HOT TRUB
February 14, 2001
Edited by: Peter LaFrance (peter.lafrence@beerbasics.com)
Presented by: American Brewer
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Vol. 2 No. 7
This news letter will post items of special interest to brewers, members of the
brewing and distilling community, and members of the media that cover the
beverage alcohol business.
Should you wish to contribute in any way to this venture please contact Peter
LaFrance at peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
If you wish to be dropped from this list please respond to this posting to peter.lafrance@beerbasics.com
and include the word remove in the Subject: line.
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On Monday 12 February, Reuters reported that the Tucher brewery of Nuremberg announced that it has invented the first self-cooling beer keg. According to an article in Bild magazine, the brewery says that the reusable, double-jacketed five gallon keg uses water vapor and a cooling agent, can chill beer to a frosty eight degrees Celsius within 30 minutes and keep the beer cold for up to eight hours, no matter how hot it gets.
At $35 a keg it is more expensive than conventional barrels, but as the Tucher website says: "Finally you can always have beautiful, cool brews on hand!"
From the Melbourne, Australia office, Reuters reported on Monday that despite the sale of its Molson interests, Australia's largest brewer Foster's Brewing Group Ltd posted a higher than expected first-half net profit as its big investment in Beringer Wine Estates started to pay off.
Is this a case,
pun intended, of turning beer into wine?
According to the Reuters report, “Foster's sales climbed 21.6 percent to A$2.04 billion in the first half, buoyed by its US$1.6 billion acquisition of U.S.-based Beringer and international sales of beer and wine.”
Wine now accounts for about 60 percent of Foster's assets and is the group's key growth driver, although the lower growth beer unit is still delivering the majority of earnings.
Associated Press recently reported that the University of Iowa marching band could again celebrate Hawkeye basketball victories by singing the polka song ``In heaven there is no beer.''
Tom Aunan, an Iowa City parent and teacher, questioned the appropriateness of the song, given the university and city's efforts to stem underage and binge drinking.
But athletic director Bob Bowlsby called it ``a real stretch'' to link the song to binge drinking. ``This song is simply a standard polka which Hawkeye fans enjoy participating in after Iowa victories,'' Kastens' e-mail said.
Aunan declined to comment.
The beer song has been performed for about 20 years after victories by the Hawkeyes' football and basketball teams.
Band member Jason Peterson said the temporary ban probably made the song even more popular.
``It probably brought more attention to the tradition,'' he said. ``Students and supporters will probably sing even louder now.''
FROM THE ARCHIVES:
GUESS WHO WAS DRINKING COORS IN NYC IN 1960….
SOURCE: “Weegee’s New York – (photographs from 1935-1960)” –
ISBN# 3-8238-5471-2
Plate 303