In case you’re looking for another reason to go organic when it comes to beer, consider this: additives in beers are not strictly regulated in all countries.

And when I say additives, I mean, oh, say, carcinogens.

The Chinese beer industry, one of the top beer producing countries in the world, was found to include formaldehyde in 95% of beers brewed in the country as recently as 1995. Yep, formaldehyde.

Chinese brewers verified that this was true but claimed that the additive “does not pose a threat to public safety,” according to Xiao Derun, director of the beer branch of the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association. The chemical is reportedly used because it is a cheap way of preventing sediment from forming during storage.

Later that same year, the Korea Food and Drug Administration said it had decided to test Chinese beer imports for formaldehyde before allowing them to clear customs. The Korean FDA tested 13 brands of Chinese beer and found average formaldehyde levels to be 0.132 parts per million, below the legal limit.

Yes, that means there is a standard in Chinese law that allows formaldehyde in beer. The law allows 2 milligrams per litre; and even “organic” Chinese beer may contain formaldehyde up to 0.2 milligrams per litre. The World Health Organization has a recommended maximum limit of .9 milligrams per litre; this means that Chinese laws allow for more than twice the recommended WHO limit.

Despite the claims from Xiao that their studies found “no domestic beer that exceeded the set limits”, the China Business Times reported that a 2002 survey of 19 domestic brands conducted by the National Food Quality Supervision and Inspection Centre found the average formaldehyde content to be 0.31 milligrams per litre, more than 50% in excess of the limits.

In response to consumer concerns, Chinese mega-brewers Tsingtao and Yanjin no longer use formaldehyde in their beer. What a relief.

Those that continue to put formaldehyde in beer insist that it’s safe. It is worth noting, however, that numerous studies have labeled formaldehyde as a carcinogen. Not that the spectre alone of getting cancer from beer isn’t enough to convince me to stick to the major Chinese breweries this day, but I just can’t shake the image of formaldehyde being used for embalming corpses (shudder). Pass me another Samuel Smith, please.

Post from: EveryJoe

What Else Is In Your Beer?

Frat boys everywhere are breathing a sigh of relief: it’s not just them. According to a new study conducted at Bristol University, people really do appear more attractive when they’ve had a drink or two. In fact, researchers have found that as little as a pint and a half of beer is enough to make everyone seem more desirable.

The effect – wherein your vision is distorted with alcohol – is often referred to jokingly as “beer goggles.” But researchers aren’t laughing. They claim that it’s a real occurrence.

In the study, researchers randomly assigned alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks (apparently altered to taste alcoholic) to volunteers – and I expect that they didn’t have to work too hard to get those volunteers. After thirty minutes, the volunteers were asked to rate the attractiveness of 20 male and 20 female faces on a seven-point scale.

Those who had been drinking alcohol ranked the faced around 10% higher than those who had not. The following day, the results were similar. This lead researchers to conclude that:

Alcohol consumption increases ratings of attractiveness of facial stimuli.

In other words, if you’re drunk, the world actually looks a little better. It’s not just your judgment that’s impaired, your vision is, too. Researchers at another British university (Manchester University) also add that the levels of light in pubs and clubs magnify this effect.

The result? Studies indicate that more than two thirds of people have woken up and regretted handing out their phone number to someone they were not attracted to when sober (thank goodness for caller ID).

And who makes the most mistakes? Men. Men are worst affected with reports of “beer goggles” lasting up to 24 hours after heavy drinking.

So if you don’t get that call back you’ve been waiting on? The one from the guy who said he’d call? And you know how all your friends say it’s not you. Um, it may actually be you. And the beer goggles.

Post from: EveryJoe

Beer Goggles Really Do Work (Or So I’ve Heard)

Next year? There will be hops.

Hops are pretty vigorous growers and not particularly picky. Today, on twitter, the enjoyable Jeff Louella posted that he had photos of his hops garden on his blog. I thought the photos were great and Jeff graciously agreed to let me link to him from the site. So wander over and take a peek.

While I was planning on planting hops for purely aesthetic reasons, Jeff’s vines are for use in homebrewing. Be sure and stop by his blog from time to time to see how it’s going.

Post from: EveryJoe

Hops Vines On the Run

Wow, I knew there were a lot of different kinds of hops, but this list really puts it into perspective. Keeping in mind that hops are the spice of beer, knowing the difference between a Saaz and a Cascade is like knowing the difference between sage and oregano. It’s particularly interesting to note how many of these are US varietals.

image from Wikipedia, public domain

Post from: EveryJoe

A variety of hops

I hate it when I read the description of a beer and I don’t know what it means. I figure this is usually the result of one of two things:
1, the person who wrote the description likes confusing me by using words to describe the beer that no one else would actually use because it makes them feel important; or
2, I still have a lot to learn about beer.

Part of the fun in appreciating wine or beer is understanding why drinks look or taste a certain way. Once you’ve figured this out, you can make good choices about what you want to drink instead of falling into the “I don’t like dark beers” category… That’s like saying you don’t like red wine; it’s more likely that you just don’t like certain kinds of red wine.

So where to start?

With beer, most of the taste comes down to hops. What we commonly know as beer hops are really the female flower cones of the hop plant (the scientific name is Humulus lupulus). The kind of hops used in brewing beer considerably influences the bitterness and aroma of the beer. Since hops is really a flower, when you hear someone describe a beer as “hoppy”, they’re usually picking up on the strong floral notes in the beer. And yes, you can really tell – this isn’t one of those misleading “you can taste a hint of peppermint together with a rare South African flower” type statements.

Different beers use different types of hops to control the flavor and in some beers, the brewers use a mixture of hops. Like with grapes in wine, the type of hops alone or in combination with other hops will result in differing tastes.

Also as with grapes in wine, where in the world you grow the hops will influence the taste. Not surprising, the top hops growing country in the world is Germany – followed by USA, China and the Czech Republic. German hops are also regarded as among the very best.

Unlike growing grapes, growing hops is surprisingly easy – and many gardeners actually use hops vines in their gardens. Hops vines are fast climbers and attractive to boot. Hops are also perennials, making them quite low maintenance; they come back in early spring after appearing to die off come fall.

Hops grow quickly – sometimes as fast as 1-3 inches per day. The individual vines can reach up to 50 feet – pretty impressive! The vines make great cover for pergolas, arbors, fences and other lawn structures – just like honeysuckle, clematis and grape vines. Due to the size and weight of the vines, a support system is definitely a must.

In the US, most hops vines are hardy in zones 4 through 8 (in Philly, we are a zone 6b – you can check your hardiness zone here). Hops are fairly drought tolerant (assuming that you’re growing them for looks, not taste) though they prefer a regular watering and soil with good drainage. The vines should be planted in full sun – with decent spacing to allow for rapid growth. When the vines stop growing, they produce a lovely light blue flower – the blooms usually show in early summer.

I’ve toyed with putting them in my garden for awhile yet – they are inexpensive and you get a lot of “bang” for your gardening buck. Colleagues have recommended mixing the plant with clematis for a pop of color. One year, I am going to get around to it.

I’m not patient enough to dry them for brewing – but that’s not the only use for the vines. Many gardeners use the vines to make wreaths and baskets. Gardeners, you know, are clever that way.

(Image: Newscom)

Post from: EveryJoe

Hoppy Beering: A Quick Primer on Hops Vines

Chemists Richard Zare of Stanford University in California (USA) and Andy Alexander of University of Edinburgh (Scotland) explain the science behind the bubbles in beer.

(Hat tip: What’s On Tap)

Technorati Tags:
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Post from: EveryJoe

Beer Moves in Mysterious Ways

Fortunately for me, others have already addressed the details. Apparently, reusable bottles which are refilled have the smallest carbon footprint, as is still common in Germany if not the rest of Europe. According to this post (mixing Green beer with green beer – in the St. Patrick’s sense of the word) returnable bottles are better if not shipped too far, whereas cans are better if the shipping is longer. Of course, that assumes that you’re recycling both. In theory, buying a keg (or brewing your own) could be even better, but I’ve never had the energy to do that.

Either way, I’m not sure I’m going to do cans any time soon, but I’ll keep on recycling those bottle and patronizing my local breweries.

Post from: EveryJoe

Green beer, not green beer

There are a lot of jobs I think I’d like. I’d like to be a brewmaster, but ultimately I’d rather be someone like Ed Stoudt of the Stoudt’s brewery, who seems to do more tasting than he does brewing. Also on the tasting side of things, there’s always beer journalist, a la Michael Jackson, although I suspect he’s one of the few who actually made any money at it. In short, there are a number of people in this world who work with beer, and for the most part they are jobs I’d be interested in having, at least in theory.

One I’m not so sure I’d want, but which is interesting nonetheless, was reported by the Philadelphia Inquirer some time ago, and was based on an article in the British journal Nature. These two local (to me) guys apparently study foam. That’s right, foam.

Now, I once knew a guy who worked with foam of various types, and when he’d been drinking he would wax on about the materials engineering aspects of foam and the foam industry while another friend (who drank a little faster) lifted his head from the bar periodically and mumbled “foam” repeatedly. But that was the foam in insulation panels and chairs, the solid foams which make up much of our world even though we never see it. These guys actually study the foam in beer, among other things. According to those gentlemen, if you look at the foam in your beer the big bubbles will get bigger and the little bubbles will disappear. Apparently that was old news, but now these clever fellows have figured out how to calculate the speed at which this happens in three dimensions.

Now, that’s something I don’t really need to know, but know I have something else to think about while I enjoy my next beer on the porch. Unfortunately, Nature appears to be a subscription-only site, and the Inquirer link is gone, but the short version (according to the Inquirer), but if you want to know more about foam you can check out this article from All About Beer – it may not explain the theory above, but it’s a pretty comprehensive treatment of foam in beer.

image from Wikipedia (Christian “VisualBeo” Horvat)

Post from: EveryJoe

The science of foam

Unfortunately for the less technically inclined reader, I’m a bit of a geek for the science of beer and brewing. Even those of you who aren’t interested in science should find this website interesting. The image above? A microscopy view of Grolsch (which I chose over Pilsner Urquell and Samuel Smith Taddy Porter). If you don’t know what microscopy means, check out the site, and if you like the patterns you can also buy a poster. Pretty cool, that.

Post from: EveryJoe

Does your beer look like this?