Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 36/37, 2014.

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

Weeks 36/37
31 August - 13 September 2014

• 2014.09.12
  Americans prefer red wine over white, by 58% to 42%.
  —Via Washington Post Wonk Blog.
  
  
• 2014.09.11
  Washington D.C.-based Air Force F-16 pilots, lacking live ammunition on 11 September 2001, were prepared to ram the hijackers with their jet.
  —Via Washington Post
  
  
• 2014.09.08
  How much -and which- alcohol is drunk in the world during a week?
  —Interactive infographic via Ghost in the Data
  (Source: World Health Organization)
  
  
  
  
• 2014.09.06
  Nationals Park, in Washington, D.C., will be the site, outdoors, for the 1 January 2015 Winter Classic National Hockey League (NHL) hockey game, between the Washington Capitals and the Chicago Blackhawks.
  —Via Washington Post
  
  
• 2014.09.06
  There's a fear of a pretzel shortage at Munich's Oktoberfest, as the Bavarian bakers' guild threatens to strike for a 6.5% wage increase.
  —Via Telegraph
  
  
• 2014.09.06
  The U.S. Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (TTB) recently released domestic production and domestic tax paid figures for the first six months of 2014 showing
  • Total U.S. malt beverage production growing 0.6 percent for a gain of more than 7.7 million case equivalents (560,000 barrels).
  • Canned beer packages carried the industry in 2014, growing 3.1 percent by more than 23.1 million cases in just six months.
  • Imports' share of market rose to 14.4 percent, compared to 13.8 percent for the same time frame in 2013.
  • More important for beer sales is the domestic tax paid figure that represents domestic cases sold to distributors by U.S. breweries. Year-to-date, this figure is basically flat, showing only a small volume decrease of around -0.2 percent.
  —Via National Beer Wholesalers Association (NGBW)
  
  
• 2014.09.05
  How the rules and regulations for buying alcohol differ in each of the 50 states and Washington, D.C.
  —Via Huffington Post
  (Sources: Wikipedia, Distilled Spirits Council of the United States).
  
  
• 2014.09.05
  Remains of a Colonial-era brewery found at College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia.
  —Via Associated Press.
  
  
• 2014.09.02
  Year-to-date beer sales figures from the Brewers Association (whose self-described purpose is to "promote and protect small and independent American brewers":
  • Total U.S. beer sales up 2.9%
  • Craft beer up 20.9% at 7.8% of the 196 million barrels of beer sold
  • Domestic premium beer sales down 0.1%
  • FMBs (flavored malt beverages) up 24.6%.
  —Via Market Development Committee (of Brewers Association).
  
  
• 2014.09.02
  Wine Enthusiast Magazine selects its top American tastemakers under 40 for 2014. Three are in the 'craft' beer world.
  • Meg Gill, brewer at Golden Road Brewing
  • Pat Fahey, the youngest-ever Master Cicerone, a program which "certifies and educates beer professionals in order to elevate the beer experience for consumers"
  • Travis Benoit, owner of Crowd Brewed: "financing and fundraising options for the craft beer industry and its affiliates."
  —Via Wine Enthusiast Magazine
  
  
  
• 2014.09.01
  Pabst to release recreation of legendary Ballantine IPA, at 7.2% alcohol-by-volume (abv); 70 International Bittering Units (IBU).
  
  Ballantine may bave been "the first India pale ale (IPA) brewed in the United States. It was certainly the first made by the Peter Ballantine & Sons Brewing Company, of Newark, New Jersey, dating back to 1878. It was one of the few breweries to outlast prohibition and continue making IPAs for decades after."
  —Via Gizmodo

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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.