David J. Hanson, Ph.D., Professor Emeritus of Sociology of the State University of New York at Potsdam, has been researching alcohol and drinking for over 40 years. He’s also the host of the Alcohol Problems & Solutions website, which is quite remarkable for both it’s scope and size.

Hanson’s goal with the site “is to provide information to stimulate thought and discussion about alcohol issues.” The sheer number of topics tackled is nothing short of amazing, including Alcohol Information, Alcohol Issues, Drinking & Driving, Alcohol & Youth, and Alcohol & Health divided into at least twenty-six sub-categories. I have literally lost hours at a stretch just wandering around and reading what’s there. He has no agenda to push and a result his view is unlike any other around, where neo-prohibitionist and cheerleading websites alike tend to only nakedly take one side. You never feel that way with Hanson’s writing, and as a result he’s much easier to take at face value, even on the occasions when I don’t agree with him.

He’s continually updating the news section to follow what’s being discussed about alcohol policy and politics. And he never shies aware from the controversies that are so much a part of this debate. In addition, there are also resource pages that include collections of articles, readings and other references on Alcohol Advertising, Alcohol in the Diet, Anti-Alcohol Industry, Binge Drinking, Brain & Alcohol, Breast Cancer and Alcohol, Breathalyzer Accuracy, Cancer and Alcohol, Diabetes and Alcohol, Drunken Driving, Deceptive Alcohol “Facts,” Heart Disease, Legal Issues, Longevity and Alcohol, Social Norms Marketing, Underage Drinking, Women’s Health & Alcohol, and Zero Tolerance. Fascinating stuff.

This is my third pick for “Website of the Month,” which I started featuring on the right sidebar two months ago, because I get so many link requests, and because I have so many in my blogroll, I wanted to highlight the best ones I come across.

On the off chance that there’s someone in the universe who hasn’t discovered the wonderfully useful Beer Mapping Project, I’m picking it as my Website of the Month for March. And it’s not just because I’m an honorary Captain in the BMP Army (I keep wondering when my sword will arrive) nor is because the General, Jonathan Surratt, and his lovely wife Robin, are two of the nicest people I’ve met (yes, I’m coming to Great Taste of the Midwest … soon).

It’s really because Jonathan has taken what’s essentially a simple idea and done just a terrific job of making it incredibly useful. The Beer Mapping Project has taken Google’s offer of allowing free not-for-profit use of their Mapping API and created maps to beer destinations. I remember when he was just getting started and little by little new cities were being added, seemingly daily. Today there are maps in eleven countries around the world, all fifty U.S. states and dozens of cities, including our own San Francisco map. Each map includes breweries, brewpubs, beer bars, beer stores and homebrew shops. There are also reviews, a forum, a way to create your own beer trips, and much, much more. The Beer Mapping Project is without a doubt one of the killer apps of the online beer community.

This is my second pick for “Website of the Month,” which I started featuring on the right sidebar last month, because I get so many link requests, and because I have so many in my blogroll, I wanted to highlight the best ones I come across.

If you live in the Bay Area or are planning to be one of the nearly 16 millions travelers who visit us each year, then have I got a useful website for you. Beer By BART began less than a year ago, created by two San Francisco natives, Steve Shapiro and Gail Ann Williams. The site is a labor of love for the pair, who I was fortunate enough to meet at the Bistro’s Double IPA Festival yesterday.

Since mass-transit is all but non-existent where I live (and where the annoyingly self-centered NIMBY ethos keeps anything from improving), I hadn’t run across this before. But in many parts of the Bay Area, BART is a convenient and relatively inexpensive alternative to driving. In these days of draconian laws brought on by overzealous neo-prohibitionists, this a very valuable resource. So far, there are thirty places mapped out with all the information you need to get from a BART station to your destination, including how long your walk will be from BART. For each it’s roughly one-quarter mile. If you see four shoes on a listing, you know it’s about a mile to the brewpub or bar. The list on the main page is divided by station, and the list is starting to include what bus to take to get you to a slightly more remote, but worthwhile place. Nice job!

This is my first pick for “Website of the Month,” which I’ll begin featuring on the right sidebar. I get so many link requests and have so many in my blogroll, that I want to highlight the best ones I come across.