Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Anderson Valley Featured In PG&E Commercial

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So I’m watching the Mets beating the Cubs in game 2 of the NLCS and happened to look up as the commercials came on between innings, as I heard something in the voiceover that I wasn’t expecting: Anderson Valley Brewing Company. People in the Bay Area know that PG&E has a P.R. problem after a pipe blew up in a San Bruno neighborhood (on the peninsula north of Silicon Valley and south of San Francisco). The blast registered 1.1 on the Richter scale when a segment of pipe 28 feet long blew out onto the street, thrown about 100 feet and creating a crater 167 feet long and 26 feet wide, killing eight people in the process. They stonewalled after the incident, but eventually the “Public Utilities Commission fined PG&E $1.6 billion,” and there was civil litigation by many of the people directly effected by the explosion.

So for the last few years there’s been a lot of TV commercials portraying PG&E as a company that cares. A lot. A lot of ads, I mean. I don’t know if it’s been a successful campaign or not, certainly I’m not buying it and the fact that they’re still creating new ones and running them frequently suggests that not everyone has been convinced, either. Anyway, the ad I just saw during the baseball game featured Rod DeWitt, who’s the Director of Plant Engineering & Process Control for Anderson Valley Brewing, the drummer for Rolling Boil Blues Band, and an old friend. Here’s the commercial:

This is Rod giving me a tour of the brewery back in 2006

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This is the scene shown on every Anderson Valley beer label.

Patent No. 973087A: Equalizing Device For Beer Filtration

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Today in 1910, US Patent 973087 A was issued, an invention of Ferdinand Turek, for his “Equalizing Device For Beer Filtration.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

This invention relates to apparatus used in the filtration or purification of beer, and has for its object to provide means for causing a steady fiow of’beer from the chip cask and through the filter.

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Patent No. 3279534A: Percolator For A Brew Kettle

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Today in 1966, US Patent 3279534 A was issued, an invention of Robert C. Gadsby, Joseph Schwaiger and Frank H. Schwaiger, assigned to Anheuser-Busch, for their “Percolator for a Brew Kettle.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

One of the principal objects of the present invention is to provide an improved percolator for brew kettles, such as are used in the brewing industry. Another object is to provide in such a percolator a plurality of flat heating sections which can be easily cleaned and replaced or repaired if necessary. Another object is to provide an improved percolator design which is shaped to distribute heat in a predetermined manner :and which is shaped so as to create a natural flow of the liquid being heated within the percolator. Another object is to provide a percolator of a design in which there is little likelihood of trapping condensate therein. Another object is to provide connectors between the relatively flat heater sections which prevent entrapment of the liquid so as to prevent the overheating of any liquid which might otherwise become entrapped.

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Beer In Ads #1711: Good Taste

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Saturday’s ad is for Blatz Beer, from 1944. Having finally managed to grow some tomatoes on our back deck this year, this ad called to me, especially the copy “nothing can describe the thrilling good taste of red-ripe tomato fresh from your own Victory Garden!” I concur, though I’m not sure how it compares to a beer. Not even one that’s “Never sharp … never bitter … always mellow.”

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Patent No. 5458253A: Bottle Cap

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Today in 1995, US Patent 5458253 A was issued, an invention of Michael Shapcott, for his “Bottle Cap.” Here’s the Abstract:

A crown seal for sealing an opening of a bottle including a flange having between twenty-eight and thirty-two flutes around the circumference thereof. Each flute comprises depression having a generally triangular surface area between a pair of ridges. The additional flutes provide more points of contact with the bead are provided, ensuring a securement of increased strength between the crown and bottle.

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Patent No. 1006008A: Faucet-Auger

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Today in 1911, US Patent 1006008 A was issued, an invention of Stephen Noland Ross, for his “Faucet-Auger.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

My invention has relation to new and useful improvements in faucet-angers and the main object thereof is to produce a device of this kind that will be efficient in operation, durable, inexpensive to manufacture and one that will be economical in that with its use there is no waste of the contents of the barrel or keg upon which said auger is applied.

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Beer In Ads #1710: Let’s Get Together With A Friendly ’50’ Ale

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Friday’s ad is for Labatt’s ’50’ Ale, from 1956. This is another example of my theory that beer in the Fifties was much more “friendly” than today. I keep finding examples of beer companies at that time describing their beer as “friendly” in advertising, but this is the first Canadian example I’ve come across. I do love the backyard party scene, such a happy-looking gathering. How friendly, just like the beer.

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Patent No. 3765903A: Isomerised Hop Extract

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Today in 1973, US Patent 3765903 A was issued, an invention of Brian Clarke, Robert Hildebrand, David Lance, and Alexander White, assigned to Carton and United Breweries Ltd, for their “Isomerised Hop Extract.” Here’s the Abstract:

A process for the preparation of an isomerised hop extract for use in the flavouring of food or beverages which comprises adding to a solution of humulones or their salts a metal ion of calcium, magnesium, nickel, manganese or zinc, which metal ion forms with the humulones a metal ion-humulone complex which then precipitates from the solution. The metal ion-humulone complex is then heated in solid or paste state or in suspension or dissolved in an organic solvent to form a metal ion-isohumulone complex in high yield. The metal ion-isohumulone complex is substantially insoluble and can be used as a bittering additive, without regeneration to a soluble salt of isohumulone, by finely grinding such metal ion-isohumulone complex.

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Watney’s Happy Families

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The other night Boak & Bailey tweeted a photo of a UK eBay listing for a card game published in the 1930s by Watney Combe Reid & Co. LTD, brewers of Watney’s Red Barrel.

One of the many things I’m obsessed with is games. Since I was a kid, I’ve played them, collected them, and even created them. It’s just one more thing to add to the ever-growing list of things about which I’m particularly geeky. So I was already familiar with the card game Happy Families, which is a fairly simple game, and is somewhat similar to “Go Fish.” But I had no idea that a brewery had made their own version of the game.

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Based on the box, it was obviously a giveaway to advertise the Watney’s brand. Intrigued, I would have bought it on the spot, except that, as Boak & Bailey noted, the “Buy It Now” price was a hefty £64.95, or about $100. Beer writing, unfortunately, doesn’t pay well enough to indulge all of my whims. Still, I wanted to know more about the game, and set out to see what I could find.

It was apparently created in England in 1851, by John Jaques II, who was also responsible for inventing “Snakes and Ladders,” “Tiddlywinks,” “Ludo” and the pub favorite “Shove Ha’penny.” It often uses a custom deck of 32 cards, although the game can be played with a standard deck of 52 cards. Cartamundi has the rules online. In the Watney’s version, the rules are printed on the back of the cardboard box:

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In the Watney’s version, the families are the Barrels, the Cheerilads, the Combes, the Hops, the Malts, the Reids, the Stouts, and the Watneys. According to The World of Playing Cards:

Although the 1920s was a decade of optimism after the Great War, the Great Depression made the 1930s a difficult time. In Britain unemployment was widespread. As we see from these images, the woman was the homemaker and had a hairdo, and the man worked. The generation of children who grew up in the 1930s would go on to fight in World War II. They had their share of hardships and built strong values of hard work.

Below are the 32 cards from deck:

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For two of them, they apparently didn’t have a finished card, so here’s those cards taken from the eBay listing photos.

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Hopefully, I can find a less expensive deck of these cards. Great, another item to add to my Wishlist.

Patent No. 4963175A: Keg Cooler Tub

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Today in 1990, US Patent 4963175 A was issued, an invention of Donald E. Pace, for his “Keg Cooler Tub.” Here’s the Abstract:

A transportable keg cooler tub comprising a circular tub-like base with a pliable flexible canvas sleeve extending upwards from the top edge of the base. The sleeve enclosing a plastic liner in intimate contact with ice cubes filling the space between the liner and the enclosed beverage keg. A portion of the plastic liner pulled through an orifice on the bottom outside perimeter of the base providing drainage for the ice contained by the plastic liner.

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