The IMPORTANT Playoff Games. No, Not Football. Beer!

Here ya go, sports fans. What you really need to know for this weekend's playoff games. Why yes, I do deserve an award for being so diligent in my coverage of the cure-for-insomnia. Tip o' the mug to John Bolster (who co-authored the piece).

Senator Lew Bryson?

And apropos of absolutely nothing, except that it's funny and I'm all for funny, Lew Bryson is offering his services as next Senator from the state of New York. Knowing Lew (not, frankly, that I know him; I've only met him in passing), he's probably half-serious. And it's not a bad idea. It's as good, at any rate, as what's otherwise on offer in the great state of New York.

Twitter Beer Tasting

If you're one of those "early adopters" and you're into beer, well, this is for you. This Saturday (January 17), my pal Jay Brooks is co-hosting what is possibly the world's first Twitter-based beer tasting. Details here. Be there, or be square.

Yes, A-B WILL Be At the Super Bowl

Ah. Finally. The answer to a question that I've been pondering for months: Would new, leaner, meaner Anheuser-Busch InBev scale back A-B's traditionally, ahem, major presence during the Super Bowl?

The answer, apparently, is no. If you watch the game, you'll see 4.5 minutes of A-B IB advertising. Worth noting, if only because television ads, especially during the Super Bowl, are the main flaw in the main event of what is otherwise a months-long, televised, guaranteed cure for insomnia.

Tip o' the mug to a number of sources, some "free," some not -- but my (free) favorite is Jeremiah McWilliams at Lager Heads.

1982 Handbook of American Brewers [Minor Correction]

Well, here's a surprising and unexpected historical treat: a handbook of American brewers and beers from 1982. It was compiled by Susan Edmunds and Lowell Edmunds. (He's a professor of classics at Rutgers and the author of Martini: Straight Up. ) [Correction to original post: I'm assuming that the Lowell who co-compiled the handbook is the same Lowell who wrote Martini. Martini-Lowell acknowledges Susan Edmunds in one of his other published works. So presumably he's the same person; otherwise, what an odd coincidence. Not great factual evidence, but .....]

I skimmed through it and it's astonishingly complete and accurate. I "tested" that by zipping to the "n" and then "s" (it's in alphabetical order) -- and sure enough, both New Albion and Sierra Nevada are listed. I know nothing about the circumstances under which the handbook was compiled.

But, again, worth a look. Tip o' the mug to the great folks at the Daily Register of the Alcohol and Drugs History Society.

Historical Tidbits: Beer. Beer and Food, 1934-1935

In the spirit of the spate of predictions that 2009 will be the "year of beer and food," I can't resist adding some historical perspective. (*1)

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In a piece written for a brewing trade journal, Julia Norwood noted the a happy "tendency" that had "gained favor since the return of legal beer," namely the "use of this foamy beverage" as an ingredient in cooking. Bottled beer, she explained, added "savoriness" and a "unique and distinctive flavor" to all kinds of dishes. "This 'new deal' in cooking," she reported, had "gained particular favor among some of the leading hotel chefs" in the United States. (*2)

And if not, the Owens-Illinois Glass Company, intended that it would. Norwood was the director of the Modern Science Institute, an Ohio-based marketing firm. The Institute, and Norwood, had been hired by Owens-Illinois to persuade consumers that bottled beer was best?

Why bottled beer? Because American Can Company had recently announced it had developed a metal container suitable for beer. Canned beer would be easier and less expensive to ship than bottles, so O-I needed to persuade consumers to stick with bottles.

Over the next year, O-I sponsored a series of "beer recipe announcements" for use during radio broadcasts. "The publicity given bottled beer through its frequent mention" during the radio segments, Norwood reported to brewers, "will naturally produce beneficial results for the entire brewing industry." (*3)

Many brewers agreed. It made no difference to them whether people bought beer in bottles or cans, just as long as they bought beer. The owners of Griesedieck Brewing in St. Louis hopped on the cooking-with-beer bandwagon inn the summer of 1935, when it ran a series of ads featuring a recipe for German Beer Soup.

Gluek Brewing, located in Minneapolis, joined the effort with newspaper ads that featured beer-based recipes. "My dear madam!," read one ad. "May I present to you Burgomeister's Apple Fritters, a triumph of the old-time art of cooking with beer!" (*4)

Lager fritters. Yum! For a 2009 version of food-and-beer, head over to the food-and-beer page hosted by the Brewers Association.

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*1: For some predictions see: Jay's, as well as those at The Brew Site, and at Hop Talk.

*2: Julia Norwood, "Now It's Beef Steak Cooked With Beer," Brewery Age 2 (March 1934): 64.

*3: "Beer Recipes Requested By Many Radio Stations," Brewery Age 3 (March 1935): 83.

*4: Edwin O. Welde, "Gluek Presents Old-Time Art of Cooking With Beer," Brewery Age 3 (July 1935): 76.