Free Republic

U.S. drinkers of Beck's beer who thought the American-made brew they were buying was still a fancy, century-old German import can get cash payments under a $20 million settlement approved Tuesday in a class-action lawsuit over deceptive packaging. People with proof that they bought Beck's at retail outlets could get up to $50 per household. Those without receipts can qualify for $12 maximum. Claims may be filed through Nov. 20 via a court-approved website: www.becksbeersettlement.com. The settlement, approved by U.S. Magistrate Judge John J. O'Sullivan, came in a lawsuit filed in 2013 by several Beck's drinkers who noticed there was...

The sixth time was the charm as British-based brewer SABMiller on Tuesday accepted in principle a $106 billion takeover offer from Anheuser Busch InBev that will create the world's biggest beer company and bring together top U.S. brands Budweiser and Miller Genuine Draft.

Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world's largest brewer, launched an improved offer for SABMiller on Wednesday, offering just over 68 billion pounds ($104 billion) for its largest rival to extend its reach into Africa and other markets.

Monday, 28 September 2015 In an industrial zone among the hills of Galilee in northern Israel, a ponytailed sociologist with an intolerance for gluten explained what he was up to: beer made with chickpeas and dates. "It's a very Middle Eastern food," 52-year-old Bryan Meadan said of his gluten-free beer made with chickpeas, familiar to most through hummus and falafel. "Local beer with local products." In the part of the world where Jesus is believed to have turned water to wine, enterprising Israelis are opting for beer – local, craft beer that often has a regional twist.

Unlike ales, lager beers differ little in flavor. But now, by creating new crosses among the relevant yeasts, Kevin Verstrepen, PhD, Stijn Mertens, and their collaborators have opened up new horizons of taste. The research is published in the September 25 Applied and Environmental Microbiology, a journal of the American Society for Microbiology. The relative uniformity of flavor among lagers turned out to result in significant part from a lack of genetic diversity among the yeasts. Genetic studies showed that lager yeasts had resulted from just two crosses between the parent yeasts, Saccharomyces cerevisiae, and S. eubayanus. The problem was...

Munich (dpa) - A week before Munich's Oktoberfest begins, authorities are expressing concern about how the city will cope with the event's expected 6 million visitors, on top of the thousands of refugees currently pouring into the Bavarian capital every day. Bavarian Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann called for an increased deployment of federal police to assist local officers. "If, during the evenings and at the weekend, festival visitors who have had a lot to drink run into as many refugees as we have had in recent days, things could get out of hand," he said. The annual beer festival, billed...

I'm a pretty popular guy here in San Jose and I've finally made my endorsement for president. Ted Cruz-2016

Michigan has followed New Hampshire by banning the sale of Founders Brewery’s Oatmeal Breakfast Stout because a baby appears on the label The Grand Rapids-based brewery announced last week it was changing the label after the image was said to promote underage drinking.

"Whoa! Let's hope there's no DEET in that," says Phil Cutti, brewmaster at Headlands Brewing, biting into a paper-thin seed pod with overwhelming notes of bug spray. Scratch that plant off the list. Our group of nine is eating and smelling its way along a forested path to the top of San Francisco's Mt. Sutro, searching for something cool to use in a to-be-determined experimental Headlands beer. As we try everything from minty-sweet hummingbird sage to little tannic dust balls that look misleadingly like blueberries, I keep a close eye on Cutti, trying to figure out where he's going with...

There are some people who are so integral to the character of a place that they become something larger than themselves. Ernie Oelbermann, legendary owner of the Phyrst and bandleader of the Phyrst Phamily band, was one of the those people. He wasn’t just an older man with a smile and a banjo; he was a defining part of what living in State College was like for countless residents and Penn State alumni. His daughter Kathy DiMuccio recalls a familiar scene from every Saturday night during the 32 years he owned the bar and performed with his rotating cast of...

MINNEAPOLIS, The makers of Wheaties announced the "Breakfast of Champions" is expanding to later in the day with its latest product, a craft beer dubbed HefeWheaties. General Mills announced on its website it is partnering with Minneapolis craft brewery Fulton for a limited release of HefeWheaties, an American Hefeweizen beer inspired by the cereal. "We were intrigued from the get-go on this idea for many reasons, including that we're both Minneapolis companies, and that the beer and the cereal both started from the same place in terms of raw ingredients and the same city," said Ryan Petz, president and co-founder...

Today’s discerning beer drinkers might be convinced that America’s watery, bland lagers are a recent corporate invention. But the existence of American beers that are, as one industry executive once put it, “less challenging,” has a much longer history. In fact, Thomas Jefferson, himself an accomplished homebrewer, complained that some of his country’s beers were “meagre and often vapid” nearly 200 years ago.

Even a company that named its top beer after a hero of the American Revolution may eventually forsake its home country. Boston Beer Co., the maker of Samuel Adams beer and Angry Orchard hard cider, would be worth more to a foreign owner unburdened by the US tax structure, founder Jim Koch told a Senate committee on Thursday. Because of that, Koch says he regularly gets pitches from investment bankers looking to strike a sale. He’s been turning them down — for now. “We don’t mind paying our taxes here in the US in gratitude for the opportunities that exist...

Michigan’s recently-deceased film subsidy program showcased the lure of the California dream — movie productions dotting the state, creating economic miracles everywhere they appeared. That particular vision did not come to pass, but there are better ways Michigan can meet, emulate or exceed California’s achievements and industry. After all, Michigan has more coastline, more fresh water and more craft breweries per capita than the Golden State. Michiganders aren’t alone in noticing and capitalizing upon the rise of craft brew. According to the Brewer’s Association, a group that promotes the interests of craft brewers, only the District of Columbia and Oklahoma...

Venezuela could stop making beer by August, as local breweries run out of ingredients needed to produce the country’s most popular alcoholic drink. A brewery shutdown would reduce the country’s beer supply by a terrifying 80 percent, according to industry leaders. Local breweries say they are down to their final batches of barley, malt and other imported products needed to make beer, thanks to Venezuela’s strict currency controls that have made it almost impossible to purchase supplies. The industry, which is calling the situation an “unprecedented crisis,” is already some $200 million in arrears to suppliers around the world. “Beer...

Nairobi Readies For Obama Arrival!

BAKER LAKE, Wash. — Agents from the department of Fish and Wildlife in Washington found a black bear sleeping off a major buzz, with three dozen empty cans of Rainier beer close by. “This is a new one on me,” Sgt. Bill Heinck said. “I’ve known them to get into cans, but nothing like this.” While a drunken bear is a bit unusual, the most unusual part of the story is what the bear left behind. “He drank the Rainier and wouldn’t drink the Busch beer,” Mount Baker campground employee Lisa Broxson told NBC News. “It definitely had a preference.”...

It's still months away, but amid all the turmoil on financial markets and chaos in the global economy, you can't help but look forward to this year's Oktoberfest. Incrementum's ninth annual In Gold We Trust report analyzes gold primarily as a monetary asset and not as a commodity like say hops or barley. The Liechtenstein-based asset managers conclude that "the competitive position of gold relative to paper money and other asset classes has improved considerably in recent months" and have 140 pages of charts and tables to prove it. Many comparisons from everyday life show that gold is currently not...

Organizers at Northern Europe’s largest music festival, Roskilde and the Danish Agriculture & Food Council partnered last weekend to collect 25,000 liters of urine from more than 100,000 festivalgoers. In a program they’re calling “From piss to pilsner.” The collected goods will be sent to local farmers to fertilize barley crops used to grow beer. The program will be used to create 425 kegs of beer that will be sold at the festival in 2017.