| Ironic Joke Blue Point, ranked among the top-50 craft brewing companies in the country by the Brewers Association, produces more than 40 beers and its sales, currently concentrated on the East Coast is being sold to Anheuser- Busch, Blue Point will not be the only craft brewer in Anheuser-Busch's portfolio. Among other craft beers it owns, the company purchased Chicago's Goose Island brand in 2011. Following the Goose Island sale, Blue Point poked fun at craft brewers being sold to major corporations by posting an April Fool's joke on its website saying the company was being sold to MillerCoors. In it, Cotter jokes that Blue Point would soon begin producing a BP Lite Lime IPA. The last line of the joke reads: "Everyone at Blue Point Brewing Company would like you to have a happy April Fools' Day! Blue Point Brewing Company––independently owned with no corporate ties. Ever." |
Can Beer Change Your DNA? Coffee and beer are polar opposites in the beverage world. Coffee picks you up, and beer winds you down. Now Prof. Martin Kupiec and his team at Tel Aviv University's Department of Molecular Microbiology and Biotechnology have discovered that the beverages may also have opposite effects on your genome. Working with a kind of yeast that shares many important genetic similarities with humans, the researchers found that caffeine shortens and alcohol lengthens telomeres — the end points of chromosomal DNA, implicated in aging and cancer. Telomeres, made of DNA and proteins, mark the ends of the strands of DNA in our chromosomes. They are essential to ensuring that the DNA strands are repaired and copied correctly. Every time a cell duplicates, the chromosomes are copied into the new cell with slightly shorter telomeres. Eventually, the telomeres become too short, and the cell dies. Only fetal and cancer cells have mechanisms to avoid this fate; they go on reproducing forever. The researchers grew yeast cells in conditions that generate free radicals to test the effect on telomere length. They were surprised to find that the length did not change. They went on to expose the yeast cells to 12 other environmental stressors. Most of the stressors — from temperature and pH changes to various drugs and chemicals — had no effect on telomere length. But a low concentration of caffeine, similar to the amount found in a shot of espresso, shortened telomeres, and exposure to a 5-to-7 percent ethanol solution lengthened telomeres. More laboratory work is needed to prove a causal relationship, not a mere correlation, between telomere length and aging or cancer, the researchers say. Only then will they know whether human telomeres respond to the same signals as yeast, potentially leading to medical treatments and dietary guidelines. For now, Prof. Kupiec suggests, "Try to relax and drink a little coffee and a little beer." |
| Feature News from beernexus.com |
Edited by Jim Attacap
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| BEERNEXUS the crossroads of the beer world |
| Anchor Joins IPA Bandwagon Truth be told, Anchor Brewing actually introduced one of the very first American IPAs, Liberty Ale, in 1975 and has been selling it ever since. But with consumer recognition for products that more directly display IPA in their names at an all time high, Keith Greggor, Anchor’s CEO, decided that it was time to launch a product that would catch drinkers’ attention. So, this month, Anchor will unleash Anchor IPA. While its products are sold in all 50 states and in 20 different countries, the IPA rollout will follow a similar strategy to last year’s release of California Lager. The company plans to gauge initial consumer reaction to Anchor IPA in CA. ------------------ Many brewers and distillers maximize their profit potential and reduce their biological waste output by selling their spent grains to farmers for livestock animal feed. This has recently been subject to potential regulation by the federal government. This FDA rule could regulate breweries, distilleries and ethanol plants as “animal feed producers meaning they would then have to follow a set of stringent regulations. |