Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Patent No. 1132011A: Hop Separator

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Today in 1915, US Patent 1132011 A was issued, an invention of Emil Clemens Horst, for his “Hop Separator.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to hop separators employing upwardly traveling endless separating belts; and the objects of the invention-are first, to provide a simple, substantial, easily regulated apparatus in which the hops may be quickly separated from the leaves and trash with which they are commingled after being stripped from the vines; second, to provide an adjustable deflecting plate between the separator and the source of supply by which a portion of the hops may be deflected out of reach of the separating apparatus, and third, a plurality of tackle is operable in connection with the separator to prevent any hops from passing through the separator with the leaves.

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Beer In Ads #1851: Facts Versus Fallacies #92

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Tuesday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1916, No. 92 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “92,” is about who was for and against prohibition. According to the ad, it was the working man, and labor organizations, who were steadfastly against taking away their after-work beer. Samuel Gompers, the president of the AFL at the time, is quoted. “I have see more Real Drunkenness in “DRY” States than any other place in the world.” He recounts that traveling the country for work it was evident everywhere he looked that prohibition was a bad idea and would not work.

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Patent No. 4730463A: Beverage Dispenser Cooling System

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Today in 1988, US Patent 4730463 A was issued, an invention of Ted M. Stanfill, for his “Beverage Dispenser Cooling System.” Here’s the Abstract:

A beverage dispensing system further cools the beverage where it is dispensed at a considerable distance from the beverage storage container. The beverage conduit between the storage and dispensing sites is carried in a bundle located within an insulated jacket conduit. The bundle also contains parallel chilled liquid lines through which chilled liquid is circulated. A concentric coil is located at the dispensing site. A manifold connects the parallel beverage and chilled liquid lines to the concentric coil and to the dispensing valve.

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Beer In Ads #1850: Facts Versus Fallacies #91

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Monday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1916, No. 91 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “91,” is about a problem still with us today, which is that the anti-alcohol organizations paint everyone involved in the alcohol trade with the same broad brush and believe every one of us to be pure evil. But as the ad reminds them, “There are Good and Bad People in Every Business and Profession” and “The Good Saloons far Outnumber the Bad Ones.” That this is true should be obvious, but there are still people today who believe that one drop of alcohol can turn you into an alcoholic, and you can thank fanaticism and propaganda by prohibitionists for that.

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Cigar City Bought By Fireman Capital

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In an exclusive this morning, Brewbound is reporting that Fireman Capital to Purchase Cigar City. According to Brewbound, “Cigar City, a leading independent brewery based in Tampa, Fla., has agreed to sell controlling interest to Boston-based private equity firm Fireman Capital Partners, which already owns majority stakes in Oskar Blues, Perrin Brewing and the Utah Brewers Cooperative outfit that includes the Wasatch and Squatters brands.”

The overall entity created by Fireman Capital for their brewery acquisitions is United Craft Brews LLC, incorporated in Delaware. The SEC Form D lists Fireman Capital’s address is Waltham, Massachusetts, but information on OpenLEIs lists a registered address in Delaware, but Oskar Blues’ Longmont address as Headquarters for United Craft Brews. Last year, Westwood was still asking Does Oskar Blues Still Own Oskar Blues? This will undoubtedly continue to muddy the waters surrounding the answer to that question.

Rumors had been swirling that ABI was considering Cigar City as their next target for acquisition, and founder Joey Redner confirmed that he’d gotten as far as signing an LOI. But ABI let their exclusivity period pass without executing a formal purchase agreement, leaving Cigar City free to entertain other potential buyers.

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Cigar City’s website posted a joint press release about the transaction:

Oskar Blues Brewery Rolls up a Cigar City Blunt

Longmont, CO, & Tampa Bay, FL — Oskar Blues Brewery announced the acquisition of Tampa’s Cigar City Brewing. Putting months of acquirement rumors to rest, the decision is driven by mutual irreverence, respect and desire to stay true to craft beer roots.

The combination stems from the want to take risks, sniff out bullsh*t and grow against-the-grain in an era of increasing competition within craft beer. The collaboration will match years of large-scale growth, expansion expertise and resources of Oskar Blues with the strength of Cigar City’s local following to help both breweries strengthen their future position. Similarly to Oskar Blues, Cigar City’s award-winning brews are well known and respected within the craft community.

“Cigar City is facing next-level challenges and we needed to develop next-level skills and resources to meet them. But, we got into beer out of passion and an unwavering desire to travel our own path. We didn’t want to just shove our round peg into some f*cking square hole and hope for the best. Florida craft beer drinkers want something they can proudly stand behind. These guys get that. They wrote the book on keeping it real,” says Joey, founder of Cigar City Brewing. Joey will remain as CEO of Cigar City following the transaction.

Since 2009, Cigar City Brewing achieved a near constant growth pattern reaching nearly 60,000 barrels in 2015, placing the Tampa Bay area and the state of Florida on the craft beer map. The partnership will provide additional investment for Cigar City’s infrastructure growth within Florida.

“What Cigar City has done for the community of Florida craft beer is impressive. It’s important for our culture to do business with people we want to hang out with and Joey and the gang fit,” Dale Katechis, Soul Founder of Oskar Blues, stated about the new partnership.

Oskar Blues Brewery is the funky brewpub that started brewing beer in 1999 in the small town of Lyons, CO and is responsible for starting the craft beer in-a-can movement in 2002 with Dale’s Pale Ale. In 2008, the brewery expanded down the street to Longmont, CO. and added an additional brewery in Brevard, NC in 2012. Oskar Blues brewed 192,000 barrels in 2015 and announced another brewery in Austin, TX scheduled to open in May of 2016.

Terms of the acquisition are not disclosed.

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Beer In Ads #1849: Facts Versus Fallacies #90

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Sunday’s ad is another one for the Pennsylvania State Brewers Association, from 1916, No. 90 in series they did from 1915-17 called “Facts Versus Fallacies.” I have no idea how many were done but some of the them are numbered into low triple digits, suggesting there were a lot of them, all in an effort to stop Prohibition from happening and win over support for beer. This ad, marked “90,” is about King George, the king of England, who apparently had a riding accident. He recovered, but it took some time, and one of the things that he was prescribed to help him get better was a daily amount of alcohol, which they referred to as “a little stimulant daily during convalescence.” This story is told to drive home the point that drinking isn’t the problem, over-drinking is what’s leading people to agitate for a prohibition. As a sign on the ad declares: “Moderate Drinkers Are The TRUE Disciples of Temperance.” I’m not sure why that slogan didn’t catch on.

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Marzen Madness 2016

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I may not be college basketball’s biggest fan, but I do still enjoy March Madness every year. The tournament is usually a fun diversion for a few weeks each year, so for the sixth straight year, I’ve set up a fantasy game, similar to fantasy football. It’s a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” It doesn’t look like there’s a limit to the number of people who can play, so sign up and make your picks starting right now, and make sure you’re don choosing before March 17, which is when the first games take place.

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To join Märzen Madness and play the Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick’em game, just follow this instructions below. You’ll also need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one).

To accept the invitation, just follow this invitation link. For reference, here’s the group information.


Group ID#: 7455
Password: brookston
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Good luck everybody.

Patent No. 20140072691A1: Method And Device For Adding Hops In Beer Manufacture, And Also Hop Product

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Today in 2014, US Patent 20140072691 A1 was issued, an invention of Ludwig Scheller, Rudolf Michel, and Patrick Bahns, for their “Method and Device for Adding Hops in Beer Manufacture, and Also Hop Product.” Here’s the Abstract:

The invention relates to a method for adding hops in beer manufacture, having the following process steps; a) separation of a sub-quantity (07 a) of water and/or wort (07) and/or beer as an aqueous fluid, b) addition of hop extract (10) in liquid or pasty form to the separated aqueous fluid (07 a), c) production of a macroemulsion (13) of the hop extract by emulsifying the hop extract (10) in the aqueous fluid (07 a), d) increasing the pressure in the macroemulsion (13) of the hop extract to a feed pressure of in particular higher than 100 bar, e) production of a microemulsion (17) of the hop extract by feeding the pressurized macroemulsion (13) through a gap or a valve (16) or by feeding the pressurized macroemulsion against a baffle plate, f) at least partial return of the microemulsion (17) of the hop extract to the beer manufacturing process.

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Patent No. 1950714A: Container And Cooler

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Today in 1934, US Patent 1950714 A was issued, an invention of Ernest Joseph D’Aoust and Herbert Lawrence Dickens, for their “Container and Cooler.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The invention relates to a container and cooler, as described in the present specification and illustrated in the accompanying drawing that forms part of the same.

The invention consists essentially of the unit combining the means for refrigerating and the container as pointed out in the claim for novelty following a description in detail of the parts making up the unit.

The objects of the invention are to cool liquids such as beer, especially contents being continually drawn upon thereby making it possible to maintain the volume of liquid in constant use in a palatable condition while a considerable volume remains unchilled, which are ideal conditions for dispensing beer and many liquids, especially where they are sold by the glass; to facilitate the transport of beer and some other beverages, particularly those beverages liable to deterioration from changes of temperature and therefore deliver the container with its contents in as fit a state as when it left the brewery, factory or other production centre; to utilize dry ice, artificial ice, natural ice or chemical refrigerants to the best advantage for cooling containers and introduce the cooling medium with ease; and generally to provide for restaurants, hotels, merchants, dwellings and places of entertainment, a convenient form of container from which the beverage will be delivered in a wholesome condition and which will not materially add to the cost of the invention to the consumer.

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Patent No. 1218724A: Beer Cooler

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Today in 1917, US Patent 1218724 A was issued, an invention of William F. Vosseler, for his “Beer Cooler.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention relates to beer coolers of the type in which a coil is provided through which the beer must pass in the presence of a cooling medium.

The simplest Way of cooling beer as it is pumped from a barrel to a faucet is to send it through a coil which is packed in ice. In coils for this purpose, there must be as little obstruction to the flow of beer as possible. There must be also as much of an exposure to the ice as possible.

Accordingly in the Patent No. 1,099,329, of June 9th, 1914, to William Vosseler, is described a device in which an open coil is mounted in an ice box so that ice can be packed down inside the coil as well vas around it. This is the best way of quickly and adequately cooling the beer as it passes through a cooler, but it opens the way to a number of difficulties. The first of these is that to make a strong coil which will Withstand the jamming down in it of ice, it is hard to provide against agitating the beer during its passage through the coil. In the next place, it is difficult to hold the coil in place in the box against these strains, and finally it is requisite to make the whole structure as inexpensive as possible.

It is the object of my invention herein to provide against these difficulties so as to have an open coil of great durability and cheapness, in which there is little or no obstruction to the flow of the beer to cause it to foam out of the faucet, which is very undesirable.

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