Plastic In Your Beer Watch out - many beers may contain a dose of tiny plastic particles, reveals a new study. Scientists refer to these little fragments as “microplastics,” since they’re less than one-fifth of an inch long. The researchers tested 24 brands of German beer for microplastics, and found that every last bottle was contaminated with the stuff. The contamination most likely happens during the filtration and bottling processes. “Microplastic contamination is everywhere — in the air, in fresh and ocean waters, in the aquatic food chain, in human food,” said Liebezeit. That means we’re likely ingesting the tiny bits of plastic through multiple routes; research has so far detected microplastics in honey, soda, tap water, and some types of seafood. Microplastics, which can linger up to 1,000 years, by some estimates, once they contaminate a body of water. |
NFL Beer Price Gouging Few things go better with football than beer, a point that’s certainly not missed by advertisers. Games on TV are inundated with beer ads, and InBev’s Bud Light has a massive six-year, $1.2 billion deal to be the NFL’s official beer sponsor. In short, the two are practically inseparable. And for a long time, no NFL fans could use a drink more than those rooting for the Detroit Lions, who have had just two winning seasons since the turn of the century. Unfortunately for the Detroit faithful catching the action from within Ford Field, they have also been forced to pay for the league’ s most overpriced beers. The cheapest beer option in Detroit last year was a 16-ounce beverage that cost $8.50. No other NFL team charged more than that $0.53-per-ounce price (though the Dallas Cowboys matched it with their own $8.50 option). What’s more, in Detroit that price represents a staggering 765% markup compared to local grocery store prices, easily the league’s widest pricing margin. Only one other team, the Seattle Seahawks, have marked beer prices up more than seven-fold: Seattle’s $8 beers are a 710% increase over the comparable $0.99 options at local marts. The rest of the top five is filled out by the Oakland Raiders, Chicago Bears and Indianapolis Colts. Last year the cheapest beer in MetLife Stadium, shared by the Jets and Giants, was $8.75 for a 16-ounce drink, or about $0.55 per ounce. Last season a new $5, 12-ounce option offered fans a better value buy, or roughly $0.42 per ounce. That’s still not a great deal, though, after considering local prices. For the Jets and Giants, that $5 beer is a 592% price increase over local Curiously enough, the stadium markups seem to have no relation to fan spending power. The ten stadiums selling the most overpriced beer range from San Francisco and Seattle, with two of the nation’s highest median incomes (both over $60,000), to Buffalo and Detroit, which rank among the lowest (under $30,000).The league’s best deal for beer is in Jacksonville, where the cheapest in- stadium option – $7 for a 16-ounce drink – is merely triple the price, per ounce, offered at local supermarkets. Just behind the Jaguars on the list of (relative) bargain beers are the Carolina Panthers, Miami Dolphins and Denver Broncos. stores, making it the ninth-highest markup on a per-ounce basis among the NFL teams for which data is available. |
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Guinness Goes Blonde When most beer drinkers hear “Guinness,” they think of the dark Irish stout that has long been one of the world’s bestselling beers. But their latest – and boldest – offering is Guiness Blonde . a new lager that will be hitting out across the U.S. in early October. . It is not the first lager the company, now part of giant Diageo, has produced. Guinness’ second most famous label is Harp Lager, Guinness has also released special bottlings over the decades, including Brite Lager, Black Lager and the short lived Guinness Gold Guinness Blonde American Lager, its full name, is not being brewed at the famous St. James Gate facility in Dublin, or even Ireland’s Dundalk Brewery where Harp is made. Instead, it is producing it in Latrobe, Pennsylvania, best known as the birthplace of golf legend Arnold Palmer and the home of Rolling Rock beer. This is the first time that the company’s 125-year old proprietary yeast is making the trip across the Atlantic to become a key ingredient, along with entirely domestic hops f |