Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 20/21, 2015.

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

Weeks 20/21
10 May - 23 May 2015

• 2015.05.22
  How highly taxed is your beer? State by state map.
  —Via Tax Foundation.
  —More analysis, via YFGF.


• 2015.05.20
  Islamic State militants swept into the historic desert city of Palmyra in central Syria. The city is home to some of the world’s most magnificent remnants of antiquity; their survival is at risk.
  —Via New York Times.


• 2015.05.19
  'Craft' beer's pandemic of quality un-control?
  —Via YFGF.


• 2015.05.16
  International beer conglomerate SABMiller buys London's 2nd largest brewery Meantime Brewing (a 'craft' brewery). Why did Meantime agree to this? Lack of financial resources to expand operations.
  —Via Zythophile.




• 2015.05.16
  "Beer that is lush and complex but paradoxically easy and approachable." The new age of 'craft' lagers.
  —Via Jeff Alworth at All About Beer.


• 2015.05.15
  A strengthening El Niño in Pacific offers the potential for drought relief in California this winter.
  —Via Los Angeles Times.


• 2015.05.15
  In Kentucky: a tale of stolen bourbon cases, high dollar heists, $2,259 bottles of Pappy Van Winkle whiskey, and steroids.
  —Via Washington Post.




• 2015.05.15
  Goodbye, Lucille. B.B. King, the Mississippi-born master of the blues, has died, at age 89.
  —Via Washington Post.


• 2015.05.14
  “Mild is such a rare beast that I wanted to give it it’s own moment in the spotlight.” Alistair Reece, creator of American Mild Month, May 2015.
  —Via All About Beer.


• 2015.05.12
  Verizon to buy AOL for 4.4 billion dollars. Deal gives largest U.S. wireless carrier access to digital advertising and content-websites such as Huffington Post.
  —Via Forbes.


• 2015.05.11
  Celebrating American 'craft' beer and its history, 1976 - 2015, during American Craft Beer Week.
  —Via YFGF.


• 2015.05.11
  The International Trappist Association has approved Tre Fontane, in Rome, Italy, as the world's 11th Trappist brewery. There are now six Trappist breweries in Belgium, two in the Netherlands, and one each in Austria, the U.S.A. and now Italy.
  —Via Brookston.


• 2015.05.11
  "The current growth trends in the craft beer market – more brewers, more market share, and more hoppy beers – have led some in the industry to worry about the hop supply in the future. Even with thousands of new acres going in and the now widespread usage of hop contracts by craft brewers, there is a fear that growing demand will outstrip supply, particularly in the markets for niche varieties." By 2020, U.S. brewers will need an additional 24 million pounds of hops (primarily aroma varieties).
  —Via Brewers Association.


• 2015.05.10
  Taxes, not taxonomy: 122 years ago today, the U.S. Supreme Court, in Nix v. Hedden, declared the tomato —which is, by nature, a fruit— to be a vegetable.
  —Via Wikipedia.


• 2015.05.10
  "Stale beer is the brewing industry’s No. 1 technical problem, costing millions of dollars every year. Staling turns beautiful freshly brewed beer into a disappointing soup of blandness punctuated by notes of cardboard, decaying apples, and other unpleasantness."
  —Via Randy Mosher at All About Beer.


• 2015.05.10
  The term "craft beer" was first used in 1984, by Vince Cottone, a beer columnist for the Seattle Post-Intelligencer. The New York Times wouldn't bother with the phrase until 1997, and then only occasionally. The history, and co-opting, of the term.
  —Via Stan Hieronymus at All About Beer.


• 2015.05.10
  “You’re not wanted here!” Americans don't always want 'craft' beer as their neighbor. An upscale Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. blocked a brewpub from opening in its community, while, at the same time, supporting a winery there.
  —Via Washington Post.

-----more-----

• 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.
• YFGF has been remiss: Clamps and Gaskets has fallen several weeks behind the calendar. Until things are set right, there will be a weekly, not bi-weekly, Monday update.


• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.
• For more from YFGF:
  • Follow on Twitter: @Cizauskas.
  • Like on Facebook: YoursForGoodFermentables.
  • Follow on Flickr: Cizauskas.