Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Beer Bottle Xylophone

By

xylophone-rainbow
This would make an awesome gift, especially for the person who loves beer and music. Created by designer Sam Gensburg, his Southern Bells six-pack uses an ingenious design that can turn the empty bottles into a makeshift xylophone.

so-bells-1

Says Inhabitat, “Of the things that you could do with beer bottles, this has got to be one of the most glorious. Designer Sam Gensburg has created this special packaging for beer bottles — in this example, the adorably-named “Southern Bells,” — that can be transformed into a tone-accurate xylophone. Once you’ve drunk all the beer, of course. Read on to discover more about this recycled polyphonic percussion set.”

so-bells-2

“On the back of each bottle is a guide for musical key-making. You simply fill the bottle with water to the appropriate line, and it will produce that key when struck. With what, you ask? With special batons that come in the box– you make them with the corks from the bottle tops! The bottles can be arranged in a musical line by unfolding the six-pack. Two six-packs make a full octave.”
so-bells-3

Sadly, there’s no information about where, or even if, this is available commercially for purchase. Searching only reveals it’s been featured a lot on DIY websites.

so-bells-4

Guinness Ad #44: Christmas Is Coming

By

guinness-toucan
Our 44th Guinness poster by John Gilroy features Santa Claus hauling the biggest Christmas tree you ever saw and over by the reindeer there’s a bottle of Guinness, which is why the slogan for the ad is “Guinness for Strength.” But the main tagline of the ad is “Christmas Is Coming,” and through the end of the year, all of the ads spotlighted will be holidays ones.

Guinness-xmas-coming

Beer In Ads #252: Coors, ‘Tis The Season

By

ad-billboard
Friday’s ad begins the holiday season with an ad for Coors with the appropriate slogan “‘Tis the Season … To Share the Tradition.” The ad is from 1990 and is for the now retired Coors seasonal Winterfest. From here through the end of the year I’ll be featuring holiday beer ads because Coors is right, ‘Tis the Season.

Coors-1990-winterfest

Beer In Ads #251: A Miss Rheingold Thanksgiving

By

ad-billboard
Thursday’s Thanksgiving ad is a Miss Rheingold ad from 1945. In that year, Pat Boyd was Miss Rheingold. She was the fifth woman to hold the title. Leaning on a fence with a giant turkey perched on it, she’s reading “Carving the Easy Way,” which I can only assume would make the turkey nervous. “My beer is RHEINGOLD — the DRY beer! It’s beer as beer should taste.” Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Rheingold-1945-dry

For The Love Of Beer

By

for-the-love-of-beer
I’ve known about this for a little while now, but it seemed like Thanksgiving was a good time to try to help spread the word about this project. For the Love of Beer is a film project by Alison Grayson to highlight, well I’ll let her tell you.

For the Love of Beer is a documentary devoted to the stories and the passion of the women at the forefront of the Pacific NW beer community. It’s not for feminism or equality … it’s for The Love of Beer.

Frankly, that’s something I’m very thankful for: women in beer. Beer had traditionally been a man’s world because beer was all the same, not terribly complex or diverse and didn’t add as much as it could to a food experience. Not to mention the big brewer’s advertising beginning in the Sixties became more focused on marketing to young males, alienating many women in the process. Craft beer changed all that and women have been a big part of that movement, especially in recent years. The fact that a growing number of women are brewing beer and enjoying beer is having a profound impact on craft beer and the direction it’s heading.

for-the-love-of-beer

Have you ever met a brewer or beer geek who’s significant other didn’t like beer? They always tell the tale with a sigh of resignation. Life seems better when your partner shares your obsessions. I know I’ve told this story too many times, but before I even asked my wife of 15-years out on a date, I took her to a brewery and ordered a sampler for her. At that time she didn’t drink good beer, but because of her positive reaction to the experience, I asked her out on the spot and we’ve been happily drinking together for over fifteen years. In fact, we spent our honeymoon touring breweries in Oregon and Washington, which is the geographic subject of Grayson’s film.

You can see more of her film work at her Vimeo page for Grayson Productions. But watch the trailer of the beer documentary in progress below. The film first caught my eye because my friend and colleague Lisa Morrison is featured in the trailer and, presumably the finished film as well. That’s reason enough to support it, but then there’s also Tonya Cornett, the terrific brewer from Bend Brewing.

For the Love of Beer Trailer from Grayson Productions on Vimeo.

Beer In Ads #250: Big D Makes The Big Difference In Fun

By

ad-billboard
Wednesday’s ad is for Drewery’s Beer with the hilarious slogan “Big D Makes The Big Difference In Fun.” Drewrys Beer of South Bend, Indiana was done in the 1950s. Drewrys was actually a Canadian brand, but for most of its history was brewed in Indiana. How about all those really happy people in what looks like the cleanest, most nondescript bar in the world. And I love the bottom, where it says “some beers are two heavy … some are too light … Big D is always just right.” A Goldilocks beer.

drewrys

Blue Laws In Decline

By

blue-laws
USA Today had an interesting report that more and more states are finally relaxing their antiquated blue laws and allowing alcohol to be — gasp — sold on Sundays. In the article, entitled Sunday Alcohol Sales Are on the Rise in U.S., it is revealed that “[s]ince 2002, 14 states have joined the list of states allowing Sunday sales of [alcohol], bringing the total to 36.” But that means there are still 14 more states, plus D.C., that prohibit Sunday sales of alcohol.

According to Dvaid J. Hanson, author the wonderful website, Alcohol: Problems and Solutions:

A blue law is one restricting activities or sales of goods on Sunday, to accommodate the Christian sabbath. The first blue law in the American colonies was enacted in Virginia in 1617. It required church attendance and authorized the militia to force colonists to attend church services.

As Wikipedia adds. “Most have been repealed, have been declared unconstitutional, or are simply unenforced, although prohibitions on the sale of alcoholic beverages, and occasionally almost all commerce, on Sundays are still enforced in many areas,” despite the fact that Sunday is the second busiest shopping day of the week.

As Lisa Hawkins, with the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States, put it, “[b]lue laws … simply don’t make sense in today’s economy. They inconvenience consumers and deprive states of much-needed tax revenue.” But economy aside, you’d think people would recognize that the origin of these laws to it to force religious practices on everyone, despite principles of religious freedom and not all citizens following the same faith. Apparently, you’d be wrong. One naysayer, Bruce Beckman (a council member in Downers Grove, Illinois who voted against modifying local blue laws), is quoted as saying he voted against changing his community’s blue laws because the “relatively small amount of tax revenue this might generate isn’t as important as using Sunday mornings for family, going to church … and not sitting in a bar somewhere.”

To me that’s an unbelievable rationale. I can hardly fathom someone holding such an opinion in 2010. Nobody’s stopping him from attending church or spending the day with his family, but that he believes he has the right to force everyone else in his community to do likewise is deeply offensive. It’s absolutely none of his business how I choose to spend my Sunday and that he thinks he should actively keep it illegal to do something he personally doesn’t care for is a tyranny, no matter how slight or small.

Happily, such outmoded points of view are visibly in decline, as evidenced by the increasing number of states doing away with these old-fashioned laws. Below you can see which states, in white, are still behind the times.

blue-laws-map

John Holl On Thanksgiving Beers

By

john-holl
My friend and colleague, John Holl, was fortunate enough to appear on his local cable television station in New Jersey, News 12 New Jersey. He brought along several beers to suggest for the holiday tomorrow, including:

  • Sam Adams Infinium
  • New Jersey Beer Co.’s 60 Shilling Mild
  • Saison de Buff (A collaboration between Victory, Stone, Dogfish Head)
  • Founder’s Breakfast Stout

“Open It!” Weekend To Be Held December 3-5

By

open-bottle-cap
Here’s a fun idea from UK beer writer Mark Dredge, who writes at Pencil and Spoon. He’s designating the first weekend in December — the 3rd through the 5th — as “Open It!” weekend. What that means is it’s time to open some of those special bottles you’ve been saving for … a special occasion that never comes. Instead, let’s open them now and, in the spirit of the holidays, start sharing.

open-it

Here’s how he puts it in the initial post, Announcing Open It:

So here’s the idea: let’s create a special occasion. Let’s call this special occasion Open It! and let’s drink the good beers. Let’s find a bottle from the depth of the cellar and open it, drink it and then tell others about it (in blogs, blog comments or twitter or facebook).

Open it alone or open it with others; hold an Open It! party or take it to the pub to see what people think. Most importantly, get that bottle open and drink the thing and then tell everyone about it.

Open It! over the first weekend in December — Friday 3rd to Sunday 5th — and then blog about it in the week after. Use the #openit hashtag on twitter while you are drinking it and like the facebook group. It’s just about opening something special and enjoying it.

Which was echoed in a reminder posted yesterday. It certainly encouraged me to take up the cause and try to spread the word. I could see this becoming a fun annual event. I do a monthly tasting that’s somewhat similar, insofar as I try to share the samples I get every month so they don’t end up in the back of the refrigerator in the first place. But despite those efforts, I still have four of them, two of which are filled with beer I’m reluctant to open on a whim.

The first day of Open IT! weekend also coincides with December’s Session, and the topic is Unexpected Discoveries. There’s no reason that discovery couldn’t be that forgotten bottle hiding in your beer cellar.

But the key, I think, is letting everybody know what you opened. That should be the fun part, our collective stash. So just open it!