News flash: N. Korea launches .. a beer ad

Flying in the face of world opinion strict communist philosophy, the mad regime government of North Korea has allowed the launch of a missile a TV advertising campaign for a locally-brewed beer.

The beer is billed as the "Pride of Pyongyang," (for those of you who are geographically disadvantaged, that's the capital city of North Korea). It tells viewers the brew will help ease stress.

The Taedonggang Beer Factory has been making the beer since buying a British brewery and shipping it in pieces from the UK to Pyongyang for reassembling. The beer has sometimes been available in South Korea, and gets good consumer reviews.

Go here to view the entire 150-minute commercial, which shows up after the bank commercial sponsoring it.

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Come visit me

This is the logo for Examiner.com, a multi-topic Web site created by the same company that started the free-distribution Examiner newspapers in major U.S. cities.

I've been signed as the Web site's National Drinks Columnist, and I'm inviting you to join me here as well as on this site, for all the latest in beverage news and views -- spirits, wine, brews, non-alcoholic drinks.

(Bonus for those of you interested in the Upstate New York restaurant scene: I'm also Examiner.com's columnist for that topic. You can find it here.

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Soapboxes and suds together again

For years, crowds showed up in Frostburg to watch the annual Derby Day soapbox races.

But, in 2001, the Western Maryland city's council decided to ban public consumption of beer at the races and the crowds sharply dropped off.

Now, that decision has been reversed as the town tries to draw more visitors who will spend money locally, something everyone is seeking in this down economy.

Are problems anticipated for the Fourth of July event?

Public Safety Commissioner Bob Flanigan said he is all for allowing open containers during the race.

“I was a police officer in Frostburg for 19 years and never made an arrest on Derby Day,” he told the Cumberland Times-News. “Also, we certainly saw the crowds get smaller once open containers were prohibited.”

The race will take place, and sidewalk brew consumption will be legal, on Main Street between the Palace Theater and Bowery Street where young racers will show off their gravity-powered racers.

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Oregon beer tax hike off the table

PORTLAND, OR -- The Oregon House has decided not to vote on an increase in the state beer tax during this legislative session.

The office of House Speaker Dave Hunt confirmed that fact, saying the decision came in large part because of the current economic climate. The bill would have raised the state's beer and wine tax by about 1,900%.

The tax increase would not have affected any of the microbreweries in the state. None produces more than two million barrels annually, the level that would have been the cutoff point for additional taxation.

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Delaware wine/beer-in-markets bill tabled

Well, that didn't last long.

A bill in the Delaware state legislature that would allow supermarkets to sell beer and wine (see earlier story) has been tabled by a House committee.

House Bill 193, sponsored by Rep. John J. Viola, D-Newark, would have made Delaware the 46th state to allow stores other than package stores to sell beer and wine. He said the licensing fee -- $100,000 for the first year and a $5,000 biennial renewal fee -- could have raised up to $10 million the first year “and substantial revenues after that.”

However, Siobhan Sullivan, director of the state Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Enforcement, told the committee the division would have to hire 12 new agents at a cost of $700,000 to enforce the bill.

DelawareOnline reported that Viola, who chairs the committee, wasn't happy with being unable to fend off the vote to table. Had that happened, he said, he would have been able to address the arguments against it “backed up by data and facts.”

The bill also was opposed by package-store owners, who packed the House chamber for the hearing. Tabling makes it unlikely it will be considered before the June 30 adjournment deadline.

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Bud Light adding Golden Wheat version

First it was Bud Light.

Then, last year, it was Bud Light Lime.

Now, it's Bud Light Golden Wheat. At least it will be the week of October 5 when Anheuser-Busch sends the latest version of its big-selling brew to market.

The move to the wheat category can be seen as a response to the increase in the number of them from craft brewers around the country. Bud Light Golden Wheat uses unfiltered wheat, orange and coriander to give it a different flavor.

The new beer has a few more calories and carbohydrates than Bud Light: 118 calories compared to 110, and 8.3 grams of carbs compared to 6.6 grams. It has slightly less alcohol at 4.1% by volume, compared with Bud Light's 4.2%.

Keith Levy, vice president of marketing, said in a stement: "We're trying to keep it in the franchise of Bud Light, but certainly give it its own look. We're not trying to out-craft craft. Certainly it's the personality of Bud Light, but in a very different way."

Levy said the company is working on its advertising for Bud Light Golden Wheat and said it expects to spend about the same as it spent last year on Bud Light Lime's launch — about $30 million.

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Just because I want to share it

Go here for a history of this "Star Trek" beverage staple.

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Delaware latest wine/beer-in-markets battleground

Proponents of a bill that would allow supermarkets to sell wine say it will raise more revenues for the state and give consumers more choice.

Opponents say it would cost more in closed small businesses and lost jobs than it would help in other ways.

The battleground? No, not New York State which is in the second round of debating different proposals. This time it's Delaware.

The difference is that while approval of such proposals would allow both wine and beer to be sold in supermarkets in Delaware, such vendors have sold beer in New York for ages.

Delaware State Rep. John Viola, a Democrat, says the legislation could raise up to $10 million in its first year because it would require supermarkets to pay a $100,000 license fee.

But package store owners claim that is an inflated figure, and that many small businesses selling wine and beer would fold, thus cutting into projected revenues.

One of the major opponents is the Asian-American Business Association, which was a major player in killing such a proposal in 2006.

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Ireland's oldest brewery closed down

Ireland's oldest brewery has closed its doors for the final time.

The Beamish & Crawford facility in Cork has been closed by its owner, Heineken, which has transferred production to another site in the city.

Brewers have been making beer at the South Main Street site since 1690.

Here's a video telling the Beamish & Crawford story.



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Frankenmuth Brewery to go back online in July

The historic Frankenmuth Brewery, a Michigan icon despite a checkered history, is scheduled to re-open in July.

Anmar K. Sarafa, chief investment officer for Birmingham-based Steward Capital Management Inc., bought the closed facility on January 30. He says he has created a management team to join Frankenmuth Brewery Real Estate and run the restaurant/brewery side of the business.

Haithem K. Sarafa, attorney and spokesman for his brother, said Sarafa expects to hire 70 to 80 full- and part-time employees from the region to work at the brewery and restaurant. He estimates a microbrewery will create up to 2,000 barrels of six to seven types of beer, including seasonal brews, in the first year of operation, and that it has the capacity to do 5,000 to 8,000 barrels.

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Colorado's 'top' brewery closes

Rosie's Brewpub in Leadville, CO, has served its final pint.

May 39 was the last day for the business, billed as Colorado's highest-altitude brewery. A message on its Web site says:

"Unfortunately with the economy, we here at Rosie's Brewpub must close our doors. This past winter has impacted us in the worst way possible. Thanks to the many that did patronize our brewpub."

The four-year-old pub was owned by Rosemary and Gary Yonocsko. It is the second craft brewer to go out of business in the state in recent weeks. The seven-year-old Arctic Craft Brewery in Colorado Springs closed last month amidst, says Denver Westword, "a dispute between its partners."

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Alabama beefs up its beer

The beer battle that had been brewing in the Alabama state legislature is over. Pro-choice forces won.

Gov. Bob Riley on Friday signed into law a bill that immediately raises the permissible alcohol limit on beer from 6 to 13.9% by volume. The bill, introduced by Rep. Thomas Jackson, D-Thomasville, won legislative approval last week.
Article Controls

The new regulation will allow a much wider selection of beers to be sold in stores, restaurants and taverns. However, that should take a few weeks because brewers will have to get distributors lined up and register with the Alabama Alcoholic Beverage Control Board before beginning sales.

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This beer was really on the house

• A former newspaper colleague, Albany (NY) Times Union blogger Naomi Seldin, came up with an offbeat posting with the aid of a local college contact. It begins this way:

Were you working campus construction in 1965 in Albany? The Sage Colleges Libraries found something that might have belonged to you.

Rose Redwood, bibliographic records manager, e-mailed me this great story:

"Our Albany campus library is going through some major renovations. We are completely remodeling the building to put in office spaces on the third floor, and putting in a cafe on the first floor.

"Anyway, our library director came back with a can of beer (1 of a six pack that the construction crew found) that was lodged in the ceiling of the 'new' addition to the library that was constructed in 1965.

"The beer can is in pretty good shape, despite its age. I suppose it’s a vintage can of beer, having twice as much aluminum to it compared to today’s cans of beer. It’s called Utica Club pilsner lager beer."

Utica Club may not ring a bell with many people outside New York these days, but at one time it was one of the state’s premier beers. Its talking beer steins, Schultz and Dooley, were popular commercial icons.

[If you want to hear the Utica Club beer song, just click here.]

[Go here for Naomi's full posting.]

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Getting ready for summer

These guys like to build things. They also like to drink beer. And, by their own confession, at least one of them is lazy.

So, put all those things together and guess what they've come up with?



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NY brew pub debuts 400-year beer

TROY, NY -- It's not a 400-year-old beer, thank heavens, but it does celebrate a 400th anniversary.

Brown’s Brewing Co. of Troy had the first keg of its Hudson River Quadricentennial Gold Rye Ale tapped by Mayor Harry Tutunjian on Saturday. It was created to mark the 400th anniversary of Henry Hudson's exploration of the area.

This year the Capital Region is holding a variety of events to mark the anniversary of the explorer's arrival on the river that now bears his name, an era that led to colonization by the Dutch who later gave way to the English from New York City to hundreds of miles to the north. Troy is located across the Hudson from Albany, the capital city, about 125 miles north of Manhattan.

Brown's was the region's first modern-day brewery/restaurant, founded on River Street in 1993 as Brown & Moran by current president/CEO Garrett Brown, with the assistance of his father, Sid Brown. (Father and son are shown standing in front of the enterprise.)

The brewery now offers more than a dozen brews on tap, and more than 25 styles in its portfolio. It has earned the Matthew Vassar Cup as "Best Brewery in the Hudson Valley," a gold medal for its Pale Ale from the Culinary Institute of America, and a gold medal for its Oatmeal Stout at the World Beer Cup.

The kitchen is headed by chef Tina Marie Clements, a graduate of Johnson & Wales University in Providence, RI. She won the championship award at last year's 2nd annual Troy Chowder Fest and incorporates many of Brown’s ales and lagers into her recipes.

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World Expo of Beer on tap

More than 250 beers will be available for the tasting at the World Expo of Beer, set for Friday and Saturday at Heritage Park in Frankenmuth, MI.

The event is hosted by the Frankenmuth Jaycees, and runs from 5 to 10 p.m. the first day and 3 to 10 the second. Admission is $5 and a set of four 4-ounce sampling tickets goes for $5.

Participating breweries:

Arcadia, Atwater, B Nektar, Bell's, Big Rock, Black Forest, Black Lotus, Boston, Hard Core Cider, Chimay, Cider Jack, Dark Horse, Dragonmead, Plank, Amarcord, Belgoo, Lion,
Flying Dog, Founders, Goose Island, Great Lakes, Green Mountain, Bulmers, Harpoon, Hideout, Hofbrauhaus, Inbev, Anheuser Busch, Hoegaarden, Merchant Du Vin, Lindemans,
Samuel Smiths, Michigan, Mike's Hard, Miller, Coors, Quilmes, Peroni, Blue Moon, Leinenkugel, Mt. Pleasant, New Holland, Redstone, Redwood, Right Brain, Rogue, Schmohz, Sherwood, Sierra Nevada, Stevens Point, Stone Brewing, Three Sergeants, Total Beverage, Weihenstephan, Tri City, Twisted Tea, Unibroue, Walldorff, Wolverine.

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Maine Beer Trail unveiled

Most states have wine trails. Some cooperatively operate a whiskey trail. Maine now has a beer trail.

The Maine Restaurant Association and the Maine Brewers Guild today announced the unveiling of the Maine Beer Trail.

The purpose is to attract visitors to Maine to enjoy the micro- and craft-brewing industry found throughout the state. A brochure (seen at right) provides a guide to more than a dozen of the state's breweries and brew pubs. Brochures can be downloaded and also will be available at Maine Visitor Centers and participating breweries and brew pubs.

Maine ranks fourth in the nation in the number of breweries per capita, with one brewery for every 42,000 residents, according to the Brewers Association.

It is home to New England's first microbrewery, D.L. Geary Brewing, established in 1986 in Portland. Gritty McDuff's opened its doors in 1988 and became the first brew pub to open in Maine since prohibition. It has sites in Portland, Freeport and Lewiston/Auburn.

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Anchorage brewer doubling size

Alaskans hankering for a bottle of beer from the Midnight Sun Brewing Co. might find it easier to satisfy before long.

The Anchorage brewer is building a new location in the city after 14 years in the original spot on Arctic Boulevard. The new facility is on Dimond Hook Drive.

It will be a 10,000-square foot facility, more than double the size of the present brewery, which will enable Midnight Sun to increases potential brewing capacity from 2,500 to 10,000 barrels a year.

The hew facility also will have a to-go bar on the first floor for customers to buy and fill growlers. In addition, a 36-seat loft will feature 18 taps, four of them for house-brewed sodas such as root beer and sparkling lemonade. Eventually, a kitchen will be added to offer food.

The to-go bar and loft will be opened this month.

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Today New Yorkers pay up to drink up, perhaps

New York State's increased taxes on beer and wine take effect today.

The state has raised the excise tax on beer by about 28%, from 11 to 14 cents a gallon, and about 58% on wine, from 19 to 30 cents a gallon.

Consumers may have to help vendors, barkeeps and restaurateurs pay that tax hike, although it's not mandatory. Some undoubtedly will pass along the increases, but others have said they'll try to absorb the hit of several cents a bottle.

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Nice cans

Attention, men.

Beer good.

Women very good.

Beer that remind men of women, REALLY good!

These beer can designs by Ramm ND, a Russian packaging designer, are part of a large portfolio of can designs aimed at making an everyday product really stand out in the crowded marketplace.

Go here for a look at a lot more Ramm ND can designs.

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Caybrew finally hitting U.S. shores

Anyone who has traveled in the Caribbean and enjoyed Caybrew beer may have been disappointed they couldn't buy it in the U.S.

That problem now has been taken care of. The Cayman Islands Brewery (CIB), the only commercial brewery in the Caymans, has reached export and distribution agreements with a Florida company.

“We have had very positive feedback from initial test marketing ... and we expect the brand to do very well in selected niche markets,” says CEO Allen Chu Fook.

Caybrew has only been on the market since 2007. The first shipment to Tampa is expected to be on store shelves next month.

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Boston, A-B top Brewers Association lists

The Brewers Association has released its annual list of the top 50 craft brewing companies and the top 50 overall brewing companies.

The organization represents the majority of brewing companies in the U.S. Rankings are based on 2008 sales volume.

The Boston Beer Co., known for its Samuel Adams brews, topped the craft brewers list and was fourth overall. Anheuser-Busch/InBev topped th eoverall list.

"In 2007, 35 of the top 50 brewing companies were small and independent craft brewers. In 2008 there were 37," said Paul Gatza, director of the Brewers Association. "Craft brewers continue to have success and generate excitement behind the flavorful beer movement, but not without recent challenges including price increases for raw materials and supplies, as well as access to market issues."

A more detailed statistical analysis of the craft beer segment in 2008 will be released April 22 during the Craft Brewers Conference in Boston. The full industry analysis will be published in the May/June issue of The New Brewer on May 19.

• Top 50 Craft Brewers

1. Boston Beer Co., Boston
2. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
3. New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
4. Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner, TX
5. Pyramid Breweries Inc., Seattle
6. Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR
7. Matt Brewing Co., Utica, NY
8. Boulevard Brewing Co., Kansas City, MO
9. Full Sail Brewing Co., Hood River, OR
10. Magic Hat Brewing Co., Burlington, VT
11. Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK
12. Harpoon Brewery, Boston
13. Bell's Brewery Inc., Galesburg, MI
14. Kona Brewing Co., Kailua-Kona, HI
15. Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco
16. Shipyard Brewing Co., Portland, ME
17. Summit Brewing Co., Saint Paul, MN
18. Stone Brewing Co., Escondido, CA
19. Abita Brewing Co., Abita Springs, LA
20. The Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY
21. New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, WI
22. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE
23. Long Trail Brewing Co., Bridgewater Corners, VT
24. Gordon Biersch Brewing Co., San Jose, CA
25. Rogue Ales/Oregon Brewing Co., Newport, OR
26. Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland
27. The Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma, CA
28. Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
29. SweetWater Brewing Co., Atlanta
30. Flying Dog Brewing Co., Frederick, MD
31. BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, Huntington Beach, CA
32. Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants, Louisville, CO
33. BridgePort Brewing Co., Portland, OR
34. Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
35. Victory Brewing Co., Downingtown, PA
36. Mac and Jack's Brewery, Redmond, WA
37. Big Sky Brewing Co., Missoula, MT
38. Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants, Chattanooga, TN
39. Karl Strauss Brewing Co., San Diego, CA
40. Breckenridge Brewery, Denver
41. Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe, Eureka, CA
42. Otter Creek Brewing Co., Middlebury, VT
43. Utah Brewers Cooperative, Salt Lake City, UT
44. North Coast Brewing Co., Fort Bragg, CA
45. Blue Point Brewing Co., Patchogue, NY
46. Boulder Beer Co., Boulder, CO
47. Pete's Brewing Co., San Antonio, TX
48. McMenamins Breweries, Portland, OR
49. Anderson Valley Brewing Co., Boonville, CA
50. The Saint Louis Brewery Inc., St Louis, MO

• Top 50 Overall Brewers

1. Anheuser-Busch/InBev, St. Louis, MO
2. MillerCoors Brewing Co., Chicago, IL
3. Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL
4. Boston Beer Co., Boston
5. D.G. Yuengling and Son Inc., Pottsville, PA
6. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co., Chico, CA
7. Craft Brewers Alliance Inc., Woodinville, WA
8. New Belgium Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
9. High Falls Brewing Co., Rochester, NY
10. Spoetzl Brewery, Shiner, TX
11. Pyramid Breweries Inc., Seattle, WA
12. Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR
13. Iron City Brewing Co., Pittsburgh, PA
14. Minhas Craft Brewery, Monroe, WI
15. Matt Brewing Co., Utica, NY
16. Boulevard Brewing Co., Kansas City, MO
17. Full Sail Brewing Co., Hood River, OR
18. Magic Hat Brewing Co., Burlington, VT
19. Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK
20. Harpoon Brewery, Boston
21. Bell's Brewery Inc., Galesburg, MI
22. Goose Island Beer Co., Chicago
23. Kona Brewery LLC, Kailua-Kona, HI
24. Anchor Brewing Co., San Francisco
25. August Schell Brewing Co., New Ulm, MN
26. Shipyard Brewing, Portland, ME
27. Summit Brewing Co., Saint Paul, MN
28. Stone Brewing Co., Escondido, CA
29. Mendocino Brewing Co., Ukiah, CA
30. Abita Brewing Co. LLC, Abita Springs, LA
31. The Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY
32. New Glarus Brewing Co., New Glarus, WI
33. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE
34. Long Trail Brewing Co., Bridgewater Corners, VT
35. Gordon Biersch Brewing Co., San Jose, CA
36. Rogue Ales/Oregon Brewing Co., Newport, OR
37. Great Lakes Brewing Co., Cleveland
38. The Lagunitas Brewing Co., Petaluma, CA
39. Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA
40. SweetWater Brewing Co., Atlanta
41. Flying Dog Brewing Co., Frederick, MD
42. BJ's Restaurant & Brewery, Huntington Beach, CA
43. Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants, Louisville, CO
44. BridgePort Brewing Co., Portland, OR
45. Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO
46. Victory Brewing Co., Downingtown, PA
47. Straub Brewery, Saint Marys, PA
48. Cold Spring Brewing Co., Cold Spring, MN
49. Mac and Jack's Brewery, Redmond, WA
50. Big Sky Brewing Co., Missoula, MT

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'Save the pubs' cry grows in UK

Beer sales at pubs are way down, and several of the traditional drinking spots close each day in the United Kingdom.

There have been sporadic "Save the Pubs" meetings and calls for help in the national press, but they haven't created quite the groundswell Bob Russell wants to see.

The Liberal Democrat member of Parliament has made a parliamentary motion calling on the government to adopt a five-point plan to save the institution of the British pub.

Traditional public houses are being "unfairly priced out of the market while supermarkets offer cheap deals without the level of restrictions and responsibilities required" by licencees of pubs, Russell said in a statement.

He's not alone in the move. A total of 202 Members of Parliament (MPs) backed the motion which came at the start of National Cask Ale Week.

Also, TV news readers Melanie Sykes and Oz Clarke have suppported a call by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) and the Independent Family Brewers of Britain (IFBB) for a declaration of a National Beer Day.

Russell noted in his statement that five pubs close down in the UK every day, and beer sales in pubs at their lowest level for nearly 40 years. He said further tax increases are planned that "will place traditional public houses at even greater risk of closing down".

The five-point plan by the British Beer and Pub Association is:

• Cut plans to increase beer tax.

• Enforce existing laws, rather than creating new ones, to deal firmly with irresponsible drinkers and premises.

• End irresponsible promotion of alcohol in supermarkets, pubs and elsewhere.

• Trust responsible adults to make informed choices about what they drink rather than punishing them for the actions of an irresponsible minority.

• Support the British pub as a vital part of social life in local communities.

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Guinness anniversary stout release April 24

Guinness is a company that relies on tradition. That's only to be expected from a brewer that is only 250 years into a 9,000-year-lease of its flagship brewery at St. James's Gate in Dublin.

However, in honor of that 250 years, the maker of the world's top-selling stout has come up with a new stout beer for the U.S. market, a maltier, fizzier version of its older, creamier beer that also has 5% alcohol compared to the 4.2% level in Guinness Draught.

"This is more about refreshment and zing," said Fergal Murray, the Guinness master brewer who created the new carbonated brew.

The limited-edition Guinness 250 Anniversary Stout is scheduled to be available in U.S. bars and selected stores on Friday, April 24, the first new stout Guinness has exported to the U.S. since it began selling Guinness Draught here in the mid 1960s.

More than 1.8 billion pints of Guinness Draught are consumed each year in 150 countries.
The anniversary stout will be available only in the U.S., Australia and Singapore, according to Diageo PLC, owner of Guinness and the world's largest liquor producer. It is expected to be on sale for about six months.

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Canned Red Stripe bound for U.S.

Many of us have experienced a balmy Caribbean day, relaxing in the shade of a palm tree and sipping a frosty Red Stripe beer.

The Jamaican brewer is hoping to extend that experience to a lot more North Americans through its plan to begin shipping canned beer to the U.S. and Canada on May 1. The 12-ounce cans will be available as a four-pack offering at a suggested retail price of $6.99. Red Stripe already is available in 12- and 24-ounce bottles.

Red Stripe is hoping to better the 27% growth in volumes exported to the U.S. during the last six months of 2008 and improve its market share of U.S.-imported beer.

It will use the Canadian company Moosehead Brewery to brew and package the cans through licensing agreements similar to those it already has in the United Kingdom and Antigua. Moosehead will ship the beer to Diageo USA, a red Stripe affiliate.

Grace Silvera, Red Stripe's international marketing director, said in a statement, "This new can format will better enable Red Stripe to appeal to its core consumer base as the popularity of cans has significantly increased as well as captured new consumers and drinking occasions."

According to the brewer, part of the rationale for offering its flagship brand in a 12-ounce can to the U.S. market is the faster pace of growth of imported canned beer there.

"Currently, the small import-beer sector is growing at 4.6% with import cans growing at 13%," Silvera said. "Despite the state of the U.S. economy, Red Stripe beer continues to show a fair degree of resilience registering a 30% increase in volume sales" in February.

For the six months ending December 31, 2008, Red Stripe reported gross profit after marketing costs of $72 million for its export segment, up from a loss of $203 million.
Revenue from exports represented 25% of the company's overall sales up to the end of 2008, up from 20% in 2007. Domestic sale volume in Jamaica has been declining, which the company attributes to "the economic climate and its adverse effect on consumer's disposable income."

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The bar, the beer and the boar

William M. Dowd photos

IN THE RAIN FOREST, St. Croix -- As rain forests go, this isn't much of one.

We're bumping along a rutted one-lane road, or what passes for one on an island with no particularly good roads of any kind and a lot of deserted shells of buildings. Typical of the other face of the Caribbean, the one the tourists aren't meant to see. The rundown homes, peeling paint, piles of rusted-out barrels and other metal debris; the scrawny goats and chickens that meander about, poking into corners for something to eat, and competing for walking space along the roads with uniformed school children looking bright-eyed despite the obvious poverty.

We'd been put on the trail of a particular drink called a "Mama Juana," apparently something very special on this American Virgin Island. Go into the rain forest, we'd been told. Look for The Domino Club. That's where you'll find it. And look for the beer-swilling pigs while you're at it.

The 15-acre western part of the island is dotted with all sorts of trees -- kapok, mahogany, turpentine -- as well as scraggly vines and ferns. The occasional banana quit, hummingbird or yellow warbler darts through the thick vegetation.

This spot north of the capital city of Frederiksted is privately owned, although no one stops the public from wandering through it, especially on a variety of narrow trails that snake through the underbrush.

Just when it seems we might have taken a wrong turn, suddenly we are there.

Our driver pulls off the tight road and our little group scrambles out, anxious for a Mama Juana or two. But first, we have to visit the wild, beer-swilling pigs.

A couple of accuracy alerts. For one, according to the strictest botanical definition, this isn't technically a rain forest, we're told, although no one seems to be able to supply that definition. For another, the pigs we were there to visit actually are boars. And for a third, we are told these particular boars are domesticated and have inherited their jobs from a previous generation of once-wild ones that drank real beer. The current creatures drink only O'Doul's non-alcoholic brew, a nod to animal rights groups.

Jacqueline, a stout, blonde-haired woman of indeterminate age, lines us up in front of the high-walled enclosure where she says the pigs live.

"Here's the drill," she says, mustering up all the charm of a Marine drill instructor. "Three dollars each for admission, a dollar a can for the beer, an extra five dollars if you want to shoot any video. Now, how many of you are coming in?"

We dutifully pay our money, then walk through the doorway, immediately spotting a pair of boars behind cement pen walls. They'd just stepped in from their larger outside pen. They are thirsty and bang against the walls.

"Don't let their tusks scare you," Jacqueline says. "Their teeth don't start till way back in their mouth, so you can place a can of beer in their mouth and they'll bite down on it without hurting you."

Several timid feints and the first of our group successfully "feeds" a beer to a boar. It clamps its powerful jaws on the can, crushing it and releasing the foaming brew. He guzzles the beer, spits out the can and looks around for more. His penmate does the same.

The process goes smoothly through most of two six-packs, until one of our group gets a little sloppy, or one of the boars does. A crushed can explodes its contents onto our companion's shirt front, soaking him to the skin. That's the end of the boar fest, and we head across a small clearing to the Mount Pellier Hut of The Domino Club.

We commandeer a rickety table in the thatched three-room hut. The place is dominated by a long bar in a dark part of the structure peopled by a couple who look as if they've been seated there for a very long time. Jacqueline, it turns out, also is the head bartender and in charge of the only other obvious employee.

The Domino Club is a structure that looks as if, in case a shot is fired and the authorities are called, it can be packed away and disappear in seven minutes flat.

We order Mama Juanas, then think to ask what is in the drink. Rum, honey and herbs, we're told. What kind of rum? What kinds of herbs? Just herbs, is the answer. Special herbs. And, don't chug the shots, Jacqueline warns.

We hoist, toast and -- despite the instructions -- chug. God almighty. This is vile stuff, is my first thought. I'll never need cough medicine again, is my second. The potion should be called Mama-don't-wanna.

Our driver is getting impatient. We don't mind, clambering back into the van and rattling off into what's left of this not-quite-a-rainforest, curiosity quenched, even if our thirst isn't. But, there is a nice bar back at the hotel that serves any kind of cocktail you can think of.

Aah, civilization.

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A celebri-quote: Irina Voronina

• Russian model and spokesperson Irina Voronina has been a Playboy Playmate, worked in ad campaigns for Skyy Vodka, Miller Lite, and Michelob Ultra. She most recently was on a year-long public relations tour across the U.S. as the 2008 St. Pauli Girl. She also has had small roles in the films "Reno 911: Miami," "Balls of Fury" and "Epic Movie." This is excerpted from an interview by Jaeki Cho for Complex.com.

Q: What's your favorite comfort food or hangover remedy?

A: I used to drink, but not anymore. But this is what Russian people do. Since there’s no Vitamin Water in Russia we drink a lot of pickle marinade to put electrolytes back in the body. But a cure for hangover in the morning is to just have a shot of vodka or a beer.

A lot of people do beer, but if you need to get well to compose yourself, you just need to have a shot of vodka and you’ll be fine.

It’s kind of like when you poison your body, it’s not going to recover unless it’s just a little bit more. Like seriously, I tell that to a lot of people here in America, and they don’t listen to me most of the time. Like you’re not going to get out your house today, unless you do what I’m telling you to do. If you’re going to stay around the house, just have a beer, or a couple beers. That’ll give you a tranquil feeling. If you need to get going, just have a shot of vodka, and you’ll be fine.

Q: What's the most effective aphrodisiac for you?

A: It can be food. It can be visual. It can be alcohol [laughs]. As far as food though, I think sushi maybe? Anything nicely served. Any clean food. Or even just strawberries and champagne.

[Go here for more celebri-quotes.]

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WV beer-strength bill getting legs

West Virginia limits the alcohol content of beer to 6%. That effectively precludes the relatively small number of brewers in the state from competing on an equal footing with out-of-staters who make beers with higher alcohol.

A bill now going through the legislative process in Charleston would raise the limit to 12%. A similar bill failed last year. This year's version already has passed the House of Delegates and now is before the Senate Judiciary Committee.

The bill is House Bill 2719.

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Major cask ale fests in Northeast

The 4th annual Manhattan Cask Ale Festival is scheduled for Friday-Sunday at the Chelsea Brewing Co., on Pier 59 of the Chelsea Piers in Manhattan.

The event will run from noon to midnight each day. There is no admission fee. But visitors, who must show proof of legal age, can get paid samples selected from a range of about 48 cask ales available in 8- and 16-ounce servings.

The host company, which will have six of its ales available, gives this definition of cask ale:

"Unfiltered, unpasteurized beer brewed only from traditional ingredients, matured by secondary fermentation in the container from which it is dispensed, and served without the use of extraneous carbon dioxide. Cask Ale is also known as 'Cask-Conditioned Beer', and 'Real Ale.' "

The organizers note that "Beers will be available while stocks last, first come first served. Note that all casks will be tapped and available from the start, except for any that are deemed to need additional settling and conditioning time."

Meanwhile, the 13th annual New England Real Ale Exhibition (NERAX) is scheduled to open in Somerville, MA, tomorrow, May 25, and run through Saturday.

Ales from the United Kingdom and New England will be on tap at the George Dilboy VFW Post in Davis Square. Half the beers are UK-brewed,, most of the remainder brewed in New England, with a few from elsewhere.

Full details on the event are available online.

The event will be open from 6 to 10:30 p.m. Wednesday-Friday and noon to 7 p.m. Saturday. Admission is $10 on Wednesday, $15 on Thursday and Friday, and $5 on Saturday.

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Texas microbrewers seek six-pack sales OK

Texas is the latest battleground for the matter of expanding sales of alcoholic beverages.

A group of eight microbreweries is pushing for a change in law to allow them to sell six-packs to go. They contend such approval might inspire follow-up sales at supermarkets and liquor stores.

According to the Forth Worth Star-Telegram, a proposal sponsored by Rep. Lon Burnam, D-Fort Worth, would permit sales of beer at the brewery. A compromise bill by Rep. Jessica Ferrar, D-Houston, would allow visitors to receive up to 48 12-ounce bottles to go, but only with the purchase of a tour package.

Burnam, says the newspaper, said his bill would allow "small family-owned businesses ... to compete with the large out-of-state companies that currently dominate the Texas beer market. It’s about fairness and about putting what’s best for Texas beer drinkers ahead of what’s best for out-of-state interests."

Both proposals are in committee, but only Ferrar’s Texas Microbrewery Free Trade Bill has gotten a hearing.

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Beer maven scores again

If you want to read about beer, Bob Skilnik is your man.

The Chicago-area writer, author of such books as "The Low-Carb Bartender," "The Drink Beer, Get Thin Diet" and "Beer & Food: An American History," has come up with a small tome that's a good guide for anyone watching their nutrition while keeping beer as part of their diet.

"Does My Butt Look Big In This Beer?" (Gambrinus Media, Plainfield, IL, 100+ pages, $10) is subtitled "Nutritional values of 2,000 worldwide beers." That's the key to remember. Skilnick has worked with brewers around the world to provide nutritional information rarely available to consumers.

"For decades the federal government's attitude toward alcoholic beverages was a hangover from the National Prohibition -- demonic, but a convenient taxation vehicle. Any implication of alcoholic beverages as having nutritive or medicinal qualities was prohibited.

"But, a few years ago, the TTB (Alcohol Tax and Trade Bureau), the federal agency that controls labeling requirements for alcoholic beverages, opened up a comment campaign on the labeling issue that drew over 18,000 comments concerning the proposed addition of a nutrition facts label on all alcoholic beverages, similar to what's found on most packaged foodstuffs. About 96% of the comments demonstrated a strong wanting for nutritional labeling," Skilnik says.

In the usual push-and-pull of changing any regulations, Skilnik notes the various pressures put on the government by industry and consumer groups as well as international bodies, actions that have prevented general labeling beyond certain beverage niches.

His book, he says, "cuts through the red tape and gives beer drinkers the kind of sudsy nutritional information that the TTB currently can't."

This is a paperback guide for both the connoisseur and the average Joe or Jane, given that the usual popular beers are included along with such global exotica as Hövels (Germany), Burleigh (Australia), Sinebrychoff (Russia) and Käki (Finland).

Skilnik is a certified brewer and 1991 graduate of Chicago's Siebel Institute of Technology, the oldest brewing school in the U.S., with a degree in brewing technology. He is a former associate editor of the American Breweriana Journal, and a contributor to various publications.

Go here for my review of his book "Beer & Food: An American History."

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Changes begin at High Falls brewery

The changes begin at the top for the new era at the High Falls Brewery.

President Norm Snyder has stepped down as chief executive of the Rochester, NY, company that recently was purchased by KPS Capital Partners, a private equity firm, from Anheuser-Busch/InBev for an undisclosed price.

High Falls is being merged with Labatt USA, and Labatt's products for the U.S. market will be made in Rochester.

[Go here for my earlier story on the sale, and for a bit of High Falls' history.]

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Colorado beer laws to stay as-is

• From the Associated Press:

DENVER, CO — Convenience stores and supermarkets in Colorado won't be allowed to sell full-strength beer following protests by liquor store owners, who said a proposed law change could drive many of them out of business.

The House Business Affairs & Labor Committee voted 7-4 against the proposal late Wednesday after listening to more than seven hours of testimony.

Rep. Joe Rice, D-Littleton, said the state's current liquor laws don't make sense, but he said the state should take a comprehensive look at all of them instead of trying to change them piecemeal.

Right now, convenience stores and supermarkets are largely limited to selling 3.2% percent beer, but they say sales have tanked since liquor stores started staying open on Sundays under a law passed last year.

[Go here for the rest of the story.]

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WV craft beer bill advances

• From the Charleston (WV) Gazette:

CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- After going flat in previous attempts, the House of Delegates Wednesday finally passed a bill to allow the sale of high-quality craft beers in West Virginia.

The legislation (HB2719) would raise the permissible maximum alcohol level for beer sold in the state from the current 6% by volume to 12%. It passed the House on a 79-17 vote and goes to the Senate.

House Judiciary Chairwoman Carrie Webster, D-Kanawha, said the current restrictions put the state at a competitive disadvantage, noting that the sale of craft beer and microbrews is a $5.8 billion a year industry nationally.

"West Virginia is one of only two states that continue to restrict distribution of beer to an alcohol content at or under 6%," she said, adding, "This bill is aimed at creating a market for these beers in West Virginia."

[Go here for the rest of the story.]

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Colorado battling over beer strength

• From the Denver Daily News:

DENVER, CO -- Several lawmakers and others converged on the state Capitol yesterday to demand the defeat of a bill allowing the sale of full-strength beer in grocery stores and convenience stores.

The bill, HB 1192, sponsored by Rep. Buffie McFadyen, D-Pueblo West, and Sen. Jennifer Veiga, D-Denver, seeks to allow grocers and convenience stores to be able to sell “full-strength beer,” which is beer with more than 3.2% alcohol. Currently only liquor stores in Colorado can sell full-strength beer, and since the legislature passed a law last year allowing the sale of liquor on Sundays, grocers and convenience stores have reported a 68% drop in sales of 3.2 beer.

But those who spoke yesterday against the bill, which included several lawmakers, representatives from area cities and representatives from Mothers Against Drunk Driving, said in a press release that the bill will hurt in the fight against underage drinking.

One contention they have is that the bill would allow grocery store workers and convenience store workers who are under the age of 21 to be able to sell full-strength beer. Clerks at liquor stores must be at least 21, they point out.

[Go here for the rest of the story.]

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I'm baaack

William M. Dowd photo

Mmmm. Cheeseburger in Paradise!

I just returned last night (Wednesday) from a business trip to St. Croix, in the American Virgin Islands, thus the lack of recent posts until I set loose a flurry of them today.

Thanks to the gazillion readers who kept checking back in that quiet period. It was nice you were reading while I was enjoying a cheeseburger and a tropical breeze.

Since I was one hour ahead of the continental U.S. (much of the Caribbean goes by Atlantic Time), I have looked into the future for you. I can report that ...

What's that? I'm not allowed to reveal the future? OK, Sarah Connor, if you say so.

And now, we return you to your regularly scheduled blog.

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Anti-tax protest doesn't make a splash

William M. Dowd photo

Presidents and master distillers from some of Kentucky's leading distilleries joined a protest Tuesday in Frankfort over a proposed retail tax on all alcohol products. However, on Wednesday the bill they were fighting received approval in one section of the state legislature.

The current liquor taxes include an 11% wholesale tax on packaged liquor, a 6% tax on drinks purchased in bars and restaurants, an 8-cent-per-gallon tax on beer, a 50-cent-per-gallon tax on wine and a $1.92-per-gallon tax on distilled spirits.

The protest was in reaction to a House committee approval for a 6% additional tax on alcoholic beverages in stores. The measure then passed the full house Wednesday and is expected to go to the full senate by the weekend, according to Senate President David Williams, R-Burkesville.

More than 400 people — many of whom work in Kentucky's signature bourbon industry — attended the Tuesday rally, which culminated in the bourbon "tea party," a play on the Boston Tea Party, the most famous American colonial tax protest.

A convoy of trucks from breweries and distilleries circled the Capitol building while individuals such as Wild Turkey's iconic master distiller Jimmy Russell (at right in photo with a tour group at the distillery) poured bottles of bourbon on the Capitol's front steps in protest.

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Nashville targets single-beer sales downtown

Music City can get a bit rowdy when the sun sets, so legislation has been proposed to limit sales of single beers within Nashville's downtown Interstate loop.

The proposed legislation would ban sales of single bottles or cans of beer within the loop as a way to counter loitering, litter, vagrancy, panhandling and public intoxication.

To mollify critics of the proposal, a sunset provision will be added to make the regulation expire in one year, thus allowing for review and potential renewal based on experience.

City Council members Mike Jameson said Erica Gilmore, who introduced the legislation last month, also will seek to remove an exception for specialty and craft beers often sold only in single bottles.

They also want to confine enforcement to the area within the interstate loop instead of adding two North Nashville streets that Gilmore initially had included.

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Kansas debating stronger beers

Double-click to enlarge

TOPEKA, KS -- The state of Kansas has never really made the jump from being a "dry" state to one that allows full-strength beer to be sold in supermarkets and liquor stores.

Now, both houses of the state legislature are considering bills that would end the requirement that beer sold in such outlets may not have an alcohol content greater than 3.2%.

Senate President Steve Morris said similar bills have failed before and he foresees well-organized resistance again from businesses seeking to avoid competition.

The weak beer, also known by the rather unappetizing name of “cereal malt beverage,” came into vogue as a way to sold legally, then as an exception to selling to people under age 21.

However, advocates for the change point out that the market for 3.2 beer, first introduced in 1937, largely disappeared in 1985 when the state raised the minimum drinking age to 21.

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Firefighter charity brewer on the grow

The Hook & Ladder Brewing Co., which says its beer "benefits more than your belly," was founded by firefighter Rich Fleischer and his brother Matt Fleischer.

Their commitment: Through its give-back programs, "A Penny in Every Pint" and "A Quarter in Every Case," Hook & Ladder donates a portion of every sale to injured firefighters and burn victims in each community in which the beer is sold.

The company was founded in 1999, ceased West Coast operations then re-started in Maryland in 2005.

So far, Hook & Ladder, headquartered in Silver Spring, MD, has donated more than $60,000 to burn centers throughout the country. Primary areas funded include new equipment for burn units, clinical research studies for burn treatments, educational opportunities to improve burn care, and direct support of burned firefighters and their families.

The beer initially was distributed by just one wholesale partner, in the Washington, DC, area. It now is distributed by 120 dealers in 26 states. According to the Brewers Association, it experienced 688% growth in 2007, the biggest percentage increase among craft brewers providing beers solely through a distribution network.

Hook & Ladder makes Golden Ale, a Great American Beer Festival gold medalist; Hook & Ladder Lighter, a lowered-calorie ale, and Backdraft Brown, champion of the 2008 Washington Post Beer Madness competition. In addition, it makes a line of seasonal brews.

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Suds & Snacks Day nearly upon us

It's almost Suds & Snacks Day, better known as Super Bowl Sunday. For the non-believers, SB XLIII (43) will be played this coming Sunday when the Arizona Cardinals take on the Pittsburgh Steelers in Tampa Bay.

According to the folks at Nielsen, who measure everything from TV viewership to consumption of corn chips, mass merchandiser stores such as Wal-Mart recorded snack sales of $595 million in the two weeks leading up to last year’s game, up 5% from the previous year.

To wash down all that junk food, Super Bowl Sunday ranks as the eighth-highest beer-selling day of the year, with 51.7 million cases sold last year. That's behind the No. 1 selling day, July 4th.

And where is most of the beer sold? In the city that hosts the game and in the two cities that are home to the participating teams.

Eatswise, potato chips topped the list with a sales volume of nearly $147 million, although that's a slight dropoff from the prior year while tortilla chips jumped 20% to come in No. 2 at $125.5 million.

Once past the beer gut .. er, glut ... wine is doing better with Super Bowl Sunday drinkers. According to Nielsen, NFL fans spent 14% more on wine in 2007 than in 2006, outpacing the U.S. wine growth overall by 14%.

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Beer slump hurts Guinness plans

It has been two decades since a major brewery has been built in either Ireland or the United Kingdom. Now, because of the global slump in beer sales, a planned new Guinness brewey outside Dublin probably won't be built.

Diageo, owner of Guinness, had announced plans for an $855 million brewery complex last spring as part of restructuring the historic St. James's Gate brewery in Dublin.

However, on Monday the company said it is reevaluating the plans.

“The world has changed,” the company said. “We want to pause for breath.”

Diageo, which also brews such beer brands as Carlsberg and Heineken under license in Ireland, said the review would take several months. Among its options: building a smaller new brewery, delaying construction until the economic climate improves, or scrapping the plans altogether.

Diageo, which also owns beer brands such as Harp and Kilkenny as well as Guinness, brews about one-third of its beer in Ireland, shipping much of it to North American markets as well as supplying Ireland and the UK.

The company declined to comment on whether plans to close Irish breweries in Kilkenny and Dundalk as part of the St. James’s Gate restructuring would be scrapped.

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Eire's oldest brewery may become tour center

The Beamish & Crawford brewery in Cork
CORK, Ireland -- Brewing giant Heineken is considering a proposal to redevelop Ireland’s oldest brewery, Beamish & Crawford, in Cork as a tourist center similar to the Guinness Storehouse in Dublin.

A heritage group set up to save the South Main Street brewery complex in the city center held what it described as “a very fruitful meeting” with the directors of Heineken yesterday at Heineken’s Cork headquarters.

Heineken Ireland announced in December its intention to close the brewery, with the resultant loss of 120 jobs. A committee comprising representatives of three heritage groups has since been set up in an effort to save the brewery building with its distinctive mock-Tudor facade.

National Conservation and Heritage Group chairman Damien Cassidy was part of the delegation that met with Heineken directors yesterday. He said the company had promised to “give close consideration to a sensitive development of the site” during a very positive meeting.

Cassidy said the delegation was taken on a tour of Murphy’s brewery and was impressed by the way in which Heineken had restored the historic building since it took over the company 10 years ago.

He said Beamish would continue brewing at the Cork site until March and the heritage group had asked Heineken to then consider transforming the property into a visitor center and microbrewery.

“The Beamish & Crawford brewery is either 300 or 400 years old. Nobody can be sure but it’s certainly the oldest brewery in Ireland,” he said.

The Cork Lord Mayor Cllr Brian Bermingham already has endorsed proposals for a heritage or tourism complex at the site as an aid to Cork tourism.

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Rogue ale to honor Oregon's 150th

Rogue Ales, the Oregon label that has become one of the Pacific Northwest's top craft beers, will be marking Oregon's 150th anniversary of statehood with a special brew.

Oregon 150, the organization responsible for planning the state's sesquicentennial celebratio, has selected Rogue to brew a special commemorative ale for the occasion.

Sesquicentennial Ale will be available beginning February 14 -- Valentine's Day and the state's birthday -- on draft and in limited edition 22-ounce serigraphed bottles. It will debut at Oregon 150 celebrations in Salem and Portand, and be featured at the Oregon Brewers Guild open houses at Rogue’s Newport and Eugene breweries that weekend.

Sesquicentennial Ale will be on sale until December 31 at Rogue’s pubs in Newport (Bayfront Pub, Brewers on the Bay), Portland (Rogue Distillery and Public House, PDX Airport Pub and Green Dragon), Eugene City Brewery and Rogue Public House in Astoria.

Rogue Brewmaster John Maier used five Oregon-grown ingredients in the ale: two-row and Munich malts, Willamette hops, Rogue’s proprietary PacMan yeast, and free range coastal water.

“With Rogue’s deep roots in the Oregon brewing community, their years of award-winning beers, history of charitable giving and new foray into growing their own malting barley and hops, they were the natural choice to brew Oregon’s sesquicentennial beer,” said Melisa McDonald, executive director of Oregon 150.

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Feds put a cork in Obamagang beer

Business usually goes pretty much the way Brewery Ommegang wants it to.

The Belgian-owned brewery located near Cooperstown, NY, has always had a solid cult following for its Belgian-style brews. But when it decided to put out a special beer called "Obamagang," the government stepped in to say "No way."


The single-batch brew was whipped up to coincide with next week's presidential inauguration of Barack Obama. However, the feds at the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau said it is not permissible to use anyone's name or likeness for commercial purposes without their permission.

Ommegang Marketing Director Larry Bennett said the brewery has decided to re-name the beer Inauguration Ale 2009, with 600 kegs of it being made available to select bars in Syracuse, Chicago, Boston, Washington, Philadelphia and New York.

"The TTB won’t let us call the beer Obamagang on the keg label. So it will be known legally as Inauguration Ale 2009, but the tap handles will be more ... um ... direct," Ommegang said in a press statement. "The style lies between a porter and stout, with a bit of Kriek and a touch of chocolate blended in.

"We will donate a percentage of sales to charities in the respective cities where the beer is sold, and we’ve asked our distributors to match our donations and pick the local charities."

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A-B eliminates its free beer

There's no such thing as a free beer under brewer Anheuser-Busch's new owner.

InBev, or formally Anheuser-Busch InBev, has stopped the practice of giving free beer samples in hospitality centers at its SeaWorld theme parks in Orlando, FL, San Antonio, TX, and San Diego, CA, and its Busch Gardens parks in Tampa, FL, and Williamsburg, VA.

You still can get beer at those parks. Now, however, it will cost you because beer still is being sold at those venues.

Fred Jacobs, spokesman for Anheuser-Busch Adventure Parks, said the free samples had a narrow appeal among park customers. He also said the Belgian company plans to build more restaurants and other venues geared toward families with children.

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A Legend growing in Richmond

From the Richmond (VA) Times Dispatch:

Fans of locally brewed beer have at least one good thing to look forward to in 2009.

Even with the economy in a downturn, managers at Legend Brewing Co. in South Richmond say they are forging ahead with plans to add production capacity at its brewing operation adjacent to its pub on West Seventh Street.

The microbrewery, which is celebrating its 15th anniversary this year, sells its beer at retail stores in 22-ounce bottles now. But in the next few months, Legend is planning to start selling at least some of its beer in six packs of 12-ounce bottles.

Asked what the recession means for the business, Legend President Tom Martin had a straightforward answer: "There is a lot of bad news in the economy, but people still need to live, and they still want to have a good time."

Consumers typically keep hoisting the beers during a downturn, according to industry observers. The Nielsen Co., a consumer research firm, considers beer one of the most recession-resistant consumer products.

The Brewers Association, an industry trade group, reported that sales of craft beer -- beverages made by more than 1,400 regional, independent breweries in the U.S. -- were up more than 6 percent by volume in the first half of 2008, after growth of about 12 percent for all of 2007.

[Go here for the rest of the story.]

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1st new microbrewery of the year

Unless some other contender steps up, Mark Shrader's and Peggy Coburn's new establishment in the college town of Blacksburg, VA, has the title of "First New Microbrewery of 2009."

The Bull & Bones Brewhaus and Grill opened New Year's Day, with Jim Strickland as brewmaster and bartender Jason McGraw drawing the first glasses.

The opening-day festivities, timed for when the local Virginia Tech football team played in the Orange Bowl (defeating Cincinnati, 20-7) , raised $3,200 in donations from 400 visitors to go to the ALS Association to help fight Lou Gehrig's Disease (amyotropic lateral sclerosis), which claimed Sharder's mother five years ago.

The 10,000 square foot Bull & Bones is located in Blacksburg's First & Main shopping center, and includes a meeting room, formal dining room and sports bar with pool tables and 20 high-definition televisions.

It does stock several commercial beers, but its main appeal is a half-dozen of its own -- All Nite Light, similar to a traditional light American lager, Lunch Pale Ale, Maroon Effect Ale, Sun Lit Wit, Strick's Dark Lager, St. Maeve's Stout -- plus a non-alcoholic brewed root beer. It also has a full spirits bar.

Brewmaster Strickland studied brewing at the American Brewer's Guild in California and worked as a professional microbrewer in California and Pennsylvania. His beers are all-malt, with no rice or corn fillers. They have not been pasteurized.

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Taking the snap out of Sparks

If you no longer feel that boost when you down a Sparks energy drink, don't be surprised.

MillerCoors, maker of the alcoholic beverage, has agreed to remove caffeine and several other ingredients from the drink.

The move is part of a deal the company made with 13 states and the city of San Francisco. A coalition of state attorneys general had complained that the stimulants reduced drinkers' sense of intoxication. And, they charged that the drink was marketed to younger consumers who, as a demographic group, tend to be prone to risky behaviors in driving and other activities.

"They are fundamentally dangerous and put drinkers of all ages at risk," New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement. The "agreement will ensure that from here on out, these drinks are kept off New York shelves and away from New York consumers."

Cuomo had spearheaded the investigation into caffeinated alcohol beverages. The settlement also includes the attorneys general of Arizona, California, Connecticut, Idaho, Illinois, Iowa, Maine, Maryland, Mississippi, New Mexico, Ohio and Oklahoma.

MillerCoors has agreed not to produce caffeinated alcohol beverages in the future, and it will $550,000 to cover the cost of the investigation into Sparks.

Competitor Anheuser-Busch agreed last summer to reformulate its Tilt and Bud Extra drinks to remove the stimulants, part of a settlement with 11 attorneys general.

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NY raising the price of raising a glass

New York State is so strapped for cash, Gov. David Patterson is dusting off a lot of old ideas to raise money. Among his proposals for the new year, which still need to be debated and voted on by the state legislature, are numerous ones that will affect the beverage consuming habits of state residents.

Chief among them is his proposal to allow sales of wine in grocery stores, which would put New York on the same page as 35 other states that already allow it. Until now, strong lobbying by liquor store owners and their allies in state government has kept the lucrative slice of the market all to themselves. The usual posturing and debating now will ensue as the matter is debated.

Other beverage-related plans in Patterson's 2009-10 budget proposal:

• An increase in the excise tax on wine and beer from 18.9 cents a gallon for wine and 24 cents a gallon for beer to 51 cents a gallon for both.

• Increasing the tax on flavored malt liquors.

• Raising the sales tax on fruit drinks and non-diet sodas with less than 70% fruit juice by 18%.

Paterson delivered a balanced Executive Budget, more than one month prior to the State constitutional deadline, which would eliminate the largest budget deficit in state history -- a $1.7 billion current-year shortfall and a $13.7 billion 2009-10 deficit.

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Study: Teen alcohol use down

The use of alcohol by teens has declined considerably since recent peaks in use were reached in the mid-1990s, according to the just-released 34th annual national survey in the Monitoring the Future series conducted by scientists at the University of Michigan’s Institute for Social Research. .

Thus, alcohol has moved in parallel with illicit drug use to a considerable degree, the investigators note. The 30-day prevalence of use (reporting drinking an alcoholic beverage at least once in the 30 days prior to the survey) has fallen by 40% among eighth graders since their peak level in 1996.

The proportional declines since recent peak rates are smaller for the older students, nearly one-third for 10th graders and one-sixth for 12th graders. The upper grades showed continuing declines in use this year, but the investigators caution that the decline in 10th grade is likely exaggerated because the random sampling process yielded a few schools in the 10th-grade sample this year that had unusually low rates of alcohol use (including two schools with high proportions of Mormons).
Thirty-day prevalence now stands at 16%, 29% and 43% for the three grades surveyed -- eighth, ninth and 10th.

The greater long-term decline in use among eighth graders may well reflect the greater decline in their reported availability of alcohol. While there has been some decline in reported availability among the upper grades, eighth graders have shown by far the greatest decline. In 1996, 75% thought they could get alcohol if they wanted some, whereas by 2008 the percentage had fallen to 64.

How it works: Monitoring the Future has been funded under a series of competing, investigator-initiated research grants from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, part of the National Institutes of Health. Surveys of nationally representative samples of American high school seniors were begun in 1975, making the Class of 2008 the 34th such class surveyed. Surveys of eighth and 10th graders were added to the design in 1991, making the 2008 nationally representative samples the 18th such classes surveyed.

Sample sizes in 2008 are 16,253 eighth graders in 144 schools, 15,518 tenth graders in 122 schools, and 14,577 twelfth graders in 120 schools, for a total of 46,348 students in 386 secondary schools. The samples are drawn separately at each grade level to be representative of students in that grade in public and private secondary schools across the coterminous United States. Schools are selected with probability proportionate to their estimated class size.

The study covers alcohol, drug use, and other addictive and illicit substances. Click here for a full summary.

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Homebrewers group turns 30

Thirty years ago Sunday, Denver brewing enthusiast Charlie Papazian (right) founded the American Homebrewers Association.

In thinking back over three decades, Papazian, writing in Examiner.com / New York, says:

"I can remember that day on December 7, 1978. I went to pick up 2,000 of our newly published Zymurgy magazine. I loaded my 1969 Toyota Corona. It was snowing with one foot of snow already on the ground and still coming down. With my co-founder friend Charlie Matzen we rose to the challenges then and for many years thereafter.

"Several homebrewing volunteers showed up at the house. We hand labeled and organized our first mailing of AHA's Volume 1, Number 1 issue of Zymurgy. There was a core group of about 800 homebrewers in the Boulder/Denver, Colorado, area. The rest we were mailing to homebrew shops around the country. The names and addresses of the shops were gleaned from finger leafing through city yellow page directories in the local library one volume at a time. ...

"It makes me thirsty just thinking how labor intensive things were back in those days. The good genie had been released. Zymurgy continues to be published and the American Homebrewers Association champions, promotes and protects the interests of homebrewers and homebrewing."

[Go here for the rest of his commentary.]

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75 years since The Noble Experiment fizzled

There is something about Americans that requires special treatment of anniversaries ending in the numbers 0 and 5.

Rarely do we make a big deal about the fourth anniversary, or the ninth, or even the 24th of some event. Ah, but let us get busy when it comes to the fifth, 10th or 25th.

So, imagine all the hoopla that will be going on around the country tomorrow, Friday, December 5 -- the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Let the happy hours begin!

Officially, the prohibition on the manufacture and sale of alcoholic beverages, with a rare few licensed exceptions, was a result of the National Prohibition Act of 1919 -- commonly called the Volstead Act, after U.S. Rep. Andrew J. Volstead, R-Minnesota, chairman of the Judiciary Committee and sponsor of the bill that went into effect in 1920.

This came about in a period in our history in which religious organizations and anti-drinking societies abounded and had plenty of political clout. Chief among them were the American Temperance Society, the Women's Christian Temperance Union and the Anti-Saloon League, all of which had gained phenomenal political clout.

According to the National Archives, "Between 1905 and 1917, various states imposed laws prohibiting the manufacture and sale of intoxicating beverages. ... In 1917, the House of Representatives wanted to make Prohibition the 18th Amendment to the Constitution. Congress sent the amendment to the states for ratification, where it needed three-fourths approval. The amendment stipulated a time limit of seven years for the states to pass this amendment. In just 13 months enough states said 'yes' to the amendment that would prohibit the manufacture, sale, and transportation of alcoholic liquors.

"The amendment worked at first, liquor consumption dropped, arrests for drunkenness fell, and the price for illegal alcohol rose higher than the average worker could afford. Alcohol consumption dropped by 30% and the United States Brewers' Association admitted that the consumption of hard liquor was off 50% during Prohibition. These statistics however, do not reflect the growing disobedience toward the law and law enforcement.

"The intensity of the temperance advocates was matched only by the inventiveness of those who wanted to keep drinking. Enforcing Prohibition proved to be extremely difficult. The illegal production and distribution of liquor, or bootlegging, became rampant, and the national government did not have the means or desire to try to enforce every border, lake, river, and speakeasy in America. In fact, by 1925 in New York City alone there were anywhere from 30,000 to 100,000 speakeasy clubs.

"The demand for alcohol was outweighing (and out-winning) the demand for sobriety. People found clever ways to evade Prohibition agents. They carried hip flasks, hollowed canes, false books, and the like. While Prohibition assisted the poor factory workers who could not afford liquor, all in all, neither federal nor local authorities would commit the resources necessary to enforce the Volstead Act. For example, the state of Maryland refused to pass any enforcement issue. Prohibition made life in America more violent, with open rebellion against the law and organized crime."

Finally, the political pendulum swung far enough in favor of ridding the nation of what came to be called by some "The Noble Experiment." As many anti-Prohibition organizations popped up as had anti-drinking groups. The Democratic Party platform in the 1932 election included an anti-Prohibition plank and Franklin D. Roosevelt ran for the presidency promising repeal, which occurred on December 5, 1933.

The popular vote for repeal of prohibition was 74% in favor, 26% opposed. Thus, by a 3-to-1 margin, the American people rejected Prohibition. Only two states opposed repeal.

Crowds raised glasses and sang "Happy Days are Here Again!" and President Roosevelt, referring to what he called "The damnable affliction of Prohibition," sipped a martini at the stroke of midnight, what was widely reported as the first legal cocktail since Prohibition began.

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'Space beer' a reality

Back in May I reported that Sapporo, the Japanese brewer, was planning a test beer made from barley grown in space.

Now I can report it is a fait accompli.

Sapporo today announced it has produced the world's first "space beer," using grain grown in a Russian laboratory on board the International Space Station.

The company said it has brewed just 100 litres, none of which will be put up for sale. Instead, 30 people will be chosen by lottery to sample a few millilitres each of the beer in January. The rest will be used for research.

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Plan your Repeal celebration

December 5 will mark the 75th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition. Throughout the alcoholic drinks industry, parties, gimmicks and general hoopla will ensue.

If you're interested in an update on your Prohibition, Repeal or current alcohol laws information, or want to host your own Repeal Party, go to ProhibitionRepeal.com for some help.

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Wood & Barrel Beer awards released

Three Floyds Brewing may not be a household name nationally, but everyone knew it at the 6th annual Festival of Wood & Barrel Aged Beer that just wrapped up in Chicago.

The country's first and largest beer festival dedicated to the art of wood and barrel aging played to sellout crowd over two sessions, with attendees sampling 113 different beers from 41 breweries in 14 states.

Three Floyds, of Munster, IN, took best-in-show honors with its Behemoth Barleywine, while Lunar Brewing,, of Villa Park, IL, claimed the second spot with Barrel Aged Batch 500 Imperial IPA.

Go here for the complete list of award winners.

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Brits' iconic pubs on the way out

As the old phrase goes, there will always be an England. However, it won't always be the same England.

Right now, one of the country's greatest icons, the local pub, is in trouble. Five British pubs go out of business every day, according to the British Beer & Pub Association, as the weak economy continues to affect all aspects of life.

Beer sales at pubs, known as "on-trade,'' fell 8.1% in the third quarter. Translated into actual drinks, that's a reduction of 1.1 million pints a day. That's a direct reflection of the fact that the British economy contracted last quarter for the first time in 16 years.

I reported on this same problem earlier this year, and the latest report offers no improvement.

Beer at the locals is much more expensive than buying beer "off-trade," that is in grocery and liquor stores, where 45% of all beer is sold. However, sales there also have declined, 6% in the last quarter, according to the BBPA.

Spirits, which traditionally sell better in stores than in pubs, have a better outlook. Industry analysts say this is because spirits purchasers tend to be more affluent.

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NYC home to world's first organic bar

You've got to love a restaurant whose motto is "Changing the world one meal at a time." That goes for its cocktail list, too.

The venue is GustOrganics, a New York City cocktail lounge and restaurant (519 Avenue of the Americas at 14th Street). It claims to be the nation's first fully certified such establishment, and has the credentials to support it:

• All dishes made only with organic U.S. Department of Agriculture certified Ingredients.
• Certified organic by the Northeast Organic Farming Association of New York.
• Certified green restaurant by the Green Restaurant Association.

But above all, for the purposes of what this site deals with, GustOrganics is the world’s first USDA certified organic bar.

Alberto Gonzalez (seen above), a native of Argentina, is the owner of GustOrganics. He notes that all drinks -- hot, cold and alcoholic -- are free from chemicals, hormones, antibiotics, artificial flavors and drink enhancers.

"We have only USDA certified organic spirits, wines and beers," he said. "All these products are produced according to the USDA's National Organic Program. On top of this, our cocktails are made featuring fresh organic fruits and vegetables. ...

"The only two ingredients that are not organic are the water and salt because they are minerals and by definition cannot be organic. We use sun-dried sea salt only and that means no additives. We have our pure water that is New York City water run through a UV lamp that kills all the bacteria and after that we run it through a top notch purification system that takes out all the bad metals, keeping the good minerals."

The signature cocktails at GustOrganics are priced in the $12-$14 range, typical for Manhattan drinks. Some of the top sellers:

• Dulce de Leche Martini: dulce de leche, espresso coffee and vodka.
• Pura Vida Daiquiri: strawberries, bananas and rum.
• Fresquito: fresh mangos, fresh squeezed orange juice and vodka.

What made Gonzalez decided to establish a base for his organic foodie and drinks efforts in Greenwich Village?

“New York is one of the most sophisticated societies in the world, but I didn’t like the food," he says. "It wasn’t fresh. When I used to stay here for business, I noticed I was more tired, lacked energy, and gained a lot of weight. I realized I took for granted the freshness and quality of the food in Argentina.

"I developed this restaurant with New Yorkers. They are the ones who helped shape this idea.”

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Brooklyn Brewery pulls bottle design

From the Gothamist.com Web site:

Brooklyn Brewery found themselves in an unlikely battle recently against the Trappist monks of Belgium. Who, apparently, you do NOT mess with.

CityRoom reports that BB owner Steve Hindy started making a refermented ale called Brooklyn Local 1, which borrowed a method from the monks. But the problem was in the design of the bottle he used for it:

"An amber bottle design featuring a double embossed ring at the base of the neck. It was not unlike the single-ringed bottle used by the Westmalle Abbey in Belgium and by the New Belgium Brewing Company of Fort Collins, CO."

First his friend Kim Jordan, owner of the New Belgium, warned him of her "protracted negotiations with the monks of Westmalle on the use of a ringed bottle in the United States ... . She told him it was her duty under the partnership to defend the trademark."

Hindy soon backed down, took a loss of $60,000 and noted of the monks: “God is on their side."

However, it looks like the press images that got out there still include the old design. Developing ... like dark clouds of a wrathful God.

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Miller flops in the UK

Miller Beer will be withdrawn from sale in the United Kingdom early next year.

Scottish and Newcastle (S&N) has reached agreement with Miller Brands UK to end the contract to brew, market and distribute Miller Beer. S&N brewed the brand under license from its American owner, Miller Brewing Co.

What happened? A joint review said, according to a statement issued by the two entities, "It no longer has a viable long-term role to play in either company’s beer portfolio/”

Miller Beer was first launched in the UK in the late 1980s as Miller Lite, relaunched as Miller Pilsner in the early '90s, and simply as Miller Beer in the late '90s. It has experienced double-digit sales declines in recent years.

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Pedaling to drinkable satisfaction

Oh, those Austrians.

Not only did they give us such treats as Mozart, Schwarzenegger, Swarovsky crystal and some great pastries, now some of their "scientists" have come up with this gizmo.

It's a heat pump connected to an exercise bike. You put a can of beer -- or, one presumes, any other beverage -- into the copper coil and start pedalling.

If you want a hot drink, put the beverage into the other coil and, voila!, as the Austrians don't say.

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Mmmm, North Carolina sake

Asheville, NC. America's sake capital?

That may be stretching possibilities, but you have to start somewhere. So, Asheville brewer Mike Karnowski is setting out to make a variety of sakes, seasonal and otherwise.

Karnowski, assistant brewmaster at Green Man Brewing, has a background that includes rum making as well as beer. Sake seems a good next step since some regard the rice-based drink of Japanese origin as as wine, some as beer.

The details are here, on the Asheville Citizen-Times newspaper's Web site.

SakéOne, an Oregon operation, claims to be the only American-owned and -operated sake maker in the country.

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Poppy beer brew-ha-ha, Part 2

Back in September, I shared a story from the San Jose, CA, newspaper about a local graduate student who was arrested for using poppies in making some home brew.

Here is the outcome of that case in court.

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Coney Island line adds seasonal lager

The latest beer in the sideshow-inspired line of Coney Island Craft Lagers from the Schmaltz Brewing Co. is here. It's Coney Island Freaktoberfest Blood Red Lager, timed for Halloween.

The gimmick-centric brewer, which styles its products as "He-Brew, The Chosen Beer," says "Proceeds help Coney Island USA, a 501(c)(3) Arts Non-Profit fulfill its mission to defend the honor of lost forms of American popular culture in Brooklyn’s historic Coney Island neighborhood."

Normally I don't like to automatically parrot a company's line explaining its products, but these guys try so hard it's a shame to rewrite them. For example:

"A tasty treat for Octoberfest through Halloween, Coney Island Freaktoberfest is artfully crafted to lure the spirit’s deepest rapture, conjured to exorcise the grim horrors of the armies of soulless Lagers everywhere."

The new brew has been supplied in a limited supply of 22-ounce bottles to specialty shops and select bars nationwide.

Shmaltz’s next seasonal brew, Coney Island Human Blockhead Tough-As-Nails Strong Lager, will be released in January. Its line includes three year-round products: Coney Island Albino Python White Lager, Coney Island Sword Swallower Steel Hop Lager, and its flagship Coney Island Lager.

Shmaltz Brewing Co. was established in San Francisco in 1996. Production then was moved to the Mendocino Brewing Co.’s Saratoga Springs, NY, brewery.

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The annals of gluttony

Forget the Coney Island Hot Dog Eating Contest. That's peanuts by comparison to what just went on at Denny's Beer Barrel Pub in Uniontown, PA.

Brad Sciullo, who works at an Italian restaurant, became the first person to conquer the Beer Barrel Belly Bruiser, a 15-pound hamburger with 5.2 pounds of toppings: lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, onions, banana peppers and a cup each of mayonnaise, ketchup, mustard and relish.

It took him 4 hours, 39 minutes to chomp it all down. Onlookers raised mugs of beer in salute to the feat.

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Iconic Peruvian beer reaches US, or part of it

Talk about a small test market. MillerCoors has chosen Rhode Island as the entry point for Cusqueña, the Peruvian beer that is one of Latin America's favorites.

"Consumers around the world have embraced Cusqueña and we're eager to get this product in the hands of American beer connoisseurs who are intrigued by Cusqueña's interesting origins," Mike Browne, a MillerCoors vicepresident, said in a statement.

"Cusqueña isn't like anything beer drinkers in the U.S. have tried before. We're sure that the beer's quality and crisp flavor will create a demand that will reach beyond Rhode Island in a short amount of time."

The brew is an all-malt lager that is the best-selling premium beer in Peru. It is known for using Saaz hops and pure glacier water from a source at 18,000 feet in the Andes Mountains.

The brand was created by German entrepreneurs who founded the Cervesur Brewery in 1908 in Cusco, seat of the ancient Incan empire. The brewery is located near Machu Picchu. It is brewed in accordance with German Purity Law. Only water, malted barley, hops and yeast are used, and there are no additives or preservatives.

Cusqueña received gold medals at the Monde Selection, Selection and Quality Awards in 2007 and 2008 and is a seven-time winner of superior award ratings in international taste competitions, including the "Superior Taste Award" given by the International Taste and Quality Institute of Belgium.

It is being sold in six-packs of 11.2-ounce bottles. It has 130 calories per 11.2-ounce serving and 4.8% alcohol by volume.

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Beer Fest hands out 222 medals

The 27th edition of the Great American Beer Festival that drew 46,000 attendees over the three-day weekend in Denver produced 222 medals for beers in 75 style categories.

In addition, individual breweries and brewpubs were selected for awards.

• Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year: Anheuser-Busch Inc., Doug Muhleman.
• Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year: Pyramid Breweries Inc., Simon Pesch.
• Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year: AleSmith Brewing Co., AleSmith Brewing Team.

• Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year: Rock Bottom Brewing, Rock Bottom Brewing Team.
• Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year: Redwood Brewing Co., Bill Wamby.

The gold medalists by category:

• American-Style Cream Ale or Lager: Lone Star, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL.
• American-Style Wheat Beer: Pyramid Crystal Wheat Ale, Pyramid Breweries Inc., Seattle, WA.
• American-Style Hefeweizen: Henry Weinhard’s Hefeweizen, MillerCoors, Milwaukee, WI.
• Fruit or Vegetable Beer: Pyramid Apricot Ale, Pyramid Breweries Inc., Seattle, WA.
• Herb and Spice or Chocolate Beer: Russian Roulette, Minneapolis Town Hall Brewery, Minneapolis, MN.
• Coffee Flavored Beer: Java the Hut, CB & Potts Restaurant & Brewery (Flatirons - Westminster), Broomfield, CO.
• Specialty Beer: Red & White, Dogfish Head Brewery, Milton, DE.
• Rye Beer: Roggenbier, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, Media, Wilmington, DE.
• Specialty Honey Beer: Honey Lager, Capitol City Brewing Co. - Capitol Hill, Washington, DC.
• Session Beer: Unfiltered Wheat Beer, Boulevard Brewing Co., Kansas City, MO.
• Other Strong Beer: Derail Ale, Durango Brewing Co., Durango, CO.
• Experimental Beer: Arquebus, Cambridge Brewing Co., Cambridge, MA.
• Gluten-Free Beer: Redbridge, Anheuser-Busch, Inc., St. Louis, MO.
• American-Belgo Style Ale: Xtra Gold, Captain Lawrence Brewing Co., Pleasantville, NY.
• American-Style or German-Style Sour Ale: The Dissident, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR.
• Wood- and Barrel-Aged Beer: Old Jack, Ram Restaurant & Brewery (Indianapolis), Indianapolis, IN.
• Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer: Bourbon Barrel Barleywine, Central Waters Brewing Co., Amherst, WI.
• Wood- and Barrel-Aged Sour Beer: Beekeeper, Bullfrog Brewery, Williamsport, PA.
• Aged Beer: Alaskan Smoked Porter 2006, Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK.
• Kellerbier/Zwickelbier: Helles Keller, Fredericksburg Brewing Co., Fredericksburg, TX.
• Smoke-Flavored Beer: Rauch Bier, Sly Fox Brewing Co., Royersford, PA.
• International-Style Pilsener: Session Premium Lager, Full Sail Brewing Co., Hood River, OR.
• German-Style Pilsener: Kaiser Pilsner, Pennsylvania Brewing Co., Pittsburgh, PA.
• Bohemian-Style Pilsener: Pleasantville Pils, Durango Brewing Co., Durango, CO.
• Munich-Style Helles: Himmelbrau Helles, Laurelwood Brewing Co., Portland, OR.
• Dortmunder or German-Style Oktoberfest: Rolling Thunder Dortmunder, Snake River Brewing Jackson,
Jackson, WY.
• America-Style Light Lager: Coors Light, MillerCoors, Milwaukee, WI.
• American-Style Lager or Premium Lager: Olympia, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL.
• American-Style Specialty Lager: Hurricane High Gravity, Anheuser-Busch, Inc., St. Louis, MO.
• Vienna-Style Lager: Vienna Red Lager, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant - West Chester,
Wilmington, DE.
• German-Style Märzen: Dogtoberfest, Flying Dog Brewery, Frederick, MD.
• American-Style Amber Lager: BJ’s Oktoberfest, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery - Chandler, Huntington
Beach, CA.
• European-Style Dunkel: Munich Dark, Redwood Brewing Co., Flint, MI.
• German-Style Schwarzbier: B3K, Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver, CO.
• Bock: Goat Rancher, The SandLot, Denver, CO.
• German-Style Strong Bock: Capital Autumnal Fire, Capital Brewery Co., Inc., Middleton, WI.
• Baltic-Style Porter: Kick in the Baltic Porter, Bluegrass Brewing Co., Louisville, KY.
• Golden or Blonde Ale: Steelhead Extra Pale Ale, Mad River Brewing Co., Blue Lake, CA.
• German-Style Kölsch: Wind Blown Blonde, Stewart’s Brewing Co., Bear, DE.
• English-Style Summer Ale: Surfer’s Summer Ale, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, OR.
• Classic English-Style Pale Ale: Full Sail Pale Ale, Full Sail Brewing Co., Hood River, OR.
• American-Style Pale Ale: Mission Street Pale, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA.
• American-Style Strong Pale Ale: Hop Bomb, Rock Bottom Brewing, Louisville, CO.
• American-Style India Pale Ale: Union Jack IPA, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA.
• Imperial or Double India Pale Ale: Hopnotic 2X IPA, San Diego Brewing Co., San Diego, CA.
• American-Style Amber/Red Ale: Dry Hopped Red, Rogue Ales, Portland, OR.
• Imperial or Double Red Ale: Rock Hopera Imperial IPA, Vino’s Pizza Pub Brewery, Little Rock, AR.
• Bitter or Pale Mild Ale: Drop Top, Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., Portland, OR.
• Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter: Bachelor ESB, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR.
• Scottish-Style Ale: Highland Courage, Rock Bottom Brewery - Bethesda, Bethesda, MD.
• Irish-Style Red Ale: Red Rocks Red Ale, Rock Bottom Brewing, Louisville, CO.
• English-Style Dark Mild Ale or Brown Ale: Sweet George’s Brown, Dillon DAM Brewery, Dillon, CO.
• American-Style Brown Ale: Kick-Ass Brown, C.H. Evans Brewing at the Albany Pump Station,
Albany, NY.
• German-Style Altbier: The Detroit Dwarf, The Detroit Beer Co., Detroit, MI.
• South German-Style Hefeweizen: Wixa Weiss, Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver, CO.
• German-Style Wheat Ale: I’m Half the Beer I Used to Be, BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery - Chandler,
Huntington Beach, CA.
• Belgian-Style Witbier: Mothership Wit/Organic Wheat Beer, New Belgium Brewing Co.,
Fort Collins, CO.
• French- and Belgian-Style Saison: Saison, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant - West Chester,
Wilmington, DE.
• Belgian- and French-Style Ale: Redemption, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA.
• Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale: Lambic de Hill, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant - Media,
Wilmington, DE.
• Belgian-Style Abbey Ale: Bishop’s Tipple Trippel, Main Street Brewery, Corona, CA.
• Belgian-Style Strong Specialty Ale: Darth Delirium, Moose’s Tooth Brewing Co., Anchorage, AK.
• Brown Porter: BlackWatch Cream Porter, Pyramid Breweries Inc., Seattle, WA.
• Robust Porter: Nolan’s Porter, Barrio Brewing Co., Tucson, AZ.
• Classic irish Style Dry Stout:; Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout, Third Street Aleworks, Santa Rosa, CA.
• Foreign-Style Stout: Whiteface Black Diamond Stout, Great Adirondack Brewing Co.,
Lake Placid, NY.
• American-Style Stout: Terminal Stout, Rock Bottom Brewing, Louisville, CO.
• Sweet Stout: Cream Stout, Redwood Brewing Co., Flint, MI.
• Oatmeal Stout: Oatmeal Stout, Gella’s Diner and Lb. Brewing Co., Hays, KS.
• Imperial Stout: Boris The Crusher Oatmeal-Imperial Stout, Hoppin’ Frog Brewing
Co., Akron, OH.
• Strong Scotch Ale: AleSmith Wee Heavy, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA.
• Old Ale or Strong Ale: AleSmith Decadence Old Ale, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA.
• Barley Wine-Style Ale: Treblehook, Redhook Ales Brewery, Portland, OR.

For those of you who can't get enough of medal news, go to Rick Lyke's blog for every silver, bronze, aluminum, zinc or other medal result.

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Is Slurm headed your way?

The parade of drinks moving from fiction to reality apparently is flowing unabated. This is the third time I've been able to report on such possibilities.

• The first was Pawtucket Patriot Ale from the animated TV series "Family Guy."

• The second was Booty Sweat, the energy drink created in the film "Tropical Thunder."

• Now, Slurm (motto: "It's Highly Addictive"), the official soft drink of the 31st Century, might move from the animated TV series "Futurama" to our very own dimension. Twentieth Century Fox has filed for the "Slurm" trademark which would cover (prepare yourself) "carbonated and non-carbonated soft drinks; fruit drinks; fruit juices; mineral and aerated water; bottled drinking water; energy drinks; syrups and powders for making soft drinks and other beverages, namely soft drinks, fruit drinks and tea; coffee-flavored soft drinks; Ramune (Japanese soda pops); powders used in the preparation of isotonic sports drinks and sports beverages."

I'll keep you posted as any, or all, of these dreams come true.

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A celebri-quote: Dave Peacock

• Dave Peacock is vice president for marketing of Anheuser-Busch, recently purchased by Belgian brewing giant InBev in a controversial deal. He has to market American products from Budweiser but also has to oversee the company's wine and spirits marketing efforts. Advertising Age thinks there's a problem there, and asked Peacock about it specifically.

Q: "You have been dabbling more in spirits, picking up a number of boutique brands. But in (a recent) speech ... you called wine and liquor "the enemy." You said specifically that you could not be "outromanced by wine" or "outfunned by liquor." Those didn't sound like the words of someone who wants to play in that space."

A: "We started looking at liquor and wine a long time ago because of the emerging macro trends [of wine and liquor gaining share from beer]. And we really did believe we owed it to our shareholders to do this [because of consumer trends increasingly favoring spirits].

"We tested some things in liquor. But we started making the decision back in the first quarter of this year that we were probably going to disentangle that. It didn't work really well at the wholesale level. Those brands are marketed very differently than beer. The category is much more fragmented. And, frankly, we see upside in beer. We've seen beer have a little bit of a resurgence."

[Go here for more Celebri-Quotes.]

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Attention home brewers: Beware the poppy

From the San Jose Mercury News:

SANTA CRUZ, CA -- Police raided a Westside house Friday morning where they suspected people were producing opiates and arrested a UC Santa Cruz PhD candidate who said he used dried poppy pods to flavor home-brewed beer a month ago.

"All I did was make a poppy beer," said Chad Renzelman, 28, who was arrested at his Bay Street home Friday. "I spent all morning in jail for brewing beer. I had no idea what I was doing was illegal."

But police reported that Renzelman, who studies chemistry, allegedly had used a chemical process to extract opium from poppy plant pods, then converted the opium to morphine. Morphine is the active opiate in heroin.

Police reported finding a pressurized canister of homemade beer laced with morphine in Renzelman's garage, as well as lab equipment contaminated with opium alkaloids and other hazardous chemicals.

Renzelman said in a phone interview Friday that he bought the dried poppy pods on eBay and used them more than a month ago to make beer. He and some friends have a "home-brew co-op" and brew beer together on the weekends.

---

Go here for the rest of the story.

---

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Alcohol energy drink debut halted

It obviously was targeted at the younger set, if its cartoonish Web site -- a portion of which is shown here -- is any indication.

That didn't set well with a lot of law enforcement types, and attorneys general from 25 states asked MillerCoors to keep its new caffeinated, alcohol-laced energy drink, off the market.

The product, Sparks Red, contains 8% alcohol. It was scheduled for an October 1 launch. The company said in a statement Friday that is will hold off on the debut even though it had said as late as Wednesday that it would proceed with the launch.

The attorneys general made the request because, they said, young people would be particularly vulnerable to the combined affects of caffeine and alcohol.

It should be noted that the federal government had earlier approved the Sparks Red formula.

The pullback seems to be a developing trend in the beverage industry. In June, Anheuser-Busch said it would reformulate its Tilt and Bud Extra brands to remove the stimulants they contain. The action was take as part of a settlement with 11 attorneys general who had objected to the drinks.

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National Beer Museum opens

If you're interested in learning all about the beer industry in the U.S., what better place to visit than the National Brewery Museum?

Of course, you'll have to get directions to little Potosi, WI, to do that. (Hint: Click here.) That's where the museum recently opened, in the setting of the Potosi Brewing Co. building that operated from 1852 to 1972.

The museum is a joint venture of the Potosi Brewery Foundation and the American Breweriana Association. Among its content are collections of beer bottles and cans, advertising materials, glasses, trays and other memorabilia.

The museum opened in June and is located within the historical setting of the Potosi Brewing Company building that operated from 1852 to 1972.

The restoration project began in 1995 when Gary David bought the ruined buildings that cover nearly a square block. Restoration cost $7 million and was handled through the two organizations, donations and grants.

The facility also houses the Great River Road Interpretive Center and the Potosi Brewing Co. Transportation Museum. And, beer again is being brewed in the facility for five labels: Good Old Potosi, Potosi Pure Malt Cave Ale, Snake Hollow IPA, Holiday Bock and Potosi Steamer Hefe Weiss. The company also brews root beer.

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All-American Bud finally goes ale

Budweiser beer is in the process of becoming a Belgian-owned product, but that isn't stopping brewer Anheuser-Busch from emphasizing its roots with its newest product, Budweiser American Ale.

Ale, which differs from beer in that it is a warmer-fermenting product that is a touch fruitier than beer, is a growing part of the domestic market, unlike in the UK, for example, where it is traditionally been hugely popular. Among the top American craft brewers, most have had their best success with ales as their lead product.

This is the first ale in Budweiser's history.

A-B is in the process of being purchased by InBev, the Belgian brewing giant.

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A mistake anyone could make

When patrons showed up at the Windsor Castle pub in Maidenhead, England, on Thursday to watch England vs. Croatia in a World Cup soccer qualifier and quaff beer, they had to be patient. Not with the TV set, but with the drink supply.

Turns out a truck carrying 12 barrels of beer had mistakenly tried to deliver the load to a place five miles away. That other Windsor Castle. The one with a queen in it.

Once guards at Queen Elizabeth's abode determined that no such shipment was expected, they called around and found out the pub was in need of its beer.

"It was a silly mistake. These things can happen. The barrels did eventually arrive, about three hours late, so there was no problem," pub landlord Misko Coric told reporters.

"We have received mail for the royal household here before, but I think this is the first time they have received anything meant for us," he said.

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Philippines beer fest claims world records

More than 15,000 people attended the annual Oktoberfest that began in Manila, The Philippines, last Friday.

While that beat the arrival of October by 25 days, it was intentional scheduling to create a 120-day Oktoberfest to be held in several major cities rather than the traditional 16-day event. That may not be a record in itself, but the event's organizers are claiming a pair of world records:

• The longest bar.
• The largest toast.

According to the Philippine Daily Inquirer, the length of San Miguel Avenue in Mandaluyong City was blocked off and lined with steel sheets to form a bar 603.5 meters long. The existing Guinness Book of World Records record is 220 meters, set in Taiwan.

The current record of 13,000 guests toasting with a glass of beer is held by las Vegas. The Manila event got 15,000 to do the same.

Now what's left in the process if to have an independent third party, usually Guinness, check and verify the statistics.

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Letters: Can I get Palestinian beer here?

Mr. Dowd:

Do you know if Taybeh Beer from Palestine is available from any distributors in the U.S.?

Thanks, Steve Beikirch

Steve:

I contacted the company, which began brewing in 1999, and was told that although there are no U.S. distributors right now, Taybeh hopes to eventually enter the U.S. market.

The company is run by Nadim Khoury, a native of Palestine who lived for many years in Boston. Thus, he knows a bit about the American consumer market.

Taybeh, which has a line of three bottled beers plus a draft version, is named for the village in which it is brewed; the name means "delicious" in Arabic.

However, given the volatile political climate in Palestine, as well as the usual red tape getting approval to distribute an alcoholic beverage, I'd be hopeful but not expect any immediate results as far as expanding distribution here.

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NYC Craft Beer Week looms

There's always a lot to do in New York City. On September 12 through 21 there will be even more. That's when Craft Beer Week will be held, highlighted by the good old-fashioned Bar Crawls.

The citywide series will showcase beers of the city and the surrounding region. The crawls are split into nine different neighborhoods in Brooklyn and Manhattan, with four to six bars on each route.

Tickets for the crawls are availabile online.

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iPhone app showdown: Beer vs. Wine vs. Cocktails

Camper English, a San Francisco drinks writer, often lets his curiosity lead him in interesting directions. The latest started out, he explains, when "I wanted to see what booze applications were available for the iPhone, so I searched for beer, wine, and cocktails."

What did he find? Visit his Alcademics blog and enjoy.

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Maine brewers pick president

Fred Forsley (right) has been elected president of the Maine Brewers’ Guild.

Forsley, president of Shipyard Brewing Co. in Portland, succeeds Ed Stebbins, vice president / brewmaster of Gritty McDuff’'s, the Portland brew pub.

The guild is a non-profit corporation dedicated to promoting the craft brewed industry in Maine. The state is home to more than 20 breweries which produce more than 100 different brands.

Forsley's company is the largest brewery in Maine. It grew out of the Kennebunkport Brewing Co. and Federal Jack’s Restaurant and Brew Pub which began in 1992.

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Schlitz: The return of an icon

When I was a teenager, one of our fads was to use a beer tap handle on our car's gearshift lever. Mine said "Schlitz."

That wasn't nostalgic at the time. Schlitz, which called itself "The beer that made Milwaukee famous," was the top-selling beer for much of the first six decades of the 20th Century. In the latter half, some bad business decisions and some tinkering with the recipe spelled disaster for the taste and, ultimately, the brand.

Pabst Brewing Co., which bought the rights to the Schlitz name and original recipe from Stroh's in 1999, is trying for a comeback of the once-icon beer, using the old formula and lots of tips from former brewmasters.

"We believe that Schlitz is, if not 'the,' one of the most iconic brands of the 20th century," Pabst President Kevin Kotecki told the Associated Press. "And there's still a lot of people who have very positive, residual memories about their experience. For many of them it was the first beer they drank and we wanted to give it back to those consumers."

So far, local consumer reaction is strong. Many Milwaukee area stores have sold out of Schlitz, and some are limiting purchases.

For a bit more on the history of Schlitz, go here.

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Be'er No. 1! Be'er No. 1!

According to a new Gallup poll, beer's lead over wine and spirits has returned to double-digits for the first time since 2002, particularly among adults between the ages of 30 and 49 who tried wine for a few years then shifted back to beer, according to a new Gallup Poll.

The firm's annual "Consumption Habits" poll shows that in combined data from its 2004 and 2005 surveys, drinkers aged 30 to 49 were about as likely to prefer wine as beer. Now, drinkers in this age bracket have shifted back to beer, with an average of 47% in the combined 2007-2008 data saying they most often drink beer.

Drinking preferences among adults ages 21-29 have remained stable in recent years, with the majority showing a wide preference for beer.

Beer continues to represent the largest segment in the alcohol beverage category in volume and dollar sales, accounting for 56% of all alcohol beverage servings.

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'Feminine' vs. 'masculine' beer

Bob Skilnick, the Chicago beer writer/historian, frequently comes up with interesting points of view about companies and products in the industry. His latest is titled "Betting The House On A Beer Made For Women — Recipe For Disaster?"

Writes Bob:

"One of the beer’s owners describes it as 'feminine tasting' while noting that men who would be caught with one of these dear things in their hand are " … getting in touch with their feminine side.' Thinking of the old Schlitz marketing disaster, known as the 'Drink Schlitz or I’ll Kill You' campaign, I’m thinking 'Drink Honey Amber Rose or I’ll Kiss You' would make a darling tagline."

You can read Bob's entire commentary here.

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Aussie brew seeks more U.S. acceptance

Always assuming there can't be too many brands on the market, another Australian brewer is putting new effort to push its beers in the U.S. where just 85,000 cases of them are sold annually.

The current target: New York City.

Coopers Brewery's export manager Terry Minkin has moved to the Big Apple to begin pushing his line. Why there?

"In the five boroughs of New York there are 63,000 liquor licences," he said.

Coopers is, of course, not totally new to the U.S. It has been sold here for 25 years and is available in every state, with New York, California, Texas and Illinois its top sellers. But, in a ridiculously competitive field, "We're about a mile wide, but an inch deep," says Glenn Cooper, company chairman and marketing director. "Not enough people know that we are there."

So, if you begin seeing more mentions of Coopers, you'll know the push has come to your town.

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GQ anoints America's 20 'best' cocktails

While I admire its aspiration to be the lead dog in the pack of magazines telling men how to dress, eat, drink and behave, I have difficulty with GQ because it insists we all should be untucked, unshaven, uncombed and generally unimpressive looking in a world in which women are expected to be sleek, stylish and perfectly coiffed.

GQ's idea of what a man should look like is precisely what we all laughed at when we were in our 20s.

That aside, any magazine that goes to the trouble of coming up with an illustrated guide to the 20 "best" cocktails currently being served in America has to be given its props.

Lest you think all such drinks are pricey, one that particularly caught my eye was The Margaveza (seen here) from a Brooklyn, NY, spot called Daddy’s. It's described as "a rock ’n’ roll bar tucked into an obscure block of Williamsburg, Brooklyn, that’s staffed and patronized by obscure Brooklyn musicians."

The Margaveza was invented by Eric Copeland, of the band Black Dice when he was a bartender there. Says GQ's Will Welch, "It’s wildly simple: a 12-ounce bottle of Sol poured into a pint glass, topped with four ounces of frozen margarita, and garnished with a lime. All for five bucks. Why didn’t anyone think of this before?"

You can go to GQ's Men's Style.com site for the full particulars on the list, and some good pix to go with them.

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Coney Island beers a charitable effort

Let me say up front that I have never sampled any product from the Shmaltz Brewing Co.

Let me also say that I am fascinated by the naming protocols the Brooklyn, NY, brewer uses.

Its signature beer is called "HE'BREW -- The Chosen Beer." Clever stuff. And now it has nationally launched a line of five sideshow-inspired Coney Island Craft Lagers.

Three of them will be produced year-round: Coney Island Lager (5.8% alc), Albino Python white lager (6%) and Sword Swallower steel hop lager (6.8%) Two will be what the company calls "seasonal curiosities": Human Blockhead Tough-As-Nails Strong Lager (8.8%). this summer and only on draft in New York City, and Freaktoberfest blood red lager (6.66%) for Halloween in October.

According to Schmaltz proprietor Jeremy Cowan, proceeds from the beer sales will help Coney Island USA, a 501(c)(3) Arts Non-Profit in its efforts to preserve various forms of culture and popular arts in Brooklyn's historic Coney Island neighborhood.

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After A-B, what's next for voracious InBev?

From Business Week.com:

InBev's $52 billion acquisition of Anheuser-Busch seems like the merger to end all beer mergers, the climax of several decades of industry consolidation. What could possibly top it?

Well, how's this: A few years from now, after it has digested Anheuser-Busch, InBev joins up with other brewers such as Heineken and Carlsberg and makes a joint bid for giant SABMiller. The companies carve up SABMiller's portfolio, with InBev taking over SAB brands in regions such as Africa, where it is weak.

The scenario may sound far-fetched, but analyst Gerard Rijk at ING Wholesale Banking in Amsterdam points out that SABMiller, which markets Miller beer in the U.S., is the one big brewer still vulnerable to takeover. Heineken's family owners are unlikely to sell, and Carlsberg is controlled by a foundation. The London- and Johannesburg-listed shares of SABMiller, which will lose its status as the world's biggest brewer after the InBev-Anheuser deal, are widely held.

"The big one that's left that can be taken over is SABMiller," Rijk says.

(Go here for the rest of the story.

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What $15 million will get you

This Guinness commercial reportedly cost in the neighborhood of $15 million. That's quite a pricey neighborhood.

See if you think it was worth the money.



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North American Brewers' contest winners

The North American Brewers Association's annual competition is an object lesson that a brew is not just a brew.

With 27 categories, which have as many as five subcategories each, the judges have their work cut out for them.

Judging is performed in a blind format competition with beers poured in a separate room and provided to the judges in flights according to style. Judging in teams of four, minimum, the judges rank order the top three beers and in some instances award honorable mentions.

• Here's the gold medal list for each subcategory from the recent competition. For the complete medal list, go here.

GERMAN MALTED WHEAT ALES

• Bavarian Style Hefeweizen: Whistler Brewing Co., Whistler Weissbier.
• Dunkel Weizen & C: Kristall Weizen & D: Weizen Bock: Boston Beer, Samuel Adams Longshot Weizenbock.

OTHER GERMAN ALES

• Kölsch: Ram Restaurant & Brewery-Boise, Clearwater Kolsch.
• Alt: Trail Creek Brewing Co., Alchemy Amber.

CONTINENTAL LAGER BEERS

• Munich Helles: Capital Brewing Co., Capital Bavarian Lager.
• Bohemian Pilsner: Hoppers Grill & Brewing Co., This is the Pilsner.
• German Pilsner: Capital Brewing Co., Capital Special Pilsner.
• Dortmunder/Export & E: Vienna: Kona Brewing, Longboard Island Lager.
• Märzen-Oktoberfest: Schooners Grille & Brewery, Oh! Fest!
• Munich Dark: Grupo Modelo, Negra Modelo.
• Schwarzbier (Black Beer): Uinta Brewing Co., Kings Peak.

BOCK BEERS

• Traditional Bock: Boundary Bay Brewing, Dunkles Bock.
• Helles Bock/Maibock: Full Sail Brewing Co., Full Sail LTD 2.
• Doppel Bock & D: Eisbock: Maui Brewing Co., Red Cock Doppel Bock.

ENGLISH BITTER

• Ordinary Bitter: Desert Edge Brewery, Anniversary Amber.
• (Special) Best Bitter: Boundary Bay Brewing, ESB.
• (Extra Special) Strong Bitter ESB: Silver City Brewing Co., Big Daddy's ESB.

PALE ALES

• English Summer Ale: Pike Brewing Co., Pike Naughty Nellie.
• English Pale Ale: Odell Brewing Co., 5 Barrel Pale Ale.
• American Pale Ale: Barley Brown's Brew Pub, Tumble Off Pale Ale.
• American Strong Pale Ale: Rock Bottom-Bellevue, Hop Bomb IPA.
• English-Style India Pale Ale: Kettle House Brewing Co., Double Haul IPA.
• American-Style India Pale Ale: Pelican Pub & Brewery, India Pelican Ale.
• Double/Imperial India Pale Ale: Pizza Port-Carlsbad, Poor Man's IPA.

AMERICAN AMBER OR RED

• American Amber Ale: Hales Brewery, Red Menace.
• American Amber Lager: F.X. Matt Brewing Co., Saranac Adirondack Lager.

SCOTTISH AND IRISH ALES

• Scottish Light & B: Scottish Heavy & C: Scottish Export: Pelican Pub & Brewery, MacPelican's Scottish Style Ale.
• Irish Red Ale: Alaskan Brewing Co., Alaskan Amber.
• Double/Imperial Irish Red Ale: Marin Brewing Co., White Knuckle Double IPA.

BROWN ALES

• English Mild Ale: Flyers Restaurant & Brewery, Barnstormer Brown Ale.
• English Brown Ale: Wolf Rock Brewing, Leroy Brown.
• American Brown Ale: Grand Teton, Bitch Creek.

PORTER

• Brown Porter: Caldera Brewing Co., Caldera Pilot Rock Porter.
• Robust Porter: Kettle House Brewing Co., Olde Bongwater Hemp Porter.

STOUT

• Dry Stout: Bertrams Salmon Valley Brewery, Sacajawea's Stout.
• Sweet Stout & C: Oatmeal Stout: Stone Cellar Brewpub Inc., Stone Cellar Stout.
• Foreign Stout: Caldera Brewing Co., Caldera Smokers Stout.
• American Stout: Barley Brown's Brew Pub, Chaos.
• Imperial Stout: Beer Valley Brewing Co., Black Flag Imperial Stout.

STRONG ALES

• Scotch Ale: Anchor Brewing, Old Foghorn.
• English Old Ale: Boundary Bay Brewing, Old Bounder.
• English Barley Wine: Pelican Pub & Brewery, Stormwatcher's Winterfest.
• American Barley Wine: Alaskan Brewing Co., Alaskan Barley Wine 2007.

NORTH AMERICAN LAGERS

• American Standard Lager: Miller Brewing Co., Miller High Life.
• American Premium Lager: Uinta Brewing Co., Blue Sky Pilsener.
• American Malt Liquors & D: American Specialty Lager: Coors, Keystone Ice.
• American Light Lagers: Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee's Best Light.
• Latin American or Tropical Style Lagers or Ales: Worlds Brews/Industrias La Constancia, Pilsner.

NORTH AMERICAN LIGHT ALES

• Cream Ales: Laughing Dog Brewing Co., Laughing Dog Cream Ale.
• Light Ales: Redhook Ale Brewery, Sunrye Summer Ale.
• Blonde or Golden Ale: Redhook Ale Brewery, Redhook Blonde Ale.

AMERICAN WHEAT BEERS

• American Hefeweizen: Wasatch (Utah Brewers Cooperative), Squatter's Hefeweizen.
• American Style Wheat Beer & C: American Dark Wheat & D: American Dark Hefeweizen: Barley Brown's Brew Pub, Coyote Peak Wheat.

CONTINENTAL WHEAT BEERS

• Belgian Wit (White): Big Bear Brewing Co., Witness.

FLAVORED BEERS

• Herbed/Spiced: Barley Brown's Brew Pub, Hot Blonde.
• Fruit Beers: Water Street Brewery, Raspberry Weiss.
• Honey Beer: Boston Beer Co., Samual Adams Honey Porter.
• Malternatives: Smirnoff, Smirnoff Ice.
• Chili Beer: Water Street Brewing, Sexi Mexi Chili Beso.

SMOKE AND WOOD FLAVORED BEERS

• Smoke Flavored Beer & B: German Style Smoked Beer: Red Rock Brewing Co., Bamberg Rauch Bier.
• Wood Flavored Beer: Harmon Brewing Co., Sasquatch Oak Stout.

BELGIAN AND FRENCH STYLE BEERS

• Dubbel: Ram Restaurant & Brewery-Boise, Dubbel Barrel Belgian Ale.
• Tripel: Redhook Ale Brewery, Triplett's Belgian Tripel.
• Belgian Strong Pale Ale: Pike Brewing Company, Monk's Uncle.
• Belgian Dark Strong Ale: Maui Brewing Co., Father Damien Abbey Ale.

SOUR BEERS

• Flanders Brown Ale & B: Lambic: New Belgium Brewing, La Folie.
• Biére de Garde: Trail Creek Brewing Co., Biere de Garde.
• Saison: Pelican Pub & Brewery, Saison du Pelican.

SPECIALTY AND EXPERIMENTAL BEERS

• Pagosa Brewing Co., CoCoNut PorTeR.

HYBRID BEER STYLES

• California Common & B: Rye Beer: Snake River Brewing/Lander, Rock Chuck Rye.

CIDER

• Draft Cider and Perry & C: Specialty (Flavored) Ciders: Fish Brewing Co., Spire Mountain Apple Cider.

NON-ALCOHOLIC MALT-BASED BEVERAGES

• Anheuser-Busch, O'Doul's.

CARBONATED SOFT DRINKS

• Anheuser-Busch, 180.

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A-B takeover bid heats up

From Forbes.com:

LONDON -- Belgian brewer InBev upped the pressure on its takeover target Anheuser-Busch, but it didn't up its price.

In fact, on Monday it announced it's not only sticking with its all-cash, $46.0 billion buyout bid for Budweiser-brewer Anheuser-Busch, it's going hostile.

The Leuven, Belgium-based brewer said Monday that it would seek to replace Anheuser's board of directors and move ahead with its offer plans, a move seen by market analysts as a way of pushing its counterpart to finally engage in talks.

(Go here for the full story.)

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Today's AP story is old news

If you've been hearing an Associated Press report on local radio and television that sounds very familiar, you're a reader of this site.

The story is that "A Finger Lakes winery is now venturing into beer territory. The Three Brothers Winery in Geneva has set up an offshoot -- the Barley Yard Brewing Co. -- and they're making beer from grapes."

It's a story Dowd's Brews Notebook readers were offered a month ago. If you missed my original story, you can get all the details here.

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Brewers' merger completed

I reported back in November 2007 that two Pacific Northwest breweries have agreed to merge into something called Craft Brewers Alliance.

That merger now has been completed, with Redhook Ale Brewery Inc. of Woodinville, WA, and Widmer Brothers Brewing Co. of Portland, OR, joining in a combined company publicly traded on NASDAQ under the symbol HOOK. Management offices will be in both Portland and Woodinville. Its breweries will be in both cities as well as in Portsmouth, N.H.

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Wine AND beer? What a festival!

You like beer, she likes wines. Or vice-versa. What to do during a busy summer festival season that offers one beverage-centric after another and you can’t hit them all?

Short of going your separate ways, you need to maximize your plannings.

On New York's Long Island, that quandary will be taken care of on August 9 when the “North Fork Craft Beer, BBQ and Wine Festival” is held at the picturesque Martha Clara Vineyard near Jamesport.

In addition to a variety of wines from the host vineyard, breweries listed to provide examples of their products include, in alphabetical order:

Blue Moon
Blue Point Brewing Co.
Boston Beer (Sam Adams)
Boulder Beer Co.
Brickhouse Brewery
Brooklyn Brewery
Butternuts Beer & Ale
Cape Ann Brewing
Clare Rose
Crop Circle
Doc’s Hard Cider
Flying Dog
Hacker Pschorr
Harlem Brewing Co.
John Harvard’s Brew House
Kona Brewing Co.
Lake Placid Pub & Brewery
Leffe
Legacy
Leinenkugel
Long Trail Brewing Co.
North Coast Brewery
Oskar Blues
Peak Organic Brewing Co.
Redbridge
Rogue Ales
Schwelmer Brewing
Shmaltz Brewing Co. (He’Brew Beer)
Sierra Nevada
Sly Fox
Smuttynose Brewing Co.
Southampton Publick House
Thomas Hooker Ales
Unibroue
Widmer Hefeweizen.

Ticket details: VIP, $75 (advance purchase only). General admission, $50 (online purchase) and $70 (at the gate, if still available). Designated drivers, $10. Each attendee, except designated drivers, will receive a souvenir tasting glass. Each ticket also includes a BBQ sandwich choice and one side item. No one under 21 will be admitted.

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A-B backs off alcoholic energy drinks

Anheuser-Busch, under pressure from various governmental units, says it will stop selling alcoholic energy drinks.

Several state attorneys general as well as the Center for Science in the Public Interest have threatened to sue A-B and Miller Brewing Co., contending that their alcoholic energy drinks are marketed to underage drinkers and also pose health risks.

A-B, while rebutting the allegations, nevertheless notified CSPI that it would agree to stop marketing alcoholic drinks with energy supplements such as caffeine. It said in a statement that it is reformulating Tilt and Bud Extra.

Initially, A-B had responded to the charges by noting that it unfairly targeted brewers even though distilled spirits makers have long marketed caffeinated cocktails such as Red Bull and vodka.

"Although Bud Extra and Tilt met all regulatory requirements, had much less caffeine than a Starbuck's coffee, and had received all necessary federal and state agency approvals, we are reformulating these products (without the caffeine, guarana and similar supplements) in response to the AGs' concerns," A-B said in a statement.

New York Atty. Gen. Andrew Cuomo said the attorneys general were "conducting ongoing investigations into other producers of alcoholic energy drinks."

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Sam Adams bubbling in ex-Stroh's brewery

The ghosts of brewers past may be smiling now that a former iconic brewery has reopened in Pennsylvania's Lehigh Valley.

The Boston Beer Co. has begun producing Samuel Adams beer at former Stroh's brewery in Upper Macungie, PA, near Allentown seven years after the facility was closed. It will produce 1.6 million barrels of Sam Adams annually.

Stroh's began brewing in Detroit in 1850, spread nationally by swallowing up such competitors as F&M Schaefer, Schlitz and Piel's, and lasted 149 years until it sold off its assets to a variety of other competitors in 1999.

Ten months ago, the Pennsylvania facility was purchased for $55 million from Miller Brewing Co. by Boston Beer. It still is being renovated, with bottle production expected to begin in July.

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Miller has high hopes for lower-calorie beer

Back in March, I wrote about Miller Brewing Co.'s test marketing of a new beer called MGD 64 ("MGD 64 is not a spray lubricant'). That testing has worked so well that the Milwaukee company says it is planning a national rollout of the 64-calorie version of its Miller Genuine Draft Light brand.

MGD 64 was initially launched last summer in Madison, WI, and now is available throughout the Midwest and West.

Miller CEO Tom Long said in a message to distributors that MGD 64 will replace the 110-calorie MGD Light brand around the country by mid-September.

Long said conversion from trial to repeat purchase has been nearly twice that of Michelob Ultra after its first two months in the market. He said MGD 64 has led a "dramatic turnaround" in sales. Midwest sales, for example, are on the rise after a double-digit decline a year ago, he said.

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Czechs' pilsner slip is showing

"CZECHS NO LONGER BREW
TOP PILSNER"
That headline in the English-language Prague Post must have been a bitter one to publish, let alone admit to in the beer-centric Czech Republic.

Nevertheless, here's how the story begins:

"If you want to taste the world’s best Bohemian-style pilsner beer, you’re going to have to go a long way from Bohemia.

"At this year’s World Beer Cup in San Diego, CA, the largest competition of its kind, the gold medal for 'Bohemian-style lager' did not go to a Czech brewery for the first time since 2000, when the competition was smaller by nearly half and dominated by North American brewers.

"Rather, the world’s best pilsner beers can be found in two unlikely places: Portland and Sydney.

"Australia’s James Squire Pilsner and Oregon’s Hopworks Urban Brewery Lager won the gold and silver awards, respectively, for their pilsner beers at the competition, which was held in late April. Coming in third was Gambrinus Premium, brewed by Plzeňský Prazdroj, the legendary Czech brewery that first invented the pilsner style of beer in 1842."

Here's the full story.

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New winery opens new brewery

The Three Brothers Winery and Estates in Geneva, NY, opened last fall. Now it has opened a brewery on the property as well.

“The brothers got together to see who could produce the best wine,” David Mansfield, one of three brothers who collectively own the microbrewery, told MPnow.com. “We don’t agree on much, but the one thing we do agree upon is great handcrafted beer."

The Finger Lakes brewery, called Barley Yards, actually is the fourth enterprise that is part of the 36-acre family collective on Seneca Lake encompassing a restaurant, a pavilion and a wedding barn along with separate wineries/labels for its high-end, semi-sweet and sweet wines: Stony Lonesome, Passion Feet Vineyards and Wine Barn and Rouge’s Hollow.

Barley Yards is located in a barn with World War II airport-hangar decor. Beer is served out of miniature airplane wings that holds six tasting glasses.

“We serve the world’s first Riesling ale, and it’s our best seller so far,” Mansfield said, explaining that the ale is a lighter type of beer made with Riesling grape juice. The brewing company also offers a dark American larger, India pale ale, raspberry wheat and amber beer.

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F.X. Matt back in operation

The historic F.X. Matt brewery in Utica, NY, is back in operation after an accidental fire that caused an estimated $10 million in damage.

Production resumed yesterday with a test batch of beer just five days after the fire investigators say was caused when two employees were welding equipment and inadvertently melted a plastic conveyor belt on the second floor. No one was injured in the blaze.

Matt will need to outsource bottling and canning for an unspecified period. Its canning operation was destroyed and its bottling operation damaged. Brewery President Nick Matt said he hopes bottling can be resumed on-premises within a few weeks.

Although at one time Matt brewed its own brand of beer, it now brews numerous beers and soft drinks under contract. Perhaps the best-known brand it creates is Saranac. It is run by the third- and fourth-generations of the Matt family, following the history that began in 1885 when the original F.X. Matt left the Duke of Baden Brewery in Germany's Black Forest region to emigrate to the U.S. to start his own brewery.

He worked for several years at the financially wobbly Bierbaur Brewery, then in 1888 reorganized it into The West End Brewing Co. It became one of the largest of the dozen or so breweries then in operation in the upstate city.

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Big Apple's big pricey beer

The Gothamist is one handy Web site when it comes to keeping tabs on the many, many trends, fads and foibles in the Big Apple. Considering the size and activity level of the place, I can use all the help I can get in keeping up.

The latest drinking-related item it reports puts beer right up there with those ridiculously priced spirits and wines that crop up with great regularity. It's a $95 beer. Not for the keg or the case or the six-pack, but for "a" beer.

It's a 17-ounce Baladine Xyauyù being served at the Beer Table, an establishment in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Reports The Gothamist:

"The beer ... cannot be found anywhere else in New York, and takes three years to brew; something that Paul Kermizian, beer connoisseur and co-owner of Barcade and The Gutter, tells us factors in to what may seem like an inflated price tag.

"Iy is an extremely rare beer from a tiny artisanal brewery in Italy. Many craft breweries brew small batch beers such as this that are extremely time consuming and labor intensive. That, plus the skyrocketing costs of ingredients, puts the brewery in a position to have to charge a good deal more than they would for a typical pale ale. Often, breweries brew these beers for enjoyment and will likely only break even once all of it is sold.

"One thing to consider is that if a brewery makes a beer that takes three years to age, the beer is probably taking up precious tank space in a brewery already working in too small of a facility. Of the 22 bottles made available at the bar, four have been purchased so far.

"And if you want a taste of the top shelf for slightly less, there's also a rotating collection of about 100 obscure and artisanal beers (that) also includes a $64 Danish beer that changes its ingredients with each new batch and a handful of $50 brews."

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Beers in space

This is a case of "This town isn't big enough for both of us" taken to the extreme.

A Japanese visionary is working on what promises to be the first outer space beer, aimed at the small niche known as "astronauts."

The brewer Sapporo announced in Tokyo this week that it is planning the beer, using offspring of barley once stored at the International Space Station. The project makes use of the third generation of barley grains that had spent five months on the space station in 2006.

"We want to finish the beer by November. It will be the first space beer," Sapporo executive Junichi Ichikawa told reporters.

The company will have enough space grain to produce about 100 bottles of beer but has no immediate plan to make it a commercial venture, Sapporo officials said.

Managu Sugimoto, a biologist at Okayama University, is the lead scientist on the project. He also has been part of a Russian venture looking into ways to grow edible plants in space.

Barley can grow in relatively tough environments, such as high and low temperatures, and is rich in fibre and nutrients, making it ideal for space agriculture, Sugimoto said.

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Anheuser-Busch news updates

• From The Times of London:

The beer giant Anheuser-Busch may fend off any unsolicited bid from rival InBev by snapping up 50% of the Mexican brewer Grupo Modelo, maker of Corona.

Last week it emerged that InBev, the Belgian maker of Becks and Stella Artois, was considering a $50 billion offer for Anheuser, Budweiser’s parent company. Snapping up the 50% of Modelo that Anheuser does not already own would cost the company between $10 billion and $15 billion and could make Anheuser too expensive for InBev to afford, analysts say.

InBev is the world’s largest brewer by sales volume. Anheuser-Busch, the long-time giant of American brewers, holds more than 50% of the domestic market. A tie-up would create one of the world’s top five consumer-goods groups and would be the largest deal ever in the beverages industry.

InBev faces tough opposition. August Busch IV, who took over as chief executive in late 2006, is believed to have rebuffed an informal overture from Inbev last October. In April he told beer distributors that the company started by his great-great grandfather, Adolphus Busch, would not be taken over “on my watch.”

The Busch family controls only 4% of the shares, but it has tight control over the business with a board of loyal and long-serving executives. However, a $50 billion takeover offer might win over shareholders.

• From Reuters news service:

Anheuser Busch Inc. and a local distributor have agreed to pay $21 million to victims of a Rhode Island nightclub fire that killed more than 100 people, the latest in a string of settlements that total more than $120 million.

Court papers filed on Friday showed the brewer of Budweiser and Bud Light agreed to pay $5 million, while its Rhode Island-based distributor, McLaughlin & Moran, would pay $16 million. The companies did not admit wrongdoing but were named in the lawsuits because plaintiffs representing those killed and injured in one of the deadliest blazes in U.S. history said the two companies promoted the concert.

The blaze, sparked by fireworks that accompanied a show by the rock band Great White on Feb. 20, 2003, at The Station nightclub in West Warwick, RI, also injured more than 200 people. The settlement, filed in U.S. District Court in Rhode Island, must be approved by a judge.

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Anheuser-Busch a takeover target

Will brewing giant Anheuser-Busch be the subject of a takeover by InBev NV of Belgium?

When that possibility was reported by both The Wall Street Journal and the Financial Times' Aplhaville blog on Friday, the potential $46 billion acquisition caused A-B's stock to soar to a record in New York trading.

If such a takeover occurs, it would result in creation of a company that distributes one-fourth of the world's beer. Reduction of overlaps caused by such a venture also would result in many lost jobs en route to saving such an expanded company an estimated $450 million a year.

Alphaville's reported $65 per-share offer would be 24% higher than the St. Louis-based company's closing price on Friday.

What gives credence to the reported takeover is that competitors SABMiller Plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co. are combining their U.S. units. Officials from both A-B, which controls about half the U.S. beer market, and InBev, the world's largest brewer perhaps best known for making Stella Artois, refused to publicly comment on the report.

InBev passed Anheuser-Busch in 2006 as the world's largest brewer ranked by sales. Revenue in 2007 was $19.7 billion, while A-Busch had $16.7 billion. The two companies have had a business relationship for several years, with A-B acting as the exclusive U.S. importer of some of InBev's products.

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Another Irish brewery shutdown planned

Three hundred years of history will come to an end when Kilkenny, Ireland's landmark St. Francis Abbey Brewery ceases operations in 2013.

Diageo, the parent company of the Guinness and Smithwicks brewing teams that utilize the brewery (seen here), said the phase-out is part of centralizing Irish operations at a new site in Clondalkin, Dublin.

Under the restructuring program, Diageo's Kilkenny and Dundalk breweries will close down in 2013 and operations at the Waterford brewery will be "streamlined," the company said.

St. James's Gate, home of Guinness in Dublin, will remain a key part of the company's brewing operations in Ireland. Howeverm it will see a significant reduction in scope because of the new Clondalkin facility.

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Top spots to try before you die

Did your favorite beer place make the list?

All About Beer Magazine has come up with a list of "125 Places to Have a Beer Before You Die."

Here's the top 10 from the global tally:

1. Great American Beer Festival, Denver, CO
2. Grand Place, Brussels, Belgium
3. U Fleku, Prague, Czech Republic
4. Great British Beer Festival, Earls Court, London, England
5. Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany
6. Augustiner Keller, Munich, Germany
7. Abbaye de Notre-Dame d’Orval, Orval, Belgium
8. The Gravity Bar, Guinness St. James Gate Brewery, Dublin, Ireland
9. Monk’s Café, Philadelphia, PA
10. The Great Canadian Beer Festival, Vancouver, BC

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This could be a dream job

From the Times of London:

Scores applied for the position and after a series of interviews, two men were found to be up to the job of having a pint with Jack Hammond, a genial elderly gentleman in need of a regular drinking partner.

A retired doctor and a former military man have stepped into the breach and will now accompany Mr. Hammond, 88, to the Compass Inn several nights a week, to discuss current affairs and military history.

It never appeared that there would be any difficulty filling the vacancy, after Mr Hammond’s son Mike advertised in a local post office in Hampshire for a man to take his father to the pub. He offered £7 an hour, plus expenses.

Here's the rest of the story.

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VT’s Magic Hat buying West Coast group

The Magic Hat Brewing Co. and Performing Arts Center Inc. of South Burlington, VT, is expanding, in several ways.

In addition to an expansion of its facility that is to be unveiled to the public after Memorial Day, the company is purchasing Seattle's Pyramid Brewers. The new, single company will maintain the two brand names and distribute both lines of beer coast-to-coast. Both will maintain their separate brand names.

The two companies already signed a letter of intent, the first step in the acquisition process. The $25 million deal should be finalized by the end of August, following financial and legal review, said Pyramid CEO Scott Barnum.

Magic Hat, which is a private company, will purchase all of Pyramid's stocks. Privatizing Pyramid an estimated $1 million annually in costs associated with being a publicly traded company, Barnum said, noting, "You improve the company's profitablity overnight."

The Vermont company, founded in 1994, is one of the largest craft brewers on the East Coast and sells its beers from Maine to Georgia and as far west as Illinois. 

Pyramid owns two alehouse restaurants adjacent to its production breweries under the Pyramid Alehouse and MacTarnahan's Taproom brand names in Berkeley, CA, and Portland, OR, respectively, and three alehouse restaurants in Walnut Creek and Sacramento, CA, and Seattle. 

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Dept. of Never Throw Anything Away

An extremely rare El-Bart Dry Gin tin advertising sign (right), made in 1905 for the Wilson Distilling Co. Kaufmann & Strauss Co., Lithographers, of New York, sold for $60,500 at the sale of The George Cross Collection in Ann Arbor, MI.

“This was one of the finest collections of its kind in the United States,” said Mike Eckles of Showtime Auction Services. “Nearly everything Mr. Cross owned was in mint or near-mint condition. It was a treasure trove for serious collectors who were attracted to the high quality merchandise and the fact that every lot was sold without minimums or reserves. Everything went, regardless of price.”

Cross, who died several weeks before the auction, had a huge collection that included advertising and country store collectibles, Old West memorabilia, etc. By the end of the weekend, about 1,880 lots had changed hands.

The El-Bart Dry Gin sign, still housed in its original gesso frame, was the sale’s top lot. About 500 people made it to the event, in addition to the nearly 2,000 registered online bidders through eBay Live and iCollector.com. Also, more than 1,000 phone bids and about 1,500 absentee were recorded. The sale grossed about $2.7 million.

Other alcoholic-beverage-related highlights from the sale:

• A Buffalo Brewing Co. tin charger (right) in a gold gesso frame and in near-mint condition, was expected to bring about $12,000, but soared to $57,750.

• A rare Buffalo Brewing Co. reverse glass sign (for Buffalo Beer), near-mint and in a gold leaf gesso frame, brought $50,850.

• An H. Guggenheimer & Co., reverse glass sign (Distillers of Fine Whiskies, Cincinnati, OH; Napoleon Wine Co., Napoleon, OH), possibly a one-of-a-kind and in near-mint condition, with a sepia-tone image of a nude at a dressing table, brought $38,500.

• A rare Henry Hunter Fine Old Rye Whiskey tin sign, titled “East Meets West” (A. Hirschman& Co., Proprietors, St. Paul, MN.; Tuscarora Advertising Co. Lithographers, Coshocton, OH), brought $38,500.

• A Days of 49 Whiskey paper sign (Meyerfield, Mitchell & Co., San Francisco), 43” x 30” overall, in its original frame and in excellent condition, brought $33,000.

• A Cyrus Noble Whiskey paper gambling scene sign titled “Bucking the Tiger” — framed under glass in a period oak frame – went for $28,600.

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World Beer Cup has some surprises

And a female brewer shall lead them. Well, a lot of them, anyway.

Tonya Cornett (below) of Bend Brewing Co. became the first woman to win “Champion Brewer” honors in the bi-annual Brewers Association World Beer Cup competition just completed in Boulder, CO.

Her entries earned two gold medals to earn the title in the “Small Brewpub” category. The head brewmaster at the Oregon facility is a 2001 graduate of the World Brewing Academy, a partnership between Siebel Institute of Chicago and Doemans Institute of Munich, Germany, and holds an international diploma in brewing technology.

Overall, 644 breweries from 58 countries and 45 U.S. states were up for awards with 2,864 beers entered in 91 beer style categories. The top three entries in each category won gold, silver and bronze medals. In addition the competition gives “Champion Brewery” and “Champion Brewer” awards in each of five brewery categories based on the medals won by each brewery. Brewers from the United States won 185 of the 268 style category awards and four of the five Champion Brewery/Brewer awards.

The major awards:

Champion Brewery and Brewer Awards

• Champion Brewery and Brewmaster / Large Brewing Company: Blue Moon Brewing Co., Warren Quilliam.
• Champion Brewery and Brewmaster / Mid-Size Brewing Company: Privatbrauerei Hoepfner GmbH, Peter Bucher.
• Champion Brewery and Brewmaster / Small Brewing Company: Port Brewing Co. and The Lost Abbey, Tomme Arthur.
• Champion Brewery and Brewmaster / Large Brewpub: Pelican Pub & Brewery, Darren R. S. Welch.
• Champion Brewery and Brewmaster / Small Brewpub: Bend Brewing Co., Tonya Cornett.

Gold-Medal Beer Awards

• Non-Alcoholic Malt Beverage: Radegast Birell, Plzenský Prazdroj a.s. Pilsen, Czech Republic.
• American-Style Cream Ale or Lager: Special Export, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL.
• American-Style Wheat Beer: Crystal Wheat Ale, Pyramid Breweries Inc., Seattle, WA.
• American-Style Hefeweizen: Widmer Hefeweizen, Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., Portland, OR.
• Rye Beer: Rockchuck Rye, Snake River Brewing Lander, Jackson, WY.
• Fruit and Vegetable Beer: Redoak Framboise Froment, Redoak, Sydney, Australia.
• Herb and Spice Beer: Avatar Jasmine IPA, Elysian Brewing Co., Seattle, WA.
• Coffee Flavored Beer, Java The Hut, CB Potts Restaurant & Brewery, Flatirons, Broomfield, CO.
• Specialty Beer: Morimoto Soba Ale, Rogue Ales, Newport, OR.
• Specialty Honey Lager or Ale: Blue Moon Honey Moon, Blue Moon Brewing Co., Golden, CO.
• Other Low Strength Ale or Lager: Firestone Extra Pale Ale, Firestone Walker Brewing Co., Paso Robles, CA.
• Other Strong Ale or Lager: Dark Horizon, Nøgne Ø, Grimstad, Norway.
• Experimental Beer (Lager or Ale): Ichabod, Alpine Beer Co., Alpine, CA.
• Gluten Free Beer: Deschutes Brewery Sorghum Beer, Deschutes Brewery, Bend, OR.
• Wood- and Barrel-aged Beer: Red Brick Barrel Select, Atlanta Brewing Co., Atlanta, GA.
• Wood- and Barrel-aged Strong Beer: Paradox Grain, BrewDog, Fraserburgh, United Kingdom.
• Wood- and Barrel-aged Sour Beer: Cuvee de Tomme, Port Brewing Co. and The Lost Abbey, San Marcos, CA.
• Aged Beer (Ale or Lager): Vintage AleSmith, Old Numbskull, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA.
• Cellar or Unfiltered Beer: Hoepfner Kräusen, Privatbrauerei Hoepfner GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany.
• Smoke-Flavored Beer: Alaskan Smoked Porter 2007, Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK.
• European-Style Low-Alcohol Lager/German-Style Leicht(bier): Waldhaus Light Line, Privatbrauerei Waldhaus Joh. Schmid GmbH, Weilheim/Waldhaus, Germany.
• German-Style Pilsener: Trumer Pils, Trumer Brauerei Berkeley, Berkeley, CA.
• Bohemian-Style Pilsener: James Squire Pilsener, Malt Shovel Brewery Pty Limited, The Camperdown, Australia.
• Münchner (Munich)-Style Helles: Urtyp Hell, Engelbráu Rettenberg, Rettenberg, Germany.
• Dortmunder/European Style Export or German-Style Oktoberfest/Wiesen (Meadow): Luksus, JSC Aldaris, Riga, Latvia.
• Vienna-Style Lager: Vienna Lager, Covey Restaurant & Brewery, Fort Worth, TX.
• German-Style Märzen: Goss Märzen, Brauerei Goss, Deuerling, Germany.
• European-Style Dark/Münchner Dunkel: Weltenburger Kloster Barock Dunkel, Klosterbrauerei Weltenburg GmbH, Kelheim, Germany.
• German-Style Schwarzbier: Shounan Liebe. Kumazawa Brewing Co., Kanagawa, Japan.
• Traditional German-Style Bock: Bock Lager, Elk Grove Brewery and Restaurant, Elk Grove, CA.
• German-Style Heller Bock/Maibock: Hoepfner Maibock, Privatbrauerei Hoepfner GmbH, Karlsruhe, Germany.
• German-Style Strong Bock: Freudenberger Märkator, Brauerei Märkl, Freudenberg, Germany.
• American-Style Light Lager: Old Milwaukee Light, Pabst Brewing Co., Woodridge, IL.
• American-Style Lager: Tooheys Extra Dry, Tooheys Pty Limited, Lidcombe, Australia.
• American-Style Specialty Lager: Steel Reserve, Miller Brewing Co., Milwaukee, WI.
• American-Style Amber Lager: Orlio Organic Common Ale, Orlio Organic Beer Co., South Burlington, VT.
• American-Style Dark Lager: Black Diamond Lager, Bend Brewing Co., Bend, OR.
• Australasian, Latin American or Tropical-Style Light Lager: Anchor Ice, Asia Pacific Breweries Ltd., Singapore.
• International-Style Lager: Ursus Premium, Ursus Breweries, Cluj-Napoca, Romania.
• Baltic-Style Porter: Amnesia, Grumpy Troll Restaurant & Brewery, Mount Horeb, WI.
• Belgian-Style White (or Wit)/Belgian-Style Wheat: Hoegaarden, InBev Belgium N.V./S.A., Jupille-sur-Meuse, Belgium.
• Belgian- and French-Style Ale: Brugse Zot Blond, Brouwerij De Halve Maan, Brugge, Belgium.
• Belgian-Style Pale Ale: No gold awarded.
• Belgian-Style Sour Ale: Geuze Boon, Boon Brouwerij N.V., Lembeek, Belgium.
• Belgian-Style Flanders/Oud Bruin or Oud Red Ale: No gold awarded.
• Belgian-Style Dubbel: Allagash Dubbel, Allagash Brewing Co., Portland, ME.
• Belgian-Style Tripel: Affligem Tripel, Affligem Brewery, Opwijk, Belgium.
• Belgian-Style Pale Strong Ale: La Fin du Monde, La Brasserie Unibroue, Chambly, Canada.
• Belgian-Style Dark Strong Ale: Salvation, Russian River Brewing Co., Santa Rosa, CA.
• Other Belgian-Style Ale: Upstream Grand Cru, Upstream Brewing Co., Omaha, NE.
• English-Style Summer Ale : Gold Rooster's Yorkshire Pale Ale, Rooster's Brewing Co. Ltd.,, Knaresborough, United Kingdom.
• Classic English-Style Pale Ale: MacTarnahan's Amber Ale, Pyramid Breweries Inc., Seattle, WA.
• English-Style India Pale Ale: Wild Goose IPA, Wild Goose Brewery, Frederick, MD.
• Ordinary Bitter: Cutthroat, Uinta Brewing Co., Salt Lake City, UT.
• Special Bitter or Best Bitter: Snake River Pale Ale, Snake River Brewing, Jackson, WY.
• Extra Special Bitter or Strong Bitter: Standing Wave Pale Ale, Kannah Creek Brewing Co., Grand Junction, CO.
• Scottish-Style Ale: McGarveys Scottish Ale, Oggi's / Left Coast Brewing Co., San Clemente, CA.
• English-Style Mild Ale: Crusader Dark Mild Ale, Dragonmead Microbrewery, Warren, MI.
• English-Style Brown Ale: BridgePort Beertown Brown, BridgePort Brewery, Portland, OR.
• Brown Porter: Porter, Bell's Brewery Inc., Galesburg, MI.
• Robust Porter, People's Porter, Foothills Brewing, Winston-Salem, NC.
• Sweet Stout: Left Hand Brewing Co. Milk Stout, Left Hand Brewing Co., Longmont, CO.
• Oatmeal Stout: Sless' Stimulating Stout, Iron Springs Pub & Brewery, Fairbax, CA.
• Strong Scotch Ale: Saint Arnold Divine Reserve No. 4, Saint Arnold Brewing Co., Houston, TX.
• British-Style Imperial Stout: Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout, The Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY.
• Old Ale: AleSmith Decadence, AleSmith Brewing Co., San Diego, CA.
• Strong Ale: Outback X, Bend Brewing Co., Bend, OR.
• Barley Wine-Style Ale: Old Diablo, Schooner's Grille & Brewery, Antioch, CA.
• German-Style Kölsch/Köln-Style Kölsch: Wind Blown Blonde, Stewarts Brewing Co., Bear, DE.
• German-Style Brown Ale/Düsseldorf-Style Altbier: Alt and in the Way, Squatters Pub Brewery, Salt Lake City, UT.
• South German-Style Hefeweizen/Hefeweissbier: Freudenberger Hefe Weizen, Brauerei Märkl, Freudenberg, Germany.
• German-Style Pale Wheat Ale: Distelhäuser Kristallweizen, Distelhäuser Brauerei Ernst Bauer GmbH, Tauberbischofsheim, Germany.
• German-Style Dark Wheat Ale: Schneider Weisse Original, Schneider Weisse, Kelheim, Germany.
• South German-Style Weizenbock/Weissbock: Plank Heller Weizenbock, Brauerei Michael Plank, Laaber, Germany.
• Irish-Style Red Ale: Samuel Adams Irish Red, Boston Beer Co., Boston, MA.
• Classic Irish-Style Dry Stout: Blarney Sisters Dry Irish Stout, Third Street AleWorks, Santa Rosa, CA.
• Foreign (Export)-Style Stout: Zonker Stout, Snake River Brewing, Jackson, WY.
• Golden or Blonde Ale: Alaskan Summer Ale,Alaskan Brewing Co., Juneau, AK.
• American-Style Pale Ale: Widmer Pale Ale, Widmer Brothers Brewing Co., Portland, OR.
• American-Style Strong Pale Ale: Organic IPA, Hopworks Urban Brewery, Portland, OR.
• American-Style India Pale Ale: IPA, Odell Brewing Co., Fort Collins, CO.
• Imperial or Double India Pale Ale: Hopnotic IPA, San Diego Brewing Co., San Diego, CA.
• American-Style Amber/Red Ale: Hop Head Red, Green Flash Brewing Co., Vista, CA.
• Imperial or Double Red Ale: Behemoth, Three Floyds Brewing Co., Munster, IN.
• American-Style Brown Ale: Doryman's Dark Ale, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Pacific City, OR.
• American-Style Sour Ale: No gold awarded.
• American-Style Stout: Terminal Stout, Rock Bottom Brewery, Chicago, IL.
• American-Style Wheat Wine Ale: Winter Wheatwine, Rubicon Brewing Co., Sacramento, CA.
• American-Style Imperial Stout: Gonzo Imperial Porter, Flying Dog Brewery, Denver, CO.
• International Pale Ale: Winter Storm, Clipper City Brewing Co., Baltimore, MD.
• American-Style Stout: State Pen Porter, Santa Fe Brewing Co., Santa Fe, NM.

The complete list of all medal winners in all categories is available online here.

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Sam Adams beer recalled

Check the code on the bottom of your Samuel Adams beer before you chug.

The Boston Beer Co. has recalled some bottles because they could be contaminated with pieces of glass. It says its inspectors found a problem with 12-ounce bottles at the Cincinnati brewery, however it said there have been no reports of injury.

The serial code is the letter "N" followed by the number 35 and the letters "OI."

Owens-Illinois Inc. has gotten involved in the recall, pulling back the glass involved because of alleged defects in the bottles.

O-I said its investigation found the bottles met its usual standards, but it said it would continue the look into the probelm. The bottles are believed to come from from O-I's Auburn, NY, plant, which supplies about 25% of Boston Beer’s bottles.

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Extreme beers getting really ... extreme

"Extreme" craft beers are popping up all over the place.

Some have higher alcohol content than the mainstream. Some have unusual ingredients. All have a lot of attitude.

Think not? How about beers aged in toasted oak barrels? Beers cointaining Jim Beam bourbon? Or blueberries? Or adorned with unrepentently cringe-making names?

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch has an update on the trend here.

In it, says writer Jeremiah McWilliams:

"Like genius, extreme beers defy easy classification, but you know them when you see them: barley wines ranging above 10 percent alcohol by volume, ultra-hopped ales and wood-aged beers — the traditional turf of wine and whiskey. Although "extreme" beers often have been linked to strong alcohol content, brewers say the label also applies to offbeat ingredients and zany brewing and aging processes."

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If it's Gluek, it has to be ... changed

The largest brewery in Minnesota is located in Cold Spring, not in Gluek.

So, the Gluek Brewing Co. has changed its name to Cold Spring Brewing Co. Why?

Said CEO John Lenore in a statement, "The new name better reflects our company's strong connection to the Cold Spring community and our new line of craft beers under the same name."

The brewery, founded in 1874, also produces non-alcoholic beverages and energy drinks, and is releasing a craft beer line including ebony wheat and honey almond weiss.

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The ultimate 'carding'

From the Canadian Press:

EDINBURGH, Scotland — An Internet campaign to ban Britain's treasury chief from the country's pubs seems to be striking a chord.

Earlier this month, treasury chief Alistair Darling (seen at right) raised taxes on cars and cigarettes. But it is his new alcohol duties -- which raised the price of a pint of beer -- that have Britons' backs up.

So, when a pub landlord here in Darling's hometown barred the chancellor from his establishment, drinking holes across the country followed suit. Many are posting pictures of the white-haired, bespectacled treasurer above the big red word "barred."

Bar manger Andrew Little at the Utopia pub, which kicked off the campaign, says the poster is "tongue in cheek." But, he says, it seems to have "touched a nerve."

Hundreds have joined Internet groups devoted to running Darling out of every pub in the country, and establishments from the Tap & Spile in the north England town of Lincoln to the Plough Inn in Finstock, near Oxford, said Darling would not allowed to partake of their booze.

The government has raised taxes on alcohol by 6% above the rate of inflation, which translates to an extra four pence (about eight cents Canadian) for a pint of beer, 13 pence (around 26 cents) for a bottle of wine and 55 pence (around $1.12) a bottle for spirits such as whisky.

The duties are scheduled to rise by another 2% above inflation in each of the next four years.

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Michelob moves into a new role

Anheuser-Busch is doing more with Michelob than simply brewing it.

The St. Louis brewing giant has created a separate entity -- Michelob Brewing Co. -- to combine creative activity with marketing in an effort to improve sales of the brand, including its original Michelob, Michelob Porter and AmberBock plus some yet-to-be-created beers.

Michelob, created in 1896 as a "draught beer for connoisseurs," is "a beer that's been around forever, but it's always sort of taken a back seat," said Doug Muhleman, vice president of brewing operations and technology at A-B's domestic beer unit, in an interview with the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Michelob's sales to retailers fell by "low single digit" percentages last year, despite Michelob Ultra's growth. Nevertheless, Muhleman said, A-B feels the Michelob nameplate is a solid platform for a "mega-branding" strategy — selling a variety of new beers under the Michelob umbrella.

One such brand about to be rolled out to the market is Michelob Dunkel Weisse, a "dark wheat" Bavarian-style beer, and Michelob Pale Ale will be expanded from a seasonal to a year-round offering.

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MGD 64 is not a spray lubricant

MGD 64 may not exactly rank up there with the catchy names of other brewed products, but it's working on it.

Miller Brewing Co. released the 64-calorie version of its Miller Genuine Draft Light last year as a test in the Madison, WI, area. This month, it is launching it in several Midwestern markets as well as testing it in San Diego and Sacramento, CA, and Arizona.

MGD 64 will replace Miller Genuine Draft Light, which has 110 calories, in those markets.

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Obama beer, when you're having more than one

When Jimmy Carter occupied the White House, his n'er-do-well brother, Billy, took advantage of his nearness to greatness to come up with his own beverage, a little something called "Billy Beer."

With Barack Hussein Obama getting close to snaring the Democratic Party nod to make the same leap as Jimmy Carter, a Brooklyn brewery is using his nearness to greatness to peddle "Hop Obama" ale in both New York and Massachusetts.

Sixpoint Craft Ales has just begun distributing the limited-edition beer. The 30-keg supply is estimated to be large enough to last only through the rest of the Democratic primary activities, which run through April 22.

Sixpoint brewmaster Shane Welch said that, in keeping with the Illinois senator's unifying theme, the "Hop Obama" is an indefinable ale that doesn't adhere to traditional style guidelines. The 5.2% ABV creation contains five different kinds of European crystal malt and three different kinds of Pacific Northwest Hops. It also includes a Scottish yeast strain for fermentation.

"Although we do not intend this beer to be a direct Sixpoint endorsement of Obama," Welch said, "we believe the delicious and refreshing quality it represents reminds us of the senator's successful grassroots campaign that positively blossoms each and every day."

The Brooklyn brew no doubt will be merely a tiny footnote in brewing and political history -- unless, of course, Obama becomes president and Sixpoint continues making the brew.

Billy Carter became a tiny footnote when his beer venture went bust, he had to sell his house to pay off back taxes, and he went public with his alcoholism before dying of pancreatic cancer in 1988 at the age of 51.

Meanwhile, in Kenya, the ancestral land of Obama's father, sales and consumption of something called "Senator" beer are hitting records.

The brew, named for Obama after his visit to the African nation and his success in a string of U.S. primaries, is being downed at victory parties and in taverns all across the land.

Here's a CNN report on the African "Senator" beer phenomenon:

---

What of Obama opponent Hilary Rodham Clinton when it comes to alcoholic products? More of a sweet tooth thing, as I reported on my "Taste for Travel" site a year ago.

---

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'Bama beer battle hits legislature

In most states there is no restriction on the types of beers consumers can enjoy. "Most" being the key word.

In Alabama, for example, it is illegal to drink beer containing more than 6% alcohol. Violators face a $1,000 fine and up to a year in jail.

However, a bill in the state legislature would more than double the allowable alcohol content in beer. And legislators were recently treated to a beer tasting in Montgomery that offered numerous foreign and domestic beers well above the alcohol limit.

Stuart Carter, a Scotsman who heads a beer advocacy group called Free the Hops, says: "To people in Alabama it looks like there's a huge range of beers in the store already. They're saying, 'Wow, there's 300 beers.' From my perspective, being someone who came into Alabama more recently, I see 300 beers and think, 'Where's the beer?' "

National Public Radio has an interesting report on the topic. Go here to access it.

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Budweiser American Ale due out in October

It only took 11 years.

Back in 1997, Anheuser-Busch reportedly was considering creating a new brew called "Budweiser American Ale." Now, the country's largest beermaker has received label approval from the U.S. Treasury Department's Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for a beverage using that name.

The product launch date is October 6. The ale is to have 5.1% alcohol by volume, about the same as standard Budweiser, according to label filings. A-B, ever attuned to market trends, apparently is jumping on the bandwagon of strong recent growth in the ale niche usually dominated by small craft brewers.

Curiously, the development was unveiled on Brewblog.com, a site run by rival Miller Brewing Co. That forced A-B to begin fielding questions about the new product before it planned to do so. In February, Miller began test marketing its three-label Miller Lite Brewers Collection of craft-style beers.

Marlene Coulis, A-B's vice president for consumer strategy and innovation, told Advertising Age the new ale will be a darker, richer brew than Budweiser lager.

Coulis said A-B's Michelob brand family, which has been spinning off new craft styles for more than a decade, was the real model for the new brew.

"Michelob was a perfect model for this," she said. "Obviously seeing the growth that's occurred in craft and micros, it's a perfect opportunity for us."

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The world needed a bottle opener/USB stick

Interested in combining beer or soda and a flash drive? Who isn't?

The Trekstor USB Bottle Opener offers precisely that with a new gadget you can out on the chain with your house and car keys -- an 8GB flash drive unit plus a bottle opener feature.

Trekstor is a German design firm specializing in electronic storage and audio devices. It already has won several awards for developing the USB stick.

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May I recommend the Beanz With Balls?

Over the years I've written about sommeliers in a variety of fields. Wine, of course. Beer, water, even hot chocolate. But beans?

Ever vigilant to promote its products, the mavens at Heinz have begun a marketing campaign in the UK utilizing the pairing of beer and beans to promote their “Saucy Beanz” range.

The Pittsburgh-based food giant is using top beer connoisseurs to recommend brews that best complemented their new range, including spicy meatballs, sausages and lamb meatballs (called Beanz with Balls, as shown in the accompanying photo). Other ranges are called Red Hot Balls and Big Saucy Bangers.

So, what sorts of combinations are the beans sommelier recommending? Beers dark in color with a light malty texture to complement the heartier bean products; a dark brown ale for the red-hot beans, and a standard brown ale that will complement rather than overpower the chili seasonings in another product.

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Brit pubs on endangered list

The iconic image of pubs as a part of England that will always endure is in trouble.

The number of pub closings last year hit a rate 14 times higher than the prior year, according to a new report just released by the British Beer and Pub Association (BBPA).

The BBPA says 1,409 pubs closed in 2007, a rate of 27 per week.

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) has published its own survey showing a slightly slower pace -- 57 a month -- but notes that 31% of those closed are being demolished, 36% are converted to shops, cafes and restaurants and 33% are converted to some other use, mostly residential.

It is this changeover that is concerning people who want to preserve the country's pub structure. CAMRA is pushing for changes to planning laws to prevent pub demolitions and change of use without planning permission.

So, what is causing the phenomenon?

BBPA Chief Executive Rob Hayward said he blames rising costs, falling sales and the impact of the smoking ban.

“These figures show the reality of the pub trade today," he said, "in contrast to the hype surrounding the myth of '24 hour drinking'."

BBPA statistics say beer sales in pubs are at their lowest level since the Depression in the 1930s. Today's pubs are selling 14 million fewer pints a day than they did when sales were at their peak in 1979.

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When is a pint not a pint?

If you've ever traveled in the United Kingdom and wondered whether the pint drawn for you at one pub was a different sized "pint" than at another, you're not alone.

Paul Rowen, a member of Parliament (MP) from Roichdale is demanding pubs serve full pints of beer and stop short changing customers. In fact, he has signed a Parliamentary motion expressing concern that bar staff are legally permitted to sell a glass containing as little as 95% liquid as a full pint.

The early day motion claims the practice of selling short measures, whether intentionally or accidentally, costs drinkers £400 million every year.

The motion, signed by more than 40 MPs, supports a drive by the Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) to push the government to legislate for a pint to be defined as 100% liquid.

CAMRA estimates short pours cost consumers more than $2 million US on a daily basis.

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Another 'green' brewery, another way

OK, I promise this is The Last One.

I've been reporting on breweries in the U.S. and U.K. going "green" (here, here and here).

Now comes word from Australia that the Fosters brewery making Cascade Green beer is following the same path but doing it by dint of paperwork.

The company says all the greenhouse gases produced through the life of a Cascade Green, from the picking of the hops to the empty bottle landing in the recycling bin, have been offset by purchasing certified carbon offsets from the government--accredited Hobart Landfill Flare Facility, which captures and recycles gases, on the island of Tasmania, where the Fosters-owned Cascade brewery is based.

Ben Summons, Cascade Green's marketing manager, said all of the carbon offset costs of the new beer will be absorbed by the company and will not be passed on to consumers.

The beer, which is also low carbohydrate and is classified as a "premium" beer, will sell for $17 US for a six-pack of 330ml bottles.

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Brewer trying for energy self-sufficiency

I've posted several reports (here, here and here) of U.S. breweries working to become "greener" facilities.

Now, an English brewer is going them one better, according to this report on the Energy Current news site:

Beer waste can power brewery

A U.K. brewery has taken a major step towards being self-sufficient in energy. Scottish and Newcastle (S&N) will be the first in the world to produce both electric and heat from spent grain, a by-product of the brewing process.

Wartsila has been awarded two contracts to supply and install equipment for two biomass-fuelled combined heat and power plants (CHP) at premises in Manchester. The CHP plants will each have a thermal output of 7.4 MWth and an electrical output of 3.1 MWe.

The plants, which will burn a mixture of spent grain and wood chips from local sources, are due to start operations in the first and second quarters of 2009, producing steam and electricity for the breweries' processes and exporting excess electricity to the local electricity network.

S&N will earn Renewable Obligation Certificates for its production of renewable electricity. These BioPower plants will help the UK meet its target of having renewables power 10 percent of the country's electric supply by 2010.

S&N Project Manager Andrew McMurtrie said, "We believe the investments make good commercial sense, providing some protection from the volatility of the energy markets, as well offering additional security of supply."

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Braille and beer mix well in Japan

Using Braille markings to help blind people read or navigate such things as elevator keypads and street crossings is fairly common around the world. But, in Japan blind beer drinkers are getting an extra aid.

Japanese brewers have begun stamping patterns of raised dots on top of their beer cans so consumers can differentiate between beer and non-alcoholic drinks in cans. In Braille, the dots read "alcohol." Kirin Brewery, however, has gone a step farther by spelling out "Kirin Beer" in Braille.

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Heineken BeerTender finally hits the U.S.

Photo courtesy of Heineken

Well, today is the day.

Some time ago I posted information on the Heineken BeerTender some people were anxiously waiting for to hit the U.S. consumer market.

It did. Today. Online at BeerTender.com and in Williams-Sonoma stores at a suggested retail price of $400. That will drop to about $299 on April 1 when the device will become more widely available.

The BeerTender is a special home tap setup that holds four-liter Heineken DraughtKegs and dispenses via the tap. The BeerTenders come with a five-pack of special tubes for the non-BeerTender-compatible DraughtKegs. You also can get them online.

The Dutch brewer says it will modify its Heineken and Heineken Light DraughtKegs with the larger pressure container to make them compatible with the new device.

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Letters: Drinks list for a new restaurant

Bill:

I am opening a "global" themed restaurant North of Boston in two months and am attempting a beverage/whiskey list that represents accordingly, and strays from the norm of same ol' menu selections.

Any direction you could provide would be appreciated. Thank you.

-- Scott Plath, Lowell, MA

Dear Scott:

I'd suggest keeping really "up" on what is going on in emerging markets such as the tequilas of Mexico, the sochus of Korea, the caçhascas of Brazil and neighboring lands.

Each can do wonders for cocktail recipes when used with always-fresh ingredients (fruits, herbs, the occasional veggie like cucumber) and creating such a list not only would pair nicely with global cuisine, but would be a great selling point in getting noticed.

In addition, for the non-cocktail portion of your drinks list, I'd strongly suggest getting into a wide range of teas. They're becoming extremely popular all over the U.S. and wildly popular in many European and Asian markets.

Good luck with your project.

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Specialty beer part of a shell game

Beer and seafood usually go well together, but I'm not sure I'd enjoy the special beverage brewed up for a scallop festival in Kent, England.

The beer, called Scallop Stout, is shellfish flavored.

Stewart Martin, representing the Shepherd Neame brewery, the nation's oldest, said, "There's a hint of smokiness and a slight taste of the sea, but no fishiness."

The 3.7 per cent Guinness-like stout is made using traditional methods. The extra kick comes from a handful of scallops thrown in for an hour.

Shepherd Neame was founded in 1698 in Faversham. It has a wide range of beer brands that do not include seafood, including Spitfire, Kingsfisher and Bishops Finger and the UK run of foreign brands such as Samuel Adams, Asahi and Oranjeboom.

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States probing brewers' energy drinks

From Advertising Age magazine:

Attorneys general from New York, Maine, Maryland, Iowa and Arizona are asking Miller Brewing Co. and Anheuser-Busch for internal documents related to their marketing of alcoholic energy drinks.

They are looking into what they say are misleading marketing claims made by products such as Miller's Sparks and A-B's Bud Extra.

The AGs first challenged the marketers over these products last August when they wrote a letter to the federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau -- which approves product labels -- asking it to investigate misleading marketing claims made by products such as Miller's Sparks and A-B's Bud Extra.

In their letter, the attorneys general singled out Sparks and Bud Extra, as well as a third company, Charge Beverages, for having "taken advantage of the youth appeal by engaging in aggressive marketing campaigns ... (that) claim that such beverages increase a person's stamina or energy level. However, they do not mention the potentially severe, adverse consequences of mixing caffeine with alcohol."

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Go here for the full story.

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Wine startup takes tips from beer world

Excerpted from the online Fog City Journal:

The MAS Wine Co., which brews its red and white wines MAS Vino and MAS Vino Blanco at the Jepson Winery in Hopland, CA, is seeking to spread the word about its unusual products.

MAS distributes nearly all its wines in something near and dear to the beer brewers' and lovers' hearts -- stainless steel kegs, a far cry from cork and bottle and screw tops in the wine domain. ...

"Through our colleagues in the beer industry, we've placed our red and white kegs in stores and restaurants in all of the Bay Area's nine counties, Eureka, Mendocino and Sacramento County. We're off to a great start," said MAS President Andy Woehl.

MAS is an 18-month-old startup with officers and investors based in San Francisco, Sacramento and Sonoma County. The company has a Web site and a mailing address in Cloverdale where its winemaker and production chief live.

"No bricks and mortar. Just wine," Woehl says.

The company's airtight, 15-liter kegs hold 20 bottles of wine and keep wine fresh for 60 days. The company is also introducing 11-liter kegs that hold 15 bottles of wine. The kegs are manufactured in Germany and reduce energy consumption and waste associated with packaging, delivering and storing glass bottles. The kegs are delivered in a just-in-time distribution system. The wines are blended with grapes grown in Napa, Sonoma and Mendocino counties.

"We went to the beer industry because they are the people who know all there is to know about selling beverages in kegs to a large customer base," Woehl said.

The company's main product is wine by the glass from kegs directed at a target audience of young professionals 25-40 years old who are educated, interested in wine and eat out several times a week. The kegs are at two-dozen restaurants, hotels and other eating and drinking establishments in the Bay Area.

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Beersicle battle heats up in VA

At any given moment, somewhere in the world someone is trying to create a new product containing alcohol.

At this particular moment, let me direct your attention to the Commonwealth of Virginia. There, General Assembly House Billl 1075 is a hot topic because, if passed, bars and restaurants will be free to serve beer popsicles and other alcohol-laden foods.

The bill states that the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control (ABC) cannot prohibit the sale of food products containing alcohol, as long as those products are being sold to persons over the age of 21.

It's in response to the ABC attempt to prohibit the sale of beer popsicles -- called "hopsicles" in some accounts -- at a Northern Virginia restaurant. The ABC said such items violated current law that requires alcohol be served in its original container, or be poured from a tap.

Some supporters of the bill -- which on Friday was passed by the Senate Committee on Rehabilitation and Social Services -- worry that a law outlawing beer pops would ban other popular food items such as tiramisu and rum balls.

The bill is here "to make it possible to serve desserts with alcohol in them," says Delegate Adam P. Ebbin, D-Arlington, a co-sponsor of the bill.

Beersicles do exist. In fact, there are a number of online sites describing how to make them (as the fellow above is doing). Here's one such.

Fans of the beer-centric TV sitcom "The Drew Carey Show" may remember one episode in which the topic of beersicles came up.

Drew: "This is it, the world's first beersicle ... Doesn't look very good ... Looks like something your older brother would tell you is a popsicle ... (Oswald and Lewis taste it.) ... I don't want to overstate this, but it's almost as if all of human history has been building to this one moment ... IT'S NOT BAD ... Mmmm, tasty, now if we could just put nicotine in this and wrap it in a Lotto ticket, everyone in the world would want one!"

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NY brewery gets grant for 'green' project

Brewery Ommegang, located in the small Central New York town of Milford, has been awarded a $4,000 grant to help plan an environmentally responsible expansion project.

The money, awarded by the Southern Tier Regional Planning and Development Board and the local soil and water district, will be used to minimize the project's environmental impact. The expansion will incorporate a water-permeable parking lot and a sod, or "green'' roof to minimize runoff. The roof also will conserve energy, and an on-site power plant that uses brewing byproducts will help reduce the use of other fuels.

As I reported in earlier postings, the green movement is growing among breweries, such as in Oregon and Massachusetts.

The Ommegang microbrewery was opened in the fall of 1997 five miles south of Cooperstown, home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, and near Oneonta, home of the National Soccer Hall of Fame. Its architecture is based on traditional Belgian farmhouse architecture, and set on a former hop farm. The company brews five Belgian-style ales.

The facility is open to the public year-round, for daily tours and tastings. Hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. Memorial Day to Labor Day, and noon to 5 p.m. otherwise.

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Canadian brewery owner trying to regain control

From the Toronto Star:

Frank D'Angelo, whose former juice and beer companies collapsed under more than $120 million in debt, is buying back the assets of one of them.

A judge has approved a deal whereby (an) Ontario company owned by D'Angelo's family will purchase D'Angelo Brands, which is currently shut down and under court protection from creditors. ... Meanwhile, the future of the other insolvent company, Steelback Breweries, remains uncertain. Court filings show management has temporarily ceased operations and is looking at options. ...

The two companies have acknowledged revenues didn't meet projections; advertising and marketing costs did not reflect sales; production was inefficient and expenses too high and a strong Canadian dollar slashed margins on packing agreements with U.S. customers.

Steelback, brewer of 11 brands, decided to close its small Tiverton brewery in central Ontario until the end of March because inventories can meet demand. It has cut more than 20 jobs there.

(The full story can be read here.)

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A-B joins Miller in chill-ing out

Imitation definitely is the sincerest form of flattery in the beverage industry. It means you're on top of a fad and a competitor wants to join you before the next fad comes along.

The latest proof of that is Anheuser-Busch's announcement that it is sending Bud Light Lime to the market. It's a natural lime-infused beer similar to the Miller Chill product rival Miller Brewing Co. took national last year, selling 450,000 barrels so far of its lime-and-salt beer.

"Our extensive consumer research indicates that the Bud Light Lime concept and taste are off the charts with today's consumers," said a company memo. "This insight will allow us to take Bud Light to the next level."

The memo said the brand's "consumer target" were light-beer drinkers ages 25 to 54 who prefer a "sweeter" beer.

Should you wonder about the use of the term "chill," it's a derivation of the Spanish chelada, meaning beer with salt and lime.

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Drink calorie listing nears in NYC

Food calories have been getting most of the coverage in news about New York City's new regulation requiring chain restaurants to display calorie information. However, the rule includes cocktails, sodas and other beverages that appear on menus as well.

The law is scheduled to go into effect March 31, in place of a different version that was struck down last year by a judge.

However, the New York State Restaurant Association has filed a federal lawsuit challenging the latest regulation which would require restaurants with more than 15 outlets across the country to be in compliance.

Giving consumers information about the calories in what they're drinking can help them make better choices, Margo Wootan, director of nutrition policy at the Center for Science in the Public Interest, told Business Week.

"We've gotten to the point in our food culture where people expect to have a sweetened beverage with their meal," she said. "People end up drinking a lot more calories than they think."

An 8-ounce margarita on the rocks has 290 calories. That size is the equivalent of a cup, but in many restaurants, drinks come in much larger sizes.

"It's really a shock to see a drink is 500, 600 calories," Nonas said. "That's almost a third of what you should eat for the day."

New York City, which banned trans-fat-laden cooking oils from all restaurants last year, is the first U.S. city to enact a regulation requiring calories on menus.

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Cheers awards go to top chains

Fourteen awards were handed out as part of the 2008 Cheers Awards for Beverage Excellence, sponsored by the industry magazine Cheers, at its recent annual beverage conference in Miami.

Twelve program awards and two individual awards were presented by editor Donna Hood Crecca. They were:

Best Chain Beverage Menu: Outback Steakhouse
Best Chain Beverage Merchandising: Hard Rock Café
Best Chain Drink Program: Ruth’s Chris Steak House
Best Chain Signature Drink: Walt Disney World Resort
Best Chain Adult Non-Alcohol Drink Program: ESPN Zone
Best Chain Spirits Program: Bennigan’s Grill & Tavern
Best Chain Beer Program: Buffalo Wild Wings
Best Chain Wine Program: Carrabba’s Italian Grill
Best Chain Hotel Beverage Program: Hilton Hotels
Best Chain Multi-Concept Beverage Program: Back Bay Restaurant Group
Best Chain Overall Program: Walt Disney World Resort
Best Chain Responsible Alcohol Service Training Program: Applebee’s International
Raising the Bar: Patrick Henry, Patrick Henry Creative Promotions
Industry Innovator of the Year: Ann Rogers Tuennerman, Tales of the Cocktail

They were selected from a field of 110 entries from 47 restaurant chains. The competition was open to all chain restaurants, defined as an operation with five or more locations in two or more markets. The chain must be in existence for at least three years. Awards criteria include the program’s creativity, originality and impact on the sales and profitability of a full-service restaurant operation. Other factors considered are the level of marketing support, staff training and overall operator commitment to the initiative that lead to its success.

The entries were evaluated by a judging panel that included previous Cheers Awards for Beverage Excellence winners and other leading operators.

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'Green beer' movement expanding

Back in December I reported on a "green" beer that had nothing to do with St. Patrick's Day. It was a move by the Barrington Brewery in Massachusetts' Berkshire Mountains to solar panel collection as part of an eco-friendly business environment.

Now comes word that the Lucky Lab Brew Pub in Hawthorne, OR, near Portland, has become that state's first to use a solar thermal system to brew their beer. A line of solar collector panels dominates the brewery's roof. A traditional water heater is the backup source for the properly heated water for brewing.

Gary Geist, co-owner of the company, said they anticipate relying on the new system in the summer but have been able to make good use of it since it went in place in December.

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Bolyarka: It's comin' to America

A growing Bulgarian expatriate community in Nevada has prompted a Bulgarian brewer to target the U.S.

The Bolyarka VT Brewery, located in the medieval Bulgarian capital city of Veliko Turnovo, will begin exporting beer to U.S. vendors this spring.

"Our first target of Bolyarka will be the gambling capital Las Vegas and the state of Nevada in general because of the many Bulgarians who live there," said Anton Nenov, brewery director, in an announcement.

Bolyarka will export all types of its products including pale beer, bock beer, and special beer. It is the largest Bulgarian beer exporter, and has the fourth largest share of the Bulgarian beer market at about 12%.

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Brewers hoist one to lowest common denominator

The days of Schultz & Dooley or Bert & Harry (seen here) are dim memories, if many people even remember at all the beer mugs and animated characters who peddled Utica Club and Piel's beer.

These days, with the latest assault courtesy of the Super Bowl commercialfest that was occasionally interrupted by football activity, we're treated to supreme idiocy in the service of those trying to peddle their brews to a public they obviously don't
respect.

It's likely you caught the new beer ads, given that viewership of the Super Bowl eclipses that of any other activity in mankind's experience: The guy who breathed fire all over his girlfriend and her cat; the clods who sneaked beer into a wine and cheese party; the foreign students whose rudimentary English skills hampered their pickup lines in a bar; a guy given the ability to fly because of the beer he chose being sucked into the engine of a jet airliner ... . (You can see all the Super Bowl ads online.

Beer advertising in the past decade or so has become something that frequently appeals to the lowest common denominator.
Interesting that in the same period sales and consumption of beer have steadily declined.

I'm not laying all that on the ad agencies' lack of intelligent creative work -- smarter marketing by wine and spirits makers, stricter DWI laws and other factors play a part in the market slippage, but continually reinforcing the idea that beer and
boorishness go hand in hand doesn't help.

Anheuser-Busch is perhaps the most schizophrenic. It continues to give us those heart-tugging vignettes about draft horses and dalmatians, none of which say anything about their Budweiser products, as a counter-balance to their commercials featuring unshaven slobs whose main purpose in life is to consumer more beer than others of their ilk.

The preservation of some semblance of class seems to be coming from craft brewers or the major brewers who are trying to squeeze deeper into that niche.

For example, the August Schell Brewery of New Ulm, MN, which has been making beer for 147 years, quietly advertised the making of its one-millionth case of beer.

That's a drop in the mug to the brewing giants of the world (Anheuser-Busch, for example, sold 122 million cases last year), but it's a pretty significant mark for a craft brewery -- and one that was achieved and celebrated without buffoons and balloons.

And, the huge Miller Brewing Co. has so far been restrained and professional in marketing its new Miller Lite Brewers Collection, a line of three craft-style light beers that is going out to test markets this month.

The lineup includes a blonde ale, an amber and a wheat. It is being tested in four markets -- Baltimore, Charlotte, San Diego and Minneapolis. The target audience is mainstream light-beer drinkers.

"We're seeking to establish a whole new category for the industry … craft-style light,'' said Miller Chief Marketing Officer Randy Ransom.

And, one hopes, a whole new attitude toward one's customers.

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Brazilian beer now comes in a kit

If you think American beermakers are bigtime slaves to gimmicks, pay attention to this.

The Brazilian brewer Dado Bier has launched a beer with the herb yerba maté, packaged in long neck bottles as part of a special kit to be sold in Brazil, Argentina and Uruguay.

Each kit contains a cup in the form of a drinking gourd, known as a chimarrão cuia, designed by the Ruvolo Crystal Works. It comes in a leather base created by Gueto EcoDesign, a firm specialized in developing sustainable products.

The "kit" price is the equivalent of $20 U.S.

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Beers all around!

I have an older cousin who has a particularly unusual collection: every 78 rpm recording every made by the 1940s/'50s novelty band Spike Jones & His City Slickers.

That runs to dozens of the old-style discs with the group's goofy sound-effects-laden songs that were all the rage in films, personal appearances and even early television shows back then.

Here, in a 1942 musical short called "Clink! Clink! Another Drink," Spike is the bartender and Mel Blanc -- the vocal genius who created the original voices of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Barney Rubble and more -- has a short solo.



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Carlsberg's new beer $400 a bottle

Wine and spirits have long had the upper hand when it comes to shockingly expensive products. Now, Scandinavia's largest brewer is getting into the act.

Carlsberg A/S has just introduced Vintage No. 1 priced at $396.47 or so per bottle -- depending on the daily rate of exchange -- to be sold at three upscale restaurants in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Vintage No. 1, which costs more than 350 times Carlsberg's main Danish lager brand, was developed to take advantage of the rising income of many Danes, the company says.

"We can feel that there's an increasing market for this type of product, as some of our customers order extremely expensive wines without blinking an eye," Lau Richter, restaurant chief at Noma, told the Bloomberg New Service.

Carlsberg has produced 600 bottles of the beer, each four-fifths of a pint. Another version costing more will be introduced next year and again in 2010, the company said.

Carlsberg, which sells more than 150 different beer brands in as many countries around the world, has no plans yet to export Vintage No. 1. Some bottles will be offered for sale next week on the brewer's Web site.

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