Saturday’s ad is for Dow Old Stock Ale, from 1937. Dow Breweries was from Quebec, Canada, but after an incident in 1965, the brewery was acquired by Carling O’Keefe, who shut down the brand in March of 1966. In the ad, a couple is playing cards (Bridge?) at a card table as one of the men is pouring beer for everyone at the table. Seems like a nice way to spend an evening pre-World War 2.
Archives for April 11, 2015
Patent No. 5405039A: Can For Beverage
Today in 1995, US Patent 5405039 A was issued, an invention of Masahiro Komura, for his “Can For Beverage.” Here’s the Abstract:
A can for containing a beverage has a cylindrical body, a top lid for forming an opening through which the beverage can be drunk from the can, a small tab having a finger-receiving hole staked to a central portion of the top lid with a staking member, and a line of weakness defining the opening. This line is in the form of a segment of a circle centered about the staking member. This segment is between an approximately semicircular segment and a 90 degree segment.
Go Mild For The Next Session
For the 99th Session, our host is Alistair Reece, who writes the Fuggled blog. He’s also the founder of American Mild Month, which will take place for the first time this May. Intended as a companion to May is Mild Month, which is a month-long promotion of mild ale sponsored by CAMRA in Great Britain, there’s also a Facebook page and so far he’s gotten 45 breweries to commit offering a mild ale during the month. So for the May Session, the topic is “Localising Mild,” which he describes below.
Each May CAMRA in the UK encourages drinkers to get out and drink Mild Ales. This May is the first, as far as I am aware, American Mild Month, which has 45 breweries, so far, committed to brewing mild ales. Of those 45 breweries some are brewing the traditional English dark and pale mild styles, while a couple have said they will brew an ‘American Mild’, which American Mild Month describes as:
a restrained, darkish ale, with gentle hopping and a clean finish so that the malt and what hops are present, shine throughAn essential element of the American Mild is that it uses American malts, hops, and the clean yeast strain that is commonly used over here. Like the development of many a beers style around the world, American Mild is the localisation of a beer from elsewhere, giving a nod to the original, but going its own way.
That then is the crux of the theme for The Session in May, how would you localise mild? What would an Irish, Belgian, Czech, or Australian Mild look like? Is anyone in your country making such a beer? For homebrewers, have you dabbled in cross-cultural beer making when it comes to mild?
The first Friday of May is also the first day of May. May Day, or International Workers Day, and it is apt that a beer style closely associated with the industrial regions of England should be the theme for the Session. Have at it folks!
So don’t go crazy, don’t go wild, instead this May go mild. To participate in the May Session, leave a comment to the original announcement on or before Friday, May 1.
Patent No. D9211S: Design For Beer-Mug
Today in 1876, US Patent D9211 S was issued, an invention of John Oesterling and Julius Palme, for their “Design for Beer-Mug.” There’s no Abstract, but it’s claimed that they have “invented a new and useful Improvement in Design for Beer-Mugs or Ale-Glasses, with or without foot or stein; and we do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being made to the accompanying drawing forming part of this specification, and illustrating our design as applied to a beer-mug. Our design is intended for beer-mugs or ale glasses, with or without foot or stems, and consists in forming the exterior of an ale or beerglass of a series of planes upon one or more of which star-shaped figures are formed.”
Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2015
After missing this festival for the past few years, I finally made it back to judge this year’s Bistro IPA Festival. This year’s big winner was Solana Beach IPA, from Pizza Port Solana Beach, which was chosen best in show, out of 70 IPA offerings, at the 18th annual IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list of winners is below.
- 1st Place: Solana Beach IPA (Pizza Port Solana Beach)
- 2nd Place: Spring IPA (Faction Brewing)
- 3rd Place: Raceway IPA (Pizza Port Carlsbad)
- People’s Choice: Knee Deep Breaking Bud (Knee Deep Brewing)
Patent No. 989546A: Bottle-Filling Machine
Today in 1911, US Patent 989546 A was issued, an invention of Mathias Jensen, for his “Bottle-Filling Machine.” There’s no Abstract, but there’s this description. “invented a new and Improved Bottle-Filling Machine, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.”
This invention relates to certain improvements in machines for filling bottles, cans, or other containers with liquid or semi-liquid` substances, and more particularly to that type of machine in which a series of empty containers are continuously delivered to the machine, automatically filled in succession, and continuously delivered thereof. In a filling machine embodying all of the various features of my invention, the containers are conveyed along an endless belt to the machine and the latter operates to remove them from the belt, fill them in succession, and return them to the belt. The machine is so constructed that after filling each bottle, the liquid is removed from the bottle to a predetermined level below the mouth thereof, irrespective of slight variations in the height of successive bottles.
Patent No. 2503339A: Metallic Beer Barrel
Today in 1950, US Patent 2503339 A was issued, an invention of Herbert S. Jandus, for his “Metallic Beer Barrel.” There’s no Abstract, but there’s this description. “This invention relates to double walled containers and more particularly to double walled beer barrels made from sheet metal stampings and provided with a removable or permanent liner made of a material suitable as a container for beer,” and then a few more specific reasons for the metal keg design.
By constructing such a barrel with double walls, a number of advantages are gained thereby. A sturdy construction of sufficient rigidity to withstand the hard usage to which these barrels are ordinarily subjected can be formed of relatively thin sheet material by’ stamping methods, portions of the total structure being made in sections which are subsequently secured together, and yet the total weight can be kept within satisfactory limits. To accompany the advantage of using sheet metal suitable for stamping, provision is made for the lining of the inner shell so that the metal itself need not be one that is especially adapted because of its inertness for the reception of beer or other edible Products.
A double walled construction is readily adapted for the provisions of an opening into the interior shell, larger than the usual filling opening or tap rod opening such as are usually provided in wooden barrels, for example. Such an enlarged opening can be used to facilitate the cleaning and the inspection of the barrel, and may also be used for the insertion and removal of a separate removable liner.