Good Health

Researchers at Harokopio University
in Athens measured the cardiovascular
health of non-smoking men in their late
twenties an hour  after they polished off
400 milliliters of beer (a little more than
two-thirds of a British pint or more than
four-fifths of an American pint .

They then ran the same tests  after the
participants drank 400 mL of
alcohol-free beer and once after a
measure of vodka was consumed.

The scientists found that the real beer
made the arteries more flexible and that
endothelial function, which measures
how easily blood passes through major
arteries significantly improved after
the men drank the beer.
Alcohol and antioxidants in beer are to
thank for these health benefits,
researchers said.


We All Scream For Ice Cream

The summer's big hit item is eer-flavored ice cream and floats, from a number of dairies around the
country. Think ice cream made with Belgian-style Tripel ale and apricot jam; a three-hops ice
cream with chunks of upside-down cake baked with candied pineapple, tangerine zest and hop
leaves; or a scoop of vanilla floated in a creamy milk stout. Not bad!

Mixing alcohol and dairy isn’t revolutionary. Liquor has long shown up in bourbon milkshakes
and rum-raisin ice cream. But as artisan ice-cream makers seek local ingredients that push
the envelope, craft beers offer new dimensions,  Beer can help bring some bitterness and
dryness to an ice cream, which is traditionally sweeter than other desserts. The marriage
isn’t always harmonious. The water in beer tends to create icy textures, making it difficult to
make a creamy ice cream with discernible beer flavors. So the darkest, most concentrated
beers are the best candidates for beer ice cream.  They’re made by reducing each
beer by half before adding milk and cream,  

Some producers avoid iciness by keeping beer out altogether. A firm in OR has developed a “six
pack” of beer ice creams, five of which do not include any beer. First they worked with local
brewers to “deconstruct, then reconstruct” specific beers into ice creams using a variety
of malts, lactic acid, a partly fermented beer, yeasts, a bourbon barrel and whole and pellet hops

There may be limits, though, on mixing innocent sweets and adult beverages. Recently  the
Brazilian Advertising Self-Regulating Council warned the brewer of Skol, a popular beer in
Brazil, that its Skol-flavored ice cream could entice children because posts about the product
appeared on the company’s Facebook fan page. A spokesman for Skol, which is owned by
Anheuser-Busch InBev, responded that the ice cream, with an alcohol content of 0.12 percent,
was available only to adult customers in bars in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro.

In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration regulates food products with 0.5 percent
alcohol by volume, and the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau regulates anything above
that. (Additional state-by-state laws can also apply.) For those of drinking age seeking a looser
union of beer and ice cream, beer floats have universal appeal in the way the creaminess of ice
cream works with effervescence.  After every sip of creamy ice cream, the bubbliness clears the
palate and makes your mouth ready for the next bite.  Ah, it doesn't get much better!

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Feature News  
from  beernexus.com
Edited by Jim Attacap
BEERNEXUS
the crossroads of the beer world
                           Cans Can

Cans are 'in".  Budweiser sells a bow tie-
shaped can that mirrors its iconic logo, Miller
Lite sports a punch-top can, drinkers know
their Coors Light is cold when the mountains
on the can turn blue, Sam Adams Boston Lager now
comes in cans designed to improve the taste, and Sly
Fox Brewing Co. sells beer in "topless" cans designed to
turn into cups when opened.  Yes, there is a boom cans.

In 2002, just one craft brewery was using cans. Now
around 300 different breweries offer close to 1,000
beers in cans.  Jim Koch, Boston Brewing founder, a self-
proclaimed purist, at first "stubbornly resisted" putting
Sam Adams in cans. But after spending more than two
years and $1 million developing a couple dozen
prototypes, the "Sam Can" was born. Koch says that
with a bigger lid and a more defined lip, the redesigned
can forces your mouth open more and puts your nose
closer to the opening, creating a better flavor
experience.  He went on to list the benefits of cans —
portable, space-saving, faster-cooling, more light-
resistant and super-recyclable.