Sit back with a beer (or a six-pack) because the Chicago Reader goes into considerable detail to explains “How Illinois beer distribution laws, fiercely protected by a powerful industry, drove away one of Chicago’s favorite small brewers.”
That, of course, is Bell’s, the Michigan beer that is no longer sold in Illinois.
– The Wall Street Journal wraps up where things stand now in the Santa-on-a-beer-label debate. (Subscripton required)
– The Bangor Daily News gets right to the point with an editorial headlined “Maine’s beer label ban misguided.”
The state’s refusal to allow the label is reminiscent of Attorney General John Ashcroft covering the aluminum “Spirit of Justice” statue at the Department of Justice after he grew tired of being photographed in front of her naked breast during news conferences. He ended up drawing more attention to the statue for covering it, and that is what the bureau has done with its ban — provided more free advertising that any company could imagine.
Maine should not be in the business of censoring art or restricting silly holiday puns. It would do better to call the ruling an error made with the best of intentions and lift the bans before Maine becomes the butt of bad puns about its restrictive view of free expression.
– Most of the controversey surrounds labels on beers imported by The Shelton Brothers. Their blog has plenty on the subject.
Ben McFarland was been crowned Beer Writer of the Year by the British Guild of Beer Writers for the second time.
The Beer Writer of the Year is chosen from one of six category winners was Pete Brown, who captured the Budvar Travel Bursary. Brown is author of Three Sheets to the Wind.
In the week plus since Beer Therapy wrote about the state of New York planning to ban beer labels with Santa, elves and other holiday character on them it seems there is a new related story every day – or sometimes the old story with a different deadline.
Rather than us beating you over the head with developments – the state of Maine getting involved and the labeling issue going beyond images of Santa are both worth paying attention to – here’s a bookmark for you.
Search Google News for Santa + Beer.
(Do that as this post is typed and the first link sends you to “all 266 news stories” so pour yourself a pint before proceeding.)
The New York Times (free registration) features “big beers” today, focusing first on the beers of Great Divide in Colorado.
Great Divide founder Brian Dunn explains why American brewers have embraced strong beers with particular vigor.
“I feel like the craft brewing industry is responding to a demand for more and bolder flavors,†he said. “I also think that brewers like to sell the beer that they like to drink. And as people who can and do drink beer all day long, it’s obviously more interesting for us to drink big beers that are long on flavor and complexity.â€
The story reminds us that San Diego’s 10th Annual Strong Ale Festival begins Friday.
A Toledo Municipal Court judge ruled that the Ohio law that prohibits the state’s consumers from legally purchasing alcohol from retailers outside the state to drink in Ohio is unconstitutional because it interferes with federal interstate commerce law.
There are similar laws on the books in other states, so this might mean you can buy beer in another state and not worry about the laws in states you drive through on the way home.
Ohio law states that all alcohol consumed in the state must be purchased from a state-licensed establishment.
Agents with the Ohio Department of Public Safety’s Toledo enforcement office have used the law to crack down recently on underage drinkers who cross into Michigan to buy kegs of beer.
[Via the Toledo Blade.]
Employees at Steam Whistle Brewery in Toronto will donate one week’s worth of staff beer rations to soldiers stationed in Afghanistan, and the company has vowed to match those donations.
While alcohol is not readily available in the Muslim country, troops are allowed to have liquor on the base three times during the year, including Christmas. The Toronto brewery gift will include limited edition Steam Whistle pilsner holiday 12-packs wrapped in festive colours and topped with a gift tag.
Here we go again.
Last year Connecticut wanted to ban a label for “Seriously Bad Elf” beer, saying it appealed to children – but then backed off.
Now the New York State Liquor Authority has indicated it will not allow six beers with holiday-themed labels to be sold in the state. An authority representative said that the labels could not be approved for sale because Christmas imagery would “appeal to underage drinkers.”
Shelton Brothers, importers of the beers, have retained attorney George Carpinello to seek a court ruling overturning the decision. Carpinello was the lead attorney for the plaintiff in the case of Bad Frog Brewing Co. v. New York State Liquor Authority, which culminated in 1998 in a decision by the federal Court of Appeals holding, among other things, that the brewery’s First Amendment right to use the label image of its choosing could not be infringed by the SLA on the assumption that the image would appeal to younger people.
Five of the six banned beers are brewed by Peter Scholey of Ridgeway Brewing in the U.K., with label artwork by a Massachusetts artist, Gary Lippincott. The sixth, Rudolph’s Revenge, is brewed at the Cropton Brewery in the U.K.
They are Santa’s Butt Winter Porter, Warm Welcome Nut-Browned Ale, Very Bad Elf Special Reserve Ale, Seriously Bad Elf English Double Ale, Criminally Bad Elf Barley-Wine-Style Ale, Rudolph’s Revenge Winter Ale.
“These labels were always intended to appeal to adults, not kids, and they have in fact been wildly popular with the over-21 crowd that has the money to afford them,” said Daniel Shelton of Shelton Brothers. “They usually run to about five or six bucks a bottle, after all.”
White Cap beer returns to Two Rivers, Wis.
The Manitowoc Herald Times recaptures a time when smaller independent breweries still dotted the American countryside.
Two Rivers Brewing produced White Cap from 1939 to 1963, when co-owners George and Harold Liebich pulled the plug because of declining sales brought on by competition from larger brewers like Pabst and Schlitz.
“The big breweries produced in volume and could sell for less, they had money for TV ads, so it was kind of the beginning of the end for the little guys like us,” said George Liebich, now retired and living in Costa Mesa, Calif. “There were 44 breweries in Wisconsin when I came in 1952, half that when I left (in 1966).”
Now locals can drink the beer again, and it is even brewed locally in the Courthouse Pub, using a recipe from George Liebich.
About 200 people gathered at the new Element Bistro in Two Rivers on Sunday for the brewery reunion. The Herald Times reports: “The walls were adorned with old photos from the brewery’s production days. White Cap was poured into glasses with the beer’s signature logo, which also was reproduced on coasters. Servers wore White Cap T-shirts. Music from the 1940s and 1950s helped set the mood.”
Never underestimate the power of a locally brewed beer.
Budweiser is basing the majority of its U.K. marketing plans for 2007 around “Budweiser Bucks,” a promotion that will allow consumers to exchange branded “beer tokens” for a range of prizes.
Good luck trying something like that in the United States. As it is “Budweiser Bucks” may prove controversial. News of the program comes just weeks after the Department of Health launched its “Know your limits” campaign, urging young people to drink sensibly.
Anybody who has been paying attention already knows that Oregon has a beer culture to envy.
The Register-Guard in Eugene (you may need to register – it’s free) reminds us with lengthy piece in the financial section about why craft beer makes for good business.
“More than anywhere else in the country, people drink craft brews in Oregon,” said Jamie Floyd, co-owner of one of the area’s newest breweries, Ninkasi Brewing Company. “I think people in the Northwest really like the fine things in life. They like really good coffee and good food.”
MSNBC has a list of the “Top 10 cities for beer lovers,” which was compiled by Shermanstravel.com.
The cities are listed in alphabetical order so Amersterdam is first on the list and Sapporo is last (of the 10, still pretty heady terriroty).
Two American cities earned spots – Portland, Oregon, which is no surprise. And Burlington, Vermont, which is a suprise. Burlington is a delightful beer town and Magic Hat deserves the attention it gets in the story, but where is Vermont Pub & Brewery? After all, founder Greg and Nancy Noonan helped get brewpub legalized in Vermont and its impossible to overestimate how many brewer Noonan has influenced.
We’ll quit nitpicking now and leave it to you to answer questions like “If you were to pick one German city which would it be?” or “If you were to pick on Belgian city which would it be?”
Rex Halfpenny, Michigan’s ambassador for microbrewed beer, profiled. He’s accurately described as “part evangelist, part lecturer.”
“Rex’s goal is to build a beer culture in Michigan. He’s totally devoted to that end,” said Redwood Lodge head brewer Bill Wamby.
The New York Times (free registration) makes an interesting pairing today in Books of the Times, reviewing Maureen Ogle’s Ambitious Brew
Our three-part interview with Ogle sparked chatter on various discussion boards and e-mail lists about how complicent the dominant brewers were in the “dumbing down” of American beer and the role played by advertising.
Thus, the Times writes, “The perfect visual accompaniment to Ms. Ogle’s history is Christopher O’Hara’s ‘Great American Beer,†a 21-gun salute to 50 beers that “shaped the 20th century.'” Though a rather thin 128 pages the books is packed with photos of advertisements.
Immersing ourselves fully in beer nostalgia reminds us of where we’ve been, but tell us little about where beer is headed in the 21st century. Ogle’s book, on the other hand, shows us that history may provide a better hints of what’s in the future.
With production ending at George Gale and Company in Horndean, Bob Marvin (he’s the one in the middle) realized that a bit of brewing history could be lost.
Marvin, head brewer at the Ringwood Brewery in Hampshire, worked at Gales until 1994, so got together with Ringwood managing director David Welsh and Gales’ retired head brewer Derek Lowe to strike the deal to get this 30-barrel fermenting vessel moved to Hampshire.
After 159 years of beer production Gales taken over by Fullers in London last spring and production moved to the Fullers brewery in Chiswick.
This vessel was used to brew the classic Gales Ales Prize Old Ale (9% abv).
[Via the Southern Daily Echo.]