Beer News

Who has the cheapest beer prices in the world?

An interesting article in The Economist, in honor of Oktoberfest, used data from UBS (the Swiss bank) to compare the cost of a beer around the world.

Before you get all excited and think this is a direct comparison, it isn't. It is a comparison of how many hours a worker earning the median income has to work to buy a half liter of beer.

Beer helps you sleep

If you are like me, life is hectic and sometimes it is hard to sleep. Well, drink a beer. There is more evidence that beer is healthy. I know that is a relief for many of you!

A study  in PLoS ONE (2012) did a study on the effects of non-alcoholic beer in female nurses. They wanted to know how it affected  their sleep. Specifically, they wanted to see if hops helped to regulate sleep better.

It ends up that hops help regulate sleep patterns, especially when taken with valerian (Valeriana officinalis). That is one case where drinking beer with your medicine is a good thing.

Anheuser-Busch to put out limited edition brews this fall

Anheuser-Busch had a competition between all of their brewmasters at their 12 breweries around the country. It was called "Project 12." The original 12 beers were whittled down to six and consumer feedback determined the three finalists. The three winning beers will be put into a special limited-edition sampler pack that will go on sale this fall.

The three finalists were from the Anheuser-Busch breweries in Los Angeles, St. Louis and Williamsburg, Va. The beers will be named after their originating zip codes.

Role playing developer retiring to pursue craft beer show

The Bioware Doctors are retiring from the world of role playing games and moving on into other areas: charity work and beer.

Greg Zeschuk and Ray Muzyka, developers of such games as "Baldur's Gate", "Shattered Steel", "Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic" announced their retirement this week from not only their company, established in 1995, but from the industry altogether. The announcement came on their company blog, where both expressed their appreciation of their customers and their desire to move into other projects.

Illinois hopes to change draconian home brew beer laws

President Obama, who was also a Senator from Illinois, likes beer. He also likes homebrewing.

Why then does Illinois have some of the most backward home brew laws in the country. Not the worst, but among the worst.

It is legal to make your own beer in Illinois, unlike a few other states, but that is where the sanity ends.

Braveheart brews

Are they just a bunch of punks playing around who got lucky or are they marketing geniuses who are really onto something?

At 24 years old in 2007, Martin Dickie and James Watt, of Aberdeen, Scotland, decided mainstream beers were boring and tired, uninteresting and flat. They had no money, no property, and no means, but what they did have was a lot of attitude! And it appears with that, everything else followed suit.

Beer recall

On April 11, 2012 a recall was announced that affects several Mexican imports distributed by Heineken USA. It only affects the brown bottle versions of certain batches of Carta Blanca and Dos Equis Amber in 6 and 12 packs. It also affects the Beers of Mexico and Best of Mexico variety packs. Also affected was Indio in 12 ounce bottles, although that beer is only in available in Texas in the Best of Mexico pack.

The green bottle varieties are not affected by the recall and neither is Carta Blanca 32 ounce bottles.

French craft beers in the U.S.

It can certainly be argued the French know their stuff when it comes to wines; it seems now beer is the next frontier for them in the U.S.

In a press release issued in 2011, The French Craft Brewers said, "the association wishes to promote the know-how of the French craft breweries and to conquer new markets abroad."

Nine French craft breweries united in 2009 with 3 common goals:

Organic beer soon to have organic hops

Organic beer lovers: did you know your organic beer is probably not made with organic hops? That will change as of January 2013, when new legislation filed with the USDA will require any beer using the USDA Organic Logo must use 100 percent organic hops.

“Any remaining product ingredients must consist of non-agricultural substances approved on the National List, including specific non-organically produced agricultural products that are not commercially available in organic form,” according to the United States Department of Agriculture’s (USDA) website.

Tips for enjoying a craft beer festival

So you're going to a craft beer festival for the first time! Well, don't go wearing your two-beer-can hat and stretchy pants, expecting to wander around eating peanuts or jerky and siphoning off first one beer then the other by bendy straws.

There are many craft beer festivals popping up all around the country, and once you've chosen the one you want to attend, there are some procedures you can follow which will give you the best experience possible - so you'll return year after year - and not just for the beer.