Brew

YO, POT HEADS, this bud's for you! That's right, I'm talking about marijuana beer. Stoner suds. Ganja brew. Miller Really High Life. It's commercially unavailable, obviously, due to federal drug and alcohol laws. But now that several states have OK'd the sale and use of marijuana for medical purposes, it's cropping up in private circles. There have been reports of California dispensaries selling behind-the-counter homemade pot beer at 20 bucks a bottle. And there's a growing discussion about home-brew recipes online.

There's a fine new Italian bean brewing in the local espresso scene now that Massimo Taurisano has traded Northern Italy's Hausbrandt for the slightly darker Miscela d'Oro from Sicily at his six Academia del Caffes and his 400 wholesale clients. The recent roaster change was due to the exchange rate and Miscela's desire for a competitive East Coast presence. The result: a half-pound $10 can, a great alternative to pricier competitors. I've come to love Miscela's more robust and chocolatey brew - first served locally at Osteria.

If most normal humans are made up of nearly 90 percent water, I am at the very least 80 percent coffee. Not only do I drink it from morning to night, loving the hot black spark perking through my body and mind, I've come to savor its myriad roasty flavors, the manual craft of brewing gear, and especially its culture of rituals - which can be oh-so-hard to change. Like most discerning Philadelphians, my ritual for more than a decade has been a cup of La Colombe, the city's "house brew," judging by the number of restaurants and cafes that have a pot of Corsica or shot of Nizza at the ready.

In a world where people sue McDonald's for serving coffee too hot, a Philadelphia woman has sued a Dunkin' Donuts for serving coffee she says was too sweet - so sweet it sent her into a diabetic coma. Danielle Jordan, 47, of Oxford Avenue near Langdon Street in Crescentville, filed a personal injury lawsuit against the Dunkin' Donuts on Frankford Avenue near Bridge Street and Northeast Donut Shops Management Corp. Jordan is seeking unspecified damages after she claims she ordered coffee with artificial sweetener on June 15, 2009, but the server put sugar into the brew, according to the suit, which was first reported this morning by the Courthouse News Service.

Next time you're sitting at the bar, spacing out as you peel the label off your bottle, consider the breadth of info at your fingertips. Your average beer label is full of facts, both trivial and pertinent. Check out the newest bottle on local shelves, from Yards. Yards Brewing Company is owned by Tom Kehoe and John Bovit, a couple of college buddies who have a thing for British-style ales. The name means nothing - it just sounds kind of English. They sold their first keg on April 18, 1995, and started bottling last month.

A controversial malt liquor was ordered off store shelves by the state police yesterday because the name of the high-alcohol brew violates state law, a state police spokesman said. Colt .45 PowerMaster, manufactured by financially troubled G. Heileman Brewing Co. Inc., of La Crosse, Wis., and distributed by Clement & Muller Inc., of Northeast Philadelphia, was targeted for removal because the name, PowerMaster, connoted the strength of the beverage. That's a violation of the state liquor code, said Lt. John McGeehan, head of the area's state police liquor-control enforcement unit.

Because seeing is believing, it would be difficult to find a how-to topic that didn't lend itself to the video format. Producers, recognizing the VCR's value as a teaching tool, have responded with instructional tapes covering the gamut of human activity. They teach skills as basic as dancing, and as complex as tapestry weaving. Video how-tos are so ubiquitous that it seems no topic is too arcane. As evidence of video's ability to plumb the obscure, consider two recent releases - one explains napkin-folding and the other demystifies home brewing.

At Tau Kappa Epsilon on the Penn State campus in State College, the brothers are probably toasting the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, thanks to a recent decision that got the fraternity off the hook on a a 1986 charge of serving liquor to minors. Unfortunately, the court's 5-2 decision is having a negative impact well beyond Happy Valley. The case involved drinking by minors at a party attended by undercover officers. The state high court overturned the convictions, ruling that chemical analysis, rather than testimony from arresting officers, is necessary to make the rap stick.

An 80-year-old Bridesburg woman discovered yesterday that her late husband had left an unsuspected legacy in their basement: chemicals brought home from his job at the nearby Rohm and Haas plant. Police said that Jean Dimperzio, of Stiles Street near Duncan, called authorities about 8 a.m. yesterday to report a strange odor emanating from her house. When police and Fire Department officials arrived, they discovered in the basement a witches' brew of old chemicals that been stewing since the death several years ago of Dimperzio's husband, who worked for the Rohm and Haas facility in Bridesburg, police said.

With permission granted from our better halves, the only thing cooler than a simple "guys' night out" is a "guys' night" splashed in craft beer. The hardest part in this brew-obsessed region, where the ale flows from South Street to South Jersey in stupefying variety - from hipster gastropubs to Belgian mussel bars, a German brat hall, and even a brunch spot awash in growler drafts - is simply choosing where to begin. Consider it scouting for "girls' night out," too. Great beer is a gift with equal-opportunity appeal.

WITH Philly Beer Week just five weeks away, word is beginning to spill about many of the new brands that the locals will be showing off for the festivities. Consider this your early checklist. *  Manneken-Penn , Dubbel, 7.5 percent alcohol by volume. For the third year, Philly Beer Week sent a local brewer to Belgium to collaborate on a one-off, and for the third year he came back with something different. This year it was Chris Wilson, of Weyerbacher, and Tom Peters, of Monk's Cafe, traveling to Brasserie de la Senne to produce what is being described as a "Belgo-American Dubbel.

No doubt the 2014 race for Pennsylvania governor will contain plenty of debate about jobs, jobs, and jobs. That's no surprise, since the economy ranks at the top of the list of issues state voters tell pollsters they care about most. And yet the emotional issue of abortion, always lurking in politics but thrust into renewed prominence recently, may wind up haunting Gov. Corbett's reelection campaign. Consider the trial of physician Kermit Gosnell, accused of four counts of first-degree murder for allegedly killing babies born alive after late-term abortions at his Women's Medical Society clinic in West Philadelphia.

FROM TALKING lizards to farting horses to mud-wrestling blondes, Super Bowl beer commercials have traditionally stooped to the lowest common denominator to pump up existing brands. For years, we could depend on delightfully dopey punch lines to liven dull games. Suddenly, though, Anheuser Busch Inbev is taking the high road - at least when it comes to unveiling new products. Last year, it was Bud Light Platinum that got the big send-off with a classy techno ad extolling the brand's "top shelf taste.

WHO SAYS American ingenuity is dead? While it's true we still don't have jet packs and flying cars, we do have the Bierstick, a giant plastic syringe that can pump 24 ounces of beer into your mouth in less than two seconds. That's two full cans of suds down the gullet in less time than it takes to flush a toilet. And get this: It's made with "high-quality FDA-approved materials," so you know it's gotta be safe. Ah yes, the spirit of invention lives, especially when it comes to beer.

YOU STARTED WITH the gateway brews - lager and pale ale. They gave you a taste for hops, so you moved up to the stronger stuff: India pale ale and porter. Now look at yourself - you're into double and triple IPAs, imperial stouts. Simple, noble hops like Hallertau and Saaz are no longer good enough. Word is you've been dry-hopping uncut El Dorado. What's next? Mainlining New Zealand Motueka? I pity you, you poor, desperate hophead. Never satisfied, always reaching for the next, hoppy thrill.

With a $60 million endowment on the line, a fight is brewing over the NCAA's plans for abuse prevention in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky child-sex scandal. College sports' governing body hopes to use the money - funded by fines assessed against Pennsylvania State University - to tackle the problem nationwide. Meanwhile, Pennsylvania lawmakers argue the state's money should be spent entirely within its borders. But amid the increasing tension, child advocates worry that the territorial debate over the money has overshadowed more critical questions of how the money could best be used.

CAIRO - Egypt's top prosecutor retracted his resignation on Thursday, a decision that could cause a new uproar in the country after he was accused of pressuring a judge not to release protesters opposed to the Islamist president. The prosecutor, Talaat Abdullah, who was appointed by President Mohammed Morsi, told reporters he resigned on Monday "under pressure" and amid "abnormal circumstances" with prosecutors holding a sit-in in front of his office. The protesting prosecutors accused Abdullah of pressuring a judge not to release 130 anti-Morsi protesters taken into custody this month.

DAWSONVILLE, Ga. - Moonshine distillers are making their first batches of legal liquor in this tiny Georgia town's city hall, not far from the mountains and the maroon, orange, and gold canopy of trees that once hid bootleggers from the law. A handful of moonshine distilleries are scattered around the South, but observers say this is the first time they've ever seen one in a city hall. The distilleries are part of a trend spurred by increased interest in the United States for locally made specialty spirits and beer brewed in homes and microbreweries.

THE QUESTION arises: Are you really going to make beer in a bathtub at the Bathtub Beer Fest? Philly Beer Week has been promising an authentic bathtub brew at next Thursday's festival at the National Constitution Center, as a tribute to its outstanding exhibit, "American Spirits: The Rise & Fall of Prohibition. " The idea is to wheel some old-fashioned cast-iron bathtubs into the center and bubble up a batch of authentic, Prohibition-era suds. Speaking as Beer Week's executive director, I can assure you this idea was the product of an ample infusion of liquid inspiration.

SATURDAY IS Learn How to Homebrew Day, and I'm here to tell anyone who's tempted: Forget about it. It takes hours to make and weeks till it's ready to drink. It's messy. Something often goes wrong. Sometimes it doesn't taste so great. And it's not 1980 anymore. Back then there were, like, two beers in America, and one of them was Schlitz . Today, who needs home-brew? There are about 10,000 beers - professionally made and ready to drink - that you can enjoy through the modern convenience known as the debit card.