Bobby Valentine is so popular in Japan that Sapporo has named a beer after him.
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New brewery in the heart of a winery
An Australian winery starts brewing beer:
Moorilla Estate winery staff call the place Moo. So when it came to naming their new beer, Moo Brew was their obvious choice.
The three new microbeers from one of the state’s oldest wineries were unleashed on the public at a crowded launch at the Berridale estate last night.
Moorilla chief executive Tim Goddard said there was no contradiction in a winery turning its hand at brewing.
“After a long day of wine tasting, the first thing you want is a beer,” he said.
[Reported in The Mercury]
Take that, hopheads
Lew Bryson stands up for malty beers:
This is probably my fifth or sixth direct rant about hopheads. I apologize, but only a little, and only because it might be boring. But there’s just so much more to the whole beer palate than the variety of flavors available from hops, and the enthusiasts, the people who should be reaching out to the future craft beer drinkers, largely aren’t getting it. They’re impassioned about the one flavor/aroma component of beer that is least likely to entrance newcomers: bitterness. Their passion is beautiful, but so narrow. Love beer, not just hops.
An engaging argument, although it hardly seems fair to lump hop flavor and hop bitterness together.
Plenty of beer for Thanksgiving
The pilgrims and beer, beer with turkey, pumpkin beers and other holiday delights. Greg Kitsock offers plenty of beer suggestions in this once-a-month column in the Washington Post.
Food pairings included
Delaware online offers a timely guide to winter beers from local breweries.
As Ric Hoffman, who runs the brewery at Stewart’s Brewing Company in Bear puts it:
“You want a darker beer for the cold weather. One that warms you and puts meat on your bones.
A nice touch to the article is the addition of suggested dishes to have with the beers. For instance, chocolate cake or pecan pie with Stewart’s barleywine or southwestern cuisine with Iron Hill American barleywine. How about spicy foods like barbeque, Indian and Mexican with Dogfish Head Pangea (which features ingredients from every continent)?
A Brit’s view of GABF
British beer writer Ben McFarland tells his countrymen about the Great American Beer Festival in The Publican. He begins:
I’ve just returned from the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) in Denver, Colorado, where my flabber was well and truly gasted.
Later he writes:
While nearly all US craft beers can trace their origins to European roots, the artesian brewers currently transforming the landscape of US beer are crafting brews that are bigger, brasher and boast bigger balls than anything being produced in Europe.
Got Beer?
The Wall Street Journal reports that beer industry leaders are considering working together to improve beer’s image.
The Journal writes:
In an unprecedented effort to reverse the industry’s decline, Anheuser-Busch, which controls roughly half of the U.S. beer market and has dominated it for decades, is trying to drum up support in the industry for the equivalent of the dairy industry’s popular “Got Milk?” campaign.
We’re all for anything that improves beer’s image, but it is troubling to read a quote from Tom Long, Miller’s chief marketing officer:
“We’ve marketed our way into this problem, and we can market ourselves out of it.”
This isn’t just a matter of marketing. What’s in the bottle, or your glass, makes a difference. That’s why craft beer sales were up 7% last year and will likely increase by a similar amount this year.
Still magical at Lost Coast Brewery
The Times-Standard in Eureka, Calif., profiles Lost Coast Brewery and founder Barbara Groom.
The brewery has been around for 15 years, but business is still growing.
â€We keep thinking it’s going to slow down, because the larger you get the harder it is to make that percentage of growth,†Groom said.
Brewery and Sales Manager Briar Bush added the brewery does best in what are politically referred to as “the blue states.†Groom then said, jokingly: “That’s where all the educated people are.â€
Rocky Mountain News picks Dale’s Pale
Rocky Mountain News chooses Dale’s Pale Ale as the top Colorado-brewed beer. The explanation:
Why it’s tops: The folks at Oskar Blues in Lyons have turned the craft-brewing world on its head by packing Dale’s in cans. This rich-tasting brew loaded with European malt and American hops has become popular because it tastes great, travels well, and it’s fresher tasting because it’s protected from light.
New Belgium’s Fat Tire captured the People’s Choice award.
Bay Area pub crawl
Linda Murphy, San Francisco Chronicle wine editor, heads out on a major pub crawl with four Bay Area brewers. She writes:
Four professional brewers took an out-of-touch beer lover on a pub crawl last month through their favorite haunts in the Bay Area. The itinerary was based on beer selection, ambience and the storytelling opportunities that arise when brew, bars and buddies hook up.
Stops include 21st Amendment, Zeitgeist, Toronado, Black Horse London Pub, Pelican Inn, Barclays Restaurant & Pub and The Bistro, but the best parts are the conversations along the way. Good reading.
Scottish & Newcastle outperforms market
Despite a “soft” underlying market due to weak consumer confidence, Scottish & Newcastle reports a 5.6% rise in UK branded beer and cider volumes during the third quarter. The company noted that in the three months to the end of September, the UK beer and cider market had grown by just 1.8%.
In the United States, sales of Newcastle Brown Ale continued to grow at “double digits” in the third quarter.