Beer Bits - stripping improves beer flavor, color, shelf life et al.
Glucanase
Nitrogen stripping improves beer flavor, color, shelf life
1/23/2001
Boulevard Brewing Company (Kansas City, MO) has incorporated a nitrogen
stripping technology to improve the flavor, color and shelf life of beer. The
in-line system, supplied by Praxair, Inc. (Burr Ridge, IL), reduces dissolved
oxygen in the process water. Oxygen in process water can negatively affect
the taste, color and stability of beer. Praxair's technology is designed to
reduce oxidative reactions throughout the brewing process by injecting small
bubbles of nitrogen into process water. The bubbles create a concentration
gradient that forces dissolved oxygen to diffuse into a gas phase. Both the
oxygen and the nitrogen are then vented from the process. Traditionally,
brewers have de-oxygenated water in batches using a vacuum process. "But
vacuuming is clumsy and expensive and involves considerable maintenance and
downtime," according to Praxair marketing applications manager Phil Boldyn.
"Our nitrogen stripping system is relatively easy to install and very easy to
monitor. And because it's a continuous, in-line system, there's no downtime."
Efficacy is another advantage of nitrogen stripping. "Our system quickly
knocks down dissolved oxygen from parts per million to parts per billion,"
noted Boldyn. Praxair worked with Mike Utz, Boulevard plant engineer, to
install the nitrogen stripping equipment as well as the bulk nitrogen system
that supplies it. "Praxair's technical group and installation people have
been great to work with," says Utz. "At Boulevard, we pride ourselves on the
quality of our product, and Praxair has offered us a lot of guidance."
Praxair is a leading supplier of industrial gases in North and South America
and one of the largest worldwide, with 1999 sales of $4.6 billion. The
company produces, sells and distributes atmospheric, process and specialty
gases, and high-performance surface coatings. For more information about
Praxair and its nitrogen stripping systems, visit www.praxair.com or call
toll free: 1-800-PRAXAIR (800/772-9247).
http://www.ananova.com/news/story/sm_184134.html?menu=
Scientists find dose of beer can help liver
Ukrainian scientists have discovered that drinking beer can be good for the
liver. They say drinkers can get rid of poisonous heavy metals up to five
times more effectively than teetotallers. Alcohol causes the small blood
vessels in the liver to expand which speeds up the metabolism. Scientist
Anatolij Bozhkov and his colleagues at the Biological Institute at the
University of Charkov say beer helps the liver get rid of heavy metals like
lead and copper which are poisonous if allowed to build up in the body.
Alcohol has been proven to damage the liver, but according to Mr Bozhkov it
helps in the case of heavy metal poisoning. All of those tested drank a small
beer each day. But the team warned that any more and the negative effects of
alcohol on the liver start to outweigh the benefits.
http://www.ecountries.com/africa/kenya/news/2724955
Guinness hoists a pint in East African beer battle by James Macharia (Thu, 25
Jan 2001 10:42:50) Some of the world's biggest names in brewing are battling
it out for the loyalties of Africa's beer drinkers. A recent deal between
East African Breweries and Guinness will further shake things up - and
bolster their alliance against South African Breweries.
The cheery advertisements for Tusker and Castle along Nairobi's streets hide
an escalating and bitter corporate struggle for the hearts of East Africa's
beer drinkers. Kenya, Uganda, and Tanzania are now serving as the latest
stage of a battle between South African Breweries and the British-owned
Guinness. In the latest skirmish, Guinness is expected to acquire a pivotal
majority stake in East African Breweries. On January 20 EAB formally
announced that 93% of its shareholders - mainly the 46% stakeholder Guinness
and major institutional investors - had approved a share swap deal with
Uganda Breweries that would effectively push Guinness over the 50% mark. SAB
drew first blood in East Africa when it bought a 50% stake in Tanzania
Breweries in 1993. Then in 1997 it further challenged EAB's regional market
dominance by launching Castle Brewing in Kenya and buying a 40% stake in
Uganda's Nile Breweries. Elsewhere, SAB has been steamrolling through Africa
- it's now in 11 African markets - and even expanded into Eastern Europe and
Asia. Back at home, it maintains a 98% market share in South Africa and an
80% share in the Southern African region. Further rankling its rivals, it
has managed to keep many potential competitors out of its home region,
including EAB's flagship brand Tusker over a trademark dispute. EAB has not
stood idly by. Despite stiff competition from Castle and a biting recession
in Kenya, it fought back by re-engineering its operations and streamlining.
At the same time, it also expanded its regional presence and developed an
alliance with Guinness to give it more financial heft. In February 1998 it
opened the Kibo plant in Tanzania - which makes Tusker, Kibo Gold, Guinness,
Pilsner Extra and Pilsner Ice - and quickly seized a 17% market share.
Regional expansion is seen as crucial to future earnings as Kenyan beer
consumption is in steady decline, halving from 400m liters in 1989 to just
200m by 1999. EAB also diversified into wine and spirit production. In a
joint venture with Vintners Kenya, it launched Smirnoff Ice - which has
become the drink of choice for many of Nairobi's upwardly mobile - to
challenge SAB's imported Redd's. And the share swap will allow EAB to expand
deeper into Uganda, raising its stake in Uganda Breweries to nearly 100%. As
part of the deal, it will also acquire International Distillers Uganda
allowing it to produce Smirnoff, Waragi Gin, and Bond Whiskey. For Guinness,
this latest deal adds to its substantial African presence. Its brand is now
available in 45 countries on the continent and the company has plants in 22.
In East Africa, Guinness made its big move in 1998, when it raised its
interest in EAB from 25% to 46% in a rights share issue. Although this latest
share swap is expected to push Guinness' stake to 52%, the company says it
has no intention to fully acquire EAB as it believes strongly in local
shareholding. This is a practice it had pursued with other partners in
Africa, including Ghana and Nigeria, where local interests hold 40% and 47%,
respectively. Keeping domestic shareholders is also a defensive stance. At
EAB's last general meeting a band of minority shareholders fiercely fought to
block the Guinness move on nationalist grounds. Most of the opposition
centered on MP and stockbroker Ngenye Kariuki, who enlisted the support of
over a hundred fellow parliamentarians. Even though the deal was ultimately
approved, it remains unclear how current ownership of EAB stands legally as
Guinness had already passed the 40% limit on foreign ownership of local
companies. Regardless of the ultimate outcome, it's clear that East Africa's
brewery sector will be a foreigners' domain. But with the ferocious
competition keeping prices down, it is one proxy war being fought on the
continent that is finally benefiting Africans. --James Macharia is a
freelance journalist based in Nairobi
http://www.just-drinks.com/news_detail.asp?art=9930
INDIA:High Taxes Stifle Indian Beer Industry Growth. 24 Jan 2001 Source:
Reuters By Y.P. Rajesh BANGALORE, India, Jan 24 (Reuters) - High Indian
taxes onbeer are stifling the brewing industry's growth by
encouragingdrinkers to turn to cheaper hard liquor, company officials say.In
other countries, "beverages are taxed according to theiralcohol content. The
lower the alcohol, the less consumers payfor it," said Mohan Krishna, a
senior marketing official in thebrewing unit of the 20-billion rupee ($429
million) GMR Group.But in India, tax authorities "treat beer the same as
otherstrong liquors and tax them equally at 70 percent of the totalprice," he
said.The high taxes mean a 650 ml bottle of beer retails for 30 to60 rupees
($0.60-$1.30) in stores, they say. In contrast, a 180ml bottle of cheap
whiskey or rum can be bought for 30 rupees.Shekhar Ramamurthy, divisional
marketing vice president atUnited Breweries Ltd (UB) , said India's beer
consumptioncould grow at 30 to 35 percent annually if taxes were broughtdown
to the same levels as in a comparable economy like China."The price of beer
in China is half that of India which hasled to strong consumption growth
there," he said. "We realisegovernments are concerned about a loss in revenue
if taxes arelowered. But the surge in volumes will make up," he said.In Asia,
China's per capita beer consumption is estimated at30 litres and Vietnam's
five litres. Further afield, Denmark'sper capita consumption is 190 litres,
that of the Czech Republic178 litres and Germany's 150 litres, officials
say.But in India, per capita consumption of beer in India is amere 0.5
litres, Krishna said.PRICES REGULATEDBeer prices in India are regulated by
provincial governmentswhich prevent brewers from increasing prices beyond a
specifiedlevel. But the governments hike taxes regularly.As a result,
industry officals estimate the country's annualbeer sales have remained
stagnant for five years at about 55-60million cases of 12 650-ml bottles (23
oz)."A mug of beer in a good pub is three times costlier than itwas seven to
eight years ago. I have many friends who have cutdown on their beer and moved
on to stronger stuff," said ChetanManmath, who runs a real estate
agency.There are good arguments in favour of lower taxes on beer,says a
senior finance department official in the southernKarnataka state, whose
capital city Bangalore is regarded asIndia's pub capital as it houses over
200 pubs."But governments have always treated beer as a luxury and soan easy
target for high taxes. It's seen as a vice, just likecigarettes or other
alcoholic drinks," the official, who did notwant to be identified, told
Reuters.Under the country's economic liberalisation programme kickedoff a
decade ago, India has allowed many global beer brands toenter the country's
refrigerators.U.S.-based Stroh Brewing Co, Germany's Henninger,
thePhilippines's San Miguel Corp and Australia's FostersBrewing Group have
all launched their brews in India.But there too, beer drinkers face problems
with many stateslimiting consumers' choices, industry officials said."Tamil
Nadu (state) does not allow sales of any brand brewedoutside the state.
Kerala does not allow sales of strong beer.Delhi does not allow sales of
brands that advertise on cableTV," Krishna said. "Karnataka allows
distribution of non-localbrands only through state-run agencies. It's
bizarre."Also the alcoholic beverages industry is barred fromadvertising
their brands in any form except on signboards ofoutlets selling beer and
spirits, industry officials say.($1 = 46.6 rupees).
http://www.theaustralian.com.au/common/story_page/0,4511,1648225%255E2702,00.html
Beer, bacon and milk cheaper in 2001
By Sid Marris, Economics correspondent
26jan01
FOR 100 years the familiar cry in shops and pubs across the nation has been
prices only go in one direction. But it is not always true. The relative
costs of whisky, a smoke, a cup of coffee, a loaf of bread, a newspaper or
novel, watching a football match, buying a pair of men's pants and a new bed
may have gone up since Federation. But some essentials such as milk, butter,
sugar, eggs, rice, onions and bacon have fallen, as have a pair of women's
shoes, an umbrella and a bicycle. And hold on to your bar stool: beer has
come down as well. At the same time, wages have increased four-fold from
$217.50 a week to $830, with arguably much better working conditions. The
Australian Bureau of Statistics, in its 2001 year book - released yesterday -
has recalculated the cost of goods in 1901 using today's dollar values - that
is, adjusted for inflation and compared them with today's prices. So a carton
of beer in 1901 was $35 in today's dollars compared with $28 now. There are
several reasons for the different results. Some goods have become more
sophisticated and cost more to produce. Others have seen technological
advances reduce their production costs. Competition among producers or
sellers of individual products may have either increased or lessened.
Football may have become a more expensive pastime, with admission prices
rising from $5 to $21.70, but whether Essendon, the Australian football
premiers in 1901 and 2000 will be again in 2001 is uncertain. Federation has
also been a profitable experience for the taxman, with the tax take as a
proportion of the economy growing steadily over the past 100 years from about
7 per cent to 30 per cent. While federal treasurers are in part to blame,
their state colleagues have proved more skilled in extracting money from
Australians. Since the commonwealth took over the collection of all income
tax in the 1940s, the rise in state taxes, in raw dollars, was often larger
in proportion, with payroll tax taking up much of the growth. In the first
financial year of Federation, the new nation's gross domestic product was
$114.57 per person while the tax take was $7.25 per head, or 6.32 per cent of
GDP. The proportion steadily grew each decade, according to the ABS
snapshots, reaching a mid-century high during the post-war Labor reign of Ben
Chifley, when taxes paid per head reached 27.8 per cent of GDP. The economic
expansion of the Menzies years saw the proportion of tax for all three tiers
of government fall to 21.28 per cent of the economy in 1958/59 and only
marginally higher 10 years later. The Whitlam Labor and Fraser Coalition
government years saw the growth of the total tax take resume, so that, by the
time John Howard was treasurer in 1979, all taxes were 26.03 per cent of GDP.
By 1999 revenue per head had reached 30.13 per cent. Revenue from all
governments fell from $185 million in 1997/98 to $181 million in 1998/99.
The GST is designed to shift the states' reliance on inefficient taxes such
as payroll tax and bank duties to one based on growth in consumption. History
suggests that overall tax bill might still go up for a while.
http://web.tallahasseedemocrat.com/content/tallahassee/2001/01/25/local/0125.loc.bottle.htm
Thursday, January 25, 2001, updated at 10:28PM Brouhaha over beer settles
down as bill progresses By David Twiddy DEMOCRAT STAFF WRITER The push to
allow beer retailers to sell brew in a wider range of sizes is back on tap.
The state Senate Committee on Regulated Industries on Wednesday passed a bill
(SB 202) by Sen. Tom Lee, R-Brandon, that repeals the state's restriction
that beer be sold in only 8-, 12-, 16- and 32-ounce bottles and cans.
Instead, liquor stores, grocery stores and gas stations could stock any size
of bottle or can under 32 ounces. And unlike years past, when lobbying by the
beer industry eventually caused the issue to go flat, the usual opponents are
staying away this round. Mitch Rubin, representing the Florida Beer
Wholesalers Association, told the committee that his organization still had
reservations about changing the law, but did not plan to actively fight it.
"We've calculated that issue, and it's not worth the fight," Rubin said. The
committee also advanced a bill (SB 228) that would complete phasing out the
tax levied on alcoholic drinks sold in bars and restaurants, although backers
aren't sure the tax cut will survive in a tight budget year. "I know this is
going to be a very difficult year financially," said Sen. Jack Latvala,
R-Palm Harbor, the bill's sponsor. Lee has tried for years to lift the beer
size restrictions, saying they stifle competition and don't serve consumers.
Many microbreweries, which make specialty beers in small batches, use
cost-efficient 22-ounce bottles. Foreign brewers, especially ones from
Europe, sell their beers in metric sizes. Florida is one of only 13 states
with size restrictions on beer containers. "I've lived in states that allowed
these sizes and I assure you the beer industry there is not in chaos," said
John Larsen, who belongs to a Tallahassee club of beer enthusiasts and
appeared before the committee. The three major breweries - Anheuser-Busch,
Miller and Coors - have remained neutral on the issue. But the wholesalers
have opposed the bill in the past, claiming it would actually hurt
microbreweries as store owners would remove smaller brands to make way for
different sizes of their big sellers.
--
I'm only here for the beer (Double Diamond beer ad UK 1970's)
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