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Hangover Cure News

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If you’ve ever looked at the science behind hangovers or endured enough of them, you probably already know that time is really the only cure for one. But when you’re feeling that bad, hope tends to spring eternal; and so hangover cures represent a pretty healthy business, bringing in untold millions of dollars. A hungover fool and his money are soon parted.

We all have our own preferred remedy. Mine is entirely preventative. Before going to bed, I take three Advils and a B-vitamin. More often than not, I wake up feeling fine. I also drink a lot of water, both during a drinking session and before retiring. I don’t think of it as a cure — indeed, I don’t believe there can actually be a cure — but for me it tends to head off the symtoms before they manifest themselves as discomfort or downright pain.

But companies keep taking P.T. Barnum’s prophetic words and proving them true, playing on our desire to do just about anything to speed up the recovery from a bad hangover. And in fact, two new ones are in the news today.
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Blowfish

Several news outlets, such as the NY Daily News, have the story that Blowfish tablets, recently approved by the FDA, is on the market, available for sale over-the-counter. The effervescent tablets “combine 1,000 milligrams of aspirin, 120 milligrams of caffeine and a stomach-soothing agent” which you dissolve in water the morning after. “Once dissolved in water, the remedy claims to knock out multiple hangover symptoms in just 15 to 30 minutes.” So far, it’s only for sale in New York City or at ForHangovers.com, and sells for $2.99 for a single dose, or $11.99 for a six-pack. Hmm.
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The Vitamin Patch

The Daily has a story today regarding a patch that you wear on your arm — like a nicotine patch — that time releases B vitamins. “Bytox Inc., has created a hangover patch that slowly releases a complex of B vitamins over eight hours — from the hour before you start drinking to the morning after. The idea, said Dr. Leonard Grossman, is that nutrients are immediately delivered into the bloodstream and stay there instead of being depleted.”

Maybe, but that still seems like a lot of work when taking one pill before bedtime is so simple. Plus, you’d still need to keep drinking a lot of water, too. I continue to think that moderation is the best method, and when that fails, as it inevitably will on occasion, time is your only friend.

Sumerian Beer: The Origins of Brewing Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia

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Peter Damerow, from the Max Planck Institute for the History of Science, in Berlin, has published online a lengthy paper about the origins of Sumerian brewing. Entitled Sumerian Beer: The Origins of Brewing Technology in Ancient Mesopotamia, it’s part of The Cuneiform Digital Library Initiative (CDLI). The opening sentence gives a flavor of its purpose. “The following paper is concerned with the technology of brewing beer in the Sumerian culture of ancient Mesopotamia, which we know about from cuneiform texts of the 3rd millennium BC. and from reminiscences in later scribal traditions which preserved the Sumerian language and literature.”

It’s broken down in to seven sections:

  1. Introduction
  2. Overview of the sources
  3. Beer types and ingredients in proto-cuneiform documents
  4. Beer types and ingredients in the Old Sumerian period
  5. Beer types and ingredients in the neo-Sumerian period
  6. The brewing of beer
  7. What kind of beer did the Sumerians brew?

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Fig. 1: Impression of a Sumerian cylinder seal from the Early Dynastic IIIa period (ca. 2600 BC; see Woolley 1934, pl. 200, no. 102 [BM 121545]). Persons drinking beer are depicted in the upper row. The habit of drinking beer together from a large vessel using long stalks went out of fashion after the decline of Sumerian culture in the 2nd millennium BC.

I confess I haven’t read the whole thing yet, but I did download the pdf of it so I can put it on my iPad. Still, just from skimming it appears fairly interesting, and a worthy piece to read over the holidays.

Real Bar Flies Prefer Pale Ale

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A new study was reported last week by NPR about research into why insects are drawn to beer. When I was a kid, I remember my Great Aunt placing beer in shallow bowls and laying them on the floor around her house to attract, and drown, pesky insects. I’d always assumed that was because of the sugars in beer and the fact that many, if not most, insects are drawn to sweet flavors.

So scientists in Southern California looked closer at this phenomenon and published their results in Nature Neuroscience. The article, inscrutably titled Evolutionary Differences in Food Preference Rely on Gr64e, a Receptor for Glycerol, finds insights “into the molecular mechanisms of feeding acceptance of yeast products and raise the possibility that Gr64e contributes to specific evolutionary variations in appetitive selectivity across Drosophila species.”

Happily, the NPR article, clears up what that means:

Since flies are well known to like sugar, it could just be that flies like beer because they can detect some residual sugar in beer. But [researcher Anupama] Dahanukar suspected that might not be the case. So she planned an experiment. She would give the flies a choice between beer and sugar water, and see which they preferred.

“We selected a pale ale, and the main reason was because pale ales have very lower sugar contents,” says Dahanukar. “So we were trying to identify other chemicals — chemicals other than sugars that taste good to flies.”

Zev Wisotsky, a graduate student in Dahanukar’s lab, actually performed the experiment. “I remember it was a Saturday,” he says. “I grabbed the beer at the grocery store, came into the lab, and performed the two-choice assay.”

The two-choice assay forces the flies to choose between a sip of beer and a sip of sugar water. The flies went for the beer.

Figure 1: Feeding preference to yeast fermentation products is reduced in Gr64e mutants.
Figure 1 FINAL 9-2
(a) Feeding preference of wild-type flies (w1118) for beer (Bass & Co., Pale Ale) in a binary choice assay. For each concentration, n = 6. PI, preference index. (b) Feeding preference for beer, tested against 5 mM sucrose, in D. melanogaster…

Once they established the fly’s preference for beer, the scientists set about trying to figure out why.

“The answer, as it turns out, was quite simple,” says Dahanukar. “It’s a molecule called glycerol, which is made by yeast during fermentation.” Glycerol is the stuff that’s used in antifreeze. It actually tastes sweet, but it’s not a sugar.

Dahanukar and [researcher Zev] Wisotsky even found the particular gene responsible for flies’ ability to detect glycerol. When they created flies missing that gene, and gave them the sugar water-beer choice, the flies went for the sugar water.

Apparently, the ultimate purpose of the research is to understand how insects perceive chemicals in the hopes of designing better insect repellents. But for my money, I love the fact that they love Pale Ale.

Damaged Lagunitas Brewing Equipment At The Dock

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You may recall that earlier this month, the Lagunitas Brewhouse [Was] Destroyed At Sea. Lagunitas owner Tony Magee, through his Twitter Feed, just posted a number of new photos of the equipment as it arrived at the Port of Stockton this weekend. I’d say my usual “enjoy,” but it’s a little on the painful-to-see side.

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The Lauter Tun at the Port of Stockton.

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The most-damaged side.

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A close-up of the damage.

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And this is a shot of “the crane what done it,” that is smooshed the brewhouse lauter tun.

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And yet another damaged piece of equipment.

Happy Thanksgiving From The Brookston Beer Bulletin

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I just finished my family’s Thanksgiving feast, enjoyed with a 2000 magnum of Our Special Ale from Anchor Brewing that I found nestled in the back of one of our refrigerators. Boy am I stuffed. Before the tryptophan kicks in and I’m found drooling on the sofa, I wanted to take a moment to wish everybody a Happy Thanksgiving.

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I’m incredibly thankful that people come here to read what I write, see what I share and drink what I drink. Thank you from the bottom of my pint glass.
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Happy Thanksgiving!

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And I love the mash-up Chicago’s Piece Brewery did with this Thanksgiving scene and their growlers.

Muppets’ Beer-Drinking Habits

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I got a nice tweet from Gerard Walen of Road Trips For Beer, who’s obviously been paying attention enough to know how much of a Muppets fan I am. He had a chance to see an advance screening of the new Muppet film that opens Thanksgiving and he assures me that Porter and I “will love the movie.” Of that, I have little doubt. I’ve turned my whole family into Muppet fans by showing them all of the television shows and movies since they were little. I’ve been a fan since I was a kid, and have never really stopped loving their bad pun, groaner brand of humor ever since. But after seeing the film, Walen took it a step farther in a post: ‘The Muppets’ Movie Makes Me Wonder: What Beer Would They Drink? He’s come up with some pretty funny, inspired choices for the main characters. Makes me even more thirsty to see the movie later this week.

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Lew Bryson *Is* The American Beer Blogger

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A new project was announced yesterday on Kickstarter starring my friend and colleague Lew Bryson. The project is being produced by Rudy Vegliante of Green Leaf Productions and the idea is to create a series of six half-hour television shows starring Lew. Here’s how the project is described on the Kickstarter project page for American Beer Blogger:

AMERICAN BEER BLOGGER is a half hour television series dedicated to all facets of the ever growing craft beer market. From home brewing, to micro beer; viewers will experience the very best of the craft beer culture. In each episode, Lew will visit a different brewer, each of which has their own sets of quirks and ways of doing things. Lew will talk to these brewers, get to know them, will show us first hand the various methods and techniques used in creating a craft beer. From the tiniest bottler to the largest manufacturer, Lew will get his hands dirty. Topics such as bottling, food pairing, manufacturing, distribution, history, technique (and so much more) will all be touched upon as Lew spends a day with these brewers. Some doing well in the business, others not so well. Thankfully, the DIY nature of this business can lead to some pretty unforseeable results as Lew lends a hand and helps out in any way he can. Lew will show us all the kinds of micro-breweries currently out there. From the smallest, hippest label to large manufacturers.

AMERICAN BEER BLOGGER sets out to entertain the viewer as well as educate on this rapidly growing industry. Through humor and a charming, hands-on host, our show will not only be entertaining for the microbeer enthusiast, but also enjoyable for the average viewer as well.

They’re trying to raise $60,000 in two months to fund the project. There’s a variety of pledge levels available if you’re interested in seeing Lew in his very on TV show — and who doesn’t want that? Levels range from a buck to $10,000, with everything in between, getting you various thanks, credit and goodies for each successive level. For example, at the $1,000 level you get an “associate producer” credit and all six episodes on DVD, along with some additional tchotchkes. Below is video of the proposed project.

The teaser trailer was filmed at Stoudt’s Brewery in Adamstown, Pennsylvania, near where I grew up. And it features Lew doing what Lew does best: drinking, talking, eating and laughing … a lot. And that, I think is a very promising beginning. It seems very natural, a casual look at the brewery and the people behind it. I hope lots of people queue up to help the project get made. I know I’ll help out as best I can. You should to.

I think my only quibble — and it’s really a tongue-in-cheek one — is that title. Lew Bryson is the American Beer Blogger! Certainly he’s “an” American Beer Blogger, but “the” American Beer Blogger? It makes it sound like he’s the only one, or at least the only one who can call himself that; the Steam Beer among us California Commons. Plus, it makes him sound like a superhero.

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Next Session A Dickens Of A Topic

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Our 58th Session should be a fun one. Our host, Phil Hardy from Beersay, is apparently hoping for an old-fashioned Christmas this year, and at the top of his list is Charles Dickens’ immortal classic A Christmas Carol. Hardy is attempting to merge the two, which, as Dickens himself said of the goal of his novella in the preface. “I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.” We should all aspire to such heights. The basic idea, which by now you must have guessed, is to write about the beers of Christmas past, present and future, or as Hardy tells it in his announcement post, A Dickens of a Topic for December 2011:

A Christmas Carol

The idea for me was based loosely around the visits of three ghosts to Ebenezer Scrooge, but relayed in a post about the beers of Christmas past, present and future.

What did you drink during Christmas holidays of old, have you plans for anything exciting this year and is there something you’d really like to do one day, perhaps when the kids have flown the nest?

Do you have your own interpretation, was Scrooge perhaps a beer geek?

Or maybe it’s all one day. What will you drink Christmas morning, Christmas afternoon and what will you top off the holiday with that evening?

Just a few examples there, but the idea was to keep the topic as open as possible to allow you free rein to write about a subject with a seasonal twist in whatever way the title grabs you.

My own favorite interpretation of A Christmas Carol is the Bill Murray film Scrooged, which I watch each year without fail, tearing up at the end … every … single … time. There, now you now; I’m a sentimental old fool.

Scrooged

Acid rain. Drug addiction. International terrorism. Freeway killers. Now more than ever, it is important to remember the true meaning of Christmas. Don’t miss Charles Dickens immortal classic; Scrooge. Your life might just depend on it…

Or maybe not, but just to be sure, why not write your Dickensian blog post anyway, and post it up on Friday, December 2.