Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Beer In Ads #1423: Ski Patrol To The Rescue

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Friday’s ad is for Michelob Light, from 1978. The ad features Monique St. Pierre, who was Playboy magazine’s Playmate of the Month for the November 1978 issue and the 1979 Playmate of the Year. The German-born model is portraying a a member of the ski patrol, but her St. Bernard “Suds” has a six-pack of Michelob Light around his neck, rather than the traditional barrel of brandy. Unfortunately the brandy barrel being carried by a St. Bernard to warm trapped skiers or hikers in the Alps is a myth.

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Session #95: Beer Books Yet To Be Written

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Our 95th Session is hosted is Alan McLeod — his third time at the reins — who writes A Good Beer Blog. He’s chosen a very simple topic, but one with as many possibilities as their are books in the Library of Congress. The January topic can be expressed in one simple sentence. “What beer book which has yet to be written would you like to see published?” But for a bit more about what he’s looking for, read through his explanatory I Answer The Call! Again I Host!!!

What is the book you would want to write about good beer? What book would you want to read? Is there a dream team of authors your would want to see gathered to make that “World Encyclopedia of Beer and Brewing”? Or is there one person you would like to see on a life long generous pension to assure that the volumes flow from his or her pen? Let us know.

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For me, what’s missing in the world of beer books, are craft beers intruding into fiction. Brands of all kinds help define characters, perhaps more so in fiction than in reality, because they can be a code for the kind of person an author has created that we all understand. It goes back, in my mind, to something that Michael Jackson used to say when explaining why beer deserved more respect. He’d use the analogy that no one goes into a restaurant and asks the waiter to bring him some food the way that people are so often portrayed in books, television and movies as sidling up to a bar and saying “gimme a beer.”

Whenever I saw Michael, one of the topics that inevitably came up was books. One of the first I remember him recommending to me was The Last Fine Time, a novel by Verlyn Klinkenborg published in 1990. It tells the tale of a family in Buffalo, New York who own a bar and how it changes over several generations. It was years ago that I read it, but I recall enjoying it a great deal.

But it reminds me that most books in which beer appears are either older and use old brands or generic beer. I have seen a few book that have beer in them, but not really as much more than an afterthought, unless they’re a memoir. That always seemed strange since beer is so popular and is the most popular adult beverage. You’d think it would figure more highly in literature, and yet it seems curiously absent. To be fair, I don’t read nearly as much fiction as I did when I was younger, so maybe I’m just missing it.

Several times over the years I’ve suggested to various beer magazine publishers that they start including short stories involving beer and have even suggested an annual contest, similar to Playboy’s annual college fiction contest, for the best short story involving beer as a central feature of the tale. Sadly, none have ever agreed, though I don’t know why. It always seemed like a natural to me.

I’ve also thought a Granta-like book/magazine, perhaps annually, that collected beer fiction could work, too, but I’m not sure I’m up to the task of taking on another project. Still, I’d really love to see more beer-fueled fiction. Somebody needs to write the Great American Beer Novel.

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But failing fictive folios, what beer books would I like to see? I certainly like Alan’s suggestion for a “World Encyclopedia of Beer and Brewing,” but otherwise I’m at a loss, beyond my own list of book ideas I want to pitch.

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I have at least a dozen book ideas in various stages of development, but personally I can’t wait to do my coffee table book featuring all of my photographs of brewery hoses that I’ve taking at breweries around the world for more than ten years. I expect to sell maybe twenty copies, but I still want to do it as a labor of love. I may have to self-publish that one. I’m fairly certain there aren’t a great number of people waiting for that one.

Patent No. 3782609A: Keg Tapping Assembly

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Today in 1974, US Patent 3782609 A was issued, an invention of Homer R. Zucconi, for a “Keg Tapping Assembly.” Here’s the Abstract:

A keg tapping assembly comprising a tavern unit having two prongs which are sleeve-like with tapered ends to unseat the two spring closed valves of a permanently attached keg unit detachably connected to the top central hole of a keg, upon insertion into the keg unit. The invention embodies an attachment having two bores through which said prongs are detachably fitted and having serrated terminal connections onto which hoses may be slip-fitted for attachment, respectively, to a tap rod insertable in the top center opening and to a valved outlet connection at the bottom of the keg. By simply unplugging the tavern unit from the keg unit and plugging it into said attachment it is selectively usable on either a conventional single connection tap or on the older double connection tap.

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Beer In Ads #1421: Handsome Gift For The New Year

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Wednesday’s holiday ad for Carlsberg, from who knows when. Admittedly it’s an ad for the Chinese New Year, but there’s a distinct lack of New Year’s Eve ads that I haven’t used before. This ad was for Singapore and “the Federation” which may help identify its age. Your “Handsome Gift for the New Year” is a free Carlsberg pint glass with every carton you buy.

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The Drunkometer

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Here’s an interesting piece of history. Today, New Year’s Eve, in 1938, police in Indianapolis, Indiana used the first commercial test to discover scientifically if a person had been drinking alcohol and if so, how much. December 31, 1938 saw the debut of the Drunkometer, designed by Rolla Neil Harger, a chemistry professor at Indiana University. He began working on the device in the 1930s, and patented it in 1936.

The drunkometer collected a motorist’s breath sample directly into a balloon inside the machine. The breath sample was then pumped through an acidified potassium permanganate solution. If there was alcohol in the breath sample, the solution changed color. The greater the color change, the more alcohol there was present in the breath. The drunkometer was manufactured and sold by Stephenson Corporation of Red Bank, New Jersey.

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Dorothy Brengel helps W.D. Foden, Chairman of Statler Safety Committee, demonstrate the “Drunkometer”, a breath tests for alcohol, on display at the Greater New York Safety Council, Hotel Statler, March 28, 1950. For the preliminary test, the breath of the suspect is collected in a balloon and passed through a purple fluid (potassium permanganate and sulphuric acid) to see if it changes color. The breath of a non-drinking person will cause no change. If the purple color disappears, the amount of breath required to accomplish this indicates the approximate accumulation of alcohol in the blood. (AP/Carl Nesensohn)

In 1938, on New Year’s Eve, police in Indianapolis put a new piece of technology through its first practical test.

They used a breath analyzer to determine if someone had been drinking. What was then called the “Drunkometer” was based on the same idea as modern breathalyzers: a person blows into a bag, which contains chemicals that react according to how much alcohol is on a person’s breath.

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The Daily Dose gives a good account of its early use:

Thanks to the end of Prohibition and a boom in car sales, drunk driving had become a fast-growing problem in America in the 1930s. But on this New Year’s Eve, police in Indianapolis, Indiana went out armed with a new weapon to fight against people who had gotten behind the wheel after having too much to drink.

It’s a contraption called a “drunkometer” and it’s the invention of an Indiana University chemist named Rolla Harger. He had been working on the device since the early 1930s and had patented it two years earlier. The concept behind the drunkometer was pretty basic. Drivers suspected of being drunk were asked to breathe into a rubber balloon, which was attached to a tube of purple liquid—a weak solution of potassium permanganate in sulphuric acid.

If there was alcohol on their breath, the chemical solution changed color–the darker it got, the more alcohol they had in their system. From the shade of the liquid, the cops could use a simple equation to estimate the alcohol level in a person’s bloodstream. Previously, the only way police could check a driver’s alcohol level was to get a blood or urine sample; Neither was a very practical option on the roadside. While the drunkometer looked a bit like a mini chemistry set, it was portable, able to fit into a small suitcase.

Harger made the device as simple as possible so that judges and juries would understand how it worked and police officers could easily be trained to use it. He also made the drunkometer hard to beat. Experiments showed that no illness affected the result, and that nothing a person might eat – garlic, cloves, strong onions – would make any difference. Once police started using it, the drunkometer was found to have another advantage. A dramatic change in the color of the liquid could often make people admit how much they had drunk.

Sometimes Harger would ride along with the police to see how his invention was being used. What he discovered was that a lot more people were driving drunk than he ever imagined.

The drunkometer was used by police departments all over the country until the 1950s when it was replaced by the breathalyzer, invented by another Indiana University professor, Robert Borkenstein. The breathalyzer is a much smaller and more sophisticated device that uses infrared spectroscopy to measure blood alcohol levels.

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Tallahassee police officer with a Harger “Drunkometer” breathalyzer machine, photo taken in 1953.

The Drunkometer was replaced by the Breathalyzer in 1954, but for sixteen years was the way police nabbed drunk drivers. But who came up with that name? Happy New Year! Be careful out there.

Beer In Ads #1420: The Pabst Ski Lodge

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Tuesday’s holiday ad for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1946. IN a scene that looks like it’s after a long day skiing, a couple is relaxing back in the lodge, by the fireplace, as the man is serving mugs of Pabst. “Order it with Confidence … Serve it with Pride.” I’m not sure about the smile on him, it looks a little creepy to me. So maybe they’re not a couple after all, her smile seems a bit forced, so maybe this is a pickup attempt?

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Who Owns What

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As the year’s winding down, I noticed this article from Booze News from last week entitled America’s Fastest Growing Beer Brands. While the article itself offered few insights, I noticed a graphic depicting which beer companies owned which brands. The graphic was taken from a Gizmodo article that ran a little over a year ago about Who Actually Owns Your Favorite Beers. I added one or two to ABI’s stable of brands, but otherwise a year on it’s still fairly accurate. If there’s any that need to be added, or changed, let me know in the comments and I’ll see what I can do.

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I think you can see the chart full size here. If not, try here instead.

Beer In Ads #1419: Seasons Greetings From Robbin Bain

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Monday’s holiday ad for Rheingold Beer, from 1959, and features Miss Rheingold from that year, Robbin Bain. Sitting in a beautiful white dress, wrapping the last presents, in front of a fully decorated Christmas tree — that’s got to be at least an eight-footer! — and it certainly looks like a holiday party should be taking place any minute.

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