Sammet a beer

To Sammet a beer literally means to leave a beer unfinished. Similar to the "wounded soldier", this expression popped up sometime in the late 90's that is believed to have been associated with Joseph Sammet, born April 1974. Joseph P. Sammet was a notorious party-goer of the Santa Barbara, California area that raided peoples homes and left masses of unfinished beers. It didn't take long before this crisis was associated with the term to "Sammet a beer."

Well respected writers in the beer community have began to educate consumers to appreciate beer for not only its quality ingredients but its heritage. Many a brewers like Ebrehard Anheuser, Adolphus Busch, Bernard Stroh, Frederick Pabst, Frederick Miller, Joseph Schlitz, and Adolph Coors have spent their lives not just growing a business but developing a brand. A brand and a tradition of real American beer. To take beer beyond the ballgame, BBQ, or tailgate.

Respect for beer, responsibility, and education help to inform beer drinkers not to "Sammet a beer." The beer consortium, the Aleuminati has even spoken out about further beer appreciation. In an article titled "Don't Sammet a Beer", social and cultural issues are discussed with failure to finish a beer. It not only brings down the value of a beer, but it weakens the image of a beer being thought of as a socially acceptable beverage.

Additional References to the AleUminati.

Beer appreciation has been on the rise since the mid 1970's with the legalization of home brewing. Craft breweries, which were the product of home brewers expanding commercially, began popping up just about everywhere starting in Northern California and spreading throughout the Pacific Northwest. Before long states like Colorado, New York, Deleware and Maine quickly took hold of the micro brewery boom. Growth has been steady throughout the U.S. and revenue has been on the incline for multiple years according to the American Brewers Association. But with the recent crop shortages, increase in cost for grain and hops, many craft breweries are faced with the struggle of raising prices for a pint of beer. It will be an uphill battle for beer lovers having to face the issue of rising costs for quality beer. The question will be faced, "What is the most someone is willing to pay for a beer?"

It is crucial that one understand the relationship between the environmental impact of routinely not finishing any beer that you purchase. Bottle and cans add a tremendous amount of CO2 gas emissions to the environment. As a necessity to store liquid within it is not that the bottles and cans should not be produced, but their impact on the world can be significantly less is the right steps are taken to reduce unnecessary production. If every beer consumer in the United States decided to Sammet a beer by leaving a good 1/4 of it unfinished and then choosing to open up a new bottle or can this would equate to one or two additional bottles/cans needed to be produced per beer consumer. As more and more people practice this "flat beer" avoidance strategy you will find a direct correlation to increased green house emissions and oil production as each individual who purchases a 6 pack worth of beer will inevitably waste 2 additional bottles per 6 pack! This art of Sammeting a beer which was started by a particularly slow paced beer drinker as a way to replace beer before his rhythm led to the beer going flat has far reaching implications beyond just pure beer waste. Considering the United States is facing a recession we do not need beer prices going up at the rate that oil prices are currently climbing. Through this practice of Sammeting it will have a global fiscal impact as beer companies rely on oil to produce bottles and cans (not to mention packaging materials) and as barrels of oil go up this will drive beer companies costs up thereby raising their prices for the consumer, combined with environmental affect of increased green house gas emissions resulting in a higher potential to escalate global warming. Please take this concept seriously - no matter the temptation please do not Sammet a beer!

Additional References provided below:

Discussions of "Sammet a Beer" from SAVOR, (Brewer's Association Festival) May 2008[http://beercraft.wordpress.com/2007/10/05/the-hop-crisis/#comment-1409] - Andy Crouch, BeerScribe

Additional Images:

http://bp2.blogger.com/_HjIkTFqBD0o/Rf1Y2G1nGEI/AAAAAAAAAMI/NN7zbSRCN_A/s400/21+Unfinished+Beer.jpg

http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/features_popculture_blog/images/2007/11/06/beer.jpg

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