POINTS TO PONDER 

1. Select a major multinational brewing company and trace its history of growth
and acquisitions. Describe the possible reasons that the company has for
acquiring and/or selling the properties it has bought and/or sold, and predict its
future for the next five years based on the sources of your research. 
- The brewing industry in the United States is a combination of successes
and disappointments, innovations and setbacks. Despite these ups and
downs, Americans love their beer. It is the alcohol we choose to drink
most often, and our fourth most popular beverage. The beer-making
business has grown impressively, changing considerably in the last 50
years. In 1977 there were 50 brewers in America; today there are close to
1,400.

2. Where do you stand on the controversy about malt liquor? Would you work to
change its reputation, or keep the public stir ‘‘brewing,’’ so to speak? Explain
what you would do and why.
- Keep the public stir brewing, Malt liquor is a beer with alcohol than 3.5-
4%. Malt liquor was intended to provide the boost the industry needed in
the face of falling per capita beer consumption and increasing competition
from spirits and wine. Malt liquor marketers bent over backwards to
ingratiate themselves with white middle class.

3. What does beer have in common with Champagne and soft drinks? How do the
care and service of beer resemble the care and service of these other beverages?

- Beer contains bubbles (CO2) like champagne and soft drinks. Each of these
beverages must stored at proper temperatures and in the case of draft beer
and fountain dispensed soft drinks, the dispensing system must be clean and
CO2 levels at sufficient pressure.

4. Explain which conditions you would want if you were installing a remote beer
system because you did not have room to put it at the bar. 
- The condition is First decision is how many beers you plan to offer on tap.
This affects where you'll have to store your kegs and therefore the type of
dispensing you may choose. If you intend to offer only a few-say a “house”
beer, a light and a dark and your volume isn't that high, you may want to
consider a direct draw system.

5. Your customers have been complaining that their beer ‘‘tastes flat.’’ What might
the possible causes be? How would you analyze and correct this problem? 

- It might be Greasy glasses, Beer drawn too soon before serving, pressure
might too low, leaky pressure line, sluggish regulator, pressure shut off
overnight, long exposure to air instead of carbon dioxide pressure.
6. Who determines whether or not the alcohol content of a beer appears on the
label? How does this differ from the labeling of wines and spirits? 

- As mentioned in Beer Making Basic , state laws determine whether alcohol

content is listed on a beer label for sale in the state / or country laws are
different for wines and spirits, which must list percentage of alcohol content,
than for beers, which are not allowed to list alcohol.

7. In what way is each of the following related to beer quality in the glass:
Temperature? Pressure? Care for the beer lines? Age? The glass itself? 
- Temperature is the third key to a perfect glass of beer. A larger style beer
that tastes “right” to the typical American customer is served at 40degree F
(4C).
- Pressure will maintain the level of carbonation specified by brewery.

8. Describe three current trends in beer consumption, and comment on their

significance to a bar or restaurant. Use this knowledge to create a beer list using
the suggested ten-beer format. 
- Light beers now make up almost half of all beers consumed in the United
States, and six of the top ten bestselling beer in America are light brands.
Health consciousness and an increase desire for physical fitness have
prompted beer drinkers to choose a brew with fewer calories rather than to
skip the beer altogether.
- The popularity of Mexican beer has resulted in American made “knockoffs”
that appear to be selling well. These include Miller Chill, typically served with
lime and salt; and Bud Light Lime.
- Beer is getting formidable competition from wine and spirits producers,
especially in terms of advertising to younger consumers. Health headlines
touting the benefits of moderate wine consumption have prompted more
middle and upper income consumers to buy wine instead of beer. When
Barack Obama was elected U.S President in 2008, wine aficionados pointed to
his 1000 bottled personal wine cellar as further proof that wine sales would
soon outpace beer.

9. List three ways that you can increase beer sales in a restaurant. 

- Top handles. Beer distributors will provide tap handles, or you can hire such
companies.
- List and menus. Computers make it incredibly easy to create and regularly
update your beer list.
- Table tents. Beer and food pairings, special events, or nightly specials can be
advertised on tabletop cards.

10.How is the alcohol taken out of nonalcoholic beer? Why should a bar stock this
type of product?

- The most common method is to heat is to beer under a vacuum distilling out
the alcohol. Alcohol is volatile and can be removed with heat This process
does after the flavor of the beer. Another method is to force the beer through
a membrane filter under intense pressure filtering out the alcohol but keeping
more of the original beer flavor intact. Each of these alcohol removal systems
is expensive , which is why not all breviaries choose to make nonalcoholic
products.