Alcohol and Drugs History Society

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.

Carlsberg and Heineken to buy and break up Scottish & Newcastle

The Danish brewer Carlsberg and the Dutch brewer Heineken have jointly offered over 15 billion dollars to purchase the British brewer Scottish & Newcastle which they then will divide. Carlsberg hopes to strengthen its position in Russia, while Heineken will focus on Western Europe.

Carlsberg and Heineken to bid for (and divide) Scottish & Newcastle?

Business sources say that the Danish brewer Carlsberg and the Dutch brewer Heineken plan a joint offer to take over Scottish & Newcastle and then divide the assets of the British brewer. For more, see here.

Germany retreats from smoking ban

The federal government in Germany has retreated from its plan to restrict smoking in restaurants and bars at least in part because the post-war constitution appears to assign such a power to the states. Germany, along with heavy-smoking Denmark and Luxembourg, remains a bastion for smokers in Wesern Europe. For more, see here.

'Ashtray Queen' agrees to stub it out in public

The chain-smoking Queen Margrethe of Denmark, who has been cruelly dubbed the “Ashtray Queen”, has bowed to public opinion and decided to stop smoking in public.

The Times (of London) reports.

Denmark and Europe's drinking crisis (article)

Elisabeth Rosenthal, "Europe at Tipping Point," International Herald Tribune, 25 June 2006. Europe produces more than a quarter of the world's alcohol, including more than half of its wine. Perhaps as a result governments have failed to regulate alcohol drinking seriously. This is despite, in the words of a report commissioned by the European Union, that the EU has "the highest proportion of drinkers and the highest level of alcohol consumption." Especially among youth Denmark stands out as a country of problem drinkers. In Denmark the minimum drinking age is 16 (until recently 15), low taxes keep prices cheap, and advertising is unfettered. For details, see here.

beer and brewing in Denmark (book)

Kristof Glamann, Beer and Brewing in Pre-Industrial Denmark (Odense: Syddansk Universitetsforlag; distributed in North America, Portland, Oregon: International Specialized Book Services, 2005).

Cartoon protester 'was drug dealer'

A Scotland Yard special squad is investigating extremists who protested against Muslim cartoons over the last week. The investigation began as it emerged that a man who dressed as a suicide bomber during the protests had served a prison sentence for drug dealing.

Omar Khayam, 22, was sentenced to six years in prison in 2002 for possessing crack cocaine with intent to supply, according to newspaper reports. Although he was released on parole last year after serving half his sentence, he is still on licence and could now be recalled back to jail if he has breached his conditions.

The Guardian reports.

Beer drinkers' diet reason to wine

Is red wine really the best type of alcohol for your heart? Score of studies have already found that drinking any type of alcohol in moderation has beneficial health effects. But some connoisseurs argue that red wine, which is rich in cholesterol-lowering resveratrol from grape skins, is the superior choice. Now, a new Danish study in today's British Medical Journal is bound to stir up the debate.

The Globe and Mail reports.

'In my next life I'm going to be a pina colada taster'

Lisslotte Eckhoff's friends don't offer her coffee with dessert. They won't even make it in front of her for fear of doing something wrong. It's not that Eckhoff is particular or snobbish. But she does have one of the most refined palates in the world, so she'll probably know if her friends kept the java in the freezer too long. The 41-year-old from Denmark is a master coffee taster. Read more.

Russia's thirst for lager cheers S&N

The Times reports (10 August 2005) that Russia's growing thirst for lager helped Scottish & Newcastle, Britain’s biggest brewer, to overcome lacklustre conditions in Western Europe and book an 8.7 per cent rise in interim pre-tax profits to £163 million. Strong growth in sales of Baltika, Europe’s second-largest beer brand behind Heineken, resulted in a sharp rise in profits at Baltic Beverages Holding (BBH), S&N’s Russian joint venture with Carlsberg of Denmark. Operating profits for the first half of the year at BBH increased by 32 per cent to £49 million as sales jumped by 24 per cent to £280 million. Read more here.

Denmark (articles)

Boje, Per, and Hans Chr. Johansen. “The Danish Brewing Industry After 1880: Entrepreneurs, Market Structure and Technology.” In R.G. Wilson and T.R. Gourvish, eds., The Dynamics of the International Brewing Industry since 1800 (London and New York: Routledge, 1998), 59-74.

Eriksen, Sidsel. “Temperance from Below: The Birth of a ‘Counter-Culture.’” In Jack Blocker and Cheryl Krasnick Warsh, eds. The Changing Face of Drink: Substance, Imagery, and Behaviour (Ottawa, Canada: Social History, Inc., 1997), 209-235. [Abstract: “A study of the Thisted Abstinence Society indicates that the old temperance movement in Denmark was an organization of socially vulnerable people. The author explains how the ‘middle-class’ character of temperance ideology developed as an ambitious strategy for its members’ own survival in the modern society - a strategy which formed the background for the ideas of prohibitionism as means to save society” (209).]

These citations originally appeared in recent “Current Literature” sections of The Social History of Alcohol Review. Jon Miller and David Fahey compiled and edited them. They were also available on the Alcohol and Drugs History Society’s old website, http://athg.org.

Coffee, Tea or Laundry?: In Copenhagen's fusion cafés, you can find all three — and more

Time Magazine (Europe) reports (3 April 2005) that if you're a multitasker and enjoy the odd shot of java, then Copenhagen may be the place for you. In the Danish capital's rapidly gentrifying Nørrebro area — where the city's café culture has long flourished — a wave of young entrepreneurs has started a new trend by opening "fusion cafés." The term is not a reference to any cross-cultural cuisine on the menu. Instead, it designates a place where you can "fuse" your coffee drinking with some other activity, from shopping to getting your laundry done. Find the full story here.

What's the buzz on energy drinks?: they're loaded with sugar, caffeine, and controversy

The Globe and Mail reports (21 March 2005) from Toronto that Cott Corp. is waving a red flag in front of Austria's Red Bull GmbH, trying to grab a piece of Canada's emerging energy drink market - a niche industry with enormous growth potential, observers say. Thanks to their ridiculous levels of sugar and caffeine, though, the energy drinks also pose serious health risks, particularly to children or pregnant women. A number of European countries have gone so far as to ban them entirely. Find the full story here.

Uganda's Coffee Sparks US Interests

For The Monitor (Kampala), Joseph Olanyo reports (15 February 2005) that new hope for Uganda's coffee lingers in the horizons as the organic coffee project in the western region begins to simmer. Coffee investors from the United States are targeting Uganda's coffee grown in an environmental friendly manner. Also known as shade coffee grown mostly in the mountainous areas of Rwenzori and Kisoro, the coffee has a big potential niche in the US market.

Drunken Danes and Sober Swedes?

Sidsel Eriksen's comparative essay, "Drunken Danes and Sober Swedes?: Religious Revivalism and the Temperance Movements as Keys to Danish and Swedish Folk Cultures," can be found here.

Alcohol as a Gender Symbol

Sidsel Eriksen's 1999 article, "Alcohol as a Gender Symbol" is available here.

Harry G. Levine's "Temperance Cultures"

Here is a link to a lightly-edited version of "Temperance Cultures: Alcohol as a Problem in Nordic and English-Speaking Cultures," in Griffith Edwards, Malcom Lader, D. Colin Drummon, eds, The Nature of Alcohol and Drug-Related Problems (New York: Oxford University Press, 1992), pp.16-36.

This is just one of a world of offerings from Levine's electric library, Hereinstead.com. Filed into 26 categories, I believe this link sets a record for the most cross-referenced item on the website. Congratulations, Harry!