Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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As Thirsty As A Fish

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Here’s an interesting bit of history from the 1860s. As far as I can tell, it was published in The Illustrated Times on October 10, 1863. It was drawn by Charles H. Bennett, a well-known Victorian cartoon artist, who worked for many publications, as well as providing art illustrating several books, as well. This was titled “As thirsty as a fish,” and was a satire on Darwin’s “Origin of Species,” which had just been published in 1859. Here’s how it was described. “Showing the evolution of a fish to a beer drinker, with his fin in his pocket, a few old rags, a convenient leaning post and committed to a constant thirst that no amount of beer can quench.”

And in the book, “Charles Darwin and Victorian Visual Culture,” by Jonathan Smith when “As Thirsty As A Fish” appeared in book form, it was accompanied by text indicating it “depicts the British workman as a drunkard who sees business, duty, and friendship merely as impediments to his indulgence.”

Apparently the “Origin of the Species” satires, known as “Development Drawings,” were pretty popular, as there were at least eighteen of them I turned up in a search of Yooniq Images. “As Thirsty As A Fish” appears to have been numbered “No. 20” in the book, so it seems likely there were even more.

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Patent No. 4542682A: Lauter Tuns

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Today in 1985, US Patent 4542682 A was issued, an invention of John C. Hancock, for his “Lauter Tuns.” Here’s the Abstract:

A lauter tun (10,100) has a bottom (16) comprising two flat plates (18,20) joined together on a straight line (see 22), each plate (18,20) sloping downwardly from the center-line to the peripheral wall (14) of the tun, such that during flushing, water flows down each slope to flush solids towards two large collection points (26) located at the lowest point of the bottom 16.

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Beer In Ads #2042: Companion To Finer Taste

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Friday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1946. In this ad, set in a then-modern kitchen, a woman pulls steaming pies out of the oven, while a man pours himself a beer in anticipation.Seventy years later, those pies still look tasty. Whether Miller High Life would make a companion to them? That I’m none too sure about.

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But Now, God Knows, Anything Gose

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For our 116th Session, our host will be Derrick Peterman, who writes Ramblings of a Beer Runner. For his topic, he’s chosen Anything Gose, asking everyone to write about the German sour beer style Gose.

Rittergute Gose Labels

Here’s his full description of the topic:

I choose the Gose style in particular since it can be approached in so many different ways. Want to talk about the history of the Gose? How about how American breweries are taking this style and running wild with it with different spice and fruit additions? How else has the Gose manifested itself outside its German homeland? Is the Gose here to stay or will it go the way of the Black IPA, once the hot style but slowly becoming a largely irrelevant curiosity? (OK, that might not be your opinion of the Black IPA, but you get the idea.) Of course, we’re all on the look-out for a good Gose, so if there are any you particularly like, we’d love to hear about them.

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We know “Times have changed, and “Good authors too who once knew better words, Now only use four-letter words Writing prose. Anything goes.” Or rather, Anything Gose. So on or before Friday, October 7, let’s wax lyrically about gose. Music optional. Post your contribution at the original announcement or e-mail your link to Derrick at photon.dpeterman[at]gmail(dot)com. And remember. “If driving fast cars you like, If low bars you like, If old hymns you like, If bare limbs you like, If Mae West you like, Or me undressed you like, Why, nobody will oppose. When ev’ry night the set that’s smart is in-Truding in nudist parties in Studios. Anything goes.”

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Apropos of nothing, I love the title because it’s play on the Cole Porter musical “Anything Goes,” a personal favorite, and the only show I’ve done twice in my theatre geek days.

Here’s a great performance of the song “Anything Goes,” although only really just part of it, from the 2011 Tony Awards.

Patent No. 20100236113A1: Cover Resembling A Beverage Container

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Today in 2010, US Patent 20100236113 A1 was issued, an invention of Shelagh McNally, assigned to Big Rock Brewery, for his “Cover Resembling a Beverage Container.” Here’s the Abstract:

A cover for hay bales and other three dimensional objects, and a method of advertising using the cover is described. The cover is generally of a size and shape to be wrapped about an cylindrical object having the relative proportions of a beverage can. When the cover is applied to hay bales, round bales may be stacked to provide suitable proportions. The cover bears indicia associated with a particular brand and/or type of beverage, such that the covered bales will resemble an enlarged version of the particular beverage can, thereby providing suitable advertising benefit to the beverage company.

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Beer In Ads #2041: How Ish Dot

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Thursday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1909. In this ad, a fat man is walking while swigging a bottle of Miller High Life. The tagline is “How Ish Dot For High Life Beer,” which seems to suggest he’s a German-American, especially with his outfit. Plus, this would have been before anti-German sentiment arose during World War I, so it would not yet have been a problem to portray. Or perhaps he’s simply drunk, and that how they think drunk people talk? But there’s no way an advertiser would show such an overweight person consuming their product for fear of people connecting the two. Especially not fat and drunk.

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Patent No. 739595A: Cooling Apparatus For Liquids

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Today in 1903, US Patent 739595 A was issued, an invention of Hugo Fluegge, for his “Cooling Apparatus For Liquids.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to cooling apparatus for liquids; and the object of my invention is to provide an apparatus by means of which the carbonic-acid gas used in an apparatus for supplying beer or other similar liquids under gaseous pressure can at the same time be also used for the purpose of cooling `the liquid to be served out, this device therefore doing away with the necessity of cooling the liquid by means of ice, as hitherto was usually the case.

The principal feature of my cooling apparatus is the arrangement of a spiral pipe, which is securely fixed within a chamber containing water or other similar fluid. The carbonic-acid gas which flows through this spiral pipe cools the water surrounding the pipe to such an extent that it begins to freeze. Consequently the liquid to be served out, which is contained in air-tight glass cylinders and which are surrounded by the freezing water, can be cooled in this manner to any required degree.

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Patent No. 568133A: Apparatus For Barreling And Bunging Beer

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Today in 1896, US Patent 568133 A was issued, an invention of Alfred E. Feroe, for his “Apparatus For Barreling and Bunging Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to an apparatus for barreling and bunging fermented liquors, and the object and purpose of my invention is to produce a means whereby carbonated liquors may be barreled and confined by any kind of bung without the loss of liquor or gas during the operation.

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Beer In Ads #2040: Fountain Of Health

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Wenesday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from around 1910. In this ad, it’s a gusher, with a ginormous bottle of Miller High Life providing a fountain of beer. Some people are swimming in it, and others are bringing buckets to fill with the beer. It looks like a popular spot. The artwork is a stylized cartoon, similar to some popular comic strips from that time period.

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Patent No. 3607298A: Hop Concentrates

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Today in 1971, US Patent 3607298 A was issued, an invention of Robert O. V. Lloyd and William Mitchell Hatfield, assigned to Bush Boake Allen Ltd., for his “Hop Concentrates.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The present invention relates to hop extracts, including isomerized hop extracts and to processes for their production.

Hops contain, among other things: soft and hard resins including such weakly acidic compounds as humulones (e.g. humulone, cohumulone and adhumulone) and lupulones; essential oils which are those relatively volatile oils which contribute to the characteristic odor of hops; fixed oils, which are contained in the hop seeds and are not readily distilled or extracted by hot water; and water-soluble material such as tannins and proteins.

In the traditional brewing process hops are boiled with wort, which is an aqueous solution of malt sugars. As a consequence of the boiling, a variety of resins and oils pass into the wort. Of these the most important are the humulones, which on boiling are partially isomerized to form water-soluble isohumulones. It is believed that the isohumulones are the principle bittering agent present in the finished beer, but a very large number of other compounds of widely differing chemical nature are also present in traditional beer and contribute to its properties. in the traditional process only a small proportion of the humulones present in the hops are isomerized and taken into solution. Further disadvantages of the traditional method are the need to store a large bulk of hops, which are liable to deteriorate, and the variability of flavor between batches.

The extraction of hops by solvents to give hop extracts which can be used to replace or augment hops in the brewing of beers and ales has received considerable attention for many years. This problem has attracted increased attention during the last l years because of the development in the chemistry of hop constituents and because the brewing industry has become rather less conservative in its attitude toward changes in materials and methods.

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