Real Beer Page Mail (RBPMail) began as a modest update to craft-brew events on the WWW. It evolved into a news digest and sometimes editorial forum. We present its contents here much as they were emailed to subscribers.

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THIS COMPANY WOULD BE BIGGER THAN A-B
New reports have surfaced that a merger between Miller Brewing Co. of Wisconsin, Scottish & Newcastle and South African Breweries is in the works. It would make the new company the largest brewer in the world, surpassing Anheuser-Busch. The Milwaukee Journal reports that the deal could be announced as early as March. As part of the deal, Miller's Milwaukee corporate headquarters -- and its roughly 1,000 jobs -- would likely remain intact, beer industry analysts said. Miller is the world's sixth larger brewer, SAB the fifth and Scottish & Newcastle the seventh.

CAMRA LOBBIES FOR GUARANTEED PINTS
Britain's Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has launched a new campaign to push for legislation that guarantees beer drinkers a full pint of ale. It includes a new series of posters protesting short pints and urges consumers to take action. The consumer group cites research that indicates that 90% of the pints served in British pubs are less than 100% liquid and 28% are less than the industry's guidelines of 95% liquid.

FULLER'S WINS BATTLE OVER BRAND NAME RIGHTS
Fuller's, one of Britain's best-known regional brewers, has won a court battle to protect its rights to its flagship brand, ESB. The case was heard in the High Court in London. The dispute was between Fuller's and Dave West, who trades as EastEnders in Calais, France. West has exploited the gap between duty rates on beer in Britain and France by selling large amounts of cheap French beer to Britain in recent years. More recently, he has attempted to register the trademark for a lager labeled ESP in Britain. Fullers claimed that ESP and ESB (short for Extra Special Bitter) were too close for comfort, would confuse consumers, and infringed Fuller's rights to the term ESB. The court held that ESB was not a generic term and was distinctive of Fuller's.

JAPANESE BEER GARDEN ADMITS RECYCLING BEER
The Sapporo Beer Garden, a noted tourist spot in the Hokkaido capital, had been selling draft beer mixed with beer left unsold from the previous day until last February, its operator admitted. An average of about 20 liters of leftover beer per day were stored in refrigerators overnight before being added to fresh beer and sold to patrons the following day in all-you-can-drink specials.

STUDY: ALCOHOL MAY HELP PREVENT ALZHEIMER'S
A study by Dutch scientists has found that daily moderate consumption of alcohol may ward off Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia. The study published in The Lancet medical journal reported that it doesn't seem to matter what people drink -- the effect is the same. The finding adds to a growing body of evidence for the health benefits of moderate drinking.

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BATTLE OF THE BEERS
Would you rather drink Coors Light or Alaskan Smoked Porter? Anchor Steam or Deschutes Black Butter Porter? Beginning Feb. 18, you'll be able to vote on choices like those and more. There'll be a new showdown every weekday, with the winning beer advancing to the next round. We'll start with 32 beers and by April 1 be down to two. What beers will advance? That's up to you. The story.

AN IMPERIAL TOUR
Stephen Beaumont spends evening in Manhattan sampling a baker's dozen of the biggest and most intense stouts brewed in the U.S. and Britain. The story.

THE WIT AND WISDOM OF NORM PETERSON
Sam: "Hey, what's happening, Norm?" Norm: "Well, it's a dog-eat-dog world, Sammy, and I'm wearing Milk-Bone underwear." Do you watch Cheers re-runs just for the wonderful exchanges involving Norm? We'll save you a little time. Now you can click for a Norm-ism, then for another and another. Start clicking.

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STATES - EVEN OREGON - LOOK AT HIGHER BEER TAXES
Many states are looking at raising "sin taxes" in order to cover falling state tax receipts because of recession. The Distilled Spirits Council of the United States reports that eight states want to boost taxes on beer, wine or hard liquor. In 2001, Washington and North Carolina lawmakers boosted a surcharge on alcohol sales and a liquor tax, respectively. In Oregon, Gov. John Kitzhaber has proposed a "nickel-a-drink" tax on beer and wine. Jim Parker, executive director of the Oregon Brewers Guild, points out that brewing beer isn't a sin and questions the math on the "nickel a drink" computation. The governor's proposal works out to an increase of 53.7 cents a gallon, or more than six times the current rate of 8 cents a gallon. The proposed tax of 61.7 cents a gallon would be more than triple the national average and the second-highest tax rate in the country. You may have to paste this rather long URL into your browser to read the story, but it's worth the time.

MINNESOTA BREWING NEEDS LOAN TO KEEP GOING
St. Paul won't guarantee a $2 million loan that Minnesota Brewing Co. officials claim is needed to keep the financially shaky company in business. However, city officials told principal owner Bruce Hendry that they will help him find financing in the next two months if a number of conditions are met. The troubled brewery is $14 million in debt.

JONES BREWERY CLOSES - STONEY'S BRAND LIVES ON
The Jones Brewery in Smithton, Pa., closed last month, but Stoney's beer will continue to be produced by Pittsburgh Brewing Co. "All the emails I have gotten, 90 percent of the people said, 'Just keep the Stoney's coming. We don't care where it's coming from,'" said Gabriel "Gabby" Podlucky, owner of Jones Brewery Co. The brewery was founded in 1907 by William B. "Stoney" Jones, a Welsh immigrant who labeled his beer "devoid of any artificial materials." Among his descendants is actress Shirley Jones.

OHIO CONSIDERS ALLOWING STRONGER BEER
An Ohio lawmaker has proposed allowing state residents to brew and drink stronger beer. Ohio currently limits beer to 6% alcohol by weight, and Rep. Jim Trakas would increase that to 12%. Although some southern states limit beer to 6% alcohol (and Utah and Oklahoma only allow breweries to sell 3.2 abw beer except in state run stores), brewers in state surrounding Ohio do not operate under such strict definitions.

FRED HUBER DIES
Fred Huber, who long ran the Joseph Huber Brewing Co. in Monroe, Wis., died last month. Huber was one of the last independent family brewers. He was also one of the first brewers to welcome -- and assist - Michael Jackson's efforts to write informed books on beer for the consumer. Jackson recalls his travels with Huber, including one rather harrowing trip.

MATH TEACHER WINS BEERDRINKER OF THE YEAR
Gary Steinel, a high school math teacher from White Plains, N.Y., last week was chosen the 2002 Beerdrinker of the Year. Steinel, who reached the finals for a second straight year, won free beer for life at Denver's Wynkoop Brewing Co. (which sponsors the competition), $100 worth of beer at his home brewpub (Southampton Publick House), his name on a trophy and plenty of Beerdrinker of the Year wearing apparel. Tom Ciccateri of Shawnee Mission, Kan., and John Marioni of Bothell, Wash., were the runners up.

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NOT AN EDITORIAL: NEWSLETTER CHANGES
You'll notice that you got to this point in RBPMail faster than usual. There aren't quite as many stories and we've kept them as short as we could. We've also eliminated the Quickie Email Survey, and will no longer include an editorial in this space.

Why? Plenty has changed since we emailed the first edition of RBPMail more than seven years ago. Most important, all your email boxes and ours are much more crowded. Not just with SPAM, but with plenty of friendly notes and newsletters we never seem to have time to read. We don't want RBPMail to be one of the ones you pass on because it is just too darn long.

Don't worry, we'll be as windy and opinionated as ever -- we just don't expect this newsletter to do all the heavy lifting. There's more at Realbeer.com than ever -- more features, more news, polls, updates every weekday in BeerLog, etc. If you still want more beer in your email box, then you may sign up for the weekly Beer Break newsletter.