from Simpson's episode "Lemon of Troy," showing Bart and Lisa looking piteously at a glass of lemonade from Milhouse's lemonade stand. Lisa is saying "I didn't even want any. I just bought a pity glass."
052
Reposted by Phil Cook
Jay Willis @jaywillis.net · 01/10/2026
Man, imagine you're minding your own business, getting kind of drunk with your friends at a picturesque brewery in Maine, when suddenly John Roberts walks by and you get to start heckling him. Must have felt incredible. That's the dream. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/01/u...
The chief justice used to preside over a Supreme Court whose members were afforded more privacy and freedom than many other public officials. Once, years ago, Mr. Lipson and the chief justice found themselves up the peninsula from Port Clyde without a car, Mr. Lipson recalled in an interview. So he stuck out his thumb by the side of the road and a pickup truck pulled over. He and the nation’s top jurist hopped in the back and hitchhiked back to town.

Now, Mr. Lipson said, he is cautious about introducing his friend to strangers. This year, on an outing to nearby Monhegan Island, people recognized the chief justice as he walked by a brewery and started to chant: You should be ashamed.
1505366811
Reposted by Phil Cook
Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray) @boakandbailey.bsky.social · 27/09/2026
BLOG POST: Does your AI-generated beer app actually contribute something? Is it meeting a real need, or providing new information? Or did you just get excited about being able to make something with zero effort? boakandbailey.com/2026/09/ai-h...
boakandbailey.com
AI has made it easier than ever to make apps nobody asked for
We’ve been inundated lately with AI-written press releases about AI-built tools and websites focused on beer and pubs. Who is asking for this?
43218
Reposted by Phil Cook
Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 24/09/2026
Jim Henson would have been 90 (yup, you read that right: NINETY) years old today. You can celebrate his life by celebrating creativity, diversity, peace, imagination, and silliness.
A tuxedoed Jim Henson sits in a sea of Muppets.
212441966
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 24/09/2026
That's such a hilariously weak move, from them. (Do you remember what the other piece was?) They never replied to me at all, and the marketing company packed a sad and said they wouldn't engage with someone "insinuating bad ethics" — I was mildly outraged they thought I was only "insinuating"!
110
Reposted by Phil Cook
Off Color Brewing @offcolorbrewing.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
Really nice article from David Nilsen for Pellicle takes a look at the Mischief we’ve been making the last 13 years. www.pelliclemag.com/home/2026/9/...
pelliclemag.com
Beer for Mischief — Off Color Brewing in Chicago, Illinois — Pellicle
A group of mice is known as a mischief . This fact strikes me as appropriate as I stare at the line-drawn mouse on a can of Off Color Brewing’s Beer for Lounging. The mouse is one in a menagerie of c...
1223
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 23/09/2026
There was a case that I wrote up earlier in the year — Drew noticed some initial sloppiness and as I kept digging it got weirder and uncovered the really pretty shocking sock-puppeting of quotes. That it was a coincidental discovery and they didn't just nuke the piece suggests it's not a one-off.
philcook.net
A pint of stout, and a can of worms
“Guinness isn’t the highest rated stout anymore,” declared a headline in The Drinks Business. “New data,” they said, reveals “which brand comes out on top.&#8221…
140
Reposted by Phil Cook
red - Neopets Ambassador @prettypinkpansy.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
i'm not the first person to say it but it sure is fucked up how many popular video games these days are just "wouldn't it be cool if you could pursue a single career you enjoy, with plenty of time for rest, and get paid a reasonable living wage for doing so"
12860154
Reposted by Phil Cook
Felix Geiringer @barristernz.bsky.social · 22/09/2026
I'm at Unity Bookshop Wellington for the Nicky Hager book launch. The event is not due to start until 6 pm, but the room is mostly full already and filling up fast.
Unity Bookshop filling fast.
17356102
Reposted by Phil Cook
hilkojj @hilkojj.nl · 22/09/2026
17 days until launch!! Watch the *alternative* trailer, voiced by Not Just Bikes. store.steampowered.com/app/3031880/...
281209342
Reposted by Phil Cook
Brian Jay Jones @brianjayjones.com · 20/09/2026
Fifty years ago today--on Monday, September 20, 1976--The Muppet Show went on the air in New York on Channel 2 at 7:30 p.m. While the show had officially debuted in the UK on September 5, its 9/20 launch in New York was the point at which Jim Henson began tracking its reception--and ratings . . .
A house ad for NYC Channel 2 featuring the first episode of the Muppet Show (also: Rhoda, Phyllis, Maude, and two new shows All's Fair and Executive Suite)
28936
Reposted by Phil Cook
Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 19/09/2026
at some point trying to make fun of people being into craft beer is more embarrassing than simply being into craft beer and i believe we are rapidly approaching that inflection point
Spirit halloween costumes for “IPA Can” and it’s just a guy wearing a costume that says “hipster ipa”
98610
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
This is such a perfect example of a quick, gentle-but-thorough debunking of needlessly superlative marketing nonsense. Love it when a subject matter expert suddenly appears.
120
Reposted by Phil Cook
🐈Rex Parker🐈‍⬛ ✏️ 🧐 @rexparker.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
🎯
… Hence the ad: This is where you come in, with your stupid paycheck and your lousy odds and your dopey ambitions, your hunches and your determination to win. We live in such a stupid place and time, man! The economy-taken here to mean something system-like that is managed at some level and intended to produce outcomes of some sort-has shrunk all the way down and revealed itself as something more like a small number of people with capital rushing from scam to scam, and then a larger number of people without capital thrashing along in their wake and hoping to chisel something out of the scam at the direct expense of everyone else in their own cohort. It sucks!
092
Reposted by Phil Cook
Andreas Krennmair @akrennmair.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Oktoberfest started today in Munich, so here are my #beerhistory blog posts about its history: 1. the scandal of the first giant Oktoberfest tent: how a restaurateur from outside Munich ignored the authorities and established what is Oktoberfest nowadays. dafteejit.com/2026/03/the-...
dafteejit.com
The Scandal of Oktoberfest's First Giant Tent - Daft Eejit Brewing
In which I wrote about how the first large tent at Oktoberfest came to be, and why it was a scandal for the Oktoberfest restaurateurs at the time.
22212
Reposted by Phil Cook
Stephanie Rodgers 🍉 @bootstheory.bsky.social · 18/09/2026
The "AI will kill us all" panic says everything about the dudes promoting it: genAI is already killing people through inaccuracy, encouraging violence and self-harm, and giving bad leaders false confidence to make harmful decisions But that's not a *cool* kind of "killing us all" so they don't care
17517
Reposted by Phil Cook
Rosemary Mosco @rosemarymosco.com · 18/09/2026
Humaning.
A four-panel comic. In panel 1, a Northern Cardinal and American Goldfinch perch above a busy crowd in a city, looking down. The cardinal says "It's a nice day to go humaning." The goldfinch says "Just look at them. Majestic." In panel 2, a close-up of the two birds. The cardinal says "Nobody tells you that you'll reach a certain age and suddenly get into humaning. I hit 3 years old, and then bam."The birds are looking out over the crowd scene. In panel 3, the cardinal says "Their calls sound funny to us, but each one has a unique meaning." Below, people are saying various things: "I'm tired." "Where's my phone?" "I'd murder a burrito." In panel 4, the birds look down excitedly at a man walking by. The cardinal says "Wait, is that a guy who got dressed in the dark and put his shirt on inside out and backwards?" And the goldfinch exclaims, "Holy... that's a lifer!"
6072111820
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
It simply shouldn't be possible to buy a company out of administration without making good the debts it owes to its employees.
1151
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 17/09/2026
There's a good If Books Could Kill episode on The Art Of The Deal — though it was written by a business journalist (who later regretted it), so it doesn't get into what you're after. But at this point, the Wharton School of Business should either offer a refund or sue him for reputational harm.
120
Reposted by Phil Cook
Laura Hadland @morrighani.bsky.social · 15/09/2026
More anti-AI breweries, pubs and cidermakers have been added to my directory. And before anyone comments, if you don't care that a business uses AI, then don't bother reading the list. Easy.
extremehousewife.com
Ethical and Sustainable Brewery Directory
A directory of ethical and sustainable brewery businesses in the UK who putting the environment, their community and their teams first.
2267
Reposted by Phil Cook
Dr. Jennifer Wade @volcanojw.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
Do you like maps?? I’m in a briefing where the USGS shared these amazing 3D Elevation images that are just so cool. Find your state/district, and behold this example of DC! www.usgs.gov/3d-elevation...
A 3D Elevation Program image from the USGS of the District of Columbia, depicting (in their words) “the ‘bare earth’ surface, stripping away vegetation and structures, revealing ground surface.
1822761
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
That's why I got one. The fact it was really nice is why I got a second one.
010
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 14/09/2026
This was me earlier today. A couple of these at the Maryland State Fair went very nicely indeed.
A brightly coloured can of Checkerspot Brewing's Year Round Fairground blonde, held up in one have at the Maryland State Fair, with grey skies and a Ferris wheel and fairgoers blurry in the background
110
Reposted by Phil Cook
Martin @mandab.com · 10/09/2026
It's opening day for the City Rail Link on Sunday, and if you need to find a drink while riding the rails, I have just the article for you: hoppiness.co.nz/riding-auckl...
hoppiness.co.nz
Riding Auckland's City Ale Link | Pursuit of Hoppiness
The City Rail Link has been Aotearoa’s biggest infrastructure project. Aucklanders have got used to the city centre being a mess of dug-up streets, barriers
0102
Reposted by Phil Cook
Jeff Alworth @beervana.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
The fresh hop beers are out! But wait, is that “green” character diminishing? I try to get to the bottom of things.
beervanablog.com
MOAR Fresh Hops! — Beervana
The fresh hop beers are out! But wait, is that “green” character diminishing? I try to get to the bottom of things.
1244
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Yeah, that sucks.
100
Reposted by Phil Cook
Once Upon A Time On The Internet @newgroundsdoc.newgrounds.com · 01/09/2026
23 YEARS AGO TODAY, @mrweebl.bsky.social posted BADGERS to @Newgrounds.com
8450262705
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
I tested this theory with 22 fluid ounces (that's 650ml, for the folks back home) of Foster's at the Outback Steakhouse at Orlando International Airport and I have to say, it checks out.
271
Reposted by Phil Cook
David Olsen @ddsd.dolsen.net · 18/08/2026
If AI writing detectors worked, the AI platforms would just use the same algorithm to create writing that doesn't look like it was written by AI. They don't, because it doesn't work, never has.
095
Reposted by Phil Cook
Katie Mack @astrokatie.com · 17/08/2026
14 hours later and my mentions are still full of angry treatises about badly behaved cyclists. Bike lanes are not a reward for good cyclist behavior! They are infrastructure proven to make cities safer for ALL ROAD USERS. Whatever way cyclists have wronged you is irrelevant to the discussion!
302109191843
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
As always, astute observers of bartending dynamics. I'm also a huge fan of whichever boss was okay with the staff reading a book if the vibe was right for that. Much, much better than doing forced busy-work during lulls in service.
110
Reposted by Phil Cook
Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 10/08/2026
NEW: One year in, Trump's troop deployment in D.C. is ongoing, unending, pointless — and very bad. The "America 250" flags are a particularly empty emblem on the uniforms of troops deployed on the streets of the nation's capital. Tonight, at Law Dork:
lawdork.com
One year in, Trump's troop deployment in D.C. is ongoing, unending, pointless — and very bad
The "America 250" flags are a particularly empty emblem on the uniforms of troops deployed on the streets of the nation's capital. And for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.
13937341
Reposted by Phil Cook
Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
again, if i had a calculator that gave me the wrong answer one (1) time, i would throw it out and never use it again and could probably bankrupt the company by simply telling people what happened
171071186
Reposted by Phil Cook
Terence Eden @edent.tel · 03/08/2026
New blog post: Book Review: The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error' by Sidney Dekker ★★★★☆ shkspr.mobi/blog/2026/08/book-revie… This is such a useful book. It makes the case that there's no such thing as "human error" …
shkspr.mobi
Book Review: The Field Guide to Understanding 'Human Error' by Sidney Dekker
This is such a useful book. It makes the case that there's no such thing as "human error" - instead most catastrophes are caused by system issues, misaligned incentives, and unrealistic processes. You are not the custodian of an otherwise safe system that you need to protect from erratic human beings. By its nature it is a little repetitive. I suspect it's the sort of book students and…
053
Reposted by Phil Cook
The 51st @51st.news · 19/07/2026
The District of Columbia Archives has released its largest digital collection of historic photos — showing new views of the city from 1947 through 1959. Find anything interesting? Let us know!
51st.news
Check out thousands of photos of midcentury D.C.
The District of Columbia Archives has released its largest digital collection of historic photos
016166
Reposted by Phil Cook
Paul Le Comte 🇳🇿🇨🇦📷 @paullecomtephoto.nz · 12/07/2026
At the turning of the millennium there were 769 satellites in space, 2026 there are 14,500 satellites. I spent 7mins photographing the Milky Way rising above Poatiri Mt Charles Hoopers Inlet, on Muaupoko (Otago Peninsula) this evening. Ōtepoti Dunedin, NZ #Photography
The Milky Way rising above a hill at Hoopers Inlet on Otago Peninsula with crazy lines of satellites in the sky
481261521
Reposted by Phil Cook
Electronic Frontier Foundation @eff.org · 06/07/2026
RSS is a secret trick to making the internet more usable. www.eff.org/deeplinks/2...
eff.org
Hate “The Algorithm?” RSS Is One of the Tools You’ve Been Looking For
Since at least the moment Facebook introduced (and apologized for) its News Feed, “the algorithm” has been shorthand for the ways the tech giants control what we see and when we see it. In the age of
6355110
Reposted by Phil Cook
Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray) @boakandbailey.bsky.social · 30/06/2026
SESSION #150 ROUND-UP: Thoughts on porter and stout from around the world, with contributions from @agoodbeerblog.bsky.social, @beerdiary.bsky.social, @dingsbeerblog.bsky.social, @morrighani.bsky.social, @beerfoodtravel.bsky.social, @akrennmair.bsky.social and @thebeerfather.bsky.social.
boakandbailey.com
Session #150 round-up: thoughts on stout and porter from around the world
We revived The Session for a one-off event to celebrate the work of the late Martyn Cornell, asking people to write something in response to his final book Porter & Stout.
12115
Reposted by Phil Cook
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
New post up on Beer Diary — initial impressions of the late great Martyn Cornell's epic history, Porter and Stout, for a special edition of #thesession. Looking first through what it says about things back home, there are some quirks and inevitable gaps, but I'm very glad it's in my collection now.
philcook.net
Porter and Stout — an incomplete review and Antipodean response
For a special edition of The Session, Boak & Bailey suggested that people take the time to respond to the work of the late Martyn Cornell, prompted by his final work, Porter and Stout. That con…
064
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 29/06/2026
New post up on Beer Diary — initial impressions of the late great Martyn Cornell's epic history, Porter and Stout, for a special edition of #thesession. Looking first through what it says about things back home, there are some quirks and inevitable gaps, but I'm very glad it's in my collection now.
philcook.net
Porter and Stout — an incomplete review and Antipodean response
For a special edition of The Session, Boak & Bailey suggested that people take the time to respond to the work of the late Martyn Cornell, prompted by his final work, Porter and Stout. That con…
064
Reposted by Phil Cook
ceej @ceej.online · 27/06/2026
GUIDE: Welcome to the Great American State Fair! TOURIST: Incredible! And which state are we in right now? GUIDE: (violently shaking their head) Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.
433851612
Reposted by Phil Cook
M. Nolan Gray 🥑 @mnolangray.bsky.social · 27/06/2026
Absolutely love a cozy bar and/or café in a Japanese video game, definitely a top third space.
1373
Reposted by Phil Cook
Dave Infante @dinfontay.com · 23/06/2026
centrist pundits: elite institutions have for too long disdained america's agrarian volk, whose voracious id represents the country's true & enduring essence me, a booze reporter: anheuser-busch made a tractor into a bar because bigots posted some mean things about bud light online three years ago
Built from a real combine harvester, first-of-its-kind ComBar signifies Anheuser‑Busch’s commitment to

U.S. agriculture and sourcing the highest-quality American-grown ingredients   

Embarking on a nationwide tour encouraging consumers to “Choose Beer Grown Here” in support of American farmers
68212
Reposted by Phil Cook
eek @eke.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
this is so insane
636661130
Reposted by Phil Cook
Drew Starr @thedrewstarr.bsky.social · 22/06/2026
If you follow me for beer stuff, you probably already follow Dave. But if you don't, you should. And if you do follow him but don't subscribe to Fingers, you should. The state of alcohol industry coverage in mass media is dreadful these days. Support indies like Dave who know what they're doing.
1103
Reposted by Phil Cook
Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray) @boakandbailey.bsky.social · 09/06/2026
“To make this easy for ourselves – and for everyone else – we’re suggesting that you can join in the Session even if you haven’t read the book... Your post just needs to be in some way a response to it, or to Martyn’s previous work on the subject of porter and stout.”
111
Reposted by Phil Cook
Boak & Bailey (Jess & Ray) @boakandbailey.bsky.social · 21/06/2026
We've written our post for next week. If you want to join in you've got seven days to cook something up.
032
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 20/06/2026
It's a weird sort of fun, and a good quick test, for me to flip to the New Zealand section of any of those 'big book of beer' things you find in second-hand stores. I was doing exactly that yesterday, coincidentally, and blogged about the 'corrosive' problem of small bits of nonsense ages ago, too:
philcook.net
Beer writing: a word of caution
Most beer writing is crap. This should be unsurprising and uncontroversial for the simple reason that most of everything is crap. Enshrined as Sturgeon’s law, this isn’t a cynical or de…
141
Phil Cook @beerdiary.bsky.social · 19/06/2026
Yeah, that tracks! They never got back to me after that 'Guinness No Longer The Top-Rated Stout' fiasco with the made-up quotes, but I don't think they've actually blocked me (yet).
120