Using beer to win the war against slugs

Are you a gardener? If so, you probably are familiar with slugs and the damage they can do. Well, it's beer to the rescue! Beer traps are simple and effective way to take control of the slug population in your garden. They are easy to make and work, literally, overnight.

You start with a small container, just a few inches across and an inch or so deep. I've used single-serve yogurt cups and the cardboard tube that frozen juice concentrate comes in cut down to size. Next, you dig a hole in your garden that it your container can sit in with its lip flush with the ground. Fill it half way with beer and wait. The following morning you'll find your container full of dead slugs. Keep doing this until there are no more slugs in the morning. Then, set the trap occasionally, maybe every week or two, to make sure that you have no new invaders.

This really works; I've done it myself quite a few times. Maybe the best part about it is that it only takes an ounce or so of beer so what else are you going to do with the other 11 ounces of beer in your bottle but drink it, right?

Oh beer, is there nothing you can't fix?

How Beer Saved the World review

If you live in the US you might have noticed a program on the Discovery channel last year called "How Beer Saved the World." The basic idea is that beer is responsible for nearly every bit of progress that humans have made since the dawn of civilization. For everything from the wheel to modern medicine and almost advancement in between, we have beer to thank.

It's out on DVD now and the company marketing it sent me a copy. From the first email to the press release and then on the DVD box and plastered prominently throughout the program was that "quote" from Ben Franklin that you know I tend to go on about a little too much. My expectations weren't high. But, the film is actually quite entertaining. Was it accurate or even believable? Check out my review here.

And the biggest US brewer is

I must admit that I was a little surprised to stumble across this headline. I remember back when Anheuser-Busch became a Belgian property it occurred to me that the Boston Beer Company, which makes and sells Sam Adams beer, was the largest American beer company. The other big players like Miller and Coors had already been sold off to foreign drinks corporations years before so it came down to little, comparatively speaking, Sam Adams.

Not so anymore. D.G. Yuengling and Son, the famously old and independent brewer from Pennsylvania, now holds that title after surpassing Boston Beer in sales last year. That makes it both the oldest and the biggest American brewer. Pretty impressive, especially when you consider that Yuengling only distributes to 14 states.

New beery articles for February 2012

I just published a handful of articles for February. Check 'em out:

• What is extreme beer?
• Extreme beer defined
• Beer and sugar for the homebrewer
• Lactose defined
• Fructose defined
• Maltose defined
• What is malted barley?
• The many faces of pale beer

Using beer to win the war against slugs

Are you a gardener? If so, you probably are familiar with slugs and the damage they can do. Well, it's beer to the rescue! Beer traps are simple and effective way to take control of the slug population in your garden. They are easy to make and work, literally, overnight.

You start with a small container, just a few inches across and an inch or so deep. I've used single-serve yogurt cups and the cardboard tube that frozen juice concentrate comes in cut down to size. Next, you dig a hole in your garden that it your container can sit in with its lip flush with the ground. Fill it half way with beer and wait. The following morning you'll find your container full of dead slugs. Keep doing this until there are no more slugs in the morning. Then, set the trap occasionally, maybe every week or two, to make sure that you have no new invaders.

This really works; I've done it myself quite a few times. Maybe the best part about it is that it only takes an ounce or so of beer so what else are you going to do with the other 11 ounces of beer in your bottle but drink it, right?

Oh beer, is there nothing you can't fix?

How Beer Saved the World review

If you live in the US you might have noticed a program on the Discovery channel last year called "How Beer Saved the World." The basic idea is that beer is responsible for nearly every bit of progress that humans have made since the dawn of civilization. For everything from the wheel to modern medicine and almost advancement in between, we have beer to thank.

It's out on DVD now and the company marketing it sent me a copy. From the first email to the press release and then on the DVD box and plastered prominently throughout the program was that "quote" from Ben Franklin that you know I tend to go on about a little too much. My expectations weren't high. But, the film is actually quite entertaining. Was it accurate or even believable? Check out my review here.

And the biggest US brewer is

I must admit that I was a little surprised to stumble across this headline. I remember back when Anheuser-Busch became a Belgian property it occurred to me that the Boston Beer Company, which makes and sells Sam Adams beer, was the largest American beer company. The other big players like Miller and Coors had already been sold off to foreign drinks corporations years before so it came down to little, comparatively speaking, Sam Adams.

Not so anymore. D.G. Yuengling and Son, the famously old and independent brewer from Pennsylvania, now holds that title after surpassing Boston Beer in sales last year. That makes it both the oldest and the biggest American brewer. Pretty impressive, especially when you consider that Yuengling only distributes to 14 states.