Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

Brew Are You, Strong Beer Month?

By

21st magnolia-new
It’s February, and that means it’s time for the 10th annual Strong Beer Month, once again with six new extreme beers each at 21st Amendment and Magnolia throughout the month, which this year has one more day to help you make it to the finish line. Try them all, and you get to keep the commemorative logo glass. Just collect all 12 punches in your Strong Beer Month ticket before the beer’s all gone.

Here’s the beer for this year:

Magnolia:

  1. Old Thunderpussy: barleywine, 11.9% abv
  2. Smokestack Lightning: imperial stout, 10.7% abv
  3. Pride of Branthill: imperial ESB (extra special bitter), 8.9% abv
  4. Tweezer Tripel: abbey tripel, 10.1% abv
  5. Promised Land: imperial IPA, 11.5% abv
  6. Punch You in the Rye: strong rye ale, 8.0% abv

21st Amendment:

  1. Lord & Master: strong English blonde, 8.3% abv
  2. Triple Crisis: imperial IPA, 11.0% abv
  3. Red Giant: imperial red ale, 13.0% abv
  4. Oaked Drunken Monk: dark abbey ale, 9.5%
  5. Two Lane Blacktop: imperial black IPA, 9.8% abv
  6. Hendrick’s: imperial stout, 9.5% abv

This year’s theme is the 1978 Who album “Who Are You” featuring Nico “Roger Daltry” Freccia, Ben “John Entwistle” Spencer, Dave “Keith Moon” McLean and Shaun “Peter Townsend” O’Sullivan. Frankly, I think “Moon McLean” might stick as a nickname. Have all twelve strong beers, and you too might start singing “Brew Are You.” I really want to know.

strong-beer-month-2012

Beer In Ads #533: Birra Italia Milano

By


Wednesday’s ad is also for an Italian beer, though it’s by renowned German illustrator Adolfo Hohenstein, who made a name for himself painting in Italy, where he helped to found Italian Art Nouveau. Hohenstein is also considered the “father of Italian poster art,” and this poster was completed in 1906, the year he left Milan and returned home to Germany. I think it’s one of the most beautiful of the time period.

birra-italia-milano

Spirits Still Gaining On Beer’s Market Share

By

spirits-wine-beer
The Distilled Spirits Council, a trade organization for producers of distilled spirits, just released their annual report on how spirits are doing relative to the other alcoholic beverages. Vodka continues to lead the spirits parade, with rum in second and tequila in third.

alcohol-sales-2011

While beer continues to be the most popular adult beverage, spirits once again took market share from beer, which was up 4% by sales in 2011 over 2010. According to their figures, beer currently enjoys 49.3% of the alcohol market, with spirits having 33.6% and wine 17.1%. [Note: I can’t account for the 0.1% difference in the two charts. They’re supposedly taken from the same source, though the one below is directly from the Distilled Spirits Council.]

spirits-wine-beer-2011

While 49.3% sounds pretty good, the year before it was 49.8%

spirits-wine-beer-2010

And in 2000, only 11 years ago, it was 55.5%, meaning beer has lost 6.2% marketshare in just over a decade. Hey, beer people; you’re just not pulling your weight. Drink a few more beers tonight. A can (or bottle or pint) a day, that’s all we ask.

spirits-wine-beer-2000

Pairing Beer & Comic Books

By

comics-wolverine
Here’s an odd, but interesting article (especially if you’re a comic book geek — which I am) on comic books and beer. The author makes suggestions of beers to pair with your favorite comic book characters. Weird, but why not? We’ve tried pairing beer with everything else at this point, so why not comic books.

wolverine-beer

The article, A Guide To Pairing Your Comics & Beer was published yesterday on Quirk Books. The suggestions, a dozen in all, range from obvious to clever to head-scratching.

Here’s the list, though I’d encourage to check out author Thom Dunn’s reasons for each pairing.

  • Batman: Young’s Double Chocolate Stout or Left Hand Milk Stout
  • Captain America: Samuel Adams Boston Lager
  • Daredevil: India Pale Ale
  • The Flash: Four Loko
  • Ghost Rider: Rogue Dead Guy Ale
  • Green Lantern: Stone Arrogant Bastard Ale
  • The Hulk: Brooklyn Monster Ale
  • Iron Man: Chimay
  • Spiderman: Hard Cider
  • Superman: Yuengling Lager
  • Wolverine: Labatt’s Blue
  • X-Men: Anything from Dogfish Head

The two that seem most wrong to me are Batman and Wolverine’s choices. Batman wouldn’t drink something sweet, he’d have an imperial stout, something bigger and rougher like Three Floyd’s Dark Lord. And a better Canadian choice for Wolverine would be Unibroue’s Maudite, which is based on a legend of eight lumberjacks, a pact with the devil and a flying canoe.

And here’s a couple more I came up with. What comic book and beer pairing would you suggest to add to the list?

  • Ant Man or The Atom: Anchor Small Beer
  • Green Arrow or Hawkeye: Strongbow Cider
  • The Joker: Shmaltz Brewing’s Coney Island Freak beers
  • Martian Manhunter: Biere de Mars
  • The Penguin: BrewDog Tactical Nuclear Penguin
  • The Punisher: Steel Reserve
  • Silver Surfer: Maui Big Swell IPA
  • Thor: RedHook Long Hammer IPA
  • Wonder Woman: Amazon Beer

amazon-beer

Nauru Beer

By

nauru
Today in 1968, Nauru gained their Independence from Australia.

Nauru
nauru-color

Nauru Breweries

Nauru Brewery Guides

Other Guides

  • CIA World Factbook
  • Official Website
  • U.S. Embassy
  • Wikipedia

Guild: None Known

National Regulatory Agency: None

Beverage Alcohol Labeling Requirements: Not Known

Drunk Driving Laws: Not Known

nauru

  • Full Name: Republic of Nauru
  • Location: Oceania, island in the South Pacific Ocean, south of the Marshall Islands
  • Government Type: Republic
  • Currency: Australian dollar
  • Language: Nauruan (official, a distinct Pacific Island language), English (widely understood, spoken, and used for most government and commercial purposes)
  • Religion(s): Protestant 45.8% (Nauru Congregational 35.4%, Nauru Independent Church 10.4%), Roman Catholic 33.2%, other 14.1%, none 4.5%, unspecified 2.4%
  • Capital: No official capital; government offices in Yaren District
  • Population: 9,322; 225th
  • Area: 21 sq km, 239th
  • Comparative Area: About 0.1 times the size of Washington, DC
  • National Food: Noddy Tern
  • National Symbol: Frigatebird
  • Nickname: Pleasant Island
  • Affiliations: UN, Commonwealth, Pacific Community
  • Independence: From Australia, January 31, 1968

nauru-coa

  • Alcohol Legal: Yes
  • Minimum Drinking Age: 18
  • BAC: Unknown
  • Label Requirements: N/A
  • Number of Breweries: None known

Australia-1Dollar-1968

  • How to Say “Beer”: beer
  • How to Order a Beer: N/A
  • How to Say “Cheers”: cheers
  • Toasting Etiquette: N/A

nauru-map

Alcohol Consumption By Type:

  • Beer: 97%
  • Wine: 3%
  • Spirits: <1%

Alcohol Consumption Per Capita (in litres):

  • Recorded: 2.33
  • Unrecorded: 2.50
  • Total: 4.83
  • Beer: 2.24

WHO Alcohol Data:

  • Per Capita Consumption: 2.3 litres
  • Alcohol Consumption Trend: Decreasing
  • Excise Taxes: N/A
  • Minimum Age: 18
  • Sales Restrictions: N/A
  • Advertising Restrictions: N/A
  • Sponsorship/Promotional Restrictions: N/A

Patterns of Drinking Score: N/A

Prohibition: None.

nauru-long

Kelley Brothers Brewpub To Close Today

By

kelley-bros
I got an e-mail last night from a reader that the Manteca brewpub Kelley Brothers Brewing was closing and today is to be their last day. I haven’t been able to independently confirm that news, but will do so when I’m able. It’s always sad news to hear that a brewery is closing.

UPDATE 2.1: The Manteca Bulletin confirmed the closing of Kelley Brothers Brewing today, posting Last call for Kelley Brothers with the full story.

Beer In Ads #531: Biere de Charmes

By


Monday’s ad is the third ad we’ve featured by famed illustrator Jean D’Ylen. Biere de Charmes was done in 1924 for the French brewery located in the Lorraine that was founded in 1864. The king — Gambrinus perhaps? — sitting atop a pyramid of wooden kegs with two full mugs of beer, one in each hand, seems poised to fall, or at least spill his beer.

biere-de-charmes

Build A Beer-Keg Radio

By

radio
Here’s a fun one for the DIY crowd, from the June 1938 issue of Popular Science.

Pop-Sci-June-1938

The two-page instructions explained to readers how to build their very own Beer-Keg Radio. It was for your, you know, “game room.” Who doesn’t have one of those?

beerkegradio

It seems DIY was a lot less spoon-fed with detailed instructions back in the 1930s. There were only vague directions, giving a lot of flexibility to the project. Here’s the parts list you’ll need to build the radio:

keg-radio-4

And here’s the schematic you’re meant to follow and duplicate:

keg-radio-3

The introduction is priceless, here’s how they start out:

keg-radio-text-1

Curiously, they actually tell readers to get a wine barrel and that they can later turn it into a beer keg. By 1938 were wooden beer barrels already that scarce? I honestly don’t know, obviously, but that seems like strange advice.

keg-radio-text-2

Here’s what it would look like, before closing the top of the keg.

keg-radio-1

After closing, the radio works with two knobs on top.

keg-radio-2

After it’s done, “‘you’ll get a barrel of fun’ from this novel radio.”

keg-radio-5

If you want to see the pages full size and build one yourself, here’s Page 1 and Page 2.

Beer In Art #159: George Grosz’s Political Conversation, The Cafe

By

art-beer
Today’s work of art is by the German Dadaist George Grosz. He was born in Germany, but after 1938 he painted primarily in the United States, though he returned to Berlin late in life. He was perhaps best known for his caricatures. This week’s work, completed around 1928, is known as Political Conversation, The Café. It’s done in watercolor and ink on paper and today hangs in the Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, in Madrid, Spain.

Grosz-political-conversation

Here’s one analysis of the painting:

George Grosz has painted a typical Bierstube scene. Three Germans have gathered in a café to smoke and drink beer. Following his Dadaist period, Grosz — an excellent draftsman and keen social observer — returned to figurative art. He was one of the leading members of the movement known as New Objectivity (Neue Sachlichkeit). But he was also skilled at genre painting, a gift he used to push the art of caricature to new levels of expression.

To learn more about George Grosz, you can start with Wikipedia and MoMA has a biography from the Oxford University Press. MoMA also has a gallery of his work, as does Olga’s Gallery and ArtCyclopedia has numerous links to other galleries showing his art.