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Marzen Madness 2013

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basketball
I may not be college basketball’s biggest fan, but I do still enjoy March Madness every year. The tournament is usually a fun diversion for a few weeks each year, so for the third straight year, I’ve set up a fantasy game, similar to fantasy football. It’s a bracket game through Yahoo which I call “Märzen Madness.” It doesn’t look like there’s a limit to the number of people who can play, so sign up and make your picks before March 19, which is when the first games take place.

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To join Märzen Madness and play the Yahoo! Sports Tournament Pick’em game, just follow this instructions below. You’ll also need a Yahoo ID (which is free if you don’t already have one).

To accept the invitation, just follow this invitation link. For reference, here’s the group information.

Group ID#: 17084
Password: beer

Good luck everybody.

marzen-madness

Limited Release Beer’s Pliny the Younger Video

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pliny-the-younger
During this year’s Pliny the Younger release day at Russian River Brewing last month, I met Ron and Rob, who have embarked on creating a video series of rare beer releases under the banner of Limited Release Beer. The idea is to go around the country documenting the brouhaha surrounding each rare beer’s release. So far they’ve done videos for Portsmouth’s Kate the Great, Three Floyd’s Dark Lord, Surly’s Darkness, and the Bruery’s Black Tuesday. The latest video, of course, was just released, and it was this year’s Pliny the Younger.

The video runs about 17 minutes, and includes some background history and information, the day itself, a nice interview with Vinnie Cilurzo talking about Pliny, a Mission Impossible-style animation of stealing some Pliny to take back to their “expert taster,” which turned out to be a trick. I assume that must be part of each episode, and they included it only because it’s in the other episodes, too. Then they finish up with their take on the event and some tips to help you survive the next one. All in all, a fun effort.

Limited Release – Episode 5, Pliny the Younger from Limited Release Beer on Vimeo.

Beer In Ads #823: Einstein’s Theory Of Relativity

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Thursday’s ad is for the South African SAB brand Hofbrau Premium Lager. It’s not particularly old, having been created in 1998, but since today is Albert Einstein’s birthday it seemed an appropriate ad for today. I assume it’s the same amount of beer, but because there are two different size glasses, our perception of how much beer is in each is relative to the size of the glass.

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Ninkasi Brewing Process

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beer-ingredients
Today’s infographic shows the brewing process at Ninkasi Brewing in Eugene, Oregon. I’ve seen a lot of these diagrams, and even started collecting them this year in a Tumblr, Visualize Brewing, but this is one of the coolest ones I’ve seen. The detail is great, which you can see better looking at it full size.

Ninkasi
Click here to see the poster full size, and you can also download a pdf of it at the Ninkasi website.

The Chemistry Of Alcohol & Hangovers

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science
Just in time for St. Patrick’s Day this Sunday, the American Chemical Society released a video today as part of their Byte Size Science program all about The Chemistry of Alcohol and Hangovers.

AlcoholHangovers2013

For those celebrating St. Patrick’s Day with green beer, moderation is key. Alcohol has several negative effects on your body — many of which can amount to a miserable morning after. Find out the science behind those brutal hangovers and alcohol’s other effects on the body in our latest video, and maybe we can inspire some caution in your celebration this year.

Doubtful, but it’s certainly worth a try. The video below was created by the ACS Office of Public Affairs, explaining “the science behind these unpleasant after-effects that excessive drinking can have on the body.” DOn’t say you haven’t been warned.

Beer In Ads #822: Hamm’s Photo Shoot

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Wednesday’s ad is for Hamm’s, from 1949. The beer in the ad is Hamm’s Preferred Stock Beer, and it’s pretty clear that this isn’t the whole ad, that part of it is cut off, but I’m guessing this is the main graphic element. With the looks on the people’s faces, I’m not sure what they’re going for with this scene. Anybody want to hazard a guess? All I can say is there’s more than meets the eye.

Hamms-1949

Beers of the World

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beer-glasses
Today’s infographic is another of those “Beers of the World” posters that were popular once upon a time. This one’s from the UK, and I found it at an online shop website, ekm powershop, though the individual shop, ogw posters, selling the poster appears to have been suspended. It looks older, but I’m not sure from when. Of the 66 bottles, only Samuel Adams, Rolling Rock, Budweiser, Miller Genuine Draft and Brooklyn Lager are American brands. Of those, Brooklyn Brewery is the newest, having started in 1988. So it’s at least older than that.

beers-of-the-world-bottles-poster
Click here to see the poster full size.