Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 24/25, 2014.

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

Weeks 24/25
8 June - 21 June 2014

• 2014.06.21
  "In 2012, the New York State Legislature adopted a 'farm brewery' law. The bill mandates that small breweries will need to use a minimum 20% of a New York-grown barley product to officially be dubbed a New York beer. The requirement will increment over the years, up to 90% by 2020."
  
  As a result, Cornell University is attempting to develop "New York-friendly" malting barley. The USDA, as well, is conducting similar experiments, near Raleigh, North Carolina.
  —Via Mashable.
  
  
• 2014.06.21
  “Musical composition should bring joy." The great 'hard bop' jazz pianist/composer Horace Silver has died at 85.
  —Via New York Times.
  
  
• 2014.06.19
  Montgomery County, Maryland, one of the few alcohol 'full control jurisdictions' in the United States, will now allow small brewery self-distribution.
  —Via DC Beer.
  
  
• 2014.06.16
  "Some players are in the Hall of Fame. A few are Hall-of-Famers." Tony Guinn —arguably the greatest hitter in Major League Baseball of the last 50 years— has died at age 54.
  —Via New York Times.
  
  
  
  
• 2014.06.14
  The United States flag was officially adopted 14 June 1777. The day is now observed as Flag Day.
  —Via Wikipedia.
  
  
• 2014.06.13
  Did Anheuser-Busch InBev and Miller Coors really 'cave in' to the ingredient-listing demands of the 'Food Babe'? Historian Maureen Ogle calls out Vani Hari's process over product specious bait-and-switch.
  
  
• 2014.06.11
  21st century racketeering. Feedly, a widely-used RSS reader website, was temporarily taken down by a distributed denial of service attack by unknown perpetrators demanding ransom.
  —Via Yahoo News.
  
  
  
  
• 2014.06.10
  The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issues a 'clarification' seemingly backing down from its earlier ban on using wood shelving in 'artisanal' cheesemaking.
  —Via Forbes.
  
  
• 2014.06.09
  A Virginia brewery uses yeast cultured from a fossilized whale bone to brew beer.
  —Via Washington Business Journal.
  
  
• 2014.06.08
  The Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) —the agency of the U.S. government that oversees breweries— exempts over thirty beer ingredients and brewing processes, such as barrel-aging, from reporting requirements.
  —Via Brewbound.
  
  
  
• 2014.06.08
  Brewers Publications releases its newest book on brewing: American Sour Beers: Innovative Techniques for Mixed Fermentations.
  —Written by Washington, D.C.-area homebrewer, Michael Tonsmeire, who blogs at The Mad Fermentationist.
  
  

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• Clamps and Gaskets is a bi-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.