Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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DBA Owner Ray Deter Critcally Injured In Bicycle Accident

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I learned this morning that Ray Deter, the owner of the d.b.a. beer bars in New York City and New Orleans, was critically injured in a bicycle accident last night in New York. That information comes from Tom Peters of Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia.

Although not mentioning Deter by name, DNAinfo, a local news website covering Manhattan has the story. According to Tom, Ray “was struck by a car while he was riding his bike back to DBA last night.” He is apparently in critical condition at Bellvue and the prognosis looks very grim.

My heart goes out to Ray and his family at this difficult time.

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Ray Deter in front of the New Orleans d.b.a. with Garrett Oliver several years ago.

Beer In Ads #401: Becker Serving Woman

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Monday’s ad is from 1900 and is for a German beer, C. Becker. The bottom of the ad says simply: “C. Becker: Die schone bisei, which is “the beautiful ____” something, I’m not sure what the word “besei” means. Anyone know? The ad also features a poem, in German, that’s likely about the beer but it’s a little hard to decipher. But at the heart of it is a great illustration of a beer server from the old days in Germany.

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Beer Good For Economic Growth Worldwide

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My wife’s a political news junkie and reads such arcane fare as Foreign Policy, a magazine covering global politics and economics. She forwarded me Chug for Growth , an article detailing how the beer industry is having a positive effect on economies around the world, especially in emerging nations. Here’s how it begins:

The myth of the smug teetotaler is no joke. Many of the most popular theories of economic growth in wealthy countries, dating back to the Protestant work ethic of Max Weber, emphasize the abstemious and sober virtues of the well-to-do. And from the 18th-century Gin Acts in Britain to Prohibition in 1920s America to a certain class of modern-day economists, there’s a long tradition of blaming intemperance for the persistence of poverty.

But in fact, mounting evidence suggests that beer in particular, and the beer industry that surrounds it, may be as good for growth as excess sobriety. In some of the world’s toughest investment climates, beer companies today are building factories, creating jobs, and providing vital public services, all in the pursuit of new customers for a pint. It’s the brewery as economic stimulus: a formula even a frat boy could love.

The article goes on to detail how beer is good for both the big brewers and the local economies where they’re building or acquiring new breweries. They can add “tax revenue, lease payments, numerous local jobs, and increased demand for local agricultural produce.” And it sells even in the most challenged economies, as “even the poorest of the poor will spend money on alcohol.” I could have done without the lecture on alcohol abuse, while of course ignoring the positive health benefits of moderate consumption, but apart from that it makes a strong case for beer not only being recession-proof, but even a recession-beater in some places.

The article concludes with some interesting speculation about economic growth centuries ago, and whether it, too, may have been caused not, as been previously thought, by the Christian work ethic, but by breweries themselves as is happening today.

Indeed, beer may have been a force for growth for a long time. [Researchers] Colen and Swinnen note that beer consumption is higher in Protestant countries. What if the early success of Protestant-dominated economies wasn’t about Weber’s famed work ethic at all, but about the impact of breweries? Of course, it may be just as outlandish to argue that progress is driven by hops and barley as by the fear of eternal damnation — but at least it’s more fun to discuss over a pint.

I’m all for that.

Dig, Drink And Be Merry

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The current issue of Smithsonian magazine has an interesting article about archeologist Patrick McGovern, who’s at the University of Pennsylvania and his work uncovering evidence of early alcoholic beverages. His particular sub-field is molecular anthropology and he has a great book about his work titled Uncorking the Past. The Smithsonian piece is entitled Dig, Drink And Be Merry in the print version, but is called The Beer Archeologist online.

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Patrick McGovern

Also prominent in the article is his collaboration with Sam Calagione and Dogfish Head and their latest concoction, an Egyptian ale called Ta Henket, whose recipe dates back several hundred centuries. The ingredients includes Middle Eastern spices such as za’atar, along with chamomile and dried doum-palm fruit.

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Sam Calagione

One of my favorite new beer quotes I discovered in the article, too. Walking the halls of the University of Pennsylvania, the article’s author — Abigail Tucker — details an encounter between Dr. McGovern and a fellow professor, Alexei Vranich (an expert on pre-Columbia Peru). After a short discussion, Vranich thanks McGovern for his research, and quips. “I keep telling people that beer is more important than armies when it comes to understanding people.”

Late in the article, there’s also a nice overview of the emerging “beer before bread” debate within science and the origin of fermented beverages generally.

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A display showing the ingredients used in the ancient Egyptian brew Ta Henket. (All photographs from the Smithsonian article by Landon Nordeman)

Beer In Art #133: John Henry Henshall’s The Public Bar

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This week’s work of art is by the English artist, John Henry Henshall, who painted The Public Bar, occasionally known as In The Pub, in 1883.

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It’s a little unusual for the time, in that it shows the view from behind the bar, looking out at a cross-section of patrons. Also, notice the Bass sign hanging on the wall at the left.

You can read Henshall’s biography at Wikipedia, though it’s only a stub. You can also a few more of Henshall’s paintings at
Art Renewal Center and Painting Here.

Moonshot Grounded

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Ever since the FDA absurdly went after drinks that combine alcohol and caffeine, the future of New Century Brewing’s Moonshot Beer was uncertain. Founded by Rhonda Kallman in 2001, after she left the Boston Beer Co., New Century Brewing created a craft light beer, Edison Light, along with the caffeinated Moonshot, which debuted in 2004. Kallman was at Samuel Adams at the very beginning and helped to get their business off the ground and saw it through its first 16+ years before turning to something more personal.
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Unfortunately, last year the FDA bowed to the pressure of neo-prohibitionist groups, who persuaded several state attorneys general to petition the FDA to make alcoholic beverages that include caffeine illegal based almost entirely on anecdotal evidence and despite the fact that people have been combining the two on their own for decades, if not centuries. While Moonshot was essentially not one of the products that anti-alcohol groups most objected to, the way in which it was produced pulled her into the list of brands made illegal by the FDA’s misguided ruling.

Thanks to the FDA, at least in part, the Patriot Ledger in Massachusetts is reporting that “Kallman is shutting down New Century Brewing for good this month.” Kallman was also recently featured in Anat Baron’s documentary film Beer Wars to much controversy. Many craft beer purists felt she should not have been part of the film because of the novelty nature of Moonshot, so I suspect many will not mourn the passing of her company or Moonshot itself. And that’s a shame to my mind, in a world in which beer is under near constant attack, I always felt we should have been more charitable to one of our own, even if we didn’t always agree with the choices Kallman made or even like the beer itself. I’ve always been of the opinion there’s plenty of good beers to talk about without running down those we don’t care for, and that the market will ultimately decide which beers succeed and which ones fail. We certainly should have opposed the FDA more strongly than we did as an industry, at least in my opinion. But c’est la vie, it’s water under the dam at this point. So I’ll just wish Rhonda a fond farewell and the best of luck on her next endeavor.

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Rhonda Kallman with Todd Alström at the Blue Palms Brewhouse in L.A., the evening of the premiere of Beer Wars.

Virginia Beer

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Today in 1788, Virginia became the 10th state.

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State_Virginia

Virginia Breweries

Virginia Brewery Guides

Guild: Virginia Craft Brewers Guild

State Agency: Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control

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  • Capital: Richmond
  • Largest Cities: Virginia Beach, Norfolk, Chesapeake, Richmond, Newport News
  • Population: 7,078,515; 12th
  • Area: 42769 sq.mi., 35th
  • Nickname: Old Dominion State
  • Statehood: 10th, June 25, 1788

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  • Alcohol Legalized: April 12, 1933
  • Number of Breweries: 37
  • Rank: 18th
  • Beer Production: 5,251,800
  • Production Rank: 11th
  • Beer Per Capita: 21 Gallons

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Package Mix:

  • Bottles: 45.8%
  • Cans: 45.8%
  • Kegs: 8.2%

Beer Taxes:

  • Per Gallon: $0.26
  • Per Case: $0.64
  • Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $7.95
  • Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $7.95
  • Per barrel rate for packaged beer is based upon the actual per barrel rate as defined by state statute, rather than the Virginia 24/12 equivalent rate, which is a higher rate.

Economic Impact (2010):

  • From Brewing: $1,017,828,228
  • Direct Impact: $2,374,629,810
  • Supplier Impact: $1,390,245,260
  • Induced Economic Impact: $1,504,607,057
  • Total Impact: $5,269,482,127

Legal Restrictions:

  • Control State: No
  • Sale Hours: On Premises: 6 a.m.–2 a.m. No restrictions at any time for club licensees.
    Off Premises: 6 a.m.–11:59 p.m.
  • Grocery Store Sales: Yes
  • Notes: Licensed supermarkets, convenience stores, and gas stations may sell beer and wine. Off-premises sales no later than 12 a.m. Numerous dry counties exist.

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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.

Beer In Ads #400: Home Is Where The Miller Is

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Friday’s ad brings our Miller High Life week to a close. I’m not sure when the ad is from, but it’s a safe bet it was at least when needlepoint was popular. Although if my memory serves me, I think this is actually crewel. My mother, grandmother and several aunts were addicted to sewing and assorted needlework crafts. Still, I actually think it’s kinda cool — in a retro geeky way — but again that’s probably because I was around so much of it when I was a kid.

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Beware The Bogeyman Of Beer, He’s After Your Kids

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In a particularly ugly display of shameless greed and naked propaganda, the Marin Institute is using summer scare tactics to fuel their fund-raising efforts. Essentially their reasoning goes as follows. The summer advertising for sweet, malt-based beverages that come in colorful packages — like Four Loko, Jooce, Sparks, Blast, etc. — is “targeting” your children and must be stopped. Because underage kids like things that are sweet and colorful, therefore it’s “shameless youth exploitation.” Send us your money today.

But their basic premise, that alcohol companies are “targeting” underage kids, is as absurd as it is insulting. No alcohol company wants to break the law, it’s simply not good for business. They make the beer. They advertise the beer. Someone else, in the majority of cases, sells the beer to the consumer. As long as manufacturers are not responsible for selling their wares, they can’t really be held accountable for who manages to get a hold of them. Is it a problem? In some instances … maybe, but making your product attractive or using color is not a crime.

The fact is, the drinks that have the Marin Institute up in arms probably do appeal more to younger people, young “adults” from 21-29, ballpark. But they’re allowed to drink them. The fact that someone who’s 20 also finds an ad for one of them attractive and likes bright colors, and maybe even wants to break the law and drink one, does not mean that the alcohol company intended that to happen. It’s a by-product of human nature. People want what they can’t have, kids especially so. I have to wonder how these people who incessantly complain managed to reach adulthood with such blatant ignorance of how it felt to be a kid? Did they simply forget their own childhood, or did they have it surgically removed? How did people who claim to be so committed to protecting children lose the ability to empathize with them and understand what it means to be a teenager? Isn’t a good parent considered one who can connect with their kids and relate to what they’re going through, the pressures and challenges? Yet these anti-alcohol arguments seem blissfully ignorant of how teenagers are struggling with becoming adults and are constantly trying adult behaviors that in many cases they’re not ready for yet. That’s one of the defining features of being a teenager, yet somehow it’s always the alcohol company’s fault. Instead of all this brouhaha, wouldn’t it just be easier to talk to your kids, instead of wasting all your energy creating a bogey monster?

R-rated movies advertise on TV, billboards, buses, etc. Kids see hundreds of movie ads a year for movies they aren’t allowed to go to a theater and watch. Are the film companies “targeting” kids just because some youth might like an ad for one of the movies, too? I don’t want my kids drinking soda pop, which I consider very unhealthy for them, but I’m not about to picket for the removal of soft drink ads from places where my kids might see them. I just talk to my kids, tell them why I don’t like soda and why I think they shouldn’t drink it.

Marin Institute top gun Bruce Lee Livingston’s only support in the two e-mail and Twitter missives he’s sent out over the last two days is this. “My preteen kids even know these brands.” Well, how scientific. My preteens, ages 9 and 6, have no idea about any of those brands. I asked each of them if they’d ever heard the names of the brands, listed them one by one. They’ve never heard of any of them. Not one. They had no idea what I was talking about, and I’m in the beer business. They see beer in the house constantly. To them it’s no big deal. They know it’s not for them, just Daddy’s work. Are my kids special? Well, of course I like to think so, but no; they’re just average kids. I’ve taken no extraordinary steps to shield them from the world. And yet for them the “danger” of these drinks is what I think it must be for most kids … a tempest in a teapot.

And that, I think, is the insulting part. I’m a father. Many brewers I know are parents. So are the distributors, the salespeople, the marketers, the retailers, the check-out clerks at the grocery store. We’re all parents, too. We love our kids no less than than anti-alcohol fanatics. Yet I feel like I should start growing horns any minute the way they paint the alcohol industry. They make it sound like we hate kids, just want to get them drunk so we can make a buck. It’s downright insulting. It pisses me off but good.

In the end, it’s just another way to scare people into donating money. Fear is a great motivator. Facts just get in the way. Here’s one of the tweets from the Marin Institute, tweeted yesterday:

Did you know that your kids were being targeted by Big Alcohol this summer? Help us to stop them now! http://t.co/1Jt5mKI

The link, naturally, takes you not to any facts backing up that outrageous claim, but to a page where you can donate money to them. The donation page has the following headline. “You can protect our kids and communities from Big Alcohol’s harmful practices.” How, one has to wonder, they’re planning on battling this imagined scourge is never detailed, but that’s not important. What’s important is “your support and helping in the struggle to keep Big Alcohol responsible for our children’s health and safety.” When exactly alcohol companies became responsible for my kids’ “health and safety,” or why they should be, is yet another of life’s great mysteries. Better you should send money to the Marin Institute than bother taking responsibility for your kids and your own parenting.

The clear inference in their message is that alcohol companies don’t care about your kids. They only want your money. What I find deeply obnoxious, and not a little disingenuous, about that is that it is exactly what the Marin Institute’s summer scare campaign is all about: money. This campaign is exclusively about fleecing the faithful and lining their coffers. And what better way to raise money than to invoke that most dangerous of beasts, the bogeyman of beer! Be afraid, be very afraid.

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Beware the Bogeyman of Beer! This summer he’s coming to get you, your kids … and your little dog, too.