Not sure why you would  want one, but there is now a beer tap that sends a message on Twitter every time it pours a draft. It's new news to me, but some of you probably already heard about it.

The  so-called Tweeting Bar was was rigged up by 360i, a digital communications outfit in New York.

Judging by the messages displayed on a monitor near the tap, the Tweeting Bar is not exactly a Damon Runyon story teller. 

Continue reading "A beer tap that tweets: A bartender replacement?" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 8:57 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

Police in Daytona Beach, Fla., arrested a man this week for stealing beer from a yacht club after the suspect was found passed out behind a nearby shrub. The man was clutching a beer cooler displaying the yacht club's logo.

According to a "Dumb Crime" story in the Daytona Beach News Journal,  police found the 27-year-old man  passed out across the street from Halifax River Yacht Club. Near him were several bottles of beer and a blue cooler with "Halifax River Yacht Club" written on it.

Police charged the man, who had no fixed address, with burglary.

Apparently, he was not a member of the yacht  club.

Continue reading "How NOT to steal a beer" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

It is hard for me to believe but a survey of 5,000 British women claims the ladies prefer a manly guy with a gut to a slim feminine looking metrosexual.

The survey was conducted by Lion Bar Ice Cream and reported in The Express newspaper.

"Manly men complete with hairy chests, messy hair and a beer belly were the most popular, the study found contradicting the popular belief  that women found well-groomed, clean-cut men the most appealing," The Express reported

Soccer players Cristiano Ronaldo (left) and Rio Ferdinand were found to be unattractive by the women because " they had taken the look too far with tight-fitting shorts and feminine accessories," The Express said.  Instead, the majority of women preferred "real men" such as James Bond actor Daniel Craig and Philip Glenister, star of the  television series "Life on Mars."

Continue reading "Do women really like men with beer bellies?" »

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Categories: Weird beer stories
        

As the Great British Beer Festival opened Tuesday in Earls Court  London, the Guardian's Hugh Muir reports that members of the Beard Liberation group are upset.

They claim British media are prone to illustrate their coverage of the beer festival by showing images of big men, beer drinkers, with large beards.

Keith Flett of the Beard Liberation group told Muir: "A frequently used stereotypical picture used to illustrate stories about the beer festival consists of one or two very large men with beards holding a half full pint glass, but such images at the festival itself are in practice rare. There are excellent beards at Earls Court of course but the idea is to celebrate the diversity of beers." 

Continue reading "British Beer Not Beard Festival " »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

It has been called an answer to a beer drinker's prayers: This contemporary cathedral in Brussels, Belgium, is made with cases of beer.

I saw this photo on a Web site called  The Pop Up City. It is run by a group of architects in Amsterdam looking a new ways to build things.

This particular creation is work of a firm in Belgium called V+ and was part of a larger exposition there called Atomium Expo 58.

Continue reading "Beer case cathedral" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 12:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

A 32-year-old  Muslim woman, a model, was sentenced this week to six strokes with a rattan cane for drinking a beer in a nightclub.

Word of this event, reported by the Associated Press in Australia and picked up The Huffington Post, comes from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Consuming alcohol is a religious offense in Malaysia only for Muslims, who make up nearly two-thirds of the population, reports say. Offenders are prosecuted in Shariah courts, which handle cases mainly related to family and moral issues for Muslim.

Continue reading "Muslim woman to be caned for drinking a beer." »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 8:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

Cats are curious, and in this instance that instinctive nosiness got one in trouble. 

A dispatch from the The Standard newspaper in Warrnambool Australia tells of how a cat named Maisy ended up spending the night in its owner's beer fridge.

The owner, Bill Nelson, who is the local fire chief, was having family members over to watch a cricket match on the TV.  He walked out to snag some brews from his beer fridge, located in a shed adjacent to his home.

Apparently, the cat followed him and jumped in the fridge when Nelson was not looking.

The cat was not missed until the next morning. Then an all out search was mounted around the household. At first, Nelson thought the cat might be trapped in the shed. Eventually he opened his beer fridge, and there was Maisy, chilly but unharmed, curled up on the fridge floor.

Moral of the story?

Continue reading "Cat spends night in beer fridge" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 8:36 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

A Japan Airlines co-pilot who Hawaiian police caught relieving himself behind a tree ended up causing the cancellation of flight from Hawaii to Toyko.

The Japan Times reported yesterday that an unnamed 53-year-old co-pilot was detained for urinating in a public place. The co-pilot said he had downed about 5 small bottles of beer at a restaurant near his hotel on the night before the scheduled flight.

He then took a walk outside the hotel, felt the urge and relieved himself behind a tree.

He was then arrested, underwent a brief trial and was fined $25

Continue reading "Beer drinking co-pilot "waters" a tree and is grounded" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 7:35 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

Milwaukee natives are known for their  fondness for beer. They once were the center of America's brewing universe. They named their professional baseball team The Brewers who play in  a new ballpark called  Miller Park .

 In the old ball park when a member of the home team  hit a home run  Bernie Brewer, the team's mascot. used to celebrate by sliding into a mug of beer.  He also outruns sausages as the video shows.

But  recently another Milwaukee beer drinker appears to have set a record for the longest drunken drive in a golf cart.

According to the Associated Press,  a South Milwaukee man was accused of driving drunk last week after trying to use a golf cart to drive home nearly 40 miles away from the golf course where he had been drinking beer. 

  

Continue reading "Milwaukee man drinks 10 beers, drives golf cart home" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 7:00 AM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

What do you want from a beer? Hops? Malt? A pleasant buzz?

The folks at Hite Brewery  in South Korea think their customers also want dietary fiber from their suds.

My friend Michael sent me a press release from Hite that touts the dietary fiber in their brand of beer called S.

According to the missive, S beer has 1.65 grams of fiber in each 330-milliliter (11-ounce)  bottle of S.  

Continue reading "S: a Korean beer with fiber" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 7:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

The folks over at Geekologie have informed their readers about the CarboPouch, which was designed by the Beverage Pouch Group for nanobreweries that don't want to invest in or can't afford that pricey bottling equipment.

I'd half-expect beer from these to taste like Capri Sun!

Here's what the manufacturer says: "The organoleptic film structure ensures no off flavor. The patented film structure is designed to handle the pouch “stretch” after filling and carbonation expansion. The automatic filling process is such that there is no headspace after filling. The three-side seal pouch has a smooth side comfort grip feature."

Fancy!

Perhaps this would be the beer "bottle" of choice for all those runners and gym-goers?

Photo courtesy of beveragepouchgroup.com

Posted by Carla Correa at 3:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

The Chicago Tribune reports Thursday that MillerCoors is pulling television ads for Miller Lite after an Italian American group complained the ads engaged in ethnic stereotyping.

The ads  promoted Lite's " " taste protector" cap by having an actor who appeared in "The Sopranos" series offer a beer store clerk " protection." The clerk says that with the new cap , his beer does not need protection.

A spokesman for MillerCoors, based in Chicago,  told the Trib that the ads were satire.

The Sons of Italy did not think they were funny and complained.

The ads will stop running next week. 

Continue reading "Miller Lite pulls "protection" ads" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 11:47 AM | Permalink | Comments (13)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

Like many folks who have shady, moist yards, I have slugs.

Like many guys who drink beer, I have a supply of brews that "seemed like a good idea at the time."

These beers, in other words, are leftovers.

So following the advice of many garden gurus, including Michael Pollan, I  recently tried to eliminate slugs by serving them my leftover beer.

Now each morning I go out in the backyard and check my "beer traps." So far, results are dismal.

Continue reading "Slugfest: Trying to catch slugs with beer" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 12:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

Hard to believe, but a story out of Lincoln, Neb., says a bandit with a Bud Light box on his head robbed a convenience store of $50 worth of cigarettes.

The bandit gestured as if he had a weapon, the police say they were told. He later discarded  his "mask", an empty 12-pack. The police said they are checking it for fingerprints.

This incident poses several questions ...

Continue reading "Beer Box Bandit" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 2:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

My former Sun collegaue Jon Morgan, Senior Editor of the Pew Research Center's Project for Excellence in Journalism, sends word about a story from England that confirms that British media workers drink more than members of any other profession.

This does not surprise most media workers.

We readily imbibe, especially if someone else is paying.

Maybe we should have a drink-off, Brit media workers vs. USA media workers.

Better do it fast, before there are so few of us that we can't field a team.

Photo: Prince Charles perhaps rooting for the Brits, Associated Press

Posted by Rob Kasper at 3:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

According to several comments I received from correspondents in Australia and Thailand, the "beer mat" that Annice Smoel, the mother of four was accused of stealing, was much larger than a beer coaster.

It was a rubber mat, valued at about $65, according to a story in Australia's Advertiser newspaper.

One correspondent, Lisa, sent a photo of the mat that ran in Phuket Thailand Daily News. Here's the link.

Posted by Rob Kasper at 11:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
Categories: Weird beer stories
        

From time to time, I will post what I call weird beer stories. Here is one with a somewhat happy ending. Annice Smoel, a 36-year-old mother of four, has been released from a Thai jail after pleading guilty to pocketing some beer coasters.

The story, out of Australia reported by Adelaide Now, among others, is that Smoel was in Phuket at a party celebrating her mother's 60th birthday when two friends stuck some of the coasters, or "beer mats" as the Aussie call them, in her handbag.

The "crime" was supposedly spotted by undercover police. When the police confronted her, Smoel reportedly fled down a nearby beach, or as the bar owner put it, "She did a runner on them."

She ended up in jail, awaiting trial. The Aussie press, especially The Daily Telegraph, got hold of the story of a "Mum Tied Down for a Thai Prank."

Continue reading "Weird beer stories: Mom freed from clink after pocketing coasters" »

Posted by Rob Kasper at 10:01 AM | Permalink | Comments (10)
Categories: Weird beer stories