A beer for peace

Coca-Cola once asked us to teach the world to sing. If Sainsbury's —a British supermarket chain— now asks us to work toward peace by sharing a bar of chocolate, well, heavens, yes.

And I'd slip in a bottle of beer with that chocolate. It's the message, not the messenger.

Happy Christmas, if you can.

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A good fermentable is the only fermentable to have, when you're having more than one.

In 1972, John Scarne (SKAR nee) —recognized by many as one of the greatest card magicians ever— appeared in a Schaefer beer television ad.

Shaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one.
Shaefer's pleasure doesn't fade even when your thirst is done.
The most rewarding flavor in this man's world,
For people who are having fun,
Shaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one. *

Not speaking of magic (although, around that same time, a certain Thomas the Marvelous was known to practice the art) but speaking of beer: a good fermentable is the only fermentable to have, when you're having more than one —safely. If not Schaefer (in this man's world), that is.

So, from YFGF to all of you: Happy New Year in 2019.

Yours for good fermentables,
Thomas 'Tom' Cizauskas (chiz OW skuss)

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Merry Christmas, with beer.

Leave a beer out tonight for ol' Saint Nick!

Šventų Kalėdų to all!

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Pic(k) of the Week: Schlitz vs. Michelob, LIVE during the Super Bowl

During the broadcast of Super Bowl LI (that is, the 51st Super Bowl) tomorrow, both Snickers and Hyundai will air commercials that have been filmed live. I'm not clear on what advantage is accrued by filming a commercial three days earlier (Snicker) or a few minutes earlier (Hyundai) and broadcasting it as 'live.' The thrill of not editing, perhaps?

The last time the Super Bowl has actually featured a 'live,' not pre-recorded and edited, commercial, was 1981, during Super Bowl XV (15). Broadcast live from New Orleans, the host city of that year's championship game, Schlitz Brewing ran "The Great American Beer Test," a 60-second taste test of its flagship beer vs. Michelob, brewed by Anheuser-Busch.

The spot was hosted by Tommy Bell, a former NFL referee dressed in referee zebra stripes. Before the broadcast, one-hundred "loyal Michelob drinkers." had sampled Schlitz and Michelob in unmarked ceramic beer steins. When the commercial went live, each pulled a lever to indicate their preference.

Part of the appeal of a live broadcast is the spontaneity; the anticipation of an unedited gaffe or unintended serendipity. When Mr. Bell explained the voting procedure, he did well, obviously well-rehearsed, except on one occasion. Hilariously, he seemed to verbally stumble, to hesitate, when saying "Schlitz," his sponsor, having no such difficulty saying "Michelob."

As the commercial concluded, an electronic football scoreboard tallied the result, and Mr. Bell announced it. Fifty of those one-hundred Michelob drinkers had preferred Schlitz. A tie.

In the game, the Oakland Raiders defeated the Philadelphia Eagles, 27-10.

But five months after the game, Schlitz would close its Milwaukee brewery, forced to so by a continuing downward spiral in sales, never recovering from a very public cheapening of ingredients and change of process. The following year, the entire company would be sold to Stroh Brewing, and "the beer that made Milwaukee famous," brewed since 1849, was no more.

Schlitz sold today is brewed by Molson Coors for Pabst, itself a brewery without any brewing facilities.

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Session beer of the 1950s?

Shaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one.
Shaefer's pleasure doesn't fade even when your thirst is done.
The most rewarding flavor in this man's world,
For people who are having fun,
Shaefer is the one beer to have when you're having more than one.

That's a 1950s-era television commercial for F. & M. Schaefer Brewing Company of New York, New York (1842-1981), once a titan of the American beer industry.

Suggesting —encouraging— that a consumer drink more than one beer? That's an inducement to intemperance that would not be permitted in the 21st century. Or would it? Compare that sixty-year-old jingle to this slogan of very recent vintage:

The beer you’ve been waiting for. Keeps your taste satisfied while keeping your senses sharp. An all-day IPA naturally brewed with a complex array of malts, grains and hops. Balanced for optimal aromatics and a clean finish. The perfect reward for an honest day’s work and the ultimate companion to celebrate life’s simple pleasures.

Founders Brewing (of Grand Rapids, Michigan) first publicly brewed its All Day IPA as a 'seasonal' beer in 2012; in 2013, the brewery released it as a year-round item. With an alcohol content of 4.7% and an IBU content of 42 (a measure of hop-derived bitterness), All Day IPA is widely considered the most most-imitated —if not the progenitor— of 21st-century so-called 'session IPAs.' Of having more than one.

The Alcohol Tobacco Tax & Trade Bureau (TTB) is the agency of the U.S. government tasked with regulating alcoholic beverages under Federal law. It has specific rules on the advertising and labelling of beer, prohibiting, for example, health statements of a therapeutic nature or claims "that imply a physical or psychological sensation results from consuming the malt beverage." Such as keeping your "senses sharp"? It's meretricious when the 'big' boys do it, but brilliant when the 'craft' boys do?

Beer writer —and 'session' beer campaigner— Lew Bryson defines an American session beer as of 4.5% alcohol-by-volume or less, with flavor. Others insist upon moreish 'drinkability' as an additional, necessary postulate: a beer out-of-whack in any one department would not be a session. Like lots of hops. Others would disagree. All Day? I'd not call it a 'session' beer, but a hoppy American pale ale. (HAPA anyone?) But that's just me.

Session beer: the one beer to have when you're having more than one.

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Beer: Only three all-natural ingredients.

Netherlands-based international beer company Heineken is globally airing a series of advertisements — “There’s more behind the star”— starring actor Benicio Del Toro.

Why do I mention this?

Because, in one of the series, Mr. Del Toro, incredulous about the simplicity of Heineken's recipe for its beer, quizzes Heineken's brewmaster, Willem van Waesberghe, and because of how Mr. Waesberghe —definitely a macro-brewery tribune— answers the question ... even if his response is scripted.

Del Toro:
An original recipe brewed from only three all-natural ingredients. Only three ingredients? Come on; that's a typo.

van Waesberghe:
No, it's not a typo. Just water, barley, and hops.

Del Toro:
Come on, Willie. Water doesn't count as an ingredient. Water is water.

van Waesberghe:
No, no. Ninety-three percent of beer is water, so you'd better make it as pure as possible.

Del Toro:
How about you throw in a dash of, uh, lemon zest.

van Waesberghe:
No!

Del Toro:
Ginger root?

van Waesberghe:
No way.

Del Toro:
How about wasabi?

van Waesberghe:
No f*cking way.

Del Toro:
Willem! Willie!

Yep. What Willie said. "Just water, barley [malt], and hops." *

Anything else is a condiment.

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Don't be a pillock!

Who would've thunk it? Budweiser and the incomparable Dame Helen Mirren collaborating on a brilliant anti-drunk-driving spot aired during Super Bowl 50.



The commercial opens with Mirren sitting at a table in a restaurant, a burger and fries in front of her. (That's chips for you non-Yanks.) A waiter brings her a bottle of Budweiser, the label turned somewhat from the camera. "Oh, my beer. Lovely," she thanks him. Mirren looks directly toward the camera and says:

Hello. I'm Helen Mirren, a notoriously frank and uncensored British lady.

The collective we are dumbfounded that people still drive drunk. So, I'll sum it up like this.

If you drive drunk, you — simply put — are a shortsighted, utterly useless, oxygen-wasting, human form of pollution, a Darwin award-deserving, selfish coward. If your brain was donated to science, science would return it.

So, stop it.

Now, the chances are you are a fun, solid, respectable human being. Don't be a pillock. Your friends and family thank you; the friends and families of other drivers thank you; your future self thanks you.

This is supposed to be fun. Cheers!

Mirren finishes by holding up a bottle of Budweiser, and slyly whispering: "Nice and cold."

Witty, powerfully direct, and succinct. Mirren did a public service announcement; she did a product placement; she got paid.

But, ah, Dame Mirren! What of Britain's culinary gift to the world? What of 'real ale'? Making fun of 'warm,' 'flat' beer? You know it isn't! And Anheuser-Busch? I saw what you did there. Making fun of less-than-ice-cold 'craft' beer? Clever bastards!

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