Michael Jackson Movie Debuts in 2010

No, not that Michale Jackson movie.

This Michael - the late beer and whiskey writer and critic extraordinaire - has arguably done as much as any one man has ever done to further the cause of better beer in the U.K., U.S. and the entire world. His 'The World Guide to Beer' is credited with basically revolutionizing the way we categorize and review beer to this day.  

The beer world lost Mr. Jackson on August 30th, 2007. Looks like a film honoring his legacy will be released this year. I don't have much detail beyond that, but here's a trailer posted on YouTube for your enjoyment.

Beer in your Bones

Thanks to some new research out of the Department of Food Science and Technology at the University of California, Davis, we have yet another impressive attribute to ascribe to beer and its health benefits. It seems that beer is rich in dietary silicon, a critical component of bone health.

The lead researcher on this project was Charles Bamforth who also authored the terrific book entitled "Grape vs. Grain - A Historical, Technological, and Social Comparison of Wine and Beer." You can purchase this book at a discount by clicking on the  photo to the left, by the way. 


According to Bamforth, and his colleague Troy Casey, "beers containing high levels of malted barley and hops are richest in silicon." The most interesting aspect of the study, for me, is the fact that Bamforth and his colleague analyzed 100 commercial beer samples - everything from light lagers to dark ales. The highest concentrations of dietary silicon were found in ales, particularly in darker ale styles and in IPAs (India Pale Ales). In fact, IPAs came out on top of the heap at 41.2 mg/L due to their high hop levels. Hops, it seems, contain about four times the amount of dietary silicon that malted grain does. 


At the other end of the spectrum, wheat beers and light lagers tested at the bottom of the barrel, since they utilize much smaller amounts of malted barley and lower hop rates. Adjuncts like rice or corn - used in most popular American light lagers - don't contribute significant amounts of dietary silicon. 


So, score another one for beer. In fact, we can really be more specific and say score another one for craft beer! The use of all-malt recipes and liberal hopping rates does more than make tasty beer ... it makes better beer better for you than the cheap fizzy yellow stuff you see the majority of people swilling down. 

I say stick to better beer and better health!

(Still) No Beer Sold Here

A quick update to my last post regarding the current ban on alcohol sales in Carbondale grocery stores and gas stations. It seems that the Southern Illinoisan is keeping up on the issue which is a very good thing. The Southern is the largest and most influential newspaper (or media source, for that matter) in the Southern Illinois region and they can certainly help keep this discussion top of mind. I'm glad to see this story has warranted a follow up in today's online edition.

For a recap of the initial story, you can see my previous post by scrolling down if you're on beerphilosopher.com, or you can visit the article right here. Marika Josephson, a fellow local beer writer, has also taken up the story and gone the extra length to provide direct links to the Carbondale city council members email addresses.

If you find this issue to be one you can get behind as a local, responsible beer drinker, please don't hesitate to email the city council members and express your support for lifting the ban on packaged alcohol sales in Carbondale. Let them know where you heard about it, too, and maybe we can help in some small way to be a catalyst for change that's long over due.

Beer Not Sold Here

Despite the fact that Southern Illinois – and Carbondale in particular – has made great strides in the availability of better beer at some bars, restaurants and retailers over the last 18 months or so, there’s still an obvious and glaring absence of beer altogether in many businesses you’d otherwise expect to find it in the city. Packaged liquors – including beer – can only be found at a select few locations in Carbondale. Anyone else ever thought this fact was a little odd?

There’s a reason for it, though I’d be hard pressed to say it’s a good reason.


Grocery stores and gas stations, for example, are banned from selling packaged liquors. This decades-old ban has caused an interesting environment to develop for packaged liquor sales in the city. Only a handful of current retailers – seven to be exact – have been granted packaged liquor sales licenses. An eighth license was recently granted by the Carbondale city council, but the retailer has yet to open its location. If you couple the scarcity of retail liquor store licensures (compared to other cities of equal or even smaller size) with the total ban on grocery and gas stations package sales and you’ve effectively created a pretty exclusive fraternity, whether consciously or otherwise.


This fact cannot be overlooked and carries with it some pretty hefty implications.


A reporter for the region’s largest newspaper – The Southern Illinoisan – just wrote a story documenting the fact that the Carbondale city council is now starting to take another look at their longstanding packaged liquor sales ban and reconsidering whether it might actually be more of a detriment to the city’s growth and prosperity than it is a safeguard against some perceived abuse – which I can only assume was the reason to impose the ban in the first place how ever many years ago that was.


Now that’s a start. Hope and change I can believe in.


In the article penned by Blackwell Thomas, and appearing in the online edition of The Southern today, city councilman Joel Fritzler is quoted as saying “It's against free enterprise; it's against capitalism and it promotes monopolies …” I unashamedly agree with councilman Fritzler’s assessment on the current environment in the city. There seems to an unspoken atmosphere of favoritism going on within the city that gives some establishment owners a measure of an advantaged position that is hard to deny when viewed objectively. The extant ban helps keep this advantage in place and, further, serves to discourage new business ventures within the city. My words, not Councilman Fritzler's.


I don’t care to delve into the political motivations and machinations that have brought us to this point in Carbondale. All I’m really interested in is seeing the market open up to allow more businesses – like Schnuck’s, for example, who have stores as close as Cape Girardeau that boast an impressive selection of craft and specialty beer – have the chance to do the same here in Carbondale. Free enterprise works for beer too and it’s high time that this restrictive and regressive ban is lifted.We're finally getting better beer here in the shadow of the A-B InBev giant.


If you’re a local reader, and find yourself so inclined, I encourage you to make your voice heard when and where you can and encourage the Carbondale city council to continue to revisit this ban. Let me just say in closing that I do not advocate the abuse of alcohol in any way, shape or form. Those that know me know I am a strict moderationist. But I’m also a capitalist and this ban is not good for beer and it’s not good for business in Carbondale. It seems to me that if we focus our efforts on the responsible use of alcohol – even in a University town – we’ll achieve more than we would by continuing to suppress growth and restrict availability.This is not a willy-nilly plea to get more booze into more places in town, although I know it will be received that way by some.


For me, the real need for this kind of ban ended with the foregone era of “the Strip” in Carbondale. C’mon Council-people, Carbondale is not that town anymore. I think it's safe to say, too, that we're not going to regress into that town again anytime soon. Let’s free up these businesses who will responsibly sell packaged liquor within the city so we’re not driving them outside the city to spend their money. Call me crazy.


Please feel free to share your thoughts here, but I’d much rather you share them with any city council member directly. We may be closer now to lifting this ban than we’ve been in years.