Category: Beer

Social Media Made Guinness Beer Scarce.

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Social Media Made Guinness Beer Scarce!

Did social media have a play in the scarcity of Guinness Beer?

Right now, there is a shortage of that fine tasting Guinness Beer. This beer devastation is not from climate change with droughts and floods effecting the barley harvest. Or lack of fresh water. No, the desolate depletion of Guinness Beer was brought on by a marketing campaign which lasted for a few years in the UK, along with a social media hype. The main group devoted were women and Gen Zs. Guinness Beer is getting sold out. “No drops of stout left in my stein me laddies!”

 

Guinness Beer produced by Diageo for 265 years, limited the purchase on how much British pubs can get. Usually half of their regular orders. One pub owner noted that we must have Guinness for the Six Nation Rugby Championship which kicks off January 31, 2025! These nasty limits only apply to pubs in Ireland, England, Scotland and Wales.

Also, the Irish security stock of Guinness Beer was commandeered for the UK shortage. North America will also suffer from the lack of Guinness in the pubs due to Diageo putting a large shipment on standby. Diageo spokesperson thanked customers for their patience due to the demand at unprecedented levels and working hard to increase the volume.

Arthur Guinness on December 31, 1759, signed a 9000-year lease on the St. James Gate Brewery in Dublin, Ireland. The Guinness Beer was born. Is Guinness still paying 5 cents a month??

This brewery is now owned by Diageo a multinational alcohol beverage maker based in London, England. Out of their over 200 brand names include Smirnoff, Baileys, Captain Morgan and Gordon’s Gin.

Very sad for the Guinness Beer shortage especially for the Six Nation Rugby Championship. Life is life but marketing and social media does not always help.

Update: 35200 pints of Guinness Beer were just stolen due to the shortage.

Health and Culinary Products Made With Beer.

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Health and Culinary Products Made With Beer.

One day Harold mentioned to Dr. Wetbrain how much he loved crispy Walleye fish in beer batter and recently tried a beer can chicken dinner. Both dishes were YUMMY!

Dr. Wetbrain had to educate Harold.

So many other products are made with beer. Such as BBQ sauces, body lotions, soaps and hair shampoo. You can even make bread and cake.

Apparently BBQ a beer-can-chicken also. Never tried this, but what it looks like is a cooked chicken with a beer can up its ass.

“Yes it actually does,” Harold replied giggling.

Beer has medical benefits from the hops for all these products with vitamin E, B6 and C. Besides vitamins, beer also has restorative nutrients such as antioxidants and protein. Excellent for your immune system and helps to detox your hair and skin. Cleanse, repair and protect your hair and skin without harsh chemicals.

Drinking beer on the other hand has no evidence for medical benefits and making your hair healthy, shiny and looking great.

Remember ‘Body on Tap’ Shampoo, which was launched in 1978. Made with a natural beer produced by Anheuser Busch, better known as Budweiser.

There was the TV commercial aired in July 1978 starring Kim Basinger. “Made with one third real beer, but don’t drink it.”

‘Body On Tap’ Shampoo Commercial.

So, Harold besides getting drunk, beer is great for health and culinary uses. I also love eating Walleye fish in beer batter. Funny to note that there is even Beer Belly Lotion available. You should take note Harold.

WTF, Microplastics Are Now In BEER!

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WTF, Microplastics Are Now in Beer!

WTF! Microplastics are now in BEER!

What are microplastics, Dr. Wetbrain thought.

Well apparently, everything made these days are made with these tiny little plastic beads and everything of no use is thrown away as garbage which breaks down through time and turns back into these tiny plastic beads.

The microplastics are into the whole environment such as air, water, sea water and soil. We are all consuming this plastic for our survival, like eating and drinking. Also, wildlife is dealing with this human caused fate.

These nasty beads can cause in humans and animals a variety of cancers, digestive problems, defects to respiratory, reproductive and immune systems.

The microplastics were first detected in shellfish and other fish used for human consumption. Ends up that the average human ingests 11,000 plastic particles a year. WTF!

These tiny plastic beads are in everything we drink like bottled water, soda, juice drinks and BEER. Water is needed to grow and raise all we eat. Vegetables, fruits and grains all have plastic particles. So do poultry, pork and beef, which are eating the microplastic added grain. A tasty T-bone steak on the BBQ will have microplastic in it. So sad.

How do these microplastic beads get into the system?

These tiny 5mm plastic beads are sourced from discarded clothing, plastic bottles, cosmetics, paint and detergents along with tire wear and more, which all eventually gets back into our drinking water through sewers and water treatment plants. These beads still get through in the treatment plant even though ultraviolet lights, chlorine and micro filtering is used to prevent this.

WTF! Microplastics are now in BEER!

“Maybe that’s why my face looks so shiny,” Dr. Wetbrain thought after and acting like a robot.

Artificial Intelligence Changes Brewing Beer.

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Artificial Intelligence Changes Brewing Beer.

 

Artificial Intelligence is really getting into too much of our human lives. These days A.I. is involved in medicine, art, music and duplicating people’s image along with their voice and even bars. Scary!

And now A.I. is used to make great tasting beer by redesigning the recipe. Remember that a computer does not have taste buds! Also, with all the senses us humans have and the nonsenses that the internet has, would artificial intelligence make better tasting beer? Dr. Wetbrain had to investigate this crazy idea.

A.I. has a large data base on the beloved beer which links chemical data with sensory features to accurately predict a beer’s taste and smell, apparently.

Beer has basically 4 main ingredients of hops, yeast, grains and water. What I have seen is that A.I. beer brewing can predict how beer tastes from its chemical make up and then comes up with great recipe ideas, but the ingredient numbers are off. That’s where the human touch comes in to make the beer perfect. Otherwise, bad tasting, 2% beer.

KU Leuven Brewery in Belgium developed an artificial intelligent model which works with expert beer taster’s decisions, 180,000 public ratings and measurements of 226 chemical compounds. The end results still needed tweaking from their brew master.

Dalen Landis, owner of the Grain Bin Brewing Co. in Grande Prairie, Alberta, Canada wanted 100% A.I. made beer. Still, they needed staff to tweak the technology.

Vancouver Island Brewery in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada wanted to do the same as Grain Bin. Yep! The internal brew master had to fix the brew.

Co-owner Alan Norman of Tire Shack Brewing Co. in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada used Chat GPT to come up with a recipe. Their new A.I. beer is called Garden Party, if you want to try it.

Dr. Wetbrain investigated further by tasting some of these A.I. beers and concluded that the extra human touch made a much better tasting beer. But I could see that beer with the new artificial intelligence is an interesting novelty to try. Human made beer is the best.

180,000 public reviews can be found on RateBeer.com

Check out ‘Eight Different Robotic Bartenders’.

The Beer Bottle Saga.

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The Beer Bottle Saga.

sha.org/bottle/beer

Dr. Wetbrain was reminiscing one day while sipping on a beer bottle. His thought drifted to the “Stubbie’s”. Beer bottles never had a tall neck at one time. It was in the 1980’s when the tall neck became popular. Twist top cap bottles were already used in the 1960’s but never got popular till much later. Thanks to the tall neck bottles. I remember using lighters and seatbelts for stubby bottle openers. Seen people using boards and their eye socket to open beer bottles. What the??!

Commercial beer bottles started in the late 1600s but were not a big thing then. Even though carrying a case of glass bottled beer is better than walking down a cobble stoned street toting beer filled bowls or large covered steins in each hand. Noted that both would have been filled from a barrel spout.

In the late 1600s these new beer bottles were made with clear glass at first. But were soon realized buy the faithful guzzlers that the beer was sour, skunky tasting after sitting in the sun for a short spell. According to scientific research ultra-violet rays damage the acids found in the hops. Thus, the brown tinted bottles. Which were made to prevent the nasty UV rays from damaging the hops. No more skunks! Green beer bottles are made, but the UV protection is not as good as the brown bottles.

Since 1975 a Japanese company called Kirin Holdings tracked the global consumption of beer. 185 million Kiloliters in 2021. 74000 Olympic sized swimming pools. Dr. Wetbrain thought the numbers would be higher. Thank you Visualcapitalist.com for 2021 data on global beer consumption in different countries.

So let us talk about divots on the base or bottom of a beer bottle. I always thought that it was the number of how many times that bottle was recycled. Which does not make sense for the bottle is molded only once. These dots or ‘heel codes’ are for production equipment to read the size of the bottle. That’s it.

Unfortunately recycling bottles is a problem where more than 28 billion bottles annually do not get recycled. It’s good to know though that the average beer bottle gets reused 15 times in its life span with a strict process of inspection and sanitation.

Beer consumption has gone through a long history from covered Beer Steins to cardboard cases of 24 bottles of beer to carry home.

Country Artists And Booze Brands.

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Country Artists And Booze Brands.

Dr. Wetbrain and Harold have been listening to a country music radio station lately. The doctor looked over to Harold and made a profound comment. “Did you notice how most of the country songs deal with beer, whiskey and pick-up trucks.

“And love.” Harold added.

“I don’t know about love.” Wetbrain replied. Of course, you don’t, Harold thought to himself.

“But we should look into how many country artists own their own brand of beer or whiskey”, Dr. Wetbrain stated.

Ends up there are plenty. Here are a few country entrepreneurs for starters.

Willie Nelson – Old Whiskey River Bourbon.

   Distilled by Heaven Hill Distilleries Inc., this 86 proof Kentucky straight bourbon whiskey was made with the thought of Willie Nelson’s 1978 song ‘Whiskey River” in mind.

This fine whiskey is aged in charred American oak barrels for 6 years. Each of the good looking ‘Old Whiskey River Bourbon’ bottles comes with a Willie Nelson’s guitar pick.

Willies drinking songs: Whiskey River, Drinking Champagne, I Gotta Get Drunk, Beer for My Horses, Bloody Mary Morning.

Luke Bryan – Two Lane American Golden Lager.

   This 4.2% lager beer was brewed in collaboration with Luke Bryan and Blue Crown Brewing in Daleville, Virginia.

Relaunching in 2020, thanks to the pandemic, Two Lane beer will be delayed and now available in early 2024.

Luke Bryan and Blue Crown Brewing are also launching a Hard Seltzer with 4 flavors – Cherry Limeade, Peach Tea, Blueberry Lemonade and Watermelon Punch.

Luke Bryan’s drinking songs: Drink a Beer, Got a Beer In My Hand, Drinking Again, Take My Drunk Ass Home.

Eric Church – Jack Daniel’s Single Barrel Select.

   Eric Church joined together with Jack Daniels to create Eric Church’s Single Barrel Select. A 94 proof, one-of-a-kind whiskey based on Eric’s fine whiskey taste with a hint of vanilla and caramel.

Eric Church and Jack Daniels released the Single Barrel Select Whiskey on August 3, 2020. With the pandemic, good timing.

Eric Church’s drinking songs: Drink in My Hand, Jack Daniels, Mixed drinks about feeling.

Darius Rucker – Backstage Southern Whiskey.

   Debuted in 2017, Darius Rucker, originally from Hootie and the Blowfish made his own whiskey. Backstage Southern Whiskey.

This 84% proof whiskey originated from Darius having a tradition before each show where he would have a backstage toast with all the bandmates.

Backstage Southern Whiskey made by Palmetto Distillery, South Carolina.

Darius Rucker’s drinking songs: Beer and Sunshine, Drinkin’ and Dialin’, Same Beer Different Problem, 7 Days.

Beer, whiskey and pick-up trucks, maybe the odd tractor is what most of the best country music deals with. But that is what makes the music real. Down to earth.

More country music artists and booze brands to come. Stay tuned.

 

Helpful Climate Change Tips – By Drinkers.

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   Throughout the world proud farmers are dealing with a variety of climate change issues such as drought, wildfires and these new wars are not helping either.

These proud farmers that are fighting against climate change anyway they can with the science that they have at hand. Only to feed the world. But you can only do what you can with what you have. Another drought would devastate the production of wheat, barley and other grains which would bring shortages of a grain yield to the already starving world.

Shortage of wheat and other grains would bring the prices of bread, cookies, pastries, noodles and granola bars to triple or more in cost.

Worst yet shortage of barley due to climate change would triple the prices of baby food, breakfast cereal and BEER!

   So, with that in mind Dr. Wetbrain thought of ways to help the climate change problem.

– Save on water consumption – Flush toilet on every 4th or 5th pee break. Flushing all beer pees is not needed for a gallon of good water, wasted.

– Save on plastic waste – 6 or 8 pack plastic rings for cans, collect as many as you can into a plastic garbage bag. Will be easy for recyclers to separate to the good bin. Plus save the lives of some of those poor seagulls being chocked to death by this plastic beer can holder from the dump.

  – Don’t drive while drunk! –  Save gas, fossil fuel and pollution by using an EV Uber or EV taxi or even a bus. Let us not forget the loss of a few years of your normal life from an expensive impaired charge.

– Beer or whiskey can and bottle empties – Take in all your bottles and cans to your nearest bottle depot. An investment for your next purchase of beer or whiskey.

   Dr. Wetbrain concluded. That’s all I have for helping the climate change problem for now. Perhaps more tips to come. Stay tuned.

Trivial Pursuit Game Was Created – While Drunk.

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Trivial Pursuit Game Was Created While Drunk.

“What’s the most popular cocktail in the U.S.? Do you know the answer, Harold?”

“How the hell would I know that!?”

“The martini.” The doctor replied.

“What card are you reading?” Harold asked.

“Remember playing the board game Trivial Pursuit?”

The Trivial Pursuit board game was first conceived on December 15, 1979, by two beer drinking Canadians, Chris Haney and Scott Abbott who created this world-famous board game. Created with the help of plenty of Carlsberg Beer.

Chris Haney and Scott Abbott spent 2 exhausting years thinking and writing up 6000 questions and answers for the first edition of the Trivial Pursuit game.

1200 of these board games were put together in Niagara-Of-Lake, Ontario, Canada in 1981. These games were sold in the spring of 1982.

Trivial Pursuit became popular immediately to the point where this board game sold 20 million copies in 1984! Thank you, Carlsberg Beer.

Other Trivial Pursuit Game Editions that were produced later…

– Sports

– TV Edition

– 1960’s

– 1980’s

– Baby Boomer

– Walt Disney

– Star Wars

– Lord Of the Rings

– Power Rangers (What!?)

Unfortunately, Chris Haney died by kidney and circulatory problems on May 31, 2010. Survived by his 2 wives and 3 children. Here’s a drink of Carlsberg Beer to you Chris.

Hasbro bought the board game Trivial Pursuit in 2008 for $80 million and is still going strong as the 7th most popular game of all time.

Climate Change and the Beer Shortage.

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Climate Change and the Beer Shortage.

 

“Harold you are spilling out a 1/8th of a bottle of beer! What are you doing? That’s alcohol abuse.” Dr. Wetbrain yelled.

“Spit, backwash”, Harold remarked.

“That’s no excuse. Don’t you know a beer shortage is coming thanks to climate change?” Wetbrain concluded.

Sure, the barley crop was plentiful at one time until the climate change effect came into view. Drought and heat waves are the main culprits in depleting the barley harvest. Droughts, heat waves, floods, hailstorms, grasshoppers’ migration, wildfires (smoke) all have contributing factors to climate change and the production of the most popular alcohol drink – BEER.

Severe droughts and heatwaves were highly hit in North America, UK and China. Other worst hit territories include Belgium, Ukraine, Czech Republic and Ireland.

Beer loving Ireland could triple on beer prices soon. Yikes!

All natural products like chocolate, coffee, wine and now Beer are all effected by climate change.

Sadly, Barley is one of the most heat-sensitive crops globally. What timing!

20% of barley goes to Beer. Most barley goes to feed livestock like cows and pigs. So, BBQing with a cold beer is contradicting each other. Funny!

Lots of other Barley hinderance is blamed on distribution, also the illegal invasion of Ukraine by Russia. Putin!!!

Two years ago, Ukraine produced 10 million tons of barley, only 6 million these days. Putin blowing up poor farmers fields, plus the droughts, plus shutting down ship movement in the Black Sea made a great decline in their barley distribution.

It did not help that in the middle of July 2023 Russia bombed the port city of Ukraine in Odesa destroying 60,000 tons of wheat and barley.

Oktoberfest in Munich Germany which hosts 7 million thirsty visitors will suffer from the fate of beer. Thank you climate change.

Eventually we will be paying double to triple the price for our beloved beer. Talk about inflation.

“Got that Harold! Cherish what we have. No more spilling out ‘spit, backwash and beer‘.”

Unique Whiskey Float.

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Whiskey Float Drink.

 

Dr. Wetbrain was sitting at his kitchen table looking out the window at the forest one day, thinking about the young days.

Remembering one young day learning how to make whiskey floats. Introduced by a new acquaintance. This drinking experiment started out with whiskey then escalated to vodka and white rum. This is a whiskey float drink that you would never imagine and without ice cream.

Dr. Wetbrain’s Whiskey Float.  

   You need:

  • Few medium sizes shot glasses.
  • A cheese cloth kitchen towel or a light towel will do.
  • Favorite Whiskey.

Steps:

1) Fill shot glass ¾ full of water.

2) Place the towel tightly over the shot glass.

3) With two fingers slowly push the tight towel into the glass till you reach the top of the water.

4) After slowly pour into the shot glass over the towel your favorite whiskey, rye, rum or vodka till near full. Dark rum does not work the best for the floating process due to its heavier density.

5) Then very slowly pull the cheese cloth tightly to the top of the glass. Take the cloth off and put to the side for the next whiskey float.

6) Then lift the full shot glass up to eye level and be astonished on how the whiskey sits on top of the water. Density at play.  Then shoot that glass down in one shot. You don’t even taste the alcohol, just feel the burn.

Other Whiskey Floats.  

Whiskey Ice Cream Float.

  • Place few scoops of vanilla ice cream into a tall glass.
  • Top with a splash of Cola and same amount of whiskey.
  • Drink with a straw, slurp or spoon is optional.

Beer Float.

According to Just Beer a beer float should be made with a beer that has a sweet finish. Bitter beer is not good.

  • Place a few scoops of vanilla ice cream into a tall glass.
  • Fill that glass with your favorite beer.
  • To be fancy top with chocolate shavings or whipped cream.

Ah, remembrance from youth. We spent a whole week experimenting with alcohol floats. Home for a rest after that boozing stint.