Tuesday’s ad is for O’Keefe, from 1958. “The Choice Is Yours!” reminds of the Blues Brothers movie, when the band plays at an old honky tonk, and the owner tells them what kind of music they feature. “We have both kinds of music: country and western.” In this case the choice is between “O’Keefe Old Stock Ale” and “O’Keefe Ale.” This first is “hearty and full-bodied” while the second is “smooth and light.” So they have both kinds.
Archives for October 6, 2015
Patent No. 2056524A: Combination Bushing For Beer Barrels
Today in 1936, US Patent 2056524 A was issued, an invention of Paul A. Johnson, for his “Combination Bushing For Beer Barrels.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention relates to a universal bushing for beer barrels.
Barrels which are to contain beer have bung holes through which the barrel is filled. The beer is pumped or otherwise tapped from the barrel. It is common to provide at the bung hole of the barrel a bushing, of metal. Many and different types of bushings are used with which are associated plugs and/or valves for sealing the barrel against escape of the beer and with which a tapping mechanism may be used to withdraw the beer from the barrel.
There are several systems of tapping the beer from the barrel with each of which special plugs or valves for the different systems are used and heretofore it has been necessary, with a particular type of bushing used, to use with it a particular valve or plug designed to fit the bushing or be used therewith or integrally connected thereto. With my invention I provide a universal bushing capable of being sealed against escape of the beer and with which any of the different regular makes of plugs or valves may be used.
Monti Taste Collection Beer Glasses
I continue to be fascinated by the design work still being done on beer glassware to figure out the perfect shape for beer, or for specfic types of beer. I just stumbled on yet another effort, these glasses from Los Angeles-based Sempli, which was founded by Swedish designer Daniel Semeraro in 2011. They consist of four glasses, part of a set known as the Monti Taste Collection. Each glass was mouth-blown from lead-free crystal.
Two of the four glasses were created to enhance to specific types of beer, while the other two are generic, but are meant to fit particular size packages.
On the left was designed for IPAs, next for pilsner (known as the “pils”). The third glass will hold a pint — 16 ounces — and the last glass the contents of a 12-ounce bottle or can (and called “the birra”).
They all seem to have a pyramid shape in the bottom of the glass, possibly to encourage or enhance nucleation. They call it a “conical inverted bases,” and claim it’s “designed to catch the first splash of a pour and help ‘lead the effervescence of the brew up to the surface.'”
They’re not yet available for sale, but will be released later this month, on October 23. They can be pre-ordered on the Sempli website. The pilsner glass doesn’t look that drastically different from traditional pilsner glasses, and for that matter the IPA glass seems to be a following at least a general trend. Still, I’m certainly keen to see how it compares to other recent designs for IPAs.
Patent No. 900076A: Beer-Dispensing Apparatus
Today in 1908, US Patent 900076 A was issued, an invention of Sylvester J. Asbell, for his “Beer-Dispensing Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes only this summary:
My invention relates to apparatus for dispensing beer and similar beverages stored under pressure; and particularly to apparatus of this nature in which the beverage is of either different kinds or qualities and therefore requires separate storing vessels and separate discharge means therefor in order to avoid intermingling. The principal object of my invention is to so construct an apparatus of this character that it may be thoroughly flushed with a place where the vessels are situated in order to shut off the several vessels fromthe system of piping t: be cleansed.