Hop Talk

Call for weak Euro beer
Austrian officials are pushing for a special “Euro 2008″ beer (read: low alcohol) and branded plastic “Euro 2008″ mugs (read: that can’t be used as projectiles) to be served when Austria and Switzerland host the 2008 European Championship. All in an effort to cut down on hooliganism.

Ale’s Well with the World
This article in Scientific American describes the findings of Charlie Bamforth, Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis. Specifically, it was the discovery of how to store and ferment grain is what caused people to live together. Thus was born civilization, villages became cities, and technology advanced in leaps and bounds.

Workers Threaten Heineken
Workers at Heineken’s plant in St. Petersburg, Russia, have threatened a “slowdown” unless they get a 30 percent raise, a year-end bonus, extra pay for hazardous conditions and other concessions. It is unclear whether they’ll still be required to drink the beer.

Expert offers tips for pouring a perfect glass of beer
“Though it seems easiest to drink beer straight from the bottle or can, experts recommend pouring it into a clear glass for maximum enjoyment. Different varieties of beer should be served in different types of glasses.” Well, duh! It’s nice to see traditional media with a positive article about beer, however.

Thief betrays himself for beer
A German phone thief led police right to his front door when they called the stolen mobile to say he had won some free beer and he willingly gave his address. Stupid thief or entrapment? You be the judge. (Sorry.)

Go figure: Use math to get the perfect head of beer
U.S. researchers have found a mathematical formula that predicts how beer bubbles change over time. OK, maybe it won’t change the taste of beer that much—but, it has other valuable applications.

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Pier 55: Wine is less snobby and beer more sophisticated
Cornell University offers a course entitled “Understanding Wine and Beer”. Traditionally women drink more wine than beer and men the opposite, but recently the gap has narrowed to almost nothing. Wine is less expensive and more accessible, and craft brewed beers are becoming more sophisticated. “No longer viewed as the sole province of the barbarian, specialist brewed beer has become the new fine wine.” Even many of the health effects associated with red wine can also be had from your darker beers.

Tale of two brews
When Molson Coors bought Creemore Springs Brewery in 2005, fans of the craft brewer felt that it was like “a death in the family.” But the megabrewer has given Creemore the autonomy to stay true to their roots.

Drinkers take on brewery in beer battle
Regulars at the Lewes Arms in Lewes, England are fans of locally brewed Harveys Best Bitter beer. However, the pub’s been bought by Greene King who want to stop selling it. This has sparked something of a local revolt. Even the local politicians are weighing in.

Police flush 2,500 cans of beer
A tragedy on so many levels, beer and other alcohol confiscated from an illegal establishment had to be flushed one container at a time by police officers. What a waste of taxpayer money. Of police manpower. Of beer.

Professors debate merits of beer, wine
Faculty at University of California - Davis put on a presentation and debate arguing the merits of beer versus wine, including health effects and trivia.

Plasmax makes beer last longer
Plastic bottles coated with “Plasmax” are as good as glass, according to the German brewing institute Versuchs- und Lehranstalt für Brauerei. To me, beer in plastic is just wrong. I suppose the Miller Lite served at the stadium or all those college keg parties with Solo cups have just ruined the idea for me.

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Coors leads surge for clean water
Denver brewer donates $30,000 to effort to monitor and heal the Shenandoah River.

An airline named after a beer
One out of every three beers consumed in India is a Kingfisher. Can they run an airline? Apparently so.

Man steals beer from minor league baseball stadium
He got arrested for it in 2002 and received a suspended sentence. I doubt he’ll get such a deal this time.

Cheers for beer makers
Michigan craft brewers’ sales are up, but claim state law is stifling growth.

“Savory” Seasonals
American megabrewers Anheuser Busch and Miller are experimenting with flavored beers for the holidays.

Big dry lifts price of brewing beer
Drought conditions in Australia are making barley more expensive to grow, making malt and, thus, beer, more expensive to make.

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More beer to be listed on stock exchange
IPO announcement by Oz Brewing Ltd with a listing on the Australian Stock Exchange follows a similar announcement from Brewtopia.

ADM strengthens position in global malt market
Food product megacorp Archer Daniels Midland buys controlling stake in International Malting Company, one of the world’s biggest suppliers of malt to the brewing industry.

Apparently Beer Goes Well With More Than French Fries
No fewer than three establishments claim they are the first Chicago “gastropub.”

Trail of beer leads police to suspect
Police dog follows trail of beer, clothes, a cooler, and a handtruck from the location where the truck crashed to an apartment building where the suspect was nabbed climbing out of a second-story window.

Miller sales lose ground to craft beers, imports
Miller Beer sales dip 3.6 percent due to gains by craft beers and imports, as well as a price war with Anheuser-Busch.

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Newport poster storm brewing
Sexual innuendo has been part of beer marketing for decades. This is news?

Beer-flavored ice cream is a big hit
Those beer-mad English are gaga over it.

There’s a beer out there
Australians are heading out into the bush in search of good beer at one of the many microbreweries opening up.

John Young dead at 85
Colorful brewer and fixture of British brewing died before the last batch of cask ale was due to be brewed.

Coors Brewing scores perfectly for equality
For the third year in a row, Coors Brewing has received a perfect score on the Human Rights Campaign Foundation’s “Corporate Equality Index”, which evaluates how major U.S. corporations treat their gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender employees, consumers and investors.

New York plant benefiting from synergies
Former Miller Brewing Company plant finds that beer and biodiesel is a good fit.

Carlsberg looks to expanding Serbia beer market
To invest €20 million into its Serbia operations.

New brews launched as drinkers lose taste for strong ale
Sales in the UK of beer with an ABV of 5% and up are down, so brewers are rolling out lower alcohol alternatives.

Suburban beer bandits on the rise
This is only one of several stories throughout the US where young people are breaking into garages and cribbing the beer in extra refrigerators.

Beer being served at 1982 prices
Now would be the time to visit the UK and pop into a pub or three.

Paris Hilton promotes beer at Octoberfest
The billionaire socialite is mobbed by photographers and onlookers in Munich. Is there nowhere to escape her?!

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Pete Coors, great grandson of founder Adolph Coors and vice chairman of Molson Coors Brewing Company, pleaded guilty last Friday to driving while impaired. This is a lesser charge than driving under the influence, with which he was originally charged.

Good old Pete was sentenced to 24 hours of community service, had his fine suspended, and needs to participate on a panel sponsored by Mothers Against Drunk Driving and go through alcohol education courses. He also has to pay about $500 in court costs. (I think he can afford it.)

There might be a little celebrity favoritism going on here. Would an average Joe gotten the charge reduced? Still, I suppose with all his money he might have gotten it swept under the rug. Expect a slew of new Coors-branded PSAs this football season.

On that note, your hosts at Hop Talk want to remind you that as much as we, and you, love beer, it is still an alcoholic beverage. Don’t drink and drive.

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