The Other Reformation: How Martin Luther Changed Our Beer, Too

Gruit is a catchall style that can encompass any beer made with a single variety or blend of herbs in place of hops. These beers were brewed in Northern Europe in some form perhaps as early as 5,000 years ago. A wide variety of botanicals were used as bittering agents, flavorants, and preservatives in these beers, including rosemary, juniper, and sage. In addition to grains, these beers would contain a large amount of adjuncts such as honey and fruit.

Along with religion, the Protestant Revolution changed beer as we know it today. Who knew the two were intertwined?

This week, more beer...that is a good thing.

TTFN, Fred. 

Quote of the week: "Mistakes, obviously, show us what needs improving. Without mistakes, how would we know what we had to work on?" - Peter McWilliams (American self-help author, 1949 - 2000)

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A Brief History of Window Cleaning

Glass is one of the oldest materials around. The discovery of glass date back to the Stone Age, around 7,000 BC. The organized production of glass in the form of jewelry and small jugs began in Egypt approximately four millennia later.

Only in 1861, did the Belgian chemist Ernest Solvay introduce the material to wide circles of the population with the cost-effective production of glass. Suddenly, countless office buildings, train stations, administrative buildings and ministries were equipped with massive window facades. This laid the foundation for the commercial window cleaning industry. Eventually windows were so prevalent it became a househld chore and window cleaning products were developed.

This week, a brief look at window cleaning.

Quote of the week: "One never knows what each day is going to bring. The important thing is to be open and ready for it." - Henry Moore (British sculptor, 1898 - 1986)

   A Brief History of Window Cleaning by fredwine on Scribd

Where the Cocktail Party Came From

A cocktail party is a party at which cocktails are served. It is sometimes called a cocktail reception. A cocktail party organized for purposes of social or business networking is called a mixer. A cocktail hour is sometimes used by managers of hotels and restaurants as a means of attracting patrons between 4 pm and 6 pm, for example.

Cocktails can have some great origin stories, but how can you tell sober fact from tipsy fiction? The noble institution of pre-dinner drinking has a complicated history, stretching across the Atlantic and a century or two

This week, a look at where the cocktail party might have originated.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Maturity is a bitter disappointment for which no remedy exists, unless laughter can be said to remedy anything." - Kurt Vonnegut (US novelist, 1922 - 2007)

   Where the Cocktail Party Came From by fredwine on Scribd

Grasping at Straws

A drinking straw is a tube for transferring a beverage from its container to the mouth of the drinker. The oldest drinking straw in existence, found in a Sumerian tomb dated 3,000 B.C.E., was a gold tube inlaid with the precious blue stone lapis lazuli, used for drinking beer, probably to avoid the solid byproducts of fermentation that sunk to the bottom. Argentines and their neighbors used a similar metallic device called a bombilla, that acts as both a straw and sieve for drinking mate tea for hundreds of years.

In the 1800s, the rye grass straw came into fashion because it was cheap and soft, but it had an unfortunate tendency to turn to mush in liquid. To address these shortcomings, Marvin C. Stone patented the modern drinking straw, made of paper, in 1888. He came upon the idea while drinking a mint julep on a hot day in Washington, D.C.; the taste of the rye was mixing with the drink and giving it a grassy taste, which he found unsatisfactory. He wound paper around a pencil to make a thin tube, slid out the pencil from one end, and applied glue between the strips. He later refined it by building a machine that would coat the outside of the paper with wax to hold it together, so the glue wouldn't dissolve in bourbon.

Beer, mint juleps, bourbon...once again, proof that alcohol leads to greatness.

This week, a look at the history of the straw.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "The easiest thing in the world to be is you. The most difficult thing to be is what other people want you to be. Don't let them put you in that position." - Leo Buscaglia (US author and lecturer, 1925 - 1998)

   Grasping at Straws by fredwine on Scribd

Can We Blame the Mafia on Lemons?

Organized crime consists of highly centralized enterprises run by criminals who intend to engage in illegal activity, most commonly for money and profit. Some criminal organizations, such as terrorist groups, are politically motivated. Sometimes criminal organizations force people to do business with them, such as when a gang extorts money from shopkeepers for so-called "protection".

And while citrus hardly seems like a black market commodity, plenty of blood was spilled in Silicy over it.

This week, a look at how lemons may have lead to the Mafia.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "You can't have everything. Where would you put it?" - Steven Wright (US comedian and actor, 1955 - )

   Can We Blame the Mafia on Lemons by fredwine on Scribd

Why Phoenix's Airplanes Can't Take Off in Extreme Heat

We take for it granted that we can fly from one side of the world to the other in a matter of hours, but a century ago this amazing ability to race through the air had only just been discovered. What would the pioneers of powered flight make of an age in which something like 100,000 planes take to the sky each day in the United States alone? 

Weather can keep planes on the ground. Snow, wind, extreme rain, these make sense. Who wouldn't prefer to fly in nice weather? But can it be too nice? Yes, if it is hot, "...like Africa hot. Tarzan couldn't take this kind of hot."

This week, a look at why airplanes can't take off in extreme heat.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "If a dog jumps in your lap, it is because he is fond of you; but if a cat does the same thing, it is because your lap is warmer." - Alfred North Whitehead (English mathematician and philosopher, 1861 - 1947)

   Why Phoenix's Airplanes Can't Take Off in Extreme Heat by fredwine on Scribd

Duncan Hines

Cakes paved the way through many of our lives. Birthdays, social gatherings, special events, all were likely celebrated with a cake. Once I learned how to use the mixer I was hooked. I grew up making Bundt cakes, as I liked the shape and the Pillsbury box mixes came with the cake, filling and glaze all in one box.

I never wondered if the Pillsbury Dough Boy was real, but Betty Crocker included a face that I thought belonged to someone. Betty didn't seem to age but did change over the years into other women to keep up with the times. Once I knew that I figured none of the names used were real. Little did I know that Duncan Hines was a real person.

This week, a look at Duncan Hines.

TTFN, Fred.

Quote of the week: "Think not those faithful who praise all thy words and actions; but those who kindly reprove thy faults." - Socrates (Greek philosopher, 469 BC - 399 BC)

Duncan Hines by fredwine on Scribd