Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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10 Healthy Reasons To Drink Beer

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I may not always see eye-to-eye with the roman catholic church, but I’m with them all the way on this one. While many religious denominations forbid their followers from drinking alcohol and others preach against it, it’s nice to see at least one take a more rational approach. Not only does Catholic Online tell everyone: “Have a beer. Really, go ahead and have one.” They even go so far as to encourage you to spread the word to your fellow man (and woman): “Tell everyone we said it’s okay to pop a cold one.” Talk about a great beginning.

The article published today on the catholic website is entitled 10 healthy reasons to have a beer! and also carries this subtitle: “Beer outperforms wine as a healthy beverage in several categories.” After detailing beer’s long history and its changing perception today, they get to the meat of their thinking:

Several years ago, it became understood that wine had a surprising number of health benefits. Since then, beer drinkers have had to endure a litany of praises about how great wine was for health as opposed to beer. But now, it turns out that the wine drinkers needn’t be so smug when comparing their beverage to beer.

Researchers from around the world have spent years studying one of our favorite beverages in detail, and there’s some good news. The latest collection of studies from around the world reveals that if the beer is enjoyed in moderation, meaning one for women, and no more than two for men, per day, then it can yield a surprising number of health benefits.

Below is the list of their ten reasons to drink a beer, but check out the original story to read the background for each of these ten.

  1. Strong Bones
  2. Strong Heart
  3. Kidney Stone Prevention
  4. Dementia Prevention
  5. Reduced Cancer Risk
  6. Taking Your Vitamins
  7. Stroke Prevention
  8. Diabetes Prevention
  9. Blood Pressure
  10. Long Life

I’ve seen, read and even written about most, if not all, of these health benefits from drinking beer in moderation, but it’s nice to see them all in one place. The article ends with this appropriate suggestion. “So the next time you decide to have a beer, you can enjoy it without the guilt.” Amen to that.

Beer In Art #157: Edouard Manet’s Two Women Drinking Bocks

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Today’s work of art is by the prolific French artist Edouard Manet, and this is the fourth time I”ve featured a beer-themed work of art by him. This one is a pastel created in 1878. It’s known as Two Women Drinking Bocks. Today, the original is part of the Burrell Collection in Glasgow, Scotland.

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It’s one of his lesser-known works and I’ve been unable to find much specific information about it. But’s a beautifully intimate portrait of a simple scene; two friends sharing a beer. And I love the way the piece is pulled together with the bright blue color that seems to glow, both on the women’s clothing and the stripes on the wall.

To learn more about Edouard Manet, you can start with Wikipedia and there’s also a nice biography at the Impressionniste. The Art Archive or the ArtCyclopedia are both good places to see more of his work. Also the Edouard Manet Gallery purports to have a complete gallery of his works, as does WikiPaintings.

Guinness Ad #102: St. George & The Guinness

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Our 102nd Guinness ad harkens back to a bygone era, when knights in shining armor battled fire-breathing dragons to rescue damsels in distress. When it’s really from, I have no idea. But when St. George prepares to battle the dragon in the distance, his squire first brings him pint of Guinness. “Guinness For Strength” reads the tagline and, somewhat humorously, a smaller dragon is also bringing the big dragon a pint of Guinness, too. Still, my money’s on St. George.

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Coors Light: Now The Avis Of Beers

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I’m not exactly sure why this appears to be such big news, but it seems to be everywhere. Beer Marketer’s Insights is reporting that, based upon estimated numbers for 2011, Coors Light has overtaken Budweiser to become the 2nd best-selling beer in America. According to the report, “[t]his is the first time in almost 20 years, since 1993, that AB didn’t have top 2 brands.” But I note that according to IRI data, Miller Lite held the #2 spot at least as recently as 2007. Though to be fair, it’s true that Bud Light and Budweiser have enjoyed the top two spots, if off and on, for quite some time.

But the story isn’t so much about Coors Light being up (they were, but only 0.8%). What’s more interesting is that Budweiser was down 4.6%, which had more to do with the switch in positions. InBev seems to be struggling with the A-B core brands ever since they took over Anheuser-Busch. It can’t help that they’ve laid off countless employes, bullied suppliers and lost a great deal of goodwill through their cost-cutting way of doing business. They don’t seem to have the same relationship with consumers that the company did when it was run by the Busch family. And while the big breweries are losing ground to craft beer overall, ABI seems to losing more. So it makes sense that another brand would pick up the slack, catapulting Coors Light into the number two position, a spot Avis once upon a time used to great effect in their advertising. Maybe we’ll see Coors do something similar. “Coors Light is No. 2 in beer. We try harder.“

Beer In Ads #520: Back In The Days — The Good Old Days … When Beer Was Really Beer Was

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Friday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1960. They seemed to focus on this nostalgia theme around that time, as if the 1890s or so was the best time ever for beer. I doubt that’s true, but it’s usually safe to make such a claim when few people who lived then are still around to compare or disagree. Anyone who was 20, and drinking beer, in 1890 would have been 90 in 1960. And the goofy expression with the sandwich in one hand, holding a beer up to his lips is priceless.

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Yuengling Becomes Biggest American Brewery

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According to new estimated beer sales data for 2011 from Beer Marketer’s Insights, Yuengling Brewery in Pottsville, Pennsylvania has now eclipsed the Boston Beer Co. (makers of Samuel Adams) to become the biggest American brewery. Yuengling’s area newspaper, the Lehigh Valley’s The Morning Call, had the story this morning. The numbers shake out like this:

Yuengling sold 2.5 million barrels of beer in 2011, up 17 percent from the previous year, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights in Suffern, N.Y., a magazine that tracks the beer industry. Boston Beer sold 2.4 million barrels in 2011, the magazine estimated.

Boston Beer, a public company, has yet to release final sales for 2011. Beer Marketer’s Insights based its estimate on Boston Beer sales in the first three quarters and the company’s own sales forecast for the fourth quarter.

Even if Boston Beer had a surprisingly good fourth quarter, it wouldn’t close the gap with Yuengling, said Eric Shepard, editor of Beer Marketer’s Insights.

The Morning Call also created the chart below to illustrate the shift in sales between the two companies over the last five years.

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Danny Williams Needs Your Help

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If you’re in the brewing industry, and especially if you’ve entered your beers in the Great American Beer Festival and/or the World Beer Cup, then you no doubt know Danny Williams. He’s worked with the Brewers Association at GABF for a number of years, and since 2001 has been in charge of the beer for competition judging. It’s his job to see that it arrives, is maintained under the proper conditions, and eventually makes it into the hands of the judges. Last year there were 3,930 beers judged at GABF. So it’s quite a task.

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Danny Williams and Lindsay Husted, also from the Brewers Association, at the World Beer Cup dinner in Chicago two years ago.

Unfortunately, Danny cannot work these days. He’s recently been diagnosed with cancer, and has cancerous legions all over his stomach and pancreas, which tragically is a type of cancer that typically has a very low survival rate. The pain he’s enduring is so great that he is simply unable to work, and he’s chosen not to attempt to treat it since the prognosis is so bleak and recovery unlikely. Danny’s decided instead to enjoy what time is left to him with his friends and family as best he can.

Danny is only 52 and has two grown kids from his first marriage. He also has an 8-year old son, Fletcher, from his most recent. As you might expect, not being able to work, having mouths to feed, and medical bills to pay, has left him in dire financial straits. At the moment, he is in danger of losing his home and the infamous “beer mine” — a former gold mine, sadly with no more riches — where he ages his beer collection. It’s even been mentioned in the New York Times. His friends and family are trying their best to make sure he can stay in his home during his remaining months and, if possible, that it can stay in his family after he’s gone. I can’t stress enough how precarious his situation really is.

His good friend, Ben Spencer — who’s the head brewer at Magnolia in San Francisco — recently went to Colorado to spend some time with Danny. Talking with Ben, I think it was rough on him seeing his friend in such a difficult situation. It’s hard for a lot of people to deal with such tragedy. I know. I went through something very similar with my own mother when I was in my early twenties. Ben reflected on seeing Danny last week and asks that you help out his friend, and your friend, as best you’re able.

Danny is a great man, and an amazing advocate of the craft brewing movement. He has affected all of us in many ways. I understand that times are tough, but please help my brother out. He needs us now.

Please donate what you can to help Danny. If you’re a brewery or other business and want to make a more substantial donation, there is a fund set up at First Bank in Boulder, Colorado under the name the “Danny Williams Fund.” Contact me or Ben Spencer for the account number and routing information. Or just post a comment below and one of us will send you the information.

To make a smaller, or really any amount, donation, we’ve set up a simple PayPal donation that’s very easy to use. Just click on the button below, fill in any amount you wish and follow the on screen instructions. Thank you.

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Below are some photos of Danny enjoying life, which is how he should be remembered.

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Tom Nickel (owner of O’Brien’s in San Diego), Nancy Johnson, Director of GABF and Danny at Slow Food Nation 2008 in San Francisco.

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Danny in the former goldmine beer cellar.

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Danny’s Angels, after a BA event.

Be an angel, too. Please donate generously to make Danny’s remaining time as comfortable, enjoyable and stress-free as possible; and help secure a future for his family after he’s gone.

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Also, while I don’t usually condone plagiarism, this is a special circumstance. If you write a blog or website, feel free to take any or all of this content, text, links and photos, to help spread the word to help out Danny. The more people we can reach, the more we can help. Thanks.

Beer In Ads #519: Bottoms Up With Colt 45

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In honor of Bikini Appreciation Day, Thursday’s ad is for Colt 45, from 1974. Showing the backside of a raven-haired woman in a white bikini playing the board game Bottoms Up while a side-burned lothario is looking way too intently at the game, which is especially odd since Bottoms Up is not exactly a game of strategy. In fact — believe it not — the game was commissioned by Colt 45 in 1970 and figured prominently in their advertising for a number of years. It was, not surprisingly, a drinking game. The couple here is drinking, of course, Colt 45.

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The game was produced by Taurus Creations and sold for a number of years. It was even advertised in more mature Men’s magazines without the bikini.

bottoms-up-bw

Wisconsin Homebrewing Under Fire

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If you’re a homebrewer in Wisconsin, be careful not to leave the house with your beer. When they call it home brew, they really mean it. Apparently there’s a growing strict interpretation of the state’s laws regarding homebrewing — similar to what went down in Oregon recently — that could prevent homebrewers from taking their beer to competitions and homewbrew club meetings, or indeed just sharing it with friends. I first heard about it from Jason Heindel, the President of the Beer Barons of Milwaukee Cooperative, a local beer enthusiast and homebrew club. He’s written up a nice overview of what’s going on, which you can read below, modified slightly by me for the web:

“As some of you may be aware, there have been some developments in the past year with how the WI Department of Revenue interprets the current State Statues relative to homebrewing. The current statutes can be found here. If you take a strict interpretation of those statues, the only place one can make or enjoy your own home brewed beer is at your home or farm. This means you could not legally brew a beer and hand it over your fence to your neighbor. The Wisconsin statues are outdated and not conforming with the overall Federal statutes regarding homebrewing. One of the highlights of the Federal Statute is the following section:

§ 25.206 Removal of beer.

Beer made under §25.205 may be removed from the premises where made for personal or family use including use at organized affairs, exhibitions or competitions such as homemaker’s contests, tastings or judging. Beer removed under this section may not be sold or offered for sale.

All of those activities are not allowed by Wisconsin statute. So the State Fair beer and wine competitions would not be allowed, tastings and homebrew club meetings would also not be allowed.

A group was formed earlier this year to address these problems. The AHA formed the Wisconsin Homebrewer’s Alliance. The group was comprised of a member from as many homebrew clubs as we could find contacts for, homebrew shop owners, etc. This group has worked to introduce legislation to the Wisconsin Senate to correct these deficiencies. We have been asked to voice our support to our State Senators and Assembly members in support of this legislation. Take a look at the proposed legislation.

Now is the time for all Wisconsin Homebrewer’s to take action and ask for your representative’s to support this bill. Below is an except from an email to the Wisconsin Homebrewer’s Alliance from 1/5/2012:

‘Sen. Ellis’s office and a “Dear Colleague’ letter is going out within minutes asking for co-sponsorship of our legislation. The co-sponsorship period is for 2 weeks starting from today. So, now is the time for all of our memberss to contact their respective Clubs to get them to contact both of their legislators. The most sponsors that we can get the better. The legislation is LRB 3101 The Ellis/Kaufert legislation. We can also contact breweries, distributors, homebrew shops, etc.

Dan Grady, who’s spearheading the legislation, did give Heindel some words of warning. ‘Time is running short. The January floor period is taken up already leaving only February and March. The legislature is going to shut ASAP due to the recalls.'”

Wow, that’s not good. If you live in Wisconsin and want to see homebrewing continue to flourish, find your local legislators and contact them immediately.