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If Batman Was A Beer Drinker

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If you’re like me you probably don’t have six-pack abs, but now you can at least wear a six-pack on your abs. Thanks to Urban Outfitters, you can carry a six-pack of bottles (or cans, as far as I can tell) on their new Beer Belt.

If Batman were a beer drinker, his utility belt might look something like this.

 Here’s the description from their website catalog listing:

Finally! Yes, it’s the life-changing, prayer-answering, best-idea-anyone’s-ever-had invention of the century! Cause seriously, holding a beer is exhausting! And don’t even get us started on holding 6 beers. Whew! But thankfully, the long dark days of arm-breaking party beer-holding are over. Say “hello” to your new best friend, the Beer Belt! This sturdy nylon belt feature 6 plastic cup holders, sized to fit cans or bottles. Fully adjustable, with a plastic buckle. Imported. Wipe clean.

I can’t say I understand what would need to be “wiped clean.” That frightens me a little, but I imagine there are at least a few instances when this might come in handy. Tailgating leaps to mind.

Or perhaps hiking through the woods in the hopes of getting drunk enough to get lost and racking up a lot of tax-payer dollars to rescue your sorry ass. It would certainly make a long plane ride more bearable, provided your were seated next to a bathroom and it was before the 21st Century when air travel was still civilized.

But back to Batman. If he had a Beer Belt, he wouldn’t need to carry those cans and would be better prepared should the dynamic duo need to perform some feat of daring-do on the way to a birthday party.

I can only presume that “life-changing, prayer-answering, best-idea-anyone’s-ever-had invention of the century” is just a bit of hyperbole or what in the sales game is called “puffing.” Hilarious.

What’s perhaps even more amazing is that Urban Outfitter’s beer belt is not the only one. There’s also a canvas one that’s designed for both cans and bottles with the website TheBeerBelt.com. The canvas one even has a seventh slot for a deck of cards or, more realistically, a pack of cigarettes. There’s even a zippered money pouch for cash, credit cards and that all-important I.D. card to prove you’re old enough to drink no matter how old you are.

Here’s how they describe the canvas beer belt:

Having TheBeerBelt™ ensures you will never be out of reach from your next beer. Why leave the party to grab another cold one when you have six more in reach? TheBeerBelt™ will hold six, twelve ounce cans or bottles of beer around your waist. Each belt is constructed with waterproof ballistic nylon.

An oversized buckle and waist strap makes the belt extremely durable and it will withstand the hardest of partiers. A zipper pocket on the back is perfect for carrying items such as money, IDs and credit/debit cards. Also, a small Velcro pocket on the front will hold a cell phone, pack of cigarettes, playing cards or whatever you wanna stuff in there. TheBeerBelt™ is perfect to bring to parties, NASCAR events, fishing trips, or anywhere you plan on drinking.

But can it be wiped clean?

The only beer belt I’ve ever heard of is the geographic one in Europe that runs from Great Britain southeast to Austria and Slovakia, which separates the wine belt in the southwest and the vodka belt to the northeast.

The Beer Belt on what I can only presume is a real live human being.

 

Ghost River Brewing

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There’s a stretch of water on the Wolf River, near Memphis, Tennessee, where the easiest thing you can do when paddling through it is to get lost. That’s because only one of the dozen or so paths that meander through the dense trees actually goes anywhere; the rest are blind alleys, dead ends and red herrings. For this reason, this 8 1/2 miles section of water between LaGrange and the Bateman Bridge became known as the Ghost River.

The State of Tennessee describes the area like this:

The Ghost River is a 2,220-acre section of the Wolf River in Fayette County located within the Coastal Plain Physiographic Province of Tennessee. The natural area includes approximately 14 miles of the Wolf River beginning from the parking area near La Grange to just west of Bateman Road Bridge. The Ghost River section of the Wolf is an unchannelized river section that meanders through bottomland hardwood forests, cypress-tupelo swamps, and open marshes. Some of the most impressive trees that occur here are large oaks that include cherrybark, water, willow, and swamp chestnut. The low ridges above the river bottoms support tulip poplar, beech, and white oak with northern red oak infrequently occurring. The natural area also includes other ecologically significant uplands and sandy hills adjacent to the floodplain.

The braided channels and backwater sloughs of the Ghost River provide excellent habitat for rare aquatic organisms including endangered freshwater mussels and fish such as the fat mucket (Lampsilis siliquidea), southern rainbow (Villosa vibex), southern hickorynut (Obovaria jacksoniana) and northern madtom (Noturus stigmosus). There are over 22 species of freshwater mussels found in the Wolf River. A variety of aquatic and terrestrial habitats also offer unique opportunities for observing birds and other wildlife.

The Ghost River section of the Wolf River received its name from the loss of river current as the water “flows” through open marshes and bald cypress-water tupelo swamps. Blue trail markers show the way for paddlers through the disorienting maze of willow, cypress, tupelos, and stunted pumpkin ash. The marked canoe trail follows the river from Yager road in LaGrange to Bateman Road Bridge. A loop trail and 600 ft. boardwalk was constructed crossing Mineral (Minnow) Slough in 2003 and 2004.

Enter Boscos Brewing, which operates four brewpubs in Tennessee and Arkansas. They recently completed construction of a production brewery in Memphis to make beer for planned restaurants without brewing equipment, a common model more and more brewpub chains are beginning to adopt. Not wanting to dilute the Boscos brand in the market, they’re instead launching a new brand in the area using water from the Memphis aquifer, which contains water from the stretch of the Wolf River known as — you guessed it — Ghost River.

It’s a cool logo, especially on their website. The initial beers from Ghost River will be a Golden, Glacial Pale Ale, a Brown Ale, a Hefeweizen and a seasonal beer. They’ll be available on draft only for the first year and then the company will decide whether or not to package the beer for retail sales. A portion of the proceeds from sales of Ghost River beer will be donated to support the Wolf River Conservancy As they say in the press release. “It is important that we help the Wolf River Conservancy protect our local, natural resources and the quality of our famous drinking water.”

More from the press release:

Ghost River beers will soon be available in area bars and restaurants, as the new brewing company prepares to launch three new, locally-brewed, craft beers and one seasonal beer into the Memphis market.

Beginning in late July, Ghost River Brewing, the only local brewery using water from the Memphis Sands Aquifer, will begin selling their Ghost River Golden, Glacial Pale Ale, Brown Ale, and Hefeweizen (seasonal) beers through Southwestern Distributing Co.

“We believe the efforts of Steve and Gene Barzizza at Southwestern Distributing have helped expose the community to fresh, flavorful beer. This interest has expanded the market’s potential to support a local, craft-brewed beer,” says Chuck Skypeck, head brewer and co-owner of Ghost River Brewing.

The Ghost River brand, created by Skypeck and local design firm Communication Associates, includes a new logo, web site, easy to recognize tap handles shaped like canoe paddles, and several local events planned for August.

“Great water makes great beer. Brewing locally guarantees that every handcrafted, full-flavored Ghost River Ale is the freshest beer available . . . and when it comes to flavor, freshness means everything!” says Skypeck.

There’s also more information about Ghost River Brewing in a recent Memphis Business Journal article.

 

Session #19 Topic Announced

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Jim over at Lootcorp 3.0 has announced the next Session topic: German Beer. The next Session will take place September 5.

In honor of the start of Oktoberfest, I’ve decided to make September’s topic Deutsches Bier — German beer. I want you all to focus on the wonderful contributions our German neighbors have made to the beer world. You can write about a particular German style you really enjoy, a facet of German beer culture which tickles your fancy, or any other way in which Germany and beer have become intertwined in your life. Bonus points for Bavarian-themed posts.

I guess it’s time to finally post the rest of my photos from my trip to Bavaria last winter. And if you were thinking how easy it would be to just talk about your trip to Oktoberfest, forget it. Here’s why.

I’m going to ask that no one submit an actual Oktoberfest trip report unless it really had some profound impact on you — the goal is to dig a little deeper and write about how German beers and beer culture have worked their way into your life (and hearts). Oh, and if you absolutely hate all beers German, that’s fair game, too — tell us why!

I applaud that exception, it’s been done to death. I think we can all do better than Oktoberfest. Perhaps when we all run out of ideas, say for Session #1,083, then we can have Oktoberfest as the topic. Until then, Germany has so much more to offer.

 

HUB Brunch

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On the last day of the Oregon Brewers Festival, I attended the Recovery Brunch at Hopworks Urban Brewery, which included special dishes and special mixed beer drinks.

Hosts for the brunch: Assistant brewery Jeremy, brewmaster Christian Ettinger and brewer Ben Love, all from Hopworks.

The very delicious HUBmosa, orange juice with HUB’s Kolsch.

For more photos from the HUB Brunch, visit the photo gallery.
 

OBF Saturday

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Wow, it’s been a week since the Oregon Brewers Festival in Portland and I still haven’t posted all the pictures from the festival. Take Saturday, for example, which is traditionally the crazy day at OBF, where it becomes so crowded that it’s even hard to get a beer. This year, though, crazy isn’t strong enough to describe how crowded it was. Lines were record length, especially for popular beers like 21A’s Watermelon Wheat and Pliny the Elder. In all, there were 73 different craft beers from 18 states served at the festival.

Here’s how the festival went this year, as summarized in a press release:

The nation’s largest outdoor craft beer festival witnessed record attendance with 70,000 people, a 15 percent increase over last year’s all time high. Beer sales followed suit, also showing a 15 percent increase. The four-day event concluded on July 27th at Tom McCall Waterfront Park.

“We weren’t sure what to expect for attendance and sales given the economic situation, but we were prepared to take a hit,” explained festival director and founder Art Larrance. “Instead, rising gas prices seemed to have helped us. People are staying home this summer, and many chose to partake of our city’s mass transit and explore festivals taking place in their own backyard.”

The event kicked off on July 24th with a one-mile parade by brewers and beer lovers on the city’s sidewalks, led by Portland Mayor Tom Potter and accompanied by a small marching band. Upon arrival at the venue, Mayor Potter swung a wooden mallet to drive the brass tap into the official first keg of the festival, presented by Widmer Brothers Brewing Co.

Inside the tents at OBF, merriment reigned supreme.
 

For more photos from Saturday during this year’s OBF, visit the photo gallery.
 

Session #18: Happy Anniversary

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Welcome to the anniversary of our 18th Session a.k.a. Beer Blogging Friday. This month our theme is celebratory anniversary beers, brought to us by our host, The Barley Blog, under the title “Happy Anniversary.”

Use this as an excuse to celebrate. Open a limited release anniversary beer from your favorite brewer. Enjoy that special beer you normally only open on your wedding anniversary or birthday. Either way, tell us about it. Why is it a beer you may only drink once a year? Why is that brewery’s annual release the one you selected?

Last month, our Session was about seasonal beers and how certain beers follow cycles determined by the pre-industrial weather and climate patterns. There was a natural rhythm to that type of beer.

Anniversary beers are, I think, in a sense the opposite of seasonal beers, although initially that may seem counter-intuitive. Bear with me. Anniversaries do, of course, occur each year but there’s no rhythm to them in the same way as seasonals. The word anniversary means literally “returning yearly” from the Latin “annus” (meaning “year“) and versus (a word of Indo-European origin meaning “to turn“). Anniversaries commemorate a very specific event, something concrete in time. Last year, on this date, something happened and now on the same day every year after that, we remember what happened by force of will. We decide that day will have special meaning and we assign that meaning ourselves. Take for example, these very Sessions, the first of which took place March 2, 2007. In 213 days, it will be our Biennial Session, commemorating two years of monthly Beer Blogging Fridays.

Seasonals, by contrast, are more organic and the climate conditions have more or less been the same (or changed very slowly) for centuries allowing the traditions that surrounded them to be adopted over a long period of time. We didn’t have to force ourselves to remember that in spring temperatures grow warmer and in fall they grow colder. The physical evidence is unmistakable. The rhythm of the seasons continues whether we take any notice or not.

Personally, I love anniversaries, because I am a self-avowed calendar geek. I love dividing the year up and figuring out what happened every day of the year. Our present calendar, the Gregorian calendar, sucks and there are far better systems that we could implement for keeping the year more tidy and orderly. The fact that we probably never will change it is a product of our aversion to change. The last time we changed the calendar, from the old Julian system, it happened in different years in different places, which really threw things into turmoil for quite some time.

And there are still several nations today that still use the Julian calendar. Both of these calendars, are, of course, based on the Christian religion. There is also a separate Muslim calendar, Hebrew calendar, Hindu calendar and Chinese calendar to name a very few. There are literally dozens and dozens of very different calendar systems in use today all over the world. People have, from time to time, tried to suggest adopting a “world calendar” in various guises in order to standardize time but it’s never quite caught on. More’s the pity.

In addition to today’s Session, it’s also Swiss Confederation Day, National Non-Parent Day, National Raspberry Cream Pie Day, and Lammas Day, to name a few holidays taking place. It’s also the birthday of Herman Melville, Francis Scott Key and Jerry Garcia, among others. Today in 1876, Colorado became a state. Three years before, in 1873, the first San Francisco Cable Car began operating. MTV debuted in 1981 and Anne Frank made her last diary entry today in 1944.

But by far the most common anniversaries, for beer at least, are the annual celebration that they’re still in business. Usually these start around year 5, the fifth or Quinquennial anniversary. With modern craft brewing only around thirty years old (New Albion incorporated in 1976, and started brewing in 1977), five years is a fair amount of time and worth celebrating. Ten (Decennial), fifteen (Quindecennial) and twenty (Vigintennial) even more so. As the craft segment matures, there are many more breweries hitting milestones and creating special beers to commemorate them. And frankly that’s great news for all of us, because usually anniversary beers are brewed to showcase the talents of the brewery and/or the brewer. Whether deliciously delicate or radically extreme, anniversary beers hew to no style but the imagination of their creator. To my mind, that’s the most exciting aspect of anniversary beers. They’re rarely what you expect them to be. The only categories they can often be put in are the catch-all varieties like “experimental,” “strong” or something like that. And the success of them moves the bar for all beers, allowing innovation to trickle down into everyday beers, too.

But there are also anniversary beers commemorating more unusual things, too. Lagunitas Brewing, for example, is putting out a new beer on the 40th anniversary of each of Frank Zappa’s albums. So far, the first four have been released with no plans to stop. And beginning in 2001, Stone Brewing took the idea of Bonza Bottler Day one step farther, releasing a special beer once a year on the day that all three — month, day and year — are the same. The last one was 7.7.07 (my daughter’s birthday) and the next release will be 8.8.08. Sadly, I have none left from my own birthday release back on 3.3.03. This type of anniversary beer I find the most engaging because invariably it was inspired by something the brewery really believed in or thought would be a lot of fun to do. It’s no small amount of effort to conceive, brew and package a new beer so to do so is as deliberate an act as I can imagine. These are the anniversary beers that really make me sit up and take notice.

That’s why I chose He’Brew’s Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A. for my anniversary beer. I love that owner Jeremy Cowan was inspired to commemorate the 40th anniversary of comedian Lenny Bruce’s death, which took place August 3, 1966 (two days from now). Not to mention taking Bruce’s wry sense of humor with rye and making it a big, bitter IPA was the perfect way of expressing his personality in liquid form, if such a thing is even possible. As Lenny Bruce himself said:

“Satire equals tragedy plus time.”

Amen, brother. Whatever you think of Bruce’s brand of humor, he unquestionably paved the way for later comedians like Richard Pryor, George Carlin and, my personal favorite, Bill Hicks. Bruce’s language seems tame by the standards of these later comedians, but without Lenny Bruce’s trials and tribulations, free speech might still be in the stone age of the Fifties. We do, in fact, owe him a great deal of gratitude that ideas today aren’t limited in how they can be expressed and with the odd exception of the broadcast media, most of the 80,000 or so words in the English language may be employed. And that, I think, is fucking awesome.

The beer itself is made with 2-row, rye ale malt, torrified rye, crystal rye 75, crystal malt 65, wheat, kiln amber, caramel 70 and spiced with Warrior, Cascade, Simcoe, Crystal, Chinook, Amarillo and Centennial hops, and dry hopped with Amarillo and Crystal. Or as the label puts it: “Brewed with an obscene amount of malt & hops.” He’Brew described their inspiration thusly:

Ladies and Gentlemen, Shmaltz Brewing Co. is proud to introduce Bittersweet Lenny’s R.I.P.A. Brewed with an obscene amount of malts and hops. Shocking flavors – far beyond contemporary community standards. We cooked up the straight dope for the growing minions of our nation’s Radical Beer junkies. Judges may not be able to define “Radical Beer,” but you’ll damn well know it when you taste it. Bruce died, officially declared a pauper by the State of California, personally broken and financially bankrupt simply for challenging America’s moral hypocrisies with words. The memorial playbill read: “Yes, we killed him. Because he picked on the wrong god.” -Directed by, the Courts, the Cops, the Church… and his own self-destructive super ego. Like Noah lying naked and loaded in his tent after the apocalyptic deluge: a witness, a patron saint, a father of what was to come. Sick, Dirty, Prophetic Lenny: a scapegoat, a martyr, a supreme inspiration.

The beer is a beautiful copper penny color, with streaks of red in the light. Topped by a very thick tan head, it has bready aromas with herbal, hoppy notes. The mouthfeel is surprisingly creamy, almost buttery. It’s well-balanced with great interplay between candy sweet malt and dry, fruity hops. As it says in the name, it’s both bitter and sweet and the balance of power between these competing tastes is what gives the RIPA its soul. The finish is dry and long, and the high alcohol becomes apparent as the warmth likewise lingers in the aftertaste. A wonderful beer, and worthy of commemorating the rye … er, wry wit of Lenny Bruce’s life.

A final quote from Lenny Bruce:

“The only honest art form is laughter, comedy. You can’t fake it … try to fake three laughs in an hour—ha ha ha ha ha—they’ll take you away, man. You can’t.”

To which I’d also add that beer may also be an art form that can’t be faked. Happy Anniversary.

 

Beer in Laos

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The Wall Street Journal had an interesting profile a couple of days ago about Beerlao, a beer made in Laos. (Thanks, Doug, for sending me the link.) Partially owned by Carlsberg (it’s three of their 255 brands), the Lao Brewery makes a lager, a low-calorie Light and a Dark lager.

According to the Wall Street Journal profile, the brewer is Sivilay Lasachack, a 49-year old Russian woman who prefers sweet tea to beer. But by marketing to backpacking tourists from around the world, Lasachack hopes to build Beerlao into a national brand recognized worldwide.

The brewery itself was founded in 1971, mostly to provide beer to French colonists because the Laotians are not big beer drinkers. “Lao Brewery currently produces 200 million liters of beer a year, and it is the country’s biggest taxpayer.” That’s nearly 530 million gallons, making Lao Brewery slightly larger than New Belgium Brewing, but with a population of 6.5 million (which is about the same as Washington state).

The beer is now imported to the U.S. (along with Great Britain, Australia and Japan) and is, according to the journal, gaining momentum in grocery stores and other places. It’s interesting to see a small country using beer to try and build their global image, especially one with no long brewing tradition.

But check out their theme song on the website. It’s catchy even though I have no idea what they’re saying. You can even download a mp3 of it to put on your iPod.

 

Nature’s Brewery

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The science news outlets on the web were all abuzz with an odd discovery yesterday involving the symbiotic relationship between the Pentail Tree Shrew and the Bertram Palm, whose flower acts essentially as a natural brewery, creating a 3.8% abv concoction that’s closest to beer in strength and is fermented using wild yeast. My friend and colleague Rick initially sent me the NPR version of the story (thanks Rick) but it seems every science website has a version of it.

The Pentail Tree Shrew

 The Pentail Tree Shrew, a native of Malaysia, seems to be the major focus of the story. The shrew is a lightweight at about 4 inches long and weighing a scant few ounces soaking wet. According to biologists studying the newly found mammals, they look like a cross between a mouse and a squirrel, with a birdlike tail that resembles a feather at the tip. They have large eyes and developed fingers and toes. Biologists believe that they are evolutionary cousins to the primates.

And like us, they spend their evenings drinking beer. In fact, they may be the only other animal to regularly drink alcohol. Scientists believe the shrew imbibes the equivalent of nine glasses of wine each night, yet would pass the average roadblock sobriety test. According to Bayreuth University biologist Frank Weins, “[t]here’s no sign of motor incoordination or other odd behaviors. They just move as efficiently as they would on any other tree.” Because being drunk would put the Pentail Tree Shrew at risk for being eaten by other jungle predators, they believe the shrew has a metabolism that very quickly detoxifies the alcohol. That would keep the concentration in the shrew’s brain low enough so that it could effectively avoid predators. And here’s the capper from Weins. “As a result, the tree shrew is able to detoxify alcohol more efficiently than its primate cousins: humans.”

The focus of almost every one of these stories is about the wonders of the shrew (because they’re the one being closely watched), but according to Scientific American, there are at least seven animals nourishing themselves from the beer made by the Bertram Palm. There’s also the Slow Loris, who also “quaff[s] alcohol nightly, sometimes going back for seconds and thirds in a single evening.”

But frankly I’m more amazed by the flower that can naturally create a beer in the wild. To me, that is simply awe-inspiring. It’s the Bertram Palm, and it’s flowers have a very pungent and distinctive smell. As Weins puts it. “They smell like a brewery.”

From the NPR story from All Things Considered:

In fact, the flower buds function as brewing chambers — they have been invaded by previously unknown species of yeast, which ferment the nectar into frothy alcohol.

“The maximum alcohol concentration that we recorded was 3.8 percent,” Weins says. “That’s in the range of a beer.

Or explained another way, “sugars in the palm’s floral nectar ferment in the warm, moist environment, producing alcohol in concentrations up to a beer-like 3.8%.”

Nature’s Brewery: The Bertram Palm

There’s also a description in Germany’s idw:

‘This palm is brewing its own beer with the help of a team of yeast species, several of them new to science,’ explains Wiens. The highest alcohol percentage the scientists could measure in the nectar was an impressive 3.8 %. ‘It reaches among the highest alcohol contents ever reported in natural food.’ The palm tree keeps its nectar beer flowing from specialised smelly flower buds for a month and a half before the pollen is ripe, probably to keep a guaranteed clientele of potential pollinators visiting. In contrast to most plants the bertam palm flowers almost year-round.

And here’s yet another version of how the tree makes beer, from Science News:

Bertam palms (Eugeissona tristis) don’t observe a strict season, so at any given time plants will be flowering somewhere in the forest. The stemless palms send up a tall spike with more than 1,000 flowers, some with just male sexual organs and the others hermaphroditic. For weeks before a particular sexual phase, the flower buds dribble nectar. Yeasts inside the buds typically raise the nectar’s alcohol content mildly, to around 0.06 percent, but can punch it up to as high as 3.8 percent.

“This is an astonishing story,” says John Dransfield, a palm specialist at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew in Richmond, England. He says he doesn’t know of another palm offering such a beer bash, but perhaps the other species secreting abundant nectar just haven’t been studied yet.

Since the Pentail Tree Shrew has been drinking beer daily for millions of years, a German science website declared that “Boozing Is Older Than Mankind.” They continue.

A wild mammal closely resembling the earliest primates is drinking palm beer on a daily basis since maybe millions of years. Nevertheless, this Malaysian treeshrew is never drunk. This suggests a beneficial effect, and sheds a whole new light on the evolution of human alcoholism.

From the New Scientist account:

“It’s a beautiful example of the natural biology of alcohol consumption, which people have totally neglected in alcohol research,” says Robert Dudley of the University of California at Berkeley.

Dudley has previously suggested that our taste for alcohol may be an “evolutionary hangover” from our fruit-eating primate ancestors, who developed a taste for fermented fruit.

And idw also tackles this contradiction:

Alcohol use and abuse can no longer be blamed on the inventors of brewing of about 9,000 years ago. So far, the current theories on alcoholism have stated that mankind and its ancestors were either used to take no alcohol at all or maybe only low doses via fruits – before the onset of beer brewing. As brewing is such a recent event on the evolutionary time scale, we were not able to develop an adequate defence against the adverse effects of alcohol and the partly hereditary addiction. Mankind is suffering from an evolutionary hangover, as they say. Contrary to this belief, chronic high consumption of alcohol already occurred early on in primate evolution, [according to this new study].

The beery nectar on the Bertram Palm.

 The stories themselves all stem from a new study published July 28, 2008 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States entitled Chronic intake of fermented floral nectar by wild treeshrews.

From the Abstract:

For humans alcohol consumption often has devastating consequences. Wild mammals may also be behaviorally and physiologically challenged by alcohol in their food. Here, we provide a detailed account of chronic alcohol intake by mammals as part of a coevolved relationship with a plant. We discovered that seven mammalian species in a West Malaysian rainforest consume alcoholic nectar daily from flower buds of the bertam palm (Eugeissona tristis), which they pollinate. The 3.8% maximum alcohol concentration (mean: 0.6%; median: 0.5%) that we recorded is among the highest ever reported in a natural food. Nectar high in alcohol is facilitated by specialized flower buds that harbor a fermenting yeast community, including several species new to science. Pentailed treeshrews (Ptilocercus lowii) frequently consume alcohol doses from the inflorescences that would intoxicate humans.

Yet, the flower-visiting mammals showed no signs of intoxication. Analysis of an alcohol metabolite (ethyl glucuronide) in their hair yielded concentrations higher than those in humans with similarly high alcohol intake. The pentailed treeshrew is considered a living model for extinct mammals representing the stock from which all extinct and living treeshrews and primates radiated. Therefore, we hypothesize that moderate to high alcohol intake was present early on in the evolution of these closely related lineages. It is yet unclear to what extent treeshrews benefit from ingested alcohol per se and how they mitigate the risk of continuous high blood alcohol concentrations.

Fascinating stuff, and yet more evidence that alcohol is far more natural than the neo-prohibitionists would like. It will be interesting to see what further study reveals.

 

OBF Thursday

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Whoops, I forgot about Thursday evening and posted Friday first. After the parade and ceremony was over, the Oregon Brewers Festival officially began.

The Beer Tent North just after the festival started.
 

For more photos from Thursday during this year’s OBF, visit the photo gallery.
 

OBF Friday

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Whew, that was a great weekend in Portland for the Oregon Brewers Festival. Look for posts throughout the next week with photos from the weekend, starting with Friday. The last few years at OBF on Friday, there have been so many side events that it’s been hard to even make to the festival and this year was no exception.

I started the day at the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation Brew-Am Golf Tournament. The foundation honors the memory of brewer Glen Hay Falconer and the event raises money to send two brewers each year to the Siebel Institute. For the past three years I’ve sponsored a hole at the tourney and here’s the “foursome” I played with at my hole.

Later that afternoon, Hair of the Dog hosts an open house at the brewery. Alan Sprints, owner of the terrific Hair of the Dog Brewery, with Portland beer writer Fred Eckhardt at the Hair of the Dog event.
 

For more photos from Friday during this year’s OBF, visit the photo gallery.