Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 4612196A: Preparation Of Low Alcohol Beverages By Reverse Osmosis

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Today in 1986, US Patent 4612196 A was issued, an invention of Henry Goldstein, Charles L. Cronan, and Etzer Chicoye, assigned to the Miller Brewing Company, for their “Preparation of Low Alcohol Beverages by Reverse Osmosis.” Here’s the Abstract:

A traditional flavored fermented alcoholic beverage of low alcohol content is prepared by reverse osmosis with a thin layer composite membrane which has a support layer of polysulfone, a barrier layer of polymer prepared from a polyamine and a polyacyl, and a fiber backing. The membrane has a molecular weight cut-off of less than about 100 for organics and rejects the volatile components which contribute to flavor and aroma and permits about 25 to about 30% alcohol in the beverage to pass.

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Patent No. 436498A: Apparatus For Brewing

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Today in 1890, US Patent 436498 A was issued, an invention of Carl Hafner, for his “Apparatus For Brewing.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

My invention relates to an improved apparatus for use in the process of making beer.

In the usual process of boiling beer or wort with hops the essential oils, aroma, and volatile oils escape and are wasted or are condensed and passed back into the brew-kettle during the boiling process; but as the essential oils, aroma, etc., vaporize and escape when the hot liquid remains at a temperature of about Reaumur, and as it is necessary after boiling the wort with the hops a certain time to allow the boiling liquid to cool oft in the open air, it will thus be seen that these volatile matters will still escape.

The object of my invention is to provide an improved apparatus for use in the process of manufacturing beer, whereby the essential oils, volatile matters, etc., are saved and afterward added to the beer, and whereby a great saving is made in hops. These objects are accomplished by and my invention consists in certain novel features of construction and combinations of parts, more fully described hereinafter, and particularly pointed out in the claim.

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Beer In Ads #2034: The Man In Black Plays Chess

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Thursday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1957. In this ad, one of a series featuring a nearly black and white ad, with only the beer in color, and the same man engaged in various activities. This time, he’s studying his next move in a chess match, beer in hand (presumably to help him think) and finger below his lip (also to help him think). I do love that tuxedo, though, I think I”m going to put mine on the next time I play chess. ANd drink a beer, of course.

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Patent No. 459635A: Rinsing Tub

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Today in 1892, US Patent 459635 A was issued, an invention of John D. Kelly, for his “Rinsing Tub.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

This invention relates to a glass and tumbler washer and rinser for use in bar-rooms.

The objects of the invention are to provide a suitable washer to be located behind the bar in which tumblers or glasses may be plunged and washed or rinsed, to construct the washer in a cheap and simple manner, adapt it to avoid waste of water, and to be readily cleaned.

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Beer In Ads #2033: The Man in Black Hunts

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Wednesday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1959. In this ad, one of a series featuring a nearly black and white ad, with only the beer in color, and the same man engaged in various activities. This time, he’s sitting on his lounge chair in his den, with a beer in one hand and petting his faithful dog with the other. There are four rifles sitting in an open, unlocked cabinet (what could go wrong?) but it’s hard to say if he’s just returned from the outdoors, or he hasn’t left. He’s wearing his trousers tucked into military-style boots, but then he’s also wearing a sweater vest. So it’s anybody’s guess.

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Patent No. 349178A: Cooling Air And Apparatus Therefor

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Today in 1892, US Patent 349178 A was issued, an invention of Stanislas Rouart, for his “Cooling Air and Apparatus Therefor.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes these claims:

The main object of my invention is to effectively cool the air of rooms or spaces in which it is necessary or desirable to maintain a free circulation of air as, for instance, in cellars for storing or treating beer, etc.

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Beer In Ads #2032: The Man in Black Curls

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Tuesday’s ad is for Miller High Life, from 1960. In this ad, one of a series featuring a nearly black and white ad, with only the beer in color, and the same man engaged in various activities. This time, he’s watching the sport of Curling. It originated in Scotland in the 16th century and spread to wherever Scottish people settled, like New Zealand or Canada. It looks the curling team he’s watching is wearing formal military uniforms, with loads of medals on their jackets. And not a few, but there are so many they must be weighing them down with the extra weight.

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Roald Dahl’s The Twits

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Today is the birthday of curmudgeonly children’s writer Roald Dahl (September 13, 1916-November 23, 1990).

[He] was a British novelist, short story writer, poet, screenwriter, and fighter pilot. His books have sold more than 250 million copies worldwide.

Born in Wales to Norwegian parents, Dahl served in the Royal Air Force during the Second World War, in which he became a flying ace and intelligence officer, rising to the rank of acting wing commander. He rose to prominence in the 1940s with works for both children and adults and he became one of the world’s best-selling authors. He has been referred to as “one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century.” His awards for contribution to literature include the 1983 World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement, and the British Book Awards’ Children’s Author of the Year in 1990. In 2008, The Times placed Dahl 16th on its list of “The 50 greatest British writers since 1945.”

Dahl’s short stories are known for their unexpected endings and his children’s books for their unsentimental, macabre, often darkly comic mood, featuring villainous adult enemies of the child characters. His books champion the kind-hearted, and feature an underlying warm sentiment.[10][11] Dahl’s works for children include James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda, The Witches, Fantastic Mr Fox, The BFG, The Twits and George’s Marvellous Medicine. His adult works include Tales of the Unexpected.

One of his less well-known books was The Twits. “The idea of The Twits was triggered by Dahl’s desire to ‘do something against beards,’ because he had an acute hatred of them. The first sentence of the story is, ‘What a lot of hairy-faced men there are around nowadays!'”

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Even though it was written in 1979, and published the following year, just like today hipsters with beards drank lots of beer, if Mr. Twit is any example. One chapter, “The Glass Eye,” involves a trick his wife played on him with his beer.

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Patent No. WO2012122019A1: Barley Cultivar Moravian 115

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Today in 2012, US Patent WO 2012122019 A1 was issued, an invention of Dennis Dolan, assigned to MillerCoors, for his “Barley Cultivar Moravian 115.”

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Moravian barley in Colorado.

Here’s the Abstract:

A barley cultivar, designated MV115, is disclosed. MV115 is a high yield, lodging resistant cultivar with exceptional malting characteristics particularly useful in the brewing industry. The disclosure relates to seeds, plants, and to methods for producing a barley plant produced by crossing barley cultivar MV115 with itself or another barley variety. Methods for producing a barley plant containing in its genetic material one or more transgenes are disclosed. Barley varieties or breeding varieties, plant parts, methods for producing other barley varieties, lines or plant parts, and to the barley plants, varieties, and their parts derived from the use of those methods are disclosed. The disclosure further relates to hybrid barley seeds and plants produced by crossing bariey cultivar MV115 with another barley cultivar. Methods for developing other barley varieties or breeding lines derived from variety MV115 including cell and tissue culture, haploid systems, mutagenesis, and transgenic derived lines are disclosed.

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Last year, I visited Coors’ barley fields in a valley in Colorado, where local farmers grow Moravian barley for them.

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Ballantine’s Literary Ads: J.B. Priestley

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Between 1951 and 1953, P. Ballantine and Sons Brewing Company, or simply Ballentine Beer, created a series of ads with at least thirteen different writers. They asked each one “How would you put a glass of Ballantine Ale into words?” Each author wrote a page that included reference to their beer, and in most cases not subtly. One of them was J.B. Priestley, who’s best known novel was probably The Good Companions, though I think he’s more well-known in Great Britain than in the U.S. His ad ran in 1952.

Today is the birthday of John Boynton Priestley, better known as J.B. Priestley (September 13, 1894–August 14, 1984), who “was an English novelist, playwright, scriptwriter, social commentator, man of letters and broadcaster. Many of his plays are structured around a time slip, and he went on to develop a new theory of time, with different dimensions that link past, present and future.”

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His piece for Ballantine was done in the form of essentially listing all of the things he likes about the beer, point by point:

This is what I like, first of all, about Ballantine Ale: It’s a wonderful thirst-quencher. It passes smoothly over the palate, creating at once a fine feeling of refreshment.

At the same time, because it’s got body and flavor, it’s something a man can offer another man when the two of you begin to expand in talk, and perhaps boast a little.

Ballantine Ale is what I like to call “a clean drink.” You take another glass for the sheer pleasure of drinking it, and not because the first glass has failed to fulfill its promises and left you still feeling thirsty.

Finally, I like my Ballantine cold, but not too cold, please. Deep chilling, to my taste, tends to destroy the flavor. And the flavor’s worth keeping.

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