This evening was the premier episode of a new TV show, Revolution. The premise is an
exploration of the questions: What happens to society when the lights go out? What
will we do if all electricity and technology quits working. When I think about such tragic futuristic
scenarios, my first thought and worry is for the availability of beer. Will the reserves of canned and bottled beer
last long enough for society to redevelop local brewing?
Tonight as I watched the first episode, I tried a little
experiment. I opened a can from the
Quasquicentennial of New Hampton, Iowa in 1980. (Don’t try this at home.) What came
out was not very beer-like. The steel of
the can had reacted with the beer over the years, producing and dark grayish
brown liquid. All the carbonation had
escaped long ago. Obviously, beer can’t
last 32 years in a steel can.
Perhaps a throwback to pre-industrial society could be good for
beer, it would force a resurgence in homebrewing and the local brewer. The hope for the future of beer in the
post-apocalyptic world is in our basements and garages, and not with Miller-Coors and Anheuser-Busch-InBev.
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