A New Problem Is Brewing in the Beer Industry: One Million Kegs Are Going Stale
wsj.com
wsj.com
In Germany we had the “beer man” who would drop off beer weekly and collect the empties. This should be adopted in the USA.
For example, I can't purchase wine to be delivered to my home over the internet in my state.
No, it's just that for as much that has changed in America since its founding, being a bunch of Puritanical tight asses is still kind of encoded into our societal DNA.
It has been a battle ever since. The area I live in only recently allowed the sale of liquor in restaurants and bars and still does not sell liquor by the bottle. There were many movements that had influence so perhaps it isn't fair to lay the blame solely on the Puritans, but they did have great influence in regards to alcohol in the USA and the parent isn't wrong, but has certainly omitted details.
As for beer selection, as in the US the major brands are of a limited nature but there are many small breweries. All subject to the Reinheitsgebot but I doubt it really cramps their style.
This is standard practice in the US, empty kegs end up back at a brewery where they are sanitized and refilled. Part of the problem reported here is that kegs aren't being used, leading to a lack of kegs available to be refilled.
That - along with the bierautomat - ranks up there with the things I miss most about Germany.
Many communities in the US had similar deliveries for milk back in the day.
Of course it's geared toward craft brew snobs, so not really a general thing. But it's one step closer than we had before.
That’s not what makes me laugh the most though; pot is! Less than two years ago, marijuana was illegal in Canada. Now? The stores themselves are not open, but the local gov’t relaxed restrictions and there’s now a number of same-day delivery services! From illegal to essential in under two years!
As funny as that would be, I think allowing pot delivery is the right call. No reason to shut down businesses that don't pose much of an infection risk, it's more economic strain we can't afford.
I'm calling bullshit. Went through this in college. There's 165 12oz beers in a standard keg. If you don't refrigerate it (which you probably can't), that beer is going to go bad well within a week once it's tapped. That means to finish a keg between 2 people you're drinking 11+ beers per person every day. I mean, yeah that's doable, but if you're a normal human being, it's not that fun.
[1] Imperial pints: 568 ml / 19.2 US fl oz
... so I've been told by a "friend".
That's an excellent solution, as the demand for the latter has definitely been going up rapidly in the past little while.
this can also be distilled into acetic acid which is used in everything from solvents to cervical cancer screens and the production of precursors for polyvinyl acetate.
As for the pub, they're offering takeout of their normal menu. As well as sell craft beer packages.
https://www.medscape.com/answers/819502-79121/what-is-the-mo...
"The mortality rate from severe alcohol withdrawal and delirium tremens (DT) historically has been as high as 20% if untreated. Early recognition and improved treatment has reduced the mortality rate from DT to approximately 1-5%"
So this means people either die or go to emergency care with severe symptoms that require hospitalization, which obviously is to be avoided at a time like this.
Now I don't know if that link exists and in fact I suspect it could be the opposite, as many people become more aggressive the more they drink.
[0]: https://www.thesouthafrican.com/news/why-alcohol-sale-banned...
On that note there was a whole thread on Reddit with people saying they might kill themselves if lockdowns go on for months.
That would be hilarious, "cause of death: Covid-19"
One is already gone, there is no way they'll take away the others.
- 1 box and 3 bottles of cheap moscato
- 1.1 bottles of rum
- 4-ish bottles of various whiskeys
- 0.7 bottles of brandy
- 1 giant bottle of tequila
- Half a gross of bottles/cans of beer
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/ingenious-brick-he...
Sure, it’s true that alcohol lowers your immune system and requires trips to stores. But a big portion of whether or not we’ll make it out of this with lower fatalities will be about our ability to maintain quarantine. And honestly, people are bored and freaked out, recreational substances give them one more thing to do that’ll keep them inside and safe-ish.
On the other hand, I look forward to someday watching the South African version of NASCAR this will surely spawn.
(AL located currently)
Need to work on this.
Grain has quite a bit of lactic acid producing bacteria in it, on top of it's just being readily available in nature in general, so breweries naturally have a ton of it around. Most common lacto and pedio bacteria, the primary two type of LAB, is not very tolerant to hops. If you make a really hoppy beer, this naturally helps prevent the beer from souring.
Of course, a lot of beer is intentionally soured by these, and basically all beer originally would sour, and it's perfectly safe to drink. Just not desirable in every style of beer.
And, if you’re not a fan of extra-hoppy ipas, letting an ipa age will mute the hoppy flavor and could potentially make a more enjoyable beer.
The alpha acids in hops oxidizing will have an impact on the flavor of the beer - largely it will reinforce the malt flavor, but depending on your susceptibility to off flavors, you might get cardboard or BO type flavors.
The only reasonably reliable way I've found to get around this is to buy refrigerated whenever possible, and to look for "what wasnt here last week". Or buy from one of the handful of breweries that does print dates.
For what possible reason? During normal times there would be no reason to maintain beer stockpiles. During "challenging" times, those who would benefit from a long life supply of alcohol should look at wine, spirits etc.
Or they can get used to stale beer.
Or they can learn to homebrew.
The exeception to this rule is that beers with added acidity, like a lambic or a Berliner weisse, will age well despite being lighter and lower alcohol content.
I have a few like this sitting in the basement. At least one of them has a label recommending at least one year and up to 20 years of storage. It will be fun to see how it tastes at some point.