Month: September 2014

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Beer Won’t Make You Smarter, but a Compound Found in Hops Might

beer_hops

The last thing hedonists participating in Oktoberfest this week need to hear is that beer can make you smarter. While that’s not true—as far as we know—new research suggests that a certain compound found in one of the main ingredients of beer can actually improve cognitive function.

 

Researchers at Oregon State University discovered that doses of xanthohumol, a flavonoid found in hops, improved memory and thinking in a lucky group of mice. Flavonoids are a class of compounds present in plants, known to have numerous health benefits. Last year, researchers discovered that a flavonoid found in celery and artichokes could potentially fight pancreatic cancer.

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Beer Reviews by Maria Devan: Hofbrau Dunkel

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

pgaprofilehbdunkPours a fiery copper orange. This beer is aglow with light and with radiance. A fat tan head of foam fell well and left a ring and some spots of lace to look at. Inside the glass it is as serene as a perfect pane of colored glass.

The nose is bready. Dark crusty bread that is lightly toasted. There is a baked grain sweetness on this plus a sweetness from caramel. No fruity esters, no hops, wonderfully clean.

Taste is tantalizing and smooth. All that malt but no heaviness. The body is thin and the lighter side of medium,. The malt is crisp. A brief hint of chocolate comes out as it warms but remains largely and delightfully unfullfilled. It envelops the palate just as it’s light sweetness comes up to rescue you. The finish on this one is malty, breaddy and dry with a light touch of bitterness from subtle hops. Perfect.

4.5

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Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

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__________________________________________________Beer HERE

meMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

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Gose Gone Wild: Anderson Valley, Bayrischer Bahnhof, Choc, and Westbrook

Written by Franz Hofer for Tempest in a Tankard

The Tasting Sessions

Anderson-Valley-Gose-https-avbc-comI tasted the following beers this past spring and summer under different circumstances each time. The 750mL bottles of 2012 and 2013 Choc Signature Series Gose (Oklahoma), along with the 330mL bottle of Bayrischer Bahnhof Gose (Leipzig) were tasted blind and in the company of an ever-reliable drinking compadre. I sampled the 12oz cans of Westbrook’s Gose (South Carolina) and Anderson Valley’s curiously named “The Kimmie, the Yink, and the Holy Gose Ale” (California) in a non-blind session.

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Medieval Belgian Town Installing A Beer Pipeline Because — Wait, A Beer Pipeline?!

(Neilhooting)

Colin “My Waggling Eyebrows Are Hypnotizing” Farrell’s character was so wrong to be cranky about being stuck in Bruges in the movie In Bruges (pronounced “Brooooszh” in my head) — that city is about to be the first in Belgium to install its very own beer pipeline. I repeat: A beer pipeline.

Alas, all of our hopes of a beer sink in every home in Bruges are for naught, my friends — the medieval town in Belgium did approve the construction of a beer pipeline under the city, but only to link its 500-year-old De Halve Maan brewery to a bottling factory nearby that will send its liquid wares out to the far corners of the Earth, reports the AFP.

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Beer Profile: Ithaca Nut Brown

Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

pgaprofileithbrown Pours a lovely mahogany with a ruby hue. A fat creamy head of tan foam that fell fast but I tasted some and it was darn creamy. Clear and beautiful beer.

Nose is roast, toast a bit of fruit and a bit of coffee. A hint of nuttiness and toffee that comes forward as the beer warms. Taste is mild, roast with an almost burnt edge to it and a slight bitterness. Toast that is bread-y but the bready-ness does not become heavy.

Smooth coffee flavor and a hoppy bitterness on the tongue but it has no real flavor if you know what I mean.. Light nutty flavor at first that turns to toffee and nuts as it warms. Easy drinking good character. There is an overall fruity backnote to this beer that I found lovely. Finishes with a malty sweetness to bring it home and a bit of slickness from the medium mouthfeel.

Best I have had of this beer in quite a while. Good job Ithaca.

4.

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Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

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_____________________________________Beer HERE

meMaria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

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Starbucks tries offering beer-flavored Dark Barrel Latte

Starbucks

As it kicks off pumpkin spice season, Starbucks is also trying out a beer-flavored coffee drink, the Dark Barrel Latte.

The nonalcoholic beverage includes a chocolaty, stout-flavored sauce, whipped cream and dark caramel drizzle, and it’s being tested in some locations in Ohio and Florida, a Starbucks spokeswoman told the Los Angeles Times.

People who have tried the drink seem to agree that it tastes like beer, but there’s no consensus on whether it’s good. People said on Twitter that it tastes “like drinking a Guinness in the early morning… So yuck,” “like a beer but with espresso #notbad,” like “this icky mix of molasses and almost beer taste” or “just like beer & I might be in love.”

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