By Jay R. Brooks
Published November 2009, Volume 30, Number 5
In today’s more sophisticated and educated beer culture, it certainly feels like this may be the best time for American beer that has ever existed. If you know where to look you can find more styles of beer than anywhere else in the world. For many people, craft beer is responsible for raising the status of American beer to heights thought impossible thirty years ago. Read More…
By Stephan Michaels
Published September 2009, Volume 30, Number 4
Theoretically, that brew you just finished should have traveled a pretty straightforward route from the brewery to your glass. Shipped from the brewer who created it, the beer was warehoused by a middleman, who then loaded it onto a truck and delivered it to a retailer, where it eventually found its way onto the shelf or into your local pub.
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They Were Ready; Where Were You?
By Lew Bryson
Published July 2009, Volume 30, Number 3
You’ve probably heard of the ‘inventions’ of Leonardo da Vinci. The archetypal Renaissance Man designed a submarine, a tank, a steam cannon, a bridge to span the Bosporus, an airplane, a helicopter, a hang glider and—quite practically—a parachute. Genius indeed, for one man to envision and sketch things that no one had ever dreamed before. Yet none of these designs would come to practical fruition for almost 400 years, waiting advances in metallurgy, textiles, power generation, and power transmission. Leonardo was too soon.
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With a New Administration, a New Beer Scene
By Greg Kitsock
Published March 2009, Volume 30, Number 1
I’m hugging a bottle of Anchor Steam at RFD in Washington, DC, sister establishment to the famed Brickskeller, watching a group of picketers wend their way around the crowded bar with signs reading, “We Want Beer.”
It’s a puzzling sight, as everybody here seems to be well served. In fact, the “protest,” organized by Premium Distributors of DC, is actually a celebration of the 75th anniversary of Repeal, which took place on December 5, 1933 with the ratification of the 21st Amendment.
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By Gregg Glaser
Published January 2009, Volume 29, Number 6
Lost
If it’s Wednesday, It Must be Belgium (or is that Brazil?)
What happened to big U.S. breweries being owned by Americans? (Correct that to North Americans; no, we need to be more specific—North Americans who are citizens of the U.S.A.). Well, there’s no need to be jingoistic about it, but here’s the scorecard and it’s bloody confusing:
SABMillerCoorsMolson
The SAB stands for South African Breweries (with HQ in London, not Johannesburg). A few years ago this brewer bought Miller to form SABMiller. A few years later Coors merged with Molson of Canada to form MolsonCoors. This year Miller merged with Coors to form MillerCoors.
A-B-InBev
Earlier this year, Anheuser-Busch gave in to an almost-hostile takeover from the world’s biggest brewer, InBev (which itself is the result of a merger a few years ago of giant Belgian brewer Interbrew with Ambev, a giant Brazilian brewer). By the end of 2008, InBev was supposed to have swallowed A-B, but the international monetary crisis may or may nor scuttle that deal.
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By Rick Lyke
Published November 2008, Volume 29, Number 5
The U.S. presidency carries with it an awesome amount of power and responsibility. That’s the case whether you are talking about nuclear arms—or beer.
Public policy shapes everything from the price to the availability of the beer we enjoy. Whether it is a new tax on beer or farm subsidies, politics have an impact on the brewing industry. Sometimes the changes are subtle, in other cases, such as Prohibition, the impact can dramatic.
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