Friday’s ad is the last bicentennial ad for Schaefer beer in the series. This one uses the ad copy. “In the early 1800s beers were dark, and people hid them in leather steins. Then, in 1842, Schaefer introduced a beer worth looking at.” This one also doesn’t try to make them sound 200 years old. And it does feature another beautiful drinking vessel — although I’m not fond of that leather one — and yet more impossibly perfect foam.
The March issue of Science, touted as “the world’s leading journal of original scientific research, global news and commentary, included an article entitled Sexual Deprivation Increases Ethanol Intake in Drosophila. Which may not mean much, until you realize that in plain English it’s essentially “fruit flies who’ve had their sexual advances rejected drink more alcohol.” Here’s the abstract:
The brain’s reward systems reinforce behaviors required for species survival, including sex, food consumption, and social interaction. Drugs of abuse co-opt these neural pathways, which can lead to addiction. Here, we used Drosophila melanogaster to investigate the relationship between natural and drug rewards. In males, mating increased, whereas sexual deprivation reduced, neuropeptide F (NPF) levels. Activation or inhibition of the NPF system in turn reduced or enhanced ethanol preference. These results thus link sexual experience, NPF system activity, and ethanol consumption. Artificial activation of NPF neurons was in itself rewarding and precluded the ability of ethanol to act as a reward. We propose that activity of the NPF–NPF receptor axis represents the state of the fly reward system and modifies behavior accordingly.
Science Magazine’s News Blog featured the article in more layman’s terms as Sexually Rejected Flies Turn to Booze, and described the results as follows.
Offer a male fruit fly a choice between food soaked in alcohol and its nonalcoholic equivalent, and his decision will depend on whether he’s mated recently or been rejected by a female. Flies that have been given the cold shoulder are more likely to go for the booze, researchers have found. It’s the first discovery, in fruit flies, of a social interaction that influences future behavior.
Apparently that’s not the outcome the scientists expected.
The researchers expected all of the flies to prefer alcohol, but that’s not what they found. “You see that the mated males actually have an aversion to the alcohol-containing food,” Shohat-Ophir says. “And the rejected males have a high preference to that food with alcohol.” On average, the rejected males drank four times more alcohol than the mated ones, her team reports.
In the New York Times’ coverage — Learning From the Spurned and Tipsy Fruit Fly — they make the leap to human addiction, which I find a little troubling. “Fruit flies apparently self-medicate just like many humans do, drowning their sorrows or frustrations for some of the same reasons.” Which is okay, so far, but then they quote an alcohol addiction researcher who was not involved in the study, Dr. Markus Heilig, who believes the study “also supported new approaches to treating alcohol dependence,” including the investigation of “several compounds aimed at blunting alcohol urges.” And earlier in the Times’ reporting, they state that the study “suggests that some elements of the brain’s reward system have changed very little during evolution, and these include some of the mechanisms that support addiction.”
But that presupposes that the urge to drink alcohol is always bad, something that people should never do, and that it necessarily leads to addiction. And that, of course, it not the least bit true. Once upon a time, it meant the difference between living long enough to procreate and dying without issue. When it was safer to drink than the water, those humans with a greater tolerance for alcohol survived while those that couldn’t did not. If you’re reading this right now, it’s likely you can thank your ancient ancestors’ ability to handle their drink.
Even today, people who drink moderately tend to outlive those who never drink alcohol. Even those that drink heavily still tend to outlive those who never drink alcohol. It’s just that small fraction of the population that cannot handle alcohol and can be considered alcoholics, whether genetic or social or simply weak-willed. And for their failings, the world is cursed with neo-prohibitionists hell bent on the idea if even one person can’t handle alcohol, then dagnabbit no one should be able to enjoy it.
But so much of this type of research seems to play into their hands, making the assumption — very, very wrong in my opinion — that alcohol is bad for people, and bad for society, and that drinking alcohol always leads to alcoholism. It’s usually the starting premise. But it’s a false premise, because the majority of people who drink alcohol do so responsibly and in moderation and do not fall prey to alcoholism after their first (or tenth, or 100th or 1000th) sip.
And like the rejected fruit fly, sometimes a beer is just the thing to help get over a bitter rejection, or just a long, tough day at work. The calming effect of a beer after work or with dinner is part of a healthy lifestyle for many, many people. For a majority of people, there’s nothing wrong with that, and it does not signal the onset of addiction or any sort of problem whatsoever. And that’s my takeaway from the fruit fly, too. Sometimes you just need a beer to drown your sorrows.
This week has inadvertently turned into Schaefer Week, with Thursday’s ad being yet another bicentennial ad for Schaefer beer. This one uses the ad copy. “1842. It Was A Very Good Year For Beer Drinkers.” At least this one doesn’t try to make them sound 200 years old. But it does feature another beautiful drinking vessel and more impossibly perfect foam.
The Tax Foundation, a Washington think tank dedicated to al things taxable, had last week for their weekly Monday Maps on the Tax Foundation’s blog an infographic on State Beer Excise Tax Rates as of September 1, 2011. Alaska has the highest tax rate and Wyoming the lowest. And, of course, the chart doesn’t include the federal excise taxes breweries have to pay or any local taxes, either. Still, it’s always interesting to see the differences laid out on the map.
Obviously, it’s hard to read at this size, but you can check it out full size at the Tax Foundation blog.
Wednesday’s ad is another (I think) bicentennial ad for Schaefer beer. This one uses the ad copy. “After a while, it’s easy to brew a beer as good as Schaefer. The first 200 years are the hardest.” Again, this would have been when Schafer was around 134 years old, not terribly close to 200 years, but the ad was aimed at America’s 200th birthday. In this one there’s another cool-looking stein, but the foam on that glass looks pretty fake. With the handle on the mug, if you use your imagination it looks like an elephant or I suppose you could say it looks a bit phallic.
Here’s an interesting infographic, though for most craft beer drinkers it won’t be of much use. It’s a pyramid — or beeramid — showing many of the most popular mainstream beers with their calories and carbohydrates shown, ranking them with the lowest in both at the top of the beeramid and the beers with the most calories and carbs as the foundation on the bottom.
It’s hard to read at this size, but you can see it full size at HellaWella.
It was created by HellaWella, a health-oriented website. And while I realize they mean well, I’ve never been convinced that calories or carbohydrates should ever be part of the decision-making process for choosing a beer. I realize other people feel differently, but watching the caloric content necessarily means sacrificing flavor so you can drink more. I say drink less, but better.
They believe that with their chart “you can figure out ahead of time how to keep the calories and/or carbohydrates to a minimum.” But by that criteria, Budweiser’s Select 55 is the best choice. The Top 10 include two non-alcoholic beers (which frankly shouldn’t even be here) and the other eight are low-calorie light beers, not one of which would I voluntarily drink or ever order at a bar or restaurant. But that’s the problem with these health suggestions. When you stick to the numbers, health means giving up what makes beer a great choice in the first place: flavor. If I have to give up beer that tastes of anything to be healthy, to my way of thinking there’s just no point. Except that beer is already healthy (even though the anti-alcohol folks have seen to it breweries aren’t aloud to say so) and since moderation is already the best course to take, why anyone would ever choose a beer with the lowest calories is beyond me.
So I’m a sucker for infographics, and this one is very well done, but in the end its flaw is in the intention, which is to steer people to the blandest possible beers imaginable, supposedly in the interest of health. That’s a mistake, I believe, and not part of a healthy lifestyle. Health also includes mental, as well as physical, health. If drinking responsibly and moderately means (according to the most recent dietary guidelines) having no more than 4 beers in a singe day (3 for a woman) and no more than 14 in a week (7 for women) then you should make them count. Choose the most flavorful, best-tasting beer you can. The difference in calories or carbs just isn’t worth the sacrifice. Skip the piece of cake and go for the better beer. To me, that’s a healthy choice.
With the first tip-off tomorrow, today is the last day to sign up to try to pick the winners for this year’s March Madness. I’ve again set up 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 15, which is when the first games take place. I’ll post and update standings each day there’s games played until a winner is declared.
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#: 10019
Password: beer
Good luck everybody.
Tuesday’s ad is odd, at least as far as the ad copy. It’s for Schaefer beer with the following ad copy. “We’ve been practicing the art of brewing beer for almost 200 years. And practice makes perfect.” Which sounds good, right? Except that Schaefer was founded in 1842. I just bought a book celebrating their 100th anniversary in 1942. While I’m not absolutely certain, I believe this ad was from around America’s bicentennial in 1976, which would have made Schaefer 134 years old. Maybe it’s my lack of number sense, but that doesn’t seem like “almost” 200 years old, not even close. I’d say you’d have to be at least 151 to claim that, which would not have been until 1993. But that beer glass and mug are beautiful.
The picturesque location on San Francisco’s Embarcadero of the former HillS Brothers Coffee building is home to the third Gordon Biersch brewpub, which opened originally in 1992. According to Inside Scoop SF, as of the end of April, that will no longer be the case. (And thanks to Pete S. for sending me the link.) Apparently the twenty-year lease expires April 28, and the landlord and Gordon Biersch have been unable to reach an agreement. Gordon Biersch is currently scouting for a new location nearby. So you’ve got a little over six weeks if you want to pay the brewpub one last visit.
Monday’s ad is particularly cool. The ad is for Schaefer’s Bock Beer, released in 1941 on March 12th — today’s date — with “supply limited.” The ad features a goat holding a glass of bock while reading a newspaper, the “Bock Times.” I think he’s winking at me.
