Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 12/13, 2014.

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

Weeks 12/13
16 March - 29 March 2014

• 2014.03.29
  Paste Magazine picks the top ten baseball ballparks with the best selection of 'craft' beer. PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is 1st; Washington, D.C. Nationals Park, is 6th; Baltimore, Maryland, Camden Yards, 9th. In contrast, The Daily Meal selects Safeco Field in Seattle, Washington, as 1st; Nats Park as 5th; Camden Yards as 9th.
  
  
• 2014.03.28
  Toronto beer blogger Chris Schryer has forsaken solid food for Lent, partaking only of beer (and juice), and no solid food. Via National Post.
  
  
  
• 2014.03.27
  'Craft' beer trademark wars. Maryland's DuClaw Brewing sues Colorado's Left Hand Brewing for trademark infringement. Via City Paper. Rocker Ozzy Osbourne sends cease-and-desist letter to Baltimore brewpub Brewers Art over its longtime Ozzy Ale. Cease & desist your longtime Ozzy Ale. Via City Paper.
  
  
• 2014.03.25
  Philadelphia's Dock Street brewpub brews beer with goat brains, as homage to season finale of cable-television series, "The Walking Dead." Via CNET.
  
  
• 2014.03.25
  The Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) —of the U.S. Department of the Treasury— okays the use dimethyl dicarbonate in beer as a preservative. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) —of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services— has okayed the use of dimethyl dicarbonate for several years in wine and non-alcoholic beverages. Via Beerpulse.
  
  
• 2014.03.25
  Citizens of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, petition to have Pabst Brewing return to the city as city or publicly-owned brewery. Via WUWM radio.
  
  
• 2014.03.24
  A small Massachusetts brewery exits the (U.S.) Brewers Association, cites several reasons including including the residency of very large breweries now in same organization as very small breweries. Via Pivní Filosof.
  
  
• 2014.03.23
  New Federal Trade Commission (FTC) study on alcohol advertising finds that Internet access to alcohol-related sites should be tightened against minors. Via Brewbound.
  
  
• 2014.03.20
  Anheuser-Busch InBev spending $4.3M lobbying for an excise tax-lowering bill that it admits has little chance of passing. [The Brewers Excise and Economic Relief Act of 2013, known as the BEER Act, proposes reducing the per-barrel tax on beer from $18 to $9 and implementing a bigger reduction for small brewers that would virtually eliminate excise taxes on the first 15,000 barrels.] Why, via The Motley Fool.
  
  
  
• 2014.03.20
  "Brewmore │Baltimore" —documentary on brewing history of Baltimore, Maryland— debuts at Maryland College Institute of Art. Via YFGF.
  
  
• 2014.03.18
  Scientists detect gravitational waves from 1 trillionth of 1 trillionth of 1 trillionth of 1 second after the Big Bang. Via Scientific American.
  
  
• 2014.03.17
  The human nose can detect at least ... 1 trillion odors (!) ... says new study of sense of smell, conducted at Rockefeller University, published in Science Magazine. Via Washington Post.
  
  
• 2014.03.17
  Beer bloggers blog on the question: "Why do you drink beer?" Via Baltimore Bistros & Beer for The Session: Beer Blogging Friday.
  
  
• 2014.03.17
  In 2013, craft beer accounted for 7.8% of the total United States beer market volume (up from 6.5% in 2012) and 14.3% ($14.3 billion) in terms of dollars of all beer sold. Via Brewers Association.
  
  
  
• 2014.03.14
  'Craft' beer pioneer, Dr. James Kollar —founder, in the early 1980s, of the Chesapeake Bay Brewing Company, Virginia's first-ever microbrewery, and only the second microbrewery to open on the East Coast— has died. Via Allen Young (at YFGF).

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• Clamps and Gaskets is a bi-weekly wrap-up of stories not necessarily 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.