The Coloradoan newspaper Best in Business awards have honored the employees of Odell Brewing with “Innovator of the Year.”

The Fort Collins brewery was praised for using its five-barrel pilot system to create it Single Batch Series of beers.

“Investing in innovative brewing technologies has positioned Odell Brewing for success by producing truly one-of-a-kind beers,” said Coloradoan writer Laura Bailey.

“We’re constantly looking for something new, different, and unique. We employ a five-barrel pilot brewing system for on-going research and development. This system allows us to experiment with innovative beer styles, variable ingredient mixes and advanced technical modifications,” said Wynne Odell, Odell’s co-CEO.

The Financial Times (via MSNBC) has a complete analysis of why the rumored merger between brewing giants InBev and Anheuser-Busch makes sense, and why it might not happen.

They said the biggest obstacle to a deal would be reluctance on the part of the Busch family to relinquish management control of Anheuser.

The family has only a small shareholding in the company but August Busch IV, great-great grandson of the founder, was appointed chief executive last December. His father, August Busch III, remains a powerful influence on the board.

The company has been struggling over recent years as its domestic brands face increasing competition from wine, spirits and imported beer.

Analysts believe the board will give Mr Busch IV time to prove he can turn the company around on its own before considering other options.

But if growth remains sluggish, pressure is likely to build from shareholders for a merger with InBev to be considered.

The story points out that it’s the Brazilian dealmakers behind AmBev who control management of InBev (Interbrew before it merged with Ambev). The bottom line is they are businessmen, not brewers.

When Microsoft rolled out is long-awaited Vista software at a large gathering in San Francisco, Sierra Nevada Brewing shared the spotlight. No, Microsft wasn’t handing out free beer. Sierra Nevada representatives were there because the brewery partcipated in early training for Vista.

Sierra Nevada was one of about 60 mid-size companies that were part of early training. A story in the Chico Enterprise offers an idea of the technology involved in running a brewery the size of Sierra Nevada (the second largest craft brewery in America).

Microsoft’s Diana Beckman said Sierra Nevada was chosen because “their experience illustrates the strength and benefits of the desktop searching abilities featured in Vista.

“As part of their quality control and manufacture process, Sierra Nevada Brewery runs nearly 100 tests on each batch of beer — dozens of batches of beer per week. It generates and constantly references an enormous amount of data points during their quality control and manufacture processes.”

Greg Koch’s vBlog offers another look, this time the amazing pilot brewery. You’ll have to scroll down to June 8 to see it.

A Brazilian daily reports that Anheuser-Busch and InBev, the two largest brewing companies in the world, have held prelimary merger talks.

Not surprisingly, neither company is commenting.

“We do not comment on market speculation,” said Gwendoline Ornigg, InBev’s director of corporate external communications.

Anheuser-Busch echoed that, saying it was the company’s policy “to not confirm, deny or speculate on reports of potential investments, acquisitions, mergers, new business partnerships or other transactions.”

Industry analysts offered differing views on whether the deal might happen and how, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

It is “still too early to discern potential deal structure” or who would run the combined company if the report is true, Banc of America Securities analyst Bryan Spillane wrote in a research note.

Deutsche Bank analyst Marc Greenberg wrote that “the economic rationale (for a merger) is not obvious,” given the high cost of combining the two.

The two companies have done business together more than once. Anheuser-Busch just became the exclusive U.S. importer of Inbev SA’s beers, including Beck’s, Bass and Stella Artois. Last May, Anheuser-Busch bouhgt InBev’s Rolling Rock beer brand and last February said it would be the sole U.S. distributor of the European beer Grolsch.

The Publican reports that Young & Co. has denied weekend press speculation that the pub group is soon to be sold.

Media reports suggested that following recent changes at the Wandsworth brewer – which have seen the sale of its historic Ram brewery – plus the death of its long time chairman John Young the group was an ideal candidate for a bid.

However, chief executive Steve Goodyear said the reports were without foundation.

“I’ve no idea where this came from, but we have no intention of selling the business,” he said.

The beer we known as Young’s is now brewed by Wells & Young’s Brewing Co.