Champagne's Greener Future

How will champagne companies cut down their carbon footprints?

"We're slimming the shoulders to make the champagne bottle lighter, so our carbon footprint will be reduced to help keep Champagne here for future generations," said Thierry Gasco, the "master vintner" at Pommery.

In the near future all champagne houses will use new eight hundred and thirty five gram bottles. Each new bottle saves the champagne house two cents. According to Tyler Colman, an author of the wine industry and environmental studies, "For champagne producers to reduce the wight of their packaging is definitely a step in the right direction". The direct effect of the bottling change is equal to taking four thousand small automobiles off the road, trimming eight thousand metric tons of carbon exhaust every year!

Expect to see the new bottles in liquor stores and restaurants in three years.

Toast to going green!

Cheers!

Alderman, Liz. The New York Times, "A Greener Champagne Bottle". 01 September 2010.

The Future of Champagne

Bubble, bubble, toil and trouble: Does global warming spell the end for Champagne?

From the 1950s to the 1980s the average temperature of Champagne’s growing season was a steady 14.3 degrees Celsius. In the 1990s this increased to 15 degrees Celsius. What of the 2000s? Could it have risen by the same amount again, to 15.7 degrees Celsius? Surely not double, to 16.4 degrees Celsius? Wrong. The latest ten year average in Champagne has shot up to a whopping 16.6 degrees Celsius.But temperature rise in itself tells only a fraction of the story. The weather is becoming more extreme and more unpredictable. Winters are now longer, wetter and warmer, summers are shorter, hotter and more erratic. There’s more rainfall, changed rainfall patterns and more violent storms. Humidity is on the rise, as are strong winds.If you believed all the commentary, you’d have to conclude that the Champagne that we know and love is all but doomed. Global demand is pushing volumes up and quality down. The boundaries of the region are poised to swell into lesser lands. And global warming spells Armageddon for the region that has built a wine style around its climate.

What effect on viticulture? More pests and diseases, more risk of exposure to spring frosts and summer heat, and more danger from severe rot. Ripeness levels in Champagne have risen, in spite of an increase of fifty percent in yields. Acidity has dropped and pH has risen.

Champagne yields have averaged fifteen tonnes per hectare over the past decade. Over the previous thirty years they were less than ten tonnes per hectare. For the technocrats, natural alcohol has jumped from 9.6% to 9.9% over the same period, total acidity has dropped from 13.5g to 11.38g (tartaric) and pH has risen from 3.05 to 3.10. These numbers do not spell good news for Champagne.

Much has been written on the changing face of Champagne and the conclusion has not been optimistic: Champagne as we know it is in dire trouble.

article reprinted from Stelzer, Tyson. The Champagne Guide 2011.

The Future of Fake I.D.s

Fake drivers licenses are becoming more and more difficult to detect.

Minors have been sneaking into and being served alcohol for many years. The National Minimum Drinking Act was passed on July 17, 1984. This act was created, in part, to prevent teens from crossing state lines, drinking legally, and then driving home intoxicated. Many remember being served underage without having id's checked or without much hassle. In the last ten years, however, due to an increase in bars and clubs having their liquor licenses revoked, a crackdown on underage bar patrons was on. To counter this, with increased technology, overseas companies have been selling near perfect Pennsylvania drivers licenses to underage consumers. www.IDChief.com is know for this. According to reporter Jason Nark, "... the Pennsylvania license, the company claims, is the most authentic ID it makes." In the future, how will the state prevent underage drinking with the current prevalence of these faux licenses? Will an import from these websites be put under a ban? Will the state change it's current licenses?

"National Minimum Drinking Age Act". 19 April 2011. web. 21 April 2011

Nark, Jason. "Fake Driver's Licenses Tougher and Tougher to ID" Daily News 14 March 2011.

In PA's Near Future: Liquor From a Vending Machine

Vending Machines! When you were a child, you donated quarter after quarter into these machines in hopes of procuring a pink stuffed teddy bear or more modernly, maybe a video game. In Japan, even though now illegal, vending machines offering girl's panties can still be found for sale. Commonly, water, soda, potato chips, and candy bars are offered in these mechanical boxes. Condoms are available in some night club bathrooms, and hotels. Cigarettes vending machines, at once more commonplace, are still found in some PA bars and membership only only clubs.

In the near future, liquor will be offered in Pennsylvanian super markets. The vending machines will sell full sized bottles of liquor. (This is opposed to the one shot mini bottles found on airplanes and hotel bars.) A small number of "wine kiosks" opened last June. However, it will be months before hard liquor will begin being sold. Is this the future of liquor sales? No, not unless Pennsylvania is blanketed with these machines! Have you been to the liquor store on a holiday!? On New Year's Eve, Christmas Eve, Memorial Day and the Fourth of July, entire liquor stores are almost sold out! I do not think vending machines will be the sole way to purchase alcohol in the near future, but twenty years from now will robots take over and do away with state stores as we are familiar with them?

Before purchasing alcohol from these new vending machines, one must breath into a breathalyzer to detect-and not allow purchase to- buyers who have already been "enjoying their spirits". Additionally, a driver's license or state identification card must be swiped. Remember those over twenty one wishing to soon purchase your liquor of choice: Big Brother is always watching you.

Elias, Joe. "Hard Liquor Coming Soon to Vending Machines at Supermarkets". 21, April 2011. web. 22, April 2011

"Pa. to test liquor Sales From Vending Machines". 22, April 2011. web. 22, April 2011

Pickle Back

Attention Hipsters:

Do you ride your vintage Schwinn to shop at Anthropologie? Do you love to wear kitschy tees, plaid flannel button ups, and totally get irony? Well, if so I have your future drink! While you may now be drinking cans of Pabst Blue Ribbon at house parties and kicking back with a pint of seasonal micro brew at the local hang out, soon you will be enjoying a Pickle Back. Pickle Backs are easy to make, with only two ingredients.

Directions: shoot one ounce of Jamison whisky and follow with pickle juice as a chaser.

The smoothness of the whisky is balanced by the tartness of the pickle juice chaser.

Enjoy yours now, while this alcoholic drink is still quirky and unique. Pickle Backs will be the hipster shot of the future.

"

Boozy Trend Alert- Get Pickled" 04 April 2011, web. 20 April 2011

"Urban Outfitters" web. 20 April 2011

Heineken Beer Serving Robot of the Future

You might think this sounds strange but at Middlesex University they have managed to create a robotic serving robot which means you don’t need to walk far at all to get your beer. Actually scrap that you will be able to stay on the Sofa and be served, this also might just be perfect for those house parties.

We humans will be able to hover our hands over the sensor in the head to stop the robot then just place your cup in the holder ready to be filled. It will then continue along its serving path ready for the next refill. This has to be assigning of things to come and looks very interesting for the future development of robots. Unfortunately this is still prototype but it can’t be much longer before these handy robots come on the market for real.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWLcZfeq634

Heineken Bot was developed at the Autonomous Systems Lab in the Product Design and Engineering department of Middlesex University. Originally developed to exhibit at Kinetica Art Fair London, the Heineken Robot is an autonomous mobile system for serving beer.

Study: Early Response to Alcohol Hints Future Habits

Submitted by Prakash Sharma on Mon, 04/11/2011 - 08:49

As per the findings of a new study conducted by the researchers from the University of Chicago, the effect of alcohol is different on the people with different drinking habits.
It has also been claimed that the early response to the alcohol can largely determine the person’s drinking habits in the latter years.
It is learnt that more than 200 adults were recruited for the study purpose. All the subjects in the trial group were within the age bracket of 21 to 35 years and were categorized into two groups of light and heavy drinkers.
It was then found that where the heavy drinkers experienced greater sensitivity to the rewarding and stimulating effects of alcohol, the people who prefer to go easy on the liquor reported stronger alcohol-related sluggishness and sedation.
In addition, the people were willing to exacerbate their binge drinking habits during the two year follow-up period were more likely to have experienced positive and stimulating effects of alcohol hinting that the future drinking habits can be predicted this way.
The author of the research, Andrea King stated, “If we know more about who's going to become a problem drinker, we may be able to prevent future escalations and intervene earlier, before development of severe alcoholism”.

The future with alcohol tax hikes

http://youtu.be/4_SuPWjB1Rw

Heineken: Beer Crate Of The Future Keeps Your Beer Cold

Anyone that loves beer knows that it usually comes in paper holders or old plastic containers that have been around for like 20 years or longer. There has been little development in this area and some might argue that a good concept doesn’t need any refinement. Well, a little refreshment is never bad in my opinion so why not touch up the beer crate design just a little? Will the beer taste better then? Will it make the beer slightly more expensive if the breweries start researching and developing new crates for their bottles? Well, of course it will, but it will also taste better, at least if they stick to this creative and daring design.
Making Heineken as the focused prototype brand Luis Luna managed to create something really inspiring and useful. The functionality is far better than anything else on the market, and it really makes the beer taste better. Why? It is because the crate itself has a simple cooling system created by pure water. Just put it in the fridge or freezer and you are guaranteed to have cold beer wherever you go. That’s right, wherever you go.
The crate’s cooling system is removable so it’s just the inlay that you put in the freezer for cooling. Then, just pop it out and put it back into the crate and add the bottles. On the way to the beach, picnic or whatever event you are going to while you travel, the beer will get cold and tasty, all ready to pop open when you arrive.
The design itself is also very interesting since it is meant to hold and sport several different parts, which will ensure that the brand colors are all represented in a nice and clean way. What else could you want, right? Bring in the beer!

Dutch Brewery Releases Strongest Beer (60%) in the World

Thursday, July 29, 2010, by Paula Forbes

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't Koelschip Brewery [Photo: BS6 Hart van Nederland]
374diggsdiggThe next move has been made in the beer ABV arms race: Dutch brewery 't Koelschip has created a 60% beer called "Start the Future." They created it in response to BrewDog's 55% End of History beer released just last week. "Start the Future" also beats "End of History" in terms of price point as well: the higher ABV beverage costs a mere €35 ($46 US), compared to BrewDog's £500 ($764 US) bottle. Meant to be enjoyed from a small glass and not from a beer glass,, the only drawback to "Start the Future"? It doesn't come in bottles encased in dead squirrels.

"START THE FUTURE is a product made of 100% beer beer." >>>

Here's what 't Koelschip has to say about their new brew (translation from Google Translate):

It presents Reefer Biggest beer in the world now the Scots a 55% beer on the market was the question: what do we do now? He is START THE FUTURE 60% alc. in response to the Scottish reaction; Obilix 45% was a success, but this is even better! START THE FUTURE is like a beer OBILX product, a heavy alcoholic beverage ingredients with water, malt, hops and yeast. The beer is then processed into a product, a beer-based drink beer. START THE FUTURE is like OBILIX is a product made of 100% beer beer. How? Vvraag it to the brewer. You drink our START THE FUTURE Obilix and also from a small glass and not from a beer glass. Want START THE FUTURE AND OBILIX tests book a beer tasting. This may take place during a tasting at t reefer, or at festivals where we are or purchase at the brewery.

Huski Beverage Chiller

Some guy named Kent Hodgson invented a little pen-sized device that can cool your brew in seconds. You just drop it in your beer and start drinking. Here’s what the nerd has to say about it: “You have plastic cooling cells which are pressed down into the dock which houses the liquid carbon dioxide. The liquid CO2 expands and is pressurized into dry ice in the base of the cooling cells … in a moment. You then pop it into your drink and then proceed from there as you normally would.”

University of California opens futuristic wine and beer facility.

Take a walk through the new winery, brewery and food-processing complex at the University of California, Davis, and you'll get a glimpse into how beer and wine will be made 20 years from now.  The $20 million teaching and research center at UC Davis' Robert Mondavi Institute for Wine and Food Science is the nation's first winery, brewery or food-processing facility to receive the coveted LEED Platinum certification, the highest “green” rating awarded by the U.S. Building Council for commercial buildings.

But more than that, the complex is an engine for innovation and job growth, and could make a big difference in the way beer, wine and food are produced in this country for years to come.
“This facility really embodies everything that UC Davis stands for today. And at the same time, it is a symbol of where we are headed,” said UC Davis Chancellor Linda Katehi. “We want to be a driver of innovation – and a partner in economic development – to improve our economy and quality of life.”

Andrew Waterhouse, a professor in UC Davis' Department of Viticulture and Enology, said the university's previous winery was built in 1938. Students made wine in plastic buckets and relied on a moody air-conditioning system for temperature control. Seeping walls led to mold, he said, adding: “It was a microbial zoo. We had stuff growing all over the place.”
Waterhouse said the new complex could help the food and beverage industries develop sustainable practices and cut energy usage.

University of California-Davis website for additional information about the facility.
http://greenrmi.ucdavis.edu/

The entire article above can be found at the url below. 
http://www.siouxcityjournal.com/lifestyles/food-and-cooking/article_31c839ce-a1c9-5e9d-bb2f-cc66775bdcc7.html

Future cars will not obey drivers with high blood alcohol level

Future technology may put the brakes on drunk drivers and save many lives as researchers in the United States are developing a system that will prevent a car from starting if the driver's blood alcohol level is higher than the legal limit.

The new technology, known as the Driver Alcohol Detection Systems for Safety, would use sensors that would measure blood alcohol content of the driver in two possible ways, by analysing a driver's breath or through the skin, using sophisticated touch-based sensors situated in places like steering wheels and door locks.

National Highway Traffic Safety Administration head David Strickland said the technology could help prevent as many as 9,000 alcohol-related fatalities a year in the US. He added that the technology was still in its early stages of testing and might not be available for commercial use for another 8-10 years.  The systems would not be employed unless they are “seamless, unobtrusive and unfailingly accurate,” Strickland said.

For more information please see this link.

http://en.mercopress.com/2011/01/31/future-cars-will-not-obey-drivers-with-high-blood-alcohol-level

Will Beer be the fuel of the future? Don't Laugh till you read this!!

SOUTH BURLINGTON, Vt. (AP) - Before he started "saving the earth, one beer at a time," all inventor Eric Fitch knew about home brewing was that it could make quite a mess.

Once, he accidentally backed up the plumbing in his apartment building by dumping into his garbage disposal the spent grain left over from his India Pale Ale home brew. The oatmeal-looking gunk choked the pipes in his Cambridge, Mass., building, flooding the basement.

These days, he's doing something more constructive, fulfilling the dream of beer lovers everywhere by recycling the stuff: The MIT-trained mechanical engineer has invented a patented device that turns brewery waste into natural gas that's used to fuel the brewing process.

The anaerobic methane digester, installed last year at Magic Hat Brewing Co. in Vermont, extracts energy from the spent hops, barley and yeast left over from the brewing process - and it processes the plant's wastewater. That saves the brewer on waste disposal and natural gas purchasing

The 42-foot tall structure, which cost about $4 million to build, sits in the back parking lot of Magic Hat's brewery, where it came online last summer.

Fitch, 37, is CEO of PurposeEnergy, Inc., of Waltham, Mass., a renewable energy startup company whose lone product is the biphase orbicular bioreactor, which is 50 feet in diameter, holds 490,000 gallons of slurry and produces 200 cubic feet of biogas per minute.

Brewers big and small have wrestled with waste issues since the dawn of beer-making. In recent years, they've turned to recycling - both as a cost-saver and for environmental reasons.

Anheuser-Busch, which makes Budweiser, uses a bio-energy recovery system in 10 of its 12 U.S. breweries to convert wastewater into natural gas that's then used to fuel the brewing process.

What's in your future at Starbucks? Coffee? Wine?

Coming soon to a Starbucks near you, Beer and your favorite Wine!! A very different kind of Starbucks is on tap. It will serve regional wine and beer. It offers an expansive plate of locally made cheeses — served on china. The barista bar is rebuilt to seat customers up close to the coffee.

Some new ideas for cooking with Beer!!

he Future of American Food: Deep-Fried Beer

Max Read — The Future of American Food: Deep-Fried BeerThe Future of American Food: Deep-Fried BeerAn inventor has come up with a method for deep-frying beer for a competition at—what else?—the Texas state fair. Three cheers for America! So how do you deep-fry beer? Here's the quick-and-dirty recipe:

* 1. Make little ravioli pockets of a "pretzel-like" dough.
* 2. Fill with beer.
* 3. Deep fry for around 20 seconds.
* 4. Marvel at the world, that such a thing as deep-fried beer exists.

I know what you're thinking: Will my hunk of oil-covered starch still get me wasted? Ha—are you kidding?! The 20-second cooking time is "short enough... for the confection to remain alcoholic." Sign me up for 20! No, 100!

Who says Beer isn't good for the economy of Texas?

In these difficult economic times, Texas needs every portion of the economy growing as quickly as possible. The Texas Craft Brewers Guild has just completed an economic study that shows how craft beer benefits the state economy at large, and how H.B. 660 would contribute to economic growth.

The future of Beer

By "Cask" We Mean "Cans"

You can thank one company for making craft beer in a can a reality: Cask Brewing Systems, a small Canadian firm that made their first canning system in response to the then-flagging "brew on site" phenomenon. Amateur brewers were finding their beers were going off too quickly, often because of less-than-optimally cleaned glassware.

Cask created a manual canning system and sold dozens to brew-on-site facilities. In 2002, Colorado brewery Oskar Blues bought a Cask canning system. Now nearly ten years and a handful of fully automated systems later, Cask can't make enough canning systems to keep up with demand. Cask told me the company is backordered until December. "We can't make them fast enough."

What that means for the craft beer drinker is even more canned beers coming online from your favorite breweries over the next year. It wouldn't surprise me if every mid-sized craft brewer has a canned option in the next couple of years. That's excellent news for beer drinkers and can collectors alike.

Will Your Beer Be Here in 20 Years?

Ever think that the future of beer drinking could be affected by the global water crisis? The food and beverage industry is especially at risk as issues of global water scarcity are increasingly more pervasive.

Water conservation efforts are vital to protecting the market for AB InBev products and ensuring that consumers can enjoy Anheuser-Busch products responsibly well into the future.

Brewing a beerable future is contingent upon the use of best practices in water conservation, cooperation with other leading industry experts in reduction goals, and implementing a comprehensive sustainable business plan.

For beer drinkers, news of successful water conservation efforts by AB InBev is a piece of good news indeed. In order for consumers to enjoy AB InBev products responsibly, it needs to be brewed sustainably.

The cycle of sustainability requires that buyers, sellers, and manufacturers commit to natural resource management. Without water, there can be no beer. Without beer, America would be a very different place.

The Future of Caffeinated Alcohol Drinks

FDA had issued the Warning Letters because the Agency’s position is that the products named in the Warning Letters are being marketed in violation of the Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act (the FFDCA).
FDA is issuing Warning Letters to four manufacturers of caffeinated alcoholic beverages.  All of these products are alcoholic malt beverages to which caffeine has been directly added as an ingredient. The manufacturers and their products are:

• Charge Beverages Corporation, which makes “Core High Gravity HG Green,”  “Core High Gravity HG Orange,” and “Lemon Lime Core Spiked;”
• New Century Brewing Company, LLC, which makes “Moonshot;”
• Phusion Projects, LLC (doing business as Drink Four Brewing Company), which makes “Four Loko;” and
• United Brands, which makes “Joose” and “Max.”

The agency has not approved the use of caffeine in alcoholic beverages at any level, and based on the information FDA has reviewed, the agency does not consider the use of caffeine in the beverages listed above to be generally recognized as safe (GRAS).  The Warning Letters should not be interpreted to mean that FDA considers other alcoholic beverages to which caffeine has been directly added to be in compliance with the law.