Beers

A small Belgian brewery won an important victory in its battle to maintain the right to describe its beer in champagne-like terms. De Landtsheer Emmanuel has been selling a beer produced with champagne-making methods under the name “Malheur Brut Reserve,” describing it as the world’s first “Brut” beer and the Veuve-Clicquot of the beer world.

French champagne producer Veuve-Clicquot Ponsardin then took action against De Landtsheer Emmanuel for infringement of trademarks and breach of rules on consumer information and comparative advertising.

Even after De Landtsheer Emmanuel stopped making references to Veuve-Clicquot, the champagne maker wanted to halt Emmanuel’s references to “method traditional,” “brut” and “reserve” in its marketing because they were words associated with champagne. But Advocate-General Paolo Mengozzi said because there are many makers of champagne the marketing did not violate the law.

“Such a reference cannot constitute an implicit identification of a competitor or the products offered by a competitor,” the advocate-general said in a statement.

Landtsheer Emmanuel now uses the champagne method in bottling three of its beers, and a second brewery headquartered in the small town of Buggenhout – Brouwerij Bosteels – produces a “brut” beer. This one, called DeuS, has received considerable attention because of its high price.

New beers – first time releases – to be looking for:

– The “Otter Creek World Tour” Brew Series continues with a stop in Finland- and then Scotland. “Helsinki Gold” is a golden ale is brewed with rye and juniper, and was inspired by the traditional Finnish beer “sahti.” Deliciously refreshing, with subtle undertones of juniper, Helsinki Gold will be available through December. The 6th new beer on the tour, “Otter Kilter,” a Scottish-style Wee Heavy, is set to release early January. The brewery is also handpacking special gift packs of favorite “stops on the tour.” The “Otter’s Selection” package includes four 22-ounce bottles.

– Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant has introduced Iron Hill Reserve. Each handcrafted beer comes in a cork finished, 750 ml bottle and ranges in price from $18.50 to $22.50. Iron Hill Reserve beers are available for sale exclusively at Iron Hill’s six regional locations. “We’re bottled up what our friends have told us are Iron Hill’s best beers,” says Mark Edelson, Director of Brewing Operations. “They are the perfect holiday gift for any beer lover.” For the first bottling, Iron Hill’s head brewers selected their top 10 beers.

– The St. Louis Brewery has released the first two beers in the Schlafly Reserve Series, both packaged in 750 ml silk-screened bottles with a decorative box. The beers are a 10.6% abv Bourbon Barrel Imperial Stout and and Oak-Age Barley Wine (10.2%) , which was aged on new Missouri oak.

Rock Bottom Brewery in Chicago won best of show at 4th Annual Festival of Wood and Barrel-Aged Beer in Chicago. The festival attracted 71 different wood and barrel-aged beers. Twenty-eight different breweries, representing 14 states, participated.

Rock Bottom’s Clare’s Thirsty Ale won the experimental category, then BOS. The brewery has won Best of Show at two of the four festivals.

All the results.

The “Brew” Blog, which is sponsored by Miller and reads like it, this week has a series about how the rules of the beer business are changing.

It features old rules and the rules that replaced them. No. 2:
Old Rule: Imports and crafts are exotic
New Rule: Imports and crafts are mainstream

Most of the attention still goes to imports, which had 6% of the market in 1995 and now command 12%, which are much like mainstream beers in taste and marketing.

Indeed, top imports Corona Extra and Heineken are taking on the characteristics of mainstream domestic brews. They spend millions on television. They’re sold in convenience stores. They’re available in large package sizes. And, bowing to U.S. consumer tastes, they’re available in light versions.

“Brew” has made all the rules available, so we don’t have to wait to read No. 4, for which the new rule is “No product, no image.” The idea is that there has to be substance behind advertising.

There’s no one path to differentiation. It can focus on the intrinsic qualities of the beer – its taste or other physical characteristics. Or it can focus on the extrinsic characteristics, such as its place of origin or the package. And of course, differentiation can be based on both.

Like, “We’re your neighborhood brewery and we make beer with more flavor.”

Guinness plans to test market a new beer called Guinness Red.

Stephen Beaumont doesn’t think much of the idea.

Listen, Diageo, I know that sales of Guinness are falling in Ireland and the U.K., at least according to my sources, and that you likely want to find some way to buoy them up. But believe me, this ain’t it!

His explanation at World of Beer.

The romance of hops? That either makes sense to you or it doesn’t. Deschutes Brewery certainly understands because it has posted a wonderful movie about the making of Hop Trip 2006 at its website.

Deschutes used whole leaf Crystal hops for its fresh hop beer, creating a beer of moderate alcohol (5.5% abv), solid bitterness (38 IBU) and excessive hop flavor.

Hop Trip flashes the citrusy/piney aroma you expect of a beer from the Northwest, but follows that with spicy/floral flavors from the wet hops. It tiptoes on the border of being a bit vegetal, but the final impression is soothing in a way that may cause you to consider napping on a hop pillow.

– Great Divide Brewing in Denver has shipped its “wet hop” ale, simply called Fresh Hop Pale Ale. The 2005 batch proved so popular that the brewery doubled the amount it brewed, but higher demand means it again will be sold on an allocated basis and a little harder to find. Fresh Hop Ale is 6.1% abv and measures 55 IBU.

– Monday is the official release date for Stone Double Bastard Ale and Oaked Arrogant Bstard but Double Bastard has been spotted on store shelves already. The news is that that Oaked Arrogant Bastard will be available in 12-ounce bottles (sold in 6-packs) for the first time.

“Each beer possesses very different flavor characteristics and complexity, while retaining the intensity of the original Bastard,” Stone Head Brewer Mitch Steele said for a company press release. “Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale has the strong flavor of American oak, vanilla, and malt, while the Double Bastard Ale is a huge beer, dominated by malt, fruit, fresh hops and alcohol.”

– Extra Special Red (8% abv) is the third release in Odell Brewing’s 2006 Single Batch Series. “There is a lot of history behind this beer style. Red beers can be traced back to ancient Egypt. It is one of the oldest beer recipes” said brewer Greg Wiggall. According to Egyptian mythology, beer colored with red ochre was used to pacify an angry goddess and save the world from destruction.