Happy Tax Day, everyone! 

The Beer Guy says Gaffel Kölsch is yummy
We concur. Come get some! [Asheville Citizen-Times]

Charlotte Beer Week starts Thursday
Creative Loafing is sponsoring Charlotte Beer Week again this year. Runs Thurday, April 17 through Friday, April 25. [Creative Loafing]

Will beer production be affected by global warming?
A climate scientist in New Zealand thinks so. “He said climate change could cause a drop in beer production within 30 years, especially in parts of Australia, as dry areas become drier and water shortages worsen.” [MSNBC.com]

Clybourne Pub to close in Chicago
Goose Island’s first-ever pub in the north side of Chicago is closing. R.I.P. [Chicago Sun-Times]

NY Times writer, Carol Kaseuk Yoon, has written an article about beer consumption and the productivity of scientists. More specifically, Czech ornithologists. (It should be noted that the Czech Republic has the “highest rate of beer consumption on earth.”) Yoon is a science reporter/writer and her page of awesomely titled articles confirms that. Even better? The scientist who found time for this incredibly valuable experiment is named Dr. Grim. How can you get good results with a name like that?

The article reads like something out of Bizarro World. In a nutshell, Dr. Grim wrote a paper stating that beer is to blame for the underachievers in our scientific community. More beer = less published papers. Panic ensued and “the paper has quickly been making the rounds among biologists, provoking reactions like surprise, nervous titters and irritation.”

Nervous titters aside, what if you’re just a bad scientist? What if you’re lazy? Or just plain dumb? Not everyone can be Charles Darwin. We call bullsh*t on this one. And so does this guy. He calls-out Dr. Grim, who “on occasion enjoys more than 12 beers in a night and has only two English publications in the past nine years, so one might conclude that he’s a case study of the suds phenomenon.” The scientist from Discover Magazine ask a valid question: Which is the cause and which the effect?

Now, if that wasn’t enough alcoholic science for you, scientists in Germany say that wine makes your brain shrink. Most studies on alchohol and health have dealt mainly with the heart, blood pressure, and antioxidants, but no one until now has actually done a comparative study on the brain, specifically the hippocampus.

Researchers at the Göttingen University in Germany said that wine drinkers had a smaller hippocampus as compared to beer drinkers. The hippocampus is a vital area of the brain and plays a critical role in memory and spatial awareness.

Reporting in the journal Alcohol and Alcoholics, the researchers revealed that hippocampus in wine drinkers was 10 percent smaller than that of healthy adults. In non-alcoholics, the hippocampus measured 3.85ml, while in wine drinkers it measured just 2.8ml. In contrast beer drinkers had 3.4 ml of hippocampus in their brains, while other spirit drinkers had 2.9 ml. Beer drinkers also had low levels of a compound called homocysteine, which plays a role in the development of heart disease, stroke and dementia.

As the craft beer sector continues its explosive growth, there are more and more stories trickling into the media and onto the Internets about beer and health. Even Asheville’s favorite beer-imbibing parent, Edgy Mama, wrote about it in her Mountain XPress column earlier this year. It’s been some time since we’ve done a dedicated Beer & Health post, so here are some new resources for you to peruse while enjoying your favorite malt beverage.

Olivaria.by—Ten benefits of beer. Since they say it’s actually good to have a beer while sick, we feel less guilty for having that Hopslam earlier this week. (It was actually the only thing we could taste.)

AllAboutBeer.com—Older article, but a goodie. Discusses the untruths of the “French Paradox.” Also, says that teetotalers have a higher risk of silent stroke than light to moderate drinkers.

Realbeer.com—One of those low- or no-carb fanatics? These diets say beer is bad based on the “distorted train of logic that equates malted barley with maltose and the high ‘glycemic index’ (G.I) of this sugar.”

SpatenUSA.com—German brewer says beer’s caloric count is comparably low to other drinks like wine, lemonade and milk. Beer also “promotes tissue drainage and sodium expulsion.”

WFTV.com—Hops fight cancer! “A compound found only in hops (the flavor component of beer) called xanthohumol shows toxicity to human breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancers. The compound inhibits a family of enzymes commonly known as cytochromes P450 that can activate the cancer process.”

Want more? Google “beer health” and you’ll see how much there is read on the subject.

Ommegang brewmaster leaves for New Glarus
We really, really, really balked at this one. Peetoteeto from Pop The Cap drops this news on the Beerinator forum today. Is it just us or does “Director of Quality Control” sound like New Glarus is going to be making a lot more Wisconsin Red? (That is not at all a bad thing.) Phil Leinhart will rise to the task of new brewmaster in Cooperstown. The full press release is here.

Dogfish Head gets their anthropology on… again.
Dogfish Head is releasing Theobroma, in August 2008, which is based on pottery shards found in Honduras that contained the “earliest known alcoholic chocolate drink.” Never to disappoint with the crazy, Sam and crew, used “Aztec cocoa powder and cocoa nibs, honey, chilies, and annatto (fragrant tree seeds).” Theobroma is 10.0% abv and will be available in Champagne bottles. This description reads like the brew is more of a Gruit, though definitely not European. We want to know more.

The New York Times needs better beer writers
While we sit over here just trying to get used to the little things like writing ‘08 on everything, the NYT invests in yet another beer article published today. (They have had a ton lately.) This one questions the merits of Extreme Beer and comes complete with two exceptionally dumb photos of a tattooed and pierced (and what looks to be naked) guy, whom we can only guess is meant to represent the Extreme Beer Drinker. He has “Carpe Diem” on his traps, “Ruthless” on his chest, and “Hard” on his knuckles. And piercings. And jewelry. He is totally extreme, dude. Bring the man a Stone Ruination. (Which is mentioned in the article, by the way.) Our favorite quote? “Many beer lovers are aghast at the creative liberties American brewers are taking with traditional styles, feeling that the bigger-is-better principle is reducing American brewing to the equivalent of a frat party.” Aghast? Really? Here. Join the ranting. Er, I mean debate.

Not to beat a dead horse, but did we mention it’s our birthday today? (Or anniversary, whatever you want to call it.) Bruisin’ Ales is officially one year young today! Last year, we recall opening nervously—and quietly—just a few days before Christmas, testing the waters with barely any advertising other than a nice sign out front. We opened with a respectable 365 or so brews. This we remember because someone said “a beer for each day of the year.”

So here we are, one year on, and the humble storefront has 650+ brews and growing! (Now that we think about it, we’re probably closer to 700, but who’s counting?) Thank you, Asheville, and folks coming from near and far to support our little shop. We hope to be here for a long time, bringing beer to the people!

Here’s the weekly round-up and since this will be our last post before Christmas, let’s just say Happy Non-Denominational Holiday to you and yours, no matter what you celebrate! Celebrate with beer!

Wall Street Journal
The WSJ has been all over the beer biz as of late. First they wrote about the monks and beer at Westvleteren (Thanks to Johnny Mike and Palmer); then an overview of the Trappist brews; then Larry Bell and Bell’s Brewery was in the news over his distribution dispute.

SAVOR
The Brewers Association is sponsoring SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience in Washington D.C. on May 16-17 as part of American Craft Beer Week.

Beer waste is now fish food
New Belgium Brewery in Colorado is working with entrepreneurs to convert their beer waste into food for local fish farms. Enjoy that Fat Tire, fishies. (And, no, we cannot get Fat Tire in North Carolina.)