Drinking beer may slow down Alzheimer’s, MillerCoors will keep calling Blue Moon ‘craft’, and breweries are raising all kinds of money for charity. These are stories you need to know about and I’ve got all of the details. Get your update on craft beer news with this edition of the Weekly Growler Fill.

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Drinking Beer Slows Down Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s Disease

Are you ready for some groundbreaking beer science? A recent study out of Lanzhou University, titled, “Xanthohumol, a Polyphenol Chalcone Present in Hops, Activating Nrf2 Enzymes To Confer Protection against Oxidative Damage in PC12 Cells,” has shown evidence that a chemical in beer may have neuroprotective properties. Let me try to explain this science in simple terms. There is this transcription factor called Nrf-2 which turns on genes. Some of the genes it turns on have protective properties such as antioxidant effects. Basically, they get rid of bad things that bounce around in your cells and cause damage. So Nrf-2 is good and does good things but the problem is, it is usually bound to another molecule that keeps it from doing its job, Keap1. Luckily, there are some other molecules that can free the Nrf-2 so it can do the great things we want it to do. One of those molecules is called Xanthohumol and it is exclusively found in hops. Not only has xanthohumol been linked to neuroprotection, it is also known to provide heart protection, anticancer activity, and anti-inflammatory activity. When scientists applied damaging chemicals to neurons (those cells in your brain and spinal cord) and then treated those cells with xanthohumol, they found that cells treated with xanthohumol were more protected from cell damage than cells not treated with xanthohumol. How does this relate to Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s? In these diseases, neurons get damaged and stop working as well as they should. The chemicals in your brain that potentially cause this are some of the same chemicals they used in this experiment. Therefore, the researchers deduced that xanthohumol would protect against some of the damage that causes Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. In conclusion, drink more beer. [Read full article]

Bethesda Partners up with Carlsberg for Fallout Beer

I feel super old because I had no idea what Fallout 4 is, but I did some research. Apparently, Fallout 4 is an extremely popular video game brought to us by the game makers over at Bethesda. Now, Bethesda is stepping outside of the gaming world and setting their sites on delicious merchandising. Bethesda has teamed up with Carlsberg to create a Fallout-themed beer so the gamers of the world can eat, drink, and breath all things Fallout. The Fallout Beer is described as, ‘a light coloured pilsner lager, with a refreshing zesty hoppy taste and a floral aroma.’ It is currently on pre-order and only available in the UK. Hopefully Bethesda finds another brewery over here in the US so we can all get the chance to taste this brew. [Read full article]

MillerCoors Gets Court To Throw Out Blue Moon “Craft Beer” Lawsuit

A lawsuit that was filed against MillerCoors for their continued labeling of Blue Moon as a ‘craft beer’ has been thrown out of federal court. The complaint alleged that MillerCoors was able to charge more by claiming Blue Moon had craft status and was ‘Artfully crafted.’ MillerCoors fought back by saying there is no widely accepted standard for ‘craft beer’. Although there definitely is (the Brewers Association sets a pretty good standard if you ask me), there is not a true legally binding definition of a craft brewery. Additionally, the plaintiff argued that MillerCoors was deceiving customers by printing the fictitious ‘Blue Moon Brewing Co.’ on the bottles. There’s all kinds of legal jargon behind this but basically, this is legal to do. The judge threw out the case because the plaintiff could not prove that MillerCoors was actually doing anything illegal. This of course opens up the doors to discussion about what is truly considered a craft beer. [Read full article]

Indiana Beer Can Collectors

The only thing cooler to collect than Pokemon Cards are beer cans. Okay, so maybe it is cooler to collect beer cans but it wasn’t so easy to do when I was a child. Just ask Central Indiana residents Gene Judd, Chip Viering, and Steve Paddack, who have been collecting beer cans since they were teenagers (they claim to have made their parents drink the beer first). They think beer cans are the coolest and share this sentiment with a group called Indy Brewery Collectibles. Members of the group collect brewery memorabilia including cans, bottles, signs, trays, taps and more. Judd possibly has the most impressive collection in the group, with a separate attachment to his house called the ‘can cave’ where he prominently displays his cans. Check out the full article too see the detailed photos of the ‘can cave’ and cans in Judd’s collection. [Read full article]

Deschutes Brewery’s Denver Street Pub Raises $56,000

Deschutes has done it again but this time they did it in Denver. Deschutes Street Pub has been visiting various cities across the US, raising money for local charities. On October 17, the Street Pub in Denver raised a total of $56,000 for Bicycle Colorado. This brings the street pub grand total to more than $300,000 dollars raised for charity. If you want to drink beer for a good cause, you can visit the final stop for the Street Pub in Sacramento on November 14. [Read full article]

New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat Surpasses $4 million Raised for Bicycle Advocacy 

New Belgium Brewing’s Tour de Fat, a traveling tour of bicycle advocacy and hilarity in charity, raised $647,668 for local nonprofits this season, totaling more than $4 million in its 16-year stretch. This year’s total is up more than $20,000 from last year. The event is free, but all proceeds from beer and merchandise sales and donations in each city go to local nonprofit organizations focused on making communities a better place to ride a bike. Tour de Fat traveled to 10 cities between May and October this year, attracting a total of 112,000 beer and bike enthusiasts. New Belgium’s hometown of Fort Collins had the most festival-goers, totaling 25,000 people and the Tour de Fat stop in Denver, Colo. raised the most money ($113,305). If for some reason you missed out on attending Tour de Fat, check out their website for some awesome pics of the festival and the great costumes of the attendees. [Read full article]

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