Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 6/7, 2015.

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

Weeks 6/7, 2015
1 February, 2015 - 14 February, 2015

• 14 February 2015
  One of history's most iconic photos has turned 25 years old. On Feb. 14, 1990, NASA's Voyager 1 spacecraft took a family portrait of the solar system, capturing Neptune, Uranus, Saturn, Jupiter, Venus and Earth — which showed up as a "pale blue dot" — in a single view.
  —Via Space.com.


• 12 February 2015
  "From beautiful, downtown Burbank." Gary Owens, radio and 'Laugh-In' announcer, dies at 80.
  —Via LA Times.




• 9 February 2015
  Austrian beverage behemoth files a trademark complaint with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office against a small start-up Ashburn, Virginia, 'craft' brewery, Old Ox Brewery, for perceived consumer confusion over the name and logo of its energy drink versus the brewery's logo.
  —Via YFGF.


• 9 February 2015
  Alabama Chief Justice defies Federal court order; urges state's probate judges to refuse to license same-sex marriages.
  —Via Washington Post.


• 9 February 2015
  Fair BEER Act excise tax relief legislation introduced in the House of Representatives. Brewers Association opposes the bill.
  —Via Craft Brewing Business.


• 8 February 2015
  Former North Carolina college coaching great Dean Smith dies at 83.
  —Via CBS News.


• 8 February 2015
  Anheuser-Busch interested in buying Tampa, Florida's Cigar City Brewing.
  —Via Tampa Tribune.


• 8 February 2015
  "The current exuberance surrounding craft beer is creating a bubble of expansion that will pop and leave behind losers to be picked up on the cheap," according to Rich Doyle, co-founder of Harpoon Brewery, no longer an owner. Others disagree.
  —Via New York Times.




• 4 February 2015
  “The Internet must be fast, fair and open. That is the principle that has enabled the Internet to become an unprecedented platform for innovation and human expression." FCC (Federal Communications Commission) Chairman Tom Wheeler writes opinion piece supporting so-called net neutrality, urges fellow commissioners to vote in favor.
  —Via Wired.


• 4 February 2015
  A short history of the 12-Pack.
  —Via Brookston Beer Bulletin.


• 3 February 2015
  Too much rain in autumn 2014 caused millions of dollars in damage to barley crops in Idaho and Montana. This and a poor harvest in Canada is creating a shortage in the supply of brewing barley.
  —Via USA Today.




• 5 February 2015
  "Great beer equals good jobs." U.S. Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland) ans Susan Collins (R-Maine) made the case, on the Senate floor, for S. 375, the Small BREW Act (Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act). The bill would reduce the excise tax on breweries producing fewer than six million barrels. Twenty-five Senators sign on in support.
  —Via YFGF.


• 4 February 2015
  Where are hops are grown in the United States; where they are beginning to be grown; the 'greenness' of hops relative to other crops.
  —Via Mother Jones.


• 3 February 2015
  The Board of Supervisors of Loudoun County (a far-western suburb of Washington, D.C.) votes to come into compliance with state law and allow the existence of 'farm-breweries.' Six breweries apply for licenses.
  —Via Loudoun Times.




• 3 February 2015
  Sales of distilled spirits in the United States by industry suppliers rose 4 percent to $23.1 billion in 2014, driven by strong growth in whiskey and bourbon. Show a slight increase in market share versus beer for the fifth straight year.
  —Via Reuters.


• 1 February 2015
  Anheuser-Busch commercial mocking 'craft' beer airs during Super Bowl. Praises "Macro beer brewed the hard way."
  —Video via YouTube.
  —Negative reaction from Dick Cantwell, co-founder of Elysian Brewing, recently purchased by Anheuser-Busch. Via Salina Journal.
  —Negative reaction from past advertising executive. Via Hey, Beer Dan.
  


• 1 February 2015
  Leesburg, Virginia brewpub, The Beer Joint, files for Chapter 7 bankruptcy. Closes.
  —Via Washington Business Journal.

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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.