Christine Baker, The Patriot-News"It's like a science experiment in there," midstate resident Adam Cole said of his refrigerator. "It's full of cultures and yeast samples."

While many college students can joke about being beer experts, Adam Cole is going to college to study the science of making beer.

“It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed doing,” said Cole, 28, a Harrisburg University of Science and Technology student. “I like trying to make a good, pure product that I enjoy and then trying to make a better one.”

Cole, a Columbia County native, is often seen out on the back porch of his Swatara Twp. home tinkering with his home-brewing equipment.

But where most amateur brewers would buy ready-made mixes in pre-packaged containers, Cole makes his from scratch, starting with specially selected yeast and bacteria.

His refrigerator is a monument to his passion.

“It’s like a science experiment in there,” Cole said. “It’s full of cultures and yeast samples.”

Cole started out on a much different path, as a staff sergeant in the Air Force from 2003 to 2007, working in bomb disposal, including a tour in Iraq.

“A lot of people think it’s about cutting the right wire, that’s wrong,” Cole said. “You use the robot to go in and blow up the bomb.”

In 2009, he was in the cardiovascular program at Harrisburg Area Community College.

But things changed when he began his clinical internship at a hospital.

“It didn’t take long to realize that I enjoyed working with yeast and bacteria more than I did working with sick people,” Cole said. “It just wasn’t for me.”

He entered the nutrition science program at Harrisburg University and started taking biotechnology classes, including food safety and quality assurance work.

The program enabled him to combine his hobby of beer brewing with his love of science and land an internship with the Appalachian Brewing Company in Harrisburg last year, growing and modifying yeast.

“He actually sold us on him,” said Mike Hastings, director of quality assurance at Appalachian. “He came to us and said ‘This is what I can do for you.’”

Since his internship ended, Cole has been hired part-time by the brewery.

Christine Baker, The Patriot-News"It's like a science experiment in there," midstate resident Adam Cole said of his refrigerator. "It's full of cultures and yeast samples."

While many college students can joke about being beer experts, Adam Cole is going to college to study the science of making beer.

“It’s just something I’ve always enjoyed doing,” said Cole, 28, a Harrisburg University of Science and Technology student. “I like trying to make a good, pure product that I enjoy and then trying to make a better one.”

Cole, a Columbia County native, is often seen out on the back porch of his Swatara Twp. home tinkering with his home-brewing equipment.

But where most amateur brewers would buy ready-made mixes in pre-packaged containers, Cole makes his from scratch, starting with specially selected yeast and bacteria.

His refrigerator is a monument to his passion.

“It’s like a science experiment in there,” Cole said. “It’s full of cultures and yeast samples.”

Cole started out on a much different path, as a staff sergeant in the Air Force from 2003 to 2007, working in bomb disposal, including a tour in Iraq.

“A lot of people think it’s about cutting the right wire, that’s wrong,” Cole said. “You use the robot to go in and blow up the bomb.”

In 2009, he was in the cardiovascular program at Harrisburg Area Community College.

But things changed when he began his clinical internship at a hospital.

“It didn’t take long to realize that I enjoyed working with yeast and bacteria more than I did working with sick people,” Cole said. “It just wasn’t for me.”

He entered the nutrition science program at Harrisburg University and started taking biotechnology classes, including food safety and quality assurance work.

The program enabled him to combine his hobby of beer brewing with his love of science and land an internship with the Appalachian Brewing Company in Harrisburg last year, growing and modifying yeast.

“He actually sold us on him,” said Mike Hastings, director of quality assurance at Appalachian. “He came to us and said ‘This is what I can do for you.’”

Since his internship ended, Cole has been hired part-time by the brewery.

This article is the fifth (see the first, second, third and fourth articles here) in a miniseries of six articles that will be posted over six days about civilization, fungus, and alcohol.

They found themselves, like any first creatures, lost. Without means, they were unable to survive by anything other than what was in the immediate surroundings. They ate what grew. They planted nothing. They never left home. There were many dire moments, until they found the animals. The first time would have been accidental. A young one caught an animal and rode it out somewhere, the way a storybook character might ride a boat down the river and out to sea.

With time though, they learned more tricks. They waited where the animals came to feed. They found them where they slept. Soon they were riding them all the time, clinging to their dark bodies as they darted here and there into the unknown. Good luck took them to more food. Bad luck killed them. Time, birth and death made good luck more common.

Over years, they reined their new beasts in until, as is the case today, the steeds go out and gather food and bring it back. The fungi grow and wait. They have become fat kings whose success can be measured by the number of their beasts. And they are not few. These protagonists, each one a fungal herders, have evolved multiple times. They are exotic, and yet in some contexts, far closer to home than you might believe.

1-The Tree Eaters We can start with the tree eaters. The problem facing tree-eating fungi, like any gatherers, is not the amount of food. The problem is finding the food, being where it is at the right moment. This problem is made worse by the absence of legs. A fungus can grow toward food, of course, or toss its spores up into the wind. But one can grow only so fast and the wind is fickle and mean-spirited. The trick, if you want to know, is to find an animal that will carry you to the next dead thing. It needs to be quick and it is best if it is going where you would like to go. As a fungus, you want to arrive before the godforsaken bacteria can begin to divide. Bacteria can turn a good piece of wood terrible faster than you would imagine, at least from the perspective of fungus.

The ambrosia fungi have evolved the ability to get beetles carry them from one piece of dead wood to another. Many different fungi ride many different beetles. Outside your house there is a veritable mid-air highway of fungal horseman heading out to new lands. But the ambrosia fungi have bent the beetles to their needs more than have other fungi. The beetles, in turn, cautious of their riders demanding riders, have evolved saddle-like pouches in which to carry the fungus and feed them during the ride. And once the beetles have reached their destination, they put the fungus in a safe place (with few other fungi and bacteria to compete with) and get to work reproducing, in order to make more beetles, in order to carry the demanding fungus to even more dead trees. By riding beetles, ambrosia fungi have colonized most of the world, in some cases traveling from one continent by taking advantage of the beetles who, in turn, take advantage of us. We, accidentally, move these beetles around in dead wood and in doing so extend their fungus s domain¹.

These fungi, these beetle tamers, make use of no fewer than five different lineages of beetles, each of which has evolved special attributes to assure the fungi s success.

Coptodryas pubifer gallery Borneo

[Image 1. The ambrosia fungus s beetles (Coptodryas pubifer) caring for them in the fungal nest. Photo by Jiri Hulcr.]

2-The Leaf-Eaters Leaf-eating fungi face a problem different from those who eat dead trees. Leaf-feeding fungi have food everywhere, but growing the long distances necessary to colonize it is costly, especially in dry lands. It requires miles of dangerous ground to be crossed. Life would be so much easier, if the leaves were gathered, brought to a single place. Fungi love a leaf pile. In New England, fungi are rewarded each fall by busy parents and children who gather leaves. Elsewhere though, these same clans of fungi have tamed termites.

Ghana termites fungus

[Image 2. The fungi that tamed termites. Photo by Piotr Naskrecki.]

Across Africa, fungi live in giant nests built for them by termites. They have for at least twenty million years. The termites travel hundreds of meters and sometimes kilometers to bring the fungi leaves, which they also bite into small, easy to digest pieces deposited in the form of fecal pellets on the fungus². If the fungi who tend beetles are like nomads with their goats, the fungi who farm termites are more like Midwestern dairy farmers, who send their cows out to pasture and then milk them at the barn. The termites don t produce milk, but they do produce pre-digested leaves, which to the fungus are, if not visually appealing (the fungi do not have eyes), wonderful. These fungi have become enormously successful and termites build palatial homes for them all over Africa³.

fly9o7

[Image 3: Leaf-eating fungi and the nest termites have built for them, photo from... http://www.williamyuezhang.com/2011/11/termites.html].

3-The Green Eaters More successful even than the beetle riders or the dead leaf eaters are the eaters of living leaves. Instead of farming termites, these fungi farm ants. These fungi began to take advantage of ants more than forty million years ago. Once, these fungi relied on insect parts and other dead animals gathered by their ants. Some still do. But for others, their demands became greater and more elaborate. For these latter fungi, the ants now gather, on their behalf, bits of flowers and leaves. It is a dangerous job, but, to the fungus, the ants are expendable. The leaves are brought back with care and then fed to the fungus. The ants also produce compounds that help to kill other pathogenic fungi around the fungus (and may even farm antibiotic producing bacteria that help in this same job). The fungus, in other words, makes the ants do weeding⁴. This fungus has spread throughout the Americas. On the backs of ants, it has been very successful. In some cases, the nests of this fungus can include millions of ants, all working on the fungus s behalf. Many different species of ants are now farmed by the descendents of the first fungus to be farmed by ants, each with its own small (or large) farm. The ants like many domesticated beasts, have become totally dependent on their fungi and cannot live without them. In order to colonize new habitats, the fungi rides the ants to new places, in a specialized pocket, in their tiny, mouths.

Atta3a

[Image 4. The nest of the leaf-fungus in which ants (Atta cephalotes) tend to its needs. Photo by Alex Wild.]

4-Egg Fungi In an early piece in this series, I have already described the fungi that mimic termite eggs. These fungi have convinced termites to care for them and bring them to food. These fungi offer little in return, but succeed because their termites seem to have never really figured things out. These fungi have not yet taken over their termites, not totally, and yet they offer a measure of just how simply animals can be tricked. In the end, this is a key piece of the story of fungi and animals. In order to farm animals, fungi must offer them rewards, whether real or perceived (It is better, in the case of the fungi, if they are only perceived.). Rewards keep the animals doing the long hours of work their fungi require.

5-The Fungi that Tamed Humans One clan of fungi has evolved the ability to control humans. Once these fungi were relatively uncommon. They floated in the air and landed where they could, to eat what they might. But then at least some of them figured out the weakness of humans, alcohol. Humans would work in order to get alcohol. In this way, the humans were better for the fungus than were the beetles, termites or ants. The humans carried fungus from place to place. They had ceremonies in which they celebrated their fungus. They poured libation to the fungus. They also fed them, endlessly, no matter the cost. The termites gathered dead leaves. The ants gathered live leaves. But it was only the humans who went out and planted fields just to make food to feed their fungus (While many animals farm, we appear to be the only species to farm plants) whereas the fungi rewarded beetles, termites and ants with valuable food (essentially, part of their body) the humans asked for nothing. All they claimed was waste, an alcohol. The humans asked for even less than the termites tricked by the pretend termite eggs. All the humans ever wanted was what the fungus would never ever need. These humans are, of course, you and me and this fungus is our yeast⁶.

We tend to view the evolutionary stories of animals and fungi from the perspective of the animals. We are animals. We relate to the animals. But the animals have been the ones more constrained by the origins of agriculture than have been the fungi. As Uhlrich Mueller and colleagues put it in a recent review of agriculture in insects,

Interestingly, there are no known cases of reversal from agricultural to nonagricultural life in any of the nine agricultural insect lineages , suggesting that the transition to [farming fungus] is a drastic and possibly irreversible change that greatly constrains subsequent evolution.

One might extend this statement to humans. No major societies seem to have abandoned the farming of yeast. But the fungi have, in many cases, abandoned their animals. They use, but do not always require the species of animals they interact with. Does this suggest the animals have been farmed to a greater extent than the fungi? Maybe. Maybe not. In the stories of animals and fungi, it is never very clear who is winning or who is farming who. This is the nature of evolutionary partnerships between species. With very few exceptions, there are no true partnerships, there are just relationships in which the best interests of species coincide more or coincide less. When both species benefit, it is a mutualism. When one benefits but the other bears no cost, it is a commensalism. When one benefits and the other loses, it is parasitism. If humans and yeast both benefit from the production of beer, wine, and the like, they will both go on, the yeast farming the humans and, from the human perspective, the humans farming the yeast. But it is in the best interest of the humans to cheat the yeast, just as it has long been in the best interest of the fungi to cheat the humans.

In the first article in this series, I considered the possibility that human agriculture began because we needed crops in order to brew beer, which is to say, in order to feed our yeast. Maybe it was reasonable to begin farming in order to feed our yeast, because making beer helped us to survive. But don t think for a second that the yeast wasn t trying to cheat us the whole time. It didn t do it consciously of course. Yeast have no brain, but yeast evolve quickly, perhaps as quickly as human culture can change and so the non-exclusive possibility is that, if we did begin to farm in the first place, in part to make beer, that we did it because the yeast tricked us into doing so, taking advantage of our the weakness of our minds to alcohol. Termites are unable to tell a ball of fungus from their own children. We are unable to tell what is good for us apart from what feels good to us. Drinking beer, for example, is good for the fungus, yeast, many beers after the societal good is gone. For now, the yeast seems to have gotten more out of society than we have gathered from it and so in the final chapter of this series, I will consider the story of humanity from the perspective of the more successful species, the yeast.

Continue reading (tomorrow)

Table of evolutionary contents: Here you can skip ahead or backward to the other chapters in the story of the other species in our daily lives, whether they bethe cow, the chicken, the hamster, bacteria (on Lady Gaga, on feet, in bathrooms,as influenced by antimicrobial wipes, as probiotics, in the appendix), pigeons and urban gardens, house sparrows (to be published next week, stay tuned), predators,diseases, dust mites, basement dwellers, lice, field mice, viruses, yeast, the fungus that produces penicillin, bedbugs, houseflies, or something more.

Or for the big picture of how Rob thinks these stories come together to make us who and who we are, check out The Wild Life of Our Bodies. Rob Dunn is a writer and evolutionary biologist in the Department of Biology at North Carolina State University. Find him on twitter at robrdunn. Find him in person somewhere in Europe with his family while they are all on sabbatical.

Scientific Endnotes

1-Check out a great story and slideshow of/about these beetles with more photos by Jiri Hulcr.

2-One is tempted to see this as a sort of protest against the fungus, but it is not. The feces is rich in the nutrients the fungus needs.

3 More than three hundred species of termites of the Macrotermitinae are farmed by fungi of the genus Termitomyces. Also, here I want to take a moment to apologize. In contrast to what I have said elsewhere, termite biologists are likeable, interesting people. I swear. I really mean it. I do. I hope I m not protesting too much.

4-Which is incomplete. The ants weed pathogens of the fungi, but do not tend to weed out different cultivars of fungi, such that in a given nest two or more fungal species (or at least cultivars ) might be fighting for the rights to the ants.

5-Yeasts, although we don t tend to think of them as such, are single-celled fungi. They are the rot in your beer and wine, but also in your bread and many other foods.

6-Interestingly, one of the differences between agriculture between fungi and insects and that between our crops and us is that we do not tend to sequester our crops in our cities away from their competition. This is true for our crops like wheat, but, interesting, it is not true of our fungus. We do sequester yeast. With the exception of minor uses, like some homemade breads, yeast is nearly always kept in doors and attempts are made, even within that environment, to exclude other species. We are even more like the ants, beetles and termites than we sometimes seem.

Follow Scientific American on Twitter @SciAm and @SciamBlogs. Visit ScientificAmerican.com for the latest in science, health and technology news.
© 2012 ScientificAmerican.com. All rights reserved.

BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO | Co-founders Dan Burke and Greg Martin in the tasting room of the Long Ireland brewery with the latest 'bomber' a 22.5 ounce India Pale Ale (10.5 % alcohol).

Long Ireland Brewing Company has signed a distribution contract this week with Clare Rose, the largest beer distributor in Suffolk and Nassau counties, The Suffolk Times has learned.

Long Ireland will still brew its own beers in its Riverhead headquarters, but will hand over distribution and marketing responsibilities to Clare Rose.

Before the agreement, Long Ireland, whose trademark brew is the Celtic Ale, used a single driver to transport its beer to restaurants and stores. Now that driver will join the brewery as a full-time assistant, allowing the company to focus on making beer.

The brewery is currently stocking up the Clare Rose warehouses, which will begin distribution on March 1. Clare Rose will also create signs and buy glassware and beer tap handles to market the brand.

“Watching these guys evolve in their brewery…we are very excited about this,” said Clare Rose craft beer representative Ryan Niebuhr. “We’re partnering with great local people to get great local beer.”

“Their backyard is shored up for them,” Mr. Niebuhr said, adding that Blue Point Brewing Company, based in Patchogue, became the largest craft brewery on Long Island after teaming up with Clare Rose. Long Ireland is the third Long Island craft beer the company distributes, he said.

Long Ireland began as a hobby for co-owners Greg Martin and Dan Burke, both of Shoreham. The two worked together at Marran Oil in Holtsville, where they discovered they both shared a love for home brewing.

They started by brewing their first craft beer, Celtic Ale, after work. After selling their first kegs out of a Connecticut brewery in 2009, about 250 bars and restaurants currently stock the company’s Riverhead-brewed beer, including a new Double India Pale Ale.

With the new contract, their reach will only become larger. Clare Rose will handle the brewery’s Long Island distribution, and said they will use relationships within the industry to get Long Ireland beers into more bars, restaurants, and stores than ever before.

Still, Mr. Martin hasn’t had time to reflect on Long Ireland’s success. He’s too busy making beer, he said.

“It’s bizarre at moments,” Mr. Martin said. “We don’t take a lot of time to sit back and see the gravity of things. We keep our head down and we keep working.”

psquire@timesreview.com

BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO | Co-founders Dan Burke and Greg Martin in the tasting room of the Long Ireland brewery with the latest 'bomber' a 22.5 ounce India Pale Ale (10.5 % alcohol).

Long Ireland Brewing Company has signed a distribution contract this week with Clare Rose, the largest beer distributor in Suffolk and Nassau counties, The Suffolk Times has learned.

Long Ireland will still brew its own beers in its Riverhead headquarters, but will hand over distribution and marketing responsibilities to Clare Rose.

Before the agreement, Long Ireland, whose trademark brew is the Celtic Ale, used a single driver to transport its beer to restaurants and stores. Now that driver will join the brewery as a full-time assistant, allowing the company to focus on making beer.

The brewery is currently stocking up the Clare Rose warehouses, which will begin distribution on March 1. Clare Rose will also create signs and buy glassware and beer tap handles to market the brand.

“Watching these guys evolve in their brewery…we are very excited about this,” said Clare Rose craft beer representative Ryan Niebuhr. “We’re partnering with great local people to get great local beer.”

“Their backyard is shored up for them,” Mr. Niebuhr said, adding that Blue Point Brewing Company, based in Patchogue, became the largest craft brewery on Long Island after teaming up with Clare Rose. Long Ireland is the third Long Island craft beer the company distributes, he said.

Long Ireland began as a hobby for co-owners Greg Martin and Dan Burke, both of Shoreham. The two worked together at Marran Oil in Holtsville, where they discovered they both shared a love for home brewing.

They started by brewing their first craft beer, Celtic Ale, after work. After selling their first kegs out of a Connecticut brewery in 2009, about 250 bars and restaurants currently stock the company’s Riverhead-brewed beer, including a new Double India Pale Ale.

With the new contract, their reach will only become larger. Clare Rose will handle the brewery’s Long Island distribution, and said they will use relationships within the industry to get Long Ireland beers into more bars, restaurants, and stores than ever before.

Still, Mr. Martin hasn’t had time to reflect on Long Ireland’s success. He’s too busy making beer, he said.

“It’s bizarre at moments,” Mr. Martin said. “We don’t take a lot of time to sit back and see the gravity of things. We keep our head down and we keep working.”

psquire@timesreview.com

BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO | Co-founders Dan Burke and Greg Martin in the tasting room of the Long Ireland brewery with the latest 'bomber' a 22.5 ounce India Pale Ale (10.5 % alcohol).

Long Ireland Brewing Company has signed a distribution contract this week with Clare Rose, the largest beer distributor in Suffolk and Nassau counties, the News-Review has learned.

Long Ireland will still brew its own beers in its Pulaski Street headquarters, but will hand over distribution and marketing responsibilities to Clare Rose.

Before the agreement, Long Ireland, whose trademark brew is the Celtic Ale, used a single driver to transport its beer to restaurants and stores. Now that driver will join the brewery as a full-time assistant, allowing the company to focus on making beer.

The brewery is currently stocking up the Clare Rose warehouses, which will begin distribution on March 1. Clare Rose will also create signs and buy glassware and beer tap handles to market the brand.

“Watching these guys evolve in their brewery…we are very excited about this,” said Clare Rose craft beer representative Ryan Niebuhr. “We’re partnering with great local people to get great local beer.”

“Their backyard is shored up for them,” Mr. Niebuhr said, adding that Blue Point Brewing Company, based in Patchogue, became the largest craft brewery on Long Island after teaming up with Clare Rose. Long Ireland is the third Long Island craft beer the company distributes, he said.

Long Ireland began as a hobby for co-owners Greg Martin of Port Jefferson and Dan Burke of Shoreham. The two worked together at Marran Oil in Holtsville, where they discovered they both shared a love for home brewing.

They started by brewing their first craft beer, Celtic Ale, after work. After selling their first kegs out of a Connecticut brewery in 2009, about 250 bars and restaurants currently stock the company’s Riverhead-brewed beer, including a new Double India Pale Ale.

With the new contract, their reach will only become larger. Clare Rose will handle the brewery’s Long Island distribution, and said they will use relationships within the industry to get Long Ireland beers into more bars, restaurants, and stores than ever before.

Still, Mr. Martin hasn’t had time to reflect on Long Ireland’s success. He’s too busy making beer, he said.

“It’s bizarre at moments,” Mr. Martin said. “We don’t take a lot of time to sit back and see the gravity of things. We keep our head down and we keep working.”

psquire@timesreview.com

BARBARAELLEN KOCH PHOTO | Co-founders Dan Burke and Greg Martin in the tasting room of the Long Ireland brewery with the latest 'bomber' a 22.5 ounce India Pale Ale (10.5 % alcohol).

Long Ireland Brewing Company has signed a distribution contract this week with Clare Rose, the largest beer distributor in Suffolk and Nassau counties, the News-Review has learned.

Long Ireland will still brew its own beers in its Pulaski Street headquarters, but will hand over distribution and marketing responsibilities to Clare Rose.

Before the agreement, Long Ireland, whose trademark brew is the Celtic Ale, used a single driver to transport its beer to restaurants and stores. Now that driver will join the brewery as a full-time assistant, allowing the company to focus on making beer.

The brewery is currently stocking up the Clare Rose warehouses, which will begin distribution on March 1. Clare Rose will also create signs and buy glassware and beer tap handles to market the brand.

“Watching these guys evolve in their brewery…we are very excited about this,” said Clare Rose craft beer representative Ryan Niebuhr. “We’re partnering with great local people to get great local beer.”

“Their backyard is shored up for them,” Mr. Niebuhr said, adding that Blue Point Brewing Company, based in Patchogue, became the largest craft brewery on Long Island after teaming up with Clare Rose. Long Ireland is the third Long Island craft beer the company distributes, he said.

Long Ireland began as a hobby for co-owners Greg Martin of Port Jefferson and Dan Burke of Shoreham. The two worked together at Marran Oil in Holtsville, where they discovered they both shared a love for home brewing.

They started by brewing their first craft beer, Celtic Ale, after work. After selling their first kegs out of a Connecticut brewery in 2009, about 250 bars and restaurants currently stock the company’s Riverhead-brewed beer, including a new Double India Pale Ale.

With the new contract, their reach will only become larger. Clare Rose will handle the brewery’s Long Island distribution, and said they will use relationships within the industry to get Long Ireland beers into more bars, restaurants, and stores than ever before.

Still, Mr. Martin hasn’t had time to reflect on Long Ireland’s success. He’s too busy making beer, he said.

“It’s bizarre at moments,” Mr. Martin said. “We don’t take a lot of time to sit back and see the gravity of things. We keep our head down and we keep working.”

psquire@timesreview.com

CARACAS/BRIDGETOWN (Reuters) - A Barbados-based holding company led by executives of Venezuelan food and beermaker Empresas Polar has filed an international arbitration claim against President Hugo Chavez's government over its nationalization of a fertilizer project, documents show.

The move may set a precedent for Venezuelan companies seeking access to international courts to settle disputes with the socialist government that otherwise would be litigated by local judges, who critics say are controlled by Chavez.

The case is highly delicate as Chavez has repeatedly threatened to nationalize Polar, the South American nation's largest private employer. Its products range from beer to corn flour and reach nearly all of Venezuela's 29 million people.

Arbitration claims by Venezuelan companies could become more frequent if Chavez begins a more widescale expropriation of local businesses after five years of taking over assets of many of Venezuela's top foreign firms.

The World Bank's International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or ICSID, says the Barbados-based "Gambrinus, Corp." registered a claim against Venezuela on December 2 in relation to a "fertilizer enterprise."

ICSID declined to provide further details.

But a source close to the case, who asked not to be identified, confirmed the dispute was over fertilizer-maker Fertinitro, which Chavez nationalized in 2010. Polar had a 10 percent stake in it.

Others partners included state petrochemicals company Pequiven, an indirect subsidiary of Italian oil company ENI and U.S.-based Koch Industries, which in July filed for ICSID arbitration over its 35 percent stake in Fertinitro.

Gambrinus company documents obtained by Reuters show a clear link between that firm and Polar. At least two Gambrinus directors are Polar executives, and all seven Gambrinus directors listed in the documents are linked to Polar in some capacity.

Asked to confirm or give details of the Gambrinus case, a Polar spokeswoman said the company had no comment. The office of Venezuela's attorney general, named as a respondent in the case, did not respond to requests for comment. Koch Industries and Pequiven also did not respond to requests for comment.

INTERNATIONAL ARBITRATION

Gambrinus - the name of a medieval European king who according to legend invented malt beer - filed its claim shortly before Venezuela said in January it was withdrawing from ICSID, which is hearing more than 20 claims against the OPEC member.

Chavez, who says his widespread nationalizations have redressed decades of inequality and unscrupulous business practices, has lambasted the World Bank tribunal as an instrument of colonial domination.

It has not commented on Venezuela's stance.

International arbitration allows companies with investments in foreign countries to resolve disputes with governments without having to litigate in local courts.

Countries allow international arbitration because it makes it more likely that foreign companies will invest there since they feel protected from arbitrary use of the local judiciary.

Investment arbitration must be carried out under agreements known as bilateral investment treaties that are meant to protect foreign companies against unfair treatment.

Venezuela signed a bilateral investment treaty in 1994 with Barbados and currently has more than 20 such treaties active.

Other Venezuelan companies facing threat of seizure, such as the country's banks, also appear to be creating foreign subsidiaries that would let them pursue disputes through international arbitration rather than local courts.

"It is generally known among lawyers doing this kind of work that Venezuelan companies have structured investments through other nations, with one consideration being that justice is not even-handed in the Venezuelan courts," said Michael Nolan, a partner at law firm Milbank in Washington, who has represented clients in arbitration cases against Venezuela.

Venezuela's withdrawal from ICSID, which takes effect in mid-2012, will not affect litigation of cases currently pending such as the one filed by Gambrinus or those that are filed in the next few months, Nolan said.

"Whatever he says on his Sunday television show, these are legal and binding commitments," he said, referring to Chavez's lengthy weekend broadcasts. "Chavez can't unilaterally decide he's taking his marbles and going home."

The lawyer said many foreign firms and possibly Venezuelan offshore companies will still have access to arbitration because of Venezuela's bilateral investment treaties.

Chavez has said he will refuse to pay out any claims ordered by ICSID, but legal experts say 140 other member nations would see judgments as enforceable, meaning companies could obtain court orders to seize Venezuelan assets abroad.

POLAR STRIKES BACK

The maker of Venezuela's most beloved beer and of popular brands of household products, Polar has been frequently criticized by government officials over the years.

Chavez has accused it of refusing to supply a state-run supermarket and of contributing to food shortages by hoarding. Polar, which began making beer in 1941, has always denied those charges but sought to avoid public confrontation with Chavez.

After years of sparring with Polar, Chavez in 2010 ordered the expropriation of some of its beer and Pepsi-Cola warehouses in the city of Barquisimeto, arguing the area should be used to build homes.

Last year, the government expropriated land in the capital Caracas that Polar said was destined for the expansion of a children's nutrition program.

Authorities have also nationalized key suppliers to the company, including glassmaker Owens Illinois, which has also filed for arbitration, and seed-producer Agroislena.

But Chavez has backed away from threats to take over Polar, in part because the move might aggravate periodic shortages of basic products that upset his poor supporters.

Though sympathizers generally back his takeovers in the oil, telecom and finance industries, they routinely say they do not want the government at the helm of Polar. Many laud it for providing high-quality products despite heavy state pressure.

(Additional reporting Mario Naranjo and Marianna Parraga in Caracas, Editing by Andrew Cawthorne, Kieran Murray and Alix Freedman)

“I landed on Gold Beach on D-Day then worked as a brewer.

“It was a useful life. Defending the realm, then making beer.

“Now I am waiting for my telephone to ring. It never does ring.”

A fisherman’s daughter from Brixham, now half-asleep in a care home, chides the reader: “Ask yourself this question. Is it only when you become like me when you will hear what I have to tell you?”

“I am living here among you and you pay no attention or decide what I am thinking which is not worth your attention.

“I am every single colour in the rainbow but you see no colour. You see the colour grey.”

Motion said the work also seeks to celebrate the “richness of memory” that the elderly enjoy. One elderly woman recalls the “beautiful shiny blue suits” of the mackerel her father caught, and her honeymoon to Llandudno.

Another narrator recalls family holiday, saying: “I am still the child that loves to arrive by night in a new place, then wakes to pull the curtains back on the sunlight pouring into a bay.”

Describing the poem, Sir Andrew said: “The idea was to create a portrait of age which is at once fragmentary, because everyone's experience is unique to themselves, and unified, because ageing involves sharing certain things in common.

“I hope the result is realistic about the difficulties posed by time and the passing of time, and yet also celebratory of certain experiences that time allows - the richness of memory, the sense of a narrative shape within a life,” he said.

The poem was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as part of a campaign to encourage society to think differently about ageing.

The charity is running a five-year research programme to develop policies to improve the quality of care for elderly people. The charity is collecting first-hand testimony on the experience of aging, and has commissioned a series of photo portraits of centenarians.

“Old age is not about ‘them’, it is about all of us,” said Julia Unwin, the charity’s chief executive.

“The sooner we start listening to those with the experience, the sooner we can all start planning for a better life in old age. We need to adapt to this demographic and social change and to do so we need to listen to older people to understand what they want and value.”

Better Life
by Sir Andrew Motion

You think I must be asleep when you sit at my bedside

and well might I be what with the late afternoon hush

now the other residents have all retired to their rooms

but no I am not asleep although you could say uncertain

whether I am myself alone or the sum of those I remember

whose voices have become mine along with their destination.

*

I can say this at least. I was born a Brixham girl and dad’s ship

was the pride of the fleet so every day when they came ashore

I had my pick of the mackerel in their beautiful shiny blue suits.

But then again I was stationed on the flying boats. Wasn’t that

a lovely time? The way they came in very low over the harbour

and the deep green water lifted up to greet them or seemed to.

*

Ask yourself this question. Is it only when you become like me

that you will hear what I have to tell you? Make your mind up.

*

Here’s me when we were in Llandudno on our honeymoon.

I painted my toenails red. If you cared to look you could see

I still have my toenails red. I do this by myself with no help.

And that’s me dancing round the house – it was the fresh air

kept me going, without a single brown penny in my purse.

*

You see what I am saying. I am living here among you

and you pay no attention or decide what I am thinking

which is not worth your attention. I am every single colour

in the rainbow but you see no colour. You see the colour grey.

*

We have singing here at night or perhaps it has begun already.

Can you hear them singing? You would not believe how old I am

without feeling it. I tell myself that is because I have looked after

everybody. When I go to the doctor now I find the door is closed.

Do I knock? Once I’m inside it gets better. I say give me a minute.

*

I am Richard and I am perfectly able-bodied thank you

and also of perfectly sound mind. What can I do for you?

The chances are I know more than you about most things.

I landed on Gold Beach on D-Day then worked as a brewer.

It was a useful life. Defending the realm, than making beer.

Now I am waiting for my telephone to ring. It never does ring.

*

If you were looking this way you would see my right hand

stretching towards you with something I have to pass over.

When I open my fingers you must look at the gift carefully.

You may well not recognise it to start with although soon

you will see it is the very thing you can never do without.

*

Who are we talking about? My name is Peter and in one way

or another I was married to Steve for 57 years. Today I am alone.

The pain is very strong because nobody would miss me if I died.

It would affect nobody. I am Simon, aged 67. I am Liz, aged 82.

I am Helen, aged 72 and I do tatting and keep fit on Wednesdays.

I am Ali and I am a widow and I think if you don’t do anything

then God won’t do anything. This is Mehmet. And this here Geti.

I am Ron, and I enjoy a few boiled potatoes and a drop of broth.

I am not a lover of sweet things. I like simple bread and butter

and a bit of fish. My friend Rowena likes a slice of sponge cake.

*

Open the window and let me hear the geese flying across.

Can you hear what I am saying? Are you paying attention?

I love to hear the geese flying and know their ways home.

*

As for me, I was born in 1939 and all our people came down

from Staffordshire and Cheshire; I class myself a Traveller

not a Gypsy. When I was a boy we had a horse and wagon.

I had to make a fire and put the horses out to graze at dawn

then I had to bring them back close beside the wagon at dusk.

When dad bought a bus, which we called a freezer box, he sold

the horses. I stood and cried. I was a big lad. It was not the same.

You couldn’t smell the horses. Our people are in Magna Carta.

*

I had the life of Reilly. Now I have a serious illness and won’t last

but when I count my blessings at night I have a load of blessings.

I love God and want to die. What better thing is there to live for?

*

Is that you leaving now? Very well. As for me I have not done.

I am still the child that loves to arrive by night in a new place

then wakes early to pull the curtains back on sunlight pouring

into a bay I had never seen before where big pelts of seaweed

left to dry by the retreating tide and the dainty orange crabs

crawling across them and the pebbles are everything I need.

“I landed on Gold Beach on D-Day then worked as a brewer.

“It was a useful life. Defending the realm, then making beer.

“Now I am waiting for my telephone to ring. It never does ring.”

A fisherman’s daughter from Brixham, now half-asleep in a care home, chides the reader: “Ask yourself this question. Is it only when you become like me when you will hear what I have to tell you?”

“I am living here among you and you pay no attention or decide what I am thinking which is not worth your attention.

“I am every single colour in the rainbow but you see no colour. You see the colour grey.”

Motion said the work also seeks to celebrate the “richness of memory” that the elderly enjoy. One elderly woman recalls the “beautiful shiny blue suits” of the mackerel her father caught, and her honeymoon to Llandudno.

Another narrator recalls family holiday, saying: “I am still the child that loves to arrive by night in a new place, then wakes to pull the curtains back on the sunlight pouring into a bay.”

Describing the poem, Sir Andrew said: “The idea was to create a portrait of age which is at once fragmentary, because everyone's experience is unique to themselves, and unified, because ageing involves sharing certain things in common.

“I hope the result is realistic about the difficulties posed by time and the passing of time, and yet also celebratory of certain experiences that time allows - the richness of memory, the sense of a narrative shape within a life,” he said.

The poem was commissioned by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation as part of a campaign to encourage society to think differently about ageing.

The charity is running a five-year research programme to develop policies to improve the quality of care for elderly people. The charity is collecting first-hand testimony on the experience of aging, and has commissioned a series of photo portraits of centenarians.

“Old age is not about ‘them’, it is about all of us,” said Julia Unwin, the charity’s chief executive.

“The sooner we start listening to those with the experience, the sooner we can all start planning for a better life in old age. We need to adapt to this demographic and social change and to do so we need to listen to older people to understand what they want and value.”

Better Life
by Sir Andrew Motion

You think I must be asleep when you sit at my bedside

and well might I be what with the late afternoon hush

now the other residents have all retired to their rooms

but no I am not asleep although you could say uncertain

whether I am myself alone or the sum of those I remember

whose voices have become mine along with their destination.

*

I can say this at least. I was born a Brixham girl and dad’s ship

was the pride of the fleet so every day when they came ashore

I had my pick of the mackerel in their beautiful shiny blue suits.

But then again I was stationed on the flying boats. Wasn’t that

a lovely time? The way they came in very low over the harbour

and the deep green water lifted up to greet them or seemed to.

*

Ask yourself this question. Is it only when you become like me

that you will hear what I have to tell you? Make your mind up.

*

Here’s me when we were in Llandudno on our honeymoon.

I painted my toenails red. If you cared to look you could see

I still have my toenails red. I do this by myself with no help.

And that’s me dancing round the house – it was the fresh air

kept me going, without a single brown penny in my purse.

*

You see what I am saying. I am living here among you

and you pay no attention or decide what I am thinking

which is not worth your attention. I am every single colour

in the rainbow but you see no colour. You see the colour grey.

*

We have singing here at night or perhaps it has begun already.

Can you hear them singing? You would not believe how old I am

without feeling it. I tell myself that is because I have looked after

everybody. When I go to the doctor now I find the door is closed.

Do I knock? Once I’m inside it gets better. I say give me a minute.

*

I am Richard and I am perfectly able-bodied thank you

and also of perfectly sound mind. What can I do for you?

The chances are I know more than you about most things.

I landed on Gold Beach on D-Day then worked as a brewer.

It was a useful life. Defending the realm, than making beer.

Now I am waiting for my telephone to ring. It never does ring.

*

If you were looking this way you would see my right hand

stretching towards you with something I have to pass over.

When I open my fingers you must look at the gift carefully.

You may well not recognise it to start with although soon

you will see it is the very thing you can never do without.

*

Who are we talking about? My name is Peter and in one way

or another I was married to Steve for 57 years. Today I am alone.

The pain is very strong because nobody would miss me if I died.

It would affect nobody. I am Simon, aged 67. I am Liz, aged 82.

I am Helen, aged 72 and I do tatting and keep fit on Wednesdays.

I am Ali and I am a widow and I think if you don’t do anything

then God won’t do anything. This is Mehmet. And this here Geti.

I am Ron, and I enjoy a few boiled potatoes and a drop of broth.

I am not a lover of sweet things. I like simple bread and butter

and a bit of fish. My friend Rowena likes a slice of sponge cake.

*

Open the window and let me hear the geese flying across.

Can you hear what I am saying? Are you paying attention?

I love to hear the geese flying and know their ways home.

*

As for me, I was born in 1939 and all our people came down

from Staffordshire and Cheshire; I class myself a Traveller

not a Gypsy. When I was a boy we had a horse and wagon.

I had to make a fire and put the horses out to graze at dawn

then I had to bring them back close beside the wagon at dusk.

When dad bought a bus, which we called a freezer box, he sold

the horses. I stood and cried. I was a big lad. It was not the same.

You couldn’t smell the horses. Our people are in Magna Carta.

*

I had the life of Reilly. Now I have a serious illness and won’t last

but when I count my blessings at night I have a load of blessings.

I love God and want to die. What better thing is there to live for?

*

Is that you leaving now? Very well. As for me I have not done.

I am still the child that loves to arrive by night in a new place

then wakes early to pull the curtains back on sunlight pouring

into a bay I had never seen before where big pelts of seaweed

left to dry by the retreating tide and the dainty orange crabs

crawling across them and the pebbles are everything I need.