There’s a fascinating science story just out, revealing that ancient Nubians two millennia ago were consuming large amounts of the antibiotic tetracycline most likely in the form of beer. Yet another reason beer is healthy! There are several sites running the story, but Wired has the most beer-centric version:
Chemical analysis of the bones of ancient Sudanese Nubians who lived nearly 2000 years ago shows they were ingesting the antibiotic tetracycline on a regular basis, likely from a special brew of beer. The find is the strongest yet that antibiotics were previously discovered by humans before Alexander Fleming discovered penicillin in 1928.
“The bones of these ancient people were saturated with tetracycline, showing that they had been taking it for a long time,” Nelson said in a press release August 30. “I’m convinced that they had the science of fermentation under control and were purposely producing the drug.”
Armelagos, who specializes in reconstructing ancient diets, proposed that the Nubians made the tetracycline in their beer. There is evidence they knew how to make it, he says. Tetracycline is produced by a soil bacteria called streptomyces, which is how it was discovered by modern society in the 1940s. Streptomyces thrives in warm, arid regions such as that of ancient Nubia, and likely contaminated a batch of beer.
They must have known how to propagate the beer because they were doing it to make wine, Nelson says. There was also so much of it in their bones that it is near impossible that the tetracycline-laced beer was a fluke event.
To make sure that making the antibiotic beer was possible, Armelagos had his graduate students give it a try.
“What they were making wasn’t like a Bud Light but a cereal gruel,” Armelagos said. “My students said that it was ‘not bad,’ but it is like a sour porridge substance. The ancient people would have drained the liquid off and also eaten the gruel.”
(They would have drained the liquid off? Then what part are they calling “beer”?)
In addition to having discovered the healthy benefits of their beer, they would have been drinking it for the other health reason all societies took up with beer: it was safer than the water.
At any rate, I wonder how long it will be before everyone’s favorite brewer of ancient beers takes a crack at this?
The other fruit beer that 
Appearance: Brown with red highlights, a nice color; tan head that’s thick and generous.
Appearance: Pale yellow-orange—golden, almost—bubbly. White head was fizzy but didn’t last long.
Appearance: Hazy golden color with white head that started smooth and got choppy.
Appearance: Red… the color of dark red berry juice. No real head. Clear. The red is a bit brownish—a brick red. Adobe?
Appearance: Poured into a Pilsner glass, it resembles a slightly dark rose champagne, pink and orange. Faint pink head, very thick and creamy.
Appearance: Clear brown-copper with a bit of an off-white head. Bright and effervescent.
No, I didn’t receive 33 literal beers (I wish!), but rather the beer sketchbooks 
The Bend Brewfest takes place Friday the 20th and Saturday the 21st, from 4 until 11pm and noon to 11pm respectively. It takes place at the Les Schwab Amphitheater in Bend’s Old Mill District. Admission is free but—as usual—the purchase of a souvenir tasting mug is required to drink beer, and tasting tickets (or tokens, I’m not sure which they’re using) are $1 each. (No mention of the mug price on the site that I can find.)
The site for The Little Woody, on the other hand, lists just about everything except exactly what beers and food are going to be served up. This year’s Little Woody still takes place on the lawn of the 
Last year, 
It’s the first Friday of the month, which means for beer bloggers that it’s time for The Session: a monthly group blogging effort on whatever topic our host chooses. Hosting duties change from month to month, and in addition to selecting the topic, each month’s host also compiles a list of links to all the participating bloggers—which means lots of good reading.
The nice lady at 
My local Whole Foods still has bottles of 
Appearance: Nice clear amber-red color (“auburn” from my wife), bright with a lively thick head.
Appearance: Cloudy brown coffee-colored with a creamy light brown head. Reminded me of chocolate milk in a way.
Appearance: Amber-brown with chunks of what looks to be orange peel floating around in it. Slow-building off-white head doesn’t stay long.
The 2009 vintage was 5.7% alcohol by volume and, I have to say, lived up to its reputation.
MacTarnahan’s makes good (if slightly boring) beers, though one thing that stands out is that they are super clean and polished.
I realized it had been awhile since I 
Ironically enough, I’ve reviewed Dogfish Head’s 
Dogfish has applied their own spin to it, naturally: they’ve added fresh peaches (or at least, peach concentrate) to give it a subtle, fresh fruit character. And it’s brewed to only 4.5% ABV, which might make this the lowest-alcohol beer they release in bottles.
Appearance: Lively and bubbly, pale gold and very clear. Pure white head, like beaten egg white.
Appearance: Bright golden yellow and lively; bubbles rising off the bottom to a crisp, white head.
Appearance: Clear and golden with crisp white head that’s very generous.
I popped open the bottle of 
I found it at Whole Foods for $3.49 for a 22-ounce bottle, which is a pretty good deal. So it fits nicely into the session beer criteria: less than 5%, it’s flavorful and balanced (as you’ll see when you read my tasting notes), it’s very affordable. It doesn’t get much more “session” than this.
Today is a coffee beer out of Canada: 
Appearance: Black and opaque, with light brown mocha head. “Chunkies” at the bottom of the glass, floating around. [Likely from the bottle conditioning.]
Appearance: Brown-black color, completely opaque. Nice thick and creamy head, tan-colored, is leaving nice lacing.
Appearance: Black with brown edges when held to the light; tan head that fell rather quickly.
Appearance: Black and opaque with muddy-brown head of foam, fell to a skiff on top.
But like the Moose Drool review, I’ll list each review attribute together to compare the versions.
Smell:
Today is the first day of 
Appearance: Murky brown-black with tan wood putty head. No light is seen when held up to the light.
The bottles haven’t hit the shelves yet (nor sent out to bloggers yet), but Deschutes does have Hop in the Dark on tap at their pubs, and while I don’t have a full review, I’ve at least tasted it. But more on that in a minute.
Appearance: Very deep red-brown with a generous two-to-three fingers of rocky thick head.
Appearance: Very dark cola brown, deep garnet red when held to the light. Cappuccino foam head.
Despite my reservations about 
I’m not entirely sure, but I think this new Solace beer from 
