Clamps & Gaskets: Roundup for 2010 Week 52

A non-comprehensive roundup of the week's
(the last of year 2010)
news of beer and other things.

Week 52
26 December 2010 - 31 December 2010

• 2010.12.31
  The legislative battle over the serving size of a drink ... and how many calories are in it. Via Washington Post.
• 2010.12.31
  2010: The year Facebook dethroned Google as king of the web. Via Mashable.
• 2010.12.31
  The Year 2010 in literary Twitter. Via The Guardian.


• 2010.12.31
  Flickr users post their best photo of 2010.
• 2010.12.31
  A brief recap of the year in Virginia wine: 2010 was (mostly) a good vintage. http://bit.ly/huJYTa
• 2010.12.30
  Vintage: a documentary on Virginia wine. Reviewed by Dave McIntyre of the Washington Post.
• 2010.12.30
  Kombucha rediscovered: fermented sweet tea. Probiotic and tangy.
• 2010.12.30
  Contrary to prior supposition, new research shows that Neanderthals cooked and ate plants and vegetables, not solely meat. Via BBC.
• 2010.12.30
  Imbibe Magazine reports that the flavor complexity of rye in beer outweighs the difficulties of using it in the brewhouse.
• 2010.12.30
  Fire at Rochefort in Belgium —one of only a handful of extant Trappist-order monastery breweries— halts production for several days. No injuries reported.
• 2010.12.30
  Dr. Billy Taylor —pianist and jazz 'ambassador' and educator —has died. An appreciation at New York Times
• 2010.12.29
  Scientists sequence theobroma cacao genome. Plans underway to create 'better' chocolate.


• 2010.12.29
  Birthday in beer: Owen Ogletree, Georgia beer festival organizer and real ale educator. http://www.classiccitybrew.com/
• 2010.12.29
  FCC's new net-neutrality rules: not so good for web users.
• 2010.12.28
  Bison Brewing: One brewery's wishlist blueprint for a 'green', urban brewery.
• 2010.12.28
  Beer blogger Jeff Alworth announces winners of 2010 DMS Awards (Dismal Malty Substances) for the year's worst accomplishments in beer.
• 2010.12.27
  Washington City Paper reports that "The Tavern Formerly Known as Brickskeller" will reopen, with new owners, on 29 December 2010, but known as Bier Baron.


• 2010.12.26
  Sierra Nevada Brewing named the 'Green' Business of the Year by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
• 2010.12.26
  World's largest winery holding company, Constellation Brands, selss its Australian, UK, and South Africa wineries for major loss. Via Decanter Magazine.

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• Clamps and Gaskets is a weekly wrap-up of stories  not posted at Yours For Good Fermentables.com. Most deal with beer (or wine, or whisky); some do not. But all are brief, and many are re-posts from my Twitter account: twitter.com/cizauskas.
• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.