Websites and Beer http://www.websitesandbeer.com/ en-us Nucleus CMS v3.24 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.websitesandbeer.com//nucleus/nucleus2.gif Websites and Beer http://www.websitesandbeer.com/ Vinegar Beer http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=33 people's inability to tell the difference between cheap and expensive wine. It's largely due to the psychological expectations of what will happen -- often if people believe they will feel a certain way about something, they do.

Now, to the beer world.

Here's a study where people were offered vinegar in their beer. Sounds awful, right? They thought so too. Well, it turns out if you do a blind taste test, people generally prefer the vinegar beer, to the point that once you tell them that there was vinegar in the beer, they tend to *keep drinking it*. This is definitely a taste combination I'll be personally exploring in the near future.

This somewhat reminds me of the Miracle Fruit, which I want to get some of in the near future. It's amazing how some flavors in food come together and build on one another.]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=33 Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:21:31 -0400 You're under arrest for poor taste. http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=32 poor judgment on two counts there -- drinking that much and drinking Melbourne Bitter,'' magistrate Vince Luppino was quoted as saying.

Judge-burn!]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=32 Wed, 16 Jul 2008 21:15:23 -0400 Consolidation http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=31 Anheuser-Busch got bought.

It's kinda interesting, that as craft brews are increasing in popularity, that the bigger beverage makers are getting even bigger.]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=31 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 19:19:22 -0400 Guinness: loved around the world http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=30
Think farther south. As of 2007 (I couldn't find a more recent source) Nigeria is the number two consumer of Guinness in the world. Brilliant!]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=30 Wed, 9 Jul 2008 23:45:14 -0400 Open Source and Beer http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=29 Open Source Beer Project. If you're just interested in learning about beer recipes or brewing, also read through it. It's a good read.]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=29 Fri, 16 May 2008 19:36:35 -0400 Alcohol advertising rules and bung holes. http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=28 Weed, California. They were being ordered to stop selling beer with "Try Legal Weed" printed on the bottle caps.

Brewer must stop using 'Legal Weed' bottle caps

Since 1994, there's a federal law against drug references on alcoholic beverages. I had never really considered that there were federal regulations regarding beer labels, but of course it makes sense that there would be. These rules are enforced by an agency: Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, or their acronym, TTB. I guess ATTTB was too much.

Anyways, I was thinking about these laws, and wondered more about them. So, I looked up the homepage of the TTB, and started looking at the TTB Beer Regulations. Naturally, I clicked through to the section labeled 'Beer', and from there, found myself reading the page on barrels and kegs, where I found this:
May be shown as the only location on the bung, or on the tap cover, or on a separate label attached to the keg;

"on the bung"?

As everyone who's heard of Beavis & Butthead knows, Beavis always wanted "TP for his bung hole."

Turns out that a "bung" is the stopper that keeps the beer in the keg. The bung hole is the opening in the keg that gets tapped, so that beer can flow out.

*The more you know!*]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=28 Wed, 30 Apr 2008 21:39:31 -0400 Beer: Now harder (and easier) to get! http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=27
Here's an article from the LA Times about the rise in beer prices. It's actually a good read, and it points out that the rise is not just because of the demand for biodiesel, but due to other factors.

For example, during the mid-late 1990s, there was a surplus of beer ingredients due to new, high-volume varieties, and lots of extra acreage. Apparently the barley and hops store very well for long periods of time, and since there wasn't an increase in demand to match the increase in supply, the excess was put into storage. This excess product pushed down prices, and hops/barley farmers actually started going out of business. As with lots of big things, there were a variety of factors leading up to this.

Then, for the good news: Denver, CO is allowing liquor stores to open on Sundays. Previously, 3.2% was the legal limit for sale on Sunday. It doesn't say if it was a.b.w. or a.b.v., but it doesn't matter, since the law is changing. The article doesn't talk about any real opposition to the change, except from the people who used to profit off the 3.2% beer sales, but of course they're unhappy -- they're losing sales!

Dry laws just seem like such an archaic concept anyways. If someone really wants to drink on a Sunday, they'll buy on a Saturday. Screw prohibition. Sure, there's people who get caught up in one thing to the point where it interferes with their lives, but it seems like most of us can moderate ourselves. It's like elementary school where one kid screwed up fun for everyone else. ]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=27 Sat, 19 Apr 2008 14:34:30 -0400 Hail the Ale http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=26 BarCampOrlando and met Chris from Hail the Ale. He was at BarCamp with a shirt telling people to follow him on Twitter, with offers of beer throughout the day. I didn't manage to grab a beer with him, but I liked his site, and I hope to drink with him soon.

Hail the Ale!]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=26 Wed, 16 Apr 2008 20:46:02 -0400 New Beer's Eve! http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=25 Last Monday was the 75th anniversary of beer being legalized after Prohibition. Monday, April 7, 2008.

Back in 1933, after 14 years of no real beer (only .5% alcohol-by-volume), they legalized 3.2% a.b.v. beer. Of course, that's still light, but .5 was a joke.

"There was dancing in the streets and lines outside brewery doors ... It was a big date, for sure," Herz said.


Oh yes. I'd dance too! I'd grab the first bottle I could, find a cop, and ask him for a bottle opener.

Bonus Fact: Rhode Island was the only state to not ratify the 18th Amendment, which created Prohibition. Go R.I.!]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=25 Tue, 15 Apr 2008 09:09:21 -0400 Save the world with bottled beer. http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=24 99 bottles of beer are the wall".

This next one is a discussion of building a solar water heater out of beer bottles. Maybe these guys should hook up with the beer bottle wall fellas, and build a wall-solar heater.

I wonder if making a beer-bottle wall and filling the bottles with water would act as a temperature buffer. They'd absorb heat during the day, then release their heat at night, helping regulate the temperature without heaters or air conditioning. I remember reading something about how prehistoric man used to sleep in caves because the walls would store heat during the day, then keep them warm at night. Hence the name "cavemen". I don't know if it's historically accurate, but it makes sense from a scientific perspective. It's why places that have a lot of water have narrow temperature ranges, whereas deserts go from 100-degrees in the day to 20-degrees at night.]]> General http://www.websitesandbeer.com/index.php?itemid=24 Sun, 24 Feb 2008 15:03:50 -0500