I am ashamed at myself for missing this story. I do not even know where to start on this one. I guess most things in North America go back to how much Canadians love hockey. Being a proud drinker of my birth state's beer, I heartily approve of President Obama's choice of a case of Yuengling to supplement the mandatory case of Molson.

Here's to a US victory over Sidney and the Canadians next time around!

Oh Nein Meine Trauben

Earlier this week an awesome/awful crime was committed. Around 5,500 lbs of premium grapes were stolen in the middle of the night from a German vineyard. The gutsy thieves brought their own harvester and escaped with nothing but tracks in the mud.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/bild-787436-263023.html

Instead of the desperate work of professionals, I personally hope it was a pair or trio of home-brewers out to make the wine batch of their lives. How cool would it be to have a couple years worth of premium pirated wine locked away in your cellar? Just saying.

Kirin Brewery Hit Hard by Tsunami

The earthquake and tsunami in Japan spared nothing and no one - not even breweries! Kirin's brewery in Northern Japan was hit hard. It sits right on the harbor and you can see the giant tanks of beer that have been knocked down. I just hope the next picture that comes out of this brewery is the workers having lashed the tanks together and creating a drunken raft to float on to safety...

Map of Kirin's Brewery in Northern Japan
Wikipedia Article about Kirin Brewing Company 

"Beer is a Popular Product"

Awaiting further developments on this one.  I really hope the end result is that the one guy who 'might face disciplinary measures' ends up getting fined some paltry amount - a far cry from the 25 cases he ended up getting I hope. 

Either way, it never ever occurred to me that someone would throw away beer that was expired, let alone that they would destroy it.  I will not sleep easy knowing that tonight some innocent beer will be ruthlessly destroyed just because the FDA has declared it unfit for consumption.

(By the way, click the post title for the link ;-)  )