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Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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NFL Football: Pick The Winners At Brookston Fantasy Games 2011

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football
This is the fifth year for the Brookston Fantasy Football Games. We’ve had a lot of fun over the last four, so if you love football and beer, consider joining us this year, whether you’ve played in past seasons or are a newcomer. The NFL season begins on Thursday September 8, so you’ve got a little over two weeks to sign up.

I’ve again set up two free Yahoo fantasy football games, one a simple pick ’em game and the other a survival pool. Up to 50 people can play each game (that’s Yahoo’s limit, not mine), so if you’re a regular Bulletin reader feel free to sign up for one or even both. It’s free to play, all you need is a Yahoo ID, which is also free. Below is a description of each game and the details on how to join each league and play.

Standings for both leagues will be listed at the bottom of the Bulletin’s right column.

Pro Football Pick’em

In this Pick’em game, just pick the winner for every game each week, with no spread, and let’s see who gets the most correct throughout the season. I’ve added a new wrinkle this year. Since we’re all very busy, and you (or I) might screw up at least one week, you can now throw out your lowest week. All that’s at stake is bragging rights, but it’s still great fun.

Also, a new feature Yahoo added is the ability to keep picking all through the playoffs, so the game will continue through to the Super Bowl, which is pretty cool.

In order to join the group, just go to Pro Football Pick’em, click the “Sign Up” button (or “Create or Join Group” if you are a returning user). From there, follow the path to join an existing private group and when prompted, enter the following information…

Group ID#: 21527 (Brookston NFL Pick To Win)
Password: brookston

Survival Football

If picking all sixteen football game every week seems like too much, then Survival Football is for you. In Survival Football, you only have to pick one game each week. The only catch is you can’t pick the same team to win more than once all season. And you better be sure about each game you pick because if you’re wrong, you’re out for the season. Actually this year they added a new feature and I changed the game so to be kicked out you have to be wrong twice. In that way more people stand a better chance of lasting longer into the season. So get one wrong, and you’re still okay, get a second wrong, now you’re gone for the season. Last man standing wins.

Yahoo also added the new feature to this game, too, where we can keep picking all through the playoffs, assuming our luck holds. So the game could even continue through to the Super Bowl.

In order to join the group, just go to Survival Football, click the “Sign Up” button and choose to “Join an Existing Group”, then “Join a Private Group”. Then, when prompted, enter the following information…

Group ID#: 8850 (Brookston Survival League)
Password: brookston

With 50 players allowed in each game, there’s plenty of room, so don’t be shy. Sign up for one or both games. Beginning after the first weekend of the regular season I’ll post the standings on the home page (at the bottom of the right-hand column) and then each Monday after that through the season. Won’t you join us?

Beer In Art #136: Gustave Dore’s Barclay Perkins Brewery Workers

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art-beer
This week’s work of art is by the French artist known for his engravings, on wood and steel, along with his simple drawings, Gustave Doré, who did at least a couple of drawings in pencil, pen and ink of Barclay Perkins Brewery Workers.

Dore-barclay-perkins-1870

One of the most well-known, titled Ouvriers Brasseurs de Barclay Perkins, or Barclay Perkins Brewery Workers, which was completed in 1870, today hangs in the Musée d’Art Moderne et Contemporain de Strasbourg (in English the Strasbourg Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art).

It depicts the brewers not working, but resting, presumably in the middle of a hard day, still wearing their aprons and forage caps. They’re lounging around some barrels apparently in some unused corner of the brewery.

Dore-Workmen_at_Barclay_Perkin's_Brewery-1872

A second, similar drawing, entitled Workmen at Barclay Perkins’s Brewery is in the British Museum. It was done in 1872 and appears to be some of the same workers, although there are less of them and the space they’re in seems less well-defined. It was created using pen and grey ink, black chalk and graphite. Apparently it was a study done for a book of engravings entitled Doré’s London: A Pilgrimage. In Chapter 16 of the book, with the promising title “The Town of Malt,” three drawings of the Barclay Perkins Brewery appear, “together with an engraving after this drawing showing the workers against a more detailed background and with additional figures.”

You can read Doré’s biography at Wikipedia, and find links to more of his work at ArtCyclopedia. There are a few you can also see at a Woodcut Gallery, the Web Museum, Art Collections, toward the bottom of his Wikipedia page, and Cardiff University has a number of the engravings from Doré’s London.

Hawaii Beer

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hawaii
Today in 1959, Hawaii became the 50th state.

Hawaii
State_Hawaii

Hawaii Breweries

Hawaii Brewery Guides

Guild: Aloha Brewers Guild

State Agencies:

maps-hi

  • Capital: Honolulu
  • Largest Cities: Honolulu, Hilo, Kailua, Kaneohe, Waipahu
  • Population: 1,211,537; 42nd
  • Area: 10932 sq.mi., 43rd
  • Nickname: Aloha State
  • Statehood: 50th, August 21, 1959

m-hawaii

  • Alcohol Legalized: August 21, 1959
  • Number of Breweries: 9
  • Rank: 42nd
  • Beer Production: 1,009,967
  • Production Rank: 42nd
  • Beer Per Capita: 24.3 Gallons

hawaii

Package Mix:

  • Bottles: 55.6%
  • Cans: 35.4%
  • Kegs: 9%

Beer Taxes:

  • Per Gallon: $0.93
  • Per Case: $2.09
  • Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $28.83
  • Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $16.74

Economic Impact (2010):

  • From Brewing: $20,138,722
  • Direct Impact: $322,647,986
  • Supplier Impact: $150,651,695
  • Induced Economic Impact: $279,069,506
  • Total Impact: $752,369,187

Legal Restrictions:

  • Control State: No
  • Sale Hours: On Premises: Bars and restaurants stop serving alcohol at 2 a.m., but some hold a special ‘cabaret license’ that allows them to continue serving alcohol until 4 a.m.
    Off Premises: 11:50 a.m. to 12 a.m.
  • Grocery Store Sales: Yes

hawaii-map

Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.

For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.

Missouri Beer

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missouri
Today in 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

Missouri
State_Missouri

Missouri Breweries

Missouri Brewery Guides

Guild: None known

State Agency: Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control

maps-mo

  • Capital: Jefferson City
  • Largest Cities: Kansas City, Saint Louis, Springfield, Independence, Columbia
  • Population: 5,595,211; 17th
  • Area: 69709 sq.mi., 21st
  • Nickname: Show Me State
  • Statehood: 24th, August 10, 1821

m-missouri

  • Alcohol Legalized: December 5, 1933
  • Number of Breweries: 41
  • Rank: 13th
  • Beer Production: 4,530,683
  • Production Rank: 14th
  • Beer Per Capita: 23.8 Gallons

missouri

Package Mix:

  • Bottles: 32.8%
  • Cans: 59.4%
  • Kegs: 7.4%

Beer Taxes:

  • Per Gallon: $0.06
  • Per Case: $0.14
  • Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $1.86
  • Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $1.86

Economic Impact (2010):

  • From Brewing: $6,740,265,346
  • Direct Impact: $7,922,625,437
  • Supplier Impact: $5,170,179,818
  • Induced Economic Impact: $4,126,112,200
  • Total Impact: $17,218,917,455

Legal Restrictions:

  • Control State: No
  • Sale Hours: On Premises: Most establishments:
    (Mon–Sat) 6:00am–1:30am
    (Sunday) 9:00am–12:00am
    Special licenses in Kansas City and St. Louis: (Daily) 6:00am–3:00am
    Off Premises: (Mon–Sat) 6:00am–1:30am
    (Sunday) 9:00am–12:00am
    Sales permitted until 3:00 am in those Kansas City and St. Louis bars grandfathered into the ability to double as liquor stores.
  • Grocery Store Sales: Yes
  • Notes:
    • No open container law.
    • No state public intoxication law.
    • Liquor control law covers all beverages containing more than 0.5% alcohol, without further particularities based on percentage.
    • Cities and counties are prohibited from banning off-premises alcohol sales.
    • No dry jurisdictions.
    • State preemption of local alcohol laws which do not follow state law.
    • Certain bars in Kansas City and St. Louis grandfathered into the ability to double as liquor stores.
    • Special licenses available for bars and nightclubs which allow selling alcohol until 3:00am in Kansas City, Jackson County, North Kansas City, St. Louis, and St. Louis County.
    • Grocery stores, drug stores, and even gas stations may sell liquor without limitation other than hours.
    • Patrons allowed to take open containers out of bars in Kansas City’s Power & Light District.
    • Parents and guardians may furnish alcohol to their children.
    • Missourians over 21 may manufacture up to 100 gallons of any liquor per year for personal use, without any further state limitation, state taxation, or state license. (Obtaining a permit from the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and meeting other requirements under federal law probably still is required for private citizens to manufacture distilled alcohol — but not wine or beer — for personal use.)

    Missouri law recognizes two types of alcoholic beverage: liquor, which is any beverage containing more than 0.5% alcohol except “non-intoxicating beer”; and “non-intoxicating beer,” which is beer containing between 0.5% and 3.2% alcohol. Liquor laws apply to all liquor, and special laws apply to “non-intoxicating beer.”

missouri-map

Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.

For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.

Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2011

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bistro
Family commitments kept me from attending this year’s Bistro IPA Festival, but owner Vic Kralj was kind enough to send me the list of the winners. Craig Cauwels’ IPA, from Schooner’s in Antioch, California, was chosen best in show at the 14th annual IPA Festival yesterday at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list of winners is below.