Beer in the news

[mr x]

Breweries’ agenda: Keep cap on laws

http://www.politico.com/story/2013/03/c ... tml?hp=r11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Washington, D.C. hosted the annual Craft Brewers Conference this week and brewers Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head Brewery) and Bill Covaleski (Victory Brewing Company) talked to POLITICO about Capitol Hill’s role in their industry.

[mr x]

Riding Wave of Popularity, Craft Brewers Ask Congress for a Tax Cut

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/03/29/busin ... 85EE183B13" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

WASHINGTON — They came to an opening night beer blast at the National Air and Space Museum, 4,000 strong in baseball caps and T-shirts, to look at the Wright Brothers’ airplane and drink Citizen by DC Brau, which also makes a wryly named hometown brew, Corruption.

The meeting was held at the National Air and Space Museum.

Craft beer brewers marched on Washington this week for their industry’s first conference in the nation’s capital. They were there to engage in a local pastime that goes pint in hand with drinking: lobbying. As part of the conference, hundreds of small-scale brewers met with Congressional staff members to press for a tax cut that they say would make it easier for them to brew more beer and hire more workers.

“For every 31 gallons that we brew, $7 goes to Uncle Sam,” said Jeff Hancock, a co-founder of DC Brau, one of five craft breweries that have opened in the District of Columbia and its close suburbs in the last two years, joining dozens more in the rest of Virginia and Maryland.

Washington is just one of many places where craft brewing is booming.

“We are the victims of our own success,” said Patrick Conway, owner of the Great Lakes Brewing Company in Cleveland. Mr. Conway brought a delegation of 12 employees to Washington to network and publicize his brews with tap takeovers at local bars. “We’re always being courted by distributors,” he said. “It’s not our intention to sell in every state, but we are flattered.”

The Brewers Association, which organized the conference, says 409 small breweries and brew pubs opened in the United States in 2012, up 18.5 percent from the year before. Craft beer’s success defies the economic conditions businesses have faced since the recession, largely because it is considered an affordable luxury.

“Beer is sort of a recession-proof industry,” said Jill McCluskey, a professor of agricultural economics at Washington State University. “In bad economic times, it’s something that people can still afford.”

With overall beer sales up 1 percent in 2012 after shrinking by about the same margin in 2011, most of the growth has been among specialty brewers. Their share of the market grew to 6.5 percent in 2012, from 5.7 percent in 2011. The $10.2 billion spent on craft beer represented 10.2 percent of money spent on all beer in 2012.

The small beer makers were out in full force at the Walter E. Washington Convention Center, the site of the Craft Brewers Conference, where they occupied 240,000 square feet, more than four football fields, for their trade show. Hop growers and malt makers began serving beers that used their products at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday and Thursday while hundreds of the industry’s suppliers displayed fermenters, tap handles and neon bar signs.

The growth has not been lost on politicians. The bipartisan House Small Brewers Caucus, which has 116 members from 35 states, has introduced the Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act, or Small BREW Act.

Commercial beer makers pay a federal tax on every barrel of beer they produce. It is a progressive tax: small breweries, producing fewer than two million barrels a year, pay $7 on their first 60,000 barrels. For every 31-gallon barrel above 60,000, they pay $18. Only about 100 craft breweries in the United States produce more than 15,000 barrels a year. About 95 percent of craft breweries and brew pubs produce less than that. Bigger brewers, like Anheuser-Busch InBev, which produced 98.5 million barrels in 2011, pay $18 for every barrel.

The Small BREW Act would reduce the tax on the first 60,000 barrels to $3.50. For every barrel beyond 60,000 but before two million, the tax would be $16. After two million, breweries would pay the full $18 tax. Any brewery that produces fewer than six million barrels a year — which includes the bigger craft players, like the Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams, which turned out 2.7 million barrels last year — would be eligible for the tax reduction.

Not everyone thinks the tax cut would be a good thing. The current tax levels were put in place in 1991 and have not changed since then. A rate that kept pace with inflation would make the taxes closer to $12 for small brewers and $30 for the big beer makers.

“The taxes that are included in the price of the beer do not begin to pay for the social costs of drinking,” said Phillip J. Cook, a professor of economics and public policy at Duke University, who thinks the failure to keep up with inflation means beer is now too cheap. “It would be reasonable to let consumers decide what they wanted to drink and not to foster this segment of this particular industry through this kind of industrial policy or tax policy.”

A report on reducing the nation’s budget deficit from the Center for American Progress suggests raising the excise tax to about $50 a barrel of beer regardless of the brewery’s size, which would bring in billions of dollars in additional revenue. If the Small BREW Act were to pass, it would cost the government $67 million a year at current levels, according to the Brewers Association.

Representative Jim Gerlach, a Pennsylvania Republican whose state is home to more than 100 small breweries, introduced the bill with Representative Richard E. Neal, a Massachusetts Democrat. Mr. Gerlach said the tax cut would have a positive economic impact because the brewers would use the windfall to expand. “They take every bit of loose change that they can get and plow it back into their operations,” he said.

The economic impact on small brewers could be significant. But in most of Congress it is viewed as little more than a “rounding error,” Bob Pease, the chief lobbyist for the Brewers’ Association, said. The tax has little chance of being considered outside of broader tax reform legislation, he added.

Even without the tax cut, Mr. Pease says he thinks the growth of the craft beer industry is set to continue.

“They are going to hire people whether or not the bill passes,” he said. There are more than 1,200 breweries in the planning stages; if those all went into business it would increase by more than 50 percent the 2,347 brew pubs and breweries currently operating.

But the growth of the industry has been so explosive that some in the industry now say that a slowdown is inevitable, regardless of what happens on the tax front.

“Eventually,” said Herbert Sachs, the president of Saxco International, a company that makes glass bottles for the beer industry, “that ends in too much beer sloshing around.”

[mr x]

Drunk Math: Why Tax Breaks for Craft Brewers Make No Sense

http://www.theatlantic.com/business/arc ... se/274485/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


Craft brewers are a lovable lot. They're small business owners, who by the rules of our political discourse are the most hallowed Americans other than high school quarterbacks and marine infantrymen. And they make beer -- really delicious beer that's freed our bars and backyard barbecues from the tyranny of tasteless yellow fizz.

Being lovable, though, does not entitle you to a tax break. Still, according to The New York Times, that's just what the country's small (or smallish) beer makers are gunning for on Capitol Hill. A bill introduced by the House Small Brewer's Caucus -- which a) somehow exists and b) has a remarkable 116 members -- would cut taxes paid on each barrel of beer. Like a thousand less-sympathetic special interest groups that come hat-in-hand to Congress every year, the brewers claim their bill would boost the economy by allowing them to expand and hire more workers.

And maybe it would. A little bit. But that doesn't make this legislation particularly smart or necessary. Craft-brewing is already growing at a breakneck pace. Business was up 15 percent by volume in 2012, even though U.S. beer sales have been basically flat for two years now. According to the Brewers Association, the industry's chief lobbying group, 409 small breweries and brew pubs opened their doors last year. Another 1,200 are supposedly in the "planning stages." You'd have to squint really, really hard to see the strains imposed by taxes.

Whatever economic benefits the Small BREW Act might bring, they would probably be far more modest than the industry claims. In an analysis conducted last year for the Brewers Association, Harvard Kennedy School professor John Friedman estimated that the tax cut would cost Washington just $86 million dollars over five years, yet somehow generate $883 million in economic activity -- a multiplier of more than 10-to-1.

If that were true, it might make tax-breaks for micro-brewers the single most powerful economic stimulus the United States has ever known. More likely, it's just a bit of drunk math.

The closer you look at it, the less sense the craft brewers' argument makes. The industry claims that cutting taxes would let them lower their prices, which would create more sales. But since the overall size of the beer market doesn't seem to be growing, there's no reason to think those sales wouldn't just come at the expense of mega-brewers like Anheuser-Busch InBev. And maybe you're all for helping the little guy. Maybe you think craft-brewers do more for local economies than the international beer giants, which send some of their profits off to global investors. But at least one of the major beneficiaries of this tax break, Boston Brewing Company (which makes Sam Adams), is a relatively large public company. And the macro-economic difference between Americans buying cans of Dale's Pale Ale instead of Bud Light Lime-a-Rita is, at most, tiny.

Today, the Brewer's Association says the tax break would only cost about $67 million, which is basically a stray cake crumb in the scheme of the federal budget. But as a matter of principle, Congress shouldn't be in the business of doling out welfare to small businesses or corporations without a compelling reason. If we want to get behind better beer, the place to do it is at our local liquor stores.

[mr x]

Brewery balks at water rates
Costs will skyrocket under proposed increase, Oland says in filing with regulator
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/1 ... ater-rates" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;


A proposed water rate increase will cut into Oland Brewery’s profitability, more than doubling its costs, the company said in a filing with the provincial regulator.

The Halifax regional water commission has applied to the Nova Scotia Utility and Review Board for a two-year rate increase that would see the average residential bill jump by $5.94 per month starting July 1 and another $9.82 starting April 1, 2014.

On an estimated annual household consumption of 188 cubic metres, that works out to an increase of 11.2 per cent and 16.7 per cent, respectively, for water, waste-water and stormwater services on water bills that are comprised of a base rate and a consumption rate.

But Oland Brewery, a subsidiary of Labatt Breweries of Canada, says its water and waste-water charges will skyrocket by 99 per cent and 33 per cent, respectively, by 2014 under the proposed changes.

According to Oland, that amounts to an additional $1,028,000 in costs, compared to 2012, and would negate measures it has implemented to reduce water consumption by 33 per cent over the last decade.

Surcharges for biochemical oxygen demand and total suspended solids would increase by 396 per cent and 320 per cent, respectively.

“This increase in cost will impact profitability within our Canadian brewery network,” the company states in a PowerPoint presentation posted on the review board website. “The Oland Brewery needs to remain competitive with other breweries.”

In its submission, the Halifax brewery said production volume is based on efficiency, including utility costs, and that to retain and attract beer volume within its Canadian brewery network, it must stay “a competitive and profitable site.”

According to the company, the proposed rates would be the highest in the country, more than those paid by its breweries in Edmonton, Montreal and London, Ont.

The Maritimes can be supplied from as far away as Quebec and Ontario, the company said in its presentation, and shipping and import costs are not unrealistic in its business model.

Wade Keller, head of Labatt corporate affairs for Atlantic Canada, declined to comment on whether the company would consider scaling down or closing its Halifax plant, which produces the popular Alexander Keith’s brand, if the proposed water rates take effect.

“Obviously, we’re concerned, and that’s why we filed as interveners in the procedure,” he said in a phone interview Monday. “But at this point, it’s best to let the process take its course.”

Don Roberts, president of Local 361 of the Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Union, which represents 130 workers at Oland, said the new rates “would increase our costs, and I know they’re just looking for a fair rate.”

The rate application also includes a change to how the utility calculates stormwater charges. Customers are currently billed based on water consumption, but Halifax Water wants to see an amount based on runoff instead. Previously, stormwater charges were included with waste-water service.

Additionally, the utility is seeking approval for a cost of service rate design manual.

The utility has estimated the proposed changes would decrease overall consumption by 1.5 per cent.

“This cost of service rate design will result in a slightly higher percentage of (Halifax Water’s) revenues coming from volumetric charges versus base charges,” the utility stated in its rate application.

“This sends a pricing signal promoting conservation of water, long-term sustainability and operational efficiency but places increased pressure on the utility to recognize and respond to trends in declining consumption.”

That is disputed by Michael Gorman, a consultant in Missouri with Brubaker & Associates, Inc., who has submitted evidence to the review board on behalf of Oland Brewery.

Gorman said increasing revenue through the volumetric charge “will produce more instability in (Halifax Water’s) revenue collections, which in turn can erode the financial strength and bond rating of the water system.”

“Designing a rate structure that does not properly reflect cost of service does not produce efficient price signals, which in turn does not encourage customers to make informed efficient consumption decisions for service from (Halifax Water),” he said.

According to its five-year business plan, this will likely be the first of three rate hikes the utility will ask for in the next five years as it seeks to increase revenues by 45 to 50 per cent over that period.

The utility estimates that $2.6 billion is needed over the next 30 years in upgrades to the waste-water system.

“Halifax Water is not alone in its quest for more sustainable funding,” it said in its business plan. “Unfortunately, waste-water and stormwater assets have been underfunded throughout North America, and other municipalities/utilities have made, or are making, inroads to increase rates.”

A public hearing on the rate application will be held April 15.

Meanwhile, the regulator has ruled that Halifax Water’s request to merge the Airport/Aerotech system with the urban core on April 1, 2014, will be separated from this rate application and heard separately, likely at a hearing in the fall.

A spokesman for the utility was unavailable for comment Monday.

[LeafMan66_67]

Brewery balks at water rates
Costs will skyrocket under proposed increase, Oland says in filing with regulator

Perhaps water rates were a factor in Sleeman pulling out in July as well?

[mr x]

maybe

[erslar00]

The utility estimates that $2.6 billion is needed over the next 30 years in upgrades to the waste-water system.

Does that seem a bit high... when you consdier probably half HRM doesnt' even get city water or sewer, I find that pretty hard.... to swallow.

[mr x]

Anheuser-Busch InBev and the U.S. Justice Department said on Friday that they have reached an agreement for a framework to settle their long-running beer brawl, and asked a court to extend a stay in their court fight until April 23.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-o ... e10822846/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mr x]

ENTREVESTOR: Pub waste may help biotech brew fungus-based industrial compound
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/1 ... l-compound" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[LiverDance]

I was telling some guys about this at the grain pickup

http://draftmag.com/beereditor/beer-can ... -the-same/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[mr x]

Seven die in beer tank after cleaning project takes tragic turn at Corona brewery
http://news.nationalpost.com/2013/04/08 ... a-brewery/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

MEXICO CITY — Mexico City authorities say seven workers died while cleaning a tank at a Grupo Modelo brewery in Mexico City.

A spokeswoman for city prosecutors says the accident occurred early Sunday and that investigators are looking into whether the workers died from inhaling toxic fumes. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because she was not authorized to discuss the case.

Plant manager Francisco Lopez Bravo told local media the workers were trapped inside the cistern while doing maintenance work.

Lopez Bravo said there are no other risks at the brewery and that it continued to operate on Sunday.

Grupo Modelo makes Corona and other globally popular beers.

[mr x]

Iconic Halifax nightclub closes its doors

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nova-scot ... osing.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A popular nightclub that has been a fixture of Halifax’s downtown since 1979 has closed its doors.

The owners of the New Palace Cabaret confirmed Tuesday night that they’re no longer in business.

“We are always keen to recognize demographic changes and industry trends, and as a result have decided to renovate the current location into a new and unique concept,” said owners Michel and Marcel Khoury in a statement.

The brothers said they’re starting renovations immediately on their new business. They did not reveal what type of operation they would open.

“We are excited about this new venture and are optimistic about Downtown Halifax’s future.”

The closure shocked Sammi Khalief, who went to the Palace with his friends.

“I’ll be sad to see it go,” he said. “I think it might affect downtown business… because it’s a draw for people downtown.”

But not everyone was a fan.

“I don’t really go to the Palace so that could be why it’s closing. Nobody goes there,” said Christian Dehmel.

The Khourys also own the Alehouse next door. They employ about 100 part-time staff between the two businesses.

[jeffsmith]

"I think it might affect downtown business…"

Likely in a positive way, though.

[LeafMan66_67]

Never been inside the place ... can't say that for many bars in Halifax

[mr x]

New business venture. Micro...

[pet lion]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-21541887" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

US craft beer: How it inspired British brewers
By Jon Kelly BBC News Magazine, Washington DC


Once widely mocked, US beer is now popular globally with hipsters and connoisseurs alike. Why is the world buying in to the American brewing revolution?

Not so very long ago, American beer was a joke. And a weak one at that.

To international tastebuds, it meant bottled lagers like Budweiser, Miller or Coors - commonly regarded by self-respecting drinkers as bland, corporate and lacking in credibility.

An explosion in independently-run microbreweries producing lovingly-created, strong, pungent, flavour-rich ales has transformed the reputation of the product.

But it is not only traditional aficionados of ale who have been won over by this American revolution.

Somehow, beer from the United States has become not just widely respected, but achingly fashionable.

Visit a chrome-surfaced bar in London, Stockholm or Amsterdam and you're likely to find Brooklyn Lager, Sierra Nevada Pale Ale or Odell's porter on tap.

All are craft beers - a catch-all term defined by the American Brewers Association as the product of "small, independent and traditional" producers.

"There's a hipster cachet to it," says Melissa Cole, ale expert and author of Let Me Tell You About Beer. "Craft beer is seen as sexy right now, there's no doubt about it."
Bar in Williamsburg, Brooklyn American bar culture is being exported around the world

According to the Brewers Association, exports of US craft beer rose by 72% in 2012, with Canada, the UK and Sweden making up the largest international markets.

Today the US boasts more than 2,000 breweries - up from barely 50 in 1980.

It's a remarkable turnaround for a nation whose beer was recently widely written off by consumers around the world as insufferably naff.

"Five or six years ago, if you were abroad and said you were an American brewer people would look the other way - they thought it was all yellow, fizzy water like Budweiser, Miller and Coors," says Jim Caruso, CEO of Flying Dog, an award-winning microbrewery in Frederick, Maryland.


Known for their potent, hoppy flavours and high alcohol percentages, and often comprising unusual ingredients like chilli and chocolate, American craft beers have inspired a host of imitators, especially in the UK.

British firms like Darkstar, Meantime and Marble have all manufactured drinks influenced more by California and Colorado than Cornwall or Coventry.

These do not always qualify as "real ales" - a term popularised by British beer lovers when they launched the Campaign for Real Ale (Camra) a generation ago in rebellion against the prevalence of mass-produced carbonated beers.

According to Camra, beer should be left to ferment "live" in casks.

Craft beer, by contrast, is often pasteurised in kegs with added nitrogen or carbon dioxide - a technique which makes traditionalists shudder.

It's a reaction that enthusiasts for the new wave of American-inspired beers are happy to provoke. Indeed, they are often keen to dissociate themselves from Camra's beard-and-cardigan image.

While Camra has held its annual Great British Beer Festival since 1975, February 2013 saw London's first Craft Beer Rising - an event complete with modish DJs and trendy pop-up restaurants stalls, dedicated to the upstart movement.

"It's a more exciting product," says Neil Taylor of the Scottish brewery-cum-pub-chain Brew Dog. "It doesn't taste like anything else. People who are willing to push themselves are going to get more out of it.

"The establishment in the US is bottled lagers; here it's lagers and real ales."

While overall beer sales in the US fell by 1.3% in 2011, the craft brewing industry grew 13% by volume and 15% by sales in the same period, according to the Brewers' Association.
US bottled beer US beer is no longer indelibly associated with mass-produced bottled lager

It could be argued that the country's beer landscape is reverting to how it was before it was swamped by fizzy canned or bottled lager.

Waves of immigration from Scandinavia, Germany, the UK and Ireland meant the US had a thriving, diverse beer industry by the early 20th Century.

The introduction of Prohibition in 1920 put 1,500 breweries out of business overnight, however, and the industry struggled to recover after the "noble experiment" ended in 1933. For the most part it was only large corporations which had the capital to re-invest in beer production.

Years before the US beers inspired a flowering of British brewers, beers in the UK had a decisive influence on the US craft revival of the 1970s.

Jack McAuliffe, often heralded as the father of American craft beer, was inspired to start the New Albion Brewing Company in San Francisco after he fell in love with ales and stouts while working in Scotland.

But while the British real ale movement of the same era harked back to a bygone age, American brewers of the same era were associated from its outset with the west coast counterculture, according to Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer.

Until home brewing was legalised in the US in 1979, enthusiasts considered themselves vaguely subversive. The alternative press would publish articles describing how to produce bathtub hooch in the same tone as it might have discussed pot-smoking.

Like much else from the same era, that which was once rebellious was quickly assimilated in the pursuit of profit.

As a result, the first microbreweries emerged in places like California's Bay Area, Portland, Oregon and Boulder, Colorado - all "bastions of hippy capitalism", Ogle says, which also attracted the equally iconoclastic technology industry.

Indeed, such was the crossover that Apple founders Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak belonged to a group of hackers and hobbyists called the Homebrew Computer Club.

Unlike the big manufacturers of bottled lagers, however, the early craft beer makers were not interested in mass appeal or in consolidating costs and tended to trumpet their iconoclastic credentials in opposition to the mainstream big lager brewers.

Flying Dog advertises its status as the favoured drink of the celebrated radical journalist Hunter S Thompson, and a 2012 study found a positive correlation between the concentration of microbreweries in a state and its likelihood to vote for Barack Obama.
Barack Obama presents White House ale to firefighters No less a figure than Barack Obama has joined the craft beer bandwagon

Perhaps as a result, in the same year Obama became the first president to release a home-brew recipe for "White House Honey Ale".

And just as hipsters in Williamsburg or Whitechapel can be identified by their vintage attire and avant-garde record collections, craft beer's blend of retro authenticity and bold experimentalism appeals to the same demographic, believes Cole.

"There's a sense of whimsy about it, and of rebellion, pushing boundaries," she adds.

Those whose heckles are raised by urban would-be trendsetters might dismiss it as a fad. But traditionalists claim to be unruffled.

"Some of these so-called craft brewers are doing great work," says Camra spokesman Tony Jerome. "I'm not here to criticise keg beer, but it's not something I'm here to promote either."

American beer may have yet to win over everyone. But the craft movement has proved it is no laughing matter.

[mr x]

Beer Venture Fails in North Korea, Despite Eager Market

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/busin ... A1CC4BB52E" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Use private browsing function if your article limit is used up.

[pet lion]

http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science ... the-brain/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Merely a Taste of Beer Can Trigger a Rush of Chemical Pleasure in the Brain

If you take just a sip of beer, and moments later—before you’ve had close to enough alcohol to get intoxicated, perhaps even before the beer has hit your stomach—feel a distinctly pleasurable sensation, it might not be strictly due to subtle aromas that result from the beverage’s blend of malt, hops and yeast. The cause of your pleasure might be due to tangible changes in your brain chemistry—specifically, a surge in levels of the neurotransmitter dopamine.

Scientists have long known that part of the reason alcohol induces pleasure is that intoxication leads to the release of dopamine, which is associated with the use of other drugs (as well as sleep and sex) and acts as a reward for the brain. But new research suggests that, for some people, intoxication isn’t necessary: Simply the taste of beer alone can provoke a release of the neurotransmitter within minutes.

A group of researchers led by David Kareken of Indiana University came to the finding, published today in the journal Neuropsychopharmacology, by giving tiny amounts of beer to 49 adult men and tracking changes in their brain chemistry with a positron emission tomography (PET) scanner, which measures levels of various molecules in the brain. They chose participants with varying levels of typical alcohol consumption—from heavy drinkers to near-teetotalers—and even tested them with the beer they reported that they drank most frequently. Because they used an automated system to spray just 15 milliliters (about half an ounce) of beer on each participant’s tongue over the course of 15 minutes, they could be sure that any changes in brain chemistry wouldn’t be due to intoxication.

The effect was significant. When the men tasted the beer, their brains released much higher levels of dopamine within minutes, compared to when the same test was conducted on the subjects at other times with both water and Gatorade. They were also asked to rate how much they “craved” a beer at several points during the experiment, and perhaps less surprisingly, their cravings were generally much higher after tasting beer than Gatorade or water.

Interestingly, the amount of dopamine release per person wasn’t random. People who had a family history of alcoholism (as reported on a survey) showed notably higher dopamine levels after tasting beer as compared to others. But participants who were heavy drinkers but didn’t have the family history had merely average dopamine levels.

The researchers believe this could be a clue as to why some people are predisposed towards alcoholism—and why it’s more difficult for them stay on the wagon if they’re trying to quit. The immediate release of dopamine from just a taste of beer would likely serve as a powerful mechanism that drives their cravings, and a tendency towards experiencing this burst of pleasure might be genetically inheritable. This could be part of the reason that people with a family history of alcoholism are twice as likely to experience alcoholism themselves.

Previous work has shown that in people with alcoholic tendencies, stimuli that are merely associated with drinking (such as the smell and sight of a alcoholic drinks or a bar) can trigger dopamine release in the brain. This work shows that for an unlucky group predisposed to suffering from alcoholism, bursts of dopamine can occur even if they’re not heavy drinkers—and it only takes a sip for the pattern to start.

[LiverDance]

Why beer ratings are great & awards are overrated:

This editorial was contributed by Jacob McKean, founder of Modern Times Beer

http://beerpulse.com/2013/04/why-beer-r ... rated-173/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[akr71]

I've been hard pressed to find a commercially available coffee flavored beer that I really enjoyed (Southern Tier Moka is excellent, but IMO its more about the chocolate). If I saw this on the shelf, hopefully I would pass on by and keep looking...

Elephant Dung Beer Sounds Grosser Than It Tastes

Last year, the first elephant dung coffee debuted on the scene at a whopping $1,100 per kilogram. Don't worry, the coffee doesn't actually taste like feces, but rather like an earthy and smooth blend. It just happens to be made from beans that passed through an elephant's digestive tract.

This month, Sankt Gallen, a Japanese brewery, decided to take the elephant dung "trend" one step further by creating elephant dung beer. According to RocketNews24, Sankt Gallen debuted the brew on April Fools' Day, and it sold out within minutes.

The beer, titled "Un, Kono Kuro" -- a pun on "unko," the Japanese word for "crap" -- is a coffee stout made with elephant dung coffee beans.

A contributor to RocketNews24 got his hands on a few bottles and seemed quite taken with the creation. "For some time after I could still feel as if my body was saturated with that warm scent," he wrote. "Luckily there were two more bottles left."

The brewery isn't putting the beer on its regular lineup, so if you desire some poop beer, you may just have to make your own. But given how successful this ephemeral beer was, we wonder if this is just the beginning of elephant dung food items. If someone tries mixing the coffee into brownies, we'll totally try some.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/1 ... _ref=false" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[HPhunter]

Ok lets feed my Alpacas some beans and collect them afterwards, then do a group poo, I mean brew!

[derek]

The Journal of the Institute of Brewing’s archive (1890-Present) is now online & free http://t.co/KLf3lydjVA" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

I have no idea how much useful stuff is in there, but a quick glance looks like it could have a lot of interest at least for those brewing English styles.

[RobD]

Another brewery for NS.

http://www.hantsjournal.ca/Business/201 ... armWorks/1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

A Wolfville-based investment co-operative committed to supporting local food producers is helping an Ashdale farm become a tourist destination.
The FarmWorks Investment Co-operative is providing Alan Bailey, the owner of the Meander River Farm on Woodville Road, with a $25,000 loan to help the hop farmer move forward with plans to open a microbrewery as early as this summer.
Bailey has been growing hops, an ingredient in beer, for three years. He says the microbrewery is part of a plan to make the Meander River Farm a popular agri-tourism destination.
“As a destination… you got to have something for people to see, something for them to do and then something for them to buy,” Bailey says.
He says more people have shown an interest in exploring the family owned and operated farm, on a homestead dating back to the early 1800s, since word spread the Bailey’s were harvesting hops.
“When they hear about these plants that grow 18 feet in the air and they climb this trellis… everybody wants to come and see them.”
The land-use zoning for Bailey’s 186-acre mixed farm was recently changed to allow for the operation of a microbrewery producing up to 200,000 litres of beer per year. Bailey says he plans to produce about 20,000 to 30,000 litres a year starting off, so the zoning agreement will allow for a lot of room for growth in the future.
In addition to producing locally brewed beer, the microbrewery will also include a farm store featuring lavender products made from crops grown at Meander River Farm, and Meander’s own pork and chicken products.
“It all ties together,” Bailey says.
“The hops go into the beer, the byproduct of the beer is spent grain, which we feed to the animals, the pigs are clearing land for us and we’re extending our crops.”
Ann Anderson, FarmWorks vice-chairperson, says the investment group sees Bailey’s plan to use “the animals as a way to get the farm started and as a product to sell” as a sustainable approach to farming.
FarmWorks held a series of gentle Dragon’s Den sessions in Baddeck, Blockhouse and Wolfville to give entrepreneurs looking for business advice opportunities to present their agriculture-related plans to FarmWorks, and ask for funding.
The for-profit co-operative uses the provincial Community Economic Development Investment Funds (CEDIF) program to collect shares from investors, and distribute loans to entrepreneurs focusing on projects that will increase the amount of food produced in Nova Scotia.
“If we want to restore the economy of the rural areas of Nova Scotia, there’s no better away to do it than through food production,” saysLinda Best, FarmWorks’ secretary-treasurer.
Best says FarmWorks carefully examines the business cases of the entrepreneurs requesting funding, and pitches that make it past the Dragon’s Den sessions are subject to some reworking as FarmWorks’ board members critique each proposal.
“We’re being very, very careful who we invest in,” she says. “They’ve got to go through a lot of hoops before we give them loans.”
Best says FarmWorks liked Bailey’s idea to add value to his mixed farming operation by building a microbrewery, and inviting people to explore a working farm nestled within a community known for its natural beauty, wineries, bakeries, parks and proximity to the seashore.
“The property itself is gorgeous,” she says.
“This whole Windsor, Hants area is probably not as well-known by the rest of Nova Scotians as it should be.”
Best says a $100 share in FarmWorks gives an investor a 35 per cent provincial tax credit.
“Nova Scotians have billions of dollars invested outside of Nova Scotia… this is a way to bring your money back and invest it close to home,” she says.
“So far the CEDIF program has brought about over $50 million investment in Nova Scotia.”
FarmWorks has raised $223,500, invested by 102 Nova Scotians, and partnered with nine local food production businesses.
FarmWorks is hosting an information session for potential shareholders Jan. 30, at 6:30 p.m., in the Brooklyn Civic Centre. For more information, visit http://www.farmworks.ca" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;.

[mr x]

Colchester County farm hits pay dirt with fiddlehead, hops production
http://thechronicleherald.ca/business/1 ... production" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

An experiment in sustainability with two difficult crops has grown into a successful seasonal venture for the Halifax entrepreneurial duo behind FiddleHop Farms in Glenholme, Colchester County.

Within weeks, FiddleHop Farms will begin harvesting farm-grown fiddleheads for appreciative fans of the seasonal delicacy.

By June, the business will be tending to a crop of hops destined for Garrison Brewing Co. in Halifax for the brewery’s annual batch of Nova Scotia’s only 100 per cent commercially produced homemade brew.

“With fiddlehead season approaching, we’ve been at the farm on weekends, getting ready for the picking to begin,” Evan Price said Tuesday.

He said the busiest time of the year is approaching for him and business partner Jason Pelley.

Fiddleheads are a difficult crop to harvest when they begin to sprout at the beginning of May, mostly because they grow in the wild.

Most of these tasty young ferns grow on low-lying riverbanks, and New Brunswick is a major source in the Maritimes.

But Price and Pelley started experimenting with cultivating fiddleheads and hops on some leased land in Glenholme a couple of years ago.

The Halifax business partners started dealing in kilograms of the crops in 2010 and this season will have lots of product to sell.

Most fiddleheads still come from traditional picking of the sprouting ferns where they grow in the wild. The experiment in Glenholme has demonstrated the plant can be cultivated in a more controlled environment, Price said.

But the size of the harvest still depends on the weather.

“If we can get in a couple of warm weeks, we should have lots of product available by the beginning of May,” Price said.

People who love fiddleheads usually start asking about the state of the crop around the middle of April.

Early birds who get to the Halifax Seaport Farmers’ Market will be able to get a first feed of fiddleheads for the season, which runs for about six weeks.

Much of the crop from the farm in Glenholme goes to retailers like Pete’s and Halifax restaurants like the Wooden Monkey and the Press Gang.

The price to consumers will likely be $5 to $7 per pound but will be determined by weather conditions in the coming weeks, Price said.

These days, the partners in FiddleHop Farms are experimenting with storage techniques to help extend the availability of fresh fiddleheads for at least another month.

Most of the hops they grow, after fiddlehead season, go to Garrison for the brewery’s entirely homegrown brew, so the partners basically have a couple of sellout crops at their small farm.

“It’s pretty nice to have a little sustainable farm in the country,” Price said. “We’ve had lots of friends helping us along the way, and it’s been a great place for us all to get together once in a while.”

[akr71]

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By June, the business will be tending to a crop of hops destined for Garrison Brewing Co. in Halifax for the brewery’s annual batch of Nova Scotia’s only 100 per cent commercially produced homemade brew.

WTF does this line mean? It sounds like commercially produced homebrew - which I know that's not what they're trying to say. A brew with 100% Nova Scotia products? If that is what it means, it is very poorly written.