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To All the Mom’s out there: Happy Mother’s Day! And to my mom - thank you for everything you do for me. I love you! Let’s all raise a glass to the mothers, wives and girlfriends in our lives for all that they do for us and the balance they help maintain. l’chayim!

My Mom, Dad and me at my brother Mike’s wedding in 2007. She usually pounds down beers with the best of them but wouldn’t you know, I couldn’t find any pictures backing that up…

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This coming week (May 12-18th) is American Craft Beer Week. Changed to a week-long event in 2006 (the inaugural American Craft Beer Week was recognized by the U.S. Congress with House Resolution 753), American Craft Beer Week has continued to grow by leaps & bounds. This year, however, the celebrations will be slightly different - For the first time, breweries and beer makers will also recognize their collective charitable contributions in conjunction with the week’s celebrations. The Brewers Association recently announced U.S. craft breweries’ charitable contributions, and for 2007 they are estimated to be more than $20 million. According to the official press release (PDF file),

“In addition to being recognized for making world-class beer, independent craft brewers are amazing community citizens,” said Julia Herz, a spokesperson for the Brewers Association. “Craft brewers are an integral part of many communities’ charitable efforts. They donate to everything from fire departments, disaster relief efforts, local events, educational fundraisers and so much more.”

There will be celebrations and events across the country in conjunction with American Craft Beer Week but the flagship event will undoubtedly be SAVOR: An American Craft Beer and Food Experience (May 16-17), in Washington DC. The event will showcase craft beer and food pairings with participation from 48 independent craft brewers. To find American Craft Beer Week events in your state, check out the Brewers’ Association Brewery Events page. And don’t forget to enjoy some of the best beer this country has to offer next week! Cheers.

Technorati Tags: beer, craft beer, American Craft Beer Week, beer & food pairing

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Buster Martin completed the London Marathon this past weekend in just about ten hours. The 101 year old man set a new record for the oldest person to ever complete the marathon. So, what did he do to celebrate? Have a beer, of course. While it would be logical to assume that, since Martin appears in such great health, he must be a health nut but the truth is actually quite the opposite.

Buster Martin smokes more than a dozen cigarettes and drinks an average of 7-8 full pints of beer — usually at least one during a break in the middle of his daily run — every day. It truly boggles the mind.

“He smokes, drinks, stays out late, which is probably why he is still alive,”

Charlie Mullins, the managing director of the plumbing company where Martin cleans vans three days a week told ABC News.

Maybe 7 pints a day is the missing link to my physical fitness routine.

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“I think this would be a good time for a beer” - Franklin Roosevelt, April 7, 1933

While Prohibition officially ended on December 5, 1933, with the ratification of the 21st Amendment, something that is often overlooked happened earlier that year — newly-elected President Franklin D. Roosevelt took steps to fulfill his campaign promise to end the national ban on alcohol by spurring Congress to modify the Volstead Act to allow the sale of beer (with an ABV below 3.2%) in advance of the Twenty-first Amendment being ratified.

Thus on April 7, 1933, Roosevelt himself received newly legalized beer at the White House to toast what was the beginning of the end for Prohibition. In the 24-hours that followed, more than 1.5 million gallons of beer flowed as Americans celebrated. April 7 marks the date when beer was the only legal libation in the United States. For those of you who don’t want to do the math, that was 75 years years ago this Monday.

“April 7^th is a day to recognize the past 75 years of beer and the beer community’s contribution to American’s quality of life. The explosion of creativity and innovation by those who make beer is an American success story,” said Charlie Papazian, President of the Brewers Association.

For all the local readers: On Monday, every pint sold at all three Gritty’s locations (Portland, Freeport & Auburn) will cost only $2 all day. Ed Stebbins, Co-founder and Head Brewer of Gritty McDuff’s, said in the company’s official press release,

“We join with breweries, distributors, importers and beer lovers all over the U.S. to celebrate and say that enjoying beer is a legal privilege. This anniversary has special significance for Gritty’s because we’re Maine’s oldest Brew Pub and the first Brew Pub to open in Maine since the prohibition.”

For more information and a list of brewery celebrations by state please visit: www.75YearsofBeer.org.

And lastly, in other Gritty’s news, be sure and stop by their Portland brewpub a week from Monday (on April 14th) for the tapping of the first ever keg of Gritty’s new Rye.P.A., formulated by Gritty’s brewer Ben Low. Believed to be the only Rye beer to be brewed with the Ringwood yeast, this beer is sure to be a hit.

Technorati Tags: beer, 75 Years of Beer, Maine, Gritty’s, the Brewers Association

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With Saint Patrick’s Day right around the corner (Monday to be exact), I got to wondering today what exactly St. Patrick’s Day was (other than an excuse for day-long beer drinking, that is) all about. Here is what I was able to find - a brief history and some fun St. Patty’s Day Trivia, courtesy of the History Channel.

Who was Patrick and what is St. Patrick’s Day?

A pagan, St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland, is one of Christianity’s most widely known figures. But for all his celebrity, his life remains somewhat of a mystery. Many of the stories traditionally associated with St. Patrick, including the famous account of his banishing all the snakes from Ireland, are false, the products of hundreds of years of exaggerated storytelling.

The modern secular holiday is based on the original Christian saint’s feast day also thought to be the date of the saint’s death. In 1737, Irish immigrants to the United States began observing the holiday publicly in Boston and held the first St. Patrick’s Day Parade in New York City in 1766.

Fun St. Patty’s Day Facts:

- There are 34.7 million U.S. residents who claim Irish ancestry. This number is almost nine times the population of Ireland itself (4.2 million). Irish is the nation’s second most frequently reported ancestry, trailing only those of German ancestry. (The ancestry estimates exclude people living in group quarters).

- About 41.6 billion pounds of U.S. beef and 2.4 billion pounds of cabbage were sold in 2005. Corned beef and cabbage is a traditional St. Patrick’s Day dish. The corned beef celebrants dine on may very well have originated in Texas, which produced 7.3 billion pounds worth of beef, while the cabbage most likely came from California, which produced 466 million pounds worth, or New York (456 million pounds).

- Americans annually consume 21.6 gallons of beer per capita. On St. Patrick’s Day, you may be able to order green-dyed beer at one of the nation’s 47,984 drinking places, some of which may be Irish pubs.

- There were 387 breweries registered in 2004. The nation’s breweries are the source for the domestic beer that is often an integral part of St. Patrick’s Day celebrations.

- Lime-green chrysanthemums are often requested for St. Patrick’s Day parades and celebrations. Sales of wholesale potted florist chrysanthemum sales reached $69 million.

- A total of 4.8 million immigrants from Ireland have been admitted to the U.S. for lawful permanent residence since fiscal year 1820, the earliest year for which official immigration records exist. By fiscal year 1870, about half of these immigrants were admitted for lawful permanent residence. Only Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom and Mexico have had more immigrants admitted for permanent residence to the United States than Ireland.

Remember to enjoy the holiday safely - What Will you be drinking on St. Patrick’s Day?

Source: The History of St. Patrick’s Day [The History Channel]

Technorati Tags: Saint Patrick’s Day, beer, Saint Patrick

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I follow the frugal living blog Wise Bread pretty closely for inspiration for my other blog RealWorldReally.com, so I was quite surprised this evening when something popped up in my Google Reader from Wise Bread which was more appropriate for this blog: Wise Bread’s 21 Great Uses for Beer. The list includes everything from:

4: Take a beer bath
…Drain a few kegs into the tub and let the invigorating bubbles cleanse the skin and exfoliate. The yeasts and other ingredients are great skin-softeners. Then take a long shower.

To my personal favorite (and something I’ll have to try one of these days):

20: Wash your pillowcases in it
This may be an old wives tale, but apparently the nutty smell of hops helps you fall asleep. If you’re an insomniac, try washing a pillowcase in beer and you may just get to the land of nod sooner than you think.

And really just about everything in between. The only thing that seemed to be missing from Paul’s post… DRINK IT!

“21 Great Uses for Beer” [wisebread.com]

Technorati Tags: beer, frugal living, life hacks

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Just in time for the conference championship games tomorrow, RealSimple Magazine today announced a list of beers to correspond with each team in the NFL. Why? So that at your Super Bowl party you can,

give your guests a selection of beers that reflect the names, the mascots, or the hometowns of the competing teams.

Click here for a rundown of all the NFL teams and their matching brews.

Technorati Tags: Super Bowl, beer, RealSimple Magazine, NFL

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There’s no question that the holidays are a joyous time of festivities and merry-making but, on a much darker note, it’s also the time of year that I find myself reflecting on loved ones lost (or sick) the most. There has been an amazing amount of cancer in my life, especially in the last few years - my mom and aunt are both recovering from breast cancer, my girlfriend’s 18 year old sister is going through chemo therapy right now for lymphoma, I lost a brother-in-law to brain cancer in 2005 and my paternal grandfather to cancer a few years before that.

With that in mind, the news which surfaced today could really not have come at a better time, as far as my psyche is concerned. Its being reported that scientists have found a powerful antioxidant inside the hops cone called Xanthohumol or Xan. According to Dr. Markus Herrmann, Xanthohumol has been shown to be a very active ingredient in the fight against cancer.

This particular antioxidant essentially blocks a common family of enzymes that can activate the growth of cancer cells. In addition, it also helps the body detoxify carcinogens, stopping tumor growth at an early stage. The studies, which were done at Oregon State University, show Xan can kill breast, colon, ovarian, and prostate cancers.

Lastly, the researchers have found that the darker the beer you drink is, the better it is for you. I personally cannot think of better beer news to have surfaced in a long, long time. At least, as I sit back and reflect with a beer this holiday season, I’ll be doing myself some good. Happy Holidays.

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Technorati Tags: cancer, antioxidant, hops, Xanthohumol, Xan, beer news, beer

According to an article which appeared in England’s Telegraph today, having a beer after playing a game of football, a long run, or a strenuous round of golf can be good for the body, scientists are now reporting. In a bit of good news for those who enjoy their brew, Spanish researchers have announced that their findings suggest that beer can help someone who is dehydrated retain liquid better than water.

Prof Manuel Garzon, of Granada University, told reporters that the bubbles in beer help to quench the thirst and that its carbohydrate content can help to replace lost calories. Prof Garzon asked a group of students to do strenuous exercise in temperatures of around 40ºC (104ºF). Half were given a pint of beer, while the others received the same volume of water.

Prof Garzon, who announced the results at a press conference in Granada beneath a banner declaring “Beer, Sport, Health”, said the hydration effect in those who drank beer was “slightly better”.

Juan Antonio Corbalan, a cardiologist who worked formerly with Real Madrid football players and Spain’s national basketball team, said beer had the perfect profile for re-hydration after strenuous exercise. He added that he had long recommended barley drinks to professional sportsmen after practices & games.

So get up from your desk and go get some exercise. But when you get back, for God’s sake, have a beer.

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I can think of no better use for Bud Light!

Congratulations to the Boston Red Sox, 2007 champions of the world!

[images via boston.com]

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