A must-read: "The Perils of Globeerization," from Foreign Policy in Focus.

Nothing I might undertake to write today is capable of improving on this fascinating article from the Foreign Policy in Focus website:

The Perils of Globeerization, by Chris O'Brien (October 24, 2006).

The world's cup runneth over with living beer traditions. But this vast repository of cultural brewing capital is under attack by global corporations. The top five brewing companies, all of which are American- or European-owned, control 41% of the world market. Perversely, economists and politicians calculate the conquest by industrial breweries as economic growth while the value of small-scale traditional brewing goes uncounted. Much will be lost if this global “beerodiversity” is lost to the forces of corporate-led homogenization.

Special thanks to my friend Jerry Ramsey for pointing the way to this article. Cheers!