Ben Palmer
@johnzee7
British and German dual citizen living in Berlin. Brewing scientist and PhD candidate at VLB Berlin. Former brewer and maltster. Posts about beer, cycling and Germany.
My wife and I took the regional train from Bad Schandau to Rumburk last autumn and from there we hiked to Pivovar Falkenštejn in Krásná Lípa. It was an excellent day of beer hiking.
I'm excited to present some of my PhD research on thiol stability in beer at the 40th EBC Congress this September in Rotterdam. The poster title is "An investigation of thiol disulfides as a potential indicator of ageing in dry-hopped beers" www.vlb-berlin.org/en/vlb-at_EB...
This weekend I'm on a Franconian brewery adventure with @fredcook.co.uk @louisekrennmair.bsky.social and @akrennmair.bsky.social We stopped for Brotzeit and beers at the Brauerei Göller in Drosendorf.
In our monthly Beer and Book Club, we discussed "Thin Places in Hard Concrete" by @raynewman.bsky.social It's a brilliant collection of short stories featuring memorable settings and subtle unease. Highly recommended!
Happy German Beer Day! 🍻 Today I'm presenting some of my research at the VLB on the flavour stability of hoppy beers.
Please consider taking a few moments of your Sunday afternoon to appreciate this beautiful sourdough loaf baked by @akrennmair.bsky.social It definitely tastes as good as it looks.
UPDATE: My colleague from the VLB microbiology lab has kindly given me 500 mL of 3.2 pH kombucha starter liquid. I've been advised to reduce my batch size to increase the starting acidity and hopefully prevent early mould growth.
Are there any kombucha brewers on here? Green/white fuzzy patches of mould have grown on the surface of my third generation SCOBY. This has happened twice now and I'm not sure where I'm going wrong. Any advice would be greatly appreciated!
Some friends and I recently started "The Beer and Book Club". We take it in turns to pick the book and I'm picking the book for May. This might help to explain a small spike in sales of your new book in Berlin shortly after release (Thanks to @akrennmair.bsky.social for the idea!)
It has been a nice few days of pubbing around Sheffield and the Peak District.
Good news for German cycling fans via @tagesspiegel.de: the Tour de France Grand Départ 2029 might be coming to Berlin 🚴🇩🇪 The last time this happened was in West Berlin back in 1987. www.tagesspiegel.de/sport/berlin...
Feierabendbier with @silentdan.bsky.social at the Eschenbräu brewpub in Wedding. The seasonal Rauchbock tastes like Bamberg.
Perfection by Vincenzo Latronico, 2022. A satirical novel about a millennial expat couple who move to Berlin. My favourite quote: "Wedding, in the west, existed only very faintly on their mental map, even though with every year it seemed to take on more substance, as if slowly coming into focus."
5. James by Percival Everett, 2024. This was a really nice combination of adventure, humour and emotion.
4. Tokyo Express by Seichō Matsumoto, 1958. If you enjoy slow paced mystery and intricately studying train timetables, then this might be for you.
3. I'm Starting to Worry About This Black Box of Doom by @jasonkpargin.bsky.social, 2025. An excellent recommendation by @evanrail.bsky.social. Both funny and terrifying at the same time.
2. Stasiland: Stories from Behind the Berlin Wall by Anna Funder, 2002. Fascinating stories of normal people encountering bizarre/scary situations in the GDR.
1. Any Human Heart by William Boyd, 2002. This character-driven tour of the 20th century was just excellent.
My @thestorygraph.com 2025 reading round-up. I read 57 books in 2025, which is the most I've ever read in a year by some margin. Here are my top 5 books that I read last year, in no particular order: 🧵📚
This is my go-to train beer at the Rewe To Go in the Kölner Hauptbahnhof. It's fine, I guess.
I'm travelling with the brand new @deutschebahn.com ICE L train from Cologne to Berlin. It was quite bizarre, but not completely unexpected, to see a České dráhy locomotive pulling the Deutsche Bahn train into the Köln Hauptbahnhof. 🚂🇨🇿🇩🇪
My Belgian #Crossmas trip may be coming to an end but not before a final stop at the Brauerei Päffgen for some Kölsch. I may have factored in a 3-hour stopover in Cologne on my return train journey to Berlin.
My first visit to the La Fleur en Papier Doré in Brussels, in the excellent company of @elderberryst.bsky.social. It is such a cosy bar with the added bonus of Brasserie de la Senne beers on draught. #Crossmas 🎄🚴
It was especially nice to see the Belgian CX fans cheering on Wout Van Aert. It was a fantastic day out in Dendermonde. #Crossmas 🎄🚴
It's a beautiful day for cyclocross today in Dendermonde ☀️🇧🇪 #Crossmas 🎄🚴
No cyclocross today but instead I spent the afternoon in the excellent company of @bonsvoeux1.bsky.social and Theresa at 't Brugs Beertje in Bruges. Draught Stille Nacht from De Dolle Brouwers is probably the beer of the trip, so far at least. #Crossmas 🎄🚴
The first pub of #Crossmas is Het Waterhuis aan de Bierkant in Ghent. Gouden Carolus Christmas beer is on draught and tasting excellent.