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	FORUM ON BEER, HOMEBREWING, AND RELATED ISSUES
		Rob Gardner, Digest Coordinator

Contents:
  Re: Sam Adams ALE - made in Boston! (Michael Eldredge)
  Re: Bud Bashing (was Reinheitsgebot) (Michael Eldredge)
  dangers (or not?) of aluminum (Dick Dunn)

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Date: Sun, 28 May 89 15:28:38 PDT
From: dredge at hitchrack.STANFORD.EDU (Michael Eldredge)
Subject: Re: Sam Adams ALE - made in Boston!

 Personally, I like Sam Adams' Lager.  I like it alot.  I had it a
 couple years ago on a trip to Boston and it is now available here in
 the San Francisco area.  I don't drink it frequently -- but then
 again, I don't drink any one beer frequently because we are lucky
 enough to have so many good beers available.

 I think it is *extremely* wrong to bash SA's product.  You can
 like it or not -- ie: it tastes good or it tastes bad.  But the
 owner and company and company policy are not the beer.

 It is important to separate discussion of product and marketing
 methods. While I agree that Koch and his strategies are "asshole-ish",
 he has had a net positive influence on the resurgence of good beer in
 the US.  Through whatever means, he has got a small scale, non-US/rice
 style beer out in many markets.  He has raised the awareness of a
 broad spectrum of people.  As homebrewers, we are (or at least -- can
 be) quite snobby about all facets of the brewing process (I know I
 am).  But as homebrewers we are also the minority of beer drinkers.  I
 welcome ANYONE that can get more and more of the public to take an
 interest in what they drink -- to recognize that there is not one
 particular taste that is "beer".

 All the Boston bickering is only helping the consumer.  They are
 getting better and better beer every year.  Last month I was back
 in Boston and lived at the Commonwealth Brewery, drank a fair bit
 of Harpoon Ale and even toured the Harpoon Brewery (and just missed
 the opening of the Cambridge Brewery).  There is constantly more to
 choose from.
 
 BTW, out of all the "Boston" beers, I like Commonwealth's Celtic Ale
 the best, followed by Sam Adams Lager.  But I'm willing to re-assess
 my list on my next trip out.

 Michael Eldredge
 Stanford University,  IC Lab

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Date: Sun, 28 May 89 15:46:04 PDT
From: dredge at hitchrack.STANFORD.EDU (Michael Eldredge)
Subject: Re: Bud Bashing (was Reinheitsgebot)

> Date: Tue, 23 May 89 14:36:49 EDT
> From: holos0!lbr at gatech.edu
> Subject: Bud Bashing (was Reinheitsgebot)
 
> If you don't like Budweiser, it means you don't like its *style*.

 No.  I don't like Budweiser!  I like American Lager/Pilsner *style*
 beers.  On hot sunny days there is nothing better than a Strohs, or
 Coors, or Miller, or Hielmans or Henry's.  But Bud is another story.
 Besides its taste, I have never had such bad hangovers from any other
 beer.

 I'm sure the point was:
	If you don't like American Lagers, it means you don't
	like [their] *style*.
 and that Bud is the big American Beer.  But I just don't like Bud.

 BTW, for some real fun -- let's take the Sam Adams/Jim Koch
 marketing technique conversation and apply it to A-B's marketing.
 I would contend that Bud is the number one selling beer NOT because
 it is the best, but because it is pushed the best.  "Sam Adams --
 Boston's patriot and first party animal!"

 Michael Eldredge
 Stanford University, IC Lab

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Date: 28 May 89 22:52:14 MDT (Sun)
From: hplabs!utah-cs!cs.utexas.edu!raven!rcd (Dick Dunn)
Subject: dangers (or not?) of aluminum

from a few issues back...
> > The major reason (that I have heard) that people advise against using
> > aluminum is that large quantities of it in the brain are linked with
> > Alzheimer's disease.  
and a.e.mossberg wrote...
> As for aluminium, while the link has been rumoured for years, only recently
> has data been available showing a correlation with high brain levels of 
> aluminium and senile dementia/alzheimer's, and the legal machinery moves
> slowly and laboriously.   

Perhaps some folks are worrying about this a lot, and it seems well estab-
lished that there's a high correlation between excess aluminum in the
brain and Alzheimer's.  However, (unless it's been recent) there isn't a
known causal relationship here.  That is, the aluminum may be the cause of
Alzheimer's, or it may show up there for some other reason.  (For example,
something else could be causing both Alzheimer's and accumulation of alumi-
num in the brain.  I'm not saying that's the case; I'm just pointing out
that while all you have is correlation and not causality, it's possible.)

There are at least two other questions to be answered before we decide that
aluminum pots are a problem:  First, does the aluminum really leach out of
the pots?  The answer is at least "usually not" because the surface of the
pot is really aluminum oxide, which is pretty tough even if the metal
underneath is soft.  You have to have something strong enough to pull the
oxide off the surface and into solution.  Second, once you get an aluminum
compound of some sort in solution in food, is there a mechanism for absorb-
ing it into the body, transporting it to the brain, and keeping it there?

I don't know whether wort will peel off any significant layer; I've never
tried it.  Anyone ever tried using an aluminum pot for the boil and found
that it cleaned the pot?

> > There is another reason to avoid the aluminum boiling vessel besides
> > the obvious health risk.  Aluminum imparts a nasty flavour to most
> > anything cooked in it...

I have to object to this one; it's just far too strong.  There are things
you can cook in aluminum pots which might pick up an objectionable flavor,
but not "anything".  Lots of very good cooks and fine restaurants use
aluminum successfully for lots of good food...I'd stay away from highly
acid foods, but that may be superstition.

But I'll confess that I don't use aluminum for either my brewing or my
chili.  I bought a 21-qt stainless pot many years ago, rationalizing the
expense by being able to use it for both beer and chili (not
simultaneously:-).
---
Dick Dunn	{ncar;ico;stcvax}!raven!rcd		(303)494-0965
			or	rcd at raven.uucp

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