Patent No. 5716850A: Monitoring The Colour And Bitterness Of Beer

February 10, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1998, US Patent 5716850 A was issued, an invention of Gurinder Takhar and Mandy King, assigned to Whitbread PLC, for their “Monitoring the Colour And Bitterness of Beer.” Here’s the Abstract:

A method of determining one or both of the colour and bitterness of beer by illuminating the beer with light of a pre-determined wavelength, typically 400±30 nm, to cause iso-α-acids in the beer to fluoresce. The fluorescence is detected over a range of wavelengths, typically 420 to 673 nm, using a fluorescence spectrophotometer. One or both of the colour and bitterness of the beer is determined by comparing an output signal from the fluorescence spectrophotometer to output signals stored for beers of known colour and bitterness.

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Asahi Likely To Buy Grolsch, Meantime & Peroni

February 10, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Anhesuer-Busch InBev has been trying to sell off their Grolsch, Meantime and Peroni, since acquiring SABMiller last year. ABI confirmed this morning that they’ve received a binding offer to purchase the three beer brands from Japan’s Asahi Breweries. According to Just Drinks, “Asahi has been granted a ‘period of exclusivity’ related to the purchase, which, AB InBev flagged, is ‘conditional on the successful closing of the recommended acquisition of SABMiller by AB InBev.'” The amount offered by Asahi is 2.55 billion euros (around $2.86 billion in U.S. dollars) and which, if accepted, would go a long way toward addressing regulatory concerns about the acquisition of SABMiller by ABI. Reuters also has more about the particulars.

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The Asahi Breweries headquarters in Tokyo, from a trip I took there to judge a beer competition in 2013.

Beer In Ads #1816: Charles Carroll Of Carrollton — “Father Of Religious Liberty In America”

February 9, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1915, No. 9 in a series they did in 1914-15 called “Framers of the Constitution of the U.S.A.” The ninth one features Charles Carroll III, a.k.a. Charles Carroll of Carrollton, who was the only catholic to sign the Declaration of Independence, and was last remaining signator in 1832, when he finally died at age 95. His catholicism, apparently, made him a champion of religious liberty, and his hospitality “was nothing short of royal,” being “a lifetime user of light wines and barley brews.”

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Patent No. EP1412490A4: Mediating The Effects Of Alcohol Consumption By Orally Administering Active Dry Yeast

February 9, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 2005, US Patent EP 1412490 A4 was issued, an invention of Joe Owades, for his “Mediating the Effects of Alcohol Consumption by Orally Administering Active Dry Yeast.” It seems to be virtually identical to Patent No. 2452476A1: Mediating The Effects Of Alcohol Consumption By Orally Administering Active Dry Yeast, which was issued to Owades two years before, on January 23, 2003. So if you’re feeling a sense of déjà vu, it’s not you. Here’s the short Abstract from the previous one. “A process for lowering blood alcohol levels in humans after they imbibe alcoholic beverages by administering active dry yeast before or concomitantly with the imbibing of the beverages.”

This is most likely the origin of the hangover prevention that Jim Koch, from the Boston Beer Co., has popularized over the years, but especially after Esquire magazine ran an article about it last April, How to Drink All Night Without Getting Drunk.

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The story got picked up by NPR, Serious Eats and even Snopes took a look at it.

But I’d actually heard Jim tell the story a couple of times at various events, most recently at a beer dinner last year at the Jamaica Plain brewery in Boston celebrating the 30th anniversary of Samuel Adams.

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In telling the story, Jim did, of course, mention that the idea came from Joe Owades, who had worked as a consultant with the Boston Beer Co. since the very beginning, and off and on thereafter. But I don’t think I’d realized before now that Joe had actually patented the idea.

The claim in the patent application describes it in a nutshell. “A method of mediating the effect of alcohol consumption by a person which comprises orally administering active dry yeast containing alcohol dehydrogenase to said person prior to or simultaneously with consumption of an alcohol-containing beverage, whereby to oxidize a portion of the alcohol while still in the stomach of said person.” His own testing of the method, shown in the figures below, found that “blood alcohol level-min. was reduced by 38% by the yeast.”

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Beer In Ads #1815: The Pinckneys — “Fathers Of The Republic”

February 8, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Monday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1915, No. 8 in a series they did in 1914-15 called “Framers of the Constitution of the U.S.A.” The eighth one features The Pinckneys — Charles Cotesworth Pinckney and Charles Pinckney. They were both from South Carolina, and first cousins, once removed. Charles Cotesworth, known as “C.C.,” was the older of the two, and was a delegate to the Constitutional Convention. He also ran for president twice, as the Federalist Party candidate, but lost both times. The other Charles also signed the Constitution, and served as Governor of South Carolina, too. If you think political dynasties are recent phenomenon in America, seven people he’s related to have been governor, as well, in the 218 years since he left office. But was a Democrat, unlike his cousin the Federalist. Happily, they shared a belief in “the moderate use of light wines and barley brews.”

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Patent No. 7882975B2: Double Walled Beverage Container

February 8, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 2011, US Patent 7882975 B2 was issued, an invention of Jason M. Kelly, assigned to Miller Coors, LLC, for his “Double Walled Beverage Container and Method of Making Same.” Here’s the Abstract:

A double walled container is provided for insulating a beverage. An outer insulating shell or container is secured to the inner container that holds the beverage. A gap exists between the outer container and inner container and the air in the gap acts as an insulating barrier. The inner container is preferably a standard aluminum container. The outer container is preferably made from aluminum or a plastic polymer.

Patent No. 1171306A: Method Of Dealcoholizing Beer

February 8, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1916, US Patent 1171306 A was issued, an invention of William Becker and Daniel Hayden Montgomery, for their “Method of Dealcoholizing Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

What we claim is:
1. The herein described method of dealcoholizing beverages, the same consisting in raising the temperature of a charge of such beverage to substantially 167 F., then converting the charge into spray to permit it to give off its alcohol, then raising the charge a ain to a temperature no higher than at rst, then repeating this process, and finally cooling the product and conducting it to a point of storage.
2. The herein described method of dealcoholizing beverages, the same consisting in raising the temperature of a charge of such beverage to not over 167 F., then spraying the’ charge into a sheet and subjecting the sheet to substantially the same temperature to permit it to give off its alcohol, then collecting the charge and raising it again to substantially the same temperature, then repeating this process, and finally cooling the product and conducting it to a point of storage.
3. The herein described. method of dealcoholizing beverages, the-same consisting in raising the temperature of a charge of such beverage to not over 167 F., then spraying the charge into a sheet and subjecting the sheet to substantially the same temperature to permit it to give off its alcohol, then collecting the treated beverage, cooling it, and finally conducting it to a point of storage.
4. The herein described method of dealcoholizing beverages, the same consisting in spraying the beverage, collecting the spray into a flowing sheet and subjecting it to heat to raise its temperature to not over 167 F. and cause it to give off the alcohol, then collecting the beverage without its alcohol vapors and again heating it to substantially the same temperature, then pumping it back and retreating it, and finally conveying the de-alcoholized beverage to a point of storage.

Must have been pretty important given Prohibition was about to start in just a few years.
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Patent No. 1170839A: Barley Or Rice Huller

February 8, 2016 By Jay Brooks

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Today in 1916, US Patent 1170839 A was issued, an invention of John J. Molloy, for his “Barley or Rice Huller.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to grain hullers and particularly to barley and rice pearlers. It is an object of this invention to provide a simple, practical, automatic-feed continuously operating hulling machine of high efficiency in capacity and cleanness of product particularly designed for handling rice. A further object is to provide a huller in which the quantity of the discharge may be readily and accurately controlled and whereby the degree of pressure of the grain in transit is regulated and maintained uniform.

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Beer In Ads #1814: Thomas Jefferson — “Father Of The Declaration Of Independence”

February 7, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Sunday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1915, No. 7 in a series they did in 1914-15 called “Framers of the Constitution of the U.S.A.” The seventh one features Thomas Jefferson, and tells the story of Jefferson and writing the Declaration of Independence along with some platitudes on his love of liberty, and beer, of course. It also includes what he wrote in a letter to James Madison. “A Captain Miller is about to settle in this country and establish a brewery. I wish to see this beverage become common.”

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