Pakistan brewery exporting after near 50-year ban

Good news! Are more Muslims discovering beer? 😊 Saudi Arabia is also loosening some of its strict alcohol regulations.

Saudi Arabia Quietly Lifts Its Alcohol Ban for some residents

Good news! In some countries progress is slower than in other countries! 😊

When will Saudi citizens claim discrimination and protest? Give me death or give me beer! Just kidding!

"Saudi Arabia is quietly permitting some residents to buy alcohol, breaking a longstanding taboo as the Islamic kingdom looks to expand its tourism sector, attract high-earning expatriates and modernize its conservative image.

Without making an announcement, the government in recent weeks has begun allowing non-Muslims with the premium residency status given to skilled or wealthy expatriates to buy beer, wine and spirits  ..."

Saudi Arabia Quietly Lifts Its Alcohol Ban - WSJ "The Islamic kingdom is loosening its laws against alcohol as part of a modernization push"

Saudi Arabia Plans New Alcohol Shops Ahead of Global Events with Palki Sharma

Good news! I toast to that! Are 70 years of prohibition finally coming to an end?

Why is Wine Consumption and production Falling Globally? with Palki Sharma

Bad news! As I have another sip of red wine! 😊

Spuren von 10.000 Jahre altem Reisbier entdeckt in China

Erstaunlich!

"In der Shangshan-Stätte in der chinesischen Provinz Zhejiang wurden Hinweise auf die Herstellung von Reisbier entdeckt, die rund 10.000 Jahre alt sind. Diese Entdeckung gilt als eines der frühesten Zeugnisse für die Herstellung alkoholischer Getränke in Ostasien und wirft neues Licht auf die Lebensweise und Kultur der Jungsteinzeit. ..."

Spuren von 10.000 Jahre altem Reisbier entdeckt "Schon in der Jungsteinzeit wurde Bier gebraut – zumindest in Ostasien und aus Reis. Archäologen haben in China Hinweise auf die Herstellung von Reisbier entdeckt."

So stellten die Menschen in der Jungsteinzeit Reisbier und andere Produkte aus Reis her

Why banana wine production is flourishing in Malawi

I eat a banana almost every day, but I don't think I ever had a sip of banana wine. On my next visit to a liquor store I will ask for it.

Drybaby is a dating app for the ‘sober curious’ singles

Romance in the age of social media! Too dry to try? 😊

"Drybaby is the newest dating app designed for singles who are sober or interested in reducing their alcohol consumption. 

The app arrives as 41% of Americans are cutting back on drinking as part of the so-called “sober curious” movement. According to a recent study commissioned by NCSolutions, Gen Zers have expressed particular interest in the movement, with 61% of them planning to cut back on alcohol.

Drybaby is also embracing the growing trend of in-person dating experiences, trying to foster a sense of community through alcohol-free socializing. Its main feature is the community section, a hub for users to connect and share events. ..."

Drybaby is a dating app for the ‘sober curious’ movement | TechCrunch

Riyadh to Get Legal Alcohol Store After 7 Decades, but only for diplomats with Palki Sharma

Good joke! But Crown Prince MBS is making progress, albeit very slowly! However, the first step is made!

India's Liquor Market is Booming. Here's Why with Palki Sharma

Recommendable! India is one of the world's major liquor exporters of the world and more!

Do Hummingbirds Drink Alcohol? More Often Than You Think

Amazing stuff! Does it surprise anyone that a professor from the notorious UC Berkeley is researching this subject (it has a history of psychedelic drugs going back to the wild 1960s see e.g. here)? 😊

Next season, I see hummingbirds again near my home, I will keep this in mind! They are coming for the booze. 😊

The researcher has an apparent predilection for alcohol drinking animals see e.g. his earlier Drunken monkeys: what animals tell us about our thirst for booze. His specialty is integrative biology (integrative? How to integrate alcohol into the daily lives of animals?) 😊

"... nectar-filled flowers, which are an ideal gathering place for yeast — a type of fungus — and for bacteria that metabolize sugar and produce ethanol. ...

To University of California, Berkeley biologist Robert Dudley ... How much alcohol do hummingbirds consume in their daily quest for sustenance? Are they attracted to alcohol or repelled by it? Since alcohol is a natural byproduct of the sugary fruit and floral nectar that plants produce, is ethanol an inevitable part of the diet of hummingbirds and many other animals?

“Hummingbirds are eating 80% of their body mass a day in nectar ...

The results of that study, published this week in the journal Royal Society Open Science, demonstrate that hummingbirds happily sip from sugar water with up to 1% alcohol by volume, finding it just as attractive as plain sugar water. ...
they sip only half as much as normal when the sugar water contains 2% alcohol. ..."

From the abstract:

"Both frugivores and nectarivores are potentially exposed to dietary ethanol produced by fermentative yeasts which metabolize sugars. Some nectarivorous mammals exhibit a preference for low-concentration ethanol solutions compared to controls of comparable caloric content, but behavioural responses to ethanol by nectar-feeding birds are unknown. We investigated dietary preference by Anna's Hummingbirds (Calypte anna) for ethanol-enhanced sucrose solutions. Via repeated binary-choice experiments, three adult male hummingbirds were exposed to sucrose solutions containing 0%, 1% or 2% ethanol; rates of volitional nectar consumption were measured over a 3 h interval. Hummingbirds did not discriminate between 0% and 1% ethanol solutions, but exhibited significantly reduced rates of consumption of a 2% ethanol solution. Opportunistic measurements of ethanol concentrations within hummingbird feeders registered values peaking at about 0.05%. Ethanol at low concentrations (i.e. up to 1%) is not aversive to Anna's Hummingbirds and may be characteristic of both natural and anthropogenic nectars upon which they feed. Given high daily amounts of nectar consumption by hummingbirds, chronic physiological exposure to ethanol can thus be substantial, although naturally occurring concentrations within floral nectar are unknown."

Do Hummingbirds Drink Alcohol? More Often Than You Think – Eurasia Review

Hummingbird ingestion of low-concentration ethanol within artificial nectar (open access)

Robert Dudley, the integrative biologist, who watches birds drinking alcohol

Figure 1. Volumetric consumption differentials for binary choices between experimental nectar solutions over a 3 h interval, with concentration comparisons indicated beneath data points. 

More evidence moderate drinking is good for your heart

I toast to that! A votre sante!

"New study ... offers an explanation for why light to moderate alcohol consumption may be associated with lower risk of heart disease.

For the first time, researchers found that alcohol, in light to moderate quantities, was associated with long-term reductions in stress signaling in the brain. This impact appeared to significantly account for the reductions in heart disease risk seen in light to moderate drinkers participating in the study. ...
Previous epidemiological studies have suggested that light to moderate alcohol consumption ... is associated with a lower risk of cardiovascular disease. But it was unknown whether alcohol was inducing cardiovascular benefits, or whether light/moderate drinkers’ health behaviors, socioeconomic status, or other factors protected their hearts. ...

The first part of the study evaluated the relationship between light/moderate alcohol consumption and heart attacks and strokes after adjusting for a range of genetic, clinical, lifestyle, and socioeconomic factors. The researchers found that light/moderate alcohol consumption was associated with a substantial reduction in the risk of cardiovascular disease events, even after accounting for those other factors.

Next, ...The brain imaging showed reduced stress signaling in the amygdala, the brain region associated with stress responses, in individuals who were light to moderate drinkers compared to those who abstained from alcohol or who drank little. And when the investigators looked at these individuals’ histories of cardiovascular events, they found fewer heart attacks and strokes in light to moderate drinkers. ...

It’s long been known that alcohol reduces the amygdala’s reactivity to threatening stimuli while individuals are drinking. The current study is the first to indicate that light to moderate alcohol consumption has longer-term neurobiological effects in dampening activity in the amygdala, which may have a significant downstream impact on the cardiovascular system. ..."

From the abstract (seems to be a poorly written abstract in my opinion):

"Background

Chronic stress associates with major adverse cardiovascular events (MACE) via increased stress-related neural network activity (SNA). Light/moderate alcohol consumption (ACl/m) has been linked to lower MACE risk, but the mechanisms are unclear.

Objectives

The purpose of this study was to evaluate whether the association between ACl/m and MACE is mediated by decreased SNA.

Methods

Individuals enrolled in the Mass General Brigham Biobank who completed a health behavior survey were studied. A subset underwent 18F-fluorodeoxyglucose positron emission tomography, enabling assessment of SNA. Alcohol consumption was classified as none/minimal, light/moderate, or high (<1, 1-14, or >14 drinks/week, respectively).

Results

Of 53,064 participants (median age 60 years, 60% women), 23,920 had no/minimal alcohol consumption and 27,053 ACl/m. Over a median follow-up of 3.4 years, 1,914 experienced MACE. ACl/m (vs none/minimal) associated with lower MACE risk (HR: 0.786; 95% CI: 0.717-0.862; P < 0.0001) after adjusting for cardiovascular risk factors. In 713 participants with brain imaging, ACl/m (vs none/minimal) associated with decreased SNA (standardized beta −0.192; 95% CI: −0.338 to −0.046; P = 0.01). Lower SNA partially mediated the beneficial effect of ACl/m on MACE (log OR: −0.040; 95% CI: −0.097 to −0.003; P < 0.05). Further, ACl/m associated with larger decreases in MACE risk among individuals with (vs without) prior anxiety (HR: 0.60 [95% CI: 0.50-0.72] vs 0.78 [95% CI: 0.73-0.80]; P interaction = 0.003).

Conclusions

ACl/m associates with reduced MACE risk, in part, by lowering activity of a stress-related brain network known for its association with cardiovascular disease. Given alcohol’s potential health detriments, new interventions with similar effects on SNA are needed."

Is drinking in moderation good for your heart? – Harvard Gazette Researchers thought if they could find key mechanism, science might someday unlock benefits minus harm that comes with alcohol. They found it.

Reduced Stress-Related Neural Network Activity Mediates the Effect of Alcohol on Cardiovascular Risk (no public access)