ONE OF THE MOST HORRIBLE EXPERIENCES you can face is picking up a six-pack of budget beer, which is disturbing in itself, and then discover through taste and aroma that it wasn’t aged properly.  Once again, you got suckered by a speeded up production line that filled your cans with what’s commonly called green beer.  Yuck!

But down in Atlanta, Georgia, there’s a micro-brewery that’s deliberately turning out “green” beer.  Only in this case, it’s beer made out of fully natural and pure water, i.e. rainwater.  Let CNN explain all this for you while they take you on a tour of the brewery:

JUST AS WE SKINNY PEOPLE HAVE ALWAYS EXPECTED, it has been determined that beer does not cause “beer belly.”  A new study published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition says that beer lovers can drink as much as they like without having to fear developing a beer belly, according to the latest research.

An eight-year study of more than 20,000 beer drinkers – 7876 men and 12,749 women – found that while heavy drinkers will put on weight, it won’t necessarily be around the beer belly region.  They explain further that beer whets your appetite and will often generate a desire to eat more that otherwise.  But the rotund waistline is more the fault of your family genes than your favorite brew.

But one man isn’t taking any chances and has publicly sworn off beer forever.  Gerhard Wilder, 46, of Bochum, Germany, got so drunk last weekend that he stepped into an open manhole.  But his “beer belly” wedged him in the opening and he couldn’t get out.

After getting calls that somebody was sleeping in the street, or possibly injured, firefighters came to the rescue, eventually freeing him.  After having his photo spread across all the newspapers in Europe, the mightily embarrassed Wilder says that while his belly saved him from completing the drop into the sewer, it was the beer that got him so drunk that he walked into the manhole that had been left open by some pranksters.  So he swore off the barley brew.  At least until next weekend.

IF YOU’VE GOTTEN BEYOND THE “CHUG-A-MUG” phase of beer drinking and now appreciate the fine qualities and flavors of craft beers, here’s some good information for you.

Jim Koch, founder and president of Boston Brewing (Sam Adams beers) shows us on this video the proper way to pour a beer, and why it is, along with what makes a quality beer taste so good.

If you are wondering about that unusual-shaped beer glass, Firegeezer carried the story of the “perfect beer glass” in August, 2007.  We tell you how and why it’s the perfect shape for beer drinking HERE.

WHEN IT GETS WARM, YOU SHED SOME CLOTHING, RIGHT?  Starting with that bit of human nature, a trio of out-of-work musicians in Australia came up with a marketing idea that is proving successful.

After an evening of “drunken decision-making” they decided to try out a novelty that follows those drinking glasses that change their image as the drink is consumed.  They wanted a beer bottle that has a bikini-babe who loses her swimsuit as the beer leaves the bottle.

One of the dreamers has a chemical engineering degree (and no rock band gigs lined up) and he checked into some specialty inks.  Using his expertise and the groupthink they came up with Skinny Blonde Beer – the beer label that undresses as you drink it.

The trick is in the special ink on the label.  As long as the bottle is chilled, Daisy (as the 50’s-style pinup girl is called) smiles at you with her bikini covering the right parts.  But as the beer is consumed from the bottle, the label starts to warm up and the ink changes into another design.  Daisy goes topless.

They are a hit down under and are now working on getting licensing to sell Daisy in Britain.  You can read the full story of their experiments and results in the London Times HERE.

I don’t know how it would go over here, though.  After all, who wants to see Sam Adams in his ….. uhhhh.

THE WORD IS GETTING AROUND ABOUT THE HEALTH BENEFITS of imbibing in a beer or two every day (Firegeezer REPORT) and a family of deer in western Pennsylvania decided to try it out.

They found that the door to the Beer Arena store in Greensburg was propped open and decided to check out some Sam Adams and Iron City.  No word on whether they tried to get into some Hook & Ladder brown ale. They left after they realized that you need opposible thumbs to open the cans. The security cameras recorded their frolic:

TEN DAYS AGO ON SATURDAY FEBRUARY 7, FIREGEEZER posted an article about beer taxes state-by-state.  A look at the chart we linked to shows that Oregon is one of the most lightly-taxed states when it comes to the barley brew.

Within hours of our posting, some dolt in the state legislature introduced a measure to increase the tax by 1,900%.  If the measure were to pass, the tax on beer would go up from approx. 1¢ per glass now to 20 cents.

This is the fourth time in the past six years that the legislature has attempted to raise the beer tax for the first time since 1977, and all have failed.  But Oregonians take their beer very seriously and are devoted to it, and will no doubt rise up to fight this latest attempt to tax their pints.

The Oregonian has MORE.

KGW-TV has this video report:

IT’S OFFICIAL:  TENNESSEE HAS THE NATION’S HIGHEST taxes on beer.  Following a survey of 2008 facts, the Beer Institute has compiled the listing of taxes imposed on beer by each of the states and Tennessee has just surpassed Alaska for the dubious distinction of collecting the highest amount per barrel.  (Firegeezer notes that Tennessee and Alaska are two of the handful of states that do not collect personal income taxes.)

Tennesseans are now paying an effective tax rate of $33.25 per barrel while the new runner-up Alaska collects $33.17.  By comparison, the national average is only $9.75 (skewed upwards by the top-5 states, Tennessee, Alaska, Alabama, Georgia and Hawaii).

The state with the least burden on its beer-drinkers is Wyoming who collects a mere 62¢ per barrel.

Tennessee’s high tax rate is continually climbing due to a nefarious scheme that their unconscionble politicians have applied that bases the tax on value, which goes up as the price of goods goes up, and another tax based on the value including the tax.  In other words, taxes are being taxed, too.  The KnoxvilleBiz explains how they do it HERE.

To see how far your state is reaching into your beer wallet, view the results of the Beer Institute’s study HERE (.pdf page).

THE TREMORS LAUNCHED BY THE TAKEOVER of Anheuser-Busch by the brewing giant InBev are still rumbling through the beer industry.  Last week InBev announced that they will be shutting down the Mortlake Brewery near London, England, early next year.

Mortlake, which had already been bought out by A-B and thus was drawn into the InBev family, has been in business at its location for 600 years.  Rich in history and still surviving amidst the wave of brewery shutdowns over the past 20 years in Britain, Mortlake was still doing well with its 300 workers and is the last of the 50 breweries that once lined the River Thames.

InBev’s choice to axe the venerable institution was strictly a business decision.  While they are publicly saying that Mortlake wasn’t profitable enough, it hasn’t escaped notice that their 11-acre site on prime riverfront real estate is worth millions of Pounds.

The Associated Press has a good report HERE.
Press Association has a brief video mention:

IT WAS 50 YEARS AGO TODAY, January 22, 1959, that the Adolph Coors brewery introduced the seamless aluminum can to the beverage industry.

Bill Coors, the head of the family-owned comany at the time, had always been dissatisfied with the steel can that was in use at the time.  Not only were they heavy, but the seams had solder along them and the tin-plated steel exuded an unnatural taste that you didn’t get with bottles.  Another consideration was the possibility of recycling the aluminum cans.  And Coors was also adamant about finding a container that would allow him to package the beer without having to pasteurize it, something that couldn’t be done with steel.

So in 1957 he brought an inventor over from Germany who had been working on the methodology of making an extruded aluminum can and he set him up with a laboratory and the means to develop it.

They finally got it worked out and less than two years later they introduced the 2-piece aluminum extruded can (the can and the lid).  The first one to hit the marketplace was a 7-ounce container that was sold in 8-packs.  And the rest is beer history.

The Rocky Mountain News has the complete story of this fermentation icon HERE.

IT’S ALL “PROFIT CENTER” NOW.  Anheuser-Busch Entertainment announced Monday that they will no longer be offering free beer at its ten theme parks’ hospitality centers.

For decades, visitors to SeaWorlds and Busch Gardens amusement parks have been able to drop into the Hospitality Room and partaken up to two free drafts of various A-B products.  But there’s a new sheriff in town since A-B was purchased by InBev last year and they have decided to convert the goodwill parlors into money-making restaurants.

In another crushing blow, they also told their theme park employees that they will no longer receive the two free cases of beer per month that had always been a pleasant perk for the park people.  Booooo!

BizJournal has the DETAILS.