Author: Professor Good Ales

Dear Brewers,

Alabama homebrewers need your help. Currently, there is a bill before the Alabama House of Representatives
which would finally remove a Prohibition-era restriction and legalize homebrewing in the state of Alabama. This bill was written by, and is being championed by the grass-roots effort of Alabama homebrewers and homebrew clubs. We have no paid lobbyist.

We have made remarkable progress this legislative session: Senate Bill 153, sponsored by Senator Larry Dixon, passed the Senate last month and has been sent to the House. The House Committee on Travel and Tourism held a public hearing of our bill earlier this month and those of us who attended felt the bill was received very favorably.

We’re hearing some rumblings from Montgomery, however, that some of the large wholesalers in the state are not fully behind our effort and that a few may even oppose it. This, of course surprised us, as it makes no sense from a business point of view. We feel they may just not understand the relationship between homebrewers and craft brewers and beer culture in general.

We are asking that you contact the distributors and wholesalers in the state of Alabama that handle your brands and help us educate them on the importance of homebrewers to a healthy craft-beer culture. Emphasize to them that legalized homebrewing in Alabama can only help their bottom line and would not threaten their sales or customers in any way. Politely urge them and their representatives in Montgomery to support SB153.

Please support the homebrewers who support you.

Stott Noble
Homebrewer
Vestavia Hills, AL

Home Brewing May Become Legal in Alabama

Written by Patrick Dever for the Auburn Plainsman
Continue reading “Home Brewing May Become Legal in Alabama”

Brian H. Gill for Catholic Citizen America

The image of Jesus Christ, holding a beer can and a cigarette, reminds me of the weird but (I trust) well-intentioned efforts in the sixties to make Christianity like, you know, relevant.

It’s not. The image is in a handwriting workbook published in India.

The company that made and distributed that book made a really, really big mistake. India is one of those countries where deliberately offending someone’s religious sentiments is illegal.

Which may or may not be a good idea.

Anyway, here’s an excerpt from the news:

“Christians in India’s northeast are outraged after a picture showing Jesus Christ holding a beer can and a cigarette was discovered in primary school textbooks.

“The image appeared in a handwriting book for children in church-run schools in the Christian-majority state of Meghalaya, where it was used to illustrate the letter ‘I’ for the word ‘Idol’….

“…Police said they were hunting for the owner of the New Delhi-based publisher, Skyline Publications, who faces charges of offending religious sentiment, local police superintendent A.R. Mawthoh told AFP.

“The Roman Catholic Church in India has banned all textbooks by Skyline, while Protestant leaders called for a public apology.

“The state government also denounced the publication.

” ‘We strongly condemn such a blasphemous act. Legal action has been initiated against the publisher,’ M. Ampareen Lyngdoh, an education minister in the Meghalaya government, said….”

(myFOX New York) [emphasis mine]

The rest can be found HERE. Do be aware, while part of the article is about beer, it is written from a Catholic perspective and also deals with Catholic topics as well as beer.

Every state has weird alcohol and beer laws, a lot of them pushed and supported by big brewers and other large alcohol concerns as a way to get the government on their side: squashing the little guy. In some states 22oz bottles aren’t allowed. Other states a brewpub must be in a historic building: often in a poorly kept downtown with horrible parking/access. Beer styles are limited because only lower abv beer is allowed: despite the fact that hard liquor is readily available. In Florida you can’t sell and fill growlers. The object of a growler is get it filled and take it home: cutting down on drinking and driving; something you would think a state would like to promote.

The following letter is all too real. It is part of a campaign to allow growlers in Florida. We can only hope that change really is coming.

“To the Honorable Mike Horner:”

“Thank you for your consideration of sponsoring a companion bill to Senate Bill 2062. I am a retired police officer and small business owner. Your support of this legislation, including allowing my brewpub to sell for off-premise consumption is crucial to helping my business survive the ongoing economic down turn, and continuing to support my family and community.”

Continue reading “How Beer Laws and Legislation Effect Real People”

From etiquettesystems.com

“Without question, the greatest invention in the history of mankind is beer. Oh, I grant you that the wheel was also a fine invention, but the wheel does not go nearly as well with pizza.” –Dave Barry

If there’s one universal constant in human society, it has to be alcohol. Rare indeed is the culture that hasn’t worked out the tricksy process of fermenting and/or distilling some type of vegetable matter — be it malted barley, potatoes, honey or grape juice — into a brew containing a significant percentage, as the dictionary puts it, of an “organic compound in which a hydroxyl group is bound to a carbon atom of an alkyl or substituted alkyl group.” In other words, booze.

Among the mildest and most variable of these alcoholic beverages is that fine elixir known as beer. A true beer connoisseur would never pass up an opportunity to try the local brew, no matter where on Earth where they found themselves, and so it behooves the serious beerologist to know how to order a beer in as many languages as possible. That’s why we’ve taken it upon ourselves to provide you with a handy guide on how to order a beer in 50 different languages. Where the pronunciation isn’t obvious, or in which the term is normally written in non-Roman characters, we’ve rendered it phonetically. Cheers!

One beer, please!

Afrikaans… A beer, ah-suh-bleef!
American… Brewski here, please!
Arabic… Waheed beera, meen fadleek!
Basque… Garagardo bat, mesedez!
Belarusian… Ad-no pee-vah ka-lee lah-ska!
Continue reading “How to Order a Beer in Fifty Languages”

Beer hall at Cannstatter-volksfest: festival on the Neckar in the part of Stuttgart known as Bad Cannstatt.

Belgian Cafe quaffers, concerned about InBev, cry, “STELLA!!!”

By John W. Miller, for online.wsj.com

Source: AHA Forum

Anheuser-Busch InBev NV workers protesting job cuts on the picket lines last month had mixed feelings about their employer, the world’s biggest brewer. “We’re proud,” said 46-year-old Laurent Sacré. “Proud, and also disgusted.” Beer is a religion in Belgium, and like Catholics toward their church, feelings here toward the brewing giant combine a mixture of a love, fear and doubt. Contrary to some reports, Belgium didn’t run out of Stella, a light lager that is the company’s most popular brew in Europe, but many bars and drinkers decided they didn’t want any more. “There was a psychological reaction against InBev,” says Jean-Marie Dewandeleer, president of the association of Belgian café owners. “The Belgian beer community is outraged by the idea that even though you’re making profits, you want to lay people off,” said Joris Pattyn, author of “100 Belgian Beers To Try Before You Die. There is a bright side, he adds. “This is an opportunity for small brewers.”

Prof. GA: There is more to this article, but you need to subscribe. They do offer free two weeks access. If interested CLICK HERE.

Written by Casey Phillips for Chattanooga Times

Pictures by Ken Carman from 2009 Fugetaboutit 2009

(Tony was part of a previous article last December here at Professor Good Ales- Prof. GA)

After one look in the garage of his Signal Mountain home, it’s clear Tony Giannasi has a bit of a thing for brewing beer.

Even if the six-tap system built into his refrigerator and a freezer stuffed with different kinds of hops didn’t raise a red flag, the massive custom-built brewery taking up half a wall might.

“I’m a big beer nerd,” Mr. Giannasi said, laughing. “When you see my garage, it’s like, ‘Oh my goodness, you have a problem, sir.’ ”

Continue reading “Mr. Tony”

From Potsdam College: part of SUNY and home to many frats and sororities.  No drinking going on there! (Also home to one of the greatest pizzas ever: Sergis. A pizza NO ONE ever orders under the influence. Do you hear that SUNY and Clarkson? NO ONE.)

Myth

A “beer belly” is caused by drinking beer.

Fact

A “beer belly” is caused by eating too much food. No beer or other alcohol beverage is necessary.

Myth

Switching between beer, wine and spirits will lead to intoxication more quickly than sticking to one type of alcohol beverage.

Fact

The level of blood alcohol content (BAC) is what determines sobriety or intoxication. 4 Remember that a standard drink of beer, wine, or spirits contain equivalent amounts of alcohol. Alcohol is alcohol and a drink is a drink.

Myth

Drinking coffee will help a drunk person sober up.

Fact

Only time can sober up a person…not black coffee, cold showers, exercise, or any other common “cures.” Alcohol leaves the body of virtually everyone at a constant rate of about .015 percent of blood alcohol content (BAC) per hour. Thus, a person with a BAC of .015 would be completely sober in an hour while a person with a BAC of ten times that (.15) would require 10 hours to become completely sober. This is true regardless of sex, age, weight, and similar factors.

Myth

The US has very lenient underage drinking laws.

Fact

The US has the most strict youth drinking laws in the Western world, including the highest minimum drinking age in the entire world. 17 And this is buttressed by a public policy of Zero Tolerance.

Myth

Alcohol is the cause of alcoholism.

Fact

As a governmental alcohol agency has explained, “Alcohol no more causes alcoholism than sugar causes diabetes.” The agency points out that if alcohol caused alcoholism then all drinkers would be alcoholics.  In fact, a belief common among members of Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is that people are born alcoholic and are not caused to be alcoholic by alcohol or anything in their experience. They argue that many people are born and die alcoholic without ever having had a sip of alcohol. Of course, a person can’t be a drinking or practicing alcoholic without alcohol.

SOURCE

The latest update on the homebrew bill in Alabama…

We are hoping that the Senate Rules Committee will schedule SB 153 for a vote tomorrow (Tuesday). We urge Alabama residents to contact the members of the Rules committee and politely ask that SB 153 be scheduled for a Senate vote. Alabama residents should also contact the Senator for their district to encourage them to vote for SB 153 when it comes up for a vote.

More details can be found in the action alert we sent earlier

Cheers!
Gary

Gary Glass
Director
American Homebrewers Association