Real Beer Page Mail (RBPMail) began as a modest update to craft-brew events on the WWW. It evolved into a news digest and sometimes editorial forum. We present its contents here much as they were emailed to subscribers. Often, links you will see are out of date, and businesses referred to may also be long gone.

In this issue:

• European Brewers Lobby for Cheaper Beer
  
• Aussie Brewers Seek Tax Refund
  
• Interbrew Appeals Antitrust Ruling
  
• Diageo May Make Bid for Foster's
  
• Corona Designated 'Budweiser Brand'
  
• EC Raids Portuguese Brewery Offices
  
• Bud Light Flops in Britain
  
• Siebel Institute, Doemens Partner in World Academy
• Web Watch
  • Your Complete Guide to Belgian Beer
    
  • Pyramid Tilted Kilt
    
  • Stephen Beaumont on Craft Beer
  • Real Beer Picks
  • Beer and Wine Hobby
    
  • Beer, Beer & More Beer
    
  • Boddingtons
    
  • Brew Pack Products
    
  • Hop Back Brewery
    
  • James Clay & Sons
    
  • Mendocino Brewing Co.
    
  • North American Brewing Services
    
  • The Pilgrim Brewery
    
  • Potrero Brewing Co.
    
  • Pyramid Ales & Lagers
    
  • Radeberger Beer
    
  • St. Peter's Brewery
    
  • Stella Artois UK
  • Quickie Email Survey
  • Brewed Fresh For You
• Good News for Real Ale, Pubs
  
• Bud's Super Bowl Ads Score; Sam Adams Sneaks in Back Door
  
• Great American Beer Festival Sept. 27-29
  
• Michigan Breweries Join to Brew One Beer
  
• No Beer in Iowa Heaven
  
• A Bitter End for Pigs
• Editorial: Lend The Folks in Georgia a Hand

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http://www.beerweek.com

EUROPEAN BREWERS LOBBY FOR CHEAPER BEER

Europe's brewers plan to lobby the European Parliament for lower taxes on beer. Brewers of Europe, a trade confederation, will attend a hearing at the EU's assembly Thursday to ensure plans to narrow differences in levels of excise duties imposed by the 15 EU governments will bring the levies down rather than up. The brewers are seeking to avoid what happened last time the EU sought to harmonize beer duties, when southern European nations with lower taxes were obliged to raise the level closer to those with higher taxes, such as the UK, Ireland and the Nordic nations. That move in 1993 led to increases in excise duty of 400% in France, 300% in Italy and 250% in Spain.

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AUSSIE BREWERS SEEK TAX REFUND

Australia's biggest brewers have taken the government to court to recover excess taxes that drinkers have been paying for six months. They want to be repaid tens of millions of dollars in beer excise should the Senate scrap existing increases in the tax. The money could be poured back into drinkers' glasses through cheaper beer, or donated to charities. Drinkers have been paying a doubled excise rate, plus a sales tax, since July 1. The price of draft beer increased as much as 11%, while the tax on packaged beer was up only 1.9%. The tax increase was introduced as a "tariff proposal," a provision instrument by which the government imposes a tax increase on the condition that it will legislate within 12 months to make it legal. However, the Australian Democrats and Labor have said they will scrap the excise increase in the Senate. Both parties say the government promised in the 1998 election campaign that tax reform would increase the price of beer by just 1.9%.

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INTERBREW APPEALS ANTITRUST RULING

Belgian brewer Interbrew says it will appeal a decision by antitrust authorities in the United Kingdom to block its $3.36 billion acquisition of the Bass brewing assets, while admitting it will be forced to sell Bass. The legal action is an attempt to make the sale process less damaging to the business. Interbrew wants the courts to look at the decision by Stephen Byers, the United Kingdom trade and industry secretary, to force Interbrew to dispose of Bass Brewers. Hugo Powell, Interbrew chief executive, said the company had been advised that it was unlikely to succeed in overturning the decision by the U.K. Competition Commission. Instead it wants the courts to give it more time to effect a disposal and allow a greater range of possible bidders to be considered -- including financial buyers.

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DIAGEO MAY MAKE BID FOR FOSTER'S

Diageo, the world's largest liquor company and owner of the Guinness brand,
is rumored to be considering a bid for the Foster's Brewing Group. While
analysts say that such a bid would make sense, they also note that a bid of
$6 billion for Foster's beer and wine business probably wouldn't be enough.
"Diageo and other bigger investors are looking at Foster's and other
Australian liquor companies as part of their expansion plans," said Tim
Powditch, equities manager at BNP Investment Management Limited. "I don't
think Australian fund managers will let Foster's go for that price."
Foster's Lager is the No. 6 brand worldwide and is available in about 150
countries.

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CORONA DESIGNATED 'BUDWEISER BRAND'

A deal with Anheuser-Busch should allow Corona beer sales to keep booming in the United States. El Economista business columnist Tomas de la Rosa reported that A-B has designated Corona a "Budweiser brand," which allows A-B distributors to boost their share of total sales represented by the Mexican beer. Corona became the No. 1 selling imported beer in the United States in 1997, surpassing Heineken, and has extended it advantage every year since. Currently, about 25% of Modelo brands are distributed through A-B's wholesale system. Anheuser Busch has held a stake in Grupo Modelo, which brews Corona, since 1993.

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EC RAIDS PORTUGUESE BREWERY OFFICES

The European Commission officials raided the Lisbon and Oporto offices of Portuguese brewing companies Unicer and Centralcer looking for evidence of suspected price fixing, market sharing and information exchange. "Any documents seized in this week's inspections would have to be examined carefully, and it is impossible to prejudge the outcome of the investigation or to say when it will be concluded," a statement from the commission read. The two brewers account for about 98% of the Portuguese beer market.

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BUD LIGHT FLOPS IN BRITAIN

American brewing giants Anheuser-Busch has pulled Bud Light out of Britain because the lager failed to make enough impact in the fiercely competitive U.K. beer market. Anheuser-Busch introduced Bud Light to Britain two years ago, hoping it would attract a following among people who wanted to drink beer but worried about their calorie intake. Instead, the drink appears to have fallen into a void between the two, proving too light for serious drinkers and too macho for calorie-conscious women. Bud Light has 25% fewer calories than the regular Budweiser, but is only a little less strong. The alcohol content is 4.3% by volume compared with 5% for Bud. A-B acknowledges that many British drinkers were confused by the word "light," thinking it meant low-alcohol rather than low-calorie.

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SIEBEL INSTITUTE, DOEMENS PARTNER IN WORLD ACADEMY

The Siebel Institute of Technology of Chicago and Doemens Brewing Academy of Munich, Germany have partnered to form a multinational brewing institute. The new venture will be named The World Brewing Academy, and its mandate will be to revolutionize the form and content of contemporary brewing education. A unique feature of the WBA will be to provide students the opportunity and choice of studying at either the Chicago or Munich campus. The Siebel Institute and Doemens Academy will continue to offer separate educational and research programs, as well as hosting the mutual courses offered by the World Brewing Academy.

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****WEB WATCH****

BEER IN BELGIUM
Everything you've always wanted to know about Belgian and Belgian-style
beers but were afraid to ask can now be found in one place. "Belgian beers
have become fashionable," Michael Jackson writes, "yet the pleasures they
offer have been truly explored by only a discerning minority of drinkers."
Come explore them with us.

http://www.realbeer.com/spotlight/belgium

http://www.mendobrew.com

NORTH AMERICAN BREWING SERVICES
Founder Ian Day stands ready to construct a brewery that most any budget can afford. NABS will assist in initial design layout, in-house training, recipe formulation, installation and sourcing used and new equipment.

http://www.nabrewing.com

THE PILGRIM BREWERY
Pilgrim was one of a new wave of smaller brewers that opened in England in the 1980s and the original "two men and the dog" operation. The brewery makes a wide variety of award winning beers, has organized an innovative Hop Club and remains true to its motto: "You thirsty fought every day."

http://www.pilgrim.co.uk

POTRERO BREWING CO.
The brewpub is located on the Western slope of San Francisco's Potrero Hill. The picturesque backdrop of the San Francisco Fog as it rolls over Twin Peaks makes the roof deck ideal for unwinding, and is soon to be the site of the Potrero Brewing FOG CAM.

http://www.potrerobrew.com

RADEBERGER BEER
Founded in 1866, the Radeberg Brewery near Dresden was the first in Germany to brew a Pilsner-style beer. The much-honored brewery -- it won 13 medals in 1910 alone -- soon became "Royal Court Brewery of Saxony." Now Germany's best kept secret can be found in the United States.

http://www.radebergerusa.com

ST. PETER'S BREWERY
St. Peter's was founded in 1995 with a keen eye toward tradition, locating
in the brewery in a 13th century manor house, and acquiring two medieval
hotels and a 15th century village pub to act as "shop windows" for the
brand. Now its unique bottles are available far from its Suffolk home,
including the United States.

http://www.stpetersbrewery.co.uk

STELLA ARTOIS UK
The ultimate film source for the United Kingdom. Stellascreen has up-to-date film news, and invites visitors to rate the newest movies and register to win free beer and movie tickets.

http://www.stellascreen.co.uk

Will this be the year that a group called Georgians for World Class Beer succeeds in its three-year battle to provide the state's beer drinkers access to popular beers people across the rest of the country already enjoy?

We're rooting for them.

The alcohol limit on what is called "beer" has been 6% alcohol by volume in Georgia since the state repealed Prohibition in 1935. Rep. Stephanie Stuckey, D-Decatur, recently introduced a bill in the General Assembly to boost the limit to 14%. That would mean drinkers could sample strong ales from the U.K., German bocks, Belgian Trappist ales and a whole range of American-made craft beers.

A similar bill passed the House last year but died in a Senate committee. Peter Marte, president of ThunderHead Distribution Inc., an Atlanta specialty beer wholesaler, said one reason was that the misrepresented it as a way to bring "high-octane beer to Buckhead." Another probably was that the measure zipped through the House so quickly that no groundwork was laid for it in the Senate. Stucky has promised that won't happen this year.

"We're not talking about kids getting drunk on the weekend," Stuckey said. "We're talking about an expensive, high-quality beverage that connoisseurs would drink."

That's the point. We're pretty sure neo-Prohibitionists will be checking in on this -- and they'll be playing the underage drinking card. Do they really think youths looking for a quick buzz are going to go out and spend the higher prices (for one thing, beer stronger than 6% would be taxed as twice the rate as 6% and lower) these beers command?

That's why we salute the Georgians for World Class Beer. They don't argue that they have a constitutional right to buy specialty beer. They don't pretend this is the most important legislative issue the state has to deal with this year -- there's the matter of what appears on the flag, for instance. They are simply laying out the facts that 37 states, including neighbors Tennessee and Florida, don't have similar restrictions.

"It's just an educational issue," group member Ted Hull told the Associated Press. "Because it's about alcohol, it's something that folks who are not interested in seeing any changes in alcohol law can sensationalize."

That's for sure. For instance, Rep. Garland Pinholster, R-Ball Ground, was among several Republicans who voted against the measure last year. "My district up in north Georgia is much more a part of the old Bible Belt," he said. "I didn't take a poll and I could be wrong, but my judgment was that my district would not want a higher alcoholic content in their local stores."

The good news is that the bill has already received more media attention this year that includes arguments on both sides. And the Savannah Morning News essentially endorsed it with an editorial title "Bottoms up to beer bill." In part, it noted:

"You can't judge what you can't taste. And that's unfortunate. When state government is playing beer referee at package shops and the corner tavern, something is amiss."

The editorial concluded:

"It's hard to see how such a change would erode morals or hurt public safety. Those looking for a cheap beer buzz aren't going to spend $12 or more for a six-pack of the specialty product. And if individual counties object to alcohol, they have the option to go 'dry.' They have a choice. Those dry 'world-class' beer-drinkers don't."

What can we do to help the cause? We wouldn't suggest bombarding Georgia legislators with email -- we know how we'd react to that. Instead, visit the Georgians for World Class Beer website. You can even donate money to the cause if you want. These are the guys at ground zero, and they'll know best how to use it.

http://www.beerinfo.com/worldclassbeer