Beer Added To The Food Pyramid 393
Alehound writes " Beer Is Food: The US Government labeled beer(alcohol) as a drug, BeerAdvocate.com begs to differ as they inform their reader that beer can be a part of your diet in a healthy way. Beer does a body good? So the "Beer Gut" is a myth? So why the hell do I have a gut? And yes these guys do drink beer for breakfast." It's only 10 in the morning, I'm dumping out the half pot of coffee left, and cracking open a Boddingtons! Do it!
mhm (Score:5, Funny)
Re:mhm (Score:5, Informative)
For example "And for the record, beer is not fattening" - yeah right, any absorbton of calories above what are expended is turned into fat, plain and simple.
Remember, there are 7 calories per gram of alchohol to consider above the carbs (I think 1 pint/550ml of beer has around 200 calories in total).
The simple truth is, a balanced diet, mixed exercise and sufficient rest are the way to health. If you have these, beer shouldn't matter.
Oh, I won't even go into their "hops can also be found in teas" BS - only in poncy flavoured teas. Tea leaves are the only ingredient of tea.
Bingo (Score:4, Insightful)
WooHoo (Score:3, Funny)
A Guinness per day keeps impotence away. (Score:2, Interesting)
Or so I've been told.
But even if it doesnt, drinking alcohol also lessens your chance of heart attack.
Re:A Guinness per day keeps impotence away. (Score:3, Informative)
A drink or two a day of wine, beer or liquor is, experts say, often the single best nonprescription way to prevent heart attacks -- better than a low-fat diet or weight loss, better even than vigorous exercise. Moderate drinking can help prevent strokes, amputated limbs and dementia.
Re:A Guinness per day keeps impotence away. (Score:3, Informative)
And the single most important factor - don't smoke .
Mmmm...sunday morning corn flakes and beer! (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Mmmm...sunday morning corn flakes and beer! (Score:4, Funny)
Re:Mmmm...sunday morning corn flakes and beer! (Score:3, Funny)
Founding Fathers (Score:5, Informative)
It makes sense. In the days before chlorinated water and refrigerator, ale would have been one of the more reliable ways of preserving foods.
Re:Founding Fathers (Score:3, Insightful)
I was thinking ahead of myself again. Before we had good, reliable safe drinking water, it was better to drink the beer. Water born vectors still take out a good portion of people in developing countries.
Students visiting Mexico on Spring Break know this inherently: Don't drink the water...drink the beer.
Re:Believe it or not (Score:4, Insightful)
I personally think it would be great if we recognized alcoholic drinks as a food source, since it would encourage people to think more about the nutritional content of what they drink. Hmmm, we might someday have Total Beer commercials..."You would have to drink 4 pints of Blatz to get the same vitamins as one pint of Old Totalovski's..."
Sanitary, was Re:Founding Fathers (Score:5, Informative)
Today we pasteurize beer - before this practice became mainstream, beer used to be pretty unsanitary.
Pasteurization has nothing to do with sanitary in beer. Homebrewers never pasteurize their beer.
Firstly, let's talk about unsanitary. Unsanitary - back then - meant things like cholera, which lived quite happily in water and was a serious health threat. The alcohol in beer kills things like cholera. There are no known human pathogens that can grow or live in beer, so you can't mess up and brew something that'll hurt you. So, in the context of unclean water, beer _is_ sanitary - the alcohol kills germs.
Secondly, let's talk about pasteurization. In milk, pasteurization kills off certain bacteria that are present in the production chain (read: cow) but bad for humans in some cases. In beer, pasteurization kills off the yeast (not bad for humans, BTW) which insures that the fermentation will stop and the flavor of the beer will reach stasis. It does not kill of nasties; nasties can't live in beer. Again, homebrewers don't pasteurize, they don't need to, and it's too hard to do without killing the flavor. In fact, unpasteurized beer with yeast residue has lots of vitamin B, which helps with hangovers.
In short: beer didn't used to be unsanitary, water did. Beer still isn't. Water may be, depending upon where you live.
okay beer is a food (Score:5, Funny)
No labels, sez the FDA (Score:3, Informative)
So are we going to start seeing the fancy labels which are on all the other foods?
Nope. The BATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms) will not allow brewers to put anything that might be (correctly or incorrectly) intepreted as health information. The Yakima Brewery in Washington had to deal with ATF harrassment [elfie.org] when they had the temerity to list calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, cholesterol, sodium and potassium.
Mmmm....beer... (Score:5, Informative)
Otherwise, make mine Guiness or Sam Adams. Aside from unfiltered beers or home brew, beer does not contain any yeast, and the carbonation is a result of injecting CO2 into the beer before capping it. You'll know if there's yeast in it if you find crunchies at the bottom of the bottle.
Oh yea, beer is just mostly empty carbs. Almost no nutritional value. At best, I'd put it down in the same category as 'snack food'.
Re:Mmmm....beer... (Score:2)
Actually, this should be rewritten as
aside from American Beers, all contain yeast and are loaded with nutritional value
Truth is that is commercial american beers (and ones sold to our markets) that have no real redeeming value other than a bit of a taste and an expensive drunk. Funny enough, well drinks are actually cheaper for getting drunk with
Re:Mmmm....beer... (Score:2)
Wrong! In some states, beers are limited to 3.2%, but they are the exception rather than the rule. Even in Alabama, I can go to the grocery store and buy A-B's Natural Ice, which is 5.9%. Of course, it tastes like ass, but that wasn't the point. Oh, and I can't go buy it today, because the stores can't sell alcohol on Sundays unless I drive to another county. But that wasn't the point either.
By the way, what would have
Re:Mmmm....beer... (Score:5, Informative)
No second guessing if the brauts are cooked all the way though and it tastes GREAT!
Re:Mmmm....beer... (Score:2)
No second guessing if the brauts are cooked all the way though and it tastes GREAT!
Isn't this the part where you're supposed to tell me than "Johnsonville is Heaven on a Bun...?"
Just asking...
Re:Mmmm....beer... (Score:5, Funny)
Not sure where you are from, but in Australia, beer seems to put back in all the things beer leaches from my body - carbs, vitamins, essential minerals... and if you can combine it with greasy food, you have basically completely reversed any ill effects from the night before, come out ahead, and got the girl (even if she isn't so pretty now)...
Sorry about that rant. It's 1am and I just got home from the pub. Um, I look at this in the morning and maybe clarify a few things...
Cheers, mate!
No, beer is not a drug. (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:No, beer is not a drug. (Score:2)
was that sarcasm I missed??? Cigarettes aren't drugs either because of the paper (versus water for beer)? Alcohol is in beer, if alcohol is a drug, then beer is too (unless the amount is so diluted).
But I'm one of those few slashdotters that don't drink alcohol. I wonder how many of us there are...
Re:No, beer is not a drug. (Score:3, Funny)
Re:No, beer is not a drug. (Score:5, Funny)
Simple. Because you can't get drunk off of water, cereal, and yeast.
Boddingtons? EWWWWW! (Score:3, Insightful)
Boddingtons. Oh My God.
Re:Boddingtons? EWWWWW! (Score:2, Informative)
Well, in the US, beer is just another word for brown water with alcohol, it seems.
I've yet to taste any American beer that has the least bit of flavour to it.
Newcastle Brown Ale. . . . . (Score:2)
Re:Boddingtons? EWWWWW! (Score:3)
OTOH Marston's Pedigree rocks.
Beer is likely a drug by the FDA's definition (Score:5, Interesting)
I know this because I was told about a supplement that tried to get FDA approval as a drug, but it failed because it could never kill the rats. Therefore it could only be approved as a food (having strange effects on the product's marketability).
So perhaps the FDA got some rats really drunk and they actually got half of them to die...
Re:Beer is likely a drug by the FDA's definition (Score:2, Funny)
Re:Beer is likely a drug by the FDA's definition (Score:2, Interesting)
As I said in my other post, everything has an LD50, some are just really really high.
That one for THC is 66.6 grams for a 100 Kg person, assuming similar LD50s in humans. Since most pot is between 2-8% THC, it's about the same as consuming a pound or two (0.5-1kg) of pot. Not likely to happen with recreational use.
Re:Beer is likely a drug by the FDA's definition (Score:2)
Hah! You must not hang around with musicians. Especially drummers.
Re:Beer is likely a drug by the FDA's definition (Score:2)
Awesome! (Score:5, Funny)
"But beer, boss does the body good," I exclaim as I show my boss an upside down picture of the revised food pyramid.
Re:Awesome! (Score:3, Funny)
um (Score:5, Funny)
What does advocate mean again?
And why is this news on
Oh yeah, bring on the babes! (Score:4, Funny)
Much like a girlfriend if you keep suplementing with the physique enhancing beverage!
Beer industry NOT responsible (Score:5, Funny)
On a similar note, I saw a print ad for Bud Light that showed a condensation-covered label; on that label was a strategically-placed water drop that just happened to make "Budweiser" look like "Bloweiser". Yeah right, just a coincidence. And no, I wan't looking for it.
Maltose is the problem (Score:5, Informative)
Re:Maltose is the problem (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Maltose is the problem (Score:3, Funny)
Beer also contibutes to "bitch tits". Seriously. The alcohol helps the body convert testosterone to estrogen. Men do actually have many of the same glands that femail brests have and the increased estrogen can change the shape of them.
Hops contain estrogen - helps fat storage (Score:3, Informative)
Maybe... (Score:4, Insightful)
Maybe because when you drink beer it's 6-10 at a time and you sit at a desk all day. In large amounts these calories add up.
I doubt that a semi-active person that has a couple beers here and there would get a gut from drinking this tasty beverage. In moderation, beer, just like soda, will not make you fat.
appetite (Score:2, Interesting)
Beer Is Food (Score:2)
Well, DUH !
Does... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Does... (Score:2)
Actually, whiskey is essentially the same as beer. Just substitute soot for the hops, then concentrate the final product by a factor of 10.
American beer (Score:5, Funny)
A: It's fucking near water!
My 0.02 (Score:3, Funny)
Save water -- Drink beer
For that matter... (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:For that matter... (Score:4, Insightful)
It's the same reason cigarettes don't have ingredients on them.
Re: Boddington's (Score:2)
Home Brewers (Score:5, Interesting)
It can be a wonderfully complex process and by learning it you are taking part in a time-honored tradition. Plus, you get cheap, good drink.
Re:Home Brewers (Score:2, Interesting)
Especially if you do not use the "liquid" malt kits as you mentioned.
The combination of malt, water, hops and yeast is all that is really needed to create beer. It just happens that alcohol is a "by product" of the process. Not that there's anything wrong with that
You'll also note that in trying to create stronger beers, they usually turn out tasting only "so so" if you're lucky. Beer is meant to be somewhere in the range of 4%-6% alcohol maximum.
If you want something even mor
"Food" Festival (Score:2)
It starts this Tuesday at London's Olympia, and in previous years is said to be the largest pub in the world in terms of selection of beer, and IIRC, number of customers :)
See you there :-)
Beer is Good, Plus its healthy. (Score:3, Insightful)
I've been told by my older and wiser elders that drinking a guinness per day provides protection from impotence.
I also notice that people who drink a couple of glasses of beer each day live longer. I know people who are 80, 90, 100 years old and still drinking, so it must be healthy if people can drink for 100 years with no side effects.
Just dont drink too much.
Re:Beer is Good, Plus its healthy. (Score:2)
beer..not just for breakfast anymore (Score:2, Funny)
Liver Removed From Food Pyramid? (Score:2)
I'm told (by my brother, the hunter) that fresh moose liver has a mood-altering effect. Small wonder, considering that it's full of chemicals the moose was trying to eliminate
Boddies (Score:2)
"Cheers" Proof that Beer is goood for you. (Score:5, Funny)
Buffalo Theory to his buddy, Norm. (I don't think I've ever heard the
concept explained any better than this....)
"Well you see, Norm, it's like this... A herd of buffalo can only move as
fast as the slowest buffalo. And when the herd is hunted, it is the slowest
and weakest ones at the back that are killed first. This natural selection
is good for the herd as a whole, because the general speed and health of the
whole group keeps improving by the regular killing of the weakest members.
In much the same way, the human brain can only operate as fast as the
slowest brain cells.
Now, as we know, excessive intake of alcohol kills brain cells. But
naturally, it attacks the slowest and weakest brain cells first. In this
way, regular consumption of beer eliminates the weaker brain cells, making
the brain a faster and more efficient machine. And that, Norm, is why you
always feel smarter after a few beers."
Good beers are like Swiss wines (Score:2)
IANAB-but craft breweries use my software.
Sweet, Sweet Beer (Score:3, Insightful)
Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout is almost a meal in itself. Guinness Stout is pretty darn close too. You might have drink 3 or 4 of them though. Boddington's is an ale but has the same consistency as Guinness. I'm partial to Fat Tire.
Beer. It's the reason I get up in the afternoon!
All hail the Beer God (Score:3, Interesting)
Hrmm... there's many more positives to beer. Beer really is a social drink... it's the man's drink. Beer and pubs go together well.
Contrary to the article though, beer can be fattening... you have to remember that you're only going to put on weight if Ein != Eout - the body processes sugars and carbohydrates are broken down into sugars before being processed - that's why carbohydrates are a long-term energy source and sugary things like fruit and chocolate are short-term energy sources.
Six schooners have enough energy to run your average male for day. So drink in moderation and make sure to keep up the exercise and maintain a balanced diet. (And fat people wonder why they're fat when they eat McDonalds everyday and drive or take the lift everywhere!)
Finally, an article where my signature is at home! =]
--
Logic (Score:3, Interesting)
American beers are made of piss (Score:3, Interesting)
There's a rather good explanation for this. Not that I'm defending it, but rather explaining it to understand it and adress it at the root cause.
Prohibition was a scary time for Americans, particularly breweries - most of which went out of business. Prohibition was created by women marching in the streets, complaining that their husbands had become drunks in the saloons. Who could blame them - during the depression, there weren't many jobs to keep them occupied.
When prohibition was repealed, the breweries wanted to create beer that would appeal to women, so that they would become consumers and not vote again for prohibition. So they made their beers lighter, and specialized in the lager field that they felt was more approachable for those who weren't accustomed to drinking beer.
Sadly, America's beer development was stuck on training wheels until about the 80s, when certain individuals started experimenting with brewing their own. This launched a movement where people started becoming more interested in flavor rather than just getting drunk.
In case you haven't been to this side of the pond recently, there are many wonderful breweries that severly stomp on most European breweries which are stuck doing things the way they did around the time that America was discovered. I'd highly reccomend checking out some of these breweries:
Did The Author Just Wake Up From A Coma? (Score:5, Informative)
Some Background For The Uninitiated
The concept of the Food Pyramid was proposed by researches at the US Department of Agriculture, who needed to convey the idea of a healthy diet (according to the dogma of the time) in terms of proportion, variety and moderation. Thus, the pyramid graphic was presented. The problem is that word, "dogma".
The USDA is by far not even close to the leading edge of nutrition and dietary research. Their food pyramid represented a diet heavy in breads, with a little less emphasis on fruits and vegetables. Meat was eschewed, as was diary, and fats, oils, and salts were placed at the top of the pyramid to emphasize that they were to be used sparingly.
Two problems with the Food Pyramid were immediately obvious. First, it ignored contemporary research and accepted medical though which stated that diets high in fish and poultry were beneficial. The USDA assumed that all means were bad because of their high animal fat content. But research at the time (and subsequent) proved that not all fat was bad, and not only was some fat good, but actually necessary. Also, the Food Pyramid didn't differntiate between breads that were healthy (whole grains) and those that were unhealthy (white rice, bleached flour, corn startches, pasta, and processed grains in which the fiber had been stripped chemically). They simply lumped all grains together.
The second problem was that the food pyramid tried to convey a sense of proportion by giving recommended serving amounts. But these serving amounts were meaningless to the average person. They needed to know what a serving was. Was it a gram, kilo, cup, pound, ounce, or something else?
Enter the Diet Fads
Actually, "Fad" diets aren't new. The term is used for just about any new diet which proclaims a principal not accepted in contemporary circles - so fad diets are not inherently bad, but most turn out that way. Fad diets did for Americans what the USDA didn't with thier Food Pyramid or "Four Food Groups" of prior years. It gave people a guide to how much of what should be eaten. The other problem is that these fad diets were targeted towards weight loss. Most of them worked for most people who tried them to some degree, but their failure came when the diet was over. Without a sense of proper nutrition, people reverted to their unhealthy ways of eating. Thus was coined the term "Yo-Yo" dieting, where a person loses weight, then gains it back, and loses it again. This constant state of flux is not healthy, and coupled with the sedantary lifestyle of the average American, it has lead to an epidemic of obesity.
The word "diet" itself has become synonymous with "trying to lose weight", and likewise has become eschewed by the very diet industry that gave rise to that misconception. Instead, they are using terms like "nutrition system" or "program".
Fighting Fat With Knowledge
Enter the molecular biologists, who have put the American diet and the human metabolism under a microscope. Some of the results they have come up with are startling, and have been used to construct a New Food Pyramid [glycoscience.com] to counter the USDA's Food Pyramid. A notable development is the recognition that there are cultural differences that prevent a food pyramid for the American diet from being at all practical for other cultures.
Healthy, as in Beer
Beer, and other forms of alcohol, were discovered to be healthy in moderation. Moderation, of course, is the key to everything in a diet. A glass of wine daily can reduce risk factors related to heart disease and stroke. Beer was found to have a phytoprotein that actually aids in repairing cardiac muscle tissues. Red wine, long given to Soviet Nuclear Submariners, can protect the body from low levels of ionizing radiation (though potassium iodide is b
The Litany (Score:3, Funny)
I must drink beer.
Beer is the mind killer.
Beer is the little death that brings total obliteration.
I will face my beer.
I will permit it to pass over me and through me, and when it has gone past, I will turn the inner eye to see its path.
When the beer is gone, there will be nothing.
Only I will remain.
With due credit to the guy who wrote this [goats.com], if this is indeed the original.
Well duh. (Score:3, Insightful)
It affects your body chemistry, so it's a drug
> beer can be a part of your diet in a healthy way
yes, it can.
> BeerAdvocate.com begs to differ
No they don't. The govt say beer is a drug (good drug or bad drug is unspecified), beeradvocate say's it's a good drug.
Just because something is a drug doesn't mean it can't be healthy
Beer as a civilizing force. (Score:5, Interesting)
Most traditional archaeologists tend to think of civilization as a sort of ladder, and the first few rungs were actually quite slippery. Here's one possible ladder: (there are several)
First, if you want to have a town with art, politics, hookers, etc. the first thing you need is a food supply that is reliable and doesn't move around a lot. Deer, elk, tapirs, camels, elephants, etc. all move around most vexingly. Turnips do not. Agriculture seems like the way to go, but first you need a crop to cultivate. 30,000 years ago that wasn't an easy thing to find. Beans, squash, wheat, turnips, you name it, are all highly domesticated plants that we've been selectively breeding for thousands of years. When agriculture was starting out the ancestors of today's crops just weren't that productive. Take corn for example. Today a stalk of corn puts out great big honking cobs chock full of juicy kernals. 30,000 years ago the stuff looked a lot like grass. It is in fact, more than a little bit unlikely that you could have lived off the stuff back then. (more on that later) So if no suitable crops existed, we had to breed one.
Here we hit a major hang up. Breeding massive changes into plants isn't exactly a speedy process when you *know* what you're doing. How exactly our ancestors ever managed to develop a crop suitable for agriculture is actually quite a hot topic of debate! Still, somehow we managed, but it probably took a while. Even for relatively smart people, it is not inconceivable that this took tens of thousands of years before there was any sort of payoff. So what kept our forefathers going?
Beer.
Living off of primitive wild corn would probably have been impossible. However, collecting relatively small ammounts to ferment into chicha (BEER!) for those important social events (religion?) was a much more reasonable undertaking. Of course, excessive beer consumption does tend to make one lazy, so naturally our fastly-becoming-religious ancestors decided to start throwing a bunch of seeds together in one place so they didn't have to look all over the bloody planet to round up enough for a good er... mass. Gradually they tossed the crappier grass out and the better stuff got inbred, mutated all to hell, and gradually become more and more like the corn of today. Eventually, we got a crop good enough to actually become a dietary staple. Someone might then have said "Hey guys! We can eat this stuff too! F@$* this hunter-gatherer walking-around-all-day BS. Let's just stay here all the time. There's BEER!"
So we have a nice town springing forth from the wilderness. Art, culture, and all the trappings of civilization are flowering forth... and people are shitting in the river. This is baaad. People are getting sick! Fortunately, achohol tends to be safer to drink than brownish water! While the high-proof Canadian beers of today would be a tad difficult to live on, the watered down chicha of the day was just the thing for daily consumption. To this day there are still countries where beer is cheaper than safe drinking water. As a beneficial side effect, people with beer tend to be easier to talk into paying taxes, running off to kill people they've never met before, building pyramids, etc...
Of course, archaeology itself would be nowhere without beer. Seriously, how many major archaeological digs are carried out without beer? Almost any site that has ever been completely excavated is within a short distance of a pub. Occasionally people mount expeditions into the jungles of Yucatan, etc. to discover these fabulous lost cities. They dig for a bit, the beer runs out, and they go home. To any government officials out there who are trying to get some remote lost city excavated, build a pub next to it. The archaeologists will come.
Re:The old story again... (Score:3, Funny)
Re:The old story again... (Score:5, Funny)
It is a food (Score:5, Informative)
Not that I'm condoning drinking American beer, mind you... there is real beer just across your northern border, ppl...
Re:It is a food (Score:4, Insightful)
Oh, you were going to name some microbrew? Well there's tons that are good in the US too.
Editors aren't on the ball today, or don't know their slashdot history...informative + flamebait = troll.
Chris
Re:It is a food (Score:3, Funny)
7.3%. I've told you a million times not to exaggerate.
Re:It is a food (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:It is a food (Score:4, Funny)
damn it those mexicans are getting sneakier
Re:It is a food (Score:4, Informative)
Let's get the facts straight. Beer was a food. In Sumaria and Egypt the main staples of their diet was bread and beer. However the beer was made of a combinations of fermented bread and barley. It was actually a thickish mush, a little bit like alcoholic oatmeal, that they would drink through a straw.
So if you want to ferment your oatmeal and get out a straw, feel free to call it breakfast. Keep in mind though that the people who lived on this diet had an average lifespan of 40 or 50 years at best, and that's with averaging the upper classes in as well.
Re:It is a food (Score:3, Informative)
As for complex versus simple carbohydrates, all complex carbs are just made up of simple carbs and have to be broken
Re:The old story again... (Score:3, Informative)
Re:The old story again... (Score:3, Informative)
What made beer important in the olden days is that you had to boil the water to make good beer, which killed off any baddies in the local water.
Once the water was clean, the yeast has a "clean playground" to propogate in vast field of sugar with no competition from other lil' nasties.
Once the yeast has finished its job and turned sugar in the the better things in life (alcohol), the alcohol itself ta
Video Professor? (Score:3, Funny)
Hahaha, your line "Buy my product" reminds me of video professor begging people to PLEASE buy his software and then trying to convince everyone how useful it is.
Re:Boddingtons? (Score:3, Interesting)
My first ever beer was a Boddington's in the Old Vic, St. Annes. I was young enough not to realise that a bar with sawdust on the floor, a pile of assorted inconvenienced people laying in a somewhat disshevilled heap around the entrance and pool tables where there were more half cues than cues, was a bad sign. Ah, the nectar of Boddington's. The Cream of Manchester.
Re:Boddingtons? (Score:2)
Re:Boddingtons? (Score:2)
Re:Boddingtons? (Score:2)
Re:Smart move Mr. Coors (Score:5, Informative)
Also of interesting note, there is what is referred to as The French Paradox [eurocare.org] (which has nothing to do with French military might and their place in NATO). Instead it refers to the fact that the french have a diet high in saturated fat (think cream and cheese) and high high rates of alcohol consumption (think wine) yet have low rates of morbid obesity comapred to other nations (and especially to the US).
Re:Smart move Mr. Coors (Score:2)
Vitamin A is poisonous in excessive quantities.
Re:Smart move Mr. Coors (Score:2)
Re:Smart move Mr. Coors (Score:2)
American beer: a Multitude of Sins (Score:2)
"American Beer" covers a multitude of sins. You can get all kinds of beers here: local and imported, weak and strong, good and bad.
It's true that there's a variety called "three-two beer", after the alcohol content. It's not real beer, in my book, but some people drink it. In fact, I'm sorry to s
Re:American beer (Score:2, Interesting)
Overall commercial american beer is shite. I've heard americans saying that molson's canadian and labatt blue are 'good' beers. Which I guess they could be if you're used to drinking dog pee. But there are a ton of good canadian beers. You just have to look slightly farther than the tip of your nose.
Re:American beer (Score:2)
Re:arguing over semantics (Score:2)
I'd say alcohol has no blame whatsoever in drunk driving cases.. less than motor vehicles at any rate. It's the humans fault and they solely are to blame.
Not to be mean but it sounds like your brother in law was a raving looney that didn't have the will power to even make an effort to save his own life. You can hardly bla
Re:arguing over semantics (Score:4, Insightful)
What's really interesting is how they make marijuana illegal, when in many ways it is not as bad as smoking or drinking. In terms of health, people say marijuana does less damage than all that tar and chemicals they put in cigarettes. Some people say it's even less addictive than tobacco, though I would not know. Marijuana also does not make you overconfident the way alcohol will - making you think you are the best driver in the world when in reality you should not be anywhere near the controls of a vehicle. The government likes to say that marijuana use just leads to usage of dangerous drugs like cocaine, but that is not true - just like alcoholics generally don't move onto cocaine either.
I'll probably get modded down for this, but I feel the world would be a better place without alcohol. But that simply will not happen. People will not give it up, just look at when they tried prohibition in the US.
Re:arguing over semantics (Score:3, Insightful)
I can answer these two issues.
Pot has roughly twelve times (!!!) the tar of tobacco. That's bad!
On the other hand, here in Canada the worst of the chronic medical pot smokers aren't likely to go through a 'pack' of joints a day. One guy who is repeatedly on the news smokes I believe 4-6 joints/day. The net tar i
Re:arguing over semantics (Score:5, Insightful)
It's interesting you chose that particular slander for your post, since it was the early 20th-century equivalent of "reefer madness". One of the driving rhetorical points of Prohibitionism, and the reason that it was embraced by some elements of what became the women's movement, was just that: "Alcohol causes our responsible men to become irresponsible and beat their wives. If we get rid of booze, there will be no wife-beating!"
Naturally, it didn't work that way. Sober men are just as capable of rage as drunk ones, and neither beer nor gin can make a violent man from a peaceable one. Moreover, blaming a man's misdeeds on the drugs he consumes, rather than on his own character, does nothing to cause him to correct himself. A violent person who can excuse his behavior the next morning by saying, "It was the bottle talking," sees no reason to become less violent.
The remedy for domestic violence is not to dissuade men from drinking, but to convince them (as has thankfully been done in society at large, thanks chiefly to feminism and the law) that domestic violence is wrong, shameful, and criminal. Only by ascribing responsibility solely to the individual -- not to his drug, and not to "society" -- can the problem be corrected. Why? Simple: The booze doesn't make decisions; individuals do.
Leave beer alone, for -- as with marijuana -- the vast majority of users enjoy it responsibly. Lay the blame for wrongdoing on the wrongdoers -- and shame on you, if you let them blame it on the bottle.
Re:Its your round ! (Score:2)
However you don't need to go to England to get good beer, there are a number of fine US breweries with names like Victory, Stone, Rougue Ales, Great Lakes and Kalamazoo that hold their own with the best from anywhere. The aforementioned web site "Beer Advocate" has reviews of beer from all over the world, including some top American brands.