Alcohol and Drugs History Society

McCain could have a conflict brewing

Presidential candidate John McCain could have a problem if elected. As a senator he has recused himself from votes on alcohol questions because of the huge beer distributorship that his wife controls. As president, this would be impossible. See the Los Angeles Times article here.

Celebrating beer in Oregon

The McMenamin family, owners of a small empire of pubs, taverns and other places where drink can be found, celebrated the 25th anniversary of its enterprise with the brewing of a special ale (with 79 ingredients, a figure that would make Bavarians blush). Fred Eckhardt, "Portland's Godfather of good beer," led invited guests in the temperance song, "Away with Rum by Gum." For more, see here.

Supermarket beer undermines British pubs

According to Mitchells & Butler, owners of the Harvester pub chain, cheap beer sold at supermarkets is destroying the financial viability of the once iconic English (and British) public house. Currently four UK pubs go out of business each day. As recently as 1979 pubs sold 37 million barrels of beer. In 2008 it is expected that pub sales will be 17 million barrels. Mitchells & Butler sadly predict that this figure will fall to 10 million barrels in 2018. Obviously, the decline in the number of pubs will speed up drastically. See the story here.

Ale and advertising in late Victorian and Edwardian England (article)

Jonathan Reinarz, "Promoting the Pint: Ale and Advertising in late Victorian and Edwardian England," Social History of Alcohol and Drugs 22/1 (Fall 2007): 26-44.

Austrian beer garden etiquette

For advice on Austrian beer garden etiquette, see here.

How Mexican brewers might be affected by ImBev's bid for Anheuser-Busch

The bid by Belgian brewer ImBev for the American brewer Anheuser-Busch may affect the Mexican brewing industry. Nearly all of Mexico's beer is brewed by either Modelo (which brews Corona) or Femsa (which brews Dos Equis). Anheuser-Busch owns half of Modelo. Possibiities include ImBev taking over the Anheuser-Busch half of Modelo, Modelo buying out Anheuser-Busch's half, or Anheuser-Busch buying the other half of Modelo to make an ImBev take-over too expensive. Whatever happens, Femsa probably becomes a take-over target for a non-Mexican brewery company. For more, see here.

Growth at Boston Beer Company, maker of Samuel Adams

Despite problems in the national economy in general and in the beer industry in particular, one of the largest craft breweries is faring well. In 2007 Boston Beer Company increased sales by 17% and revenues by 21%. It now is #26 in the Globe 100, a ranking of Massachusetts businesses. (In fact, much of Boston Beer's Samuel Adams brand is brewed in Cincinnati, Ohio, the hometown of its CEO.) For more, see here.

From welder to beer author: Marty Nachel

Former welder Marty Nachel has made a new career as a beer writer. In addition to online books and essays, he has published Beer across America: Regional Guide to Brewpubs and Microbreweries (1995), Beer for Dummies (1996), and Homebrewing for Dummies (1997; 2nd ed., 2008). For more about Nachel, see here.

Beer in Butte, Montana (article)

Steve Lozar, "1,000,000 Glasses a Day: Butte's Beer History on Tap," Montana: the Magazine of Western History 56/4 (2006): 46-55.

Baseball and beer (thesis)

Nathan M. Corzine, "American Game, American Mirror: Baseball, Beer, the Media and American Culture, 1933-1954" (M.A. thesis, University of Missouri, 2005).

Molson Coors profit tops expectations

Molson Coors brewing reports higher than expected profits. Why? Despite increased cost of ingredients, higher prices and increased volume, combined with a US dollar sinking, produced the profits that topped expectations. For more, see here.

Reinventing London porter (article)

James Sumner, "Status, scale and secret ingredients: the retrospective invention of London porter," History & Technology 24/3 (September 2008): 289-306.

Cost of malted barley, hops forcing beer prices up

For a variety of reasons such as farmers shifting to corn and bad weather, two vital ingredients for beer have become much more expensive. Malted barley has risen 25%, while hops (depending on the kind) have climbed 80% to 400%. For details, see here.

Not enough bottles and barrels (1933)

A newspaper story recounts the arrival of 3.2 beer in California's bay area in 1933. There was plenty of beer available at the breweries, but prospective drinkers were frustrated by a shortage of bottles and barrels to get the beer to them.

Apartheid and the malted beer industry in South Africa (article)

Anne Kelk Mager, "Apartheid and business: Competition, monopoly and the growth of the malted beer industry in South Africa," Business History 50/3 (May 2008): 272-290. The text of one of her related articles (Past & Present 188 [2005]: 163-194) is available online.

California's beer tax and beer labels too (blog)

In her blog Amy Mittelman discusses the proposed increase in California's beer tax and also beer labels.

Bob Skilnik on brewing in Chicago (book)

Bob Skilnik, Beer: A History of Brewing in Chicago (Barricade Books, 2006). See below for detailed TOC.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements

Preface

Part I -- In the Beginning

Chapter 1
Chicago’s Pioneer Breweries, 1833-1860 -- Haas and Sulzer * William Ogden Brewer * William Lill * Lill & Diversey * Charitable Contributions * Competing Chicago Breweries * Lager Beer * Chicago's First Brewpub * Milwaukee Competition

Chapter 2
The Lager Beer Riot -- Economic Difficulties * The Rise of Immigration * The Rise of Nativism in Chicago * Levi Boone * The Lager Beer Riot

Chapter 3
Chicago's Developing Brewery Trade, 1860-1885 -- Civil War Years * Growth and Consolidation of Early Breweries * The Chicago Fire * Technological Advances * Mechanical Refrigeration * Beer Schools and Advances in Beer Stability * Early Bottling Efforts * Malting Improvements * Brewery Architecture * Professional Brewer's Organizations * Brewer Publications * The Origin of the Prohibition Party

Chapter 4
Brewer Influence Grows, 1870-1900 -- New Breweries, Consolidations * Milwaukee versus Chicago * The Good Life * The Cardinal * Brewer Philanthropists * Political Influence * Sunday Closings, Part II * The People's Party * The Election of 1873

Chapter 5
Unionization, 1886-1900 -- Working Conditions in Chicago Breweries * Wages and Benefits * Labor Troubles * Brewery Workers Strike * The Strike Collapses * An Eyewitness Account

Chapter 6
The Syndicates, 1889-1900 -- The British Are Coming * The Selling Continues * Investors Build More Breweries * Troubles for the Syndicates * The Beer Wars in Chicago * American-Styled Lager Beer * Fears of the Milwaukee Brewers * Tied Houses * The World's Fair of 1893 * The Beer Wars Continue * Local Investors Consolidate * Troubles Continue for the Syndicated Breweries

Chapter 7
The Saloons, 1875-1910 -- Placing the Beer * The Harper High License Act * Saloons Increase in Number in Chicago * Saloon Failures * Schlitz's Tied-House Policy * The Free Lunch * Dance Halls * Slot Machines * Beer Deliveries * Saloon and Brewery Revenues * Corruption

Part II -- Pre-Prohibition

Chapter 8
Rebirth, 1900-1905 -- The Industry Regroups * The War Tax * Harmony in the Industry * Preparing for the Future * Effects on Related Trades * Peace with the Local Unions

Chapter 9
Early Prohibition Efforts, 1900-1917 -- The Anti-Saloon League * The Brewers and Their Saloon Connections * Comfort Stations * Saloons and the Working Class * Liquor License Fee Increased * Bottled Beer Consumption Increases * Dry Referendum * Controversial Visits * Bottled versus Draft * Thompson's Betrayal * Thompson's Reasons for the Closings * Sunday Closings, Part II * Habeus Corpus Anderson * The Brewers React * The Wet Parade * Concessions from the Brewers

Chapter 10
Wartime Prohibition, 1917-1919 -- Congressional Actions * The German Brewers and World War I * Ratification of the Eighteenth Amendment *1919 Referendum * Chicago Reacts to the Wartime Prohibition Bill * Good-Bye to Beer * The Illinois Search and Seizure Act * Local Brewers Go On the Offensive * Early Effects of No Beer in Chicago

Part III, National Prohibition

Chapter 11
The Torrio Era, 1919-1925 -- The Milwaukee Invasion * Torrio and John Stenson * Dever Elected * The O'Connor Shooting * Dever's Beer War * The Bootleggers' Counteroffensive * Brewery Raids * Decent Dever * Saloon and Soda Parlor Shutdowns * Wets Counterattack * Events Leading to the Sieben Raid * Dion O'Banion * O'Banion's Betrayal * The Raid * Needle Beer * Torrio's Revenge * Assassination Attempt on Torrio * Torrio Relinquishes Control to Capone

Chapter 12
The Capone Era, 1926-1931 -- Capone's Wildcat Breweries * A Chicago Wort Bust * Homebrewing Gets Tougher * Capone's Peace Conference * Securing New Accounts * The End of the Dever Administration * Big Bill, Part II * Thompson's Win * Eliot Ness * Brewery Raids * Thompson Campaigns Against Federal Intervention * The Untouchables Continue Their Raids * Agent Ness Beats His Drum * Capone Indicted * Thompson Defeated

Chapter 13
New Beer's Eve, April 7, 1933 -- The Beginning of the End * 3.2 Percent Beer * New Retail Outlets for Beer * The City Gets Ready for 3.2 Percent Beer * When's the Party Begin? * 12:01 A.M. ? * A Warning from the City * Beer and Food * New Beer's Eve * In the Loop * At the Speakeasies * Back at the Breweries * Supplies Start Running Short * Where Did All the Beer Come From? * Economic Success

Chapter 14
The Morning After, 1933 -- The Mob and the Local Breweries * Protecting the Legal Breweries * Joe Fusco * The Brewers React * Good-Bye Nickel Beer * Illinois Readies Its Vote for Repeal * Illinois's Repeal Election * Election Day * Election Results * The Repeal Convention

Part IV, Post-Prohibition

Chapter 15
The Pre-War Years, 1933-1940 -- Early Problems * The Shipping Brewers * Brand Loyalty * Mob Influences Continue * Union Takeovers * Lou Greenberg * Repeal * Strong Beer Returns * Packaged Beer * Post-Repeal Fatalities

Chapter 16
The War Years And Beyond, 1941-1968 -- Local Advertising * Early Effects of the War * The Peter Fox Brewing Company * War Efforts of Chicago Breweries * The Challenges of the Postwar Years * New Realities of the Small Brewer * A Reprieve * The Sins of the Past * Pact with the Devil * The Early Fifties * Troubles at Fox * Less Filling, Taste Great? * Death of Lou Greenberg * Mob Influences Continue * Monarch's Augsburger * Black Pride Beer

Chapter 17
Meister Brau/Peter Hand, 1965-1978 -- New Directions * Diversification * Glory Days at Meister Brau * Financial Problems Continue * Burgermeister Failure * Begging of the End * It's Miller Time * Bankruptcy * The Peter Hand Brewery

Part V, Aftermath

Chapter 18
When You’re Out of Schlitz… -- A Clean Slate * Battleground Chicago * Problems at Schlitz * Reformulation * Caris Associated, Incorporated * Geocaris Struggles

Chapter 19
Schlitz, Part II -- More Problems for Schlitz * The Beginning of the End for Schlitz * Good-Bye Gusto * The "Drink Schlitz of I'll Kill You" Campaign * Geocaris versus Schlitz * Schlitz Today

Chapter 20
God’s Country -- The Little Brewery That Could * Market Segmentation * Heileman Goes National * Heileman and Schlitz * Schlitz Accepts * Pabst, the Spoiler * The Justice Department Steps In * A New Approach

Chapter 21
Heileman Marches On -- Heileman and Pabst, Part I * Olympia Beer * The Heileman, Pabst, Olympia Swap-A-Thon * Cleary's Southern Campaign * Problems Emerge * Old Style Loses Chicago Market Share * Birth of Light Beer * Lite Beer from Miller * What Goes Around, Comes Around

Chapter 22
"No, Mr. Bond. I Expect You To Buy!" -- Cleary Sells Heileman * Bond Takes the Bait * Alan Bond * Cleary Resigns * Troubles for Bond * G. Heileman Regroups

Chapter 23
Here We Go Again -- Hicks, Muse to the Rescue * The Stroh Regime * The Beginning of the End

Chapter 24
Beer and Politics in Chicago -- Strange Brew * The King of Beers * NAACP Says "No" to Jackson * Jackson Lawsuit * The Boycott Drags On * The Boycott Ends * Anheuser-Busch and Jackson Today * What Goes Around, Comes Around---Or Does It? * G. Heileman's PowerMaster * The Fed Stops PowerMaster * St. Ides

Chapter 25
New Casualties, New Beginnings -- Historical Precedence * Non Portability of Product/Poor Distribution * Pavichevich Brewing Company * Poor Quality Products * The Chicago Brewing Company * Little or No Advertising Efforts * Advertising and Distribution Problems * Underfunded Operations * Pavichevich Brewing * Chicago Brewing Company * No Brand Loyalty * Goose Island

Epilogue

Glossary

Brand Logos

Appendix of Chicago Breweries

Bibliography

Anheuser-Busch Companies

Beer Business Daily

Beer Marketer's Insights

BOSS

Brewers Association Beertown

Brookston Beer Bulletin

Chicago Beer Society

Goose Island Beer Company

InBev

Miller Brewing Co.

Molson Coors Brewing Company

National Beer Wholesalers Association

Rate Beer

The Beer Institute

Three Floyds

Two Brothers Brewing Company

California legislator proposed raising beer tax more than 1400%

Maureen Ogle draws attention to the proposal of a California legislator to increase the tax on beer more than 1400 per cent. For a newspaper article, see here. For more details, see Jay Brooks' blog, the Brookston Beer Bulletin, here. Scroll down to April 11.

Wisconsin considers increasing tax on beer

In her blog Amy Mittelman reports and discusses the proposal that Wisconsin increase its tax on beer. The present tax has remained the same since 1969 (in contrast with the tax on tobacco) and is less than a quarter of the national average. Likely this is because Wisconsin is a major brewing state. The arguments for an increase in the beer tax include a need for revenue as Wisconsin faces a major budget deficit and also the state's alcohol problems especially among youth.

Maureen Ogle on the return of beer in April 1933

Maureen Ogle, who wrote Ambitious Brew (2006), contributed an op-ed essay in the Los Angeles Times on the 75th anniversary of the return of (legal, albeit weak) beer for the refreshment of American drinkers. For more, see here. Dr. Ogle also offered several related posts on her blog here.

Amy Mittelman's weekly musings on beer and brewing (website)

Amy Mittelman, author of Brewing Battles, offers on her website a section called "musings" which she updates every week or so. For instance, it recently looked at the 75th anniversary of the end of National Prohibition, in the sense of making the purchase of low alcohol beer legal. Among other things, the section "musings" explained the relationship (or lack of relationship) between her book and that by Maureen Ogle, published slightly earlier. Dr. Mittelman deliberately didn't read the Ogle book before completing her own. Rooted in a Columbia Ph.D. dissertation, Mittelman's distinctively emphasizes the relationship between the American brewing industry and the Federal Government.

Ohio remembers and celebrates the return of beer

Like many other places in the USA, Ohio regards April 7 as the 75th anniversary of the end of National Prohibition. On that date in 1933 newly inaugurated President Franklin Roosevelt signed a law modifying the Volstead Act to allow the sale of beer. The actual repeal of the prohibition amendment to the constitution did not occur until December 1933. For more, with details about Ohio both today and in the past, see here.

"Six O'Clock Swill" in Australia (article)

Tanya Luckins, "Pigs, Hogs and Aussie Blokes: The Emergence of the Term 'Six O'Clock Swill'," History Australia 4/1 (2007).

75 Years after the end of National Prohibition

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch looks at the end of National Prohibition and the drinks industry since then here.

Did the Celts already use hops? (article)

Gambari, Filippo M.:
"Verwendeten die Kelten schon Hopfen?." In: Jahrbuch der Gesellschaft für die Geschichte des Brauwesens (GGB) 2006, pp.179-197.
(Did the Celts already use hops?)

"Last orders" for many Preston pubs

Preston is known as the home of the English temperance reformer Joseph Livesey. During the Victorian era its thirsty cotton textile workers also made it the home for 460 public houses and beer houses within the old borough boundaries. A small brewery empire was created by Preston's own Matthew Brown in the mid-nineteenth-century beginning with his Anglers Inn. Nowadays the pubs are disappearing. Every month it is "last orders" for another pub. For more, see here.

Drink and transatlantic progressivism (book)

David W. Gutzke, ed., Britain and Transnational Progressivism (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming September 2008).

Table of contents

Introduction / F.M.L. Thompson
Historians and Progressivism / David W. Gutzke
Britain and Transnational Progressivism / David W. Gutzke
The Civic Ideal: Glasgow and the United States, 1880-1920 / Bernard Aspinwall
Democracy and Drink / Bernard Aspinwall
Transatlantic Progressivism in Women’s Temperance and Suffrage / Ian Tyrrell
Britain’s "Social Housekeepers" / David W. Gutzke
Social Settlement Houses: The Educated Women of Glasgow and Chicago / Robert Hamilton

Learning from "Brewing Battles" (book review)

For a favorable review of Amy Mittelman's Brewing Battles, see the blog Appelation Beer here. By the way, the reviewer notes that April 7, 2008 will mark the 75th anniversary of the legal production of beer in the USA. Finally, Amy Mittelman has her own beer blog here.

John McCain's alcohol problem: his wife's Anheuser-Busch distributorship

John McCain's family fortune rests upon the Anheuser-Busch distributorship that his wife inherited. Potentially this presents a conflict of interest when dealing with major social problems that confront America. For more, see here.

Houston's beer can house

A house in Houston, Texas, decorated with about 50,000 flattened beer cans will be opened to the public. For more, see here.

Major brewers in USA offer flavored beers

To compete with the small breweries the big ones have decided to sell flavored beer. For Anheuser-Busch it will be Bud Light Lime. For Miller, it will be Miller Chill, flavored with lime and salt. Coors offer seasonal flavors in its Blue Moon brand. See USA Today, 3 March 2008.

Craft beer sales in the USA climb substantially

Craft beer sales in the USA climbed 16.7% during 2007. Sales surged most dramatically in the southeastern states. For more, see here.

Xhosa Beer Drinking Rituals (book review)

Sean Redding reviews Patrick McAllister, Xhosa Beer Drinking Rituals (Durham: Carolina Academic Press, 2006) here.

Mittelman's Brewing Battles (book review)

George Lenker reviews Amy Mittelman, Brewing Battles: A History of American Beer (NY: Algora Publishing, 2008) here.

CAMRA in Canada

The Campaign for Real Ale, founded in Britain in the early 1970s, has a few Canadian affiliates. CAMRA in Vancouver considers real ale something like slow food, quality instead of commercialized mediocrity. For more, see here.

Brazil's beer industry with emphasis on Brahma Chopp (article)

Teresa Cristina de Novaes Marques and Maria Teresa Ribeiro de Oliveira, "Inovação de produto ou saída para a crise? O lançamento da cerveja Brahma Chopp no verão de 1934," História Econômica & História de Empresas, 6/1 (2003): 87-120. Brazil's beer industry with emphasis on Brahma Chopp.

Beer & cider in Ireland (book review)

For a favorable review of Iorwerth Griffiths, Beer & Cider in Ireland: The Complete Guide (Liberties Press, 2007), with considerable historical material, see here.

Vintage beer from Denmark at $400 per bottle

The Danish brewer Carlsberg now offers a vintage beer at $400 per bottle. Jacobsen Vintage No. 1 2008 is 10.5% alcohol and can age in the bottle for ten to fifteen years. It is a barley wine, based on a nineteenth-century English strong ale. For more, see here.

German beer sales at 15-year low

Changing taste in drinks have brought German beer sales to a 15-year low. For more, see here.

Vienna-style lager from Ottakringer brewery

An article on dining in Vienna (New York Times, 27 January 2008) makes a passing reference to the "malty, reddish-brown draft beer made by Vienna’s Ottakringer brewery, one of the few beers on the market that comes close to the nearly extinct Vienna lager style."

Taste for "extreme beers"

"Extreme beers" are beers with an atypical proportion of an ingredient such as hops or malt. American brewers like to experiment. For more, see here.

Global Beverage: Beer in World History

Recognizing the relevance of Milwaukee for the topic, Ralph Crozier organized a session on beer at the World History Association conference, held in Milwaukee, June 2007. It consisted of the following:

The Global Beverage: Beer in World History
CHAIR: Jeffrey Pilcher (University of Minnesota)

1. Beer Goddesses and Brewsters: A History of Beer Culture and Women from
Mesopotamia to Milwaukee
Maggie Favretti (Scarsdale High School)
2. Tapping the Eastern Markets: The Pabst Brewing Company’s Ventures in 1890s
Asia
John C. Eastberg (University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee)
3. “Don’t Drink the Water”: For American Colonists and Their European Cousins,
Beer was the Healthy Choice
Steve Byers (Marquette University)

British beer mats (book)

British beer mats began in the 1920s, with Quarmby's being the largest mat printer. There now is A Guide to Collecting Beermats, by Ian Calvert (apparently published by the author in 2007). It includes a chapter on the Mat Collectors Society.

Brookston Beer Bulletin

Courtesy of David Trippel, a link to the Brookston Beer Bulletin; it includes historical and contemporary material. For more, see here.

Christians approve of drinking beer

Courtesy of David Trippel, a story about a majority of (apparently conservative American) Christians accept drinking beer. For more, see here.

Beer rallies against American cocktail culture

According to the AP, beer sales in the USA rallied in 2007, led by craft beers, while the rise in spirits began to slow. For more, see here.

Price of cheap alcohol in the USA

Globalization has helped make wine cheap in the USA. The fact that federal taxes on wine and also on whiskey and beer haven't been raised to account for inflation has helped make all alcoholic drink cheaper in the USA than 15 years ago. A New York Times columnist argues in favor of higher drink taxes because of the social cost of alcohol consumption. For more, see here.

Per capita beer consumption continues to decline in Germany

Per capita beer consumption has declined again in Germany as it has for eight of the nine most recent years, the exception being the year when Germany hosted the World Cup. Consumption of non-alcoholic drinks is growing in Germany. For more, see here.

Greene King brewer interviewed

Occasioned by Suffolk Strong vintage ale being named the World's Best Wood-Aged Beer (by the World Beer Awards), brewer John Bexton of Greene King was interviewed here.

British supermarkets cater to diverse population's beer tastes

Helen M. Moores, the beer buyer for the huge Tesco supermarket chain in Britain, has increased the number of international brands from 15 to 30 over the last 18 months. The reason? Britain has an increasingly diverse population that prefers its native beers. Moores herself likes Baltika from Russia and Svyturys Ekstra from Lithuania. For more, see here.

Beer brands confusing in USA

In Forbes, Jack Trout complains that the big American brewers ignore a basic rule of marketing by creating a profusion of brands with similar names. He adds that they may be sensible in keeping the name of the ultimate owner off the beers that they brew for the craft market. For instance, most people don't know that Blue Moon is owned by Molson Coors. For more, see here.

Edinburgh's museum exhibit about drink

The Museum of Edinburgh has an exhibit, "Here's Tae Us," from 10 December to 8 March 2008. Edinburgh had as many as 30 breweries at the end of the nineteenth century and now only one major brewery. For more, see here.

'We sell beer to live, and not vice versa'

Westvleteren beer is world renowned, but despite the high demand, the Trappist monks who make it (at Belgium's St. Sixtus monastery) won't forsake their life of contemplation for increased production.

Find the full story here.

Beer in postsocialist Georgia (article)

Paul Manning and Ann Uplisashvili, "'Our Beer': Ethnographic Brands in Postsocialist Georgia," American Anthropologist 109/4 (December 2007): 626-641.

21-30 drinkers differ from their elders

Younger drinkers (21-30) consume proportionately less beer than their elders and more of it consists of imports and craft beers. Younger drinkers also are more likely than their elders to drink premium and super-premium vodka and red wine. For more, see here.

Trappist beer

John W. Miller tells the story of Trappist beer in the Wall Street Journal, 30 November 2007, with focus on St. Sixtus monastery at Westvleteren in Belgium near the border with France. (Out of 171 Trappist monasteries worldwide only six Belgian monasteries and one Dutch monastery brew so-called Trappist beer.) Why brew beer for sale? The monasteries lost their landed properties during the French Revolution and consequently needed a new source of income. St. Sixtus began brewing beer for sale in 1839. It always has taken a non-businesslike approach. It does not advertise, sells only at its front gate (and tries to prevent re-sellers from marketing highly marked up Trappist beer), hasn't increased production since 1946, and considered in the 1980s going out of the beer business altogether. Some people say that Trappist beer is only a good beer, that its scarcity adds to its reputation. Others say that it is the best in the world, particularly "the Twelve" (one of the three beers that St. Sixtus brews). It is over ten per cent alcohol, dark and creamy, slightly sweet, and with a fruity aftertaste. For more, see here.

Mittelman's Brewing Battles published (book)

Amy Mittelman's Brewing Battles: The Story of American Beer (Algora Publishing) was published today, December 1, 2007. For more, see here.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Chapter 1: Every Man His Own Brewer: Beer Brewing in the United States during the Colonial, Early National, and Antebellum Periods.

Chapter 2: Morality Follows in the Wake of Malt Liquor: The Brewing Industry and the Federal Government 1862–1898.

Chapter 3: Do As The Romans Do: Drinkers, Saloons and Brewers, 1880–1898.

Chapter 4: Who Will Pay The Tax?: Brewers and the Battle Over Prohibition, 1905–1933.

Chapter 5: Beer Flows: Repeal of Prohibition, 1933–1941.

Chapter 6: Beer: The Morale Builder, 1942–1952.

Chapter 7: Miller Time, 1953–1986.

Chapter 8: Joe and Jane Six Pack, 1970–2006.

Acknowledgements

Works Cited

Ballard Avenue (Washington State) saloons

A Seattle-based historian, Kay F. Reinartz, wrote about the old-time saloons on Ballard Avenue in Ballard, Washington, here. The local beer was Claussen. Dr. Reinartz pointed out that single men had little alternative to the saloon after their long workday. Typically they lived two or more to a small room, crowded with beds. Belatedly, the WCTU offered an alternative in the late 1890s, a reading room or library. Dr. Reinartz discussed the formation of the library here.

New York City beers

Seth Kugel (New York Times, 25 November 2007) urges New Yorkers and visitors to sample local beers, brewed in New York City and elsewhere in New York State, that often are unavailable elsewhere and sometimes are hard to find even in Manhattan. For more, see here.

Irish adults third largest per capita drinkers in Europe

Irish adults drink more alcohol per capita than any other Europeans with the exception of those in Luxembourg and Hungary. Although the Irish drink less beer than in the past, beer still comprises about half of Irish alcohol consumption. Perhaps a sign of prosperity in the Irish Republic, the Irish now drink slightly more wine than whiskey. For more, see here. Per capita consumption among Irish adults who drink may be higher than even their counterparts in Luxembourg and Hungary. Traditionally many Irish Catholics are total abstainers, often members of the teetotal Pioneers of the Sacred Heart, founded at the end of the nineteenth century. Or it may be that modernization in Ireland has shrunk the Pioneers to numerical irrelevance.

A six pack with your six pack?

Having a beer after exercise could do you more good than drinking water, a new study suggests.

Find the full story here.

1830 beerhouse act (article)

Paul Jennings, "'...one of the most mischievous Acts that ever passed the British legislature': The 1830 Beerhouse Act and its consequences," in Martin Hewit, ed., Unrespectable recreations (Leeds Centre working papers in Victorian studies, 4) (Leeds: Leeds Centre for Victorian Studies, 2001), 59-70.

Xhosa beer drinking rituals (book review)

Sean Redding reviewed in H-SAfrica the book by Patrick McAllister, Xhosa Beer Drinking Rituals (2006). For the review, see here.

History of drinking in Britain and the contemporary alcohol epidemic (article)

David W. Gutzke, "The History of Drinking," (London) Times Online, 13 June 2004, is available here.

World Series of beer

The upcoming World Series occasioned an article comparing Colorado and Massachusetts beer. Colorado has more than twice as many breweries (108, not counting Coors) than does the more populous Massachusetts (42) and the Rocky Mountain state drinks more per capita than does the Bay state. But Boston brewers argue that some Colorado beer emulates craft beers of the West Coast that go "over the top" such as as adding so much hops that the first taste is exciting but few people care to drink it regularly. For more, see here.

Cask-conditioned beer

In the New York Times, 23 October 2007, Eric Asinov discusses his new enthusiasm, cask-conditioned beer. In the British tradition of so-called "real beer," it is less carbonated than German lagers. For more, see here.

True story

Six Asiatic wild elephants were electrocuted as they went berserk after drinking rice beer in India's remote northeast, a wildlife official said Tuesday.

The 40-strong herd uprooted an electric pole while looking desperately for food on Friday in Chandan Nukat, a village nearly 240 kilometres west of Shillong, the capital of Meghalaya state, said Sunil Kumar, a state wildlife official.

"There would have been more casualties had the villagers not chased them away," said Dipu Mark, a local conservationist.

The elephants are known to have a taste for rice beer brewed by tribal communities in India's northeast.

The CBC reports.

Also a true story

A New Zealand brewer is offering a lifetime supply of free beer in exchange for the return of a laptop stolen in a break-in.

Croucher Brewing Co. co-owner Paul Croucher said the computer contains “all our financials” as well as label designs for new beers and business contacts.

“So we decided that if anyone does come into possession of it we’ll be happy to offer them a reward — a dozen (bottles) of beer a month for the rest of their life,” he said.

Croucher estimated the total value would likely be about $19,500 for a lifetime of beer. Since making the offer, “plenty of people” had called to say they were looking for the computer, he said.

“Opportunistic kids and a flimsy padlock” resulted in the theft, he said.

Read more here.

Interview with Maureen Ogle, historian of beer and brewing

For an interview with Maureen Ogle, historian of beer and brewing in the USA, see here. In fact, this is an old interview.

Beer advertising: the rise of digital formats?

USA Today, 17 October 2007, discusses advertising by Anheuser-Busch and its competitors Miller and Coors (these two likely to be combined by mid-2008, pending decision by regulators). Currently Anheuser-Busch spend $511 million on advertising (apparently this is for the USA), while Miller and Coors combined spend $422 million. The main point of the article is the likelihood of a shift from TV advertising (now about 75% of beer advertising) to digital formats. Men aged 25-34 are less likely to watch TV and more likely to use digital devices than the general population and such men are a prime audience for beer advertising.

Southern Comfort: The Use and Abuse of Alcohol in Southern Literature (call for papers)

Cross-listed from two H-Net discussion groups, H-South and H-Southern-Lit:

Southern Comfort: The Use and Abuse of Alcohol in Southern Literature

Society for the Study of Southern Literature, Williamsburg, VA (04/18-20/08)

Several casks of beer and wine were among the cargo the original
settlers brought to Jamestown. Since then, alcohol has occupied an
important place in southern culture. This proposed panel at SSSL will
explore the representation of alcohol use and abuse in southern
literature. Possible topics include whiskey, bourbon, and moonshine;
alcoholism and southern writers; depictions of drinking; the temperance
movement and prohibition; race, class, gender, and drinking practices;
rum and the slave trade; and tension between alcohol and religion.

Please send a three hundred word abstract and a short CV to David A.
Davis (davisda@wfu.edu) by November 20, 2007.

Old-timers quiet about the role of Gibraltar, Michigan, during prohibition

Debbie Davenport has organized a local historical society in the small town of Gibraltar, downstream from Detroit, but she faces difficulty getting old-timers to reveal the story of the whiskey and beer smuggled through its waterfront. There are many legends, but it is hard to determine the facts. For more, see here.

All head and no beer: São Paulo's leitinho

A travel article about the enormous Brazilian city of São Paulo mentions the local draft beer called chopp (SHO-pee) and a special way of pouring it to produce all head and no beer or leitinho (lay-CHEEN-yo). For more, see here.

Craft beer convention at Denver

40,000 beer enthusiasts met in Denver in October, 2007, for a craft beer convention. For more, see here.

British drinking less alcohol (and much less beer)

Since the Licensing Act of 2003 has gone into effect, the British people are drinking less. In 2006 drinking fell 3.3%, while in 2005 it fell 2%. With a per capita consumption of 8.9 liters, Britain ranks 13th in Europe. There also has been a long-term shift in the United Kingdom from beer to wine. In 1980, 60% of the alcohol consumed was beer, 24% spirits, and only 14% wine. Now it is only 43% beer, 22% spirits, and 29% wine. For more, see here.

Simcha beer

A new kosher beer from Germany is quickly gaining an international following as well as controversy. 

Haaretz.com reports.

Venezuela's Hugo Chávez attacks alcohol and tobacco

Venezuela's leftist and anti-USA president Hugo Chávez is attempting to persuade his people to adopt the puritanical and anti-capitalist psyche of a socialist revolutionary "New Man." He has greatly increased taxes on alcoholic drinks and on tobacco and has warned that beer trucks that sell on the streets will be confiscated. The government will no longer make dollars available to import luxury whiskies, a step that will greatly increase prices. Chávez says that he himself doesn't drink and only very occasionally smokes a cigarette and then only in private. Chávez's reforms goes beyond alcohol and tobacco. He has called upon Venezuelians to avoid dousing food with hot sauce, to choose low-cholesterol foods, to obey speed limits, to stop buying Barbie dolls, and to reject breast enhancement surgeries. For more, see the AP story here.

Brewery History: the Journal of the Brewery History Society, No. 124/5 (2007)

TOC

Editorial (on peer review) (Tim Holt)
Housing the Workforce (Tony Crosby)
Hydrometry and Slide Rules in Brewing and Distilling (Tom Martin)
Notes on Abingdon's Malting Industry (Bruce Hedge)
Decorative Ceramics in the Buildings of the British Brewing Industry (Lynn Pearson)
West's Brewery (photographs)
Review of Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance by Richard W. Unger (Anon.)
Bibliography (David W. Gutzke)

History of hops in the Bromyard district of Herefordshire, England (book)

A pocketful of hops: hop growing in the Bromyard area (Bromyard & District Local History Society, 2007). New edition, replacing one published in 1988. About 200 pages. For details, including TOC, see here.

Portland, Oregon's golden age for eating and drinking

An article on Portland, Oregon's restaurants includes a few words about drinking: thirty minutes from the city the Willamette Valley produces world-class wines, the city has six micro-distilleries producing a variety of spirits, as well as "more breweries than any other city on earth." For more, see the New York Times, 27 September 2007 here.

Tennent's Lager Lovelies and much more at Edinburgh drinks exhibit

The Living Memory Association has created an exhibit at the Museum of Edinburgh that includes nineteenth-century temperance, some of the city's most famous bars, and from the 1960s onwards Tennent's Lager Lovelies that adorned all sorts of breweriana or material culture artifacts. More more, see here.

Beer and poverty in the Third World

William P. Mitchell and Nicholas D. Kristof debate the connection between men drinking and Third World poverty. For more, see here.

"Utah beer" and flavored malt beverage

The Salt Lake Tribune argues that 3.2 flavored malt beverage counts as "Utah beer" and should be able to be sold at grocery and convenience stories (a response to those who call flavored malt beverage booze on training wheels, meant to entice young people, and therefore to be restricted to package liquor stores). For more, see here.

Middle schoolers to take on beer ads

As a lawyer, Mary Easley squared off with bad guys she sent to jail. As North Carolina's first lady, she is picking a fight with Captain Morgan and a buxom robot with a keg of Heineken stashed in her chest.

Easley intends to keep young people from drinking by pummeling the alcohol icons with straight talk. In a program she announced Wednesday, North Carolina teachers will tell middle schoolers that beer brewers are lying to them.

Find the full story here.

Beer and the new taste for spicy food

Jim Koch of Samuel Adams beer argues that the new taste for spicy food--Thai, Moroccan, Ethiopian--has made beer the new dinner wine. No longer is beer just for drunken frat boys and Joe Six-Pack. It is for the refined palate. For more, see here.

Biographical sketch of inventor of "Babycham"

The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography distributes one biographical entry a day to subscribers. I hope that you will find the entry for Francis Edwin Showering (1912-1995) here. Showerings was a small family firm that brewed beer and made cider. In 1946 F.E. Showering devised a perry (that is, pear-based) drink called Babycham that became popular with young women.

Sydney's Pubs (museum exhibit)

The Justice and Peace Museum in Sydney, Australia, will hold an exhibit starting February 2008 called "Sydney's Pubs: Liquor, Larrikans and the Law." In February 1916 a riot by military recruits prompted a reaction that led to the passage of a referendum to close pubs at 6 pm, a policy that remained until 1954. For more, see here.

Beer critic Michael Jackson dies at 65

Michael Jackson, the British beer critic known as the "beer hunter," recently died at age 65. He was particularly known for championing Belgian beers. For more, see here.

Nigeria overtakes Ireland in Guinness sales

Nigeria has overtaken Ireland as the second-largest market for Guinness as Diageo pushes the black stuff internationally.

The Guardian reports.

Bears eat man at Serbian beer festival

During a beer festival and apparently drunk or drugged, a young Serbian man climbed the wall into the Belgrade zoo's bear confinement area where he was killed and half-eaten. For more, see here.

Lager beer sales decline in UK while those of rosé wine and cider rise

In Britain sales of lager, which rose from virtually nothing to almost half of beer sales, is in decline, while sales of rosé wine, also known as blush, and cider, often drunk over ice, are rising. For more, see here.

How "Bronze Age" Irishmen enjoyed a pint

Archaeologists argue that during the prehistoric "Bronze Age" beer was brewed in Ireland and presumably elsewhere. For more, see here.

Carl H. Miller, beer historian, about prohibition

Carl H. Miller, a well-known beer historian, writes about prohibition here. Originally published in 2000.

Lavender's history of cold beer

Christian Lavender's ten-part history of cold beer in America continues as follows:

Part Seven: Early Kegerator Era; Link is here.
Part Eight: The Resurgence of Home Brewing and the Kegerator; Link is here.
Part Nine: The Modern Kegerator; Link is here.
Part Ten: The D.I.Y. Kegerator; Link is here.

History of the "kegerator" (rise of cold beer drinking in the USA)

Parts 5 (prohibition and cold beer) and 6 (early beer draft systems) in a series on American beer history by Christian Lavender. Includes details about Diehl brothers in Defiance, Ohio. For more, see here. Also see links to the earlier parts in this series:

# Part One: Warm Beer
# Part Two: The Rise of Lager
For parts 1 and 2, see here.
# Part Three: Beer and Early Refrigeration
# Part Four: Beer Barons and Cold Beer
For parts 3 and 4, see here.

The forthcoming Part 7 will look at the early "kegerator" era in the 1900s.

High school students prefer liquor to beer

According to a US government study, high school students who drink prefer liquor (rum, vodka, whiskey) to beer, and few drink wine. The study was limited to four states: Arkansas, Nebraska, New Mexico, Wyoming. In Nebraska male high school students preferred beer to liquor. For more, see here.

Beer, pubs, and women in the industrial working class (article)

D. Kirkby, "'Beer, Women and Grub': Pubs, Food and the Industrial Working Class," in Dining on Turtles: Food Feasts and Drinking in History, ed. Tanya Luckins (Palgrave Macmillan, forthcoming 2007).

Wine and beer compared (book)

Charles W. Bamforth, Grape and grain: a historical, technological, and social comparison of wine and beer (Cambridge University Press, forthcoming 2008).

Wisconsin politicians sympathetic to beer lobbyists

Wisconsin legislators are much more sympathetic to the point of view of the beer industry than those in other states. Perhaps as a result, Forbes.com recently called Milwaukee the most drunken city in the USA. The state has the highest rate of adult binge drinking in the country. For more, see here.

American Indian activists angry about beer near reservation

Activists at the Pine Ridge (Nebraska) Indian reservation are angry about outsiders selling beer near the Oglala Sioux (Lakotah) reservation. Adjacent to the reservation, the unincorporated town of Whiteclay (population,14; yes, that's right, 14) has four stores whose combined sales are the equivalent of 10,000 cans of beer a day. Obviously, town residents can't drink that much by themselves, so the sales aggravate the problem of alcohol among the Native Americans who patronize the beer take-outs. See US Today, 17 July 2007, for details.

German beer and Texas wine in the hill country

Matt Gross, the "frugal traveller" for the New York Times, discovered beer and wine in Texas hill country. The town that he visited (Fredericksburg, west of Austin) was founded by Germans, and the state is the fifth largest producer of wine in the USA. For more, see here.

Beer in medieval and renaissance Europe (book review)

Melitta Weiss Adamson reviews Richard W. Unger's Beer in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance in Journal of Interdisciplinary History 37/3 (Winter 2007): 437-438.

Budweiser in India despite small initial market

Anheuser-Busch's Budweiser has entered India's marketplace despite the comparatively small and low profit margin beer sales there and strongly entrenched competitors. India consumes less than a liter of beer per capita annually compared with 18 liters in China and 85 liters in the USA (and a world average of 25 liters). Anheuser-Busch is attracted by long term prospects for growth. Already beer consumption in India has been increasing by 20% per year. For more, see here.

Beer prices increase in part because of ethanol; also beer consumption in the USA by state

Beer prices in the USA and elsewhere are increasing for several reasons, including competition for grain caused by the growth of ethanol fuel which has made barley expensive. For more, see a USA Today article here. The article also provides information on USA beer consumption by state. On average the per capita consumption is a little over 30 gallons annually, but consumption by state varies considerably. Predominantly Mormon Utah drinks the least beer (18.9 gallons annually), with northeastern states such as Connecticut, New York and New Jersey also posting low fi