Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Politics & Big Beer Brands

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politics-balloons
Here’s a curious piece of data, showing how which big beer brand you prefer may determine how likely you are to vote in the upcoming election and whether you lean more to the Democratic side of the aisle, or the Republican. The poll was conducted by Scarborough Research and the results written up in the National Journal as What Your Beer Says About Your Politics.

But it’s only the big brands that were tallied, the domestics and the most popular imports. The only one close to craft is Samuel Adams, who in most people’s mind, I think, is straddling both worlds right now. Even so, there are a few surprising results, at least to my mind. I would not have thought, for example, Samuel Adams drinkers would skew so heavily Republican. Maybe it’s the naked jingoism, the patriotic perception of the brand, I don’t know.

The other one that surprised me was that Heineken skewed so far on the Democratic side. I tend to think of Heineken as a brand that people who don’t know any better think is a high end, premium brand, in the same way bald, middle-aged men drive Corvettes to recapture their youth, not realizing it’s no longer the hip car it once was. But maybe that’s just my own bias. In any sort of polling, I rarely fall under the “typical” findings.

Take a look at the chart below and see what you think. Does it make sense to you?

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The chart is tough to see this small, but you can see it full size, or look at on the original National Journal post.

Beer From Beard Yeast, Yes; From Vaginas, No

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women
You most likely remember that Rogue harvested some yeast from the beard of their longtime brewmaster, John Maier, and White Labs analyzed it and propagated a brewing yeast that Rogue in turn used to brew a beer with. Not everyone responded favorably to the news, but in terms of attention and publicity, it’s been a huge hit, with almost every news agency, website and blog writing about it. I made it the subject of part of one of my newspaper columns back in July. A Google search of “rogue beard beer” turns up over 1.4 million hits.

But just when you think things can’t get any weirder, my wife — who’s been working in Shanghai this week — just sent me an article from a feminist blog she reads regularly, Jezebel. Inspired by John Maier’s beard beer exploits, they wrote an article about one more place known for its occasional yeast production that we can write off as a place to harvest for brewing. The article, entitled Just So You Know, You Can’t Make Beer With Your Vagina, answers the question I’m not sure anyone was asking. But now that I know there is an answer, I can’t look away. It’s like that car crash on the side of the road. I know I shouldn’t look, but I just can’t help myself.

Beginning with the premise that “[y]east is everywhere, even (as we ladies well know) buried deep inside our vaginas, waiting to go bad and ruin our week at any moment,” they wonder if anyone could “turn a yeast infection into a full-bodied IPA.” At this point, I’ll let author
Madeleine Davies share the results.

We did some research and, in a word, no. The yeast used in beer is a completely different strain of yeast than the one that causes yeast infections. And there goes your artisanal brewery idea!

The yeast used in beer is called Saccharomyces cerevisiae and works by converting carbohydrates to carbon dioxide and alcohols. This is also the yeast used in bread, which is why baking yeast can be used to brew beer, though it generally makes the end product doughy in flavor and texture. Yeast infections are caused by Candida albicans, a fungus that grows as both yeast and filamentous cells and can cause oral and genital infections in humans. Using this to brew would be entirely ineffective, not to mention, guh-ross.

So there you have it. No vagina beer. I, for one, am relieved. It was one thing to have Sam Calagione and his team spitting in his Peruvian-style chicha beer, and Maier’s beard never bothered me too much, because White Labs removed any lingering ick factor by growing the yeast in their San Diego lab. But in the on-going quest to push the envelope, generate publicity and maybe even make something worth drinking, this may be crossing a line. What do you think?

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Close, but no vagina.

Beer Institute Releases Results Of New Beer Drinkers Poll

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According to the Beer Institute (BI), recent economic analysis has revealed “that brewing and importing accounted for $223.8 billion in the economic output of the United States — with employees earning nearly $71.2 billion wages and benefits, and generating more than $44 billion taxes. In 2010, the last year tax statistics were available, 45 percent of what every beer drinker paid for a beer went to taxes of some kind, which “makes taxes the most expensive ingredient in your beer,” Joe McClain, president of the BI, stated.

The Beer Institute has just released a national poll of 1,000 likely voters, which found strong opposition to increasing taxes on beer. Nine out of 10 voters in the poll agreed that “raising taxes on beer will mean working class consumers will have to pay more.”

The poll also found that self-identified “beer drinkers” are a larger proportion of the electorate than self-identified supporters of either the Tea Party of Occupy Wall Street movement, and were evenly split between Republican and Democratic parties.

Beer drinkers are also more political than the average likely voter:

  • 68 percent of regular beer drinkers say they discuss what’s going on in the presidential campaign with friends or co-workers.
  • 66 percent of regular beer drinkers say they are going to be watching the presidential debates, meaning they are more likely to watch presidential debates than watch the World Series or an NFL game.
  • 25 percent say they will likely donate or contribute money to a political party, cause, or candidate running for public office.
  • 14 percent (or one out of seven) beer drinkers say they will likely volunteer for a political party, cause, or on the campaign for a candidate running this year.

65 Major Brewery Projects In The Works

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factory
According to a press release by the Industrial Info Resources, there are at least “65 major capital and maintenance projects in the beer brewing segment that are under development or recently have started construction.” The public press release is very short, more of a tease really, as they want you to become a member and subscribe to their information. For just $5.95, I could read the terse 290-word press release, or instead I can tell you what they’re willing to tell is for free.

SUGAR LAND–September 27, 2012—Researched by Industrial Info Resources (Sugar Land, Texas)—Beer brewers, both large and small, are pouring investments into building new facilities and expanding existing operations to the tune of more than $800 million. Industrial Info has uncovered more than 65 major capital and maintenance projects in the beer brewing segment that are under development or recently have started construction. Project investment values range from $1 million to just more than $100 million.

European Breweries Map

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Pop Chart Lab, who have tackled beer before in graphic form, have just released their newest creation, a map of the Breweries of Europe. At their website, it’s an interactive map, and you can also purchase a poster of it. As Charlie Papazian points out (in his Tweet where I learned about the map), it’s “not complete but pretty good.” It’s hard to see the detail when it’s small, but at Pop Chart Lab’s website, the map is interactive, so you can zoom in to see all of the detail.

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Beer In Ads #702: No Deposit, No Sediment

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Wednesday’s ad makes quite some bold claims. It appears to be a 19th century ad for the newly modernized Notting Hill Brewery Co., which had just started a “revolution in English Bottled Beer Produced Entirely on a New System.” I especially love the twin banners, that don’t quite seem to work together: “No Deposit” and “No Sediment.”

Notting-Hill

Naked Beer Cans

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This is an interesting design, generic beer cans, made to look as if they were essentially clear and showing the contents inside, albeit in an idealized way. They were created by Timur Salikhov, a designer from St. Petersburg, Russia.

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He starts with the premise “Why hide what good beer looks like?”

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And then he designed the cans to appear as if they were a freshly poured glass of beer. It’s fun concept and apparently he’d like to sell the idea to a brewery. I think the only unfortunate aspect of his design is that without additional branding on the package, it may look too generic. BUt it sure looks like a beer I’d like to open.

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Boston Investment Firm Buys Into Utah Craft Brewer

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squatters wasatch
The Boston Herald is reporting that investment firm Fireman Capital Partners is making a “major investment” in the Salt Lake City brewer Utah Beers, which owns both Wasatch and Squatter’s Pub. According to the story, the investment will be used to “support the expansion of the Squatters and Wasatch brewer’s distribution, marketing and brew pub business.”

Currently, “Squatters and Wasatch beer is sold in 12 states and the company operates five brew pubs and restaurants in Salt Lake and Park City, Utah.” Squatters co-founder Peter Cole was also quoted in the piece. “This investment opens the door to the next level for Squatters and Wasatch, and provides the financial firepower and expertise we need to meet rapidly growing demand for our beer and to reach new markets.”