Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 27/28, 2013.

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

Weeks 27/28
30 June- 13 July 2013

• 2013.07.13
  Eight feet tall and emitting the aroma of rotting meat. Native to the tropical rain-forests of Indonesia, a titan arum or 'corpse flower' is blooming at U.S. Botanical Garden.
  
  
• 2013.07.12
  Pressured by the Mexican government, Anheuser-Busch InBev Modelo agrees to limit its sales exclusivity contracts with corner stores, bars and restaurants, allowing more room for craft brewers and other players. Via Brookston Beer Bulletin.
  
  
  
  
• 2013.07.12
  In writing in defense of Washington, D.C. food culture, the Washington City Paper ignores the city's brewpubs. Via YFGF.
  
  
• 2013.07.11
  Many breweries denied Great American Beer Festival registration due to computer server issues and limited festival space. Via Beer Pulse. The Brewers Association responds, is considering future changes to the Great American Beer Festival. Via Beer Pulse.
  
  
• 2013.07.10
  World-wide hop acreage has declined over the last 100 years, although hop production has increased. Via Ron Pattinson at Shut Up About About Barclay Perkins.
  
  
• 2013.07.09
  Jeff Alworth, at Beervana, disputes Time Magazine's assertion that the craft beer market has become saturated.
  
  
• 2013.07.09
  Consolidation a-go-go. Supermarket chain Kroger purchases Harris Teeter chain for $2.5 billion. Via Yahoo Finance.
  
  
• 2013.07.09
  Washington, D.C. brewery museum, Heurich House, enlists local brewery, DC Brau, to recreate namesake Pre-Prohibition beer: Heurich's Lager.
  
  
• 2013.07.08
  Independence Day is top holiday for beer sales in U.S. North Dakota is top state for per-capita beer consumption. Via YFGF.
  
  
  
  
• 2013.07.08
  Maryland's Montgomery County allows shops to sell draught beer in refillable 'growlers.' Via WTOP Radio.
  
  
• 2013.07.08
  Virginia brewery Starr Hill to brew Hard Times Craft Lager for Washington, D.C.-area chili restaurant chain. Via Washington Business Journal.
  
  
• 2013.07.08
  For Champagne in the aughts, 2002 was "the vintage of a generation.” A rundown of each vintage, via The Drinks Business.
  
  
• 2013.07.06
  Bars in Pennsylvania (and soon, New York City) receive Cask Marque accreditation for serving cask ale properly. Via Yahoo.
  
  
  
  
• 2013.07.06
  The 2013 Virginia Craft Beer Festival has been scheduled for 24 August at Devils Backbone Brewery, in Nelson County, Virginia.
  
  
• 2013.07.05
  When sport website Deadspin rated Natty Boh as one of the worst of all cheap American beers, the Baltimore City Paper replied: It's not from Baltimore, hon!
  
  
• 2013.07.04
  "WE HOLD THESE truths to be sacred and undeniable." The original draft of the Declaration of Independence, and it relevance to the Battle of Gettysburg and now. Via Washington Post.
  
  
• 2013.07.03
  Egyptian military ousts President Morsi. Via NBC News.
  
  
• 2013.07.03
  'Craft' breweries marketing foods made with their beers. Via Washington Post.
  
  
• 2013.07.02
  Douglas Engelbart, inventor of computer mouse (in 1968), dies at 88. Early on, envisioned what would later become the world-wide-web. Via Reuters.
  
  
• 2013.07.02
  Agents of the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control mistake bottled water for beer, pull their weapons, and incarcerate a University of Virginia student. Via Musings Over A Pint.
  
  
• 2013.07.01
  Mississippi legalizes homebrewing. The hobby is now legal in all 50 states. Via American Homebrew Association.
  
  
• 2013.06.30
  How not to serve cask ale. Via YFGF.

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• Clamps and Gaskets is a weekly wrap-up of stories, many of which deal with beer (or wine, or whisky). Most are re-posts from Twitter @Cizauskas.
• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.