Today, SFist would like to hoist a few for a man who has brought probably more joy and merriment to anyone over the past hundred years. In fact, one could argue that he's probably had more of an impact on people's lives over the past century or so than anyone. The man? Master Brewer Joseph Owades, inventor of Lite beer and Microbrews, the Thomas Edison of beers. Owades, a Bay Area resident who lived in Sonoma, died yesterday at 86.
Okay, one could argue that he didn't invent the computer or some new fangled gadget that changed the world. And he didn't come up with the cure for AIDS or polio or acid reflux disease. But just think how many people he's brought joy, merriment, and stress relief to. Not to mention all the hangovers. Millions (billions?) of people have drunk products that he helped create. And talk about impact-- think of all these people who'd have gotten better grades in school or had better guts. Without him, would sports be the same? Would guys have anything to do? Would the Toronado even exist? Would anyone have gotten laid in college? We think not.
Owades got a Doctorate in biochemistry and wrote his thesis on cholesterol. Unable to get a job in the biochemistry field, he got a job in fermentation science at Fleischmann's Yeast. His experience with Fleischmann lead to a job at Rheingold Breweries were he developed "a process to remove the starch from beer, making it lower in carbohydrates and calories and, thus, cholesterol." Et viola, lite beer.
From there, he moved onto jobs with both Miller and Budweiser helping them develop beer. In 1982, he and his wife moved to Russian Hill and bought a home in Sonoma, and it was here that he helped create the formulas for various microbreweries, including Sam Adams and Pete's Wicked Ale. Years later, he would also lend his expertise to wine makers but still pledged his allegiance to beer drinkers in the great beer vs. wine debate. In an interview with the Chron in 1992, he said "the making of wine does not require the skills of a biochemist."
Take that wine snobs!
So here's to Joseph Owades. To paraphrase the world's most famous beer drinker, Homer Simpson: "Here's to Joseph Owades, the cause of, and solution to all of life's problems!"
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All I can say in this darkest hour is "Rest In Yeast, you wonderful man." And now I will mourn his passing in the manner most befitting: glurg, glurg, glurg, glurg, glurg...and repeat.
Slightly OT, but since you mentioned it, I have a cure for Acid Reflux disease.
Like many diseases, you don't need a pharmaceutical product or surgery, at least in the early stages. What you need is far more difficult: change in what you put in your poor stomach.
I was having heartburn, every night, all night long, for months, maybe 3 or 4 months. Coffee, tomato based foods like spaghetti, and cold cuts seemed to trigger it the most. Excess acid.
I saw something on TV that said drink a little vinegar, paradoxically *add* to the acid. That worked as a temporary fix.
But the real "cure" has been: vanilla soy milk. I drink a glass or two every day, usually morning and before bed. Have not had heartburn for over a year now, except a few times when I had tomato based foods all day, and forgot to drink some soy milk.
Little purple pill? Big purple lie.