DIPLOMACY AT ITS BEST
From the April 8th Newsweek, a quote by American Consul General in Jerusalem Edward G. Abington on the family-owned Palestine beer company Taybeh: "I can say without fear of contradiction that it is the best microbrewery in the Middle East. In fact, it is probably the only microbrewery in the Middle East."
GIVING BEER A BAD NAME, PART 2
From the March 25th Phily Inquirer, contributed by Betsy Perse of First State, reported in full: Finnish drinkers on the Baltic ferry Silja Scandinavia claimed two new records in their second national beer-drinking championships over the weekend. The ship's 21-year old engineer downed eight bottles of beer on one minute, 10.36 seconds, and a 34-year-old student took the title in the Small Tankard event with a new record of 1.61 seconds. Two hundred spectators watched the overnight event. On the ferry's return to the southwestern Finnish town of Turku early yesterday morning, all those driving home were given a breath- alcohol test by police.
SERIOUS STUFF
Darryl Hughes of GABS and Old Towne Homebrew Supply has contributed a important note reporting evidence that at least eight dogs (seven greyhounds and one labrador/retriever cross) have died from eating spent hops. Symptoms of hops toxicity begin with heavy panting and includes extremely high fevers and rapid heartbeat. The best treatment seems to be cold water baths to keep body temperature downand a quick trip to the vet. The problem is that most vets are not aware of this problem. The note concludes with a reminder that we must all look after the welfare of our own.
BREW BIZ
Newz of the in fighting concerning contract brewing is becoming ubiquitous. A frontpage Wall Street Urinal article from April 15th by Yumiko Ono (thanx to Betsy Perse of First State for the article) warns us that "about 100 of the nation's thousand or so craft brewers don't make much beer at all," followed by a rehash of the Anheuser-Busch vs.Pete/Boston battle.
More interesting is newz on the rush of craftbrewers to public stock offerings. Betsy has also contributed an April 6th Phily Inquirer piece by Steve Kaufman of Knight-Ridder 6 on how most were overpriced at first offering and have sharply-lower prices of late. According to Kaufman the long-term viability of craftbrew stocks should be okay given a projection of ten percent of the market by the year 2000. However, according to industry analyst Martin Romm as reported in an article in the March 12th Wash Post by Martha M. Hamilton, consolidation of craftbrewers "where there are probably too many brands," should be expected, either among the craftbrewers themselves or between craftbrewers and the Big Lousy Beer Makers. [My opinion - Romm is right, I expect a big shakeout in the industry, leaving us with only those craftbrew biznesses that are particularly well-run or have something particularly interesting to offer.]
