| Craft Beer Combats Beetle
Kill? Crazy Mountain Beer Company, based in the Vail
Valley of Colorado, is doing its part to fight the beetle kill
epidemic that has devastated the forests in that state. Over
1.5 million acres of trees have been affected by the pine beetle
infestation currently devastating Colorado’s high country
forests, the largest blight ever seen in North America. In an
effort to help clean up the dead trees, which are a danger during
fire season, CMBC is hand-crafting each and every one of its
tap handles out of the branches from trees that have been killed
by the mountain pine beetle. Obviously, a lot of handles will
need to be made to impact the blight, so the Crazy Mountain
gang ain’t so crazy after all! Can you handle it?…
You ALWAYS remember your first girl! Maybe that’s why
this year’s St. Pauli Girl model looks so familiar.
She is Katarina Van Derham, named the 2010 St. Pauli Girl
spokesmodel, marking the first time in the history of the
brewer’s iconic promotion that the same woman has served
as the busty Bavarian barmaid for two consecutive years. You
can check her out at stpauligirl.com.
If you think I’m in error for saying “Bavarian”
for St. Pauli, consider that Van Derham is a native of Slovakia,
not Germany, and now lives in… wait for it… Los
Angeles. Ja, ist gut!…
With the help of Emmy-winning actor Ray Romano,
Oskar Blues’ Dale’s Pale Ale makes its first national
television debut on Men of a Certain Age, TNT’s newest
original series. Men of a Certain Age explores the unique
bonds of male friendship. Joe (Romano) is a friendly, slightly
neurotic, recently separated father of two who had dreams
of being a professional golfer but now owns and runs a party
store. And party he does … with Oskar Blues! Can you
believe it? (Yes, you can. Or, yes, you can!) The men meet
poolside and end up having an all-night party featuring a
special guest, Dale’s Pale Ale. In a can, natch!…
The year 2010 is the 90th anniversary of
the start of the dark ages imposed by the 13 years of national
Prohibition, when the U.S. went dry. Congressman Andrew Volstead,
for whom the Volstead Act was named, was a congressman from
Minnesota. Hopefully, he is spending eternity sitting on one
of the state’s 10,000 frozen lakes without a beer to
keep him warm. Without eternal vigilance, we may just go there
again. Defend your beer! (And pass one over to me, while you’re
at it…)
While we arrogant bastards enjoy our Stone beer,
consider our Stone Age forebears’ drinking habits. Maybe
they were better off than we thought. As early as 9,000 years
ago, according to an article in The New York Times, inhabitants
of a Neolithic village in China were brewing a type of mead,
or fermented honey and fruit, with an alcohol content of 10%!
Patrick McGovern, a biomolecular archaeologist at the University
of Pennsylvania Museum, made this discovery recently. The
finding fits with the thesis that the development of agriculture
was the result of an irrepressible impulse toward drinking
and intoxication. “Consuming high-energy sugar and alcohol
was a fabulous solution for surviving in a hostile environment
with few natural resources,” said Dr. McGovern, a leading
expert on ancient brewing. Hoist one for our Stone Age brothers…
You think your job is, um, full of manure?
When the Budweiser team of Clydesdales comes to town, they
sometimes deliver beer, often just one case per bar. Scooting
around behind the beer wagon you’ll find a couple of
guys in a golf cart equipped with two shovels and a big barrel.
Nice job. Shoveling this sort of stuff is similar to being
the Presidential press secretary. Neither one passes the smell
test…
A 25-year-old man in Thibodaux, La., did
not take “no” very well as a response to his demand
for more beer. Lafourche sheriff’s spokeswoman Lesley
Hill Peters said the man was accused of breaking furniture
and throwing a beer bottle at a woman after she refused to
give him the car keys so he could buy more beer on a Monday
night, according to the Associated Press. The man admitted
to deputies he’d been drinking before the argument with
the 29-year-old alleged victim. The suspect was booked for
aggravated assault and disturbing the peace. Peters said the
man did not hit the alleged victim with the beer bottle. Too
much beer apparently affects your pitching arm as well as
your judgment…
Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, taking note
of California’s economic predicament, is proud to introduce
its newest beer — Mavericks Budgetary Alement. I guess
you could call it a strong ale for a weak economy. But just
think: By buying this ale, you can be part of the solution
by supporting RepairCalifornia.org, a group of Californians
for a state constitutional convention. A buck for every bottle
sold of Mavericks Budgetary Alement goes to Repair California.
How unconventional… One suggestion to keep money in
America is to spend it only on yard sales, ball games, prostitutes,
craft beer and tattoos (these being the only American businesses
still operating in the U.S.). So, be patriotic! Go to a ball
game and drink beer all day with a tattooed prostitute that
you met at a yard sale! You can’t get more patriotic
than that…
|
