JUNE/JULY 2005 | COLUMNS | HOP CAEN

Heard It Through The Hopvine
By Hop Caen

This Bud's NOT For You Dept. Man loses job for drinking Bud Light? The battle between the beer world's goliaths — Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller — got personal for a Wisconsin man when he lost his job recently. Isac Aguero, 24, said he was fired after a picture appeared in his local paper showing him holding a bottle of Bud Light. The picture was taken while Aguero was in downtown Racine during Mardi Crawl, and it appeared as part of the Journal Times weekly "On the Town" feature depicting area nightlife. Aguero was a forklift operator for CJW Inc., the area's distributor of Miller Brewing Company products. Aguero said he believes he was fired unfairly. "It was a Saturday, and I wasn't at work," he said. "They can't tell me what beverages I can drink." Oh really?…

Rogue shows its true colors by removing flag! The randy rogues at Rogue Brewery were told to stop using the Stars and Stripes on Rogue’s American Amber Ale by no less an authority than the U.S. government! The use of the flag was apparently in violation of U.S. Code Title 4, Chapter 1, Section 8, Item I. In part, it reads: "The flag should never be used for advertising purposes in any manner whatsoever." So it's out with the flag-bearing beer taps, pint glasses, posters and T-shirts. Even the company's red, white and blue delivery truck will have to be repainted. Chief Rogue Jack Joyce said, "Ours is not to reason why, ours is to comply." A federal agent vacationing on the Newport, Ore., coast with her family made the "bust." By law, the brewery must destroy its flag-bearing merchandise, but it can give some of it to charity. So those American Amber pint glasses? They'll go, Joyce said, to Oregon soldiers returning home from war. Look for some flag-waving Rogue swag to fetch high prices on eBay…

Jacksonville, Fla., police are looking for beer thieves who took two trailers. One was filled with 1,000 barrels of the German beer Warsteiner. The other had 750 air-conditioners. Hmmmm … Chances are the beer thieves should at least be able to keep their beer cold. … The Pelican Pub and Brewery on the Oregon coast did a blood drive recently and had the mobile blood unit parked outside the pub. Regulars and brewers alike donated copious quantities of corpuscles to the cause. Rumors are that they rated the blood both by type AND by IBUs…

Beer-Can House Escapes Recycling Bin! A Houston home decorated with thousands of flattened beer cans won't face the recycle bin, thanks to … an art endowment! Beer lover John Milkovisch (I'd like to get inside HIM!) attached the cans to his house over a 20-year period as an alternative to more traditional home siding. He also made beer-can fences and garlands to hang from his roof. The home was becoming a nationally celebrated folk-art site when the man died in 1988 at age 75. Since then, the house has suffered years of decline. Now, a $125,000 grant from the Houston Endowment to the Orange Show Center for Visionary Art will help restore the home. Orange Show officials say the house will be open for tours after repairs and restoration are complete. John should have lived so long — $125 grand could have bought a lot of beer…

Erdinger Hefe-Weizen, the world’s number one wheat beer, stars alongside several big Hollywood names in “Million Dollar Baby,” this year’s Academy Award winner for Best Picture, Best Supporting Actor, Best Actress and Best Director. Directed by Clint Eastwood, “Million Dollar Baby” stars Morgan Freeman and Hilary Swank. Erdinger appears in the film’s opening fight scene between two of the male characters, and the huge Erdinger banner in the background is being noticed worldwide. Swank’s character in the movie plays a waitress at the Brando-esque On the Waterfront Café. The true On the Waterfront Café is located in Venice Beach, Calif., and is the largest Erdinger Hefe-Weizen draught account in the world. Coincidence?…

Miller Brewing, always on the cutting edge of innovation (a TRUE pilsner!), recently announced that it would test-market fruit-flavored malt beverages. But, it's fruit with a kick! The company, now owned by South African Breweries, will try the popular flavored drink from South Africa even though the brewer has dropped other flavored malt drinks because of disappointing interest in the United States. Miller is testing its product, called Brutal Fruit, in Seattle, Tampa and Richmond, Va. This is fruit juice with 5% alcohol, about the same as beer. It'll come in four flavors: strawberry, mango, kiwi and raisinlike litchi. Brutal Fruit should be a real hit in some areas — say, South of Market Street in San Francisco — especially if it comes in a leather can. Next, maybe Miller should try a beer-flavored beer?…

And, many thanks to all of you who asked about the absence of this column in the last issue. Publishers sometimes pull a column just to see if anyone notices. You did! … Send any items you might have to hopvine@celebrator.com.