Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 26/27, 2014.

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

Weeks 26/27
22 June - 5 July 2014

• 2014.07.05
  Legal specificity! It's now legal to have a glass of beer or wine ... at hair salons in Montgomery County, Maryland.
  —Via NBC4 TV
  
  
• 2014.07.04
  Independence Day and Labor Day are the two top days for beer sales in the U.S.
  —Via Nielsen (at YFGF).
  
  
• 2014.07.02
  Forty Virginia breweries are expected to participate in the 3rd annual Virginia Craft Beer Festival, 23 August 2014, on the grounds of the Devils Backbone Brewing Company, in Roseland, Virginia.
  —Via Virginia Beer Trail.
  
  
• 2014.07.02
  If growth in the U.S. craft brewing industry continues between 10 – 15 % per year in 2013, and if hop varieties in demand do not change to include those from other countries or those harvested earlier or later, fierce competition for limited production and higher prices of hops are inevitable. This does not take into consideration the return of the multinational mega - brewers en masse into the alpha market.
  —2014 State of the U.S. Hop Industry (pdf), via Hops 47.
  
  
  
  
  
  
• 2014.07.02
  Pumpkins will not be harvested until late September at the earliest, and, yet, Southern Tier Brewing (of New York) has trumped all other 'craft' breweries, shipping its pumpkin beers ... on 1 July.
  —Instagram of case stack at a Pennsylvania beer store.
  
  
• 2014.07.02
  Maryland's 4th 'farm brewery' to open in Howard County, that jurisdiction's first: Manor Hill Brewing.
  
  
• 2014.07.02
  Two anniversaries on 2 July.
  • 2 July 1776: Second Continental Congress votes to approve independence from Britain. Via Washington Post.
  • 2 July 1964: The signing of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Via Wikipedia.
  
  
• 2014.07.02
  Brown-Forman —American liquor producer conglomerate— has fears that the legalization of marijuana poses a threat to its business, as drinkers may switch from booze to pot.
  —Via Yahoo News.
  
  
• 2014.07.01
  What is the number 1 selling beer brand in the world? Which country spends the most per capita on beer? Which nation is tops in terms of total beer consumption per year? Which nation's citizens drink the most beer per person per year?
  —Global beer statistics, via YFGF.
  
  
• 2014.06.30
  The U.S. Supreme Court rules that the Federal government cannot require closely held corporations with religious owners to provide contraception coverage for their employees.
  —Via Huffington Post.
  
  
• 2014.06.29
  After suffering on-line registration problems in 2013 that prevented many breweries from registering for the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) that had wanted to, festival organizer Brewers Association instituted new procedures this year to facilitate registration for any brewery that wished it. 1,360 breweries responded, 81% more than in 2013, and a record number for participation. The GABF is the considered by many as the premier national U.S. beer festival and brewery competition.
  —Via Denver Westworld.
  
  
  
  
• 2014.06.27
  Bobby Womack, "poet of soul music," has died at age 70.
  —Via Chicago Tribune.
  
  
• 2014.06.27
  Peter Swinburn, the current CEO of Molson/Coors, thinks that 'craft' breweries are over-valued. "While demand for small-batch beers is growing in the U.S. and Canada, the companies that make them are typically too expensive to justify an acquisition," he said. He just doesn't get it ... thank goodness.
  —Via Bloomberg News.
  
  
• 2014.06.26
  Oregon has the largest number of breweries per capita in the U.S. and the highest percentage of dollars spent on craft beer in the U.S.; Portland, Oregon has more breweries than any other city in the world; and, as of 2013, Oregon had the highest percentage of locally-produced, locally consumed beer in the nation: 18%.
  —Via Brewbound.
  
  
• 2014.06.24
  A brief history of the hops industry in New York State: its perigee in the early 20th century; how downey mildew, aphids, and Prohibition engendered its demise; and, how, now, it is undergoing a small comeback due to New York State's farm-brewery law, government largesse, and growing population of small brewers and hop farmers.
  —Via Poughkeepsie Journal.
  
  
• 2014.06.25
  "When you have to shoot, shoot. Don't talk." Eli Wallach, a prominent and prolific character actor for more than 60 years, died at age 98.
  —Via New York Times.
  
  
• 2014.06.23
  A history of glass and its discovery; the science of glass, and why glass is transparent; and how glass radically changed how beer is drunk.
  —Via Brain Pickings.
  
  
• 2014.06.22
  Rumors reappear about a brewery mega-merger: $60B AB-InBev takeover of SAB/Miller.
  —Via Brewbound.
  
  
• 2014.06.22
  Expanding resource. List of mobile beer canning companies in U.S.
  —Via Craft Beer.
  
  
  
  
• 2014.06.22
  The top 10 U.S. beers, and the top 5 U.S. breweries ... according to U.S. homebrewers. Number 1? Russian River Pliny the Elder, for 6th year in a row.
  —Via American Homebrewers Association.
  
  
• 2014.06.22
  German breweries in Lower Saxony appear to be winning their battle against Exxon-Mobil to forestall fracking throughout Germany.
  —Via The Guardian.

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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.