Days of the Beer, June 21

The beer for today is... something from Sweetwater Brewing. I just couldn't decide on which beer of theirs to pick. Most likely you'll be able to get a Hummer. You might get a Donkey Punch. If you are REALLY lucky, you'll get a Happy Ending.

All these beers have dirty names.

Hummer: SweetWater Hummer is a tasty Belgian White Ale brewed with coriander and orange peel. Cloudy with subtle fruit tones and a lingering finish. Everybody loves a Hummer!

Donkey Punch:The biggest farm animal to come out of the SweetWater Barn! We bucked up and threw everything, including the kitchen sink, into this "Jackass" concoction. At 10% ABV and over 90 IBU - You’ll know it when it hits you in the back of the head!

Happy Ending:It's nice to be able to finally brew some beer without restrictions on it. we came from Colorado where we could brew or try anything. We've been waiting 7 years to make a stout and we harnessed all that frustration into this batch of beer.

We didn't get caught up in the parameters of a specific style we just brewed a big fat hoppy beautiful beer. The timing of the law change couldn't have been better for us, because it has taken until this summer for us to get set up in our new brewery. We finally have some capacity to experiment with some new style. This could lead into a seasonal offering from us in the future. For now we're just glad we can satisfy the demands of the folks who have been on us since day 1 to make a stout.

Malt: 70/80 crystal malt, chocolate malt, black malt, roasted malt

Hops: Centennial, Willamette and cascade - on the dry hop!

SweetWater Brewing Company is located in Atlanta Georgia. It was voted Small Brewery of the Year at GABF in 2002. SweetWater is distributed in Atlanta and the surrounding area, and their beer can be found in Nashville, Asheville, Birmingham and parts of Florida.

On June 21, 1973, the Supreme Court of the United States establishes the Miller Test, which governs obscenity law in the U.S.

Marvin Miller was a guy who ran a mail order business that sold sexually explicit material. He was first found guilty in California for distributing obscene material. His conviction was upheld and was appealed all the way to the U.S. Supreme Court. They first argued the case on Jan 18-19, 1972, then again on November 7 of that year. The decision came on June 21, 1973.

The decision set three criteria that has to be met for a work to not be considered obscene.

• the average person, applying contemporary community standards (not national standards, as some prior tests required), must find that the work, taken as a whole, appeals to the prurient interest;
• the work depicts or describes, in a patently offensive way, sexual conduct or excretory functions specifically defined by applicable state law; and
• the work, taken as a whole, lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value.

As for the beers, Hummer is a Belgian Wit (I have not this beer). Donkey Punch is a Barleywine style ale. I had this beer on draft at one of the Taco Mac's around Kennesaw, Georgia on October 7 of last year. I remember it having a winey-raisin flavor. Happy Ending is an Imperial Stout. A rather tasty Imperial Stout I might add. I picked it up on my last trip to Georgia, and had it on Feb. 16.