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When Yuengling first entered the Tennessee market in 2007, many had never heard of the brand. To some, it was the beer with the funny name. In truth, Yuengling, located in Pottsville, Penn., is the oldest continually operating brewery in the United States.

David G. Yuengling founded the Eagle Brewery in 1829 but changed the name in 1873 to D.G. Yuengling and Son after Fredrick joined his father as a partner. Still a family-owned company, the sixth generation is now learning the business from the bottom up, and they believe in tradition, continuing to brew beers such as Lord Chesterfield Ale, a hoppy brew first crafted the year the brewery was founded.

Surviving Prohibition by by brewing near beers and opening a dairy, Yuengling celebrated the repeal of the Eighteenth Amendment in 1933 by brewing Winner Beer and shipping a truckload to President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Traditional Lager, noted for its rich amber color and subtle sweetness and now the company's flagship brand, came along in 1978.

In addition to Lord Chesterfield Ale and Traditional Lager, Yuengling today brews Premium, Light, Light Lager, Dark Brewed Porter and Black & Tan. With the acquisition of a second Pottsville property and the former Stroh Brewery in Tampa, Fla., beer production now exceeds 1.2 million barrels per year, a significant number for a brewery still in control of the founding family.

Now in their 180th year of production, Richard "Dick" Yuengling, Jr., fifth-generation owner and current company president, has set high goals for the company's future: exceeding annual production of 2 million barrels and expanding their market beyond the current 13 states, ranging from New York to Florida.

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Organic beer lovers rejoice, your Earth-friendly beer festival takes place this weekend. KGW-TV Locally crafted microbrews The North American Organic Brewers Festival returns June 26-28 at Overlook Park in North Portland. Organizers claim it’s the greenest festival on the continent -- electricity comes from renewable resources, everything is recycled and volunteers must wear hemp or organic cotton. There is sure to be lots of hoppy beers to go around, along with showcased ambers and pales from England, Scotland, Germany, Belgium and the Pacific Northwest. Last year’s event drew some 25,000 attendees and featured 75 different organic beers, festival organizers said. The festival runs noon to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday and noon to 5 p.m. Sunday. No admission will be charged, but beer tasting will cost you $6 per cup. Those who opt in to the samplings will receive a reusable, compostable, cornstarch tasting glass. After that, expect to shell out $1 per sample. A full glass of beer will be $4 -- or more for certain strong and/or imported beers. Cash won’t be accepted, festival-goers must purchase tokens at the gate. Receive a dollar discount on your cornstarch cup by presenting a validated MAX ticket or three cans of food (preferably organic) for the Oregon Food Bank. More: Portland is America's most 'underrated' city Proceeds from this year’s festival will benefit Willamette Riverkeeper, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and Oregon Tilth. No parking will be provided for the event. The TriMet MAX Yellow Line will get you there, along with bus lines, bicycles, cabs or sneakers.

By Fred Ojambo July 3 (Bloomberg) -- Coffee exports from Uganda, Africa’s biggest producer of the robusta variety of the crop, fell 8.7 percent in June after farmers hoarded the crop following a drop in prices, the Uganda Coffee Development Authority said. Shipments dropped to 254,026 60-kilogram (132-pound) bags, from 278,107 bags a year earlier, the agency said in a draft report, details of which were handed to Bloomberg News today in the capital, Kampala. Volumes were 5.9 percent lower than an earlier forecast of 270,000 bags, though 15 percent higher than May because of an improved harvest in the southern and southwestern regions, the authority said. “Prices are not good and farmers are reluctant to sell the crop at the current rate,” David Kiwanuka, the authority’ spokesman, said by phone. “What buyers are offering is far below the farmers’ expectations.” The price of a kilogram of husked coffee ranged from 800 to 1,100 Ugandan shillings (38 to 53 cents), compared with 1,000 to 1,300 shillings the previous month, following a drop in global prices, he said. Shipments in the 12 months to Sept. 30 may drop 5.7 percent from an earlier forecast of 3.5 million due to a small crop, Kiwanuka said on April 3. Last season, the country exported 3.21 million bags, the agency said. Exports from Oct. 1 through June fell 0.9 percent to 2.33 million bags, according to a tally by Bloomberg News. New planting and improving farm management have helped the East African nation boost its coffee output from 2 million bags in 2005-06, according to the authority. The country consumes less than 3 percent of its crop, while the rest is exported, mainly to Europe. Uganda is Africa’s second-biggest producer of coffee, after Ethiopia. Robusta accounts for about 85 percent of the country’s annual output and the country earned $388.4 million from coffee exports in 2007-08

Reposted from Beer-FAQ.com

Is there formaldehyde in beer? This question was recently submitted by a reader, and to tell you the truth I did not know much about the formaldehyde in beer issue. My initial reaction was "of course there is not formaldehyde in beer", but as I dug deeper into the research I began to grow concerned.

Now when I hear "formaldehyde" I think of preserving corpses… not exactly getting me in the mood for a cold one. So to start off I figured a definition of formaldehyde was in order:

Formaldehyde: a chemical used in manufacturing and chemical industries, and as a preservative by anatomists, embalmers, and pathologists. Being exposed to formaldehyde may increase the risk of developing leukemia and brain cancer.

So not only do I now think of corpses, but now I have brain cancer on the brain…. I am really hoping this does not turn out to be true at this point.

As I began my research into this question, a few things became clear:

* There appears to be some truth to the rumor in Chinese beers,

* There does not seem to be strong evidence of this rumor outside of China

* There does not seem to be a definitive answer on the subject

China appears to use formaldehyde

First of all, why on earth would breweries knowingly use formaldehyde? As it turns out it is a very inexpensive clarifying agent that lightens the color of the beer and extends its shelf life. Although some Chinese breweries claim that they have discontinued the practice, there are a number of beers sold in China that are very cheap and low quality (intended to be affordable to the masses), and it has been stated that these lower quality brews still use formaldehyde to keep costs down.

So how widespread is the use of formaldehyde in Chinese beer? I found a few articles dating back to 2005, where a representative of the China Alcoholic Drinks Industry Association (CADIA) is quoted as saying that 95% of the domestic beer in China has formaldehyde. What was that? Did you say 95% of domestic beers in China have a known cancer causing agent in them? Not really making me want to drink a Chinese beer.

Furthermore, an article in the "People’s Daily Online" reported in 2005 that:

Chinese brewery giant Tsingtao has confirmed the safety of its product, saying the per-liter formaldehyde content of its product is much lower than the standard set by the World Heath Organization (WHO). The Tsingtao Brewery Co., Ltd. made the remarks in a statement it issued Friday in response to earlier domestic media reports putting Tsingtao beer’s formaldehyde content under suspicion. China’s State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (SAQSIQ) also said that Chinese beer, including big-name Tsingtao beer, is safe to drink.

However, I did find some more recent resources stating that this practice is dying off (no pun intended) and that only some breweries are still permitting formaldehyde in the brewing process today. I was also not able to find any reference to formaldehyde in any beers that China imports to other countries, as it appears to only be used in their domestic versions.

Finally, I came across a research study done in 2006 which concluded that:

Formaldehyde was measured in 29 beers [out of 84 tested] (including 7 imported brands) using solid-phase microextraction with on-fiber derivatization. Formaldehyde levels were between 0.082–0.356 mg/L. None of the beer samples exceeded WHO drinking water criteria for benzene, trihalomethanes or formaldehyde. http://www.scientificsocieties.org/jib/papers/2006/G-2006-1102-469.pdf

No Evidence of Formaldehyde Use Outside of China

While I did come across a lot of discussion in online forums about formaldehyde in non-Chinese beers (especially beers from Southeast Asian countries), I was not able to find any evidence if this. There is a great article I found that discusses this (specifically in reference to a Thai beer called Singha) located here: http://lewbryson.com/formaldehyde.htm.

No definitive answer

In all of the research I conducted online, I was not able to find a clear definitive answer on the subject (besides the info on China). There was a ton of forum discussions full of opinion and conjecture, but not much in the way of evidence.

Many folks felt certain that some Asian countries used formaldehyde in the brewing process, while others questioned the assertion and compared it to the rumor about urine in Corona. Some of the most interesting discussions were very scientific in nature, with quite a few folks claiming that trace amounts of formaldehyde were a natural byproduct in beer. Since I am not very strong in the sciences I have not gone into an in depth discussion of these arguments.

However, I did want to point out one study that was mentioned in the research report listed above. In it they mentioned another study that looked at European beers:

Donhauser and co-workers9 examined beers from Europe, using a HPLC method, and showed that 65% of them contained detectable formaldehyde, although in many the level was close to the detection limit of 0.2 mg/L. (Donhauser, S., Glas, K. and Walla, G., Detection of formaldehyde in beer. Monatsschrift für Brauwissenschaft, 1986, 39(10), 364–368.)

This would seem to give some credence to the trace amounts argument, but I would love to hear from some other readers that are more versed in the sciences than I….. anyone know a little more about this?

All in all, formaldehyde does not appear to be a major concern for beer drinkers. However, I would still be a little weary drinking a beer in China.