Pitcher this

Normally news reports about beer have enough staying power in my brain as a whole pint in my bladder: not long.

But enough sound bites and newsprint about Homer Simpson's bevvie of choice came my way...it was hard *not* to notice.

Coffee-beer
Sounds totally disgusting to me, but, ech, to each her own. The New Scientist has an article on Nestec's (yes, part of Nestle) non-alcoholic, fermented drinks that smell and taste like coffee, but has the body of beer (complete with foam); the mothercorp is currently trying to patent the process...or the drink...or whatever. And then I read on Slashfood that there's a real coffee beer made by Meantime Brewery which is a blend of beer and coffee for those who don't want a namby-pamby fermented coffee drink, but want beer.

Incan beer
The Globe and Mail's "Ancient empire built on beer" reports of archaeologists believing that women had more status in Incan and pre-Incan society than previously believed. Why? Because they brewed beer. Apparently elite Wari women, a people who lived in the central Andes from 600-1000ADE had an industrial-sized brewery, palace and temple in their elaborate city on a remote summit in southern Peru. Copious amounts (the brewery could brew 1800L) of chichi (a beverage made of fermented corn and Peruvian pepper-tree berries) at a time. The brewery was eventually sacrificed to the gods...why do I have a vision of Homer running and screaming "Noooooooooooooooooo!"

Strike beer off the naughty list
And lastly, if an apple a day will keep the doctor away, then a beer a day is pretty darned good as well. Xanthohumol, micronutrient that has cancer-fighting properties, the stuff that helps give beer aroma and flavour, may also prevent breast, colon, ovarian and prostate cancer cells. But the thing is, according to the radio report I heard, there really isn't much of the micronutrient in your average pint, so someone would have to drink an awful lot of the stuff to make it actually do something other than getting you drunk.

as always,
jasmine

tags: beer food inca