By Ben Dangl Source: Toward Freedom September 21, 2014 The variety of the craft-brewing wave sweeping the US makes drinking beer more fun than ever. Maryland’s Flying Dog Brewery brews a beer from local oysters, and the Delaware-based Dogfish Head uses an ancient beer recipe they dug up from 2,700-year-old drinking vessels in the tomb…
By Ben Dangl Originally published on February 4, 2010 in TowardFreedom.com For two weeks in January Belgian brewery workers blocked roads, set fire to beer crates, kidnapped managers and handed out free beer as part of their tactics against job cuts proposed by Anheuser-Busch InBev, the world’s largest brewer. The company announced the cuts in…
By Ben Dangl Originally published on February 12, 2012 in TowardFreedom.com On a pleasant autumn day in 1890 the Cuauhtémoc brewery was founded in Monterrey, Mexico. This brewery, which also specialized in ice production, went on to become Mexican Economic Development Inc. (FEMSA), brewing such beers as Dos Equis, Tecate and Sol. Recently the Dutch…
By Ben Dangl Originally published April 13, 2010 For over a century workers at Denmark’s Carlsberg brewery have been allowed to drink free beer on the job throughout the workday. After the management ended that policy on April 1st, hundreds of workers went on strike. “We’ve actually stopped working because Carlsberg’s management violated the bargaining agreement…
By Benjamin Dangl Monday, 10 August 2009 \When Obama sat down for a beer in the White House Rose Garden with Professor Gates and Sergeant Crowley, they all turned their backs on the smaller, craft brewers of the country. Obama chose Bud Light, Gates asked for Red Stripe, and Crowley drank Blue Moon. One of…
By Benjamin Dangl Tuesday, 18 March 2008 Reviewed: Fermenting Revolution: How to Drink Beer and Save the World By Christopher O’Brien, New Society Publishers (November 2006), 275 pages Beer, like so many other products, is largely in the hands of giant corporations. Therefore, drinking beer can often enrich the same systems of power we as…
By Benjamin Dangl Published on Wednesday, March 4, 2009 by CommonDreams.org Just three companies control approximately 80 percent of the beer industry in the US. Brewing beer at home is one way to counter this corporate monopoly. However, Mississippi, Kentucky, Alabama and Oklahoma still outlaw the craft. Recently, a victory for homebrewers was scored in Utah,…