Can women keep off weight by drinking beer? According to this story a research study conducted in Boston states that moderate consumption of alcohol could be a reason why some women have been able to stave off weight gain.

The study was done by Dr. Lu Wang at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston. We went to their website and found this press release

Press Release – Mar 8, 2010
Women Who Drink Moderately Appear to Gain Less Weight Than Non-Drinkers

Normal-weight women who drink a light to moderate amount of alcohol appear to gain less weight and have a lower risk of becoming overweight and obese than non-drinkers, according to a report in the March 8 issue of Archives of Internal Medicine, one of the JAMA/Archives journals.

More than half of American adults drink alcoholic beverages, according to background information in the article. Alcohol contains about 7 calories per gram (with approximately 28 grams per ounce) and alcohol drinking may possibly lead to weight gain through an imbalance of energy consumed and energy burned. However, research has not consistently provided evidence that consuming alcohol is a risk factor for obesity.

Lu Wang, M.D., Ph.D., of Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, and colleagues studied 19,220 U.S. women age 39 or older who had a body mass index (BMI) in the range classified as normal (18.5 to 25). On an initial questionnaire, participants reported how many alcoholic beverages they typically drank per day. A total of 7,346 (38.2 percent) reported drinking no alcohol; 6,312 (32.8 percent) drank less than 5 grams; 3,865 (20.1 percent) drank 5 to less than 15 grams; 1,129 (5.9 percent) drank 15 to less than 30 grams; and 568 (3 percent) drank 30 grams per day or more.

Over an average of 13 years of follow-up, women on average gained weight progressively. Women who did not drink alcohol at all gained the most weight, with weight gain decreasing as alcohol intake increased. A total of 7,942 (41.3 percent) women who initially had normal weight become overweight or obese (BMI of 25 or higher), including 732 (3.8 percent) who become obese (BMI of 30 or higher). Compared with women who did not drink at all, those who consumed some but less than 40 grams per day of alcohol were less likely to become overweight or obese. Women who drank 15 to less than 30 grams per day had the lowest risk, which was almost 30 percent lower than that of non-drinkers.

“An inverse association between alcohol intake and risk of becoming overweight or obese was noted for all four types of alcoholic beverages [red wine, white wine, beer and liquor], with the strongest association found for red wine and a weak yet significant association for white wine after multivariate adjustment,” the authors write.

The authors caution that, given potential medical and psychosocial problems related to drinking alcohol, its beneficial and adverse effects for each individual must be considered before making any recommendation about its use. “Further investigations are warranted to elucidate the role of alcohol intake and alcohol metabolism in energy balance and to identify behavioral, physiological and genetic factors that may modify the alcohol effects,” they conclude.

A couple of weeks ago the Brewers Association launched a new website, CraftBeer.com. It’s definitely worth checking out. Here’s the official release:

Boulder, Colo.  — The Brewers Association, the trade association representing the majority of U.S. brewing companies, has just launched CraftBeer.com to celebrate the ever-growing interest in craft brewers and their liquid libations. The new site is a consumer portal providing information and community interaction for craft beer enthusiasts everywhere.

“Beer from small and independent craft brewers seems to have everyone—from wine lovers and famous chefs¹ to restaurateurs and celebrities—talking about craft beer,” said Julia Herz, a spokesperson for the Brewers Association. “CraftBeer.com is an extension of that conversation. The site serves everyone, from the beer beginner to the budding beer enthusiast, highlighting the culture, authenticity and broad spectrum of beer from today’s craft brewers.”

Key areas of the website include:

• Beer and Food: This dynamic web area includes information on pairing, serving with and cooking using craft beer. Search through beer and food recipes, comment on those posted or post a personal favorite.
• Stories: Today’s craft beer revolution centers around the more than 1,400 small and independent breweries that have come of age as the U.S. beer culture has matured beyond light American lager to more robust beer styles.
• Beerology: Information is provided on everything from beer and health to selecting the optimal glass for your favorite style of beer.
• Brewery Tours: The majority of Americans live within 10 miles of a brewery. In this section, the user can experience virtual tours of craft breweries from the perspective of the brewers and visitors.
• Style Finder: Given the variety of beer styles available, this area provides an overview of the six main categories of today’s lagers and ales, which are divided into sub-categories and then finally into more than 50 individual beer styles.
• Get Local: This area is rich with resources for enjoying craft beer close to home, including arguably the world’s most extensive directory of the more than 1,500 breweries in the U.S.
• News & Events: Visitors to this section will find out about craft beer dinners, new beers in the marketplace and happenings at breweries, among other news.

Cool design your own label http://newcastlebrown.com/yourlabel/

Design online or download the template

It’s hard to believe we launched Beer Utopia almost 2 years ago. Our official birthday is March 17th, 2008..that;s right St. Patrick’s Day! Today launches our new site design, and we have a few other tricks up our sleeve for this year. So let’s make 2010 the YEAR FOR BEER! For fun here is our very first video for Beer Utopoia

Interesting article in Ad Age about beer choice and personality. Says Craft Beer drinkers are more open minded, and think more about beer than work…duh? Oh and Craft Beer drinkers are 52% more likely to be fans of the show “The Office”. Read the full article here.

Watch the World Draught Master Finals on Thursday October 29th at 2:00PM PST

Dogfish Head is known for making some off-the-wall, but ultimately tasty, brews. This one, however, has to be the strangest. It is called “chicha” and uses the enzymes in saliva to help with the fermentation process. They chew up some corn, spit it out and then put it in the mash with other ingredients, including strawberries. Lead Brewer Bryan Selders explains the process in the video below.

Has anyone tried this?

From the Dogfish Head site:

Throughout the last 15 years we have brewed over 200 different off-centered ales here at Dogfish Head. A number of our beers have been based on archeological evidence or researching ancient brewing traditions. We have now made what we believe is one our most exotic and unique beer yet. Chicha is the quintessential native corn beer throughout Central and South American. Indigenous versions with local variations exist in Chile, Bolivia, Colombia and many other countries.

From Wired.com:

The Hopworksfiets party bike was built in, where else, bike- and beer-mad Portland, Oregon, by the bike builders Metrofiets. All you really need to know in order to fall in love with this bike is that it carries not one, but two beer kegs along with a pair of taps to serve the suds.

The mobile bar, a custom build for Portland-based Hopworks Urban Brewery, is a long-wheelbase cargo bike with the load bed up front, which we guess means that pedestrians can’t sneak a quick pint when you’re stopped at the lights. There’s a “sound pannier” at the back, containing an amp and a speaker, and the rear rack is just the right size to carry a stack of pizza boxes.

Just make sure that you nominate a designated rider. When fully loaded, this thing weighs close to 400 pounds, and of course has just two wheels. In other words, it’s not the kind of vehicle you want to be driving while under the influence.

See below for a slideshow of the bike in action, assembled by its creators BikePortland.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/ellyblue/sets/72157622257114239/show/

I would like to see this thing being ridden. Seems like it would be difficult, especially after partaking of a few.

Beer is a form of art, though it is never thought of in terms of an art that would be at a museum or in a gallery. Making art, making beer and drinking beer are creative acts that bring people together and celebrate community, why not have them together? Portland-based artist Eric Steen wants to change all this; he has created an event that combines art with the experience of drinking beer. He invited Lompoc, Laurelwood, and Lucky Lab Breweries in Portland, Oregon to receive a tour of the museum, select an artwork, and use that artwork as inspiration to make a new beer. These new beers will be served at the Portland Art Museum on Sept. 19 from 6pm till midnight.

An image of Chad Kennedy of Laurelwood near the painting he selected – Homesteaders by Arthur Runquist.

I bet you’re interested in knowing what artworks were selected and what the beers will taste like. If you are near Portland, Oregon, you may not want to miss this. For those who are elsewhere, here is some further information:
Zach Beckwith of Lompoc Brewery selected an artwork by Tennis Whiting that is a collaged and mixed media work that portrays an old, aged house. He is creating beer collage of sorts, mixing various Lompoc Ales including a saison with grapefruit and peppercorn, some has been partially aged in wood barrels. Ben Flerchinger of Lucky Lab Brrewery was inspired by the super thick painting Noble Regard by Jules Olitski. The painting is so thick it seems to be dripping off the canvas. He is using that as inspiration to create a stout with a thick and textured head. Chad Kennedy of Laurelwood chose Homesteaders, a WPA piece by Arthur Runquist. The painting portrays a group of people working together outdoors and a house being constructed in the background. Kennedy wanted to make a beer with materials that this family may have had on-hand so he is brewing a beer with molasses, corn, and honey.

This beer offering is part of a larger event at the Portland Art Museum called Shine A Light on Sept. 19th. To see more information, go here.

Photo credit: top photo by vivianjohnson.com, bottom image by Nicole Lavelle and Belin Liu.

Over on the Wired How-to Wiki, they have a nice step-by-step write up on making your own kegerator.

Even a low-end commercial kegerator will run you $400 or more, and a nice one will be more than $600. If you’ve got a spare fridge, you can build a kegerator for around $200. It’s easy to do, and well worth it. We should know: This how-to is based on Wired’s own kegerator construction project.

They even have a video which I’ve embedded here.

Some day I’ll have a kegerator for my homebrew. Kegging is so much easier than bottling.