Carmine Sodora, a certified public accountant in New Jersey came up with an interesting idea back in 2005.  Sodora spends the 10 weeks leading up to the April 15 tax deadline in the United States in local taverns and pubs.

He takes his tax filing service - Tavern Tax to the local bars on week nights and weekend afternoons.

His clients get to sip their beverages and mingle while Carmine completes their taxes.

The Four Sons Brewery which closed back in January 2007 is planned to reopen.

Keystone Brewing Company bought the defunct microbrewery at a sheriff's sale during 2007.

Matt Allyn (Voodoo Brewing) and his dad Michaell Allyn are behind the venture and will be bringing chef Jeremy Potocki back.

The place is yet to be named (in public) and likely open during summer 2008.

California Assemblyman Jim Beall, Jr., Democrat -San Jose has proposed a bill to raise the tax on beer sold in California.  The sin tax could generate another $2 billion per year for California.

Beall went on to say "..."health and law enforcement services that must cope with the havoc -- traffic accidents and fatalities, domestic violence, and illnesses -- that is fueled by the alcohol industry... It’s time for the beer industry to help us with the staggering burden it has helped to create. As responsible corporate citizens, breweries should be willing to pay their fair share of the damage that alcohol wreaks on society’’.

Yet another lifestyle sin tax with lots of interesting facts to "support it":

• In 2005, alcohol-related traffic crashes claimed 1,574 lives and injured 30,810 in California.
  (probably more crashes and injuries can be attributed to sleepy drivers)
• In 2004, alcohol played a role in 3,691 deaths statewide.
  (in 2004 65k died from heart disease (preventable), 53k malignant neoplasms (preventable), 10k accidents (preventable), 7k influenza and pneumonia (preventable), 7k diabetes (preventable))
• Two-thirds of the alcohol-related costs for health care and prevention are borne by government programs.
  (prevention is a cost to be mostly covered by government. health care, we can only wonder what contribution is made as there is no state health care in California except whatever welfare type coverage)
• The tax could make beer harder for teens to obtain because of higher prices.
  (cost has never been a deterrent for teens. if we raise alcohol to actually be expensive and unlikely to be bought by minors due to costs, we would destroy the alcohol industry).

Very short sighted legislation, especially in this time and state of the economy.

Frank Robbins is hard at work on his new venture: The Wine Press. A combination good wine and good beer bar.

The Wine Press is under construction now in what was the Peace Institute Printing building at 4436 Olive Street - in the famous Gaslight Square - (between - Fountain Park (NW), Turner Park (NE), Forest Park (SW) and Saint Louis University (SE).)

Frank has been blogging about his experience in getting Wine Press going.

The folks who brought you Rustico in Alexandria, Virginia are at it again.

Currently they are working on a new yet-to-be-named place in Washington, DC.  They are aiming for 50 taps, 500 bottled beers and five casks at all times. Goal is to have the best beer destination on the east coast.

Food wise- wood fired pizzas, small plates. Some fancy meats intended to be shared between two.

Pennsylvania's Liquor Control Board cleared the way for Wegmans grocery to begin selling beer, wine and 'hard' alcohol in it's supermarket cafes in six stores within Pennsylvania. But wait!

Kentucky Representative Tim Couch has filed a bill that attempts to outlaw free speech online.

Rep Couch's bill attempts to mandate the real name, physical address and valid e-mail of anyone that posts online on any website anywhere. It also requires that when a post is made it only can be made using the posters full name.

The bill proposes penalties for website operators who fail to identify the poster - first offense $500 and subsequent offenses $1000.

Rep Couch says his bill is an attempt to stem online bullying.

Way to go Tim Couch. You are a true communist.

The founders of these great United States enacted the first Amendment that clearly says legislation like yours are anti-American and anti-Constitutional:

Amendment # 1
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

The most popular part of the PubCrawler.com website remains the Beer Places search.

People often get overwhelmed by the categorical approach to searching for a place to find a good craft or import beer.  By default, beer related searches on PubCrawler.com include all the categories (Microbreweries, Brewpubs and Beer Bars) – you can select to not see any of those or some or all. Here see for yourself:
http://www.pubcrawler.com/Template/dsp_searchform.cfm.

Daily we get requests from bar owners and managers to add their bar and from patrons using PubCrawler.com requesting that their favorite local bar be included in our BEER BAR category. Unfortunately, a vast majority of these requests – over 75% do not qualify to be added and in fact, are not BEER BARS by our standards.

Every time I order pizza I shudder at the idea of who will come bearing my pizza.  It seems that the pizza delivery industry attracts all sorts of souls with bad taste in cars and music.  Lately, between the rap music pulsating off our front door and the souped up straight pipe exhaust on the delivery drivers rice-mobile-buggie - we've taken to avoiding the pizza delivery nightmare.

What is worse than the music and exhaust is the stuff that you find in a normal pizza.  Most pizza businesses are not in it for the craft of fine pizza but rather the bulk perceived dollar value of the customer.  Toppings, cheese and even the crust of your pizza likely came from a can, jar or freezer and wasn't made fresh and wasn't made from good ingredients.  It is likely loaded with food coloring, preservatives and genetically modified ingredients.

So that leads us to say that the new pizza franchise Pizza Fusion is such an interesting concept.  They are doing all sorts of forward thinking things that restaurants everywhere should take notice of.  Top of the list is that nagging delivery driver with the souped-up-mobile- Pizza Fusion delivers their food in company owned hybrid vehicles. See it is all doable and has been for a while now :)

They have vegan and vegetarian menu items. They also have gluten free pizza (for Celiac sufferers) and lactose-free cheese (casein-free). Everything is optional.

The beverage list for Pizza Fusion is really outstanding: Volvic Water, Vitamin Water, Boylan’s All-Natural Soda, Jones Organics, Tazo Ice Tea, Naked Juices and Sol Maté, an organic energy drink.

For the alcohol consumers: organic brews from Butte Creek Brewing and Green Valley Brewing, certified organic red and white wines come from such highly regarded wineries as Frey Vineyards, Stellar Winery, Cooper Mountain, Dixon Peak and Badger Mountain Vineyard. Also serve Anheuser Busch’s gluten-free beer, Redbridge, which is brewed from Sorghum, a safe grain for those allergic to wheat or gluten.

From their own mouth, some of their environmental initiatives:

• Delivering our food in company owned hybrid vehicles
• Offsetting 100% of our energy usage with the purchase of renewable wind energy certificates
• Recycling and giving customers discounts for bringing back their pizza boxes to recycle them
• Using only eco-friendly cleaners to sanitize our stores 
• Using 100% post-consumer recycled paper in our collateral 
• Selling and providing our employees only with eco-apparel made from 100% organic cotton 
• Giving our customers discounts when they return their pizza box to recycle it 
• Serving our food in plastic-like containers made from 100% corn starch that decompose in landfills in only 50 days 
• Using only spudware utensils that are made 100% from potatoes that biodegrade in 50 days
• Using 100% post consumer toilet paper and paper towels in all our bathrooms 
• Printing our in-store graphics on a banner material made from 100% recycled plastic soda bottles and printed using non-VOC inks 
• Host a free organic kids class every third Saturday of the month that educates children on the importance of eating organic and recycling 
• Donate money to environmental causes in and around our communities 
• Building our restaurants according to LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification standards set forth by the United States Green Building Council by utilizing a variety of unique energy efficient tactics and eco-friendly products, such as: 
• Eliminating the use of air heating units by redistributing the heat from our ovens to warm our restaurants 
• Eliminating the use of water heaters and air heating units by recycling heat from our ovens to warm the restaurants and heat the water 
• Using CF (Compact Fluorescent) bulbs in our stores which saves on energy consumption 
• Using seat cushions made from soybean oil instead of petroleum based foam 
• Installing counter tops made from 100% recycled detergent bottles 
• Using panels made from recycled materials and produced with a minimal environmental footprint to build shelves and counter tops in our stores 
• Using a greywater system that recycles waste water from our sinks into our toilets and reduces 1/3 of our restaurants’ water waste annually 
• Using milk based paints with no VOCs 
• Using furniture in our stores made from reclaimed wood 
• Implementing a cradle-to-cradle program where we reuse glass bottles from our stores to create flooring tiles for our future locations 
• Installing a smart lighting system in our bathrooms that automatically turns off when the bathroom is vacant 
• Using drywall in our build-out that is 95% post-consumer content and locally manufactured 
• Using FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) Certified wood to build our cabinets and wood fixtures 
• Using only Energy Star Certified appliances 
• Using insulation made from recycled blue jeans 
• Using the most efficient HVAC unit on the market 
• Using 30% recaptured industrial concrete 
• Using ceiling panels made from 74% recycled aluminum cans and 24% post industrial metals 
• Installing USG Gypsum Board made from pre-used drywall 
• Installing bamboo veneer face coverings for fixtures 
• Using ceiling baffles made from recycled composite board
  

Here's a video from YouTube with a bit more info on the Black Star Co-op Pub & Brewery soon to be in Austin, Texas.