Posts tagged ‘beer’
Party Cup Ridges are Measurement Markings
By Chad Upton | Editor
Now that college is back in session, it’s time to learn something really useful. Party cups aren’t just for playing beer pong and flippy cups; some people use them exclusively for serving drinks. They’re great for cash bars and beer pong for the same reason: the ridges can be used to measure servings.
Starting at the top, the lines are as follows:
- First Line: 16 oz / Pint (beer)
- Second Line: 14 ounces (mixed drink fill line)
- Third Line: 5 ounces (wine / ice fill line for soda / beer pong fill line)
- Fourth Line: 1 ounce (liquor)
Most of these measurements are pretty common serving sizes for various types of alcohol. For example, 1 oz of 100 proof liquor has about the same alcohol as 5 oz of wine and each are considered “1 drink”. For beer, 10 – 12 ounces is considered 1 drink, but a pint is a typical serving size no less. (more…)
There is a Beer Pipeline
By Chad Upton | Editor
Although aqueducts were used as far back as the 7th century BC, the first known “pipeline” was built in 1595 to carry salt water. At 40 km (25 miles) in length, it was made from 13,000 hollowed tree trunks.
Today, some of our most valuable resources are carried by pipeline: water, oil, natural gas, and even beer. Yes, there is a beer pipeline. Actually, there are at least two beer pipelines. (more…)
Guinness Beer Has Fewer Calories Than Skimmed Milk
Chad Upton | Editor
As much as I like to write about and consume coffee, beer is actually a more popular drink. Worldwide, Beer is the third most consumed beverage after water and tea.
It shouldn’t be too surprising, beer is the oldest known form of alcohol, thought to be over 10,000 years old. Trappist monks, and other religious people, originally brewed beer to help feed the community. Some dark beer, such as Guinness brand, is sometimes referred to as a “meal in glass.”
Although Guinness is dark, it’s pretty light on calories. A pint of Guinness only has 198 calories, less than skimmed milk, orange juice and most other non-light beers.
Thanks to Gord for submitting this one.
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Image: Daniele Faieta (cc)
Sources: wikipedia (beer, guinness, trappist beer)
Craft Breweries Cannot Brew More Than 6 Million Barrels Annually
By Kaye Nemec
Major breweries, like Anheuser-Busch, produce over 24 million barrels of beer annually. They are well known around the world and have a major hold on the market. Smaller, much less popular beers are brewed around the world but, to be officially classified as a microbrew or a craft beer they must fall within certain criteria.
The U.S. Brewers Association defines a microbrewery as a brewery that produces no more than 15,000 barrels of beer annually with 75 percent of that volume being sold off-site.
A craft brewery is defined by the U.S. Brewers Association as a brewery that produces no more than 6 million barrels of beer annually. A craft brewery’s best-selling product is an all malt beer or at least half of its total volume is all-malt beer or beer that uses adjuncts instead of lightening the flavor. It also allows up to 25 percent of the company to be owned by an alcoholic beverage company that is not considered a craft brewer.
A Regional Brewery is defined by the Brewers Associate as a brewery with an annual beer production of 15,000 to 6 million barrels.
A Large Brewery is defined by the Brewers Association as a brewery with an annual beer production of over 6 million barrels.
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Photo: BURИBLUE (cc)
Sources: Medill Reports Chicago, Craft Beer.com, Brewers Association
Alcohol Does Not Completely Burn Off in Cooking
By Chad Upton
Whether you marinade steaks in beer or use Vanilla extract in your baking, you’re probably left with more alcohol in your food than you realize.
That’s not necessarily a bad thing, it can infuse wonderful flavors. And yes, Vanilla extract has alcohol in it. Actually, it’s mandated by law in the US.
In many cultures, alcohol and food go hand in hand. Fancy wine bars pair meals or selected cheese and chocolate with wine.
Before modern cough medicines, Doctors prescribed a tablespoon of brandy to calm children’s coughs. Even some existing cough medicines, such as NyQuil, contain alcohol (except the childrens remedy). Monks have been known to brew and drink beer since the middle ages.
The USDA’s Nutrition Data Lab used gas-liquid chromatography to determine how much alcohol remained in food after various cooking scenarios.
| Cooking Method | Alcohol Remaining |
| Flambé | 75% |
| Left Overnight (no heat) | 70% |
| baked 25 mins (alcohol not stirred in) | 45% |
| baked 15 mins (alcohol stirred in) | 40% |
| baked 30 mins (alcohol stirred in) | 35% |
| baked 60 mins (alcohol stirred in) | 25% |
| baked 90 mins (alcohol stirred in) | 20% |
| baked 120 mins (alcohol stirred in) | 10% |
| baked 150 mins (alcohol stirred in) | 5% |
Even after 2.5 hours, 5% of the alcohol remains. I don’t think it’s anything to be too alarmed about. Grandma’s have been serving cookies laced with Vanilla extract to children for many years and most of us turned out just fine. That said, it’s still pretty surprising.
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Sources: Wikipedia, O Chef , Trappist Beer, NyQuil
Photo: 5volt (cc)
Altitude Does Not Increase the Effect of Alcohol
By Chad Upton | Editor
Whether you’re in a plane, at the top of a ski hill or reading this in the mile high city, your body will metabolize alcohol exactly the same in all cases.
It is a common myth that you get drunk at high altitude much faster than at lower altitudes. In fact, I set out to research why this is the case, only to find out it’s not the truth.
As you can probably imagine, they didn’t have any trouble finding volunteers to help them get to the bottom of this — it has been studied and studied and studied and studied (PDF).
Even without alcohol, high altitudes can induce high-altitude sickness, which happens because there is less oxygen in the air. Because the symptoms are much the same as a hangover (headache, nausea, vomiting…etc), the effects of alcohol are often confused with high-altitude sickness. In fact, there is a study that shows Alcohol can impede the initial stages of adapting to high altitude; therefore, it is recommended that people do not drink for the first couple days while their body acclimatizes to the lower oxygen levels of high altitudes.
A study with alpine skiers in Austria tested blood-alcohol content at sea-level and at 10,000 feet. After drinking a liter of beer, their blood-alcohol levels were the same regardless of altitude.
An FAA study (PDF) found that both alcohol and altitude affect pilot performance, but there was no interaction between the two. Altitude does affect your ability to perform tasks, but that effect is present with or without alcohol. Another US government funded study found the same thing, concluding, “there was no synergistic interactive effect of alcohol and altitude on either breathalyzer readings or performance scores.”
From my observations, college loans are another popular way to get government money to study the effects of alcohol.
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Sources: Pub Med, High Altitude, Annals, FAA (PDF), AHA
Photo: evilmidori (cc)
Relevant:
Professionals should always supervise detox from alcohol and other drugs to prevent any untoward medical mishaps.
The Purpose of Beer Bottle Bumps
Many people have noticed the small bumps on the side of beer bottles, near the base (the “heel”). They’re not just on beer bottles either, every glass bottle in my house has them, which are mostly beer bottles.
These are typically called “mold codes” or “heel codes” and there are many different ideas about what these are for, but I could only confirm one.
It is a popular notion that these bumps help the bottler know how many times the bottle has been reused. I couldn’t find any proof that they are used for this. In fact, I’m not sure how these dots would convey that information since they are made when the bottle is molded.
This rumor seems to confuse the heel code with bottle date codes, which are traditionally found on the neck of the bottle. On newer bottles, date codes are stamped with ink. On older bottles, they were part of the glass mold and were often beside an embossed logo from the glass producer or bottler. Dating on older bottles helped bottlers know how long they had been in circulation. (more…)
Why Beer Bottles are Green, Brown or Clear
St. Patrick’s day was last week and it wasn’t deathly cold that night so I was going to start the evening by finally taking down my Christmas lights. Luckily, I got a much warmer offer from my friend Chris who invited me over for green beer.
Chris’s wife Jeanne was turning yellow beer into green beer using blue food coloring and Jeanne’s daughter was there too. We got talking about import beers and how many of them are in green bottles. Chris pointed out that Moosehead was maybe the only green bottled beer that he liked (and one of the few Canadian beers we get in America). That lead to a conversation about why beer bottles came in three different colors: clear, brown and green.
Chris mentioned the color of the glass protected the beer from light, which was a secret to me, so I read more about it and here’s what I found: (more…)
Use Blue Food Coloring to Make Green Beer
Yesterday, I talked about the history of St. Patricks Day — why we celebrate it, how the color green and the shamrock became the symbols they are today.
While Chicago dyes the river green, many others will be dyeing their beer.
If you’re going to dye your own beer, pick a lighter colored beer for best color results. Because lighter lagers, pilseners and ales are a yellowish color, mixing blue food coloring will give you a rich dark green color — the color of a real shamrock. Using green food coloring will work too, but you’ll get a much lighter shade of green.
This is actually quite fitting since St. Patrick’s color was actually blue.
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Written By: Chad Upton
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Sources: DIY Life
The Fastest Way to Chill Drinks
Perhaps your guests just arrived and you forgot to put beer in the fridge. Or, maybe you just got a phone call and your hair appointment on Thursday has been canceled Either way, you need cold drinks, stat. This secret will chill your drinks in 5 minutes flat.
- Half fill a container with your drinks.
- Fill the remaining space with ice.
- Add salt and stir for 30 seconds.
- In 4.5 minutes you’ve got cold drinks.
The salt speeds the melting of the ice. The melting ice absorbs heat from the drinks which in turn makes the drinks get colder.
Here’s a little demo from down under with a fancy thermometer:
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