Learn to Brew Beer

Like chemistry? Every wish it had some sort of practical application? Love beer? Ever wish it had some sort of practical application?

Learn to brew with the Homebrewing Club! This Friday, the Wesleyan Homebrewing Club will be brewing up a delightful stovepipe porter, an India Pale Ale, and some sort of mystery brew yet to be determined.

**YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE 21** (Unless, of course, you want to drink the beer - sorry underclassmen. In the meantime, learn to feed yourself for a lifetime. Like fishing.)

When: Friday, January 30th, 3 PM
Where: 115 Cross St., Apartment 2 (walk around back to the wooden stairs)
Cost: $5 (if you are 21 and want beer, otherwise free)

Contact wesleyan.homebrew(at)gmail for more information.

Beer...tree?

I know we're all pretty much over Christmas and moving on to New Year's and/or dealing with excruciating boredom, but this is too ridiculous and I wanted to give you time to get started for next year. Behold the ultimate DIY Christmas tree:

That's via lifehacker. It's a pretty good website, but I'm more into Instructables. You can pretty much figure out how to do anything using that website. Projects range from ultra-complicated to ridiculously easy to just ridiculous. There are also lots of instructables that reveal otherwise obvious truths that many of us haven't quite gotten yet.

The best example, and one that's relevant to the beer bottle Christmas tree project, is "How to open a bottle of beer without a bottle opener." Don't tell me you've never opened a beer using your desk at school, because you have. Well, avoid the risk of ingesting shards of glass and use other objects...such as a water bottle (good to keep hydrated while imbibing, right?)

Climate Change Threatens Beer Production

As if enough of you didn't already consider global warming to be a serious threat, it turns out climate change will probably have a negative effect on the production of malting barley, a key ingredient of beer providing the tasty hops that make it drinkable, in regions where it's primarily grown like Australia and New Zealand.

Which means if you want booze in the future you will have to shell out more than you do for this:

Cry about it!






ABC News: Global Warming = Expensive Beer

[EDIT] Comments drop some agrarian knowledge: production of hops used to flavor beer is also threatened by climate change, possibly meaning more money for crappier beer. How's that for bittering hops? Harrrr.

Fare thee well, O kegs!

It looks like a few of you may have a slightly more sober Spring Fling than intended. P-Safe just dug up two kegs buried under Foss Hill. Much to my dismay, the P-Safe officer on guard declined to pose with them.

The Ultimate Beer Glass

Samuel Adams introduced a beer glass designed specifically to showcase the quality of your beer. I know there are people who really like drinking beer, but this dude frikkin' looooooooooves his beer:

"It's a personal passion of mine to develop a beer glass that elevates the craft-beer drinking experience," Jim Koch, company chairman and founder of the Samuel Adams beer brand, said in a statement. "We wanted to create a glass that offers beer lovers a full sensory experience by fully showcasing Samuel Adams Boston Lager's complex balance of malt and hop flavors."

I disapprove based purely on the tip-ability factor. Look at that thing. That's screaming "SPILL ME ALL OVER YOUR PANTS! DO IT NOW!" Boo, beer-glass designers, boo.