I must admit that I was a little surprised to stumble across this headline. I remember back when Anheuser-Busch became a Belgian property it occurred to me that the Boston Beer Company, which makes and sells Sam Adams beer, was the largest American beer company. The other big players like Miller and Coors had already been sold off to foreign drinks corporations years before so it came down to little, comparatively speaking, Sam Adams.
Not so anymore. D.G. Yuengling and Son, the famously old and independent brewer from Pennsylvania, now holds that title after surpassing Boston Beer in sales last year. That makes it both the oldest and the biggest American brewer. Pretty impressive, especially when you consider that Yuengling only distributes to 14 states.
If you live in the US you might have noticed a program on the Discovery channel last year called "How Beer Saved the World." The basic idea is that beer is responsible for nearly every bit of progress that humans have made since the dawn of civilization. For everything from the wheel to modern medicine and almost advancement in between, we have beer to thank.
It's out on DVD now and the company marketing it sent me a copy. From the first email to the press release and then on the DVD box and plastered prominently throughout the program was that "quote" from Ben Franklin that you know I tend to go on about a little too much. My expectations weren't high. But, the film is actually quite entertaining. Was it accurate or even believable? Check out my review here.
You know I tend to go on about how brewing companies see women. Over the years, beer marketing was strikingly misogynistic. For a long time it was mostly the big companies although lately I've noticed a few so called craft brewers breaking out the bikinis.
But, we're not here to talk about that. This time it was homebrewers. Like most things beer, women tend to be in the minority when it comes to homebrewing. Even so, there are lots of female homebrewers out there and many of them make some great beer. However, according to the organizers of the Lake Hayes A&P Show in Queenstown, New Zealand when it comes to homebrew competitions, the ladies need to stay at home.
It was Rachel Beer who discovered this when she tried to enter the competition. "Blokes-only" was the answer she received. Her response was perfect. "Who cares if I have or haven't got balls? At the end of the day, a home brew is a home brew."
Classy move, boys.
