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What do you get when you combine water, American persimmons and hops and ferment it with yeast? A beer based on a 300-year-old recipe scribbled in a cookbook kept by Virginia's prominent Randolph family. Ardent Craft Ales in Richmond recently brewed "Jane's Percimon Beer" unearthed from the book in the Virginia Historical Society's collections from the 1700s that contains food, medicinal remedies and beer recipes. The formula for the Colonial-era concoction is one of thousands of alcoholic recipes in the society's collection that provide a glimpse into what Virginians and others were drinking in the 18th century and other points...

Would you pass the test to become a certified beer server? Here’s a sample quiz, courtesy of the Cicerone Certification Program. 1. English hops are often associated with which flavor attributes? Oaky, vanilla Herbal, earthy Citrus, resiny Flowery, perfumey

The federal excise tax was first imposed during the Civil War as a temporary measure to support the Union army. Brewers paid a tax for each barrel of beer sold. In 1990, as part of the effort to balance the budget, taxes on beer and luxury items were increased. For large brewers, the beer excise tax doubled, from $9 to $18 a barrel. Each year U.S. brewers, importers and distributors pay over $3.6 billion in federal excise taxes and almost $1.7 billion in state excise taxes. Ultimately these expenses are passed on to consumers. Today, over 40 percent of the...

Milos Zeman, president of the Czech Republic, has branded American beer as “filthy water” during a business summit in Kazakhstan but US brewers needn’t pay too much attention. During the trip, Kazakhstan’s long-running president, Nursultan Nazarbaev (who has run the country since 1989), asked Zeman (pictured above) which beer he thought was the best in the world. According to Reuters Zeman replied that, “Czech beer is the best in the world. No American company that offers filthy water instead of beer can compete with us.” Zeman is used to controversial and often profane statements, the 70-year-old even calling Russian protest...

A Fresno State University student is facing sexual assault charges and a sheep is being monitored by veterinarians after a bizarre incident at the Central Valley school, ABC7 Los Angeles reported. What is being referred to as the “sheep incident” has shaken up Fresno State after a student heard noises coming from a barn and found a 23-year-old man having sex with one of the ewes. The unidentified student responsible for the deed told police he had drank alcohol and was stressed out about a midterm, but offered up no other defense of his actions.

Wine and beer lovers face an uncertain future. While climate change is a distant consideration for many global businesses, grapes and grains are on the front line. The good news for those who like a tipple is that alcoholic drinks makers are among businesses leading the way in devising technology to mitigate and adapt to climate change. Experts say such mitigation and adaptation techniques are critical for a range of companies to prepare for a future that is hotter, drier and prone to extreme weather and consequences such as flooding.

Researchers from Oregon State are saying that an ingredient in beer can help boost brain function.

<p>MUNICH (AFP) -- Germany's world-famous Oktoberfest kicked off Saturday with the traditional tapping of the first barrel of beer, as millions of revellers are set to soak up the frothy atmosphere in the 16-day annual extravaganza.</p> <p>With the cry of "O'zapft is" ("The keg is tapped"), the amber fluid officially began to flow at noon after Munich's mayor, Dieter Reiter, with due pomp and ceremony, took a mallet and in four swings breached the 200-litre barrel.</p>

The company that produced “America’s Best” beer in 1893 will now be Russian-owned Russian firm Oasis Beverages announced this week that it will be acquiring famed American brewery Pabst Blue Ribbon — 170 years after the company was first established in Milwaukee.

A Russian beverage company said on Thursday that it was acquiring the Pabst Brewing Company, which makes the Pabst Blue Ribbon beer popular with barflies and hipsters alike and other brands like Colt 45 and Old Milwaukee. [snip] The buyer is Oasis Beverages, a Russian brewer and beverages distributor. Backing Oasis is TSG Consumer Partners, an American private equity firm focused on consumer goods, which will take a minority stake. “Pabst Blue Ribbon is the quintessential American brand – it represents individualism, egalitarianism and freedom of expression – all the things that make this country great,” Eugene Kashper, the chairman...

We all know the saying "Everything is BIG in Texas." But for beer lovers everywhere, this is even cooler than big hats, belt buckles, and barbecue. Actually, this would be ideal with a lot of freshly charred barbecue...

Copenhagen (AFP) - Danish brewer Carlsberg cut its annual profit guidance on Wednesday and said economic uncertainty in Russia, its biggest market, could prompt it to close some breweries. Clouds over the outlook in some parts of eastern Europe had cut consumption of beer, the company said. "Due to the recent macro events the consumer sentiment and the outlook for some of the economies in eastern Europe are becoming increasingly challenging and uncertain," the company said in its quarterly earnings statement. "Consequently, we believe that the beer category will deteriorate further in the second half of the year," it added....

In honour of this joyous occasion, which fittingly falls a day after Dry July ends, here are 10 awesome facts about beer. The oldest beer ad was found on a clay tablet, dated 4000BC It was adorned with an ample-bosomed woman holding two golden goblets and inscribed with the caption, “Drink Elba Beer — the beer with the heart of a lion!” Never clink glasses when drinking in Hungary. Instead make eye contact, raise your glass up to eye level and say ‘Egeszsegere!’ (Hungarian for ‘Cheers!’) Cenosillicaphobia is the fear of an empty beer glass The first recorded drink driving...

Thousands of litres of beer were spilled on a motorway near Duisburg in western Germany on Monday night, when a truck carrying several hundred crates of Bitburger toppled over, shutting the Autobahn. Germans damage World Cup trophy at afterparty (21 Jul 14) Police find cannabis growing on motorway (18 Jul 14) Burglars steal 300,000 litres of beer (15 Jul 14) The truck was on the A40 motorway heading towards Dortmund and was approaching the A3 motorway towards Arnheim at the Kaiserberg interchange. The 66-year-old driver then lost control of the vehicle and slid off the road. Hundreds of bottles were...

burglars have stolen 300,000 litres of beer from a warehouse in western Germany, police reported on Tuesday - the equivalent of €2.1 million worth of the nation's favourite drink. Police catch drunk art thieves in Bavaria (15 Jul 14) Beer bike crash sparks mass brawl (07 Jul 14) City to give alcoholics beer to clean streets (13 May 14) Police in Krefeld in North Rhine-Westphalia said on Tuesday afternoon they were looking for the burglars who stole multiple palettes of beer from a warehouse. The amount is said to fill 10 trucks, the equivalent of approximately 300,000 litres. "Who has...

The can comeback, led by brands like Ska Brewing, Oskar Blues and New Belgium, has opened up a 360-degree canvas for label designers typically restricted to the few stickers on a beer bottle. Thrillest has (with the help of CraftCans.com guru and Canned! author Russ Phillips) created a handy gallery of its picks for the "10 coolest-looking beer cans in America." And while I was glad to see a few of my personal favorites on the list (including my friends and neighbors at Good People Brewing in Birmingham, Alabama), I feel like they left off a few brews that are...

Jobim's Guide to Imbibe: Rule 1: imbibe only and always with endorphins Rule 2: imbibe only while walking Rule 3: imibe only 2 pints of decent brew I run, or walk fast with Nordic poles for 4 miles, working up a good sweat and percolating the endorphins. Then I pick up 2 pints at the store, and drink them on the 2 mile walk home, finishing under the stars. I defy anyone to improve on my routine, finally discovered at this ripe old age of 62 & retirement.

<p>SUMMIT, S.D. -- A semitrailer truck that rolled on Interstate 29 in South Dakota dumped a trailer full of beer cans into the highway's median.</p> <p>The South Dakota Highway Patrol tells KELO television (http://bit.ly/1q8nBNz) that the driver fell asleep while heading north on Interstate 29 near Summit on Wednesday morning. He woke up and overcorrected, causing the truck to enter the median and roll.</p>

NEW YORK — The King of Beers is bowing down to a food blogger. Anheuser-Busch unveiled the ingredients of Budweiser and Bud Light for the first time Thursday, a day after a popular food blogger started an online petition to get major brewers to list what’s in their beverages. Anheuser-Busch, which also makes Beck’s, Busch and Michelob beers, said it will list the ingredients for all of its other brands online “in the coming days.” On its website, tapintoyourbeer.com, Anheuser-Busch lists the same ingredients for Budweiser and Bud Light: Water, barley malt, rice, yeast and hops. The company said it...

Nigeria is Africa’s largest economy and its largest beer market after the country where SAB (South African Breweries) was founded in 1895. The firm moved its main stockmarket listing to London in 1999 and a few years later it acquired Miller, a big American brewer, in a deal that gave the renamed SABMiller global scale and reach. It now operates in 75 countries, but in recent years it has found that its fastest-growing and most promising market is the continent of its birth (see chart 1). SAB has operations in 15 African countries and a stake in 21 others through...