Old Beer and Old Beer Drinkers
<editor's note> From the Real Beer Page News… </editor's note>
KIRIN USES 4,000 YEAR-OLD EGYPTIAN RECIPE Japanese brewer Kirin has revived a 4,400-year-old beer recipe taken from ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics, but not with the idea of selling it. "The Old Kingdom Beer" is the color of dark tea and about 10% alcohol, about twice the strength of "average" beer. "It also has a taste very different from today's beer," Kirin spokesman Takaomi Ishii said. "It tastes a little like white wine." The beer is brewed with barley, like modern beers, but without hops. Kirin has no plans to sell "The Old Kingdom Beer" commercially. The 30 liters (8 gallons) brewed in the current batch will be presented at an October conference of the Master Brewers Association of America in Texas. AFTER 60 YEARS OF PAYING, HE DRINKS FOR FREE A British retiree has been given free beer for life at his local pub after spending 60 years as a paying customer. The Red Hart at Three Holes in Norfolk made that a present to Dennis Forth to mark his 75th birthday. Forth began drinking shandy at the pub when he was 15. "He's by far our most loyal customer. The next we have has been coming for 40 years," said pub manager Peter Phillips. "We thought this was a nice way to mark his birthday and he's welcome to a free beer whenever he fancies one." Forth, known around the pub as Onk, says this won't cause him to begin drinking more. "I come in on a Friday night and sometimes a Saturday lunchtime and I shall still be doing that," he said. 100,000 BOTTLES OF BEER LATER A 72-year-old from Yugoslavia who says he has drunk nothing but beer for 30 years has had his future grave specially designed with two bottles of beer cemented into the headstone. Slobodan Ristivojevic says he gave up drinking anything but beer, even water, in 1972 and has since downed 100,000 bottles. Slobodan says he isn't an alcoholic and now only drinks six bottles a day -- down from 20 a day a few years ago. "One beer is for me and another one for my loving wife Slavka," he told the Serbian daily Glas Havnosti when speaking of the headstone. "She drinks water too but likes beer and when we die I want to be sure we'll have beer there at the cemetery as well.
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