Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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The Next Session Looks At The Elephants In The Room

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For the 103rd Session, our host will be Natasha Godard, who writes MetaCookBook. For her topic, she’s asking us to look around and acknowledge the elephant or elephants in the room, whichever one you’ve finally noticed, or as she explains it in her announcement for the September Session, “The Hard Stuff:”

“Beer” is its own subculture at this point. There’s an expected “look” and expected desires. Beer festivals are everywhere. Beer blogs flourish; indeed at this point there’s reasonable sub categories for them. New breweries are popping up at record pace; the US alone has more than 3,000. Big breweries are getting bigger, some are being purchased, some are saying that’s bullshit.

But we’re still fairly monolithic as a group. And there are a number of problems related to that tendency toward sameness. Not all problems related are personal, for example trademark disputes are becoming more commonplace as we all have the same “clever thought”.

We have such a good time with our libation of choice that sometimes we fear bringing up the issues we see.

Well, stop that. Air your concerns, bring up those issues. Show us what we’re not talking about and should be, and tell us why.

Pour us a liberal amount of The Hard Stuff.

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So start noticing the things that are right in front of you, but aren’t acknowledged or talked about in polite beer society, and let us know what you think is the hard stuff that we should bring up and face. Maybe we’ve been looking in the other direction and just didn’t see it, or maybe it’s staring us in the face and we just chose to ignore it. Either way, to participate in the September Session, leave a comment to the original announcement, on or before Friday, September 4.

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Beer In Ads #1653: Lager At Its Best!

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Wednesday’s ad is for Carlsberg, from 1956. This is the second similar ad for Carlsberg in the last few days using the “Call For Carlsberg” tagline along with the subheading “Lager at its best!” This one features a man hanging from the chandelier, as a bemused crowd below looks up. Chandelier man looks like he’s about to say something, but from the ad copy I think he’s just trying to order another beer from the bar and doesn’t want to stand in line with the rest of the hoi polloi. Kind of a dick move when you get right down to it.

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Patent No. WO1993016167A1: Concentrated Beer Flavor Product

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Today in 1993, US Patent WO 1993016167 A1 was issued, an invention of James Allan Doncheck, Bruce John Morton, Michael Rudolph Sfat, and Ann Christine Wege, assigned to Bio Tech Resources, for their “Concentrated Beer Flavor Product.” Here’s the Abstract:

A process for forming a beer flavored concentrate by germinating barely (e.g., in the presence of the enzyme promoting agent gibberellic acid) to produce a green malt of approximately 43 % moisture content that is heated in a closed container at 85° to 95 °C for 2 to 6 hours (i.e., raising the internal bed temperature to 70° to 89 °C for one half to 3 hours) to reduce amylolytic enzyme activity. By kiln drying in an opened container (e.g. at 50° to 65 °C for 12 to 18 hours) an amylolytic enzyme deficient green malt of 3.5 to 5.5 wt.% moisture content is produced. This dried malt when used to make a mash (e.g. upon grinding and the addition of brewing water) results in the preparation of a wort that when boiled and pitched with brewers yeast can be fermented by conventional methods. The fermented wot can be diluted with water to yield a malt beverage containing less than 0.5 volume % alcohol and less than 40 calories per 12 ounces or alternatively concentrated by vacuum evaporation, freeze concentration, spray-drying and/or freeze drying to produce an intense beer flavored product.

I’m not sure if it’s the same or not, but Pat’s Backcountry Beverages started offering something similar for sale recently, which Gizmodo tested in We Drank Beer Concentrate So You Don’t Have To.
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Beer In Ads #1652: If You Want To Feel Heroic …

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Tuesday’s ad is for Double Diamond, from 1951, which by that time was part of Ind Coope. It’s part of their “works wonders” series featuring the “Double Diamond Man.” After drinking a Double Diamond, it appears that DDM believes he can stop an armed bank robber singlehandedly. The DDM reminds me of a cross between John Cleese and Rumpole of the Bailey. The ad copy almost sounds like their encouraging such behavior. Dutch courage is one thing, but I’m not sure suggesting drinking a beer will make you a hero is necessarily a good message.

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Patent No. D46298S: Design For A Bottle-Opener

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Today in 1914, US Patent D46298 S was issued, an invention of John L. Sommer, for his “Design for a Bottle-Opener.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this very short description, claiming that he has “invented a new, original and ornamental Design for a Bottle-Opener.” I bet you could make these today and they’d still be popular.
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Patent No. PP20227P3: Hop Plant Named ‘Super Galena’

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Today in 2009, US Patent PP20227 P3 was issued, an invention of Roger D. Jeske and Joe Brulotte, assigned to S.S. Steiner, Inc., for their “Hop Plant Named ‘Super Galena.'” Here’s the Abstract:

A novel variety of hop, Humulus lupulus L., named “Super Galena” is disclosed. “Super Galena” has relatively high contents of bitter acids, beta-acids, total oil, and humulene, and a moderate, pleasant aroma. “Super Galena” is comparable to Galena in its aroma and bitterness profile but offers a substantially higher yield and complete resistance to hop powdery mildew strains found in Washington, United States. The new variety was discovered among the progeny of a sexual cross made in 1998 in Yakima, Wash., United States and has been asexually reproduced and assessed in field plots in Prosser, Wash., United States.

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Beer In Ads #1651: Have A Glass Of Guinness When You’re Tired

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Monday’s ad is for Guinness, from 1945. I’m not sure who looks sadder, the camel laden down with ten levels of boxes, barrels and sacks or the dude trying to lead the ship of the desert. I guess neither of them is moving until they get a beer. The illustration feels different then many of the classic Guinness ads, but it was done by John Gilroy, who did most of their iconic ads.

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Patent No. 2447122A: Hop Picking Machine

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Today in 1948, US Patent 2447122 A was issued, an invention of Emil C. Horst Jr., for his “Hop Picking Machine.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

There are two types of hop picking machines in general use at the present time, to wit, a stationary and a portable type. Where stationary machines are used, the hop vines are cut ofi in the fields and loaded on trucks or wagons and hauled into the stationary machine where they are removed and attached to grasper bars which pull the hop vines between revolving drums or traveling belts equipped with V-shaped wire fingers which comb the vines and strip or remove the hops and most of the leaves. The picked hops and leaves are then delivered to separator belts where the leaves and stems and other foreign material are separated from the hops, and clean hop-s are finally obtained.

The portable type of machine operates in substantially the same manner, the principal difference being that the portable machine travels in the fields where the hops grow, and as the machine advances, the hop vines are cut down and attached directly to grasper bars which pull the vines through the machine with the result that the hops and leaves are stripped on and then delivered to separators to finally obtain the clean hops.

From the foregoing, it will be noted that whether a portable or stationary machine is employed, the hop vines must be cut off and attached to grasper bars in order to feed or pull them through the machines where the stripping operation takes place.

The object of the present invention is to provide a new method and machine whereby hops can be picked directly from the vines in the field without the necessity of cutting the vines free from the plant or root from which they grow; to provide a portable machine which straddles and travels along a row of hop vines and as it travels, combs the hop vines in an upward direction thereby more efficiently removing the which can singly and in clusters generally beneath the leaves and arms of the hop Vines; and further, to provide a machine in which grasper bars together with associated mechanism is entirely eliminated and the machine proper very materially simplified, this being accomplished by providing a roller which rolls over the stalk the vine and with sufficient traction to pull the vine downwardly through the combing or picking fingers of the machine as the machine advances.

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Patent No. 166742A: Improvement In Beer-Refrigerators

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Today in 1875, US Patent 166742 A was issued, an invention of John K. Bohaet, for his “Improvement in Beer-Refrigerators.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The object of this invention is to furnish an improved refrigerator for cooling lager-beer in the keg, and which shall be so constructed as to cool the beer quickly, and keep it cool for a long time with a small quantity of ice, and which shall be simple in construction, convenient in use, and very compact, requiring but little space. The invention consists in the beer-refrigerator formed of the skid, the ice-box, and the outer box or case, constructed as hereinafter fully described, to adapt it to receive a beer-keg, as set forth.

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Beer In Ads #1650: Take Away The Beer You First Thought Of

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Sunday’s ad is for Whitbread Pale Ale, from 1958. A couple who appears to have been doing some shopping have stopped to peer in a window displaying Whitbread Pale Ale in the window. The sign has the curious phrase “Take away the beer you first thought of.” “Take away” I understand, for which we usually say “to go,” but the rest I don’t understand. “The beer [I] first thought of?” When? Just now? When I had my very first thought about beer? I assume it’s a British idiom that makes sense to an Englishmen, but is incomprehensible to us crass Americans.

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