Summer's Best Craft Beers

Drink offers the same benefits as wine: researchers

(NEWSER) - Beer lovers, rejoice: ale or lager in moderation is good for you, a new study suggests. It offers folic acid, calcium, vitamins, and iron, and its benefits match those of wine, the Daily Telegraph reports. The study of 1,249 men and women older than 57 found that those who drank beer regularly and moderately—think small glass instead of a pint—had a lower risk of diabetes and high blood pressure. More»

Alaskan fatalities from alcohol-related diseases plunged when levy was raised

(NEWSER) - Higher liquor taxes may reduce deaths related to alcohol consumption, the Chicago Tribune reports. A new study examined Alaska’s alcohol tax rates over a 30-year period in conjunction with deaths from alcohol-related diseases such as cirrhosis of the liver. When taxes were raised, such deaths decreased by as much as 29%. More»

Finding a good bar is about the atmosphere— otherwise you might as well imbibe at home

(NEWSER) - You know a great bar when you're in one, Esquire posits. The magazine knows more than a few, from "Christ-this-is-a-dive" dives to classy cocktail lounges. He're a sample of their favorites, from around the country:

1. Mac's Club Deuce, Miami Beach, Florida
2. Callaghan's Irish Social Club, Mobile, Alabama
3. The Globe, Athens, Georgia

The beer class is finally embracing the grape, Slate says

(NEWSER) - The American middle class has become connoisseurs of everything—coffee, '80s Japanese garage-rock bands, environmentalist toilet paper, and now wine, writes Slate's Field Maloney. Fermented grape juice doubled its audience in the past decade, while consumption of lower-brow beer stagnated. And for the first time in history, Americans pollees prefer wine to beer. More»

Senate moves to OK booze-by-mail 103 years later

(NEWSER) - The Senate has an idea to help save the Postal Service: Let people mail alcohol. After all, FedEx and UPS carry the stuff all the time. But a law from 1909—established 10 years before Prohibition came into effect—bars the Postal Service from shipping "all spirituous, vinous, malted, fermented, or other intoxicating liquors of any kind." Dumping the law, as new Senate-passed legislation would do, could be particularly helpful to the USPS in these days of online shopping, Time reports. More»