A friend sent me this link to a list of “The 86 Rules of Boozing” from Modern Drunkard Magazine — which by the way is Fal Allen’s favorite magazine. Most are essentially good bar etiquette and I’d say agree with the vast majority of them. See what you think.
There was an item in the “Raw Data” section of my newly arrived September issue of Playboy magazine (yes, I read the articles, too) about the moderate drinking of alcohol helping to stave off or slow the onset of dementia. Here it is in its entirety:
For people suffering from cognitive decline, having up to one drink a day over a three-year period may slow the development of full-blown dementia by 85%.
A drink a day, eh? Well, I’m certainly willing to give it a go in my golden years. How did I miss this one?
A quick search reveals that there was an item at Future Pundit a few years back about women and a daily drink and Science Daily had a similar article in January of 2005. But those were strictly talking about women, whereas the Playboy assertion appears more gender neutral. Clearly more digging is necessary. Here’s what I found.
As early as 2001, Healthnotes Newswire mentioned a study published in Stroke, a medical journal, that reached the same conclusion. A page at Alcohol Problems and Solutions also appears to make the same claim, based on a study published in Aging Health, which said:
There is some evidence to suggest that light-to-moderate alcohol consumption (up to three alcoholic drinks a day, or between one and seven drinks a week) may reduce the risk of cognitive impairment in the elderly compared with those who abstain. Drinking in moderation may contribute to some brain atrophy, but it may also reduce the number of silent infarcts in the brain, a known risk factor for cognitive impairment. In addition, light drinking may reduce blood clotting and blood serum lipid levels, as well as stimulate acetylcholine production in the brain
In addition, two later separate studies seem to confirm those findings. The first was published in Neuroepidemiology in October 2006. The second, in the journal Neurology seems to reach much the same conclusion, as reported by Daily News Central in May of this year.
I didn’t find the 85% figure that was in Playboy, or the study it was based on, but there does seem to be a lot of support for the general idea that moderate drinking can delay my going balmy when I’m a senior citizen. Could this mean that in my old age, there may be fewer lucid neo-prohibitionists to annoy me? Now that would a silver lining … a silver bullet lining.
The term “brewster,” which means female brewer has fallen largely out of fashion, though I know a number of brewsters who do actually like the word. I’ve always liked the sound of it, myself, and it evokes a time when it was not only common for brewers to be female, but it was it was the norm as recently as the 1700s and into the early 1800s. Women brewed beer for the household, which is where the term “alewife” comes from. At one point, something like 80% of brewers were female.
The beautiful wooden fermenters at Wentworth Brewery. |
But then “monasteries began larger scale brewing for passing travelers, so women became less involved in brewing.” Later, in the mid-1800s, the industrial revolution took brewing from the home to the factory brewery and men became the dominant force in the industry. With rise of small craft breweries in the U.S. and abroad, women have been returning to brewing in greater numbers, especially in America. From some reason, this is less so in England, where the promotion of Michelle Bright to head brewer at the Wentworth Brewery in South Yorkshire makes her only the second brewster in all of England, and the first in northern England. At just 26-years old, she’s also the youngest. The only other brewster in the UK is Sara Barton, who owns and brews at Brewster’s Brewery in Grantham, Lincolnshire. |
Both breweries are effectively with microbreweries, with small output over a local geographic area. A website for the village of Wentworth has a nice photo tour of the Wentworth Brewery online. And Brewster’s website features a short history of brewsters.
From the press release:
Michelle is also thought to be the only award winning brewster in the land, after winning the Gold Medal accolade at the Oakwood Beer Festival in Rotherham, South Yorkshire. She is an ex-army chef who has served in Kosovo and has since turned her skilful hand to brewing.
Steve Beech, Wentworth Brewery’s managing director, said: “Michelle has been with Wentworth for a few years now and has well and truly served her apprenticeship. She is a model employee and we are delighted that she has risen through the ranks to the dizzy heights of head brewer. She really deserves it and we are looking forward to tasting further exciting, new and interesting brews from Michelle in the future.”
Wentworth’s popular Oatmeal Stout – brewed by Michelle – scooped the best in show prize last year; at 4.8% it is dark, smooth, deeply delicious and definitely ‘moreish’! The outstanding Oatmeal Stout has already won many awards across the country and must be tasted to be fully understood. The satisfyingly malty flavour is achieved partly from the roasted barley and Golding hops.
Plus they’ve got some of the most beautiful labels I’ve seen. Here are just a few of them, but check out their website to see many, many more cool labels.
The body of Sierra Nevada Brewing Vice-President Steve Harrison was found earlier today, around 4:15 p.m., in the Sacramento River, by a local resident who has helping been with the search on his Wave Runner since last week. Roughly two hours later, the local sheriff’s deputies recovered Harrison’s body, which had been caught on a snag in spot in the river known as the washout near Scotty’s Boat Landing, about half a mile from where his blue Toyota Prius had been discovered next to the river. Harrison had been missing since last Tuesday, August 7. The body has been turned over to the Butte County Coroner’s Office for an autopsy.
My heart goes out to his wife, Linda, and the rest of Steve’s family, not to mention all the close friends and colleagues at the brewery that he’d been working with since it began in 1979. The brewing community has lost one of its most influential and important members. This is very sad day for all of us.
On the heels of a growing debate and movement to lower the drinking age from 21 to 18, MADD has issued an “Action Alert” to its members and affiliate neo-prohibitionist groups asking them to let their friends, family and legislators know the “facts.” Though in reality what they’re hoping to do is reinvigorate the moral zealots and remind legislators that common sense and following the will of the people are anathema to staying in office. Politicians don’t like to be portrayed as being for underage drinking, but that’s exactly what would happen to anyone with the temerity to express an opinion other than their own.
They must be feeling the heat from people speaking out against the current drinking age, because their rhetoric seems more vicious than usual. And their press releases use the word “fact” an awful lot despite not really offering anything new or anything that is actually a fact. To my way of thinking, if you can reasonably debate something claimed to be a fact, then it’s not really a fact in the first place. Here are the three points on which they hang their latest argument:
So let’s look at these so-called “facts.”
1. There’s nothing conclusive about these studies and many experts believe that alcohol-related fatalities were already in decline before the drinking-age was effectively raised in 1984. Then there’s how you define “alcohol-related fatalities,” which in many cases includes passengers who’d been drinking or even victims. So that means that if a sober person accidentally ran over someone who’d been drinking, it was counted as an alcohol-related fatality. That hardly sounds like a high-quality study to me. Most, if not all, of these studies suffer from the same sorts of problems. They’re hardly ironclad facts that everyone agrees upon.
2. This is a beautiful one. Fear is always a great tool of propagandists. Apparently all of the people of the rest of the world have damaged brains, as does everyone of my generation who drank before reaching the age of 21. Except that virtually every other country’s kids beat the pants off of us at math, science and other academic measurements. Imagine how smart the rest of the world would be if only they didn’t allow their kids to drink. I guess they’d all be super-geniuses. If this was really the danger they make it out to be, no country on Earth would allow drinking before the brain fully formed. I’m going to assume this is only a problem if someone drinks to great excess and that would more properly be curbed by making it legal earlier and teaching responsibility and moderation both through parental modeling and learning in the home.
3. This claim is mostly based on a European study that appeared to show higher “intoxication rates” but the study itself, in it’s conclusion, said only that “the pattern of alcohol consumption reveals that frequent drinking is most prevalent among students in the western parts of Europe, such as the British Isles, the Netherlands, Belgium but also in Austria, the Czech Republic and Malta. Very few students in the northern parts of Europe drink that often (my emphasis).” “Frequent drinking” and “intoxication” are two very different things. The definitions are not necessarily comparable and, as such, these are hardly facts.
One interesting side note is that the only example given by MADD (on their new propaganda website Why 21) — which they also call the best example — is to “look at what happened in New Zealand.” They continue:
“In 1999, New Zealand lowered its purchase age from 20 to 18. Not only did drunk driving crashes increase, but youth started to drink earlier, binge drinking escalated, and in the 12 months following the decrease in legal drinking age, there was a 50 percent increase in intoxicated 18- and 19-year-old patients at the Auckland Hospital emergency room. Clearly, Europe has serious issues with youth alcohol use.”
Hmm, how to put this delicately? Apparently being a teetotaler makes you unable to know anything about geography. Last time I checked, New Zealand wasn’t anywhere near Europe, not even in the same hemisphere. Talk about keeping your facts straight, they don’t even know what countries are in Europe. Is it possible many neo-prohibitionists are also flat-earthers and don’t believe in maps? That would certainly fit my perspective of many of them.
Another howler in the Myths & Facts at Why 21 is in their explanation about why being able to vote or die in the military are not sufficient reasons to also be allowed to drink. They note that different “rights have different ages of initiation,” such as the minimum age to get a hunting license, drivers license or even get married. They then state that “these minimum ages are set for a reason” and list the reason for the drinking age as the following:
In the case of alcohol, 21 is the minimum age because a person’s brain does not stop developing until his or her early to mid-20s. Drinking alcohol while the brain is still developing can lead to long-lasting deficits in cognitive abilities, including learning and memory.
Anybody ever heard that as the reason why the drinking age is 21? Me neither. That certainly wasn’t how they sold it in 1984. Back then it was supposedly to reduce drinking and driving. But the WMD story didn’t fly I guess so now it’s regime change in the guise of developing brain scares. Again, if this was anything other than smoke and mirrors, the rest of the world would have sat up and done something about it, too. Can you really believe that only Americans love their children enough to protect them? Who is naive enough to believe Europeans or the rest of the world wouldn’t rush to protect their own kids’ developing brains if a true threat actually existed?
Another thing that doesn’t fly is the ages for hunting licenses, driving, buying tobacco and legal consent for sex and marriage. All of those occur before one becomes a legal adult, which happens at age eighteen. So those rights are regulated to people who are not yet considered adults. It’s done by adults to protect people who it is believed need such protection. The over 18 examples they give are the ages one can be elected to Congress and minimum age requirements imposed to rent a car or hotel room. The minimums for Congress (25), the Senate (30) and President (35) were set down at a time when living to 35 made you an elder statesman. I can see no reasonable sense in which this is comparable to the drinking age. Trying to insure more experienced men and women would represent us in government bears no relationship to at what age you can drink a beer. And the minimums to rent a car or stay in a hotel are industry standards and are about liability and risk management. They have nothing whatsoever to do with rights or the law. It’s not illegal to rent a car if you’re under 25, it’s just that no major car company will take your business. It’s a decision fueled by commercial interests, not a mandatory law imposed by our government.
So as far as I can tell, all of the under-18 regulated behaviors and the over-18 ones MADD uses in their rationalization, be they constitutional or business-oriented, are in no way related to the idea of what it means to be an adult. And that, I think, is the crux of the argument. I don’t think anyone would dispute that to vote or to fight and possibly die defending our nation makes you an adult. If participating in our democracy or fighting for it doesn’t make you an adult, then I don’t know what else possibly would or, indeed, could. At 18 you can also enter into contracts, gamble, hunt, buy cigarettes, drop out of school, have sex and/or get married without your parents consent. Really, the only legal good I can think of that’s denied eighteen-year olds is alcohol. And as the rest of the world does not deny its adults in this way, one can only conclude that fanaticism and moral zealots have gotten their way. That a few souls have decided it’s time to show the MADD Emperor’s nakedness, I can only say “what took you so long.”
Kirin Brewery, along with the Keio University Institute of Advanced Biosciences have announced the discovery of new yeast strain found by analyzing the metabolic byproducts that brewer’s yeast synthesizes. What they found was that brewer’s yeast creates large quantities of “hydrogen sulfide when processing a tiny number of metabolites of the amino acid asparagine.” The team then selected yeasts that unusually prolific asparagine metabolites. The new strain “processes large amounts of sulfurous acid — an antioxidant that helps keep beer fresh — without synthesizing hydrogen sulfide, which has an unpleasant sulfur smell.” In fact, the new Kirin yeast makes 50% more sulfurous acid but no hydrogen sulfide whatsoever. Kirin plans to start using the new yeast in the beer shortly, presumably after more testing is completed. But if true, it could revolutionize the brewing industry.
A full bottle of Allsopp’s Arctic Ale, brewed and bottled in 1852, sold recently on eBay for a record $503,300. The eBay listing gives a great deal of historical information about the Arctic expedition, as well as the bottle itself:
Until the 1850s Allsopp’s Brewery was most notable for brewing some of the first India Pale Ales for export to the colonies. However, Samuel Allsopp was approached about a different recipe; Sir Edward Belcher was about to led an arctic expedition (1852) to search for the lost explorer Sir John Franklin. The Expedition needed a brew that withstand arctic and sub arctic temperatures, and provide a degree of sustenance and nutritious value. “Captain Belcher reported that Allsopp’s Arctic Ale proved to be “a valuable antiscorbutic”, helping fight off scurvy, the bane of all sea voyages in those days.” He added that the beer was “a great blessing to us, particularly for our sick” and that it refused to freeze until the temperature dropped well below zero.”
What you are looking at is an actual museum quality sealed and intact bottle of Samuel Allsopp’s Arctic Ale brewed for the 1852 Expedition to the Arctic lead by Sir Edward Belcher. This bottle of beer is likely the rarest, oldest, and most documented bottle of beer in existence! Not to mention the unbelievably unique history surrounding it. Accompanying the bottle is an actual limited handwritten history about the bottle itself.
That laminated card you see hanging off the bottle is the handwritten note, which reads:
“This ale was specially brewed and bottled in England, in 1852, for Kane’s Expedition in search of Sir John Franklin. A portion of the lot was cached in the Arctic; and was afterwards taken back to England, where it was bought by Allsopp, from whom Mr. Jus. Fennell obtained a part.
This bottle was given to me by Mr. Fennell May 13, 1919. Should I depart from this (by that time probably) dry world before consuming the contents, let my son and brethren perform my duties and enjoy my rights in that respect, on the eve of my funeral (if they find it in time) – unless such act be then illegal, in which case those of the aforesaid trustees who sufficiently learned in law shall advise ac-????? To the rule of ey fares.
Two bottles of this ale were guests of honor at the banquet given to Shackleton and Peary, in Boston, some years ago. (1907/1908) The skeletons of said guests were preserved as mementos of Sir John Franklin! (Useful suggestion regarding the “cast off shell” of the spirit.)
Signed: Percy G Bolster
A short history of the Allsopp’s Brewery from MidlandsPubs.co.uk page on Staffordshire breweries:
Based in the High Street of Burton-on-Trent, the history of this company can be traced back to the 1740’s. Samuel Allsop acquired the brewery in 1807. A new brewery and offices were constructed in 1859-60 close to the railway station. Throughout the 19th century Allsopp’s brewing business was second only to Bass in size. The new brewery site alone stretched between Station Street and Horninglow Street. They retained the original brewery in High Street, built a large maltings at Shobnall and numerous premises elsewhere. Samuel Allsopp was the first to export Burton Pale Ale to India in 1822. By 1890 their output had reached 460,000 barrels and they had a workforce of 1,750. However, the 20th century was not so favourable for the company and they went into receivership in 1913. Allsopp’s was eventually merged with the neighbouring Ind Coope & Co.Ltd. to form Ind Coope & Allsopp Ltd. The offices of the new brewery were later used as the headquarters of Punch Taverns and the Spirit Group.
There’s another interesting lecture transcribed that goes into great detail about what led to the Allsopp’s Brewery’s demise, entitled “The Fall of the House of Allsopp” by an R.G. Anderson.
What a fascinating little tale. I just hope they don’t open the bottle.
UPDATE: An alert Bulletin reader (thanks Scott) found a similar looking bottle that sold on eBay in June for a mere $305 and wondered if there was something “hokey going on.” A closer look at the two listings reveals that the person who bought the bottle for $305 is the same one who turned around and sold it for a half million. Now that’s a good return on investment.
The Brewers Association just released the sales numbers for craft beer covering the first half of 2007. It’s all good news and craft beer is again showing double-digit growth at approximately 11%, which is the same percentage growth rate it sustained in 2006.
From the press release:
The Brewers Association, the trade association that tabulates industry data for craft brewers, reports craft beer sales and growth continue to break records. The volume of craft beer sold in the first half of 2007 rose 11% compared to this same period in 2006 and dollar growth increased 14%. For the first time ever craft beer has exceeded more than a 5% dollar share of total beer sales.
Overall, the U.S. beer industry sold one million more barrels in the first half of 2007 compared to 2006, with 400,000 of these new barrels produced by craft breweries. This equates to 3.768 million barrels of craft beer sold in the first two quarters of 2007 compared to 3.368 million barrels sold in the first half of 2006.
Scan data from Information Resources, Inc. provide additional data points that confirm strength for the segment. Craft beer sales in the supermarket channel through July 15th, 2007 showed a 17.4% increase in dollar sales compared to the same period in 2006. This growth in sales was higher than any other alcohol beverage category.
“The 1,400 small, independent and traditional craft brewers in the U.S. have hit their stride,” said Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association.“United States craft brewers are making many of the world’s best beers, and the marketplace is responding.”
Coupled with the growth statistics has been a tidal wave of media coverage in the first half of 2007 including NBC’s Today Show on July 3 stating, “Beer is the new wine and can go with just about any food.” Additionally, Gallup, in its latest poll on alcohol beverages, announced for the second straight year that “Beer Again Edges Out Wine as Americans’ Drink of Choice.”
Julia Herz, Director of Craft Beer Marketing for the Brewers Association concluded, “Craft beer market share is steadily and consistently growing. A grassroots movement is responsible for this success as appreciators continue to trade up.”
The definition of craft beer as stated by the Brewers Association: An American craft brewer is small, independent and traditional. Small = annual production of beer less than 2 million barrels. Beer production is attributed to a brewer according to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Flavored malt beverages are not considered beer for purposes of this definition. Independent = Less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not themselves a craft brewer. Traditional = A brewer who has either an all malt flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers brands) or has at least 50% of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor.
In addition, the Brewers Association released the following charts:
Without diminishing all of the great beer dinners I’ve attended this year, I think I’m anticipating this one more keenly than any dinner all year. I’ll have returned home the following day from “Hop School” and will be fairly itching for hoppy beers. How could I do better than this? Beer Chef Bruce Paton’s next beer dinner will feature both Adam Avery, from Avery Brewing in Boulder, Colorado, and Vinnie Cilurzo, from Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, California.
It will be a four-course dinner and well worth the $85 price of admission. It will be held at the Cathedral Hill Hotel on Friday, August 31, 2007, beginning with a reception at 6:30 p.m. Call 415.674.3406 for reservations by August 23, though sooner will increase your odds of getting a seat at the table.
Reception: 6:30 PM
Beer Chef’s Hors D’Oeuvre
Beer: Avery IPA and Blind Pig IPA
Dinner: 7:30 PM
First Course
Torchon of Foie Gras with Egg Nog Brioche Toast and Vanilla Poached Stone Fruit
Beer: Avery Salvation and Russian River Salvation
Second Course:
Pan Roasted Skate Filet with Ginger Butter and Spicy Cilantro Pesto
Beer: Avery The Majarajah and Russian River Pliny the Elder
Third Course:
Olive Oil Poached Breast of Duck with Confit “Shepherds Pie”, Corn Fig Relish and Orange Gastrique
Beer: Avery The Reverend and Russian River Damnation Batch 23
Fourth Course:
Chocolate Collaboration
Beer: Avery Fourteen and Russian River Toronado Anniversary Ale / Collaboration Toast
8.31
Dinner with the Brewmasters: Avery & Russian River
Cathedral Hill Hotel, 1101 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, California
415.674.3406 [ website ]
MSNBC had a very interesting article about the recent surge in support for lowering the drinking age to from twenty-one to eighteen again. Apart from nations that don’t permit alcohol at all — usually for religious reasons — we have the highest age for allowing drinking of any country in the world. For the vast majority of nations, it’s eighteen. To me it’s as simple as if you can vote and die as a soldier defending our country, you should at least be able to drink a beer. I’ve never heard a convincing rebuttal to that. In my opinion, it should be a part of how we define adulthood.