“Intellectual Brew,” the invite proclaimed, but the subtext was more scientific than intellectual. People were coming to speak at this event from places like Harvard, and the topic was “beer and health.”If this sounded like an oxymoron, I was assured it wasn’t. In fact, based on a little pre-reporting, I found out that people were apparently coming to say: Beer is good for you!“Eat right, exercise and drink a beer a day may be the way to keep the doctor away,” an NBWA press release exclaimed.Red wine, I knew about. But beer?Yes, beer. The thesis was that beer was slowly bubbling to the top as a beverage that not only lifts spirits but coincidentally delivers statistically relevant protection against heart attack, stroke, hypertension, diabetes, and dementia. As someone facing long months of beer research, the dementia angle particularly interested me.And perchance anyone might worry that the event would be one of those droning recitations of statistically significant data, the NBWA, no slouch in the PR department, had organized a fun component as an inducement.
