Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 11/12, 2016.

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

Weeks 11/12
13 March - 27 March 2016

• 27 March 2016
  Death toll in Pakistan Easter suicide attack climbs past 70. Taliban Muslim terrorists targeted Christian families at picnic.
  —Via Washington Post.



• 27 March 2016
  

  It's one of those beers that is the remarkable result of skill and luck, and one of the joys of life that is ours for the tasting. And it's not really that much of a stretch to suppose that joy, whatever measure, can serve as a refutation of evil beyond belief loose in the world. Considering the provenance of Orval, we'll take it that the fruits of simple labor, produced in an atmosphere of prayer and tranquility, will prevail in the end.

  —Via Tom Bedell at Tap Beer of the Week, writing on Orval Day, a commercial celebration of Orval, a beer brewed in Belgium by Trappist monks.


• 24 March 2016
  Saving Heurich's Lager. How a homebrewer, a Washington, D.C. brewery, and a museum are resurrecting a long-lost beer.
  —Via YFGF.


• 23 March 2016
  Twitter — online 'social-networking' that enables users to send and read short 140-character messages called "tweets"— is ten years old; 'craft' beer has been using the service for eight years.
  —Via Tom Acitelli, at All About Beer.


• 23 March 2016
  Oregon's Deschutes Brewing, the 8th largest U.S. 'craft' brewery, to open a 2nd production facility, in 2019, in Roanoke, Virginia.
  —Via All About Beer.


• 22 March 2016
  A new peer-reviewed study by renowned climatologist James Hansen warns that the effects of global warming may be sooner and more catastrophic than generally envisioned.

  Major melting of Greenland and Antarctica can not only happen quite fast — leading to as much as several meters of sea level rise in the space of a century, depending on how quickly melt rates double — but that this melting will have dramatic climate change consequences, beyond merely raising sea levels.

  —Via Washington Post.


• 22 March 2016
  More than 30 people murdered, more than 200 wounded after ISIS terrorists set off bombs in Brussels, Belgium.
  —Via NPR.


• 22 March 2016
  A soupçon of good news amid disgusting horror: brewers from award-winning Allagash Brewing of Maine, who were visiting Belgium, were safe although in Brussels during the bomb blasts.
  —Via Bangor Daily News.


• 22 March 2016
  The [U.S.] Brewers Association has released its preliminary data on 'craf' beer's performance in 2015. As an industry, it has reached 12% of the overall beer industry, by volume of beer sold.

  In 2015, craft brewers produced 24.5 million barrels, and saw a 13 percent rise in volume3 and a 16 percent increase in retail dollar value. Retail dollar value was estimated at $22.3 billion, representing 21 percent market share.

  —Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.




• 21 March 2016
  President Obama becomes first U.S. President to visit Cuba since Calvin Coolidge, in 1928; practices 'beer diplomacy.'

  in Havana, Cuba, President Obama will participate in a meeting between U.S. business leaders — part of the massive presence of Americans here this week — and Cuban entrepreneurs who are part of the private sector the administration hopes to aid with a loosening of the continuing U.S. trade embargo. The meeting will be held at a cavernous beer brewery along the waterfront of Havana Bay.

  —Via Washington Post.




• 17 March 2016
  A 35-year old 'craft' beer milestone: Sierra Nevada Pale Ale —putatively the paradigm for the American Pale Ale style— was first first brewed in March 1981.
  —Via Tom Acitelli, at All About Beer.


• 16 March 2016
  The Federal Drug Administration (FDA) pushes forward the date that chain restaurants must post calorie information for beer, etc., from December 2016 into 2017.

  What this bill means for small brewers is that a beer from a local brewer that was available in one or a few of a chain’s stores would be exempt from the requirement. Of course, the restaurant group would have the option of labeling the calories on menus and menu boards if they choose to and could ask brewers for that info. The USDA Nutrient Database can be the reference that brewers can point to in that circumstance, which should allow brewers to not have to test every single beer at high cost.

  —Via [U.S.] Brewers Association.


• 16 March 2016
  Hydrocarbons, thiols, linalool, geraniol, and tom-cat urine: the chemistry of hop aroma. Via @CraftBeerBrew:
  —Via Craft Beer & Brewing.




• 16 March 2016
  How high are beer taxes in your state?
  —Map via Tax Foundation.


• 15 March 2016
  Malcolm Gladwell, and why beer geeks often choose hyped beers over "milder, more drinkable, more balanced" beers. Via
  —Via Draft Magazine.


• 14 March 2016
  Half Moon Bay Brewing Company, of San Francisco, California, brews a beer with the wastewater from showers, sinks, and clothes-washing.
  —Via The Guardian.


• 13 March 2016
  The German beer 'purity' law, the Reinheitsgebot is five-hundred years old, this year.

  On April 23, 1516, the Duke of Bavaria, Wilhelm IV, issued what would only much later come to be called the Reinheitsgebot, or the “purity law.” Originally, though, that element was downplayed—it’s just the third stipulation: “in all our towns, marketplaces and the whole of the countryside, that beer shall have no other ingredients than barley, hops, and water be used and employed.” When you read the full document, running about 320 words in translation, these 27 don’t appear to be the main point. The first two stipulations regulated prices, capping what a publican could charge, particularly during different seasons. There was also a fourth provision, again about pricing, and a comment at the end where Duke Wilhelm reserved the right to change anything in the law during grain shortages.

  —Via Jeff Alworth, at All About Beer.


• 14 March 2016
  

  Cigar City, a leading independent brewery based in Tampa, Fla., has agreed to sell controlling interest to Boston-based private equity firm Fireman Capital Partners, which already owns majority stakes in Oskar Blues, Perrin Brewing and the Utah Brewers Cooperative outfit that includes the Wasatch and Squatters brands. Together, the five craft breweries make up what the firm calls United Craft Brews LLC., a separate holding company and special purpose fund set up specifically for craft brewery acquisitions.

  —Via Brewbound.


• 14 March 2016
  Total U.S. beer sales showed no growth in 2015, holding at around 2.9 billion case equivalents, but 'craft' beer up 15%, and its market share up from 10% to 11.5%. Imports up 6.2%; market share increases from 14.2% to 15.1%. 'Macro' down 3.1%, from 75.8% to 73.4% share of the market.
  —Via National Beer Wholesalers Association.


• 13 March 2016
  Chico yeast —the ubiquitous American 'craft' ale yeast strain—

  is believed to be derived from P. Ballantine & Sons' proprietary house yeast. Ballantine XXX, is as many of you know, one the the great, long lasting, nationally distributed American ales, and its maker, P. Ballantine & Sons in Newark, New Jersey was one largest breweries in the United States, an ale-focused brewery, even in the post-repeal era, when lager dominated

  But what is that yeast's provenance? Four speculations—
  —Via beer writer Craig Gravina, at Drink, Drank.

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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.
• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.


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