Tag Archives | Beer

…And Then They Came for Our Beer

By on November 3, 2012 in News 6

Picture: FMVH (CC)

Business week’s “The Plot to Destroy America’s Beer” shines the light on another victim of multinational corporations: beer. Independent brewers and others are being run out of business or co-opted (and then destroyed) by AB InBev, a ruthless company intent on total beer supremacy. AB InBev already owns close to 50 percent of America’s beer market, as it is.  In many cases, beer drinkers don’t learn that their tried-and-true favorites have become AB InBev puppets until after they pop the first cap in a six pack, and now they’re complaining that their favorite brands have lost their characteristic tastes under the stewardship the company:

One Friday night in January, Rinfret, who is now 52, stopped on the way home from work at his local liquor store in Monroe, N.J., and purchased a 12-pack of Beck’s. When he got home, he opened a bottle. “I was like, what the hell?” he recalls.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 6

Heineken Beer Wants Your Fingerprint

By on April 17, 2012 in News 13

heinekenMore strangeness from this past weekend’s Coachella Festival — within its big green tent, beer-maker Heineken was busy collecting a database of the fingerprints of cold-beer-loving attendees. Marketing reflecting the realities of our era? Via Complex:

Grab up to two cases of green cans and take them to the Heineken Cold Storage Room, where you’ll give your name and have your fingerprint scanned. The Heineken folks tag and store your brew, letting you go catch the next hot set while your beer is chilled to a perfect 34 degrees (this only takes 30 minutes). When you’re ready, pick up your beer—and a rebate for $25 off the purchase of your Coachella ticket.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 13

Royal Virility Performance: The First Beer Brewed With Viagra

By on April 20, 2011 in News 26

Royal Virility Performance by BrewDog. (BrewDog.com)

Royal Virility Performance by BrewDog. (BrewDog.com)

Because there isn’t enough alcohol and testosterone-influenced shennanigans at happy hour, BrewDog sells a beer laced with Viagra. Via FOX News:

Forget the little blue pill. A British company has brewed the first beer laced with Viagra.

The new brew is called Royal Virility Performance, and has been specially created to mark the upcoming Royal Wedding.

Downing just three bottles is equivalent to taking one pill of Viagra, which enhances men’s sexual performance.

The 7.5 percent alcohol India Pale Ale also contains extra aphrodisiacs including horny goat weed and even chocolate.

The makers of the beer, BrewDog, have even sent several bottles to Prince William for his wedding night.

Just 40 bottles of the beer will be produced initially, and will go on sale the day of the Royal Wedding, April 29, at BrewDog.com. All the proceeds go to the charity Centrepoint, which Prince William supports.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 26

Imagine Free Beer At Your Office, But You Are Recorded For How Much You Drink…

By on March 27, 2011 in News 36
Photo: Strom Carlson (CC)

Photo: Strom Carlson (CC)

Ryan Flinn reports for Bloomberg:

At Yelp Inc.’s San Francisco headquarters, a keg refrigerator provides a never-ending supply of beer to employees, letting them drink as much as they like.

They just have to be comfortable with full disclosure: Workers badge in to an iPad application attached to the keg that records every ounce they drink.

“If you’re at the top of the leader board consistently, I don’t know if that’s a place that you’d want to be,” said Eric Singley, director of Yelp consumer and mobile products. “Luckily, that hasn’t really even been an issue.”

In a contemporary version of “Mad Men” and its bibulous ad executives, more dot-coms are embracing the idea of drinking at work. That means keeping bars stocked at all hours, installing kegerators and letting programmers tip back a few while they code. It also raises questions about the effect of alcohol on productivity and the safety of employees.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 36

Heavy Drinkers Outlive Nondrinkers

By on August 31, 2010 in News 10

imagessix-20pack-20tattoo-smallTIME reports on a finding that contradicts what we’ve been taught our entire lives regarding the perils of alcoholism: people who are heavy drinkers live longer than those who have always been nondrinkers. (And that’s after controlling for nearly all the variables one could think up.) Do teetotalers die early due to missing out on the stress release that alcohol provides so well?

A new paper in the journal Alcoholism: Clinical and Experimental Research suggests that — for reasons that aren’t entirely clear — abstaining from alcohol does actually tend to increase one’s risk of dying even when you exclude former drinkers. The most shocking part? Abstainers’ mortality rates are higher than those of heavy drinkers.

Even after controlling for nearly all imaginable variables — socioeconomic status, level of physical activity, number of close friends, quality of social support and so on — the researchers (a six-member team led by psychologist Charles Holahan of the University of Texas at Austin) found that over a 20-year period, mortality rates were highest for those who had never been drinkers, second-highest for heavy drinkers and lowest for moderate drinkers.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 10

Beer With Highest Alcohol Percentage Sold In Road Kill Taxidermy

By on July 26, 2010 in News 7

It’s understandable that the strongest beer ever made would be sold-out within a few hours, but what’s with the road kill? Brewdog released The End of History as part of their experimental, highly-alcoholic, beers. With an alcohol content equivalent to liquor, the beer is eclectically unique with its own beer cozy. The Telegraph details:

The stunt has been condemned by animal rights groups as “cheap marketing tactics”.

Twelve bottles of The End Of History ale have been made and placed inside seven dead stoats, four squirrels and one hare.

And at 55 per cent volume, its makers claim it is the world’s strongest beer.

A taxidermist in Doncaster worked on the animals, which were not killed for bottling the new drink, with some having been killed on the roads.

Outfits featured on some of the animals include a kilt and a top hat.

BrewDog, of Fraserburgh, Aberdeenshire, created the ale, which is stronger than whisky and vodka.

… Read the rest

Continue Reading · 7