Beer, Cocktails & Beverages

Posted by Angie Rayfield

It's a deal that some Americans thought wouldn't, couldn't, or just plain shouldn't happen. Anheuser-Busch is definitely an iconic American company, and the thought of it being bought out was almost incomprehensible - A-B is the kind of company that takes over everyone in its path, not the other way around.

But with InBev SA's offer of $70 a share, things have changed. The merger would create the world's largest brewer, and presumably the clout to match.

Why would InBev SA want A-B? It's probably not just for the beer, although having brands like Budweiser in emerging markets such as China is a plus. InBev SA already has an impressive line-up of brands, including Stella Artois and Beck's. But InBev also benefits from Anheuser-Busch's well known marketing savvy, as well as their massive distribution network, which can benefit all their brands.

Posted by Angie Rayfield

Award-winning mixologist Tad Carducci teamed up with Sobieski Vodka to create this quick and easy summer punch. The recipe is ridiculously simple and serves up to 20.

The Livin's Easy Summer Punch

• 1 750ml bottle Sobieski Vodka
• 12.75 oz. Marie Brizard Creme de Cassis
• 16 oz. cold water
• 17 oz. orange juice
• 8.5 oz. fresh lime juice
• 3/4 of a 1-liter bottle of ginger ale

Funnel all ingredients except ginger ale into a large sealable plastic container. (Tad recommends a clean, empty gallon milk jug.) Shake to combine all ingredients. Allow to chill in the refrigerator for 30 minutes, or mix up to a day in advance.

Pour mixture into large decorative punch bowl over Garden Ice (instructions below). Top with chilled ginger ale and stir gently. Garnish with sliced lemons, limes, oranges, and thinly-sliced ripe strawberries, and drop in a few ripe blueberries.

Garden Ice

Fill a clean, one-quart plastic container halfway with water. Drop in a handful of fresh mint leaves. Cover and freeze overnight. When ready to use, run the outside of the container under warm water. Place ice block flat side down in punchbowl.

I'm not usually much of a punch fan - too many bad punches at wedding and baby showers over the years, I suppose. This one, though, that's another matter entirely. It's delicious!

Posted by Angie Rayfield

And did you know that America is the only country where the majority of tea is enjoyed cold? Iced tea is an American invention, first seen in 1904 at the St. Louis World's Fair. If you're familiar with a midwestern summer, you know how hot it can be. Visitors to the fair weren't overly interested in hot tea, so an enterprising tea merchant added ice.

Americans consume roughly 2 billion gallons of tea every year, and 80% of it is served over ice, or at least cold - ready-to-drink iced teas saw $1.65 billion in sales in 1999.

So, kick back in the lounge chair and lift that glass. A toast to National Iced Tea Month!

Posted by Angie Rayfield

The company is donating $500,000 to the Chinese Red Cross for its work in the Sichuan province of China following the earthquake on May 12. They are also providing 425,000 cases of fresh bottled water, valued at $1.1 million, to be sent to the area.

The shipments of water were to start immediately from Wuhan, and the company plans to provide water to the 5 hardest hit counties within the province.

A-B has a regional sales office in Chengdu, the provincial capital of Sichuan, which employs 50 people. YR Cheng, president of Anheuser-Busch China, released a statement which stated in part, "The impact of the earthquake has been felt around the world and affected people within our own Anheuser-Busch family. In this time of need, it's important for communities to pull together and corporations to lend a helping hand in any way possible. For Anheuser-Busch, providing this assistance was the right thing to do."

Whether you're a fan of A-B products or not, raise a toast to them today!

Posted by Angie Rayfield

I love a good beer festival! This weekend, I got my first opportunity to attend the Parkville Microbrew Festival in Parkville, Missouri, now in its fifth year. The weather cooperated with a gorgeous Midwestern spring day, the crowd was big, I ran into old friends and made new ones, and of course, had a great time tasting beers and talking to brewers. (I love my job!)

The festival featured 20-plus local and regional brewers from Kansas, Missouri, and Nebraska, and more beer styles than I could shake a stick at. And I had the same problem I always have - the tasting glass that looked so small when I started out seemed like a massive amount of beer when multiplied by 20 or 30 beers that were all listed on my "try this one first" list.

There's not enough room to cover everything in one blog, but a couple of styles caught my eye. Two of the brewers had smoked beers, which didn't so much bring to mind the peat smoke flavor of Scotch so much as they did the memory of drinking beer around a campfire or at a bar-b-que.

And several brewers had rye beers, which is definitely a different flavor from the more traditional ales. The ryes received good reviews, but it seemed like the runaway crowd favorite was a one-off brew from O'Fallon Brewery. The Rye American Pale Ale was the recipe of the winner of the St. Louis Brews Happy Holidays Homebrew Competition, Augie Altenbaumer. With 20% malted rye and hopped with a ridiculous amount of Simcoe hops, it was a truly beautiful brew. The floral aroma was so incredible, I threatened to wear it as perfume. (I still think it's a good idea.)

Posted by Angie Rayfield

Earlier this week, Boston Beer issued a statement concerning an issue related to the glass bottles provided by one of their suppliers. During a regular inspection, possible defects were noticed in a small percentage of the bottles, defects that resulted in small bits of glass in the bottles. The bits found were for the most part like grains of sand, although small slivers were found in some bottles.

According to Boston Beer, the defect appears to be restricted to bottles from only one of their five suppliers, and the company is having all beer in those bottles pulled from store shelves. The affected bottles are easily identified by the embossing at the bottom of the bottle: there are the digits N35, followed by the letters OI. The company states that bottles with this coding shouldn't be consumed.

The company has also set up a website about the recall. For more information, visit the Voluntary Product Recall page.

Posted by Angie Rayfield

Most Americans have heard of the Volstead Act. The 18th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified in 1919, banning the "manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquor." The Volstead Act authorized federal enforcement of that amendment, putting the teeth in Prohibition.

What most Americans have never heard of is the Cullen-Harrison Act, signed by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1933. Cullen-Harrison put the first chink into the armor of Prohibition, by basically adopting a new definition of "intoxicating."

Under the Volstead Act, beer or wine could not contain more that .5% alcohol by volume. In March 1933, Roosevelt urged the Congress to modify the Volstead Act, and raise the legal limit to 3.2%. They did, Roosevelt signed, and the modifications contained in the Cullen-Harrison Act became law on April 7, 1933.

This was big news, and it was definitely celebrated at the time. It was reported that beer drinkers in Milwaukee even lined up outside breweries the night before! But is it something to celebrate now?

There are probably few people today that get excited about a 3.2% beer - although it should be noted that there are still several states that prohibit anything stronger from being sold in grocery or convenience stores. (If you don't live in one of those states, be grateful. It's very annoying.) And there are people who say it's ridiculous to pay attention to this insignificant piece of legislation. After all, it didn't really do anything about Prohibition.

But if I hadn't been able to get a legal beer for, oh, say 14 years or so, I think I'd be dancing in the streets even for 3.2, thank you and pass me another. So, count me among the folks that will be raising a pint on April 7, and toasting my best friends, Mr. Cullen, Mr. Harrison, and Mr. Roosevelt.

Posted by Angie Rayfield

In a word, yes. And the word is hops.

Hops are a rather plain looking flower that grow on long, twining bines (yes, bines, not vines). They've been added to beer for hundreds of years, in part for their flavor, and in part for their preservative affect. Hops have also long been used in folk medicine in treating a variety of ailments, including anxiety and insomnia.

Now there's some proof that they're good for us, according to a study done among Cistercian nuns in Spain. For 45 days, the normally teetotaling nuns drank a pint of beer daily. They returned to their normal habits for six months, then took an herbal supplement of hops for 40 days. The end result was a 6% reduction in total cholesterol levels in the nuns that suffered from elevated cholesterol.

There's no reason to believe that consuming more than a daily pint will result in more dramatic results - moderation is still the best plan. And the beer doesn't need to contain alcohol - the necessary ingredient is the hops.

This might be a great time for an IPA, don't you think?

Posted by Angie Rayfield

The SAVOR event will be held May 16th & 17th at the Andrew W. Mellon auditorium will see 48 breweries from across the U.S. taking part in a variety of educational seminars and pairing events. There will be 3 sessions across the two days, and if you're interested in attending, think about buying your tickets now. The events are advance tickets only, with no tickets available at the door.

Attendees will have the chance to try samples from a variety of appetizers chosen to match the taste profiles of craft beers, and enjoy 2 ounce samples of selected craft beers. They can attend educational seminars with a beer and food focus, as well as meet and mingle with brewery representatives at the pouring tables. When the session is over, they'll be able to leave with a souvenir program, a commemorative tasting glass, and a tasters journal.

This is not going to be an inexpensive event - the tickets are $85 for each session. But if you're a foodie looking for new ways to enjoy beer with your favorite cuisine, this looks like a unique event that will be well worth the expense.

Posted by Angie Rayfield

I was pretty excited to learn that absinthe was making a return (legally) to the U.S. I'd heard stories about its mystical properties and wild effects. Poe and Van Gogh were enamored of the drink. Could absinthe be given some of the credit for their flights of imagination?

So absinthe was on my to-do list. And as luck would have it, a friend called this weekend and said, "Guess what I have?"

In the interest of historical accuracy, we decided to use the traditional method. Oddly, few people have absinthe glasses or spoons lurking about these days. A slotted serving spoon and a juice glass had to do. They don't look cool, but they work.

The approach - pour 1 part absinthe in the glass. Place a sugar cube on the spoon, and slowly pour water over it to dissolve. The proper ratio is 5 to 1. As the water hits it, the absinthe "louches", turning from a clear emerald green to a pale milky green.

I sipped.

Several people have assured me that Lucid is good representation of the art form, and I'll take their word for it. But I'm never going to be a fan of absinthe.

I had forgotten one important fact - absinthe is anise based. I was prepared for some anise, but thought that it would be mixed with the flavors of the other herbs used. Instead, to me it tasted like a black jellybean in a glass. And I'm the kid who tried to feed the black jellybeans to the dog (who also wouldn't eat them).

I'm not giving up, though. There are a lot of recipes out there, surely I'll like one of them!

Have you tried absinthe? Tell us what you thought!