NPR on Big Beer

This story on NPR talks about the dominance of ABInBev and MolsonCoors and ABInBev's attempt to acquire Modelo.

Beer and Civilization

This note in the New York Times claims that beer played a vital role in creating the type of civilization we enjoy today.

Great Beer Quotes

• "Sometimes when I reflect on all the beer I drink I feel ashamed. Then I look into the glass and think about the workers in the brewery and all of their hopes and dreams. If I didn't drink this beer, they might be out of work and their dreams would be shattered. I think, ‘It is better to drink this beer and let their dreams come true than be selfish and worry about my liver.’" - Babe Ruth
• “Beer is living proof that God truly loves us and wants us to be happy.” – Benjamin Franklin
• “He was a wise man who invented beer.” – Plato
• “Ummm, beer!” – Homer Simpson
• “A fine beer may be judged with only one sip, but it's better to be thoroughly sure.” - Czech proverb
• "Whoever drinks beer, he is quick to sleep; whoever sleeps long, does not sin; whoever does not sin, enters Heaven! Thus, let us drink beer!" - Martin Luther
• Beer, if drank in moderation, softens the temper, cheers the spirit, and promotes health." - Thomas Jefferson

For more, please visit:

• http://www.tobp.com/other/beer_quotes.shtml
• http://www.burp.com.au/beer_quotes.htm
• http://www.tastybrew.com/humor/quotes.html
• http://www.alternativereel.com/streams-of-consciousness/Last_Call.php

Some useful links for beer geeks

• BeerAdvocate.com
• RateBeer.com
• Matching beer and food
• Beer Judge Certification Program Style Guidelines
• A guide to pronunciation
  

How It Started

My association with beer has followed a winding road. Like most teenagers I tried beer and did not like it. I drank rarely in high school. In college my taste for beer grew and my consumption exceeded the national per capita average. College was also the only time when I drank “hard liquor” with any frequency. Graduate school left little time or energy for drinking and I returned to the occasion and social beer. Then for many years I was a teetotaler and drank no alcohol. Then I would have an occasional beer at restaurants or with friends.

My interest in craft beer began the second time I attended my current church. We were talking with friends after service and someone mentioned that the church was having a beer tasting the following Saturday night. The friends and my wife and I thought that the event sounded fun and agreed to attend.

The beer tasting consisted of a barbecue chicken and ribs meal, short lectures by two home brewers and the owner of a shop that sells to home brewers, and tastes of a variety of beers. We learned and tasted the differences between ales and lagers and light malt and dark malt. It was fun and I realized that I really like the taste of beer. This experience inspired me to explore what I then recognized as a much wider world of beer. Future posts will describe that exploration in more detail.