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Tuesday, March 7, 2023

Let’s See What AI Can Do!!

 I’ve been hearing a lot about ChatGPT and wondered if it would actually write a entry that would make any sense.  

So, I asked it to write me an entry on “The Rise of Craft Beer: A history of the craft beer movement, its impact on the beer industry, and what it means for the future of beer.”


This is what it returned.


Craft beer has become increasingly popular in recent years, and it's not hard to see why. With a focus on quality, creativity, and local production, craft beer offers a unique and flavorful alternative to the mass-produced beers that dominate the market.

But where did the craft beer movement come from? To understand its rise, we need to take a look back at the history of beer in the United States.

For many years, the beer industry was dominated by a few large companies, such as Anheuser-Busch and MillerCoors. These companies produced a limited range of beer styles, and their focus was primarily on efficiency and mass production.

In the 1970s and 80s, however, a few small breweries began to emerge, producing beers with unique flavors and styles. These breweries were often run by individuals or small groups of people who were passionate about beer and wanted to create something different from what was already on the market.

These early craft breweries faced many challenges, including restrictive laws, limited distribution channels, and a lack of consumer awareness. But despite these obstacles, they continued to grow and gain a following.

In the 1990s, the craft beer movement really began to take off. New breweries were popping up all over the country, and consumers were starting to take notice. This growth was fueled in part by changes in the law that made it easier for small breweries to distribute their beer, as well as by a growing interest in local and artisanal products.

Today, the craft beer industry is booming, with thousands of breweries across the country producing a wide range of styles and flavors. Craft beer now accounts for a significant portion of the beer market, and many of the larger beer companies have started to invest in craft breweries or create their own craft-style brands.

So what does the rise of craft beer mean for the future of beer? For one thing, it means that consumers are demanding more variety and quality in their beer. They want beers with unique flavors and styles, and they are willing to pay more for them.

It also means that the beer industry is becoming more diverse and decentralized. Rather than being dominated by a few large companies, the industry is now made up of thousands of small and independent breweries, each with their own unique approach to brewing.

Finally, the rise of craft beer represents a shift towards a more sustainable and community-focused approach to beer production. Craft breweries tend to use local ingredients and support local businesses, and they often have a strong connection to their community.

In conclusion, the craft beer movement has had a profound impact on the beer industry, and its influence is likely to continue for many years to come. By offering unique and flavorful beers, supporting local communities, and promoting diversity and quality, craft beer has changed the way we think about and consume beer.


Hey now, that’s not too bad!!

Until next time!!


C-pher


Saturday, February 17, 2018

It's Been Awhile...and by that, I really mean, AWHILE

Hi Y'all.  I know it's been 100 years since I've posted anything...and I guess I'm going to have to really try to change that...

I guess I'll have to think of some topics that will be of interest for me to post.  Maybe some posts about local breweries here in Memphis.  Festivals or something, spending time at the range with my friends, who know.

But, I will try to get some more stuff up here. 

Have a great weekend and we'll catch up soon!


Monday, January 18, 2016

So, you know your beer? Do you really?

Hey guys...yes I know, I suck as keeping this blog up to date.  But, I was talking to a new friend and we were discussing topics for this blog.  I was thinking about what to write and we talked about something that was done not too long ago in the very place we were having a beer.  See, there was a little experiment that happened at a local watering hole in the not too distant past.  It was eye opening, it was informing, and it was DEFINITELY entertaining.  Yes, and you won't take away my Oxford Comma from my cold, dead, and typing fingers.  But I digress...

What in the world, you may be asking, could this experiment have been?  It was a little play off one that was done with a bunch of wine experts.  Hey, booze is booze, right??  So, if the hoity toity wine folks will do it...will the more down to earth and smarter beer drinkers fall for the same thing?  I guess we shall see...




So, there was this study a few year back.  This guy, Frédéric Brochet, at the University of Bordeaux II in Talence, France...he went and caused a stink among this high and mighty wine community.  It seems that it was also quite simple.  What did he do, you might ask?  He turned the wine folks upside down with a few drops of food coloring.

Yep, that's all he did.  He added a few drops of red food coloring to white wine, fed it to a group of Oenologists and let them run.  So, what happened?  Well, it seems that Brochet found that they all came back with descriptions of Red Wine for a dyed White Wine.  How interesting?  These are people that study wines, these are EXPERTS!  



So what does this tell us?  It tell us that for the most part, we're all full of shit.  Many of us love beer, we love wine, we love whiskeys.  We go to tastings, we listen to people talk, we're part of beer clubs. We like to learn about a subject that we enjoy.  But when it comes down to it, it seems that it's all bullshit.  We don't taste with our mouths...we're tasting with our eyes...and then noses, ears, touch and MAYBE then our mouths.  Most of the time we've made a subconscious decision before whatever we're eating or drinking is put to our mouth.  It's been proven over and over in many studies around the world.

We have a study out of Cornell that suggests that eating in a more upscale environment will have people rate the same food better, than if they eat in a fast food environment.   So, changing the visual and audio cues will change how we feel about what we're eating. How interesting.  We can even add in another study that was written up by the New Yorker, that even the sight of the bottle will change our reviews.  Seems that a wine in a crappy looking bottle will rate less by experts that the same wine in a nice looking bottle.  Again, calling bullshit on us being able to tell you if it's good or not based on taste.

Hell, if served blindly, we can't even tell the difference between pâté and dog food.



OK, enough about this...the point has been made over and over.  What am I really getting at?  Well, are beer drinkers more honest?  I've already wrote about beer reviews and if we're actually honest with ourselves. So, why not do the same thing with the beer drinkers of the world?

So, they took a pretty well known beer...and one that most craft beer drinkers claim they won't drink.  They gave it a fancy name...put it up on the board and waited to see how many people would order this, "New Offering," at the bar.

From what I can tell, it did sell faster than it does with the real name.  And talking to people, and how they ranked it, it was ranked higher than when it's known who it was.  And I'm not ashamed to admit, I was among these folks as well.  But when tasting, everyone said that the beer was crisp, it tasted familiar, that they can't place their finger on it, but it was good.  And the general rating was around a 3 to 3-1/2,  Not to bad!  Hell, more so because when they know what the beer is, it's usually getting around a 1 to 2...and most people claim they'd rather drink water.

Not to shabby if we use my tried and true beer scale.



So, what were people drinking?  You'd never guess it, and what was funny, is neither did they.



So, what does that really tell us?  Pretty much what they've been saying for quite sometime.  The same as wine, beer reviews, can be bullshit!  And that the uber beer snobs, the ones that, "would rather drink water than that swill," can sit back down and enjoy a nice crisp Miller or Bud on a hot Summer day.  Stop being an asshole and enjoy the things that we like, good tasty beer!


Cheers, and until next time....enjoy what you enjoy and don't let people tell you differently!

C-pher

Wednesday, September 2, 2015

Bottles or Cans, What's More Eco-Friendly?

Hello everyone, once again I have to thank my Beer Drinking friends for another topic Idea regarding the world of beer.


There's a manager for a local Packy that asked how we prefer our beer, in cans or bottles.  That brought up a debate on which is greener...so, I figured I would start looking into this to see...I mean, one has to be better than the other, right??


And when I'm talking better, I'm talking for the envrionment, not taste...if we want to discuss bottle vs can in general, then go back to when I wrote about this earlier in the post, Wait, what's that about our beer??


So, I started off by trying to find out which was more eco-friendly...and as anyone that's taken some chemistry in the past knows, glass is MUCH easier on the environment to produce.

As we know, aluminum is made from bauxite and glass is made from silica.

The mining of bauxite requires substantial, land-scarring efforts to extract from the Earth.  With that, the United States imports virtually all of its bauxite from Australia, Guinea, and Jamaica, where mining operations have caused a lot of environmental controversies.  By contrast, glass is made from the abundance of silica that's available right here in the US.




So, if we take into account the amount of fossil fuels that go into Mining, then shipping and exporting to the US, then into the refinement...glass is a clear winner from ground to dock.


What I've been able to find is that the average 12 oz container (glass or can) for refining only, is about 2.07 kw hours of electricity for the can. The bottle is about  1.09 kw hours to produce.  That means that the production of a virgin aluminum can is twice as energy intensive as the bottle.




Notice that I said these figures are for virgin containers.  If we take into account, the amount of recycled materials in these containers...it seems the numbers change.  The number are showing that most beer cans contain about 40% recycled aluminum.  That's a huge difference from glass that's only about 20% to 30% recycled glass.  But that's not all, it seems that the energy savings by using recycled materials made a huge difference.  Because we're taking out the mining, shipping, refining, aluminum starts to take advantage.  Being that there's more recycled material in that next container, it seems that we're gaining some ground in the can.

From what I can find, the energy savings are about 96% over virgin for the production of a 12ox can.  The bottle yields only about a 27% savings for a 12oz bottle due to the fact that there's less recycled materials on the next run of that bottle.  So, if your favorite brewery is using second hand aluminum for their cans, they start to narrow the gap on their carbon footprint.




So, can's are catching up to being as green as bottles.

But wait, there's more to think about.  We have to talk about the distribution of the unfilled and filled cans/bottles.  What does that mean for the greener option of bottles?

If we consider them getting to the brewery to be filled...the edge starts to vanish depending on the distance the empty can had to travel.  If we're talking empty cans, they weigh about 13 grams, which is about a half an once.  A bottle weighs about 6 ounces.  So, we know that we need more fuel to transport heavier items, so we have to factor in emissions and fuel consumption.  With this though, the can comes in WAY ahead.  


It seems that Germany's Wuppertal Institute did a study to figure this out...which is good for me as they saved me the time of looking this up.  They claim that once a cross-country truck journey is factored into the equation, a bottle ends up emitting 20 percent more greenhouse gases than a can. (In this example, the hypothetical can is made from 100 percent virgin aluminum; the recycled content of the glass bottle is not specified, but the energy required to mine the necessary silica is included in the calculation.)



So, if we want to take this out of the equation, then drink locally at the brewery.  As I'm sure that cans and bottle have to travel hundreds of miles from where they are made, to a distributer and then to the bottling/canning locations.

Anyway, back on topic...it seems that in terms of recycling, about 45% of cans are recycled in comparison of 25% of bottles.  I guess it's expensive to sort these bottles, as they have to separate them by color.  And it seems that almost all towns don't even deal with recycling the green bottles because of the metals in them that are needed to turn them green.  So, most of those just go into a landfill as the costs of removing these during the recycling process is very expensive.  

Now, if we were to go back in the days when I was younger, and bottle were able to refilled, bottle would kill the winning eco-friendliness of cans.  While it's an old study, 2001 and the only one I saw referenced, the European Commision found that if we used a refillable bottle around 20 times with a recycling rate of about 40%, and the distance of distribution was less than 2600 miles, bottles would still be more eco-friendly than recycled cans.  So, why aren't we doing this?  There's parts of Canada and Europe that refill bottles, so I'm not sure why we stopped here in the US.

It seems that one of the people on our post of discussion today had the right idea. Just use kegs!  It seems that this is by far the greenest way to go.  While kegs may be heavy and add to the carbon footprint...we're looking at a vessel that is refillable.  It's used for around 15-20 years depending on how it's handled.  And actually, when figured out by weight...it's lighter per drink than glass.  Even if we work out the same data as we have above...empty, a keg weighs in at about 30 pounds and holds 15.5 gallons.  That's about 3 ounces of packaging per 12 oz beer instead of 6 oz per bottle.

So, if you're really worried about the carbon footprint, then drink local.  The biggest carbon footprint in that route is how they wash their glasses.



Drinking Local is something that I've been a fan of since I got into craft beer over 20 years ago.  Go to the source, not only will you get fresher, better tasting beer...you get to see new country side, and if you're willing...talk to the people that make your favorite beers.  You'd be surprised how welcoming most breweries are when you ask them questions.  They are proud of the beer they make, and they like to talk about...and when they see that same enthusiasm in the person they are talking to, may even share a few pints with you.




Cheers!

C-pher



Tuesday, September 1, 2015

essaytyper.com and Beer

Hi Guys, so this is interesting.  I was on the net and saw an ad for a website called, Essay Typer.  I guess, it's a site that if you're in need of a quick essay, it will write it...IN NO TIME FLAT!

So, I figured I would see what this was all about.  I went to the page, it asked what I wanted my essay to be about...and I said...well...BEER!

So, it wrote this up REALLY quickly.  I found this pretty interesting, and might see if I keep using the same topic, will it write different essays.

Anyway, enjoy!

And remember, if you're up at midnight trying to figure out what to write, maybe this site will help give you some direction.

C-pher


The Fluidity of Beer.
Gender Norms & Racial Bias in the Study of the Modern "Beer"

Beer is an alcoholic beverage produced by the saccharification of starch and fermentation of the resulting sugar. The starch and saccharification enzymes are often derived from malted cereal grains, most commonly malted barley and malted wheat. Most beer is also flavoured with hops, which add bitterness and act as a natural preservative, though other flavourings such as herbs or fruit may occasionally be included. The brewing process causes a natural carbonation effect, although forced carbonation is also used. The preparation of beer is called brewing.

Beer is the world's most widely consumed alcoholic beverage, and the third-most popular drink overall, after water and tea. It is thought by some to be the oldest fermented beverage. Beer is sold in bottles and cans and in pubs and bars is available on draught.

Some of humanity's earliest known writings refer to the production and distribution of beer: the Code of Hammurabi included laws regulating beer and beer parlours, and The Hymn to Ninkasi, a prayer to the Mesopotamian goddess of beer, served as both a prayer and as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people. Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries.

The strength of beer is usually around 4% to 6% abv, although it may vary between 0.5%  and 20%, with some breweries creating examples of 40% abv and above.

Beer forms part of the culture of beer-drinking nations and is associated with social traditions such as beer festivals, pub crawling and pub games such as bar billiards.

History

Beer is one of the world's oldest prepared beverages, possibly dating back to the early Neolithic or 9500 BC, when cereal was first farmed, and is recorded in the written history of ancient Iraq and ancient Egypt. Archaeologists speculate that beer was instrumental in the formation of civilizations.
The earliest known chemical evidence of barley beer dates to circa 3500–3100 BC from the site of Godin Tepe in the Zagros Mountains of western Iran. Some of the earliest Sumerian writings contain references to beer; examples include a prayer to the goddess Ninkasi, known as "The Hymn to Ninkasi", which served as both a prayer as well as a method of remembering the recipe for beer in a culture with few literate people, The Ebla tablets, discovered in 1974 in Ebla, Syria, show that beer was produced in the city in 2500 BC. A fermented beverage using rice and fruit was made in China around 7000 BC. Unlike sake, mold was not used to saccharify the rice ; the rice was probably prepared for fermentation by mastication or malting.

Almost any substance containing sugar can naturally undergo alcoholic fermentation. It is likely that many cultures, on observing that a sweet liquid could be obtained from a source of starch, independently invented beer. Bread and beer increased prosperity to a level that allowed time for development of other technologies and contributed to the building of civilizations.

Beer was spread through Europe by Germanic and Celtic tribes as far back as 3000 BC, and it was mainly brewed on a domestic scale. The product that the early Europeans drank might not be recognised as beer by most people today. Alongside the basic starch source, the early European beers might contain fruits, honey, numerous types of plants, spices and other substances such as narcotic herbs. What they did not contain was hops, as that was a later addition, first mentioned in Europe around 822 by a Carolingian Abbot and again in 1067 by Abbess Hildegard of Bingen.

In 1516, William IV, Duke of Bavaria, adopted the Reinheitsgebot, perhaps the oldest food-quality regulation still in use in the 21st century, according to which the only allowed ingredients of beer are water, hops and barley-malt. Beer produced before the Industrial Revolution continued to be made and sold on a domestic scale, although by the 7th century AD, beer was also being produced and sold by European monasteries. During the Industrial Revolution, the production of beer moved from artisanal manufacture to industrial manufacture, and domestic manufacture ceased to be significant by the end of the 19th century. The development of hydrometers and thermometers changed brewing by allowing the brewer more control of the process and greater knowledge of the results.

Today, the brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. As of 2006, more than 133 billion liters, the equivalent of a cube 510 metres on a side, of beer are sold per year, producing total global revenues of $294.5 billion .

In 2010, China's beer consumption hit 450 million hectoliters  or nearly twice that of the United States but only 5 percent sold were Premium draught beers, compared with 50 percent in France and Germany.

Brewing

The process of making beer is known as brewing. A dedicated building for the making of beer is called a brewery, though beer can be made in the home and has been for much of its history. A company that makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company. Beer made on a domestic scale for non-commercial reasons is classified as homebrewing regardless of where it is made, though most homebrewed beer is made in the home. Brewing beer is subject to legislation and taxation in developed countries, which from the late 19th century largely restricted brewing to a commercial operation only. However, the UK government relaxed legislation in 1963, followed by Australia in 1972 and the USA in 1978, allowing homebrewing to become a popular hobby.

The purpose of brewing is to convert the starch source into a sugary liquid called wort and to convert the wort into the alcoholic beverage known as beer in a fermentation process effected by yeast.

The first step, where the wort is prepared by mixing the starch source  with hot water, is known as "mashing". Hot water  is mixed with crushed malt or malts  in a mash tun. The mashing process takes around 1 to 2 hours, during which the starches are converted to sugars, and then the sweet wort is drained off the grains. The grains are now washed in a process known as "sparging". This washing allows the brewer to gather as much of the fermentable liquid from the grains as possible. The process of filtering the spent grain from the wort and sparge water is called wort separation. The traditional process for wort separation is lautering, in which the grain bed itself serves as the filter medium. Some modern breweries prefer the use of filter frames which allow a more finely ground grist.

Most modern breweries use a continuous sparge, collecting the original wort and the sparge water together. However, it is possible to collect a second or even third wash with the not quite spent grains as separate batches. Each run would produce a weaker wort and thus a weaker beer. This process is known as second  runnings. Brewing with several runnings is called parti gyle brewing.

The sweet wort collected from sparging is put into a kettle, or "copper", and boiled, usually for about one hour. During boiling, water in the wort evaporates, but the sugars and other components of the wort remain; this allows more efficient use of the starch sources in the beer. Boiling also destroys any remaining enzymes left over from the mashing stage. Hops are added during boiling as a source of bitterness, flavour and aroma. Hops may be added at more than one point during the boil. The longer the hops are boiled, the more bitterness they contribute, but the less hop flavour and aroma remains in the beer.

After boiling, the hopped wort is now cooled, ready for the yeast. In some breweries, the hopped wort may pass through a hopback, which is a small vat filled with hops, to add aromatic hop flavouring and to act as a filter; but usually the hopped wort is simply cooled for the fermenter, where the yeast is added. During fermentation, the wort becomes beer in a process which requires a week to months depending on the type of yeast and strength of the beer. In addition to producing ethanol, fine particulate matter suspended in the wort settles during fermentation. Once fermentation is complete, the yeast also settles, leaving the beer clear.

Fermentation is sometimes carried out in two stages, primary and secondary. Once most of the alcohol has been produced during primary fermentation, the beer is transferred to a new vessel and allowed a period of secondary fermentation. Secondary fermentation is used when the beer requires long storage before packaging or greater clarity. When the beer has fermented, it is packaged either into casks for cask ale or kegs, aluminium cans, or bottles for other sorts of beer.

Ingredients

The basic ingredients of beer are water; a starch source, such as malted barley, able to be saccharified  then fermented ; a brewer's yeast to produce the fermentation; and a flavouring such as hops. A mixture of starch sources may be used, with a secondary starch source, such as maize, rice or sugar, often being termed an adjunct, especially when used as a lower-cost substitute for malted barley. Less widely used starch sources include millet, sorghum and cassava root in Africa, and potato in Brazil, and agave in Mexico, among others. The amount of each starch source in a beer recipe is collectively called the grain bill.

Water  

Beer is composed mostly of water. Regions have water with different mineral components; as a result, different regions were originally better suited to making certain types of beer, thus giving them a regional character. The waters of Burton in England contain gypsum, which benefits making pale ale to such a degree that brewers of pale ales will add gypsum to the local water in a process known as Burtonisation.
Starch source  

The starch source in a beer provides the fermentable material and is a key determinant of the strength and flavour of the beer. The most common starch source used in beer is malted grain. Grain is malted by soaking it in water, allowing it to begin germination, and then drying the partially germinated grain in a kiln. Malting grain produces enzymes that convert starches in the grain into fermentable sugars. Different roasting times and temperatures are used to produce different colours of malt from the same grain. Darker malts will produce darker beers.

Nearly all beer includes barley malt as the majority of the starch. This is because its fibrous hull remains attached to the grain during threshing. After malting, barley is milled, which finally removes the hull, breaking it into large pieces. These pieces remain with the grain during the mash, and act as a filter bed during lautering, when sweet wort is separated from insoluble grain material. Other malted and unmalted grains  may be used. Some brewers have produced gluten-free beer, made with sorghum with no barley malt, for those who cannot consume gluten-containing grains like wheat, barley, and rye.

Hops  

Flavouring beer is the sole major commercial use of hops. The flower of the hop vine is used as a flavouring and preservative agent in nearly all beer made today. The flowers themselves are often called "hops".

The first historical mention of the use of hops in beer was from 822 AD in monastery rules written by Adalhard the Elder, also known as Adalard of Corbie, though the date normally given for widespread cultivation of hops for use in beer is the thirteenth century. Some beers today, such as Fraoch' by the Scottish Heather Ales company and Cervoise Lancelot by the French Brasserie-Lancelot company, use plants other than hops for flavouring.

Hops contain several characteristics that brewers desire in beer. Hops contribute a bitterness that balances the sweetness of the malt; the bitterness of beers is measured on the International Bitterness Units scale. Hops contribute floral, citrus, and herbal aromas and flavours to beer. Hops have an antibiotic effect that favours the activity of brewer's yeast over less desirable microorganisms and aids in "head retention", the length of time that a foamy head created by carbonation will last. The acidity of hops is a preservative.

Yeast  

Yeast is the microorganism that is responsible for fermentation in beer. Yeast metabolises the sugars extracted from grains, which produces alcohol and carbon dioxide, and thereby turns wort into beer. In addition to fermenting the beer, yeast influences the character and flavour.

The dominant types of yeast used to make beer are the top-fermenting Saccharomyces cerevisiae and bottom-fermenting Saccharomyces uvarum. Brettanomyces ferments lambics, and Torulaspora delbrueckii ferments Bavarian weissbier.

Before the role of yeast in fermentation was understood, fermentation involved wild or airborne yeasts. A few styles such as lambics rely on this method today, but most modern fermentation adds pure yeast cultures.
Clarifying agent  

Some brewers add one or more clarifying agents to beer, which typically precipitate  out of the beer along with protein solids and are found only in trace amounts in the finished product. This process makes the beer appear bright and clean, rather than the cloudy appearance of ethnic and older styles of beer such as wheat beers.

Examples of clarifying agents include isinglass, obtained from swimbladders of fish; Irish moss, a seaweed; kappa carrageenan, from the seaweed Kappaphycus cottonii; Polyclar ; and gelatin. If a beer is marked "suitable for Vegans", it was clarified either with seaweed or with artificial agents.

Production and trade

The Benedictine Weihenstephan Brewery in Bavaria, Germany, can trace its roots to the year 768, as a document from that year refers to a hop garden in the area paying a tithe to the monastery. The brewery was licensed by the City of Freising in 1040, and therefore is the oldest working brewery in the world. The oldest brewery with discontinuous production is the Břevnov Monastery in the Czech Republic, which was founded in 993.

The brewing industry is a global business, consisting of several dominant multinational companies and many thousands of smaller producers ranging from brewpubs to regional breweries. A brewpub is a type of microbrewery that incorporates a pub or other eating establishment.

The highest density of breweries in the world, most of them microbreweries, exists in the German Region of Franconia, especially in the district of Upper Franconia, which has about 200 breweries.
Brewing at home is subject to regulation and prohibition in many countries. Restrictions on homebrewing were lifted in the UK in 1963, Australia followed suit in 1972, and the USA in 1978, though individual states were allowed to pass their own laws limiting production.

International breweries  

Since the globalisation of the beer market near the end of the 20th century, becoming the largest brewery has been a game of merging with and overtaking other large breweries.

In 2002, the foundation of South African Breweries bought the North American Miller Brewing Company to found SABMiller, becoming the second largest brewery, after North American Anheuser-Bush.

In 2004, the Belgian Interbrew was the third largest brewery by volume and the Brazilian AmBev was the fifth largest. They merged into InBev, becoming the largest brewery.

In 2007, SABMiller surpassed InBev and Anheuser-Bush when it acquired Royal Grolsch, brewer of Dutch premium beer brand Grolsch in 2007.

In 2008, InBev  bought Anheuser-Busch, the new Anheuser-Busch InBev company became again the largest brewer in the world.

Currently, AB InBev is still the largest brewery, with a second place for SABMiller and a third place for Heineken International.

Varieties

While there are many types of beer brewed, the basics of brewing beer are shared across national and cultural boundaries. The traditional European brewing regions—Germany, Belgium, England and the Czech Republic—have local varieties of beer.

English writer Michael Jackson, in his 1977 book The World Guide To Beer, categorised beers from around the world in local style groups suggested by local customs and names. Fred Eckhardt furthered Jackson's work in The Essentials of Beer Style in 1989.

Top-fermented beers are most commonly produced with Saccharomyces cerevisiae, a top-fermenting yeast which clumps and rises to the surface, typically between 15 and 24 °C . At these temperatures, yeast produces significant amounts of esters and other secondary flavour and aroma products, and the result is often a beer with slightly "fruity" compounds resembling apple, pear, pineapple, banana, plum, or prune, among others.

After the introduction of hops into England from Flanders in the 15th century, "ale" referred to an unhopped fermented beverage, "beer" being used to describe a brew with an infusion of hops.

The word ale comes from Old English ealu, in turn from Proto-Germanic  alu, ultimately from the Proto-Indo-European base  h₂elut-, which holds connotations of "sorcery, magic, possession, intoxication". The word beer comes from Old English bēor, from Proto-Germanic  beuzą, probably from Proto-Indo-European  bʰeusóm, originally "brewer's yeast, beer dregs", although other theories have been provided connecting the word with Old English bēow, "barley", or Latin bibere, "to drink". On the currency of two words for the same thing in the Germanic languages, the 12th-century Old Icelandic poem Alvíssmál says, "Ale it is called among men, but among the gods, beer."

Real ale is the term coined by the Campaign for Real Ale  in 1973 for "beer brewed from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide". It is applied to bottle conditioned and cask conditioned beers.

Pale ale

Pale ale is a beer which uses a top-fermenting yeast and predominantly pale malt. It is one of the world's major beer styles.

Stout

Stout and porter are dark beers made using roasted malts or roast barley, and typically brewed with slow fermenting yeast. There are a number of variations including Baltic porter, dry stout, and Imperial stout. The name Porter was first used in 1721 to describe a dark brown beer popular with the street and river porters of London. This same beer later also became known as stout, though the word stout had been used as early as 1677. The history and development of stout and porter are intertwined.

Mild

Mild ale has a predominantly malty palate. It is usually dark coloured with an abv of 3% to 3.6%, although there are lighter hued milds as well as stronger examples reaching 6% abv and higher.

Wheat

Wheat beer is brewed with a large proportion of wheat although it often also contains a significant proportion of malted barley. Wheat beers are usually top-fermented . The flavour of wheat beers varies considerably, depending upon the specific style.

Lager

Lager is the English name for cool fermenting beers of Central European origin. Pale lagers are the most commonly consumed beers in the world. The name "lager" comes from the German "lagern" for "to store", as brewers around Bavaria stored beer in cool cellars and caves during the warm summer months. These brewers noticed that the beers continued to ferment, and to also clear of sediment, when stored in cool conditions.

Lager yeast is a cool bottom-fermenting yeast  and typically undergoes primary fermentation at, and then is given a long secondary fermentation at . During the secondary stage, the lager clears and mellows. The cooler conditions also inhibit the natural production of esters and other byproducts, resulting in a "cleaner"-tasting beer.

Modern methods of producing lager were pioneered by Gabriel Sedlmayr the Younger, who perfected dark brown lagers at the Spaten Brewery in Bavaria, and Anton Dreher, who began brewing a lager, probably of amber-red colour, in Vienna in 1840–1841. With improved modern yeast strains, most lager breweries use only short periods of cold storage, typically 1–3 weeks.

Lambic

Lambic, a beer of Belgium, is naturally fermented using wild yeasts, rather than cultivated. Many of these are not strains of brewer's yeast  and may have significant differences in aroma and sourness. Yeast varieties such as Brettanomyces bruxellensis and Brettanomyces lambicus are common in lambics. In addition, other organisms such as Lactobacillus bacteria produce acids which contribute to the sourness.
Measurement

Beer is measured and assessed by bitterness, by strength and by colour. The perceived bitterness is measured by the International Bitterness Units scale, defined in co-operation between the American Society of Brewing Chemists and the European Brewery Convention. The international scale was a development of the European Bitterness Units scale, often abbreviated as EBU, and the bitterness values should be identical.

Colour  

Beer colour is determined by the malt. The most common colour is a pale amber produced from using pale malts. Pale lager and pale ale are terms used for beers made from malt dried with coke. Coke was first used for roasting malt in 1642, but it was not until around 1703 that the term pale ale was used.

In terms of sales volume, most of today's beer is based on the pale lager brewed in 1842 in the town of Pilsen in the present-day Czech Republic. The modern pale lager is light in colour with a noticeable carbonation  and a typical alcohol by volume content of around 5%. The Pilsner Urquell, Bitburger, and Heineken brands of beer are typical examples of pale lager, as are the American brands Budweiser, Coors, and Miller.

Dark beers are usually brewed from a pale malt or lager malt base with a small proportion of darker malt added to achieve the desired shade. Other colourants—such as caramel—are also widely used to darken beers. Very dark beers, such as stout, use dark or patent malts that have been roasted longer. Some have roasted unmalted barley.
Strength

Beer ranges from less than 3% alcohol by volume  to around 14% abv, though this strength can be increased to around 20% by re-pitching with champagne yeast, The pale lagers that most consumers are familiar with fall in the range of 4–6%, with a typical abv of 5%. The customary strength of British ales is quite low, with many session beers being around 4% abv. Some beers, such as table beer are of such low alcohol content  that they are served instead of soft drinks in some schools.

The alcohol in beer comes primarily from the metabolism of sugars that are produced during fermentation. The quantity of fermentable sugars in the wort and the variety of yeast used to ferment the wort are the primary factors that determine the amount of alcohol in the final beer. Additional fermentable sugars are sometimes added to increase alcohol content, and enzymes are often added to the wort for certain styles of beer  to convert more complex carbohydrates  to fermentable sugars. Alcohol is a by-product of yeast metabolism and is toxic to the yeast; typical brewing yeast cannot survive at alcohol concentrations above 12% by volume. Low temperatures and too little fermentation time decreases the effectiveness of yeasts and consequently decreases the alcohol content.

Strongest beer

The strength of beers has climbed during the later years of the 20th century. Vetter 33, a 10.5% abv  doppelbock, was listed in the 1994 Guinness Book of World Records as the strongest beer at that time, though Samichlaus, by the Swiss brewer Hürlimann, had also been listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the strongest at 14% abv. Since then, some brewers have used champagne yeasts to increase the alcohol content of their beers. Samuel Adams reached 20% abv with Millennium, and then surpassed that amount to 25.6% abv with Utopias. The strongest beer brewed in Britain was Baz's Super Brew by Parish Brewery, a 23% abv beer. In September 2011, the Scottish brewery BrewDog produced Ghost Deer, which, at 28%, they claim to be the world's strongest beer produced by fermentation alone.

The product claimed to be the strongest beer made is Schorschbräu's 2011 Schorschbock 57 with 57,5%. It was preceded by The End of History, a 55% Belgian ale, made by BrewDog in 2010. The same company had previously made Sink The Bismarck!, a 41% abv IPA, and Tactical Nuclear Penguin, a 32% abv Imperial stout. Each of these beers are made using the eisbock method of fractional freezing, in which a strong ale is partially frozen and the ice is repeatedly removed, until the desired strength is reached, a process that may class the product as spirits rather than beer. The German brewery Schorschbräu's Schorschbock, a 31% abv eisbock, and Hair of the Dog's Dave, a 29% abv barley wine made in 1994, used the same fractional freezing method. A 60% abv blend of beer with whiskey was jokingly claimed as the strongest beer by a Dutch brewery in July 2010.

Serving

Draught  

Draught beer from a pressurised keg is the most common method of dispensing in bars around the world. A metal keg is pressurised with carbon dioxide  gas which drives the beer to the dispensing tap or faucet. Some beers may be served with a nitrogen/carbon dioxide mixture. Nitrogen produces fine bubbles, resulting in a dense head and a creamy mouthfeel. Some types of beer can also be found in smaller, disposable kegs called beer balls.

In the 1980s, Guinness introduced the beer widget, a nitrogen-pressurised ball inside a can which creates a dense, tight head, similar to beer served from a nitrogen system. The words draft and draught can be used as marketing terms to describe canned or bottled beers containing a beer widget, or which are cold-filtered rather than pasteurised.

Cask-conditioned ales  are unfiltered and unpasteurised beers. These beers are termed "real ale" by the CAMRA organisation. Typically, when a cask arrives in a pub, it is placed horizontally on a frame called a "stillage" which is designed to hold it steady and at the right angle, and then allowed to cool to cellar temperature, before being tapped and vented—a tap is driven through a  bung at the bottom of one end, and a hard spile or other implement is used to open a hole in the side of the cask, which is now uppermost. The act of stillaging and then venting a beer in this manner typically disturbs all the sediment, so it must be left for a suitable period to "drop"  again, as well as to fully condition—this period can take anywhere from several hours to several days. At this point the beer is ready to sell, either being pulled through a beer line with a hand pump, or simply being "gravity-fed" directly into the glass.

Draught beer's environmental impact can be 68% lower than bottled beer due to packaging differences. A life cycle study of one beer brand, including grain production, brewing, bottling, distribution and waste management, shows that the CO2 emissions from a 6-pack of micro-brew beer is about 3 kilograms . The loss of natural habitat potential from the 6-pack of micro-brew beer is estimated to be 2.5 square meters . Downstream emissions from distribution, retail, storage and disposal of waste can be over 45% of a bottled micro-brew beer's CO2 emissions.
Packaging  

Most beers are cleared of yeast by filtering when packaged in bottles and cans. However, bottle conditioned beers retain some yeast—either by being unfiltered, or by being filtered and then reseeded with fresh yeast. It is usually recommended that the beer be poured slowly, leaving any yeast sediment at the bottom of the bottle. However, some drinkers prefer to pour in the yeast; this practice is customary with wheat beers. Typically, when serving a hefeweizen wheat beer, 90% of the contents are poured, and the remainder is swirled to suspend the sediment before pouring it into the glass. Alternatively, the bottle may be inverted prior to opening. Glass bottles are always used for bottle conditioned beers.

Many beers are sold in cans, though there is considerable variation in the proportion between different countries. In Sweden in 2001, 63.9% of beer was sold in cans. People either drink from the can or pour the beer into a glass. A technology developed by Crown Holdings for the 2010 FIFA World Cup is the 'full aperture' can, so named because the entire lid is removed during the opening process, turning the can into a drinking cup. Cans protect the beer from light  and have a seal less prone to leaking over time than bottles. Cans were initially viewed as a technological breakthrough for maintaining the quality of a beer, then became commonly associated with less expensive, mass-produced beers, even though the quality of storage in cans is much like bottles. Plastic  bottles are used by some breweries.

Temperature  

The temperature of a beer has an influence on a drinker's experience; warmer temperatures reveal the range of flavours in a beer but cooler temperatures are more refreshing. Most drinkers prefer pale lager to be served chilled, a low- or medium-strength pale ale to be served cool, while a strong barley wine or imperial stout to be served at room temperature.

Beer writer Michael Jackson proposed a five-level scale for serving temperatures: well chilled  for "light" beers ; chilled  for Berliner Weisse and other wheat beers; lightly chilled  for all dark lagers, altbier and German wheat beers; cellar temperature  for regular British ale, stout and most Belgian specialities; and room temperature  for strong dark ales  and barley wine.

Drinking chilled beer began with the development of artificial refrigeration and by the 1870s, was spread in those countries that concentrated on brewing pale lager. Chilling beer makes it more refreshing, though below 15.5 °C the chilling starts to reduce taste awareness and reduces it significantly below . Beer served unchilled—either cool or at room temperature, reveal more of their flavours. Cask Marque, a non-profit UK beer organisation, has set a temperature standard range of 12°–14 °C  for cask ales to be served.

Vessels  

Beer is consumed out of a variety of vessels, such as a glass, a beer stein, a mug, a pewter tankard, a beer bottle or a can. The shape of the glass from which beer is consumed can influence the perception of the beer and can define and accent the character of the style. Breweries offer branded glassware intended only for their own beers as a marketing promotion, as this increases sales.

The pouring process has an influence on a beer's presentation. The rate of flow from the tap or other serving vessel, tilt of the glass, and position of the pour  into the glass all influence the end result, such as the size and longevity of the head, lacing, and the release of carbonation.
A beer tower is a beer dispensing device usually found in bars and pub that consists of a cylinder attached to a beer cooling device at the bottom. Beer is dispensed from the beer tower into a drinking vessel.

Health effects

The main active ingredient of beer is alcohol, and therefore, the health effects of alcohol apply to beer. Consumption of small quantities of alcohol  is associated with a decreased risk of cardiac disease, stroke and diabetes mellitus. The long term health effects of continuous, moderate or heavy alcohol consumption include the risk of developing alcoholism and alcoholic liver disease. A total of 3.3 million deaths  are believed to be due to alcohol. Alcoholism often reduces a person's life expectancy by around ten years. Alcohol use is the third leading cause of early death in the United States. Brewer's yeast is known to be a rich source of nutrients; therefore, as expected, beer can contain significant amounts of nutrients, including magnesium, selenium, potassium, phosphorus, biotin, chromium and B vitamins. Beer is sometimes referred to as "liquid bread".

It is considered that overeating and lack of muscle tone is the main cause of a beer belly, rather than beer consumption. A 2004 study, however, found a link between binge drinking and a beer belly. But with most overconsumption, it is more a problem of improper exercise and overconsumption of carbohydrates than the product itself. Several diet books quote beer as having an undesirably high glycemic index of 110, the same as maltose; however, the maltose in beer undergoes metabolism by yeast during fermentation so that beer consists mostly of water, hop oils and only trace amounts of sugars, including maltose.

Society and culture

In many societies, beer is the most popular alcoholic beverage. Various social traditions and activities are associated with beer drinking, such as playing cards, darts, or other pub games; attending beer festivals; engaging in zythology ; visiting a series of pubs in one evening; visiting breweries; beer-oriented tourism; or rating beer. Drinking games, such as beer pong, are also popular. A relatively new profession is that of the beer sommelier, who informs restaurant patrons about beers and food pairings.

Beer is considered to be a social lubricant in many societies and is consumed in countries all over the world. There are breweries in Middle Eastern countries such as Iran and Syria, and in African countries. Sales of beer are four times those of wine, which is the second most popular alcoholic beverage.

A study published in the Neuropsychopharmacology journal in 2013 revealed the finding that the flavour of beer alone could provoke dopamine activity in the brain of the male participants, who wanted to drink more as a result. The 49 men in the study were subject to positron emission tomography scans, while a computer-controlled device sprayed minute amounts of beer, water and a sports drink onto their tongues. Compared with the taste of the sports drink, the taste of beer significantly increased the participants desire to drink. Test results indicated that the flavour of the beer triggered a dopamine release, even though alcohol content in the spray was insufficient for the purpose of becoming intoxicated.

Some breweries have developed beers to pair with food. Wine writer Malcolm Gluck disputed the need to pair beer with food, while beer writers Roger Protz and Melissa Cole contested that claim.

Related beverages

Around the world, there are a number of traditional and ancient starch-based beverages classed as beer. In Africa, there are various ethnic beers made from sorghum or millet, such as Oshikundu in Namibia and Tella in Ethiopia. Kyrgyzstan also has a beer made from millet; it is a low alcohol, somewhat porridge-like drink called "Bozo". Bhutan, Nepal, Tibet and Sikkim also use millet in Chhaang, a popular semi-fermented rice/millet drink in the eastern Himalayas. Further east in China are found Huangjiu and Choujiu—traditional rice-based beverages related to beer.

The Andes in South America has Chicha, made from germinated maize ; while the indigenous peoples in Brazil have Cauim, a traditional beverage made since pre-Columbian times by chewing manioc so that an enzyme  present in human saliva can break down the starch into fermentable sugars; this is similar to Masato in Peru.

Some beers which are made from bread, which is linked to the earliest forms of beer, are Sahti in Finland, Kvass in Russia and Ukraine, and Bouza in Sudan.

Chemistry

Beer contains the phenolic acids 4-hydroxyphenylacetic acid, vanillic acid, caffeic acid, syringic acid, p-coumaric acid, ferulic acid and sinapic acid. Alkaline hydrolysis experiments show that the most of the phenolic acids are present as bound forms and only a small portion can be detected as free compounds.

Hops, and beer made with it, contain 8-prenylnaringenin which is a potent phytoestrogen. Hop also contains myrcene, humulene, xanthohumol, isoxanthohumol, myrcenol, linalool, tannins and resin. The alcohol 2M2B is a component of hops brewing.

Barley, in the form of malt, brings the condensed tannins prodelphinidins B3, B9 and C2.
Tryptophol, tyrosol and phenylethanol are aromatic higher alcohols found in beer as secondary products of alcoholic fermentation  by Saccharomyces cerevisiae.

Thursday, August 20, 2015

What Really is, Craft Beer?

Hi Folks, C-pher here...and I saw a post on Facebook that got me thinking...What really is Craft Beer?  What defines one's beer as actually, Craft?

So, I'll start with the definition.

Google's Online Dictionary says the following:



So, what does that mean to us?  I guess we need to see what defines a, "Small Brewery?"  



From the Brewers Association, small is a brewery that's Annual production of 6 million barrels of beer or less.  Which, if I'm not mistaken, is approximately 3 percent of U.S. annual sales. Now, the other thing you have to take into account is the breweries rules of alternating proprietorships.  These are the first real factors you need to use to ask, is this a craft beer?

They also say that they must be independent.  This is going to be a small company that makes and sells beer, usually with only one factory.  That this means that the brewery itself is not owned or controlled by a company that is not itself, a craft brewer.

The third is that they are traditional.  "A brewer that has a majority of its total beverage alcohol volume in beers whose flavor derives from traditional or innovative brewing ingredients and their fermentation. Flavored malt beverages are not considered beers."



The problem is, the Brewers Association keeps changing the rules.  Not too long ago, they were saying that a craft beer is a brewery that brews less than 2 million barrels.  I've found out that Sam Adams brewed 2.7 million barrels, so the BA raised it to 6 million as I wrote above.

So, this allows Sam Adams to keep their Craft Beer Status...and I had thought that it was because they had the small brewery in Jamaica Plain.  Aren't I the idiot?  So, where does that leave us in figuring out this definition?  Well, I'm not sure that it really does...as Gary Fish, chair of the BA Board of Directors and president of Deschutes Brewery says the following, "Removing the previous reference to ‘craft beers’—which the Brewers Association does not define, but rather leaves to the beer enthusiast—allows the focus to remain on the craft brewers the BA works to promote and protect.”

So we're still no further ahead...as it's left up to us.  It does seem that Boston Beer Company is really driving the train here...as they are what's made BA change the definition. They are the largest, and some call the pioneer, of craft beer.  So they seem to be setting the bar.

Behind them is Sierra Nevada at just around 1 million barrels.  That's just under half of what Boston Beer produces.  So they are still even under the original definition of BA of under 2 million barrels.

So, really, if you want to take this into effect, then yes, Sam Adams, is craft beer.  And as directed by BA, then so is Yuengling, as they produces about 2.5 million barrels annually.  And as Boston has several breweries, and is considered craft beer, then so can Yuengling even though they are operating two Pennsylvania facilities and a brewery in Tampa, Florida.

I think where we really need to draw the line is, the formally craft brewery that is now owned or controlled by one of the, "Big Guys."  Once they are into the mix, you can't consider yourself a craft brewer by the BA definition.

I guess what we really should think is that last thing that the BA talks about, the tradition definition.  That all Craft beer should be more about innovation. That really seems to be what we, as craft beer drinkers, seem to really put our worth.

What are they (the brewers) doing to:


So honestly, it's really up to us...what do we want to call, "Craft Beer?"  That's the true question.

As someone said online, "It's all up to interpretation."






Friday, June 5, 2015

Growlers, Growlers Everywhere!!

Hello everyone, C-pher here, and I read something that got me thinking again.  (can you smell the smoke?)  It seems that there's a chance that an archaic law just might get reversed, changed, however they want to make it sound.  

I was reading an article in the Globe (I know…don’t start) that was talking about how a law that I’ve never figured out might be changed.  Granted this is in MA, and many of you don’t live here…it seems that New England isn’t the only place that has these laws.  Be thankful that we’re not states like Texas and Oklahoma where breweries aren't allowed to sell growlers to go.

Or, we can talk about Georgia and South Dakota who don't permit sales of growlers of any kind.  

WHAT?!?




So, read this and then we’ll move forward on this issue.


Now that we're seeing that this law doesn’t make any sense, we can have a short discussion.  

It seems that Steven Howitt, a state representative from Seekonk, is looking to change an age old law that keeps us from keeping a small amount of growlers on hand. So, living in New England (exclude VT) means that you need to keep one of those PODS on your lawn to store all the growlers you're collecting.  It seems that it’s against the law for one brewery to fill a growler from another brewery.  Honestly, up until I read this article, I never questioned why we weren't allowed to do this.  I didn't grow up here, I have never heard of this law, as in many states I lived down South, this isn't an issue.

So, how do you ask that this is against the law?  Good Question!!  One I'm going to look into this and see if I can figure this out.

Well, it seems that growlers can only be filled by the brewery that’s on the label of said growler.  I've been going a little nutty here trying to find out exactly why, as the article I read didn't link any existing laws.  

So, I do what I do, and I start going through MA MGLs and see what I can find.

I started here: The Alcoholic Beverages Control Commission - 204-2.06: Labels and Containers

The best I can find is that this is based on labeling.

I’m going to start with a few that are listed that seem to point back to Federal Laws.

(1) Every manufacturer licensed by the Commission shall place on the brand labels all information required by federal regulations.

And

3) One label on every bottle, jug or other container of alcoholic beverages manufactured, blended, rectified or compounded by any Manufacturer or Wholesaler and Importer, shall state the quantity of such alcoholic beverages in the manner prescribed by the Federal Government, as far as applicable.

What I'm going to get out of this is that the brewery selling the beer, must have the proper labeling on the growlers related to said brewery.  Ok, that makes sense, right?  It is their growler.



Next thing I see is this:

(9) No false, deceptive or misleading statement shall be made or used, or shall be permitted to be made or used, by any licensee on any label on any keg, cask, barrel, bottle or other container of any alcoholic beverages.

I can only guess on this one is that if you fill a growler with Trillium in a growler from Tree House, you would then be able to pass it off as Trillium?  I would think that this would be geared towards distributors…but I've been known to be wrong.

Then I came across this one:

(12) No licensee shall deface, mar, obliterate, remove or cover any brand or label on any keg, cask, barrel, bottle or other container, except as may be required by Federal Regulation. No licensee shall buy, sell, exchange or traffic in any such containers without consent of the owner thereof.

This is the one that I'm thinking is the issue that we're really seeing.  It almost reads that because of the label another brewery can’t use the other breweries grower, one from rule (9) and then this one saying they can’t change the label.   

The last thing I see is the following:

(14) No licensee shall use or keep in his possession, without the consent of the owner, any barrel, keg, bottle, case or other container bearing the mark or brand of such owner.

And this one I would think would follow under (ME) as I’m the one that actually owns the Growler…but where MA Law is horrible to understand, I’m not sure if that’s the case as the growler still bears the name of the brewery. 





I would start to suggest calling your local State Rep to let them know this is on the radar.  Inform them that you would like them to help change this law.  Craft a good reason why this doesn’t make any sense, and if they are against this, have them tell you why!!  They aren’t our parents, they can’t just say, “Because I said so!”  Get an explanation on why they are against it...and be prepared to have a few points to politely argue against them.

Send e-mails, send letters, if you know them, go see them!  


Remember, the more you contact them, the more they are likely to vote our way.   And seeing them in person holds more weight than a handwritten letter, than a phone call, than the e-mail.  The more effort you put into this, the stronger the chance they will listen.

You don’t know who to call?  No worries, If you live in MA, find who's your Representivive:



I hope that we can band together as Craft Brew fanatics.  I hope that we can make these calls and get this passed.  And if you live in a state where you have similar laws, work to make an appointment with your local legislators. Talk about how you can get these changed.  Work with him/her to sponsor a bill in your state to get this changed.

And, I know that I have a lot of intelligent friends that read this very sparse blog…but if you have, know or have more information regarding these laws, I would love to hear them.  I would also love to find out what wording or what they plan on changing to make this work…let me know.

As always, leave me some comments!  That way we can all understand the changes.


Have a great day and Cheers!!  


I hope that we can pick up one of those insulated growlers here shortly to have filled at one of our favorite places!