• Beerporn: Editor’s Choice

    Tuesday is Editor’s Choice award day on http://hashtagbeerporn.com.  We are giving out an Editor’s Choice Award each week to the picture we think best represents beerporn during that week.  As an ongoing feature on Indy Beers each week I’ll be posting the Editor’s Choice winner from #Beerporn.  Remember, anyone can join and post pictures of beer to http://hashtagbeerporn.com.

    This week’s winner is Husar.  Good use of the pause button in conjunction with a beer!!!

    http://hashtagbeerporn.com/2012/11/28/placebo/

  • Paphos Excavation Reveals Bronze Age Malting Kiln

    Drying Kiln after excavation. Image: University of Manchester

     

    Drying Kiln after excavation. Image: University of Manchester

    Drying Kiln after excavation. Image: University of Manchester

    Beer has been made for thousands of years, and it seems some of these beer making old sites are still being found.  Between 2007 and 2012 a team led by Dr Lindy Crewe from the University of Manchester have been excavating a  Cypriot Bronze Age site at the south-western settlement of Kissonerga-Skalia near Paphos.

    The team excavated a two by two metre domed mud-plastered structure and have now demonstrated by means of experimental archaeology and various other evidence that it was used as a kiln to dry malt for beer making three-and-a half-thousand years ago.

     

    The form of this construction suggests that the most likely function was as a drying-kiln, and that one of the primary uses of this structure was for drying malt or curing malt cakes.

     

    The excavation of the malting kiln with associated sets of pottery types and tools left in place gives a great opportunity to look at Bronze Age toolkits and to figure out techniques and recipes.

     

    According to Dr Crewe, beers of different flavours would have been brewed from malted barley and fermented with yeasts with an alcoholic content of around 5 per cent. The yeast would have either been wild or produced from fruit such as grape or fig.

    The area was very large and seemed to be well used:

    The oven discovered by the archaeologists was positioned at one end of a 50 metres square courtyard with a plastered floor.

     

    The archaeologists found grinding tools and mortars which may have been used to break down the grain after it was malted, a small hearth and cooking pots made of clay to cook the beer gently. They also found juglets, which it is believed, probably contained yeast additives or sweeteners to produce beers of different strengths or flavours. Beer ingredients were found by the team as carbonised seeds.

     

    Crewe added: “Beer was commonly drunk because it is more nutritious than bread and less likely to contain harmful pathogens than drinking water which can make you ill. But alcoholic beverages were also used to oil the wheels of business and pleasure in much the same way as today: work brought communities together for tasks such as bringing in the harvest or erecting special buildings. Instead of payment, participants are rewarded with a special feast, often involving quantities of alcohol, which also transformed the work from a chore into a social event. The people of the Bronze Age, it seems, were well aware of the relaxing properties of alcohol.”

     

    It’s cool to think that 3,500 years ago our ancestors were brewing beer and enjoying a frothy beer, just like we do today.

    Source: http://www.pasthorizonspr.com

  • [Infographic] Oktoberfest

    Oktoberfest wasn’t too long ago so I thought I’d share an infographic about the event.

    Oktoberfest, a stein-inspired infographic from My Destination

     

    Source: http://www.mydestination.com

  • Brewing in South Korea: Fiery food, boring beer

    Here in the United States we are going through a renaissance in beer.  The craft beer craze is sweeping the nation, but that doesn’t necessarily hold true for the rest of the world.  In South Korea, for example, the country is limited (for the most part) to one of two brewing companies.

    The problem for South Korean boozers is that their national market is a cramped duopoly. Hite-Jinro and Oriental Brewery (OB) have nearly 100% of it. Their beers are hard to tell apart; their prices, even harder. At five out of five shops visited by The Economist, their main brands all cost precisely 1,850 won ($1.70) per 330ml can.

     

    Until 2011, regulations required all brewers to have enough capacity to brew well over 1m litres at a time. This in effect kept all but Hite and OB from bringing foamy goodness to the masses. Smaller producers were allowed to sell their beer only on their own premises.

    This is just the type of thing that we’re trying to prevent here at Indy Beers.  But even in the face of this duopoly, there is hope.

    However, only a handful of small brewers have risen to the challenge. One of them, Craftworks Brewing Company, is owned by a Canadian, Dan Vroon. Mr Vroon’s pub in Seoul is packed every night. But several hurdles still make it hard for him to sell his pilsners, stouts and pale ales more widely, he says.

    Of Course, this hope comes at a cost.

    Brewers are taxed heavily if they deliver their own beer. Craftworks’ unpasteurized brews must be kept chilled from the vat to the tap, which creates a problem. Cold distribution is a tiny, pricey niche. This is because the big boys don’t use it: their beers have their tasty, bureaucrat-bothering bacteria removed at the brewery. They can thus be delivered warm and then chilled in the pub.

     

    Punitive tariffs prevent brewing experimentation. The Korean taxman treats malt, hops and yeast as beer ingredients, which are subject to low import duties. Anything else you might put in the brew is deemed an agricultural import, and thus a threat to the nation’s farmers. “Speciality grains like oats aren’t on the approved list, so we must pay more than 500% if we want to use them,” says Park Chul, another frustrated brewer.

     

    Those who do not qualify for a wholesale licence have it even worse. Though they sell only through their own pubs, government inspectors place meters on their vats. These can become contaminated, causing costly stoppages. “It’s enough to drive you to drink,” sighs Mr Vroon.

    So next time you’re out at the pub having a great craft beer from an independent brewer, remember, not everyone in the world who has access to beer gets good beer.

    Source: http://www.economist.com/

  • Your Beer Belly May Lead to a Broken Hip

    Anyone who drinks beer on a regular basis knows that without exercise an increased waist size is in the future.  Now it seems that this beer belly can lead to a broken hip.

    Men with beer bellies – even younger guys — may be at increased risk for broken bones, a new study suggests.

     

    It’s not just an issue of being obese, Harvard University researchers reported at this week’s annual meeting of the Radiological Society of America in Chicago. It’s where the excess weight accumulates. Fat that is stored deep in the abdomen appears to be far more destructive than fat stashed just beneath the skin.

     

    Bredella and her team studied 34 obese men whose average age was 34.

     

    “These were young men who were obese, but otherwise completely healthy,” Bredella said. What they discovered was the men with large guts had much weaker bones, Bredella said.

     

    The researchers first scanned the men’s abdomens and thighs to assess fat and muscle mass. Then the men underwent a high resolution CT scan of the forearm.

     

    Half the men in the study had significant beer bellies, while the other half were just as obese, but their fat was distributed all over their bodies.

     

    To get a sense of how strong the men’s bones were, Bredella and her colleagues used a computer technique known as finite element modeling.

     

    “It works by breaking an object into tiny cubes and then predicting how each little cube will react if there is a force applied to it,” she explained. “The computer adds up all the elements and then can predict how strong the object is. The same kind of modeling is used in bridge and airplane design.

     

    “If you apply this modeling to bone, you can say exactly where the bone will break and how strong it is.”

     

    The researchers don’t know yet how having abdominal fat hurts bone, but Bredella believes hormones play a role.

     

    “Men and women who have a lot of [belly fat] have low growth hormone secretion,” she said. “And we know that growth hormone is very important for bone health. Vitamin D is another issue. Obese people sequester vitamin D into their fat cells. So even when they are getting normal levels of vitamin D, it’s trapped in the fat cells instead of circulating in the blood where it can get to the bone.”

    Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/

  • Beerporn: Editor’s Choice

    Tuesday is Editor’s Choice award day on http://hashtagbeerporn.com.  We are giving out an Editor’s Choice Award each week to the picture we think best represents beerporn during that week.  As an ongoing feature on Indy Beers each week I’ll be posting the Editor’s Choice winner from #Beerporn.  Remember, anyone can join and post pictures of beer to http://hashtagbeerporn.com.

    This week’s winner is Scott (aka me).  I don’t like to steal the spotlight on the site in favor of letting the users having all the glory, but I was the only one who posted a Thanksgiving relevant picture.  So here is the Thanksgiving beerporn:

    http://hashtagbeerporn.com/2012/11/23/sixth-glass-boulevard-brewing-co/

  • Beer Apps for Your Smartphone

     

     Looking for that perfect beer app for your smartphone?  The New York Times has done a review of several of the more popular beer apps. They review the following apps:

    • Craft Beer New York – gives local connoisseurs an excellent guide to the city’s bars, breweries and bottle shops
    • Untapped – a location-based social-networking app for beer drinkers
    • BrewGene – Tell it what you like, and it tries to find similar beers
    If you’re looking for a good beer app, check these out and let us know what you think.

    Source: http://www.nytimes.com/

  • Happy Thanksgiving from Indy Beers!!!

    If you’re in the US, have a great Thanksgiving, and even if you’re not in the US, today is good day to say thanks to those around you!!  Now, go relax with a good beer with some turkey.

    –Scott

  • My Gaming Donation to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center

    This is not a beer post, and for that I apologize in advance, but I had nowhere else to share this story.

    The mess from my basement that I began to sort through.

    The mess from my basement that I began to sort through.

    My basement needed a good cleaning and I needed to free up some shelf space, so I decided it was time to purge some old stuff.  I had a ton of old game consoles and video games, but I didn’t really want to go through the hassle of selling them online.  My brother had a great idea, donate them to a children’s hospital.  I made a few phone calls to the same day doctor and found that Johns Hopkins Children’s Center in Baltimore, MD would be happy to take my donation.  I took a Saturday afternoon and brought everything up from the basement and started going through what I had. Mnay video games and online casino games like the Keno has taken a drastic turn in the recent times. The introduction of aimbot fortnite and other hacks has made playing and winning easier. If you wish to learn Keno, click on this link https://www.slotsformoney.com/casinos/keno/

    The games after I had tested all the consoles and separated them by gaming system.

    The games after I had tested all the consoles and separated them by gaming system.

    It took about 2 hours total to get everything out, test the systems, and box them up by console.  I did not test all the games, but I have good faith that most will work without issue.  After seeing what I had I really began to waver on going through with my decision, but in the end I decided it was best for the children, and these games were doing nothing but collecting dust in my basement.  I made the call to Elizabeth at the hospital and setup a time to make the drop-off.

    Arriving at the hospital.

    Arriving at the hospital.

    The whole ride into the city I kept wondering if I was doing the right thing.  There is a hoarder mentally that goes along with collecting anything, and I was having trouble letting go, but I just kept thinking that this will hopefully make a lot of children happy.

    The entrance to Johns Hopkins Children's Center.

    The entrance to Johns Hopkins Children’s Center.

    When I arrived I called Elizabeth, and she came down with a cart to get the games.  She was really surprised at the amount of stuff I had to donate.  She kept stating how happy this was going to make the children, and that reassured me I was making the right decision.

    Saying goodbye to my old friends.  Hopefully a child in need will find them as much fun as I did.

    Saying goodbye to my old friends. Hopefully a child in need will find them as much fun as I did.

    We filled up the cart and she took everything inside.  I’ll make sure to check back in a few months and see how the donation worked out, and which games/consoles are doing the best.  Here is the list of what I donated, for the gamers out there wondering what I gave up.  The Nintendo stuff is not listed as I still need to go through it and decide what I want (if anything) and what I don’t want.  I can always make that donation another day.

    Hardware

    Playstation 4
    Playstation 1&2 Contolers 10
    Playstation Multitap 1
    Playstation Memory Cards 7
    Playstation 2 1
    Playstation 2 Multitap 1
    Playstation 2 Network Adapter 1
    Sega Genesis 4
    Sega Genesis Controlers 7
    Odyssey 2 1
    Segan Saturn 1
    Segan Saturn Controllers 4
    Sega Master System 1
    Sega Master System Controller 1

    Games

    SEGA GENESIS
    Jurassic Park
    La Russa Baseball 95
    John Madden Football ’93
    Sonic & Knuckles
    Ecco the Dolphin
    Streets of Rage
    Taz Mania
    Sports Talk Football ’93
    Pac-Mania
    Robocop vs. Terminator
    Mortal Kombat II
    College ’95 Football
    X-men 2 Clone Wars
    Street Fighter II
    Mortal Kombat
    Batman
    Madden ’95
    John Madden Football ’93
    Ecco the Tides of Time
    Micro Machines
    Prime Time
    Ghouls n Ghosts
    The Lion King
    Jurassic Park Rampage Edition
    Sonic the Hedgehog
    Super Off-road
    Toy Story
    The Lost World: Jurassic Park
    Virtua Racing
    Disney’s Aladdin
    Bill Walsh College Football
    Sports Talk Football ’93
    NFL ’95
    Game Genie
    Sonic the Hedgehog 2
    Taz in Escape from Mars
    Lethal Enforcers
    Dr. Robotnick’s Mean Bean Machine
    SEGA MASTER
    Aztec Adventure
    Altered Beast
    Lord of the Sword
    SEGA SATURN
    NHL ’97
    World Series Baseball II
    Madden ’98
    College Slam
    FIFA Soccer ’96
    Croc Legend of the Gobbos
    Virtual Open Tennis
    Ten Pin Alley
    Hyper 3-D Pinball
    PLAYSTATION
    Gran Turismo
    The Dukes of Hazzard
    Nascar ’99
    Cool Boarders 2001
    Ape Escape
    Crash Team Racing
    Tony Hawk’s Proskater 4
    A Bug’s Life
    25 to Life
    Metal Gear Solid
    Resident Evil 2
    Resident Evil 3 Nemesis
    Tomb Raider II
    Medievil
    Final Fantasy VII
    Twisted Metal 4
    PLAY STATION 2
    Starsky and Hutch
    Sphinx and the Cursed Mummy
    Rachet & Clank up your Arsenal
    Rachet & Clank Going Commando
    Rachet & Clank
    Prince of Persia the sands of time
    Maximo Army of Zin
    Maximo Ghosts to Glory
    Tony Hawk’s Underground
    Jak II
    Katamari Damacy
    Crash Nitro-Kart
    Gran Turismo 3
    ATV Offroad Fury 2
    SS X3
    Jak and Daxter
    Kingdom Hearts
    Tony Hawk’s Underground 2
    Madden 2005
    Splashdown Rides Gone Wild
    ODDESSY 2
    Conquest of the World Odyssey 2
    Volleyball!
    K.C. Munchkin!
    UFO!
    Baseball!
    Bowling! Basketball!
    Showdown in 2100 A.D.
    Alien Invaders—Plus!
    Sub Chase!
    Computer Golf!
    Crypto-logic!

    For those of you who read this far, thanks.  Here is the celebration beer I had later that night (It is Indy Beers, after all).

    A beer in celebration of bringing happiness to children.

    A beer in celebration of bringing happiness to children.

  • Beerporn: Editor’s Choice

    Tuesday is Editor’s Choice award day on http://hashtagbeerporn.com.  We are giving out an Editor’s Choice Award each week to the picture we think best represents beerporn during that week.  As an ongoing feature on Indy Beers each week I’ll be posting the Editor’s Choice winner from #Beerporn.  Remember, anyone can join and post pictures of beer to http://hashtagbeerporn.com.

    This week’s winner is Michael.  I like the fact that he took the time to add some beer notes to the post!!

    http://hashtagbeerporn.com/2012/11/16/lost-highway-imperial-black-ipa-flagstaff-az/