Happy Beer Can Appreciation Day!
Back in October, we told you about the …unique way Oregon is brewing beer.
That’s not the only way alcohol has grasped our attention recently.
Did you hear about…
…the guy who found an untouched bottle of 125-year-old beer?
According to a CNN report, the story begins like a joke: “A scuba diver, a researcher, and a beer enthusiast walked into a lab…”
The scuba diver, Jon Crouse from Nova Scotia, discovered an uncorked beer bottle at the bottom of Halifax Harbor in November. He kept the bottle sealed and, until Wednesday, its contents went unidentified. The cork, however, read “A. Keith & Son Brewery.”
With the help of Christopher Reynolds, co-owner of Stillwell Beer Bar in Halifax, and Andrew MacIntosh, who specializes in fermentation research at Dalhousie University, the team was able to positively ID the liquid.
“It tasted surprisingly good,” Reynolds said, “and surprisingly like beer.”
MacIntosh said the brew will give fellow researchers some insight into how beer was made in the 1800s.
…the woman whose body naturally produces ethanol?
The human body is amazing—from giving birth to beating cancer, there’s not much we can’t do.
Some people can even get themselves drunk … without the booze.
In October 2014, a New York woman was pulled over for drunk driving and promptly “blew” a 0.33 percent BAC. Sounds like a typical case of DUI, except she only had a couple of cocktails several hours earlier—nowhere near enough to warrant a blood alcohol level four times greater than the legal limit.
According to Inverse, the woman’s legal team argued for “unintentional drunkness,” due to what experts call endogenous ethanol fermentation, or “auto-brewery syndrome.” The woman’s case was seen before a judge in recent weeks and, fortunately for her, the charges were dismissed.
“This woman’s situation is believed to be the first instance of auto-brewery syndrome used in a defense case in New York, but instances of the disorder, while rare, are not unheard of,” Inverse reported.
“Prior to 1976, 12 cases of auto-brewery syndrome were identified … In 2013, physicians published a paper detailing the case of a 61-year-old Texan man who was registering a BAC of 0.37 percent despite a lack of ingesting alcohol.” According to NPR, “[W]hen he ate or drank a bunch of starch—a bagel, pasta or even a soda—the yeast fermented the sugars into ethanol, and he would get drunk.”
…how drinking in moderation can help you exercise?
Recent studies show an intriguing correlation between moderate alcohol consumption and positive gym habits.
According to CNN, scientists still have a bit more work to do, but research shows that “people who drink moderately tend to exercise more than abstainers.” As the article mentions, this is not the first instance of alcohol in a fitness plan.
“A daily glass of wine is included in the Mediterranean diet that many doctors recommend to patients as a healthy way to eat.” The article continued, “Some studies have even looked at beer as an alternative kind of sports drink,” adding that the nutrients in the hops and the sugar can work if sodium is added and the alcohol content is lower.