Monday’s ad is for Heineken, from who knows when. I can’t quite make out if these are actual vintage ads or modern ones made to look retro. Both feature the tagline “Heineken’s Beer,” while the first features a woman in a skimpy purple swimsuit.
Whereas in the second ad it’s a white one-piece suit. The woman almost appears the same in both, although in the first she has red hair, but in the second it appears more brown.
Today would have been the 200th birthday of George Boole, the self-taught mathematician who came up with Boolean algebra and Boolean logic. He’s been called the “father of the information age” because his Boolean logic made possible modern computer science. “Boolean algebra has been fundamental in the development of digital electronics, and is provided for in all modern programming languages. It is also used in set theory and statistics.” Boolean logic is “a form of algebra in which all values are reduced to either TRUE or FALSE. Boolean logic is especially important for computer science because it fits nicely with the binary numbering system, in which each bit has a value of either 1 or 0.” How Stuff Works has a nice overview of How Boolean Logic Works.
So what does any of this have to do with beer? Practically nothing, except that Scientific American had an article yesterday about Boole to celebrate his 200th anniversary coming up today. In the piece, The Bicentennial of George Boole, the Man Who Laid the Foundations of the Digital Age, after writing about Boole’s life and contributions to the study of mathematics, the author turns to some examples of how his Boolean logic is applied in the real world in, for instance, Google searches:
Boolean algebra and Boolean logic are very well known today, and form the backbone of electrical engineering and computer science. Indeed anyone who even casually searches the Internet , say for “Michael Jackson” the late beer and whiskey expert rather than the singer and dancer of the same name, knows how to make judicious use of AND, OR and NOT.
It’s pretty cool that he picked Michael Jackson as the search topic, and it’s a good choice since it’s hard to get just beer-centric results when the more famous Michael Jackson usually tops the list unless you figure out how to filter out the king of pop. Michael used to joke that the singer was named after him, since he was older, but it must be a pain in neck for anyone who shares a name with a person more famous them themselves. Remember the character Michael Bolton in the wonderful film “Office Space?”
I reproduced the search, and got slightly different results, but pretty funny, and cool — at least from my point of view — is in both instances one of my posts was the third result.
It’s a lengthy post I did a couple of years ago, Know Your Beer Gods & Goddesses, in which I researched world cultures and created a list of gods and goddesses that had something to do with beer, discovering over 100 examples. I jokingly included an entry for Michael as the “God of Beer Writers,” so that’s why my post turns up in a search for Jackson’s name. So that made my day, nice to show up in Scientific American, however tangentially.
And just to round out the ephemeral post, I’ll leave you with a little Boolean humor:
Today in 1943, US Patent 2333088 A was issued, an invention of Raymond M. Brown, for his “Bottle Opener.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
One of the objects of the present invention is to provide a bottle opener of the type described, having one or more back stops adjacent the prying lip and slightly spaced therefrom which permit the prying lip to exercise its function of detaching the cap, but which may contact with the flange of the cap as to spread andthereby limit the extent to which it can be flared, thus preventing the bending of the disk of the cap under any circumstances and particularly under the conditions of sudden operation above referred to.
Another object of the invention is to provide a pair of spaced back stops preferably symmetrically arranged with respect to the apex of the prying lip, permitting the latter, if necessary, to bulge the flange between the back stops by drawing upon the fullness of the flutes of the flange beyond said back stops, the metal moving.
I’ve made pancakes substituting beer for the water, I’ve enjoyed Kentucky Breakfast Stout, once with beer pancakes. And I’ve had beer that tasted rather sweet, like maple syrup, too. But it never occurred to me you could make the pancake syrup with beer. And it looks fairly easy. I recently ran across an article about The Art of Making Beer Syrup in Outside magazine, and apparently bartenders have been making them for years to use in special cocktails. Given that the only cocktail I almost ever order is a gin & tonic, hopefully you’ll forgive my cocktail ignorance. Apparently it’s just water (or any liquid) reduced, sugar added.
Outside’s recipe is so simple, even I could probably make it:
For best results, pour your favorite beer into a pan and slowly simmer over low heat until it reduces to two-thirds of its initial volume. Then add in an equal proportion of raw brown sugar and stir until the sugar dissolves completely. Pour liberally over your favorite breakfast food and wait for your insulin levels to spike.
The Good Booze blog suggests adding “a few whole cardamom pods” and “one small vanilla bean, split” to give it a little more flavor. It looks like any beer could work, although malt-forward beers seem better suited than hoppier ones, but certainly some experimentation is in order.
Allrecipes also has their own recipe, and a bar in San Francisco, The Fifth Floor (which is closed now, and reborn as Dirty Habit) used to make a drink they called Hops & Dreams, using a syrup made from Anchor Steam Beer.
And one entrepreneurial soul is trying to start the Beer Syrup Company to make commercial beer syrups.
Today in 1909, two patents were issued: US Patent 938577 A for “Process of Bottling Beer” and US Patent 938578 A for “Machine For Bottling Beer.” Both were patented by Rudolf Gull, and the drawings filed with each application are identical, except for the titles. There’s no Abstract for either patent, although in the description it includes this summary:
Patent 938577 A: Process of Bottling Beer
1. The improvement in the method of bottling beer consisting in maintaining in the bottles while they are being filled with beer, and independent of the flow of the beer, a higher gaseous pressure than on the surface of the suplly or column of beer with which the bottles are filled, and changing such hi her pressure at predetermined intervals during the time the beer is entering the bottles, substantially as set forth.
2. The improvement in the method of bottling beer consisting in maintaining successively in the bottles while they are being filled with beer two or more distinctly different gaseous pressures each one of which is successively maintained in a substantially constant proportion to the gaseous pressure on the column of beer, substantially as set forth.
3. The improvement in the method of bottling beer, consisting in maintaining in the bottles while they are being filled a higher gaseous pressure than that on the column of beer from which the bottles are filled, and in maintaining such higher gaseous pressure within the bottles at such a’ proportion to the gaseous pressure on the column of beer that the surplus of pressure in’ the bottle over the gaseous pressure on the column of beer balances the weight of the column of beer above the level of beer in the bottle as soon as the beer in the bottle reaches a predetermined level.
938578 A: Machine For Bottling Beer
Bottling the beer to flow from the tank into the bottles and permitting also the passage of air from the tank, above the beer, to the bottles, so as to have the same air pressure in both tank and bottles at or before the time the valves are opened, thus permitting the beer to flow by gravity from the tank into the bottles the height of the beer column above the end of the filling spout, the width of the filling spout and the size of the air vent through which the air escapes from the bottles when the beer enters regulating the flow of the beer into the bottles.
Sunday’s ad is for Rheingold beer, from 1940. Grantland Rice was a famous sportwriter, apparently known for his “elegant prose.” It’s also his birthday today. He wrote the sentiment that it’s not whether you won or lost, “But how you played the Game,” in a poem entitled “Alumnus Football.” He also did this ad for the “quicker quencher,” an odd nickname if ever there was one.
Today in 2012, US Patent 834491 A was issued, an invention of Eugene G. Probasco and Jason Perrault, for their “Hop Plant Named ‘HBC 291.'” Here’s the Abstract:
A new hop plant named ‘HBC 291’ is disclosed. The cones of ‘HBC 291’ mature in mid September, and yield a crop of 2000 to 2400 pounds per acre. ‘HBC 291’ is used for its unique aromatic and flavor qualities, high alpha acid content and exceptional yield.
While the hop variety has yet to be named, it is available as an experimental hop at HopUnion. And the BA’s Julia Herz wrote about the hop on CraftBeer.com in Birth of a Hop, which in part is about Summit Brewing Co. using it in a Experimental Hop Brews.
Today in 1938, US Patent D111959 S was issued, an invention of Clarence B. Deible, for his “Design for a Beer Bottle,” although he’s more famous for having invented to crown bottle cap. There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this very short summary:
I claim an original and ornamental Design for Beer Bottles.
Saturday’s Halloween ad is for Schlitz, from 1949. Part of Schlitz’s “I Was Curious” series, each employing a three-panel structure, this one takes place at a Halloween party. A man dressed as a bear spots a table full or Schlitz beer and was apparently thirsty enough to get a beer, forcing him to reveal himself by removing his bear helmet/mask to drink the beer, at which point, the bunny behind the table removes her rabbit head to reveal a fetching blonde, and the two appear to make googly eyes at one another. Which should mean the ad will have a happy ending. But in the first panel, the bunny was holding on onto a tray while a pirate poured beers into glasses, and then briskly goes off to deliver the beers to other guests at the party. That might suggest that he’s one of the hosts of the party, and possibly the bunny’s husband or boyfriend. So maybe this ad is racier than you might think at first glance. Perhaps we’re seeing the start of an affair?
Today in 1899, US Patent 636210 A was issued, an invention of Auguste Liese, for his “Beer-Faucet,” although he’s more famous for having invented to crown bottle cap. There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The object of my invention is to provide a simple, efficient, and inexpensive beer-faucet which is adapted to be connected so that, by the use of a single turn-cock, beer, ale, or other liquor may be drawn either from a tank or directly from the wood and so that the same can be tempered by simultaneously drawing off more or less gas, as desired. A further object of my invention is to construct the beer-faucet so that the beer or ale maybe admitted from the barrel to a storage tank and so that any excess of gas may be exhausted from the upper part of the cock instead of blowing the same off through the usual outlet.
