Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Inaugural California Craft Beer Summit This Weekend

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This weekend, beginning Friday September 11, the California Craft Beer Association is holding the first-of-its-kind Craft beer Summit, a two-day event in Sacramento celebrating the rise of beer in the Golden State. It should be an amazing event that if you’re a beer lover you won’t want to miss, and will include many different experiences, ending with the the largest Beer Festival ever held in California!

It’s being hailed as the California version of the “Great American Beer Festival,” and with 150 breweries pouring their beer — as many as 400 different beers (including several brewed just for the event) — it’s an apt description. The CCBA is describing the event as “the showcase event for craft beer – a premier California craft beer festival. People from all over the state (and country) can come to Sacramento to see (and taste) our thriving craft beer scene. Our beers are coveted across the nation, so here is your opportunity to try all of them!”

But it’s also much more than just a beer festival. The summit will bring together retailers, wholesalers, brewery owners, beer enthusiasts and home-brewers for an educational, hands-on experience where they will be able to see, touch, smell and taste beer. There will be Educational Seminars both days, beginning at 9:00 AM, cooking and homebrewing demonstrations, panel discussions, talks by industry pioneers and insiders (including yours truly), an Expo and much more. You can find out more about the event here, and tickets are also available online.

Still not convinced? Here’s 8 Things You Don’t Want to Miss at the California Craft Beer Summit and Brewers Showcase Beer Festival posted by the CCBA.

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Patent No. 325979A: Hop-Breaker

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Today in 1885, US Patent 325979 A was issued, an invention of Fredrich Louis Sebastian, for his “Hop-Breaker.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in the construction and operation of a machine for breaking up hops preparatory to their use by the brewer.

The object of the invention is to so prepare the hops that very little time will be necessary to extract the properties of such hops when put into the hot liquor in the process of making beer, and thereby lessening the loss of the aroma in the steam arising from such liquor. By breaking the hops up I do not mean to be understood as grinding them to a powder, as if they were reduced to this condition they would be comparatively worthless to the manufacturer of beer.

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Patent No. 326017A: Beer-Drawing Apparatus

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Today in 1885, US Patent 326017 A was issued, an invention of John A. Button, for his “Beer-Drawing Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to that class of devices by means of which beer or other analogous liquids are drawn direct from the barrel, my object being to so improve-such apparatus that the liquid drawn shall be delivered under a uniform pressure and free from all sediment or impurities. It is also my purpose to so improve the pressure-chamber that the gas which collects therein may be automatically disposed of.

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And here’s the original drawing filed with the application:
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Beer In Ads #1671: Bringing Out The Finest Flavor

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Monday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1947. Showing an illustration of a backyard barbecue, two couples are having a fine day. One of the women has brought out a tray with enough glasses and bottles of Schlitz for everyone. And boy do the other three look happy, just staring at her with smiling blank looks on their faces. The other couple look like they could be the same person. But the text is great. After a story about it takes just the right amount of seasoning to make the steak taste perfect, they suggest that “it takes a gift of genius to lure shy flavors from their hiding places,” before bringing it back to Schlitz.

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Patent No. 5242694A: Process For Brewing Low Carbohydrate Near Beer

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Today in 1993, US Patent 5242694 A was issued, an invention of Hans Reuther, assigned to the G. Heileman Brewing Company, Inc., for his “Process For Brewing Low Carbohydrate Near Beer.” Here’s the Abstract:

A low carbohydrate near beer is produced by a brewing process utilizing brewing materials including 100% brewer’s malt with not more than a prescribed amount of dextrin malt and not more than a prescribed amount of caramel malt. The mashing, boiling and fermentation stages are controlled so that carbohydrate and calorie levels are achieved in a near beer having excellent taste and brightness.

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Patent No. 2328948A: Seal For Kegs

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Today in 1943, US Patent 2328948 A was issued, an invention of Thomas N. Bourke, for his “Seal For Kegs.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this simple summary. “This invention relates to a seal for kegs.” That’s about all I can make out, the OCR did one of the worst jobs of any I’ve tried to read. Take a look for yourself.
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Patent No. 3271162A: Process For Segregating Lupulin From Dried Hops

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Today in 1966, US Patent 3271162 A was issued, an invention of Laurence R. Bishop, assigned to Watney Combe Reid & Company Ltd., for his “Process For Segregating Lupulin From Dried Hops.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

It is a principal object of the invention to enable a relatively concentrated form of lupulin to be separated from the dried hops. This concentrated material can then either be used as such, for boiling with wort or for adding to the brewed beer, or it can be subjected to extraction processes for the isolation of the respective active ingredients which can then be stored, with or without stabilization, until they are required for use. By isolating the lupulin in a relatively concentrated form, its storage under conditions which will preclude or minimize spoilage becomes very much easier and less expensive, while at the same time the large storage space hitherto required is freed for other purposes.

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Beer In Ads #1669: Blue Man Bartender

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Saturday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1955. And you thought the blue man group was a new phenomenon, but they were around and serving Schlitz — a.k.a. the World’s Most Famous Taste in Beer — way back in the Fifties. Honestly, I don’t quite understand why the guy is blue. But he does have another one of those magic bottles. It’s only half empty but it managed to completely fill two pilsner glasses.

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Patent No. 6112932A: Beverage Can With Flow Enhancing Sidewall Structure

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Today in 2000, US Patent 6112932 A was issued, an invention of Ronald E. Holdren, for his “Beverage Can With Flow Enhancing Sidewall Structure.” Here’s the Abstract:

A beverage container with flow enhancing sidewall structure. The container is preferably provided in thin-walled aluminum for containment of carbonated or other beverages such as beer or carbonated soda. The container has a liquid outlet, and adjacent the liquid outlet, but in the substantially cylindrical sidewalls, a generally nose-shaped inwardly indented liquid flow enhancing structure is provided. The flow enhancing structure is provided with a generally reducing cross-sectional area when progressively examined in transverse cross-sectional area toward the liquid outlet end of the cylindrical sidewall. The generally nose-shaped structure may be offset from the centerline of the liquid outlet to further enhance liquid outflow. Although in a preferred embodiment the nose-shaped structure is substantially pyramidal in shape, the structure may alternately be provided as a section of an oblique circular cone, or other flow enhancing shape. Use of such a structure enables a user to locate the container outlet by use of tactile sense alone, such as by use of a thumb. Also, because the flow enhancing structure is inwardly indented, the beverage can is rollable for easy handling during manufacture and distribution.

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