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The “ridiculous waste” of Christmas beer was the subject of discussion at Alþingi, the Icelandic parliament, today, mbl.is reports. Member of Parliament Brynhildur Pétursdóttir, Bright Future, used those words when deploring the fact that regulations require for perfectly good, unsold beer to be discarded right after Christmas or Easter if it’s labeled as Christmas beer or Easter beer. The regulations originate in the Ministry of Finance. Thus, she asked Finance Minister Bjarni Benediktsson whether those could be changed. Bjarni responded, “Of course these are rules which should be reevaluated, as are rules regarding where liquor can be sold. And it’s...

With an explosion in growth in the craft beer industry over the last decade, it's not enough to simply have a passion for brewing and beer when it comes to starting a brewery or working for one as the industry gets more competitive. Recognizing that, some universities are now offering programs on the business of craft beer. In the last decade, the number of craft breweries has grown to more than 4,000 in the U.S. today, from more than 1,400 in 2005, according to the Brewers Association. ...

If you have beer sitting in the back of the fridge you can't bring yourself to drink or dump, have I got some ideas for you. This time of year brings a multitude of holiday parties to the calendar and gifts under the tree. This inevitably means ending up with "crap" beer in the fridge. Perhaps it's after a get-together with friends, when everyone brought a little something to share, or a well-meaning relative got you a six-pack thinking you might like it. Or maybe it's after picking something new at the store that you ended up hating. Or, let's...

Alcohol Voted 'Worst' Christmas Gift The results of a recent poll by review and research organisation Consumer Reports have revealed alcohol is considered the "worst" gift to receive at Christmas. The Consumer Reports National Research Center designed a survey to explore "general sentiment and shopping behaviours" for the 2015 winter holiday season. Out of the 1,300 US residents polled - statistically weighted so that respondents in the survey were demographically and geographically representative of the US population - spirits such as vodka, rum and whisky received the highest number of votes for 'worst gift', with 20% listing booze as the...

Did you know the Catholic Church has an official blessing for beer?In the 1964 edition of the Rituale Romanum, one of the Church’s official books of rituals, there is a section with “Blessings of things designated for ordinary use.”Among the many rituals listed, you can find special blessings for pastries, medicine, cheese, fire, seeds, airplanes, and more – including beer.Why bless beer? Because it is a part of God’s good creation and a wonderful gift for human enjoyment! Ever since Jesus turned water into wine at the marriage at Cana (John 2), the Catholic Church has supported the enjoyment of alcohol...

FORT COLLINS - New Belgium Brewing has joined forces with Ben & Jerry's to donate $100,000 to a California-based nonprofit that works to mobilize the snow-sports community to battle climate change. The two "B-corp" companies, Fort Collins-based New Belgium and South Burlington, Vt.-based Ben & Jerry's, partnered to create a special beer and ice cream, with a portion of their proceeds going to Pacific Palisades, Calif.-based Protect Our Winters. The companies presented the check to POW on Friday during a celebration at Stoney's Bar and Grill in Denver. ... In addition to fundraising for POW, the campaign encouraged people to...

TUCSON, Ariz. — A witness who saw a man steal two cases of beer followed him out of a convenience store and shot him to death after the thief charged at him with a log, according to authorities in southern Arizona. Police in Tucson are investigating, and prosecutors will determine whether to charge the shooter, a man who has not been identified, Sgt. Kimberly Bay said.

Orange-colored galls, such as these pictured in 2010, from the beech tree forests of Patagonia have been found to harbor the yeast that makes lager beer possible. Five hundred years ago, in the age of sail and when the trans-Atlantic trade was just beginning, the yeast somehow made its way from Patagonia to the caves and monastery cellars of Bavaria where the first lager beers were fermented. University of Wisconsin-Madison Genetics Professor Chris Todd Hittinger and colleagues have discovered a quick and efficient way to fuse different strains of yeast to make hybrids similar to the lager beer hybrid, an...

STOCKHOLM, Sweden, - Champion strongman and Game of Thrones star Hafthor Bjornsson chucked a 33-pound beer keg more than 24 feet into the air to break a world record. Bjornsson, known as "Thor" to his fans and as Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane to fans of HBO drama Game of Thrones, threw the 33-pound keg 24 feet and 6 inches into the air Saturday at the Giants Live strongman contest in Sweden. "I am going to throw it through the roof," the World Record Academy quoted Bjornsson as saying prior to his feat. Bjornsson, who previously set the Guinness World Record...

Dutch brewing company Grolsch will be put up for sale in an effort to win Brussels approval for a merger between the world’s two biggest beer groups, the Sunday Times said at the weekend.AB Inbev will agree to sell Grolsch and Peroni so it can keep its own top names, including Stella Artois, the paper said.AB Inbev struck a deal to take over Grolsch owner SABMiller earlier in November for around €60 a share, a 50% premium on the closing price on September 14.British-South African brewing group SABMiller bought Grolsch for €816m at the end of 2007.City sources told the...

Obamacare's menu labeling regulation promises to be a disaster for the food and restaurant industries, as its implementation is both costly and extremely onerous. While its deleterious effects on the pizza, restaurant, and grocery industries have been most well known, it also has the potential to shutter an industry near and dear to Americans' hearts: craft beer. Since beer has a few too many calories for bureaucrats, the health law dictates that all brewers include a detailed calorie count on every type of beer produced. Failure to do so, according to Americans for Tax Reform, "means craft brewers will not be able...

New rules will cost businesses between $49,000 and $77,000 to comply Obamacare regulations requiring that restaurants post calorie information on menus will make it harder and costlier for breweries making craft beer to comply with the new rules, Watchdog.org reported. Regulations taking effect next year will require that restaurant chains with more than 20 locations nationwide such as Buffalo Wild Wings and Applebee’s post calorie information on all of their menus. For items such as craft beer, which are not made in house, calorie information from the brewery must be shipped to the restaurant. “Brewers are facing the prospect of...

A Georgia death-row inmate scheduled for execution on Thursday requested a six-pack of beer as his last meal and was turned down, prison officials said. As a result, Marcus Ray Johnson will be given the regular meal: baked fish, cheese grits, beans, cole slaw, cookies and fruit punch. "His request was declined as alcohol is a contraband item," the Georgia Department of Corrections said in a statement.

Guinness dates back 256 years and is laden with deep cultural connotations for both the Irish and Irish diaspora here in the United States. Any significant change to it is risky.Even if it means removing an element deemed repugnant by a large segment of the population.We could be talking about isinglass — the clear collagen extracted from fish bladders that is used to draw spent yeast out of beer and clarify the finished product — but Guinness is planning to remove that particular substance from its brewing process in 2016 in favor of another less-fishy filtration method. There wasn’t all...

It's no fun being in the middle.Heineken, Molson Coors and Carlsberg are storied brewers that trace their roots back hundreds of years and have loyal drinkers around the world. But the merger of their two biggest competitors leaves such mid-size brewers without a clear way forward.They find themselves squeezed between a Goliath that will produce almost a third of the world's beer and a growing army of craft brewers.Some experts say the mid-sized brewers should respond by pursuing takeovers of their own. Others argue that would do little good because the underlying problem is that consumers are increasingly drinking craft...

<p>Legally, alcohol is banned in Saudi Arabia. In reality, however, there are people in the country who drink.</p> <p>If you're wondering how exactly they actually get that alcohol, consider the multiple reports in the Saudi press today that describe how the Saudi authorities at border with United Arab Emirates caught a man with 48,000 cans of Heineken – all disguised as Pepsi cola.</p>

Beer Guinness changes recipe to go vegan Guinness is going vegan. Starting in 2016, the Irish beer will be fully vegan friendly for the first time since they started brewing beer 256 years ago, reports The Independent. Guinness, like many other brewers, use isinglass, a by-product of the fishing industry that's used to clarify the beer and make yeast settle faster. While most of the agent is filtered out during the brewing process, there are still traces of fish bladders in the finished product. Vegan customers have long been petitioning the brand to discontinue its use of isinglass. One was...

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.