Archive for January, 2009

Dood-vertising: Superbowl Beer Ads

Saturday, January 31st, 2009

This is it — the biggest weekend in advertising of the year — and being that it surrounds a football game — the biggest game of the year — it’s also the biggest beer advertising weekend of the year. Seems like a good time to start a new series about alcohol advertising. Advertisers are putting up an average of $3 Million dollars for 30 seconds of time, in the hope that you – the consumer – will choose their product over the competition’s. This is nothing new, and despite a dismal economy, NBC has said that as of January 12th, most of its 67 available ad slots have been filled, with only a few of the usual suspects — GM and FedEx — out of the game.

What is interesting in regard to beer advertising this year lies within the fact that Anheuser-Busch holds exclusive rights to advertise their beer during the network commercials for the game. That doesn’t inlcude  the local commercials, which makes some of the ads you’re likely to see this year a little bit more interesting than usual.

Miller has purchased ad time from local affiliates to advertise High Life with it’s current theme of “an honest beer at a tasty price,” hawked by its deliveryman character. Thing is, they’ve produced what are supposed to be one second long commercials that are essentially a call to reason that $3 Million for 30 seconds is ludicrous, and that High Life only needs a one second ad. (more…)

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How do I do that? Refractometry and ABV

Tuesday, January 27th, 2009

In the last “How do I do that?” we learned how to use a hydrometer and convert the resultant specific gravity readings to percentage alcohol by volume. This method is pretty accurate, and pretty easy as well as being relatively cheap in that hyrdrometers aren’t particularly expensive instruments. So why would anyone need to resort to purchasing a more expensive one that ultimately does the same thing?

The answer is efficiency.

Hydrometers — though relatively accurate — require a sizable sample of wort to take a reading. Brewers conscientious of sanitation know that it’s best to discard the sample once a reading has been taken. This wastes precious wort, especially in the later readings used to determine whether the beer is fully attenuated. Let’s say – conservatively – that a sample size uses three ounces. If four samples are taken, a whole 12 oz. beer is wasted. (more…)

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Posted in Brewing, Geek-Out, How do I do that?, Measurement, Science | No Comments »

Brew-Losophy: Hard Times for All

Thursday, January 22nd, 2009

America is currently suffering through its worst recession in generations. People are out of work, jobs are scarce, incomes are down, but liquor sales are up.

Traditionally, it has been said that during rough economies like the current one people turn to the bottle. As such, the alcohol business has been regarded as being relatively “recession-proof.”

FDR ran on a platform that included Prohibition repeal during a time of absolute economic crisis, and shortly after his election he saw to it that the 21st Amendment was ratified so people could go back to their local bar.

Recent news reports have delcared that despite worldwide current financial woes, people are still drinking, and even spending money on the good stuff. Given, a goodly portion of this news is related to us by the industry itself.

Other media outlets report general concern that the economic crisis is actually spurring liquor sales, and the numbers indicate that the sales are to individual consumers, not to wholesale purchasers like bars, which would suggest that people are drinking at home.

Unemployment tends to mean downtime, and with that an unhealthy dose of boredom and depression. Reports of substance abuse in general increase during times of financial hardship. Finding oblivion is sometimes easy in a bottle; it’s the climbing out once the economy improves that’s difficult. Experts recommend examining behavior in these times and thinking about whether we need help. Remember the Aristotelian ideal: All things in moderation; both drunkenness and sobriety.

Times are tough, but I think it’s important to remember to ask ourselves the big questions: Why are we drinking? Are we self-medicating? Are we merely drowning our sorrows? Is now the time to begin working for a beer distributor?

Good luck out there, and here’s to the new boss, hopefully not the same as the old boss; may he swiftly right the ship.

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Near Beer: Why?

Friday, January 16th, 2009

The first question any loyal beer fan should ask when affronted with the existence of non-alcoholic beer is “Why?” Sure, the “I enjoy beer for the flavor, not the effect“ argument can be made, but it doesn’t hold much water considering that average non-alcoholic beer is just this side of undrinkable. Beer — the true staff of life, the impetus for civilization — is supposed to be intoxicating. What could possibly be good reasons for drinking NA beers? Moreover, if you had to drink non-alcoholic brews, which ones are “good?” Doesn’t it still have some alcohol in it? What qualifies as non-alcoholic? How much would you have to drink to get drunk? How do they even make that stuff? Because we at SYD love you all very much, we will do the dirty work of answering all of these burning questions.

First and foremost: Why the heck would you want to drink NA Beer? — No seriously, who drinks this stuff?

For starters, the kind of ladies like the one you see in the above image. Some pregnant women actually like beer, and have a hard time giving it up for nine months. While research has shown that a real beer or two per day will not adversely affect your child in the form of Fetal Alcohol Syndrome, and is actually healthy for the mother, it can be difficult for some to socialize with the rest of us as we swill down real beer after delicious real beer, while they cannot. Near beer can make that situation a little less harsh in the jealousy department. Plus, if they drink it out of a glass with the bottle out of sight, they’re likely to completely appall onlookers who don’t realize it’s NA — which is kind of awesome. (more…)

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Posted in Aesthetics, Geek-Out, How do I do that?, Measurement, Science, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »

How’s the weather?

Monday, January 12th, 2009

If you’ve checked out a decent liquor store periodically, you have almost certainly noticed that just like the weather changes outside the store, so the offerings inside change. This goes for wines, beers, spirits — pretty much anything we drink, even non-alcoholic beverages.

So lately it would make sense if you’re in the the Northern Hemisphere that it’s at least sweater weather for most of us. I know my preferences change with the weather. For example, in the current wintery weather I’m a fan of Russian Imperial Stouts, particularly as what I like to call “Breakfast Beer.” Stylistically it’s a big beer, i.e. one with a lot of alcohol, it’s well hopped but not so much that the flavor of the huge malt bill is masked. It’s a beer I imagine myself drinking at a breakfast featuring bagels, a schmear of cream cheese, lox, and some cracked pepper on a very cold, gray Sunday morning with a newspaper on the table, and perhaps something vaguely slavic like Failing Songs by Matt Elliott on the stereo, perhaps a fire going nearby.

This was the beer developed by English brewer’s for the court of Russia’s Catherine the Great, then reimagined by craft brewers in our time. A good example is North Coast Brewing’s Old Rasputin.

But the point is that my tastes tend to change with the seasons, which seems to be pretty ubiquitous amongst people who stray from the average American staple beers. I certainly don’t want to slug down 4 or 5 Imperial Stouts at a midseason baseball game, and I doubt you do either. Wait a few months and a light-bodied, more delicately flavored beer, preferably ice cold sounds awesome. But at the moment, a couple pints of a big, dark beer can really hit the spot.

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Posted in Aesthetics | 2 Comments »

Release the Yeast: An Overview

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Note: This is the first in a series of articles that SYD will be posting about yeast and its importance to humanity as a whole.

A key component of any beer is yeast, the fungal microorganism that does the major work of converting the sugary wort in the case of beer, or must in the case of wine to  fully ferment into the beverages we know and love. They also serve as the most common agent used to leaven breads. There are a multitude of species of yeast, each of which serve specific purposes and produce different flavors in resultant drinks and breads.

These organisms as a colony metabolize starch as fuel in two ways, respiration and fermentation. They use oxygen in a similar manner to many animals to respirate and reproduce, thereby creating a number of byproduct wastes. In fermentation, the key wastes that brewers and bakers are interested in are alcohol and carbon dioxide, but the esters and chemical flavoring compounds produced have a significant effect on the flavor of the final product. Like in all forms of fuel usage, the cells also produce a small amount of heat.

In fermentation there are different phases of yeast growth and activity. Initially, brewers want to oxygenate the wort they intend to ferment. This oxygenation leads to an explosive growth of yeast cells, but leads to little actual fermentation. This quick growth allows the yeast to fully colonize the wort and prevents other wild yeasts or bacteria from infecting the vessel. Some brewers achieve this process by using an oxygen stone similar to those used in fish tanks connected to an oxygen tank. Other brewers merely shake their wort vigorously to aerate it and hope there’s enough oxygen to achieve the same effect. (more…)

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Posted in Brewing, Geek-Out, Science | 3 Comments »