Check out this article on Black Star Beer from Missoulian reporter AJ Mazzolini.

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I love this AP story out of London. My image of the shard-wielding drunkard picking a fight in a British pub might just be history now.

LONDON (AP) — Soon Britons will be able to get smashed at the pub while their pint glasses won’t.
The shatterproof pint glass was proudly unveiled by the government on Thursday. Officials swore the country would save billions in health care costs by coming up with a glass that doesn’t double as a lethal weapon.
But noticeably, no officials were talking about reforming the British binge drinking culture at the root of the problem.
There are about 87,000 alcohol-related glass attacks each year, with many resulting in hospital visits, Home Secretary Alan Johnson said as he introduced the two prototype shatterproof pint glasses.
“Glassing causes horrific injuries and has a lasting and devastating impact on victims and their families,” Johnson said. “I hope these designs will help bring an end to such attacks.”
Two types of shatterproof technologies are in the works: one has a thin bio-resin coating on the inside that strengthens it, and the other bonds two thin layers of gas together in the same way as car windshields. Both are difficult to break and keep the shards together if they do fracture, rendering them useless as weapons.
The government is touting the prototypes as the first significant improvement in bar glassware in decades. The plan is to introduce the new glasses for use on a voluntary basis in pubs if tests show they are durable, cost-effective and safe.
Alcohol Concern, a charity working to lessen alcohol abuse in Britain, praised the new designs.
“We’re very much in favor,” chief executive Don Shanker said. “There has been good local research showing this could reduce the use of glass in violent incidents.”
Half of all violent assaults in Britain are alcohol-related and it has become common for drinkers to smash glasses and use them as weapons, he added.
“You are five times more likely to be involved in a violent incident if you are in or around a licensed bar,” he said. “There is a clear correlation.”
The government estimates that “glassing” attacks cost the National Health Service roughly 2.7 billion pounds ($4.3 billion) per year.
In the North London neighborhood of Camden, where heavy drinking bouts are commonplace, bartender Mirjam Linzie said the staff at the Elephants Head pub would welcome safer glasses.
“One time there was a big fight and 50 pints were smashed in one minute,” she said. “One man smashed a glass over another one’s head. One person’s eye was popping out. It was a bloodbath. There was glass raining. People were hiding behind the counter.”
Of course, a shatterproof pint could still be used like a club in fight — but at least it wouldn’t produce lethal shards of glass with the cutting power of a sharp knife.
Bartenders at other establishments said glass-related violence was rare but safer glasses would be welcome because so many break and shatter even in normal use.
Home Office designers worked with the Britain’s Design Council to come up with the prototypes.
Design Council chief David Kester said the new glasses will be used on a trial basis by a major pub chain that he did not name.
“We are launching the redesign of a British classic, the pint glass,” he said. “We tried to find ways to make life better while saving money. We’re a creative nation.”
Plastic glasses were not an option because experience shows that drinkers are not happy with them, said Matt Cotterill, the creative director at Design Bridge, part of the design squad.
“Glass feels good in the hand, it feels cold,” he said. “Plastic is warm.”
Roger Protz, author of the Campaign for Real Ale Good Beer Guide, agreed that plastic glasses are an insult to beer drinkers everywhere. But he said he has never seen pint glasses used in a malicious way.
“I must frequent the wrong pubs,” he said.
Besides being shatterproof, the design with two thin layers of glass — called a Twin Wall — could have a hidden benefit for drinkers everywhere.
“The glass could keep the beer colder for longer,” Cotterill said.

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From the story at Missoulian.com by Jaime Kelly (Click the link for photos)

The idea began brewing in Bjorn Nabozney’s head the minute he heard of the horrendous tragedy in Haiti.
Immediately, he and his staff at Big Sky Brewing Co. began looking for a way – any way at all – to help relieve some of the human suffering wrought by last month’s devastating earthquake.
“With just a little bit of effort, we know we can make a big difference,” said the brewing company’s co-founder, as he and others packed and taped boxes in the main brewing warehouse on Monday.
That “little bit of effort” has had huge results. On Thursday, Big Sky Brewing will ship nearly $100,000 worth of medical equipment to a doctors’ group performing surgery on critically injured Haitians.
Every bit of it – from bandages to scalpels to bone-setting metal rods – comes via Missoula’s medical community. Both hospitals, all three surgery centers and private practice physicians donated it all.
The brewery had taken up similar efforts after Hurricane Katrina and the tsunami in Indonesia, and so had a ready network in the medical community and know-how about the process of getting relief to victims.
Alex Omura, a Missoula anesthesiologist, was Nabozney’s go-to doctor in the medical community. So Omura started knocking on doors and dialing numbers.
Three days later, the doctors, St. Patrick Hospital and Community Medical Center had delivered boxes upon boxes of medical supplies. The metal rods alone are $1,000 apiece – and on Monday Nabozney counted around 40 of them.
“I was surprised,” said Omura, “we could gather so much with only three days’ notice. … But there has been no hesitation from anybody I called.”
Nabozney never considered asking for money – though he’s not against the idea. He simply figured that medical supplies, especially for the thousands upon thousands of injured victims, represented the most critical need.
Omura did the bulk of the work, said Nabozney.
“He came through for us in a big way,” he said.
After they’re boxed, the supplies will be sent via FedEx to Haiti – completely free of charge, courtesy of the shipping giant.
Reporter Jamie Kelly can be reached at 523-5254 or at jkelly@missoulian.com.

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