Today in 1976, US Patent 3946780 A was issued, an invention of John C. Sellers, for his “Fermentation Container.” Here’s the Abstract:
A flexible fermentation container which has, in place of the common air lock, a diaphragm having a Gurley porosity of 2 to 120 seconds. The diaphragm material, such as spun bonded polyethylene, allows fermentation gases to pass out of the container, but does not allow bacteria or other contaminants to enter.
Sunday’s ad is still another one for Budweiser, this one from, I think, the late 1950s. It’s another ad from their “Where there’s life” series, this one is called “Relax.” A man who’s made some questionable fashion choices relaxes while an unseen feminine hand pours him a glass of beer, which — as is usual for these ads — is about to overflow as the glass is full and the bottle’s nowhere near empty.
Today in 1995, US Patent EP 0645094 A1 was issued, an invention of Rooijen Rutger Jan Van, Peter Johannes Schoppink, and Ronald Baankreis, for their “Improvement of Gas and Alcohol Production by Yeast.” Here’s the Abstract:
Introduction of futile cycles in the glycolytic pathway of yeast strains enables enhanced gas production and ethanol production under stress conditions, e.g. in a sugar-rich dough having a sugar content of higher than 3% weight percentage based on flour, e.g. 20%, or at high ethanol concentration in an industrial ethanol production process.
Beer, of course, is an agricultural product, two of its main ingredients are very dependent on a good harvest. Both hops and barley (and other grains such as wheat and rye) grow best when they’re planted in the right place and the conditions are present to encourage their best selves. I received an e-mail a few days ago with the intriguing message. “Bees pollinate 1/3 of our food, including the hops used to make beer. Save the bees, save the beer.”
The e-mail was about an Indiegogo campaign to create a “community open to anyone who cares about bees, the environment and food,” called BeeWithMe, which will consist of “a dynamic new website that teaches people how easy and fun it is to raise a diverse range of gentle bees.” Unless you’ve been cryogenically frozen recently, you no doubt have heard that bees are disappearing from our environment, which could have devastating consequences for our food supply and our life cycle more generally. Find out how to participate at You Can Help Save the Bees, which begins:
Imagine a world without bees. There would be no blueberries, no cherries, no pumpkins – not even beer.
Here’s the problem: Most farmers depend on a single type of bee to pollinate our food and that bee, the honey bee, has been struggling.
You can be part of the solution and protect our food supply by raising gentle, native bees in your backyard or supporting someone else who does.
Keep your favorite foods on the table by contributing today and joining the BeeWithMe network that will collaborate to raise more native bees and grow more food.
Most of the pledge levels involve getting your own bees, some to simply release in your back yard, up to everything you need to raise your own bees. There are also teacher’s packages for classrooms and levels for entire garden clubs and communities. Please bee generous. And remember, save the bees, save the beer.
Today in 1995, US Patent EP 0645342 A1 was issued, an invention of Robert Bernard Harwood Cook, for his “Safety Dispensing Valve.” Here’s the Abstract:
A spear valve assembly (5) has a valve body (14) for engagement with a keg neck (3) and a skirt (17) on the valve body (14) including openings (18) for the throughflow of beer during filling. A downtube assembly (12) is movable relative to the valve body (14) and the skirt (17) and includes a downtube (12) for projecting into beer in a keg. A locking member (7) is carried by the downtube assembly (12) and is arranged to project through at least one further opening (19) in the skirt. In use, the locking member (7) normally prevents the spear valve assembly (5) from being ejected from a beer keg by engagement behind the keg neck. However, for removal of the spear valve assembly (5) the downtube assembly (12) is tilted relative to the skirt (17) to retract the locking element (7).
Today in 2005, US Patent 6871579 B2 was issued, an invention of Evgeny Konstantinovich Belkin, Andrei Arkadievich Peshkin, Vladimir Gennadievich Matveev, Leonid Mikhailovich Prikhozhan, and Yury Vasilievich Artamonov, for their “Device For Producing Beer and a Unit for After-Fermentation.” Here’s the Abstract:
The invention relates to the food industry. In order to reduce sales expenses and preserve the taste of beer, the inventive device is provided by i-number communication units, necessary for operational connection and disconnection of i-number units for after-fermentation, and each of i-number units for after-fermentation is embodied in such a way so that it is transportable, thermally insulated, hermetic, protected from deposited yeast mixing with non-filtrated beer while transportation and can be connected to a cooling system, arranged at a point of sale and/or dispense.
Saturday’s ad is another one for Budweiser, this one from, I think, the early 1960s. It’s another ad from their “Where there’s life” series, this one is called “Saturday Night.” A couple are out for dinner on, presumably, a Saturday night, or maybe just having drinks, as there’s only a basket of bread on the table. Those are some large looking glasses of beer.
Today in 1916, US Patent 1177529 A was issued, an invention of Frederick Marquardt, for his “Beer-Faucet.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that the “invention is to provide a faucet especially adapted to be used for dispensing beer, ale orthe like, and the faucet is provided with a meter which is operated by the passage of the liquid through the same to register the quantities of liquid drawn through the faucet.”
The debut film of auteur filmmaker Quentin Tarantino was the violent heist film Reservoir Dogs. I remember being blown away by it when I saw it in the theatre when it was released in 1992, and especially the stylish opening credits scene with the principal characters walking down an alley in slow-motion to the nearly forgotten 1970s hit Little Green Bag by the George Baker Selection.
One of my favorite devices is that the six characters involved in the heist are each given code names so they won’t accidentally reveal their names during the diamond robbery and be able to give away each other’s identities should they be caught. Here’s the main cast, in order of their appearance in the slow-motion opening credits:
Earlier this month, Brazilian art student Peter de Andrade, for a school project created a series of beer labels based on the film, using “cães de aluguel,” which translates in Portuguese to, of course, Reservoir Dogs. The artist created the labels as if they were brewed by the Brazilian brewery Cervejaria Wäls, which each label and type of beer based on the film character’s code name color. As far as I know, Wäls was not involved and isn’t planning on making the Reservoir Dogs beers. Coincientally, there is a Reservoir Dogs Brewery in Slovenia.
Mr. White, a Pilsner
Mr. Blonde, an Ale, presumably a Blonde Ale
Mr. Blue, a Weisss beer
Mr. Brown, a Stout
Mr. Orange, an Amber Ale
It’s a pretty cool idea, and I’d love to see the actual beer made. There’s really only one question about all of this. Where the hell is Mr. Pink?
Today in 1967, US Patent 3311267 A was issued, an invention of James E. Houston, Ryals E. Lee,and George M. Norman, for their “Measuring Attachment for Beer Keg or the Like.” There’s no Abstract, but the description states that the “invention relates to the dispensing of liquids including beer from closed opaque kegs or containers subjected to pressure to discharge the contents and with regard to which it is desirable to be able to determine the amount of liquid contained at any particular time between the initial dispensing and exhausting of the contents of such keg or container.” There’s not much more, but they explain its object:
It is an object of the invention to provide a simple, practical, readily usable, measuring attachment for a beer keg or the like, which can be quickly applied and removed, and by means of which an immediate reading of the contents can be made at any time.
