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Mission Impossible: Getting drunk on beer

Sat, 19 Jul 2008 21:43:01 +0000

You might have heard about the story going round the internet. A “new” study says it is impossible to get drunk drinking beer. OH RLY?

A study by Dr. Leon A. Greensburg, professor of physiology at Yale University, proves with numbers it is impossible to get drunk on beer. His point is the stomach cannot hold enough alcohol to possible become intoxicated. He’s a professor at Yale with the numbers to back his claim; we have to take him at his word right?

A new definition of intoxication

The good Dr. Greensburg states people will only exhibit abnormal behavior if their blood alcohol content is above 0.15 percent. This number is higher than most state legal limits. Most states will consider you under the influence if your blood alcohol content is somewhere between 0.05-0.08 percent. You are intoxicated if your blood alcohol content is above 0.10 percent. At 0.15 percent, you are loaded.

0.08 is usually considered “under the influence”

What is the doctor drinking?

The next problem with this study is the Greensburg’s choice of beer. He must be shopping at the grocery store for his beer (in Colorado supermarkets cannot sell beer over 3.2% ABV). He states the average beer content in America is 3.7%. In order for your blood alcohol content to be 0.15 percent, you would need 2.5 quarts of the 3.7% beer in your stomach. The reason he believes you cannot get intoxicated is because the stomach only holds 1.5 to 2 quarts. Your stomach cannot hold the required amount of beer to become intoxicated.

Of course the beer alcohol content chosen is key to his thesis. There are very few beers with an alcohol content this low unless you live in a weird place like Colorado where they sale 3.2% ABV beer in grocery stores. Most beers are between 5 and 6 percent alcohol by volume.

Try this experiment with Avery beers, and you will get a very different result
Coors Light and Bud Light are both 4.2% ABV. A six-pack of these low alcohol beers will give you a BAC of 0.112 in one hour.
Most beers are 5% ABV or higher. A six-pack of Fat Tire will give you a BAC of 0.146.

Ever been to a kegger?

Further more he states the body destroys or eliminates beer at 1/3 quarts per hour. That is an interesting claim I haven’t heard before. Alcohol is absorbed much quicker into your system than the rest of the beer. Usually you eliminate or metabolize 5-10% of the consumed alcohol in an hour. You might eliminate 1/3 quarts of something, but most of the alcohol is staying inside you.

According to Dr. Greensburg, a person would need to drink more than three quarts of the beer within one hour. He says this amount was “physiologically unnatural”.

“Unnatural”? I seriously have a hard time believing this professor spent any time on a college campus. Ever hear of the beer bong? Beer pong? (Hey! That rhymes!) Andre the Giant was reported to have 119 beers in six hours. That is a beer every three minutes. While most average sized men cannot match this pace, you’d be surprised how much you can stuff into a stomach.

The study assumes the expelled liquid contains the same ABV content
You can drink 6 beers in an hour

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When was this study again?

Here is the clincher. This study happened back in 1955. Why on earth are people reporting it now? The legal limit back in 1955 was 0.15 percent, which is probably why he chose the number as “intoxicated”.

You can try to claim “I only had 6 beers” in court, but the judge isn’t likely to be lenient. The current legal limit is 0.10 for legal intoxication. Drinking some where between three and four Fat Tire beers will put you “under the influence” and five will put you well over the legal limit.

Next time you read a study claiming something too good to be true, you might want to read it closer.

So, you want to become a Brewmaster?

Fri, 18 Jul 2008 22:22:15 +0000

The big dream for every homebrewer is to brew your beer commercially, but how do you become a commercial Brewmaster?

While practice does make you a better brewer, the best way to advance your skill is to train to become a Brewmaster. This means you’ll need education and hands-on experience. Brewing beer at home is very different from brewing beer in a brewery. Many paths to the title “Brewmaster” require college level classes in chemistry, biochemistry, and mathematics.

Types of people perusing these paths are:
•   Someone who wants to be a professional brewer
•   Someone who wants to open a brewery of their own
•   Someone who wants a higher position in the brewing industry

Enter the craft guild

One possible path to become a Beer Jedi is to attend a vocational school. These programs are not college degrees, but they focus specifically on how to brew beer commercially.

Siebel Institute of Technology
The Siebel Institute is one of the premier trade schools for beer. The Chicago school was founded in 1868 by Dr. John Ewald Siebel. He taught brewing courses and wrote books on brewing beer at his school until he died in 1919, just 20 days before prohibition became law (probably of a broken heart). During prohibition, the school focused on courses in baking, refrigeration, engineering, milling, carbonated beverages and other related topics. As soon as prohibition was repealed, the focus returned to brewing beer.

Siebel offers a 12 week course called the “WBA International Diploma In Brewing Technology”. The 12 week program consists of 6 one to three week courses. Four of the modules are brewing and business theory taken at the Chicago campus and the remaining two are practical instruction in Munich. How cool is that!

This school has campuses in Chicago, Montreal, and Munich.
•   12 week on camps program which includes several weeks of practical training in Munich
•   Internationally recognized
•   Prerequisites are mathematics and chemistry, including a assessment to determine your readiness for the coursework
•   Siebel Institute of Technology

American Brewers Guild
The American Brewers Guild is a newer school but boasts an impressive list of brewer graduates. They offer a 27 week program that prepares you for a variety of professional brewery positions including Brewmaster. The best part of their program is the first 21 weeks are online training. You are sent videos which provide 6 to 10 hours of instruction each week. The video instruction is followed up with 1 week of lab instruction on campus, and then a 5 week apprenticeship at breweries across America.

The 5 week apprenticeship matches you with a brewing mentor. I was surprised at the list of breweries which participate, even one of my favorite local brewpubs Coopersmith’s Pub and Brewery in Fort Collins, Colorado. During this apprenticeship you will work as staff (unpaid) at one of the participating breweries.

•   21 weeks distance learning, with 6 weeks practical study
•   Prerequisites are pre-Calculus or algebra, and transcripts showing proficiency in one of the following: biology, chemistry, physics or engineering
•   American Brewers Guild
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Back to school

Craft schools are great if you already have some background in Fermentation Science, but maybe you are starting from the beginning. A college degree in Fermentation Science is a good place to get the education you would need to become a Brewmaster.

A degree in Fermentation Science is a program of study of the use of microorganisms as production and processing agents. A degree in this field will not only prepare you to be a Brewmaster, but the degree can be applied to many other industries (as a fallback plan, of course). Many universities offer this degree program, the most prominent being University of California – Davis.

•   A 4 year program, but it results in a bachelors degree in Fermentation Science
•   Check with your local universities to see what programs they offer
•    Univeristy of California - Davis

Find Obi-wan of beer

Another option might be to work your way up from the bottom. Breweries are always hiring entry level positions. If you work hard, you might be able to convince a brewery to advance you to positions of more responsibility and eventually into a position where you can learn to brew beer professionally.

• No learning can beat hands on experience
• Hard to find someone to convince you have the “beer force”

You can go your own way…

Your final choice can be to learn it on your own. There are many books about learning how to brew beer professionally. For questions and guidance, you will need to be active on professional brewers groups on the internet. You’ll also have to prove yourself as an established homebrewer. This path will only work if you plan to open your own brewery. It will be very difficult to prove to a prospective brewery you can handle the job without some sort of credentials.

• So you want to become a sommelier?
• How to brew beer

Judge: You're a drunk, and your beer choice sucks

Wed, 16 Jul 2008 02:52:46 +0000

Australian judge gives seven time offending drunk who spends $1000 AU a week on beer a harsh talking to and slams his choice of beer.

It has been a while since Australia was represented in the beer nuts category (last time by Megan Jane “drunk schoolgirl” Conroy ). This week Michael Leary, father of two, was reprimanded in court for his seventh drunk driving offense.

The judge decided to not give him jail time, and I’d almost say the judge deserves a beer nut award. SEVEN drunk driving offenses and NO jail time. Not only seven offenses, but one earlier DWI resulted in a fatality (in 1989). Leary repeated his behavior after killing someone.

The judge was going to give him a 4 month sentence, but he thought Leary was willing to change. I’m getting that “I can change” song from the South Park movie stuck in my head. Oh, and he fined him $100 AU and told him he can’t buy beer for a year. I’m sure the latter will be enforceable, not.

This is where the story gets weird. Leary was a construction worker who earned $2000 AU per week, but was spending $1000 AU of his salary on beer. It wasn’t 10 Samuel Adams’ Utopias either. His beer of choice was Melbourne Bitter. Spending $1000 AU a weeks equals about 27 cases of Melbourne Bitter, almost 4 cases a day.

The beer is 4.6% ABV, so it is conceivable he could drink all the beer, but I still do not see how he could be functional on any level with that much beer in his gut. He was drinking because his girlfriend left him. Oh waaa.

The judge double dissed him in court saying he made two “poor choices”. What were his two offenses according to the judge? Drinking to excess of course, and drinking Melbourne Bitter.

(Source: News.AU )

Checkmate for the King of beers

Tue, 15 Jul 2008 03:43:52 +0000

Looks like bad news for Shamu and the rest of the people holding out for an American Budweiser.

An extra $5 apparently goes a long way in buying a beer company. Budweiser would barely acknowledge InBev’s buyout offer when it was $65 a share, but it’s a deal at $70. The King of beers is now a Belgian beer. Best of luck.

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One of the reasons people tolerated the beer was because it was American. It wasn’t an especially a flavorful beer and they weren’t the nicest of companies to the craft brew industry, but they were an American beer. Will Budweiser hold the same loyalty as a Belgian company?

I was really hoping the new company would be named “InBusch”, but they decided on the verbose “Anheuser-Busch InBev” name.

No word on the parks

InBev says all American breweries will remain open, but again there is no mention of Busch Entertainment Corporation. InBev is only interested in the beer, so it is likely the parks and Shamu will be sold to the highest bidder. The CEO of InBev said it was too early to comment about the amusement parks’ fate, but one would expect something soon. The parks only account for about 6% of the company’s value.

Sudden change of heart?

It is interesting, the press release from InBev says the management team of the new company will draw from both companies. Just a week ago, InBev was calling for the removal of all Anheuser-Busch board members. One has to wonder if the threat of removal had as much to do with the deal acceptance as the $5 increase. According to the press release however, only August Busch IV and one other unnamed person will serve on the board.

The buyout of Anheuser Busch will create one of the top five consumer companies in the world. If you thought Budweiser was big before, they are massive now.

Wii beer pong brew-ha-ha

Fri, 11 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0000

I can't believe a game with graphics this crappy is getting this much press.

If you haven’t been paying attention, you may have missed the whole brew-ha-ha about the new beer pong game for the Nintendo Wii.

The video game formerly known as “Beer Pong”, now known as “Pong Toss”, has gotten Senators and politicians, church ladies, university faculty, the media and soccer moms’ collective panties in a wad. The video game is beer pong , but with the Wii controller. There are so many parties involved in this video game brew-ha-ha, I really am not sure who to name as the beer nut .

The game developers

The Nintendo Wii has the reputation as a family-oriented game console. What were the developers and designers at JV Games thinking? “Hey guys, there’s this game system that’s popular with families. Let’s make a drinking game for it!” Brilliant.

After media pressure and citizen uproar about the game, they decided to change the name to “Pong Toss”. Their reason, JV Games VP Jag Jaeger explained, is “Since we never had any drinking in the game, we elected to change the name from 'Beer Pong' to 'Pong Toss' to better reflect its true contents and cater to a larger audience.” OH RLY? No alcohol? Then why did you name it beer pong? It wasn’t called “Water Pong” or “Pepsi Pong”.

The ERSB game rating board

So who on the game rating board said, “Oh a game with beer, 13-and-older rating should do it”? For a game with alcohol in the title, it really should have received an “MA” rating. Some nut at the ERSB rating board really dropped the ball on this one. I have no argument with anyone who believes the rating was inappropriate.
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The politicians and soccer moms

Ok, world, let’s get over it. Beer pong is just a video game. Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said the label was "absolutely inappropriate" and promoted underage drinking. I think the rating was inappropriate, but what soccer mom beer nut is going to buy this game for her kid--the same ones that buy “hot stuff” cut-off T-shirts for their 5 year old daughters presumably.

When I was in college I had a mom come into the Software Etc. I was working at, angry that our store sold her kid Mortal Kombat 2. She demanded to speak to the manager. I’ll never forget the manager’s response. Where did you kid get the $60 to buy the game? Parents should be a bit more involved when their kids are buying video games and make sure the game is appropriate. A game with BEER in the title would clue me in, hey maybe this game isn’t appropriate for my 6 year old.

If the ERSB changes the rating to “MA”, I have no problem if the game contains pixilated boobies and sorority girls doing tequila body shots. It’s another Leisure Suit Larry game. Big deal. The rating is enough.

The Media

I have a Google Alert for anything with “beer” in the title. In the past week, I’ve had tons of alerts about this non-story. With InBev fighting to take Budweiser , Miller joining Molson-Coors, the hop shortage, rising beer costs, etc you’d think this story would be buried. Nope. This stupid game with poor graphics is dominating the beer news. I guess the media can’t report about Paris Hilton doing something slutty this week, so they need to report about this game ad-nauseum. Oh wait. I’m writing about this stupid game too. I guess I fall into this beer nut category.

The players

Who is going to buy this game? Is it really more fun to stay at home and play with your Wii? I’d rather go out with friends and play a few rounds of beer pong in a more social setting. And how does this work? “Pause the game I have to drink cup 3, or is it 4? I can’t tell with the crappy graphics on the Wii.”

To those of you thinking of buying the game, here’s a suggestion. Don’t. Save you money to buy beer, and invite some real friends over to play beer pong . You’ll enjoy it more.

Conclusion

This story screams “beer nut” but I’m not sure who really earns the title. In the end it is just a video game hardly worth the coverage it is getting. The game should be rated “MA” and that should be the end of it. In a week after release, you can buy a copy of it for $9.99 USD from the bargain bin - just for kicks. Who do you think deserves the beer nut title?

Round two in the Champagne name battle

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

The Swiss strike back in the courts and score a small victory in the Champagne name war.

As you may recall, the European Union banned the Swiss town of Champagne from using their name on produce, including wine. The town of Champagne used to sell 110,000 bottles of wine, but since losing the right to use the name the sales have dropped to 32,000. Champagne, Switzerland fought the decision and recently won their first battle to overturn the decision.
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The Swiss Federal Institute of Intellectual Property granted the local bakery registration of the trademark "from Champagne Switzerland." The courts in Paris tried to block bakeries in Champagne, Switzerland from selling biscuits labeled “Champagne recipe”.

With this victory, there is hope the French will eventually overturn the name decision for the entire town.

The town has used the name Champagne since 885, and the town started growing grapes in the region in 1657.

(Source: The Windsor Star )

Trail of beer crumbs

Thu, 10 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0000

This trio of beer thieves really helped the police on this case.

Three teens who are in no danger of winning any IQ awards, were arrested last Monday in Halifax, North Carolina for theft of beer.

The three anti-braniacs allegedly broke into a nearby store taking a cash register and two cases of beer. No word on what type of beer, but judging from the demographic, I am guessing something cheap.

Robberies happen all the time, but what lands Justin Barnes, 18, Joshua Fisher, 19, and Jacob Daniels, 18, into the beer nut category is how they were caught.

Rule one of theft: never return to the scene of the crime. They actually didn’t get the chance to break this rule. Rule two of theft: never leave a trail of beer cans from the scene of the crime to your location. Guess which rule they broke?
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Apparently the trio drinks fairly quickly; quick enough to leave a trail of empty beer cans from the scene of the crime to a wooded area near the store and one of the boy’s residences. I’m sure even Inspector Clouseau could follow a trail of beer cans, which is exactly what the police did.

The trio were charged with breaking and entering, larceny after breaking and entering, possession of stolen goods and damage to real property. Too bad stupidity isn’t a crime.

(Source: Daily Herald )

Places not to live if you like to get pickled

Wed, 09 Jul 2008 19:00:00 +0000

What’s the deal with dry counties?

The 21st amendment ended prohibition against alcohol, unless, a local law exists that restricts its sale, transportation, or use (section 2 of the amendment). Basically, local laws around alcohol supersede federal laws (this however, is most assuredly NOT the case with the many state laws passed relaxing rules around drug use—specifically marijuana—as the DEA likes to remind everyone). As a result, there are some bizarre differences across the U.S. in the legality of alcohol, the weirdest, arguably, is the existence of the “dry” county or town.

Dry counties and towns are entire counties or specific towns that forbid the sale, and usually the production, marketing, transportation etc… of alcohol. In half of the counties in Mississippi, even driving across these places with a beer in your car (unopened of course) is illegal. The law stands even if you do not plan to stop. In some Alaskan communities, possession of beer is also crime. You read this paragraph right. In some places in America, it is illegal to have a beer in your possession.

To make things more confusing, some counties are “moist” which has multiple meanings including: they restrict the sale of alcohol to restaurants, bars, or “private clubs”; you can buy low alcohol content beer but not hard spirits; there’s a cap on the ABV of beer sold (sorry Avery). There are also wet towns inside dry counties; although I’ve yet to come across dry neighborhoods (towns seem to be the finest scale).

Getting wet or dry

Either a location has traditionally been dry and no one ever cared enough to change it, or it’s come up for a vote at some point and the majority of residents have voted to make it dry. Arguments for banning or maintaining a ban on alcohol include creating a “family atmosphere”, reducing crime, and maintaining property values. Considering most dry counties are in Bible-belt states, one has to acknowledge the religious ties as well.
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Some towns and counties have voted to change from dry to wet or moist. In 2005, Rockport, Massachusetts residents voted in a majority to allow restaurants to sell liquor, but still ban bars and liquor stores. Sometimes the alcohol issue has come up multiple times and towns have switched back and forth along the wet to dry continuum.
Communities going from dry to wet or moist usually do so to encourage tourism (as the case in Rockport), to increase revenue, or to just make life easier for residents.

Where are they?

The greatest number of dry counties can be found in Texas, Kansas, Oklahoma, Kentucky, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee, and Mississippi.

How to make Hefeweizen beer

Tue, 08 Jul 2008 07:00:00 +0000

This classic wheat beer is simple to make, but has very interesting and varied flavors.

One of the best summer beers you can make is Hefeweizen. This Southern German (Bavarian) wheat ale is incredibly simple to make, but has great complex flavors. The beer can have strong banana flavors or strong clove flavors, and everything in-between. There can even be some vanilla flavors or other citrus flavors.

The beer has a light mouth feel, which is why it makes a great summer selection . Hefeweizen translates to wheat with yeast (mit hefe), since the beer is traditionally cloudy. The cloudiness comes from the unfiltered yeast. There is a clear version of Hefeweizen called Krystal. The Krystal is a filtered Hefeweizen for “crystal clarity”.

Yeast

I think one of the most important factors in making a Hefeweizen is your choice of yeast. There are several wheat beer yeasts and each will produce a very different Hefeweizen. You need to decide what flavors you want in your Hefeweizen. Some Hefeweizens have a clove-like flavor, while others have a citrus or strong banana flavor.

From White Labs you can choose Hefeweizen (WPL300), American Hefeweizen (WPL 320), Bavarian Weizen (WPL 351), or Hefeweizen IV (WPL 380). The WPL 300 yeast will produce more banana flavors and the Hefeweizen which is traditionally associated with the German variety. WPL 351 and WPL 380 will accentuate the clove flavor.

From Wyeast you can choose German Wheat (3333), Bavarian Wheat (3638) or Weihenstephan Weizen (3068). The 3638 will give banana flavors like the WPL 300, while the 3333 and 3638 will give more clove flavors.

WPL 320 of course will produce an American version similar to the Oregon American wheat beer. You can also use American ale yeast for the American variety. This will result in a slightly crisper flavor and much higher flocculation. You probably won’t get the cloudiness you would get in the German varieties using American ale yeast.

Personally I like the banana flavor, so I tend to use the WPL 300. If you like experimenting, I think the banana flavors play well with other fruits.

Recipe

The recipe is brain dead simple and is often listed as a beginner recipe. I almost feel guilty writing an article on such a simple beer.
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The recipe is usually 50-50 wheat malt and either pilsner or 2-row malt. To make a true German version, you need to add at least 50% wheat malt by law. (Those Germans are so strict!) The style guidelines state you can use up to 70% wheat malt. I add a bit of Crystal 20L to give the beer slight sweet flavor, but you can omit the Crystal malt to keep it simple.

If you are looking for a break from all-grain brewing and want to make a quick extract beer, you can even get away with using 100% wheat malt extract. If you decide to go the extract route, make sure you do a full wort boil. You don’t want the beer to darken too much. It is supposed to be a pale straw color. The beer can be as dark as a dark gold color, but most Hefeweizens tend to be light. The SRM (Standard Reference Model) listed in the guidelines state the beer color should be between 2 and 8.

The hops in the beer are almost non-existent. According to Designing Great Beers by Ray Daniels, some of the older recipes dispensed with the hops all together. I would not recommend eliminating the hops however, since the hops provide an antiseptic quality which prevents bacterial infections.

Hefeweizens use Nobel hops, but not much. I use an ounce of Hallertau per 5 gallon batch for bittering (4% AA). I don’t use any aroma or flavor hops. The beer should have little to no hop aroma or flavor.

8.5 lbs Wheat Liquid Malt Extract (LME)
1 oz Hallertau (4% AA – full boil)
White Labs Hefeweizen (WPL300) or Wyeast German Wheat (3333)

SG 1.050
FG 1.012

Boil the beer for at least 60 minutes. You might even want to boil for 90 minutes to reduce the DMS levels as much as possible. (In Colorado, I try to boil the beers longer because of the higher altitude – as much as 90 minutes. The boiling temperature is about 200 F in Denver.)

If you want to make this beer using an all-grain recipe, just use 5.5 lbs of wheat malt and 5.5 lbs of pilsner malt. You can use German varieties, but I really think the yeast is what makes this beer. For all-grain versions, I’d use local malts. Mash the grains at 152 F for 60 minutes.

Fermentation

You will want to ferment the beer on the lower end of the temperature range for the yeast (60F – 65F). The lower temperature produces a cleaner flavor. My basement is a constant 65F, and I’ve always been pleased with the results. If I could ferment at a cooler temperature I’d try it. Brewing Classic Styles suggests fermenting the beer as low as 62 F.

Carbonate the beer at 2.5 to 3.0 volumes.

Experiments with fruit

Lately it seems Hefeweizen is the new beer playground for fruit. I think since the recipe is so simple, people feel the need to play with it. I’m just as guilty, and usually fruit a portion of the beer.

Harpoon makes a raspberry Hefeweizen, Schöfferhofer has Grapefruit Hefeweizen, and there are many others. I recently even tried a mandarin orange Hefeweizen. I think the citrus and banana flavors mix well with other fruits.

When you “fruit the beer”, you want to add the fruit after the primary fermentation. If you ferment the fruit during the primary fermentation, the yeast will chew through your fruit leaving little fruit character. The amount of fruit you add really depends on how much fruit flavor you want to add. Personally I like a hint of flavor from the fruit, not overwhelming fruit.

I’ve had an Apricot Hefeweizen I tried at an Arizona beer festival. The apricot flavor was very strong and tasted great in a 1 ounce taster. A full 12 ounce beer of the strong flavor was difficult to stomach. In fact it gave me a stomachache. My friend had bought a case of the beer based on the tasting. It took several months to finish the case of beer.

With that said, I’d add about 2-4 lbs of fruit to your secondary depending on the fruit you choose. Cherry is very strong so you might want to add less, while strawberries are faint so you need more. I use fruit puree instead of fresh fruit. The reason is the fruit puree is less likely to contain any unwanted organisms.

Conclusion

So there you have it. Hefeweizen is a very easy beer, and lends well to experimentation! Let me know how your’s turns out and what experiments you try.

Attending the 2008 Boulder Food and Wine Festival

Wed, 02 Jul 2008 04:39:51 +0000

Here's my thoughts after attending the 2008 Boulder Food and Wine Festival.

I went to the Boulder Food and Wine festival last weekend. This was the second annual festival, and the second time I’ve attended. It was interesting to see what changes were made from last year.

The festival is held in the park near the Pearl Street Mall. Of all the places to choose to hold a festival, I don’t think you can do much better. The weather was perfect, and the temperature was nice and cool.

Changes

The first thing changed from last year was the date. Last year the festival was held in August. The festival organizers not only moved the festival to June, they changed the time to later in the evening. The later time worked much better. The festival last year was so hot during the day; wineries were forced to keep their red wine in ice to keep it drinkable.

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Wineries were fewer

Last year there were several “gems” in the group of wineries. Other than a few big wineries and meaderies who produce consistent wines and meads, this year was disappointing. I tried wine from almost every vendor and nothing made me say “wow”. Most wines made me say “meh”, and one wine made me say “oh wow that is too alcoholic”. There were fewer wineries this year from last year. I bought a few wines last year, but I left empty handed this year.

Food was scarce

The food was also disappointing. There were fewer food vendors as well, and every vendor who served more than a tomato on a cracker had a long line. The biggest reason for the long lines were the limited number of food vendors and poor portion sizes. One of the longest lines was for a slice of pizza, most likely because it was large enough where your stomach might actually notice you ate something. To purchase more tickets, you needed to shell out another $5 USD per ticket. There was nothing I ate which I felt was worth $5.

Ironically the best food booth was from Whole Foods. They had a buffet line of olives, fruits, cheeses, and meats. You could eat as much as you wanted, and it didn’t cost any tickets. I won’t say who the worst was (because I don’t want to give them any press), but they had a single shrimp wrapped in slice of bacon for one ticket.

Other booths

As for the other non food or wine booths, there were a few. One booth had an interesting device for removing corks from wine bottles. You inserted a needle through the wine cork which injected CO2 into the wine bottle. The sudden pressure would pop the cork out. It was interesting, but I’m not sure I want to keep buying CO2 cartridges just to open wine bottles.

Overall Impressions

Overall I did not think the festival was worth the $50 USD admission fee. When you compare it to other events, like the Great American Beer festival which is also $50 USD, the Boulder Food and Wine festival comes up far short. The food wasn’t special, and there were not enough wineries to make it worth it. The time of day was much better, but it seems everything else got worse. If the event does not offer more next year, I probably will pass.

Fermentarium.com

Mission Impossible: Getting drunk on beer

A new definition of intoxication

What is the doctor drinking?

Ever been to a kegger?

When was this study again?

Related Articles

So, you want to become a Brewmaster?

Enter the craft guild

Back to school

Find Obi-wan of beer

You can go your own way…

Related posts

Judge: You're a drunk, and your beer choice sucks

Checkmate for the King of beers

No word on the parks

Sudden change of heart?

Wii beer pong brew-ha-ha

The game developers

The ERSB game rating board

The politicians and soccer moms

The Media

The players

Conclusion

Round two in the Champagne name battle

Trail of beer crumbs

Places not to live if you like to get pickled

Getting wet or dry

Where are they?

How to make Hefeweizen beer

Yeast

Recipe

Fermentation

Experiments with fruit

Conclusion

Attending the 2008 Boulder Food and Wine Festival

Changes

Wineries were fewer

Food was scarce

Other booths

Overall Impressions