| Cold Beer in Seconds A young New Zealand inventor has found a solution to the unpalatable problem of a can of warm beer - a device that turns a tepid beverage into a cold drink within seconds. And the portable gadget, which has a cooling capacity almost four times that of regular ice with the advantage that it doesn't water down your drink, could spell the end of lugging a heavy chilly bin to the beach. Kent Hodgson, a 22-year-old student calls his invention Huski. "You have plastic cooling cells which are pressed down into a device which houses the liquid carbon dioxide. The liquid CO2 expands and is pressurised into dry ice in the base of the cooling cells." With a surface temperature of minus 78.5C, dry ice has a cooling capacity almost four times that of the same amount of regular ice. "The cooling power is almost instant and is utilised for several minutes and it doesn't dilute the drink like ice would," said Mr Hodgson. One straw line canister can fill thirty 330 ml bottles at a cost of 7c each. Mr Hodgson said he was looking at patenting the Huski, which he expects to retail at around $50. Bud Touts Quality Anheuser-Busch noting the growing premium/boutique beer market share, is taking a new tack in its 2008 marketing. It will emphasize the quality of ingredients and brewing techniques in its core brands, Budweiser and Michelob. The strategy is an attempt to give them some of the cachet that has pushed sales of imports; the company will drop about $30 million on this campaign. BUD is reacting to two challenges: declining/flat sales and the competition of Miller/Coors. |
| Only $55 per beer bottle Tap, a New York City "gastropub," offers a bottle of brewski for those with champagne tastes.In fact, the dark, elegantly curved bottle of Deus Brut des Flandres for sale at Tap could easily be mistaken for a French champagne, from the satisfying pop of its cork to the bright hiss of its bubbles. After being brewed in Belgium, this beer is sent to France where it is bottled and, like true champagne, undergoes a second fermentation in the bottle. It spends weeks in racks, where skilled "riddlers" rotate the bottles daily to ease sediment into the necks, where it can be frozen and disgorged. It looks like champagne, it pours like champagne, and you might even deduce it was champagne were it not for that telltale beery bitterness on the finish. If $55 is a little too rich for your blood alcohol level, the Brick Store Pub in Decatur sells Deus for $36 a bottle, or $9 for one elegant flute."I love turning wine people on to great beer," Brick Store co-owner Mike Gallagher said. He claims to sell a few cases a month of Deus, mostly to "adventuresome people or wine lovers we think will be intrigued." The Brick Store Pub sells several others, including the Landtsheer Malheur Brut Reserve (also $36 a bottle) that has a longer and decidedly beerier finish. This beer also comes in a dark version, Malheur Brut Noir ($36), that Gallagher said "is really wicked in that it's elegant and huge all at the same time." So is that the top of the beer list? Not by a long shot. The pub offers on its reserve list a 4.5-liter bottle (called a "Rehoboam") of St. Feuillien Tripel for $200. |
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| Beer and a Workout- Perfect Together When you reach for an ice cold mug of suds after playing a game of football, cricket or a long run, you're not just quenching your thirst, you're actually doing something healthy for your body -- seriously! Researchers in Europe have carried out a study and found that a glass of beer is far better at re-hydrating the body after exercise than water as the sugars and salts in a pint help people absorb fluids more quickly. "The carbon dioxide in beer helps quench the thirst more quickly, while beer's carbohydrates replace calories lost during physical exertion," said lead researcher Prof Manuel Garzon at the Granada University in Spain. The research team came to the conclusion after examining 25 students who were told to do strenuous exercise in temperatures of around 40C until they were close to getting exhausted. Half of the students were given a pint of beer to drink, while the others received the same volume of water after the workout. Subsequently, the team measured their hydration levels, motor skills and concentrationability. Prof Garzon said the re-hydration effect in the students who were given beer was "significantly better" than among those given only water. Based on the studies, the researchers have recommended moderate consumption of beer -- 500 ml a day for men or 250 ml for women -- as part of an athlete's diet. It should also be noted that past studies have revealed that sensible drinking of one or two units of beer a day could help reduce the risk of heart disease, dementia, diabetes and Parkinson's disease. Myth Busted "Beer before liquor, never sicker - liquor before beer, never fear." This ageless adage has been echoed from coast to coast on college campuses. "In reality, there is no evidence that drinking vodka, gin, tequila, whiskey, rum or other distilled spirits after beer has any negative effects. In short, it's just another alcohol drinking myth. Of course, drinking too much alcohol in any form is a bad idea and can lead to problems. What matters is how much alcohol is consumed, not what form or in what order," said David J. Hanson, Ph.D. |
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