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Homebrewers head to Denver

Posted in Homebrewing, Just for fun on   

Eight hundred or so homebrewers will gather this week in Denver for the American Homebrewers Association’s national conference.

Last week the Rocky Mountain News had a story about how the hobby contributes to Colorado’s economy – including the fact that perhaps 90% of professional brewers got their start as home brewers. The Denver Post had a similar story about “Making leap from beer to there.”

The conference itself runs Thursday through Friday (details), but there are official pre-conference events beginning Tuesday.

Additionally, Flying Dog Brewery and Wyeast Laboratories, Inc. are hosting a reception Thursday from 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the Blake Street Tavern, next door to Flying Dog Brewery in Denver.

Reception attendees will be treated to presenting speakers from both Flying Dog and Wyeast, an array of door prizes, complementary hors d’oeuvres and samples of Flying Dog’s barrel-aged Horn Dog Barley Wine release. Admission is FREE, but limited to the first 75 people.

Speakers scheduled to present:
Eric Warner – Lead Dog, Flying Dog Brewery: Discussing his background, the importance of homebrewing and how to get into the beer business
Matt Brophy – Head Brewer, Flying Dog Brewery: Flying Dog’s Open Source Beer Project
Jon Graber – Wyeast, Marketing and Sales Manager: Wyeast’s “Very Special Strain” (VSS) promotion
David Logsdon – Wyeast, Founder/Owner – The importance of yeast health
Greg Doss – Wyeast, QC Manager/Brewer/Microbiologist – The benefits of using the Wyeast Activator package.

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Beer Activist alert: Help needed in Georgia

Posted in Breweries, News on   

Beer ActivistsThe Support Your Local Breweries web site has issued a Beer Activist Alert in Georgia.

John Cochran of Terrapin Beer Co. explains the situation:

All Georgia breweries need your help. We recently received notice that the Georgia Department of Revenue has decided to change the rules that apply to tours at breweries in Georgia. The new proposal calls for a limit of a 2oz pour of each beer style on the tour with a maximum limit of only 16oz. The 16oz pour is only possible if we have eight different styles of beer to offer on the tour. If a brewery only has four beers available to taste, then only 8oz can be poured at the tour.

It is the belief of the Georgia breweries, and our wholesalers, that the proposed rule change would effectively kill the tours. Since the breweries have spent significant sums of money on tasting rooms for the purposes of conducting tours this investment would be lost. In addition it would cause the layoff of employees who now operate as tour guides and could cause serious harm to the bottom line of all breweries. The tours are our main marketing tool and by losing the ability to continue tours as they are currently structured, we would lose customers, lose sales, and find it much more difficult to continue in business.

You’ll find information about how to protest this proposal here (scroll down) – the deadline for comments is Monday.

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Craft beer distributors to be honored

Posted in News on   

The National Beer Wholesalers Association and the Brewers Association plan to begin presenting an annual Craft Beer Distributor of the Year Award. The award will recognize the beer distributor in America who does the most to market, sell and promote craft beer in their market. A Craft Beer Distributor Achievement Award and Craft Beer Distributor Recognition Award will also be presented.

From the press release:

Craft brewers, beer distributors or representatives of NBWA and the BA are welcome to nominate any distributor they believe deserving of the award. Nominations can be made through August 15, 2007. For complete information about the award and how to nominate a distributor, please visit the NBWA website. Winners will be announced on October 13 at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colo.

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Smoking bans boosts Washington beer, food sales

Posted in Beer culture, Trends on   

What were the effects in the state of Washington of banning smoking in bars, restaurants and gambling establishments?

The Eugene Register-Guard reports that food and beer sales rose, but gambling income was down.

“The numbers suggest that bars and taverns may have lost some smokers but gained customers drawn to a smoke-free environment,” Revenue Department spokesman Mike Gowrylow said.

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European court backs A-B branding rights

Posted in News on   

A European court has upheld Anheuser-Busch’s right to use Budweiser and Bud brand names on merchandise including T-shirts and barbecue sauces, rejecting a challenge by Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar.

Budvar, which sells its beer under the name of Czechvar in the United States, sought to prevent Anheuser-Busch from registering the brand names as trademarks for non-beer products in the 27-nation European Union, saying Budweiser comes from Budweis, the name its home town Ceske Budejovice went by for centuries.

“The court finds that the appellations of origin relied on by Budejovicky Budvar are protected . . . only for beer and similar products,” the Court of First Instance, the EU’s second-highest court, said.

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German beers sales up, but for how long?

Posted in News, Trends on   

German beer consumption was up in 2006, but brewers aren’t optimistic about the future.

Sales have been declining since 1995, and the increase – from 115 liters per resident in 2005 to 116 in 2006 – has been credited to the World Beer Cup (which won’t be around this year, next, etc.) Per capita beer consumption was in the 150-155 liter range in the mid 1980s.

“Ninety percent assume that in the coming five years they will decline or remain stagnant,” the accounting firm KPMG reported in a press release announcing the results of its survey.

The survey found that mixed-beer drinks and specialty beverages were growing in popularity, with breweries estimating that sales of drinks mixed with beer will increase by 6% in the next five years. Wheat beer and alcohol-free beer sales are also expected to rise.

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Gluten-free Belgian beers US-bound

Posted in Beers, Trends on   

Green's beersU.S. importer Merchant du Vin will begin selling three gluten-free beers from U.K. brewing company Green’s Beers in July.

The beers should be available on the East Coast early in the month and on the West Coast later in July, but availability will likely vary by region.

Green’s sells gluten-free beers in a variety of styles in Europe. These three Belgian-inspired ales are brewed under contract at de Proef Brewery in Belgium. They are made with millet, rice, buckwheat and sorghum, and bottle-conditioned with a Belgian yeast strain. Green’s advertises its beers do not contain any of the following: gluten, barley, wheat, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, lactose, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame seeds, sulfur dioxide, nor sulfites.

The three beers are Discovery Amber (6% abv), Endeavour Dubbel (7% abv), Quest Tripel (8.5%).

According to government statistics, more than 2 million Americans have been diagnosed with celiac disease. The genetic disorder causes stomach cramps and digestive problems and can lead to other serious health risks. People with celiac disease cannot tolerate gluten, a protein found in wheat, barley, rye, oats and spelt. Those are the grains traditionally used to brew beer.

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‘Old-fashioned’ beer fights image problem

Posted in Beer culture, Trends on   

Graphic warning: If you click over to read the following story you will see perhaps the grossest photo of a beer belly every published.

Market analyst Datamonitor forecasts beer consumption will continue to decrease in both Europe and the United States because of health concerns and image.

“Health concerns along with changing alcoholic drinks preferences are having an impact on consumers’ patterns of consumption,” said Matthew Adams, consumer markets analyst at Datamonitor.

The report also said beer is seen as old-fashioned: “The appeal of a beer belly is apparently diminishing for many consumers.”

Particularly the one the Morning Advertiser came up with to illustrate the story.

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St. Ambroise vs. St. Urbain

Posted in Breweries, News on   

Peter McAuslan, of McAuslan Brewing, isn’t happy with a new beer from Canadian brewing giant Labatt – or the way the company is advertising it.

The Toronto Star suggested it is a “battle of the saints.”

McAuslan called a press conference last week during Mondial de la Bière in Montreal to lodge his complaint. Labatt’s new beer is called St. Urbain, and its logo features a Montreal street sign. McAuslan’s flagship beer is its St. Ambroise Pale Ale, and the brewery has long played up its Montreal roots, using a street sign in its marketing campaigns.

“Labatt is trying to confuse the consumer. That hurts us,” said McAuslan, unveiling a T-shirt and poster campaign with the slogan “Beware of False Saints.”

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Connecticut brewpubs win distribution rights

Posted in Breweries, News on   

Connecticut lawmakers have approved a bill allowing brewpubs to bottle and distribute beer to wholesale and retail outlets. The governor still has to sign the bill to make it law.

Under Connecticut’s current alcohol distribution laws, which were put on the books in the 1930s, the owner of a brewpub is prohibited from operating a microbrewery.

The Hartford Courant reports:

Last winter, Steve Boucino and Scott Scanlon, the owners of The Cambridge House Brew Pub, bumped up against the ban.

They hoped to open a $2 million microbrewery to make, bottle and sell their beer. But when they applied for a permit from the state’s Liquor Control Division, they were denied.

“We were told we would have to give up the brew pub to open a microbrewery since you can’t be the holder of two permits,” said Boucino, co-owner of the 2-year-old Granby brew pub, which includes a restaurant.

Frustrated, they considered taking their micro dreams to Massachusetts, where brewpubs are allowed to bottle and distribute beer. But they decided to try to change the law first.

Now they could have their Connecticut brewery up and running by Thanksgiving.

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Sasquatch Brewfest

Posted in Beers, Breweries, Just for fun on   

Posted by Banjo Bandolas

Anyone who’s ever been to Eugene, Oregon can tell you it’s not average in any way shape or form. Portlanders, a hundred miles north, call Eugene, Hippie-town. Cupped in the palm of the southern end of the beautiful Willamette Valley, Eugene’s a university town that draws extremes of every type. It’s also a place where somehow those extremes manage to coexist if not always amicably, at least with a mutual respect. Eugene is where I live and the home of the Sasquatch Brewfest.

Falconer winners

The Sasquatch Brewfest began 4 years ago and is dedicated to the memory of Glen Falconer, an innovative and creative local brewer well known throughout the brewing industry. Glen, whose nickname was Sasquatch, died in a tragic accident in 2002. Soon after his friends and family created the Glen Hay Falconer Foundation to commemorate Glen’s life and support the craft he so passionately pursued.

(The Sasquatch scholarship winners are pictured above. From left, Ken DesMarets of Skagit River Brewery(Mt. Vernon, WA), winner Corey Blodgett of McMenamins Cornelius Pass Roadhouse (Hillsboro, Oregon), winner Jacob Leonard of Walking Man Brewing Co. (Stevens, Washington), and Jamie Floyd of Ninkasi Brewery (Eugene, OR). And of course Glen Falconer pictured center.)

The Glen Hay Falconer Foundation promotes several Sasquatchic events each year. A golf/beer drinking tournament during the Oregon Brew Fest called the Sasquatch Brew/Am, the Sasquatch homebrew competition, the Sasquatch/Siebel scholarship competition for professional and home brewers of the Pacific Northwest (including Alaska and Hawaii) and Northern California, and the crown jewel event … the Sasquatch Beer Fest.

The fun started on June 1st, Friday night, with the brewer’s dinner. It was a small gathering of enthusiasts and professionals held at the Mallard. The paired appetizers and entree’s were as follows:

Appetizer: Assorted sushi rolls with Arlen’s (Harris) Tripel brewed at Fish Brewing
Salad: Arugula with jicama and carrot matchsticks, in a Bing Cherry viniagerette with fennel bread sticks paired with Steelhead brewery’s Kolsch.
Entree choices:
Hazelnut and cream cheese stuffed chicken breast with a smoked red pepper coulees
paired with Ninkasi Believer.
Roast Lamb with mushrooms and capers paired with Rogue Black Brutal.
Smoked Salmon roulade with green olives and peppers paired with Oaked Natty Red from Eugene City – Rogue
Eggplant cutlets Au pauve with a mushroom based green peppercorn sauce paired with Willamette Brewing’s IPA.
All entrees were served with mint cous cous and vegetables
Dessert: Chocolate Chambord cake with vanilla custard paired with Oatmeal Stout from High Street

Boy did I pick the wrong week to go on a diet! Thankfully the spirit of Gambrinus had, thru liquid lubrication, loosened my grip on dietary resolve and I was able to enjoy the evening without the nagging guilt that accompanies such rich indulgence. Of course, the fortunate coincidence that my nagging guilt had to study for a test that night and couldn’t attend helped a lot.

Though some of the paired beers weren’t something I’d usually drink, paired with the food they were all absolutely delicious.
The first beer of the meal, Arlen’s triple came with a friend. A Gueuze (yet to be named) Arlen Harris brewed at Issaqua Brewing Company, which came with a story worth sharing. The Gueuze, a wheat with hints of coriander and cumin, had spent a year fermenting in an oak barrel at the brewery.

Arlen figured it must have been during the Christmas party that some young wannabe brewers knocked off the airlock and contributed what may have been the most unusual ingredient you’ll ever find in a beer. I don’t think even Sam Calagione, a name synonymous with weird beer, could have come up with adding red and blue Lego’s to the mix.

Try as I might as I sipped the tart tasty result, I could not detect a trace of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (aka Lego plastic), but I did feel the urge to bond with several of the more attractive wait-staff in the room. Coincidence? I think not!

Fade to black …

Falconer winnersSaturday June 2nd was as fine an Oregon day as you could ask for, perfect brewfest weather. As I approached the center of downtown Eugene where the brewfest is held on a 100 foot square postage stamp of land called Kesey Plaza, I spied the familiar wooden Sasquatch statue that marked the entrance to the fest. A line of eager beer enthusiasts jabbered excitedly as they waited for their REAL GLASS sampler. (When’s the last time you got one of those? Guess what, I didn’t hear one hit the ground all day!)

The brewfest may be small in square footage but the beers are chosen with care to reflect the best creative examples of the brewer’s art. The crowd was the usual Eugene mix of regular and not-so-regular citizens commingling into a harmonious mass of beer-happy humanity.

The first beer of the fest for me had to be the Sasquatch Legacy Imperial Steam, made by Walking Man Brewing especially for the Sasquatch Fest with ingredients donated by Wyeast, Hopunion, & Great Western Malting.

Pete DefazioI was more than a little surprised and delighted to find MY congressman, Pete Defazio pulling tap on the other side of the jockey box.

The Sasquatch Legacy Imperial Steam is described as a hoppy, strong (9.2%abv) Northwest version of the California Common beer. As I rolled it around my mouth another beer came to mind, Steelhead’s Hopasaurus Rex, a highly hopped, high alcohol (also 9.2%abv) IPA made right there in Eugene and as luck would have it also was being poured at the festival. I found the tap and compared the big IPA to what I’d just had. Close but there were definite differences in aroma and citrus and floral notes, but they were very close in many ways.

My un-expert opinion; If you like Hopasaurus Rex, you’re going to like Walking Man’s Sasquatch Legacy Imperial Steam, and if you like big Northwest beers you’ll love them both.

I counted 45 breweries in my program (mostly Northwest with a few exceptions) and all but a few only brought one beer, but oh, those beers, at least those I chose were stellar examples of Northwest craft brewing…no, I take that back… stellar examples of CRAFT BREWING period.

In honor of Sasquatch I decided to limit my tastings to some of the fests bigger beers. A few examples- Rogue Russian Imperial Stout, Deschutes SuperJubel, Pelican Brewery’s India Pelican Ale, and Ninkasi Brewery’s Jack Watters Stout.

After a much needed palate cleanse I planted myself in front of the bandstand with my final beer of the day, a glass of Lagunitas Brewing Company’s Brown Sugga (200 pounds of brown sugar in each 30bbl batch and 10%abv) and listened to a band called Spun Honey crank out a perfect rendition of Pink Floyds Comfortably Numb. The beer was soft, malty, and smooth. Never giving any hint of the pile driver punch beneath the velvety taste. The music mixed with the beer and I found myself thinking of Glen Falconer. He’d sure be proud of the big little brewfest that bears his name.

Falconer winners