Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 12/13, 2012

A non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 12/13
18 March- 31 March 2012

• 2012.03.31
  Ten Virginia breweries to participate in 1st ever Tap into Virginia Cask Fest, 21 April, in Richmond, Virginia. Organized by Virginia craft Brewers Guild. http://vacask.com
  
  
• 2012.03.30
  Potentially, a big problem. MasterCard and Visa look into possible data breach. Via New York Times.
  
  
• 2012.03.30
  One of the winning tickets for the Mega Millions lottery was sold in Baltimore County, Maryland. The $640 million jackpot was the largest ever in the U.S. Via ABC.
  
  
  
• 2012.03.30
  Tickets for the Chesapeake Spring Real Ale Fest, at the Pratt Street Alehouse in Baltimore, Maryland, 28 April, are now on sale. Follow on Twitter: @prattstalefest.
  
  
• 2012.03.30
  Earth Hour: Saturday, 31 March, at 8:30PM EDT. Observed by many, worldwide, by turning off lights for one hour.
  
  
• 2012.03.30
  Charlie Papazian, National Beer Examiner, announces BeerCity USA 2012 balloting to begin soon.
  
  
• 2012.03.29
  The great Earl Scruggs —bluegrass banjo innovator— has died at age 88. Via Yahoo.
  
  
• 2012.03.27
  Birthday in Beer. Michael Jackson, prolific English beer writer —who first proposed the existence of beer styles— would have been 70 years old today. Via YFGF.
  
  
  
• 2012.03.27
  The 27th of April is World Whisky Day.
  
  
• 2012.03.25
  After 50 years, a brewery again to package its beer in a flat-top steel can. Churchkey Pilsner, via BeerPulse.
  
  
• 2012.03.25
  Ask your local brewery, brewpub, and bar to support Session Beer Day, on April 7th. Via Lew Bryson.
  
  
  
• 2012.03.25
  How the word 'jazz" may have had its first use in baseball, 100 years ago this year. Via Boston Globe.
  
  
• 2012.03.21
  Virginia legislature declares August to be Virginia Craft Beer Month. Virginia Craft Brewers Guild announces the 1st Virginia Craft Beer Fest for 18 August. Via Active Woman Traveler.
  
  
• 2012.03.21
  1982 may have been the greatest Bordeaux vintage of the 20th century, AND a dividing line between old and modern methods. Via Eric Asimov of the New York Times.
  
  
• 2012.03.21
  Major League pitcher Chris Ray, of the Cleveland Indians, to open a brewery in Ashland, Virginia. Via Hanover Herald Progress.
  
  
• 2012.03.20
  Company in Scotland develops method to converts waste from whisky distillation into biobutanol fuel. Via Mother Jones.
  
  
• 2012.03.19
  After 244 years, Encyclopaedia Britannica ceases bound publication; becomes solely digital. Via Notions Capital.
  
  
• 2012.03.18
  President Obama celebrated St. Patrick's Day, in Washington, D.C., drinking a pint of Guinness with a distant Irish relative. Via WAMU.

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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 twitter.com/cizauskas.
• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.