Beer 101 - Beer Bottle Labels
Today is going to be short and sweet. Have you ever wondered why once your beer bottle gets a little sweaty the label will pull right off (on about 90% of beer bottles). This is because they are designed to come off.
The beer bottling process as we know it today (including the adding of labels) was created in Europe. Since Europeans aren’t as wasteful as the U.S., they wanted to be able to reuse their bottles (this is also why some beer bottles have reusable stoppers). So they used a water soluble glue to put their labels on the bottles. When the tasty beverage was consumed, the label was removed and the bottle was cleaned and reused. The process continues on today.
How to sutbly find out if a Christian friend drinks beer too?
If you aren’t subscribed to Stuff Christians Like, you need to be. Jon’s satirical view on the Christian subculture is amazing. With pin point accuracy, he deconstructs the stupid trends in the Christian Ghetto. Today he decided to tackle the subject of finding out if a friend drinks beer too.
With the majority of Christian’s in America being against drinking (at least they openly are 
), Jon gives seven ways that you can subtly find out if a Christian friend drinks too. My favorite is number five…”The Anything”
When you are going to come over their house, call a few days before and offer to “bring anything you need, like drinks.” Make sure you stress the word “anything” over and over again. What is so great about this move is that it puts the pressure back on them. Now, they are faced with the decision to ask you to bring wine or Sprite. What will they say, what will they say? Oh the intrigue!
I’ve done this several times. You just have to be careful. Because most of the time they will throw it back at you and say, “Oh bring anything you want to drink.” It’s like a couple of Jr. Highers trying to figure out if the other one likes them. If I get the anything response back, I ask at that point if an adult beverage would be ok. It’s a little risky, but still better than showing up with a six-pack to their daughter’s 5-year-old birthday party.
So do you have any tricks for finding out if the new friends that you make are drinkers too? Or do you just wear you favorite Guinness hat and toss them a cold one when they ask if you have anything to drink?
Ohh and go here for the whole post by Jon.
Beer Tip of the Week - Episode 11 - Fresh is Best
This is the last week on how to store your beer. So far we’ve looked at avoiding light and extreme temperatures. This time we take a look at how soon you should drink your beer.
Unlike other alcoholic beverages, beer will go bad with time. It has a shelf life. This is why some breweries have put clear born on dates on the labels of their beverages. They want their consumer to know how long ago their beer was made. The fresher your beer the better flavor you are going to get from it.
The general rule is that beer will go bad after 6 months. The amount of time it takes your beer to go bad depends on the level of alcohol and hops in the beer. The more alcohol and the less hops makes a beer better for the ageing process.
My tip to you would be to buy your beer as needed. Nothing tastes worst than a beer that has gone bad (well maybe baked poop…but who in their right mind will do that twice).
Am I in the Christian Ghetto?
Our good friend Clayton Bell posted today asking for more content on the net that is produced for Christians. He used theBeerean.com as an example of just this. But he ended his post with the question:
Am I asking for the type of content that will continue to entrench Christians in our own little ghetto?
I would have to say yes and no to this question. This is actually that I have been struggling with over the last week. I was asked by someone on the 4th of July why I don’t just do a beer blog…why does it have to be a Christian beer blog. Now before I give you my answer, let me inform you of something first.
I hate (yes hate…I want to use a word that strong) the Christian ghetto. If you don’t know what the Christian ghetto is, it is the world that Christians have created so they don’t have to interact with the rest of the world. The easiest way to recognize it is how the word Christian is thrown in front of everything. Christian bookstore, Christian music, Christian t-shirts, Christian radio stations, Christian restaurants, and Christian amuesment parks are a few to start. The last time I checked, Christian was an awesome noun and a horrible adjective.
So to think of the possiblility that I might be added to the ranks of the Christian ghetto scares/hurts me. I hope you never get the idea that I write this blog to keep you from having to interact with any other aspect of the beer world. That has never been and never will be my intention. If anything it is quite the opposite.
So back to my answer to the question posed by my friend on the 4th. I don’t write a Christian beer blog. I write a beer blog from the perspective of someone who has been radically transformed by the gospel. My reason for writing isn’t to create our own little Christian beer blogging world, but to give you a different perspective as you do go into the world of beer. I want you to see that beer is more than just a tasty beverage. I want you to see that beer is an instrument to be used to bring glory to God. This blog is used to encourage you to get out of the ghetto and to glorify God with everything that He has given you.
So to answer your question Clayton, I think the content that you ask for could just add to the Christian ghetto. If it’s just offering up the same content as the world and slapping on the label of Christian so people don’t get “dirty.” But you’ll never see that on this blog (and if I ever do…call me on it).
When Christians go bad - How NOT to share your faith in a pub!
Thanks to Fr. Daniel. I came across this hilariously sad story about a christian couple who took over the management of a pub in London. The couple, “banned gambling on horse racing, took down the dart board and put up a sign outside the tavern reading “No Swearing.”" First, it’s not a sin to be a manager or owner of a pub…in fact I think it makes you pretty darn cool and would be an awesome way to share Jesus with people. What is a sin is to be a jerk.
The couple reportedly walked around the bar, bibles in hand, telling people off for swearing. They even got to the point that they banned people from the pub for cursing. They were eventually fired by the owner, but instead of leaving graciously…they have barricaded themselves in the flat that is above the pub and have taken the owner to court.
After reading this story, I decided that to many of us are decent Christians that would never be as bad as this couple was at sharing their faith. So I thought I would come up with some simple steps that you can take if you would like to live up to their level of stupidity.
- Tell people they are sinning when they are not.
I love the fact that they took over a pub and then took away gambling and darts. Gambling I can kind of understand, but it’s not really a sin. Greed is the sin. But darts just confounds me. How could throwing a sharp object at a wall be a sin. That just sounds like good fun to me. - Focus on the sin and not the sinner.
Here is a news flash. Sinners sin. That’s what we do best. It’s that whole sin nature thing. Telling someone without a regenerated (I don’t like using big words…but it fits) heart to not sin is just dumb. It’s like telling a dog to not lick its butt…they might stop…but they won’t like it. The only way to truly reach someone is to show them their complete depravity…not showing them they have a few little dirty spots in their life. - Preach morality and not Jesus.
This kind of goes with number two, but has a little different slant to it. If you really want to piss someone off, tell them that cleaning up their act will get them into heaven. There are a couple of reasons this will work. First, you’re lying to them. The only way to heaven is Jesus. Anything else is a lie. Second, if they try your method, they are going to get frustrated really quickly. Remember the whole unregenerated heart thing. They can’t help but to sin. So you are asking them to stop doing something they can’t stop themselves from doing. You are asking them to live biblically without the power of Jesus to do so. - Sue them.
If all else fails, just take them to court. Nothing says Jesus loves you like a subpoena.
Well I hope this helps. If you find yourself with a great opportunity to share the love of Jesus to some broken people and you want to screw it up, just remember to follow these four simple steps.
Happy 4th of July! - Now go share the gospel.
As I was sitting here enjoying my day off, some quick thoughts came to mind. so I thought I would share them with you. I have been looking forward to today all week. My job at UPS has been CRAZY! I was ready for it to be Friday on Tuesday (yeah that bad).
We’re going to Shannon’s boss’s house tonight to go swimming and watch fireworks from their house that overlooks Albuquerque. I’m going to drink some good beer (and maybe some wine) and do some much needed relaxing/partying. But something came to mind.
Every time I read about Jesus going to a party, feast, festival, holiday, or celebration, he is preaching the gospel. Jesus always used the natural gathering of people to share God’s desire to show His glory in their lives. Holiday’s weren’t a day off for Him. Instead they were a great opportunity to be used.
So how are you using the 4th to share the gospel? Do you see holidays only as a time to relax and retreat? Do you see holiday’s as a time reach out to those who are far from God? Am I an idiot, or am I hitting a nerve?
Beer Tip of the Week - Episode 10 - How to store your beer - Part 2
Happy 4th of July everyone. This week we took a look at what temperature to store your beer to keep it from losing flavor. I think we can all agree that the easiest is to just keep it in a nice cold refrigerator. But what about those times when you can’t store it in your fridge (like when your frig is already full of beer)?
The best thing to keep in mind when storing your beer is to avoid extreme temperatures. Extreme heat and extreme cold both have the ability to change the flavor of your beer. So whether you live in Phoenix or Toronto, you need to find a place where to keep your beer from the far edges of temperature.
My suggestion is to get a dedicated beer frig. It doesn’t have to be big to do the job…it just has to be able to keep you beer at a cool temperature.
Beer 101 - International Bittering Unit Scale - What is IBU?
Most people can tell you what ABV stands for when it comes to beer (alcohol by volume), but a little less known term is IBU’s. International Bittering Units are used to describe how much bitter content is in a beer derived from hops in the brewing process.
Depending on where you look, IBU’s are either determined by how much isohumulone or isomerized alpha acid is in a beer (one part per million = one unit) or it is determined by an empirical formula [Wh × AA% × Uaa â„ ( Vw × 1.34 )].
In general if the the beer has a higher IBU, it will taste more bitter. But this is not the rule. We know that the bitter flavor is added to beer to help offset or complement the malty flavor of the beer. Therefore those beer’s with a higher content of malts will also have a higher content of hops. This then gives you a higher IBU for the beer but not more bitter flavor in the beer.
Here’s an example. Guinness Stout has a high malt content and therefore starts out with about 50 IBU’s. Most people would not say that Guinness is a really bitter beer. On the other hand, take the same amount of IBU’s and put it in a beer with less malt, and you have an Indian Pale Ale (IPA) which is desired for it’s strong bitter flavor.
But in general you can say the more IBU’s a beer has, the more bitter a flavor it will have. For those of you who are wondering, here is a general guide that I found on the web for how many IBU’s different styles of beer have.
A General IBU Guide:
Ales
Pale Ale / Amber Ale – 20-50 IBU
India Pale Ale – 40-60 IBU
ESB, aka Extra Special Bitters – 28-40 IBU
English Brown Ale – 20 IBU
Porter – 20-40 IBU
Irish Stout – 30-60 IBU
Barleywine – 50-100 IBU
Lagers
American Pale Lager – 10-15 IBU
Pilsner – 25-45 IBU
Bock – 20-30 IBU
Forget Church Pot Lucks…Have a beer tasting!
Yes you are reading the above graphic right. This is a beer tasting being hosted by a church. Now I don’t know much more than what you see above. But Brad Ruggles sent me this so I had to share. I don’t know about you, but I think beer tasting should replace potlucks as the main staple for church functions. What do you think?
Beer Tip of the Week - Episode 9 - How to Store Beer - Part 1
For next three weeks, we are going to learn some simple tips for how to store your beer. This week we take a look at how light affects your beer while it is being stored.
The simplest thing to remeber when it comes to storing your beer is that light is evil. Sunlight, floresent light, and incondesent light will all cause you beer to change flavor and become skunked. The hops in beer releases an oil that is sensitive to light in a negative way. Therefore light is bad.
Until next time, wheter you eat or drink do it all to the glory of God.
