From flickr user Krikit

We like to spread the love by not posting about the same brewery two days in a row, but Sam Adams is on an innovative streak.  Word is that you should be able to replace the boring Korbel with a Sam Adams “Infinium” this New Year, a beer intended to be a shot across the bow of the wine-and-champagne crowd, proving that no matter what the occasion, beer is just as acceptable as anything else.

Boston Beer Co Inc’s Samuel Adams is launching a champagne-like brew later this month to prove that beer can be worthy of a New Year’s toast.

The limited run beer, called Infinium, will be sold in 750-ml bottles with foil-covered cork tops, like champagne. It is gold-colored, crisp and dry, with nearly double the alcohol content of an average beer and more than some wines.

“I get a beer that sits in between a champagne, a good dessert wine and a Sam Adams Noble Pils, which is a hoppy, aromatic pilsner,” said Jim Koch, chairman and founder of Boston Beer.

This is also the first collaboration between Sam Adams and Germany’s Weihenstephan Brewery.  SAB Miller, producers of the self-proclaimed “champagne of beer” Miller High Life, is nowhere to be found.

Sam Adams Tour - TripAdvisor

TripAdvisor has compiled and released a list of what they think are the top 10 brewery tours in America.  I’m sure you will probably disagree with at least some, which are heavy on the industrial and very large craft brewery side of things.

Here’s the list:

1. Anheuser Busch Brewery Tour, Saint Louis, Missouri
2. Samuel Adams Brewery, Boston, Massachusetts
3. Coors Brewery, Golden, Colorado
4. Lakefront Brewery, Milwaukee, Wisconsin
5. Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co., Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin
6. Stone Brewery, Escondido, California
7. Terrapin Brew Company, Athens, Georgia
8. Harpoon Brewery / Mass Bay Brewing Co., Boston, Massachusetts
9. New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado
10. Boulevard Brewing Company, Kansas City, Missouri

It’s fair to think that seeing an Anheuser Busch or Coors brewery may not be great once you get to the tasting room, but I actually think it would be interesting.  Maybe not top-three interesting, but probably somewhere on the list.

SABMiller's brewery boat

Last week we wrote about an ocean-going scientist who missed beer just a little too much while at sea.  He found a way to brew by using a coffee maker and ingredients available on the ship.

Well, if that was a nano brewery, SABMiller has answered with the macro version — a full-sized ocean-going cargo ship, turned into a floating brewery.  A consulting firm helped Miller plan for 2030, a time when they think massive ecological or societal issues could disrupt the production of beer.

SABMiller has envisaged a “Marginal Survival” scenario for 2030 whereby breweries are located on ships so beer makers can move with people and resources and away from natural or man-made catastrophes.

The scenario is one of four that SABMiller has developed with the help of innovation consultancy, Innovia Technology, to imagine what brewing will look like 20 years from now.

Marginal Survival is the most extreme scenario under which the world is faced with major water and energy limitations forcing people to migrate from areas of water shortage or turbulent weather.

In such a situation SABMiller imagines that brewers could build smaller, mobile breweries that would move from place to place on the back of a ship.

I love beer, and in the face of natural or man-made catastrophes, it could be a nice stress reliever at the end of a long day of apocalyptic cleanup or zombie wrestling.  But even as much as I love beer, I think the world may have other priorities.  Credit to SABMiller for planning ahead though.

105 year old woman (CARMINE GALASSO/THE RECORD)

If this is what makes you live to be 105, I’m in good shape.

But what may surprise most people, Fenton said, is her daily ritual, which she has sworn by since 1943.

“Three cans of Miller High Life a day and a shot of good booze at 5 p.m.,” Fenton said.

Her cocktail of choice is Johnnie Walker Blue.

The Miller High Life beer was recommended to Fenton in 1943 by her doctor, and it didn’t go down easily, she said.

“I almost cried. I said, ‘But Doctor, I don’t like beer,’ and he said, ‘You will learn to like it’ and I did,” she said.

There is so much amazing in this story it’s hard to know where to start.  She’s 105 and still drinks 3 High Lifes each day?  And a shot of Johnny Walker Blue? As prescribed by her doctor in 1943?  Whatever the case, I think we can all hope things work out like this for us.

Miller High Life packagine (Brand New)

Design blog Brand New has the details on a package design overhaul for Miller High Life. I love package design and branding, and the Miller High Life redesign is fantastic (even if the beer is not).

One detail I particuarly love: printing on the back of the bottle lables allows you to arrange the bottles to spell out the High Life slogan.  Design is in the details, and this is one is great:

High Life Bottles

If this kind of thing interests you, check out the post on Brand New.