Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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The Most Consumed Alcoholic Beverages by Country

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world-map-3
Here’s an interesting chart showing the alcoholic beverage that has the highest consumption in each country of the world, based on data from 2011, as far as I can tell. The data is based on liters of pure alcohol.


via chartsbin.com

Key findings from the report:

  • More than 45% of total recorded alcohol is consumed in the form of spirits, predominantly in the South-East Asia and Western Pacific.
  • Approximately 36% of total recorded alcohol is consumed in the form of beer. Beer consumption is highest in the Region of the Americas.
  • Commonly, high overall consumption levels are found in countries such as the Russian Federation, which display both high beer and high spirits consumption.
  • Consumption of wine as a percentage of total recorded alcohol is globally quite low (8.6%), with significant levels of alcohol consumed in the form of wine in the European Region (26.4%).
  • Beverages other than beer, spirits and wine (e.g. fortified wines, rice wine or other fermented beverages made of sorghum, millet, maize) have the highest share in total recorded consumption in the African Region (48.2%), and in the Eastern Mediterranean Region (31.3%).

Most consumed alcoholic beverages in terms of liters of pure alcohol, which do not necessarily reflect that the overall level of consumption of this alcoholic beverage is high.For example in India, spirits are the most consumed alcoholic beverages, but this does not mean that the consumption level of spirits is high, but that the proportion of total alcohol consumed in the form of spirits is high.

Note:

Beer: includes malt beers.
Wine: includes wine made from grapes.
Spirits: include all distilled beverages.
Other Alcohol: includes one or several other alcoholic beverages, such as fermented beverages made from sorghum, maize, millet, rice, or cider, fruit wine, fortified wine, etc.

The International Organisation of Good Templars

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iogt-new
Just when I think prohibitionists can’t possibly get any scarier, I found out something new to give me the willies. I saw a odd set of letters retweeted by the good nut jobs at Alcohol Justice yesterday; the letters in question were the IOGT. I figured if they were in bed with AJ they would be worth knowing about. I’m not sure how I missed this group. They’re not exactly a secret, despite having all the trapping of a secret society. The IOGT was originally the “International Order of Good Templars,” a temperance organization founded in the 1850s. They eventually changed their name to the International Organisation of Good Templars in the 1970s because they felt Organisation sounded less like a scary secret society than Order. They also dropped the secret rituals and, I assume, got rid of the secret handshake. It didn’t help, and that’s probably why today they just use the initials IOGT.

International_Organisation_of_Good_Templars_membership_certificate_1868
An 1868 membership certificate from a chapter in Michigan. Looks harmless enough.

Apparently, it’s “structure [was] modeled on Freemasonry, using similar ritual and regalia. Unlike many, however, it admitted men and women equally, and also made no distinction by race.” Except in the American South, of course, where folks naturally demanded there be separate lodges for black and white members. So you know they were good people. Nothing furthers a stated goal of “liberation of peoples of the world leading to a richer, freer and more rewarding life” by “promot[ing] a lifestyle free of alcohol and other drugs” like continuing racism after the abolishment of slavery.

In 1875, after the American Civil War, the American senior body voted to allow separate lodges and Grand Lodges for white and black members, to accommodate the practice of segregation in southern US states. In 1876, Malins and other British members failed in achieving an amendment to stop this, and left to establish a separate international body. In 1887 this and the American body were reconciled into a single IOGT.

Throughout the late 19th century, chapters were formed all over the world and today they’re headquartered in Sweden, where it’s known as the IOGT-NTO, and other hyphenated suffixes are used in the forty nations with a chapter.

Fyll-livet-banner-liggande
Apparently they’re fine with perpetuating stereotypes of wine for women, beer for men.

Here in America, it’s IOGT-USA, where there are 21 local chapters in only five states. On the plus side, “women were admitted as regular members early in the history of the Good Templars. In 1979, there were 700,000 members internationally, though only 2,000 in the country of the IOGTs origin, the United States.” I didn’t see any more recent membership figures, so who knows how many Good Templars there are now in the 21st century.

They have a somewhat unintentionally comic petition up on a separate website, with the headline “United to Expose the Alcohol Industry.” They go on: “It tears families apart, trashes personal ambition and holds back developing countries. Still, no one has looked deeper into the alcohol industry and demanded that they take responsibility for their actions. It’s time we expose them.” Seriously, “no one has looked deeper into the alcohol industry and demanded that they take responsibility for their actions?” Isn’t that what the IOGT, and all of the other prohibitionist groups have been doing for well over 150 years? But now “it’s time we expose them?” Maybe it’s because their history is rooted in being a secret society, but what exactly is there to expose? What exactly is secret about the global beer industry that hasn’t been written about, endlessly dissected, debated and discussed?

Down a little farther on the petition page, they claim that the “alcohol industry still rule people and markets without being watched, examined or globally questioned by media or lawmakers.” Um, Alcohol Justice is doing just that; styling themselves as the “industry watchdog.” And they’re hardly alone. Countless organizations are keeping a careful watch on the alcohol industry. It’s one of the most tightly regulated industries in the U.S., and I suspect that’s true in most other places, too.

I get that you don’t like alcohol, and think everybody should just stop drinking it, but let’s not pretend this idea just occurred to you last week. Or that brewers are part of some secret cabal to ruin your world. Because really, it’s not “your” world, it’s “ours,” by which I mean “everybody’s.” And many of us like a nice beer, thank you very much. You don’t want to drink alcohol? Fine, don’t drink it. No one is telling you that you must, I only wish you’d extend us the same courtesy and stop telling us about every problem drinker, as if we’re all the same. There are troubled people everywhere, doing all sorts of bad things, many of them worse than drinking too much. Like virtually every aspect of human existence, there is good and bad, and everyone should have the right to choose their own path. For every anecdote about an alcoholic, there are 99, or 95, people who aren’t; good people who are drinking responsibly, holding down jobs, raising families and getting on with their lives. They don’t deserve to have you condemning them every chance you get.

IOGT-NTO
Examples of non-alcoholic fun. I have fun without alcohol all the time, but only in moderation.

World Beer Cup Awards 2014

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world-beer-cup
The 2014 World Beer Cup Awards were announced Friday night in Denver, Colorado. This was the 10th time for the biennial international competition, with a record 4,754 entries from 1,403 breweries in 58 countries, judged by 219 judges (including yours truly). One interesting note about this year’s judges is that 76% of them were from outside the United States. This year, 281 awards were given in 94 separate categories to breweries in 22 countries. Congratulations to all the winners.

One of the biggest changes to this year’s competition was the implementation of a lottery system. Any brewery that wants to enter their beer first registers their desire to participate in the World Beer Cup over a set period of time. Once the number of interested breweries is known, then the number of different beers each one can enter is determined. This year, every brewery could enter up to four beers. As a result, the winners were far more diverse than in any previous year. Of all 281 award winners, only one brewery won three awards and 26 breweries won two.

Not surprisingly, the category with the highest number of entries was American-Style IPA, with 223. Second was American-Style Pale Ale, with 121 entries, and the third most-entered category was Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer, with 111. The average number of entries for each category was 50 beers.

Overall, the United States won the most medals, with 205. Germany was second, with 27, and Canada came in third, with 7. Belgium and the United Kingdom each won five. Italy garnered 4 awards, while Australia, the Czech Republic, Japan and the Netherlands each brought home three.

Within the U.S., California won the most medals, with 35. Colorado was second with 21 and Oregon was third, with 16. Washington won 11, Illinois brought home 8 and Pennsylvania, Texas and Wisconsin each won 7 awards. Michigan breweries won 6, and Minnesota, New York and Ohio had five victories apiece.

wbc_logo

Individual Beer Awards

Category 1: American-Style Wheat Beer
Gold: Float Trip, Piney River Brewing Co., Bucyrus, MO
Silver: Red Dawn, Carson’s Brewery, Evansville, IN
Bronze: DD Blonde, Hop Valley Brewing Co., Eugene, OR

Category 2: American-Style Wheat Beer With Yeast
Gold: Hefeweizen, Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., Portland, OR
Silver: White Noise, Überbrew, Billings, MT
Bronze: Cascade Blonde, Cascade Brewery Co., Abbotsford, Australia

Category 3: Fruit Beer
Gold: Cherry Kriek, Strange Brewing Co., Denver, CO
Silver: Apricot Blonde, Dry Dock Brewing Co. – North Dock, Aurora,
CO
Bronze: Chchchch-Cherry Bomb, Melvin Brewing, Jackson, WY

Category 4: Fruit Wheat Beer
Gold: Salty Kiss, Magic Rock Brewing Co., Huddersfield, United
Kingdom
Silver: Meantime Raspberry Wheat Beer, Meantime Brewing Co., London,
United Kingdom
Bronze: 5 Lizard Latin Style Witbier, 5 Rabbit Cerveceria, Bedford
Park, IL

Category 5: Field Beer or Pumpkin Beer
Gold: Cucumber Crush, 10 Barrel Brewing Co., Bend, OR
Silver: Cheval Deux, Horse Thief Hollow, Chicago, IL
Bronze: Imperial Pumpkin Smash, Crown Valley Brewing and Distilling,
Ste. Genevieve, MO

Category 6: Herb and Spice Beer
Gold: Mango Magnifico con Calor, Founders Brewing Co., Grand Rapids,
MI
Silver: Bitterama, Kamala Brewing at the Whip In, Austin, TX
Bronze: Señorita, Elevation Beer Co., Poncha Springs, CO

Category 7: Chocolate Beer
Gold: Shake Chocolate Porter, Boulder Beer Co., Boulder, CO
Silver: Snownami Chocolate/Raspberry Imperial Stout, Northbound
Smokehouse & Brewpub, Minneapolis, MN
Bronze: Decadent Dark Chocolate, Atwater Brewery, Detroit, MI

Category 8: Coffee Beer
Gold: Big Shot Espresso Stout, Twisted Pine Brewing Co., Boulder, CO
Silver: Panama Joe’s Coffee Stout, Il Vicino Brewing Co. – The
Canteen, Albuquerque, NM
Bronze: Mocha Machine, Beachwood BBQ & Brewing, Long Beach, CA

Category 9: Specialty Beer
Gold: Peanut Butter Cup Coffee Porter, Willoughby Brewing Co.,
Willoughby, OH
Silver: Stiegl Wildshuter Sortenspiel, Stieglbrauerei zu Salzburg,
Salzburg, Austria
Bronze: Le Saisoniere, Cambridge Brewing Co., Cambridge, MA

Category 10: Rye Beer
Gold: Habitus, Mike Hess Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Silver: Ruthless Rye, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
Bronze: RastafaRye, Blue Point Brewing Co., Patchogue, NY

Category 11: Specialty Honey Beer
Gold: Honey Beer, Long Sun Brewing, New Taipei City, Taiwan
Silver: Robinia, Birrificio San Paolo, Torino, Italy
Bronze: Honey Tripper, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Maple Shade,
Maple Shade, NJ

Category 12: Session Beer
Gold: Lagunitas DayTime Ale, Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma, CA
Silver: Squeaky Bike Nut Brown, Moab Brewery, Moab, UT
Bronze: Le Petit Prince, Jester King Brewery, Austin, TX

Category 13: Other Strong Beer
Gold: Brouwers 8, Flyers Restaurant and Brewery, Oak Harbor, WA
Silver: Power Wagon, Big Sky Brewing Co., Missoula, MT
Bronze: May the Port Be with You, Pizza Port – Solana Beach, Solana
Beach, CA

Category 14: Experimental Beer
Gold: Redrock Paardebloem, Redrock Brewery, Salt Lake City, UT
Silver: Hoptart, Al’s of Hampden/Pizza Boy Brewing Co., Enola, PA
Bronze: Xyauyù, Birrificio Baladin Società Agricola, Farigliano,
Italy

Category 15: Indigenous Beer
Gold: Wild and Crazy Rye, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Boulder,
Huntington Beach, CA
Silver: Koyt – Kuit – Kuyt, Witte Klavervier, Roden, Netherlands
Bronze: Got Beer, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery – Boulder, Huntington
Beach, CA

Category 16: Gluten-Free Beer
Gold: Green’s Enterprise Dry-Hopped Lager, Green’s Brewery – Gluten
Free Beer, Seattle, WA
Silver: Green’s Endeavour Dubbel Dark Ale, Green’s Brewery – Gluten
Free Beer, Seattle, WA
Bronze: Shakparo, Sprecher Brewing Co., Glendale, WI

Category 17: American-Belgo-Style Ale
Gold: Whiter Shade of Pale Ale, Starr Hill Brewery, Crozet, VA
Silver: Beach Bum Joe, Mispillion River Brewing, Milford, DE
Bronze: Whiplash, SweetWater Brewing Co., Atlanta, GA

Category 18: American-Style Sour Ale
Gold: Ensorcelled, The Rare Barrel, Berkeley, CA
Silver: Framboise de Amorosa, The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA
Bronze: Ching Ching, Bend Brewing Co., Bend, OR

Category 19: American-Style Brett Beer
Gold: The Golden Child, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Chestnut
Hill, Philadelphia, PA
Silver: Juxtapose Brett IPA, Four Winds Brewing Co., Delta, Canada
Bronze: Flemish Kiss, The Commons Brewery, Portland, OR

Category 20: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer
Gold: Pipewrench, Gigantic Brewing, Portland, OR
Silver: Barrel Aged Scottish, Oggi’s Pizza & Brewing Co., San
Clemente, CA
Bronze: Lou, Brew Brothers Brewery, Reno, NV

Category 21: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer
Gold: 1314, Black Tooth Brewing Co., Sheridan, WY
Silver: Cockswain’s Courage Double Barreled Edition Porter, Garage
Project, Wellington, New Zealand
Bronze: Bourbon Barrel Aged Mountain Man, Verboten Brewing,
Loveland, CO

Category 22: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Stout
Gold: Sixteen, Central Waters Brewing Co., Amherst, WI
Silver: Distinguished Eagle, Grand Rapids Brewing Co., Grand Rapids,
MI
Bronze: Siberian Night Imperial Stout Aged in Bourbon Barrels,
Thirsty Dog Brewing Co., Akron, OH

Category 23: Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer
Gold: Rodenbach Vintage 2011, Brouwerij Rodenbach, Roeselare,
Belgium
Silver: Funky Jewbelation, Shmaltz Brewing Co., Clifton Park, NY
Bronze: Co-Hop V – Rouge de Mékinac, À la Fût, St-Tite, Canada

Category 24: Aged Beer
Gold: Russian 2009, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Media, Media,
PA
Silver: Vintage Horn Dog, Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD
Bronze: Aged Navigator Dopplebock, Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits –
Linda Vista, San Diego, CA

Category 25: Kellerbier or Zwickelbier
Gold: Pilsner, Marble Brewery, Albuquerque, NM
Silver: VIÆMILIA, Birrificio del Ducato, Roncole Verdi, Italy
Bronze: Wilderer Dunkel, Brauerei-Gasthof, Böbrach, Germany

Category 26: Smoke Beer
Gold: Smoke Signal, Swamp Head Brewery, Gainesville, FL
Silver: Weiherer Rauch, Brauerei-Gasthof Kundmüller,
Viereth-Trunstadt, Germany
Bronze: Brewers Select Rauch Märzen, Gordon Biersch Brewery
Restaurant – Rockville, Rockville, MD

Category 27: Australasian, Latin American or Tropical-Style Light
Lager
Gold: Regia Extra, Industrias La Constancia, San Salvador, El
Salvador
Silver: Pilsener, Industrias La Constancia, San Salvador, El
Salvador
Bronze: Tooheys Extra Dry, Lion Pty, Sydney, Australia

Category 28: International-Style Lager
Gold: Asahi Super Dry, Asahi Breweries, Tokyo, Japan
Silver: Speight’s Triple Hop Pilsner, Lion, East Tamaki, New Zealand
Bronze: Cornish Pilsner, Sharp’s Brewery, Wadebridge, United Kingdom

Category 29: Baltic-Style Porter
Gold: Framinghammer, Jack’s Abby Brewing, Framingham, MA
Silver: The Baltic Gnome, Rock Bottom – Denver, Denver, CO
Bronze: Komes Porter Bałtycki, Browar Fortuna, Miłosław, Poland

Category 30: European-Style Low-Alcohol Lager/German-Style
Leicht(bier)
Gold: Waldhaus Sommer Bier, Privatbrauerei Waldhaus Joh. Schmid,
Waldhaus, Germany
Silver: Leichtes, Mahrs Brau Bamberg, Bamberg, Germany
Bronze: Stockholm Fine Festival Beer 3,5, Krönleins Bryggeri,
Halmstad, Sweden

Category 31: German-Style Pilsener
Gold: Schönramer Pils, Private Landbrauerei Schönram, Petting/Schönram,
Germany
Silver: Alpirsbacher Pils, Alpirsbacher Klosterbräu Glauner,
Alpirsbach, Germany
Bronze: Pils, Stoudt Brewing Co., Adamstown, PA

Category 32: Bohemian-Style Pilsener
Gold: Radegast Premium, Plzensky Prazdroj, Pilsen, Czech Republic
Silver: Velkopopovicky Kozel 11°, Plzensky Prazdroj, Pilsen, Czech
Republic
Bronze: Pardal Echt, B.B.N.P., Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic

Category 33: Münchner-Style Helles
Gold: Müllerbräu Altbayrisch Hell, Müllerbräu, Pfaffenhofen, Germany
Silver: Falter Export Hell, Privatbrauerei J.B. Falter Regen, Regen,
Germany
Bronze: Löwenbräu Original, Löwenbräu, München, Germany

Category 34: Dortmunder/Export or German-Style Oktoberfest

Gold: Hirsch Gold, Der Hirschbräu – Privatbrauerei Höß, Sonthofen,
Germany
Silver: Special, Brauerei Gold Ochsen, Ulm, Germany
Bronze: Schönramer Gold, Private Landbrauerei Schönram, Petting/Schönram,
Germany

Category 35: Vienna-Style Lager
Gold: Schell’s Firebrick, August Schell Brewing, New Ulm, MN
Silver: Vienna Lager, Devils Backbone Brewing Co. – Outpost,
Lexington, VA
Bronze: Danish Red Lager, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. – Santa
Barbara, Santa Barbara, CA

Category 36: German-Style Märzen
Gold: Mayhem Marzen, Springfield Brewing Co., Springfield, MO
Silver: Ur-Saalfelder, Buergerliches Brauhaus Saalfeld, Saalfeld,
Germany
Bronze: Pöllinger Spezial Trunk, Brauerei Anton Pöllinger,
Pfeffenhausen, Germany

Category 37: European-Style Dark/Münchner Dunkel
Gold: Munich Dunkles, Blind Tiger Brewery & Restaurant, Topeka, KS
Silver: Chuckanut Dunkel, Chuckanut Brewery, Bellingham, WA
Bronze: Ayinger Altbairisch Dunkel, Ayinger Brewery, Seattle, WA

Category 38: German-Style Schwarzbier
Gold: Black Bavarian, Sprecher Brewing Co., Glendale, WI
Silver: BraufactuM Darkon, Die Internationale Brau-Manufacturen,
Frankfurt am Main, Germany
Bronze: Black Thunder, Austin Beerworks, Austin, TX

Category 39: Traditional German-Style Bock
Gold: Winter Bock, Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurant – Las
Vegas, Las Vegas, NV
Silver: Krieger Floriani-Bock, Brauerei Wilhelm Krieger, Landau an
der Isar, Germany
Bronze: Bock, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Phoenixville,
Phoenixville, PA

Category 40: German-Style Heller Bock/Maibock
Gold: MeyerBock, Outer Banks Brewing Station, Kill Devil Hills, NC
Silver: Maibock, Blind Tiger Brewery & Restaurant, Topeka, KS
Bronze: Ulmer Maibock, Familienbrauerei Bauhöfer, Renchen, Germany

Category 41: German-Style Doppelbock or Eisbock
Gold: Eisbock 2012, Brauhaus Faust, Miltenberg, Germany
Silver: Hot for Teacher Ms. Doppelbock, Thr3e Wise Men Brewing Co.,
Indianapolis, IN
Bronze: Saxonator, Jack’s Abby Brewing, Framingham, MA

Category 42: American-Style Lager or Light Lager or Pilsener
Gold: Coors Light, Coors Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Silver: Miller Genuine Draft, Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, WI
Bronze: Coors Banquet, Coors Brewing Co., Golden, CO

Category 43: American-Style Cream Ale
Gold: Old Style, Pabst Brewing Co., Los Angeles, CA
Silver: Icehouse, Plank Road Brewery, Milwaukee, WI
Bronze: Henry Weinhard’s Blue Boar, Blitz-Weinhard Brewing Co.,
Milwaukee, WI

Category 44: American-Style Amber Lager
Gold: Winterfest, AC Golden Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Silver: Coedo Kyara, Coedo Brewery, Kawagoe, Japan
Bronze: Lacplesis Dzintara, Cido Grupa, Riga, Latvia

Category 45: American-Style Dark Lager
Gold: Old Virginia Dark, Devils Backbone Brewing Co. – Basecamp,
Roseland, VA
Silver: Santo, Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Houston, TX
Bronze: Leavenworth Bakke Hill Black Lager, Fish Brewing Co.,
Olympia, WA

Category 46: Australasian-Style Pale Ale or International-Style
Pale Ale
Gold: Sculpin, Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits – Scripps Ranch, San
Diego, CA
Silver: River Runners Pale Ale, Eddyline Brewing, Buena Vista, CO
Bronze: Marketing Ploy, Piece Brewery, Chicago, IL

Category 47: German-Style Kölsch/Köln-Style Kölsch
Gold: White Street Kolsch-Style Ale, White Street Brewing Co., Wake
Forest, NC
Silver: I’d Like to Buy the World a Kölsch, Old Town Brewing Co.,
Portland, OR
Bronze: Endless River, Mother Earth Brewing, Kinston, NC

Category 48: German-Style Brown Ale/Düsseldorf-Style Altbier
Gold: Altitude Amber Ale, Altitude Chophouse and Brewery, Laramie,
WY
Silver: TAPS Alt, TAPS Fish House & Brewery – Brea, Brea, CA
Bronze: Balt Altbier, Union Craft Brewing, Baltimore, MD

Category 49: German-Style Sour Ale
Gold: The Dare, Druthers Brewing Co., Saratoga Springs, NY
Silver: Signature Gose, Choc Beer Co., Krebs, OK
Bronze: Schell’s Framboise du Nord, August Schell Brewing, New Ulm,
MN

Category 50: South German-Style Hefeweizen/Hefeweissbier
Gold: Friedenfelser Hefeweizen Hell, Schlossbrauerei Friedenfels,
Friedenfels, Germany
Silver: Fujizakura Kogen Beer Weizen, Fujizakura Kogen Beer,
Yamanashi, Japan
Bronze: Ladenburger Hefeweizen Hell, Brauerei Ladenburger, Neuler,
Germany

Category 51: German-Style Pale Wheat Ale
Gold: Kristallweizen, Brauerei Gold Ochsen, Ulm, Germany
Silver: Belle Gueule Hefeweizen, Les Brasseurs RJ, Montreal, Canada
Bronze: Hirsch Sport Weisse, Hirsch-Brauerei Honer, Wurmlingen,
Germany

Category 52: German-Style Dark Wheat Ale
Gold: Störtebeker Roggen-Weizen, Störtebeker Braumanufaktur,
Stralsund, Germany
Silver: Franziskaner Hefe-Weissbier Dunkel, Spaten-Franziskaner-Bräu,
München, Germany
Bronze: Schwarzbräu Weissbier Dunkel, Schwarzbräu, Zusmarshausen,
Germany

Category 53: South German-Style Weizenbock/Weissbock
Gold: Schneider Weisse Tap6 Unser Aventinus, Weisses Bräuhaus G.
Schneider & Sohn, Kelheim, Germany
Silver: Ladenburger Weizenbock hell, Brauerei Ladenburger, Neuler,
Germany
Bronze: Dunkler Weizenbock, Privatbrauerei Loncium,
Kötschach-Mauthen, Austria

Category 54: Belgian-Style Witbier
Gold: Witbier, Community Beer Co., Dallas, TX
Silver: Cheval Blanc, Les Brasseurs RJ, Montreal, Canada
Bronze: Gentleman’s Wit, Camden Town Brewery, London, United Kingdom

Category 55: French- and Belgian-Style Saison
Gold: Saison, Aspen Brewing Co., Aspen, CO
Silver: Temporis, Croce di Malto, Trecate, Italy
Bronze: TAPS Saison, TAPS Fish House & Brewery – Corona, Corona, CA

Category 56: Belgian- and French-Style Ale
Gold: Domaine DuPage, Two Brothers Brewing Co., Warrenville, IL
Silver: Ohana Saison Noir, Ohana Brewing Co., Los Angeles, CA
Bronze: Barren Hill Biere De Extra, Barren Hill Tavern and Brewery,
Lafayette Hill, PA

Category 57: Belgian-Style Blonde Ale or Pale Ale
Gold: Blonde Fatale, Peace Tree Brewing Co., Knoxville, IA
Silver: St. Stusan Belgian Style Pale Ale, Galaxy Brewing Co.,
Binghamton, NY
Bronze: Jean-Claude Van Blond, Wit’s End Brewing Co., Denver, CO

Category 58: Belgian-Style Sour Ale
Gold: Oude Kriek Boon, Brouwerij Boon, Lembeek, Belgium
Silver: Oude Geuze Oud Beersel, Oud Beersel, Brussels, Belgium
Bronze: Oude Geuze Boon, Brouwerij Boon, Lembeek, Belgium

Category 59: Belgian-Style Flanders Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale
Gold: No Award
Silver: Oude Tart, The Bruery, Anaheim, CA
Bronze: Shadows of Their Eyes, The Rare Barrel, Berkeley, CA

Category 60: Belgian-Style Dubbel
Gold: Wäls Dubbel, Wäls Cervejaria, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Silver: Gerardus Wittems Kloosterbier Dubbel, Gulpener Bierbrouwerij,
Gulpen, Netherlands
Bronze: Brother David’s Double, Anderson Valley Brewing Co.,
Boonville, CA

Category 61: Belgian-Style Tripel
Gold: Candi Belgian Tripel, Dominion Brewing Co., Dover, DE
Silver: Steamworks Blitzen, Steamworks Brewing Co., Burnaby, Canada
Bronze: Delirium Tremens, Brouwerij Huyghe, Melle, Belgium

Category 62: Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale
Gold: Devil’s Thumb, Rock Bottom – Orland Park, Orland Park, IL
Silver: Deceit, Funkwerks, Fort Collins, CO
Bronze: Thor’s Hammer, Bastone Brewery, Royal Oak, MI

Category 63: Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale
Gold: Hertog Jan Grand Prestige, Hertog Jan Brouwerij, Arcen,
Netherlands
Silver: 3rd Anniversary, Airways Brewing Co., Kent, WA
Bronze: 4 Swords Belgian Style Quad, Deep Ellum Brewing Co., Dallas,
TX

Category 64: Other Belgian-Style Ale
Gold: Cerasus, Logsdon Organic Farm Brewery, Hood River, OR
Silver: Wäls Quadruppel, Wäls Cervejaria, Belo Horizonte, Brazil
Bronze: Golden Sabbath, Big Island Brewhaus, Kamuela, HI

Category 65: English-Style Mild Ale
Gold: Song In Your Heart, Discretion Brewing, Soquel, CA
Silver: Dirty Hippy, Triptych Brewing, Savoy, IL
Bronze: Bristlecone, Uinta Brewing Co., Salt Lake City, UT

Category 66: English-Style Summer Ale
Gold: Mother Lode Golden Ale, Laurelwood Brewing Co., Portland, OR
Silver: Wild Swan, Thornbridge Brewery, Bakewell, United Kingdom
Bronze: Endeavor Vintage 2013 Growers Bright Ale, Endeavor Vintage
Beer, Macquarie Centre, Australia

Category 67: Ordinary or Special Bitter
Gold: Sawtooth Ale, Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, CO
Silver: Lumberyard Red, Lumberyard Brewing Co., Flagstaff, AZ
Bronze: Butler’s Bitter, Niagara College Teaching Brewery,
Niagara-on-the-Lake, Canada

Category 68: Classic English-Style Pale Ale
Gold: Audible Ale, Redhook Brewery, Woodinville, WA
Silver: Extra Pale Ale, Summit Brewing Co., Saint Paul, MN
Bronze: HopFish, Flying Fish Brewing Co., Somerdale, NJ

Category 69: Extra Special Bitter
Gold: Black Mesa ESB (Endless Skyway Bitter), Black Mesa Brewing
Co., Oklahoma City, OK
Silver: Queen’s Ale Extra Bitter Type, Hitejinro Co., Seoul, South
Korea
Bronze: The Wise ESB, Elysian Brewing Co., Seattle, WA

Category 70: English-Style India Pale Ale
Gold: Double Haul IPA, KettleHouse Brewing Co., Missoula, MT
Silver: Silverspot IPA, Pelican Brewery, Pacific City, OR
Bronze: Stormcloud, Rahr and Sons Brewing Co., Fort Worth, TX

Category 71: Scottish-Style Ale
Gold: Scottish Ale, Two Kilts Brewing Co., Sherwood, OR
Silver: Maxwell’s Scottish Ale, Rivertowne Brewing Co., Export, PA
Bronze: Kilt Lifter, Four Peaks Brewing Co., Tempe, AZ

Category 72: English-Style Brown Ale
Gold: Wind Walker Brown, 51 North Brewery, Lake Orion, MI
Silver: Nut Hatchet Nut Brown, Canal Park Brewing Co., Duluth, MN
Bronze: No Name, Glenwood Canyon Brewing Co., Glenwood Springs, CO

Category 73: Brown Porter
Gold: Ninja, Asheville Brewing Co., Asheville, NC
Silver: Out of Order Porter, Wind River Brewing Co., Pinedale, WY
Bronze: Chocolate Porter, Bayhawk Ales, Irvine, CA

Category 74: Robust Porter
Gold: Alexander Black, Alexander, Emek Hefer, Israel
Silver: Stoup Porter, Stoup Brewing, Seattle, WA
Bronze: Shallow Grave, Heretic Brewing Co., Fairfield, CA

Category 75: Sweet Stout or Cream Stout
Gold: L’Exploité, Brasseurs du Monde, St-Hyacinthe, Canada
Silver: Outlaw Milk Stout, Great Basin Brewing Co. – Reno, Reno, NV
Bronze: Cream Stout, Redwood Brewing Co., Flint, MI

Category 76: Oatmeal Stout
Gold: Sless’ Oatmeal Stout, Iron Springs Pub and Brewery, Fairfax,
CA
Silver: Pure Imagination, Verboten Brewing, Loveland, CO
Bronze: Beer for My Horses, Cazuelas Mexican Grill and Brewpub, Rio
Rancho, NM

Category 77: Scotch Ale
Gold: Wee Heavy, Steel Toe Brewing, St. Louis Park, MN
Silver: Heavy Red Horseman Scottish Style Ale, Apocalypse Ale Works,
Forest, VA
Bronze: Drafty Kilt Scotch Ale, Monday Night Brewing, Atlanta, GA

Category 78: British-Style Imperial Stout
Gold: Russian Imperial Stout, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant –
Media, Media, PA
Silver: Romanov Imperial Stout, Campbell Brewing Co., Campbell, CA
Bronze: Weapon of Self Destruction Imperial Stout, Riff Raff Brewing
Co., Pagosa Springs, CO

Category 79: Old Ale or Strong Ale
Gold: AleSmith Old Ale 2013, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Silver: Irish Walker, Olde Hickory Brewery, Hickory, NC
Bronze: Pilgrim’s Dole, New Holland Brewing Co., Holland, MI

Category 80: Barley Wine-Style Ale
Gold: 2009 Old #1 Barley Wine, Scuttlebutt Brewing Co., Everett, WA
Silver: Old Scallywag, Coronado Brewing Co., Coronado, CA
Bronze: Johan the Barleywine, Sun King Brewing Co., Indianapolis, IN

Category 81: Irish-Style Red Ale
Gold: George Killian’s Irish Red, Coors Brewing Co., Golden, CO
Silver: McLovin, Vintage Brewing Co., Madison, WI
Bronze: Paulie’s Not Irish Red, Old Town Brewing Co., Portland, OR

Category 82: Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout
Gold: The Bomb Dry Stout, Moon River Brewing Co., Savannah, GA
Silver: The Pugilist, Societe Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
Bronze: Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout, Third Street Aleworks,
Santa Rosa, CA

Category 83: Foreign-Style Stout
Gold: Black Rock Stout, Crossroads Brewing Co., Athens, NY
Silver: Whiteface Stout, Great Adirondack Brewing Co., Lake Placid,
NY
Bronze: Devil Dog Stout, Red Leg Brewing Co., Colorado Springs, CO

Category 84: Golden or Blonde Ale
Gold: Kiwanda Cream Ale, Pelican Brewery, Pacific City, OR
Silver: Alibi Blonde, Circle Brewing Co., Austin, TX
Bronze: Steelhead Extra Pale Ale, Mad River Brewing Co., Blue Lake,
CA

Category 85: American-Style Pale Ale
Gold: The Weight, Piece Brewery, Chicago, IL
Silver: Knotty Pine Pale Ale, Lumberyard Brewing Co., Flagstaff, AZ
Bronze: Featherweight Pale, Cannonball Creek Brewing Co., Golden, CO

Category 86: American-Style Strong Pale Ale
Gold: Islander IPA, Coronado Brewing Co., Coronado, CA
Silver: Hops, Haven Brewing, Pasadena, CA
Bronze: Overboard IPA, Big Island Brewhaus, Kamuela, HI

Category 87: American-Style India Pale Ale
Gold: Hop, Drop ‘n Roll, NoDa Brewing Co., Charlotte, NC
Silver: Head Hunter, Fat Head’s Brewery, Middleburg Heights, OH
Bronze: Citrus Mistress, Hop Valley Brewing Co., Eugene, OR

Category 88: Imperial India Pale Ale
Gold: 2 x 4, Melvin Brewing, Jackson, WY
Silver: Astillero, Cerveceria Agua Mala, Ensenada, Mexico
Bronze: Hop 15, Port Brewing Co., San Marcos, CA

Category 89: American-Style Amber/Red Ale
Gold: Runoff, Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
Silver: Shark Bite Red, Pizza Port – Bressi Ranch, Carlsbad, CA
Bronze: AmberElla, Eight Degrees Brewing Co., Mitchelstown, Ireland

Category 90: Imperial Red Ale
Gold: Uncle Rusty, Columbus Brewing Co., Columbus, OH
Silver: Bonehead, Fat Head’s Brewery & Saloon, North Olmsted, OH
Bronze: Tyrant Double Red, Wicked Weed Brewing, Asheville, NC

Category 91: American-Style Brown Ale
Gold: Bonfire Brown Ale, Saugatuck Brewing Co., Douglas, MI
Silver: Davy Brown Ale, Figueroa Mountain Brewing Co. – Buellton,
Buellton, CA
Bronze: Bitch Creek ESB, Grand Teton Brewing, Victor, ID

Category 92: American-Style Black Ale
Gold: Turmoil, Barley Brown’s Brew Pub, Baker City, OR
Silver: Once You Go, Lynnwood Brewing Concern, Raleigh, NC
Bronze: Wookey Jack, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA

Category 93: American-Style Stout
Gold: The Defender, Haymarket Pub & Brewery, Chicago, IL
Silver: Happy Ending, SweetWater Brewing Co., Atlanta, GA
Bronze: Power to the People, 10 Barrel Brewing – Boise Pub, Boise,
ID

Category 94: American-Style Imperial Stout
Gold: Black Flag Imperial Stout, Beer Valley Brewing Co., Ontario,
OR
Silver: Block & Tackle Stout, Chetco Brewing Co., Brookings, OR
Bronze: Beelzebub, The Alchemist, Waterbury, VT

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Champion Brewery and Brewer Awards

Small Brewpub
Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant – Media, Media, PA
Iron Hill Brewery Team
World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster

Small Brewing Company
Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, OR
Darron Welch & Steve Panos
World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster

Mid-Size Brewing Company
Coronado Brewing Company, Coronado, CA
Coronado Brewing Company
World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster

Large Brewpub
Blind Tiger Brewery & Restaurant, Topeka, KS
John Dean
World Beer Cup Champion Brewery and Brewmaster

Large Brewing Company
Coors Brewing Company, Golden, CO
Dr. David Ryder

Global Association Of Craft Beer Brewers Founded

By

gacbb
Here’s an exciting development and a sure sign that the world of beer is growing smaller as the reach of better beer extends around the globe. Today in Berlin, the formation of a new international trade organization was announced: The Global Association of Craft Beer Brewers (GACBB).

From the press release:

The Global Association of Craft Beer Brewers was founded last month, becoming the first international organisation for independent craft beer brewers. Sebastian Mergel, co-founder of the Berlin craft beer brewery Berliner Bierfabrik (formerly beer4wedding), was elected the association’s founding president. The association’s goal is to empower smaller independent brewers by connecting them on an international level, and to provide resources via association tools and collaborations with other members. With its international reach, the association also looks to provide its members with access to material goods and services that allow them to expand into new international markets.

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The founding board members represent breweries in five different continents.

  • Sebastian Mergel, Bierfabrik, Berlin, Germany
  • Mark Andries, Browerij De Vlier, Belgium
  • David Cohen, The Dancing Camel, Tel Aviv, Israel
  • John Kyme, Stringer’s Beer, Ulverston, United Kingdom
  • Kristian Strunge, Stronzo, Copenhagen, Denmark
  • Jakub Veselý, Pivo Falkon, Zatec, Czech Republic
  • Alex Acker, Jing A, Beijing, China
  • Eric van Heerden, Triggerfish Brewing, Cape Town, South Africa
  • Aleem Ladak, The Big 5 Brewery, Nairobi, Kenya
  • Diego Rodríguez, Barbarian, Lima, Peru
  • Diego Perrotta, Cerveza Zeppelin, Buenos Aires, Argentina
  • Nathaniel Schmidt, Agua Mala Cerveceria, Ensenada, Mexico
  • Rodrigo Silveira, Cervejaria Invicta, Ribeirão Preto, Brazil
  • Shane Welch, Sixpoint Brewing, Brooklyn, NY, United States
  • Kevin Watson, Elysian Brewing Co., Seattle, WA, United States
  • Dan Kenary, Harpoon Brewery, Boston, MA, United States
  • Ricky Stilla, Birra & Blues, Valencia, Spain
  • Tiffany Needham, Magpie Brewing Co., Seoul, South Korea
  • Shawn Sherlock, Murray’s Brewing Co., Port Stephen’s, Australia

To be a member of GACBB, breweries must be “local, independent, and creative.” The group’s first event will take place later this summer in Berlin, which they describe as a “celebration of craft beer from around the globe. The GACBB Global Craft Beer Festival, Craft Beer Award, and Craft Beer Conference will all take place this July in Berlin on July 25th through 27th, 2014.” The downside is that’s the same weekend as the Oregon Brewers Festival. On the other hand, it’s been awhile since I’ve been in Berlin.

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ABI To Buy Back Korea’s OB

By

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In a strange turn of events, Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) has agreed to buy back the South Korean Oriental Brewery (OB) for $5.8 billion, about three times the $1.8 billion that they sold it for in 2008. OB is South Korea’s largest brewery with approximately 60% of the market.

From the press release:

KKR and Affinity Equity Partners (“Affinity”) today announced that an agreement has been entered into whereby AB InBev will reacquire Oriental Brewery (“OB”), the leading brewer in South Korea, from KKR and Affinity for 5.8 billion USD.

This agreement returns OB to the AB InBev portfolio, after AB InBev sold the company in July 2009, following the combination of InBev and Anheuser-Busch, in support of the company’s deleveraging target. AB InBev will reacquire OB earlier than July 2014, as it was originally entitled to under the 2009 transaction.

Since KKR and Affinity entered into partnership with OB in 2009, OB has grown to become the largest brewer in South Korea, driven by strong growth of the Cass brand. OB and AB InBev also remained long-term partners through OB’s exclusive license to distribute select AB InBev brands in South Korea such as Budweiser, Corona and Hoegaarden.

Carlos Brito, Chief Executive Officer of AB InBev, said, “We are excited to invest in South Korea and to be working with the Oriental Brewery team again. OB will strengthen our position in the fast-growing Asia Pacific region and will become a significant contributor to our Asia Pacific Zone.

Bloomberg Businessweek also has more on the story.

Self-Fulfilling Prophecy Propaganda

By

ouroboros-dragon
Here’s another great example of the circle jerk nature of prohibitionist groups. This is, I’m finding, the standard operating procedure for most, if not all, of them. They decide what they’re opposed to, in this case alcohol, and then they commission — that is pay for — research that they claim proves their point. Tobacco companies are the classic example, insofar as they funded lots of studies showing how safe smoking was despite independent research revealing just the opposite. How the “study” is framed is one of the many troubling aspects of how they do this. Assumptions are made that all alcohol is bad and that people who consume it will abuse it and be a burden on society, causing innumerable harms to themselves and others. That’s a persistent theme that permeates much of the so-called scientific literature, there’s hardly a whiff of impartiality if you look deeply enough into it.

A pointed example I recall, outside the alcohol world, is the Meese Commission Report which was directed by then-President Ronald Reagan to find a link between pornography and criminal or anti-social behavior. The important difference between this, and the earlier commission by Johnson/Nixon which resulted in the 1970 Commission on Obscenity and Pornography, is that from an impartial starting point that report found no such link. In fact, the 1970 commission “recommended against any restrictions for adults” and overall “the report found that obscenity and pornography were not important social problems, that there was no evidence that exposure to such material was harmful to individuals, and that current legal and policy initiatives were more likely to create problems than solve them.” Regardless of your feelings about pornography, what’s significant is that Reagan’s mandate to Meese was not to see if there was causation between pornography and violence, but was instead he was tasked with finding one. That was the goal of the report, to find a link to please Reagan’s base on the religious right who weren’t happy with the results of the 1970 report. And that’s how I feel about GAPA and the countless quasi-scientific prohibitionist organizations and their “studies.” They are, by design, looking for trouble, and so naturally they find it everywhere they look.

So once they’ve manufactured and/or exaggerated the problem, the next step is to get the research published in quasi-scientific journals, in some cases one owned or funded by the same organizations. Then they send out press releases claiming their position has been scientifically proven. They usually neglect to mention that they themselves created the “science” they’re touting because it’s more effective if it appears to be objective. Unfortunately, it rarely is, but such is the state of journalism today that press releases are more often reprinted verbatim without any fact-checking or even questioning the content. It’s apparently enough if it simply has a credible-sounding “scientific” journal name attached to it. Once you’ve got enough of these “studies” you can then hold a conference of like-minded individuals where you can present your findings.

So in October of this year, the “Global Alcohol Policy Conference” was held in South Korea. It was hosted by a group I wasn’t familiar with; the Global Alcohol Policy Alliance (GAPA), but which appears to be more of a loose organization of national prohibitionist groups that was formed in 2000 to share information and hold annual conferences. Although I don’t know many of the international groups, the people from the U.S. make it clear who’s invited to the party. GAPA board members include George Hacker, who runs the notorious prohibitionist Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI); Thomas F. Babor, the author of Alcohol: No Ordinary Commodity: Research and Public Policy (an anti-alcohol handbook) and David Jernigan, who’s the Director of the also notoriously anti-alcohol Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth (CAMY), funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Behavior and Society at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. Jerigan was also the author of this travesty: Bud Blamed In Absurd E.R. Visit Study.

Here’s where the circle gets tighter and more insular. There are sixteen board members for GAPA. At the recent Global Alcohol Policy Conference, there were eight speakers on the program. Of those eight, six are also board members of GAPA. Similarly, GAPA is divided into regions. The North American region includes four member organizations: CSPI (Centre for Science in the Public Interest), The Marin Institute (now known as Alcohol Justice), The Center on Alcohol Marketing and Youth and the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Abuse, created by the collaboration of the AMA and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. If you’re a regular reader here you’ll no doubt recognize those groups as being prohibitionist to their core.

Looking over the program for the conference, the topics all revolve around the negative aspects of alcohol, the harms, the addicts, the too-low taxation and regulation. Reading over the titles, it’s hard not to leave with the impression that it’s about how to bring down alcohol completely. I couldn’t find one positive word about drinking, which seems incongruous to my life experience and literally just about every person I know. Surely, they could find some balance to their efforts, but instead it feels punitive, divisive and almost mean-spirited. Some of the speeches given during the conference are available for download, while others — most, really — give you an error message when trying to download: “Applicants sponsored by alcohol manufacturers are not allowed.” How did they know? What don’t they want people in the alcohol industry to know about regarding what they’re saying or doing?

Another glimpse into prohibitionists worldwide comes from GAPA’s internal magazine, The Globe. In the latest issue, Issue 3 2013 they tackle such horrible behavior by alcohol companies as donating water to disaster relief with the overall theme of “Beware of the Alcohol Industry Bearing Gifts.”
thirst-aid
I recall the Marin Institute similarly whining when Anheuser-Busch canned water and sent it to Haiti after the devastating earthquake there, a story I detailed in Let No Good Deed Go Unpunished.

So how was the conference portrayed in the news online? Upstreaming Alcohol Policy reported that an “important theme running through the conference was the role of the global alcohol industry in maintaining and intensifying alcohol-related harm through its tactics and practices.” In other words, we’re all evil and wish your family harm, a persistent theme in all prohibitionist propaganda. Corporations & Health Watch agreed and went even further, reporting that “Dr. Thomas Babor of the University of Connecticut, for example, stressed reasons to doubt the sincerity of the global alcohol industry in its insistence to be part of the solution to alcohol problems.” Yes, we want everybody binge-drinking all the time, every day. There’s nothing better for the alcohol industry than drunk people killing themselves and others, especially when we all have families and want them in harm’s way, too. I’m so sick of this one, where alcohol is criticized for advertising or wanting to sell more products because that, they claim, is “clearly to increase overall consumption — a strategy which is inimical to public health and public safety.” Every alcohol corporation, at least under U.S. law, is like every corporation, beholden to shareholders and must do what they can to increase the share price, in other words increase the business. It’s the law. There’s plenty of corporate behavior I’m not wild about, but at least I understand it. If you want corporations to act differently, change their charters; change the law governing them. But stop making it sound like they’d kill their mothers for a dime. Stop painting them, and all of us in the alcohol industry, as evil. We’re just not.

Their conclusion was that “reducing the global burden of alcohol-related harm will require advocates to effectively counter that industry influence – through reliance on the best science, savvy media advocacy, and robust grassroots organization.” The black humor and irony in that is that the science they’re referring to is anything but the “best” — or evidence-based, as they often phrase it. “Savvy media advocacy” means propaganda which I find usually contains falsehoods and exaggerations, at best. And “robust grassroots organization” means, more often than not, groups funded by large, wealthy prohibitionist groups like the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation or others.

The overall impression I have from watching these groups for over twenty years is that they’re so shamelessly dishonest in their actions and their rhetoric that I can’t really understand how they can claim the high moral ground that’s so inherent in their position. They set up the argument as a David vs. Goliath situation which is laughably wrong. Does “big alcohol” have a lot of money. Sure, but so does the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and most of the others. They’ve been spending their money influencing politicians, spreading their message and trying to persuade others to their way of thinking. Does that sound like the same thing that they accuse alcohol manufacturers of doing? It should, because they’re doing exactly the same thing, and have been since at least 1933, when Prohibition ended. The only real difference is they claim to be doing it for righteous reasons and believe those of us who enjoy drinking a beer or even making or selling it, are the spawn of satan. The problem with that is that we’re not. We’re ordinary people, often with many of the same set of beliefs as the prohibitionists. Contrary to the propaganda, we beerists love our friends and families, have our own faith, are civic-minded and contribute to our community and society at large. We’re regular people who also enjoy drinking beer. Period. It’s only through the lens of prohibitionists that we appear any different. And until that cycle is broken and prohibitionists stop creating self-fulfilling propaganda, we’ll never solve any of the real problems that some individuals have with alcohol.

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Around the World In 80 Drinks

By

earth-2
Today’s infographic is named after one of my favorite books — Around the World in 80 Drinks. Although the name is a bit of a cheat, because while there are flags from 80 nations on the poster, there are only 75 drinks shown, as some are double up. Of those 75, only 10 are beers, which seems low to me. Also, the Czech Republic is represented by Becherovka, an herbal digestive, rather than a beer. Given that the Czechs drink more beer than any other country, that’s surprising. Curiously, it was created by Wine Investment, and there’s very few wines, too. But visually, it’s pretty cool looking.

Around-the-world-in-80-drinks-infographic
Click here to see the poster full size.

Global Alcohol Consumption Map

By

world-map
Today’s infographic is a map of the world showing alcohol consumption by country, based on information from the UN’s World Health Organization from 2008. The map is broken down by “litres per capita” and despite on the shouting by U.S. prohibitionists, America is somewhere in the middle. The map comes from an article on Geo Currents that takes a closer look at the global consumption of alcohol.

alcohol_consumption_per_capita_world_map
Click here to see the map full size.