The folks over at Ask.com recently published the list of the “Top Questions Asked about Beer on Ask.com.” Below, we list the questions (Q) along with the answers from the Ask.com staff (A). I have also included my thoughts (WBB). Some of the answers are more serious than others.

Top Questions Asked about Beer on Ask.com

Q: How do I make beer?
A: With hops, barley and patience.
WBB:  It’s simple. Buy The Complete Joy of Homebrewing by Charlie Papazian. Read it. Live it. Love it.

Q:  Who invented beer?
A: At over 10,000 years old, beer has been around as long as humans needed nutrition.  While the exact inventor is unknown, anthropologists have determined that Noah took beer on the Ark and our founding fathers enjoyed their pints.  And frankly that’s good enough for us!

WBB: It was a guy named Cletus. Thousands of years ago Cletus lived near the Tigris River in what is now Iraq. In those days, they would fill big clay pots with grain and then bury the pots in the ground to preserve the grain. Cletus was a nice enough fellow, but he was also a bit of a screw up. He buried his pots too close to the river. That year the river flooded, as the Tigris was wont to do in those days. What’s more, Cletus failed to seal his pots properly.

Everyone laughed at Cletus as he opened his pots and found that they were full of murky sludge. They walked away laughing, leaving Cletus sitting alone with his pots of goo. Cletus was lonely and sad. For no particular reason at all, Cletus decided to try drinking the murky, bread-water. It wasn’t bad. As he drank more of it, he started to care less and less about all those losers who had laughed at him. As he drank still more of it, he beganto care less and less about pretty much everything. He no longer felt sad at all.

The next year, Cletus added some spices and some herbs to his pots and intentionally buried them too close to the river. When he began selling his fermented bread water, nobody laughed. They just lined up for more. The very next year, Cletus and his new trophy wife bought the biggest, baddest river barge that any of his fellow Mesopotamians had ever seen.

Q: How many calories are in a beer?
A: We could go all day on this one, but a couple examples include:  Sierra Nevada Pale Ale: 175 Sam Adams Lager: 160 Pilsner Uruqell: 160 Michelob: 155 Guinness: 153 Heineken: 150  Corona : 148.
WBB: This is a depressing question. Next.

Q: How much alcohol is in a beer?
A: Depends on the beer and the animal it’s named after (see below).
WBB: When a beer gets to the point that people describe it as being, “Kind of like a nice sherry or cognac,” there is too much alcohol. This is just my opinion, but if you get higher than about 12% ABV, it starts becoming something other than beer.

Q: How long does beer stay in your system?
A: On average, 6 – 10 hours.
WBB: I made my first batch of homebrew when I was 18. Beer has been in my system ever since.

Q. Which beer has the highest alcohol content?
A: The highest we could find was Tactical Nuclear Penguin (we’re not making that up either) by BrewDog Brewery in Scotland.  Sip carefully.
WBB: The ABV arms race continues. Producing the world’s strongest beer seems to be in fashion this season.

Q: What is the best beer commercial?
A: As with all artistic expression, this one is up for debate, but we’re pretty big fans of the new Guinness commercial!
WBB: The old Rainier Beer commercials from the 70s and very early 80s. If you are not old enough, or were not living around here back in those days, then I’m sorry. If you remember, I’m sure you agree. Here’s a fine example.

Q: How many beers are in a keg?
A:  “165 beers in the keg, 165 beers, take one down; pass it around, 165 beers in the keg!”
WBB: Uh, I was told there would be no math? (Okay,124 pints in a ½ barrel)

Q. When was beer invented?
A: Beer can trace its roots as far back as Mesopotamia – 5^th millennium B.C. or older!
WBB: Cletus. It’s all about Cletus.

Q. Which country drinks the most beer?
A: We were thinking Texas, but it turns out that The Czech Republic consumes 156 liters of beer per capita, more than any other country, followed by Ireland and Germany.
WBB: On average, each person in the Czech Repulic drinks 156 liters of beer per year. That’s about 330 pints per year per person. On average, they drink nearly a pint a day. If you consider a few other factors in that equation –like children and other people who do not drink at all– that’s a pretty amazing number.

On April 17^th, everything changes. The world as we know it will be torn asunder. Dogs will lie down with cats, rain will rise from the earth to the sky, and Washington-brewed craft beer will be available in aluminum cans.  Future generations will read about this day in the annals of human history and honor the fearless men who ushered in this brave new era of enlightenment — those two men, Travis Gutterson and Mike Runion, the owners of Gig Harbor’s 7 Seas Brewing.

7 Seas Brewing is about to become the first Washington craft brewer to make their product available in cans. To celebrate, there will be a release party at the 7 Seas taproom in Gig Harbor on April 17^th from 12:00 – 6:00. The 7 Seas Brewery and Taproom is located at 3207 57th ST CT NW, Gig Harbor, WA 98335. Read about our visit to the taproom.

Canning has always been part of the plan at 7 Seas Brewing. Back in July, when the first batches of 7 Seas beers were still fermenting, we visited the fledgling brewery and they were already talking about getting it in the can.

“I know people have a lot of opinions about canned beer, but it’s just the best thing to do,” Travis Gutterson told us last July. “Mike and I both love to get out and enjoy nature — to get out in the woods and to go out kayaking and stuff. Cans are just the more responsible thing to do.”

Tallboys

As if canning their beer isn’t cool enough, 7 Seas Brewing will be packaging their beer in 16 oz. tallboys. They will be available in easy-to-tote four-packs. There will be two 7 Seas beers available in cans: Ballz Deep Double IPA and British Pale Ale. That may change in time, but that’s the plan for now.

Last night we met with Travis at Renton’s Dog and Pony Alehouse, where they were hosting a 7 Seas brewers night celebration. He told us that unlike most six packs, which are held together with extremely eco-unfriendly plastic rings, 7 Seas’ four-packs will use an innovative, recyclable packaging method.

“It’s a recyclable plastic thing that the tops of the cans snap up into,” Travis said. “It’s not one of those plastic, bird trap things that wash up on beaches. Just throw it in the recycling bin with the empty cans.”

“We looked at what every other canned craft beer producer was doing to find inspiration. We didn’t want to put our cans in a box. That’s expensive and we’re proud of our cans. The logo and everything you need to know is right there on the can, so we didn’t see a reason to put them in a box.”

Cask Brewing Systems, Inc. of Calgary, Canada manufactured 7 Seas’ canning system. They provide manual and automated beer canning systems to more than 100 customers worldwide. Cask’s two-head, manual system is perfectly matched for use by craft breweries like 7 Seas who do not need to package 75 cases per hour.

Here at the Washington Beer Blog, we have been anxiously waiting for one of our local brewers to start canning beer. We’re excited about this and we offer our congratulations to 7 Seas for being the first Washington craft brewery to make this move. We hope they are starting a trend.

There has been a lot of discussion here on the blog over the past year about the availability of Washington beer. One thing it seems we all agree on is that if Washington brewers want to sell more beer, then they have to start packaging and distributing it. Cans!  Recyclable, light weight and light-impenetrable… CANS!

Travis began to tell us about the many advantages to canning beer. We stopped him. He had us at “Cans.” We’re believers already. He mentioned to us that people have many opinions when it comes to canned beer. Not true. From what I have heard, there are only two opinions when it comes to canned beer: thumbs up or thumbs down. Similarly, in the 15^th century, there were only two opinions about the shape of the earth: round or flat.

The argument for cans

Perhaps the biggest misconception about canned beer is that the aluminum gives the beer a metallic taste. The insides of most cans and lids used for high-end craft beers have a coating, ensuring that there is absolutely no contact between the beer and the aluminum. If you are so sure that you can taste the metal, do a blind tasting. I dare you. I recommend Caldera Pale Ale.  No metallic flavor, just delicious Cascade hops.

Cans are airtight and oxygen-free, protecting their precious cargo from light and oxygen. When light consistently hits a bottle of beer, the beer often turns skunky. Oxygen can also sneak into a bottle under the bottle cap and affect the taste. Of course, if there’s something wrong with your canning system and you are not getting an airtight fill, all bets are off. Still, in theory, cans are airtight.

In a mountain stream, cans chill quicker than bottles. The lighter weight means it’s easier to pack them in and easier pack the empties out. I don’t mind carrying extra weight if it’s beer, I just don’t want to fill my backpack with glass.

Speaking of glass, it breaks.

From a sustainability standpoint, it’s no contest. The average beer can contains 40 percent recycled aluminum, while American beer bottles are typically composed of 20 percent to 30 percent recycled glass. The energy savings that accumulate when you recycle a ton of aluminum are far greater than they are for a ton of glass—96 percent vs. a mere 26.5 percent. Get it? While both bottles and cans are composed of a significant amount of recycled material, recycling glass takes a lot more energy than recycling aluminum.

Then you have to put it in a truck and drive it to the market. The average beer can weighs less than an ounce, while an empty bottle clocks in at close to 6 ounces. Heavier items require more fuel, and create greater emissions, when transported.

If you want to read more about the argument for canned beer, Slate magazine wrote an interesting article and it’s available here.

• 4:00pm – 99 Bottles Weekly Pick. It’s just $1 to sample 2 beers selected by our staff. This is an open-house tasting; stop in anytime between 4:00 and 8:00 p.m.
• 4:30pm – Oostkant Cask Crawl in Redmond. Black Raven Brewery and the Malt & Vine will have casks on the bar.
• 5:00pm – Cask Night at 74th St. Alehouse. A firkin of small batch, locally brewed Cask Conditioned beer. Different breweries, different styles each week. Contact them for details.
• 5:00pm – Ninkasi Tasting at Full Throttle Bottles. Bring your own tasting glass and save a buck!
• 6:00pm – Pike Brewers Dinner at McCormick and Schmick’s. Tasty food paired with Pike’s delicious beers. Contact McCormick and Schmick’s for details and reservations. (425) 454-2606.
• 7:00pm – 7 Seas Brewers Night at the Dog and Pony (Renton).  Join the Dog and Pony as they welcome Gig Harbor’s own 7 Seas Brewing for a brewers night celebration.

Up north, out west, and downtown, there are beer events happening on this Tuesday eve. Details, maps, etc can be found on our Washington Beer Events page. As always, we encourage you to get out there and do something.

Boundary Bay Brewers Night – The Porterhouse in Mount Vernon welcomes Boundary Bay Brewery for a brewers night celebration. They will be pouring Double Red, IPA, Porter and a cask of Cabin Fever. Oh my, that sounds yummy! Note – not the Porterhouse in West Seattle, we’re talking about Mount Vernon.

Double Mountain Release Party – POSTPONED. Details when we have them. The folks from Double Mountain Brewing in Hood River, OR are heading north to release their Empire Strikes Back IPA at the Beveridge Place Pub. This is a British style IPA, thus the reference to the empire.

Ninkasi Release Party – Downtown Seattle’s Whiskey Bar (which pours more than whiskey, obviously) welcomes Ninkasi Brewing from Eugene for a release party – Spring Reign Pale Ale. Along with the Spring Reign (seasonal release) they’ll be tapping into RenewALE (a limited ESB-ish style ale), and Tricerahops (double IPA).

This St. Patrick’s Day, Tom Douglas Events will host a civilized event for us grownups, featuring fine foods paired with delicious beers. What a relief!  The Beer Blast will feature Irish-style ales from local craft brewers paired with delicious food.

Last October I attended the Beer and Brats event at the Palace Ballroom – the Oktoberfest equivalent of the St. Pat’s Beer Blast. (Read our post.) It was a great event with amazing food and fantastic beer. I would expect nothing less at this event. You’ll find details about the event below.

TIP: Full Throttle Bottles in Georgetown is selling discounted tickets for this event. Your other ticket options are explained below.

St. Patrick’s Day Beer Blast
Fresh and delicious Irish style ales from local breweries like:
Snoqualamie
Big Al
Maritime Pacific
Elysian
Elliott Bay
Hales
Pike
Georgetown Brewery

Each brewery will be paired with their own hearty bites from Tom Douglas Restaurants like stout beef stew and traditional bangers!

Beecher’s Cheese, Theo’s Chocolate and Market House Meats will also provide tasty vittles

Where: Palace Ballroom at the corner of 5th and Lenora, downtown Seattle
Time: 5-8pm
Cost: $35 tax included (Or $25 at Full Throttle)

For tickets:
Contact Christy at 206.448.2001 or via email at christinal@tomdouglas.com

Or just head down to Full Throttle Bottles.

Matt Stromberg, Head Brewer at Scuttlebutt, says: “As many of you know, this is the beer that I brew just for myself. It’s developed quite a following amongst our regulars at the pub, especially the nitro version. It has a robust hop presence but remains very balanced and is very session oriented at 5% abv.”

For more info, and to enter, visit the Scuttlebutt Web site.

Walking Man Brewing's brewpub in Stevenson, WA.

Walking Man brewpub in Stevenson, WA was just rated the Northwest’s #1 brewpub, 10^th in the US and 15^th in the world by www.ratebeer.com. A few months ago we visited the pub in Stevenson - read our review.

Close to 2.5 million reviews went into the ratings. This vote was not based only on beer, but also on the pub’s atmosphere and service; the entire experience.

Best of 2010 article on Rate Beer.

Best of 2010 brewpub list on Rate Beer.

Walking Man website: www.walkingmanbrewing.com

I’m not the kind of guy who needs much of a reason, but it sure is nice when I can go out and enjoy a barley-pop and know I’m supporting a worthy cause.

Tonight – We invite you to attend the 5th Annual Water 1st Beer Second fundraiser. Read our original post about this event. This is a casual and affordable affair. Beer will be provided by  Pike, Hale’s, Two Beers, Georgetown, and Mac and Jack’s. (They’ll be serving wine as well.) Along with food, beer and live music, they will be raffling off a trip to Hawaii. Naval Reserve Building on Lake Union (“The Armory”), Friday, March 5, 2010.  7:00 p.m.

Tomorrow – The Beer Authority is partnering with Elysian Brewing and Team in Training to raise money to help fight blood cancers this Saturday, March 6th. All day long at The Beer Authority (noon-9pm) we will be pouring pints of Elysian Immortal IPA for $5.50 and filling growlers for $20 with all the proceeds going to Team in Training. This is an easy, effective and very tasty way to help out people who are fighting these deadly diseases- so stop on in and have a pint. It may be the most important beer you buy all year!

So we have decided that it is time to start a new poll. We want to know where in the world you would choose to drink beer. Imagine that money is not an issue. You get to go wherever you want. Belgium, England, Ireland, Germany, and so on. The poll is over there in the right sidebar.

We’ve included California and Oregon as options because your responses to previous posts and polls suggest that many of you think that those two states are worthy of making the short list. We are also allowing you to write in anyplace you like.

So where in the world would you go to drink beer?

According to the Liquor Control Board, the revised rules are based on public input requesting that the board place restrictions on the size, amount and location of alcohol advertising at liquor-licensed locations.

Here are some of the highlights.

• Limiting to four the number of signs advertising alcohol, brand names and manufacturers that are visible from the outside of a retail licensed premises such as stores, bars and restaurants.
• Restricting the size of alcohol signs visible from the outside of a retail licensed premises to 1,600 square inches.
• Applying the rules to signs at civic events where alcohol is served, such as beer gardens.

The complete Notice of Rule Change can be found here.

Here is the explanatory statement issued by the Liquor Control Board:

Amendatory Section WAC 314-52-070 – Outdoor advertising.
Amended language to restrict the number of signs advertising alcohol, brand names, and/or manufacturers that are visible from the public right of way on the outside of a retail premises to a total of four. The size of the signs is limited to 1600 square inches. Amended language to restrict outdoor advertising within 500 feet of places of worship, schools, public playgrounds, or athletic fields used primarily by children. Added back language “where the administrative body of said church, school, public playground or athletic field object to such placement”. The 500 feet is measured from the property line of the place of worship, school, public playground or athletic field to the outdoor sign. Added language that gives a local jurisdiction the option to exempt liquor licenses in their jurisdiction from the outdoor advertising restrictions in this section through a local ordinance. “Tourist Oriented Designation Signs” per RCW 47.36.320 are exempt from this requirement.