Wine and Cheese Don't Mix? From this article in New Scientist, some hard core wine tasting nerds/scientists have developed a theory that cheese seems to mask many of the important flavors in wine. I would be willing to bet that the same test would prove a similar theory if beer was substituted in the place of wine here, but this is still a good article to send to your snobbiest wine friends. I'll continue to enjoy my cheese alongside whatever I want to enjoy it with. Ben is So Old Benjamin Franklin turned 300 freaking years old this year. While he isn't doing much celebrating, it appears that quite a few breweries crafted up a recipe to honor this milestone. Check out where you can sample a Poor Richards Ale, with this handy dandy locator. I know that Top of the Hill in Chapel Hill, and Olde Hickory in Hickory both are supposed to be serving this one. Give it a taste if you get a chance! Got Some Cash? Get out your checkbook or mastercard and purchase the naming rights on a 120 bbl fermenter at Saint Arnold's Brewery in Texas. The auction is on ebay, and the high bid is current very close to 15 hundred dollars. This news was picked up from the Realbeer.com blog. Don't Be Such an Alabama Alabama seems to be going in the wrong direction. Per this article in the Mobile Register (isn't all paper fairly "mobile" already?), Alabama's politicians are in the process of taking away an individual's right to have a keg without a license. You can read or watch how a discussion of this news item deteriorates into college rivalry in this thread from the beerinator.com forums. Gold Medal Pong Also, it appears that Beer Pong is getting one step closer to Olympic status. Some kids in Michigan have become national champions of putting ping pong balls in cups full of beer. Read more about that here.