Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Möbius Beer

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Today is the birthday of mathematician August Ferdinand Möbius, for whom several mathematical items are named, although the most famous is certainly the Möbius Strip. Although the Möbius Strip was discovered by two different mathematicians around the same year, 1858, it bears his name and not fellow German colleague Johann Benedict Listing.

A Möbius Strip “is a surface with only one side and only one boundary,” so that it looks like it turns in on itself, but if you could walk around on top of one, you’d never come to the end. “The Möbius strip has the mathematical property of being non-orientable. It can be realized as a ruled surface.”

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I recalled seeing a famous beer label using a Möbius Strip, and a quick search revealed the one I was thinking of was Arizona Brewing’s flagship beer “A-1,” which used a multi-colored version.

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Beer History has a good article about the brewery, A-1: The Western Way to Say Welcome
by Ed Sipos. The original A-1 label had an eagle on it, but by the 1950s Anheuser-Busch, which was spreading their tentacles nationally, decided to sue Arizona Brewing claiming the eagle on their label was too close to their own, and Arizona couldn’t afford to defend the lawsuit, and decided instead to simply change the label.

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A can of A-1 from 1965-66.

And not too long ago, Tuscon-based Nimbus Brewery introduced a new version of A-1 Beer, though I’m not sure if it’s still being brewed.

Apparently there’s also a Mobius Infused Lager that looks like a gimmicky contract beer. It appears to be a generic lager “infused with taurine, ginseng, and caffeine.” Ugh, does that sound like a bad idea.

Patent No. 2061240A: Beer Pump

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Today in 1936, US Patent 2061240 A was issued, an invention of Oscar J. Leins, assigned to the Milwaukee Gas Specialty Co., for his “Beer Pump.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to an improvement in beer dispensers or pumps of the type designed for use by the consumers in drawing or dispensing beer or similar beverages from kegs, barrels or similar containers.

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Beer In Ads #1731: World’s Finest Lager

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Monday’s ad is for Heineken, from maybe the 1950s or 60s, touted in this ad as the “World’s Finest Lager.” I’m not sure about the Enjoy Again!” headline. Were they targeting people who’d only tried Heineken once? They were obviously targeting Americans, using the windmill and tulips so shamelessly.

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Patent No. 940438A: Beer Faucet

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Today in 1909, US Patent 940438 A was issued, an invention of Theron Davis, for his “Beer Faucet.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to improvements in the type of beer faucet in which a chambered head carries a ball valve which is raised by a finger operated by an exterior lever, so that the beer may flow past the valve, and my invention improves the type of faucet and provides a simple means than has heretofore been employed for guiding the ball, and also provides a very simple` means for removing the washers and guide from the chamber in which the ball valve is located.

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Beer In Ads #1730: Gulpen Bier

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Sunday’s ad is for Gulpen Bier, a pilsner, another one from maybe the 1950s or 60s. I believe it’s a Dutch beer, and the tagline appears to translate to “rich in taste, rich in tradition.” I like that their choice of pairing is nuts and salami, not that it wouldn’t taste good, but surely they could have come up with something better.

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Patent No. 3285365A: Apparatus Particularly For Use In Harvesting Hops

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Today in 1966, US Patent 3285365 A was issued, an invention of Le Roy T. Longton, for his “Apparatus Particularly for Use in Harvesting Hops.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to an apparatus particularly for use in the harvesting of hop vines.

Conventionally, the harvesters of hops stand on a platform of fixed height behind a truck which may move slowly down the rows of hops in a field. The height of the overhead hop trellises varies considerably from field-to-field and may also vary within one field because of ground irregularities and variations in the length of the trellis poles upon which the overhead wires are supported. The result has been that the worker-supporting platform is frequently too high or too low with respect to the vines to be cut by the workers therefore making it difficult for the workers to reach the vines, and generally rendering the operation inefficient. Another problem is the necessity for packing the bulky hop vines in the harvesting truck. conventionally, this has been done by the workers descending from the platform and walking around on the hop vines in the truck to pack or consolidate the vines. This is obviously an inefficient and time-wasting procedure.

It is the general object of this invention to provide a simplified mobile apparatus which will greatly increase the efficiency of the hops harvesting operation by the provision of worker supporting means which is quickly adjustable vertically and also the provision of an adjustable power-operated means for packing the vines down in the body or box of a truck or wagon.

Another object of the invention is to provide an apparatus of the above-mentioned character which is constructed as an attachment unit for a farm tractor and readily mountable thereon.

Another object is to provide a hop vine harvesting attachment for tractors which is hydraulically powered and operated from a hydraulic pump on the tractor and a simple control device in a convenient location to be used by the tractor driver.

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Patent No. D352417S: Beer Keg

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Today in 1994, US Patent D352417 S was issued, an invention of Richard A. Petroske and James E. Richardson, assigned to the Miller Brewing Company, for their “Beer Keg.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The ornamental design for a beer keg, as shown and described.

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Patent No. 1008914A: Hop-Picker

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Today in 1911, US Patent 1008914 A was issued, an invention of Emil Clemens Horst, for his “Hop-Picker.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to hop-pickers, or devices for removing the hops from the vines.

The invention is applicable either as a device for picking the hops by hand, or for picking t-hem entirely by machinery; essentially the same principle being employed in either instance.

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