Boston Beer founder Jim Koch revealed a plan Thursday to supply smaller breweries with 10 tons of hops they might not otherwise have access to.
“. . . we looked at our own hops supplies at Boston Beer and decided we could share some of our hops with other craft brewers who are struggling to get hops this year.”
Details about the offer have been posted at the Samuel Adams website – look for “Hop-Sharing Program.”
Scottish & Newcastle, the biggest brewer in Britain until it gets taken over by Carlesberg and Heineken, will close its largest brewery in the UK and eliminate 362 jobs.
The brewery at Reading produces 6 million hectoliters (more than 5 million U.S. beer barrels) of S&N’s biggest selling UK brands, Kronenbourg and Fosters. About 3 million hectoliters will be outsourced to Molson Coors, while the rest will be made at remaining S&N breweries.
“It is well documented that there is general over capacity in the UK brewing sector, and these proposals have been put in place to address this issue,” said S&N operations director Stephen Glancey. “The nature of the Reading site, the amount of investment required to make it competitive and its relative cost compared with other UK facilities means there is a strong case for closure.”
Reading is the 48th major brewery to close since 1990, according to figures from the Beer and Pub Association.
Anheuser-Busch will roll out Bud Light Lime in May, backing it with a $35 million marketing campaign.
“We’re treating this as a big launch,†Dave Peacock, vice president of marketing at the company’s domestic beer subsidiary, said in the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.
Last year A-B rival Miller Brewing introduced Miller Chill, a beer flavored with lime and salt. It was one of the year’s hottest beer product launches.
Miller’s “Brew Blog” has been predicting that A-B would counter with a product like this, and reports on it today.
Peacock said Anheuser-Busch and Miller had independently concluded that flavored beers — including ones that evoke brews popular in Latino culture — can attract a wide following.
A-B’s confidence in the product is illustrated by its decision to take it directly to a national launch without testing it in regional markets. “We can’t remember a Bud family product we didn’t put into a test market,†said Peacock.
Port Brewing announced today that Russian River Brewing Company will distribute Port’s beers in the San Francisco Bay and Northern California regions.
A press release states that under the agreement Russian River will provide Port’s full range of products, including the much heralded Lost Abbey labels, to Russian River draft and bottle accounts.
“We’re very excited about this agreement,” Port Brewing director of brewery operations Tomme Arthur said for the press release. “Russian River is one of the most respected breweries in the world and serves the top draft houses and bottle shops in Northern California. Having them distribute our beers is great for our business.”
“There is a real buzz in the Bay Area regarding Port Brewing / Lost Abbey beers,” said Russian River owner/brewer Vinnie Cilurzo.
“We’re happy to have a hand in making sure that Northern California beer lovers can enjoy these great beers.”
Russian River will distribute Port Brewing/Lost Abbey beers to its accounts in the city of San Francisco and the East Bay, as well as Marin, Napa and Sonoma counties in the northern Bay Area. Deliveries are expected to begin in March, 2008.
The second annual Reunion: A Beer for Hope unveiled at the Celebrator Beer News’ 20th anniversary party Sunday.
A year ago, Alan Shaprio, president of SBS-Imports, suggested brewing the beer after he and brewing pioneer Pete Slosberg learned that Virginia MacLean had been diagnosed with Multiple Myeloma. Shapiro and MacLean joined Sloberg at Pete’s Wicked in 1989 and helped him turn the company into what was briefly the second largest craft brewery in the country. All then went on to other businesses.
MacLean lost her battle with Multiple Myeloma last June.
The organic red rye has once again been brewed at Bison brewing.
100% of the profits generated by SBS-Imports will benefit the Institute for Myeloma & Bone Cancer Research. Donations to IMBCR also may be made at www.reunionbeer.com.
“To date almost $100,000 has been raised by the Reunion team’s creative approach,” said Dr. James R. Berenson, CEO and President, Medical and Scientific Director at IBMCR.
– Firestone Walker Brewing has released Union Jack, the first India pale ale under its own brand name.
“Union Jack is an American-style India pale ale that represents a flavorful twist on our British brewing heritage, as well as our singular focus on pale ales,” proprietor David Walker said for a company press release. “It also echoes some of the intensity exhibited by our recent limited-edition beers.”
Firestone Walker recently intensified its focus on pale ales under the banner of “Passion for The Pale.†Union Jack is the third pale ale of the group, joining DBA (British-style pale ale) and Pale 31 (American-style pale ale). Meanwhile, Firestone Lager is being discontinued to make room for Union Jack and to keep the Firestone Walker portfolio focused on pale ales.
Union Jack is 7.5% abv and 70 IBU. Firestone Walker also brews the award winning Humboldt IPA Nectar, 5.3% abv and fermented with a different yeast.
– Samuel Adams newest beer looks a little like a seasonal, given that March is right around the corner, but Irish Red Ale (the release) could just as well have been Dunkelweizen.
Irish Red beat out Dunkelweizen in the company’s third annual Beer Lover’s Choice contest, with voting conducted at more than 1,000 tastings during August and September.
The Irish Red styles is said to have originated in 1710 in the Irish town of Kilkenny. The beer is brewed with traditonal two-row Harrington and Metcalfe malts and a solid does of Caramel, and the beer is balanced toward those malts. It is hopped with East Kent Goldings that add an earthy note and some lingering spiciness.
– Deschutes Green Lakes Organic Ale has begun to arrive on grocers’ shelves in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, Montana and Alaska. Green Lakes, 5.2% abv and 45 IBU, is Deschutes first organic beer.
“Green Lakes is a classic amber ale,” said brewer Paul Arney. “We used caramel and Munich malts for a nice color and six different varieties of hops.†The reddish colored brew has a nicely balanced taste with a distinctive but restrained hop profile that includes Salmon-Safe certified Sterling hops.
When the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, went to visit Pope Benedict XVI in Rome he took him an unusual gift — Holy Grail, a beer brewed by the Black Sheep Brewery located in Masham, England.
The archbishop was in Rome to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to strengthen ties between the two churches.
Monty Python’s Holy Grail was specially commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of the famous television program.
The Pope is said to prefer beer to wine and water and this wasn’t the first time that he had sampled one of the brewery’s beers. Managing director Paul Theakston said, “We were absolutely delighted, if not a little surprised, when we received the request from the archbishop to provide the Pope with a bottle of Holy Grail. We do not imagine that His Holiness will be swapping holy water for Holy Grail just yet, but to have him enjoy one of our favorite tipples is a real honor for the whole brewery and give the Holy Grail ale name a whole new meaning.”
SABMiller, previously the world’s second-biggest brewer, has completed its deal to acquire Dutch brewer Grolsch and become the largest brewing company in the world.
Reuters writes: “The deal is a sign of consolidation in the global brewing industry as brewers look to cut costs as input prices for malting barley and aluminum cans have risen and to create a bigger platform for their top brands.”
SABMiller, which makes Miller Lite, Castle and Peroni beers, has said it plans to expand the Grolsch brand across Africa and Latin America.
With the deal SABMiller passes InBev as the world’s largest volume brewer.
Harpoon Brewery and Brooklyn Brewery have a little something riding on the outcome of Sunday’s Super Bowl game.
With the New England Patriots would be playing the New York Giants, Harpoon president Dan Kenary dialed up his friend Steve Hindy, president of Brooklyn Brewery, and arranged a wager. The bet: if the Patriots win the Super Bowl, Brooklyn will pour a keg of Harpoon IPA in their tap room and if the Giants win, a keg of Brooklyn Lager will be tapped in Harpoon’s Boston tap room.
“We know that the oddsmakers are giving the Patriots a 12-point advantage, but we have a lot of faith in our Giants and Eli Manning,” Hindy said in a press release. “The Giants closed strong this season while the Pats looked a bit tired in the last few games, so we accepted an even bet with Dan and Harpoon.”
On Monday, the brewery that has won the wager will ship a keg of their flagship beer to the losing brewery for tapping on their draft system.
Anheuser-Busch sales were up in 2007, but fell short of Wall Street’s expectations, in part because of lagging sales of Corona.
The business of beer brewing companies can be confusing.
The good news for A-B was that U.S. beer sales increased 8 percent in the fourth quarter and estimated U.S. beer market share was 48.5 percent in 2007, up from 48.2 percent in 2006.
Grupo Modelo — which makes Corona, is partly owned by Anheuser-Busch and has been a big driver of A-B’s recent profit growth — saw equity income drop 12%.
Edward Jones analyst Jack Russo said the earnings miss was partly due to a higher-than-expected tax rate, in addition to Modelo’s stumble.
“The core business looked to be about the same,” Russo said. “The beer industry had a pretty good year in 2007. But unfortunately, this Modelo piece is big” for Anheuser-Busch, he said. An expected period of weaker contributions from Modelo will be a drag on A-B’s results, he said.
Benj Steinman, publisher of Beer Marketer’s Insights, pointed out that core brands Budweiser and Bud Light continue to lag. Growing overseas sales and revenues from imports that A-B distributes are the only forces driving up sales, he said.
“The consumer preferences are seemingly shifting to craft beers and, to a lesser extent, imports,” Steinman said.
Carlsberg’s announcement that it has found customers for its $400 a 375ml bottle of a new beer known as Vintage No. 1 has sparked plenty of conversation in the online beer space.
Basics about the beer from Denmark:
Brewmaster Jens Eiken said only 600 of the bottles will be produced, and most will be sold through three of Copenhagen’s most exclusive restaurants.
The first 52 bottles were sold last week.
“We believe that there are people out there who are willing to part with this amount of money just so that they can taste an amazing beer or to keep it on their mantelpiece,” he said.
Eiken said part of the secret of the 10.5 per cent alcohol beer is the way it is stored in special Swedish and French oak casks in a dimly lighted crypt 15 meters under the company’s old brewery.
The brew’s taste hints of prunes, caramel, vanilla, oak and cherry port bitterness, he said, adding that it is best consumed with gourmet blue cheese or on its own with “a very special friend.”
Some Copenhagen residents, despite the Danish capital’s high standard of living, expressed doubts that any beer would be worth that much.
“Only showoffs will buy this beer,” said TV journalist Marie Grundtvig Buss. “There can’t be any justification for such a price for a single bottle of beer.”
And some of the reaction:
– Price vs. Value
– Are You and Utter Fool?
– The discussion at Beer Advocate
– The discussion at Rate Beer
– Who’s threatening us now? Bling beer!
Germany’s beer consumption has dropped to the lowest level since the government began collecting statistics in 1993.
Beer consumption in Europe’s largest economy fell 3.7 percent (in 2007) to 88.5 million hectoliters, the lowest since the Federal Statistics office, based in Wiesbaden, started collecting figures excluding non-alcoholic beer in 1993, a report showed today.
“Beer consumption is dependent on the weather and also tends to peak when we have special events,” Marc-Oliver Huhnholz, a spokesman for the Brauer-Bund brewery association in Berlin, said in an interview. “Our industry hopes for a long, hot summer and that the German soccer team will do really well in the European soccer championship this year.”
Beer sales have also been declining in the past decade as more and more Germans switch to lighter or non-alcoholic beverages, the group said. German brewers sold 2.9 percent less beer last year, the biggest drop since 1998, the report said.
One story suggest that microbreweries and brewpubs could help reverse the trend.
Berlin’s Oliver Lemke, who owns four small breweries, said the overall slump reflects the destruction of small local breweries by big corporations.
“There used to be 100 breweries in this neighborhood alone,” Lemke said. “They died out in the 1970s with the trend toward mono-breweries. The big breweries – for example Warsteiner or Licher – said: ‘We’re only going to make one sort of beer, a premium pilsner, and we’ll market it nationwide.’ And that inevitably leads to a dead-end. At some point, even the world’s biggest idiot notices that there’s virtually no difference between a Warsteiner and Licher.”
The story has a familiar ring to it: “It’s difficult for independents to break through against the conglomerates. The big brewing companies control distribution networks and encourage pub owners to feature their products exclusively by offering loans, price rebates and free tapping and refrigeration systems, beer glasses and even ashtrays.”
After more than three months of negotiations, Scottish & Newcastle agreed a takeover offer from European rivals Carlsberg and Heineken.
S&N, Britain’s largest brewing company, produces Newcastle Brown and many other brands, including Foster’s and Kronenbourg 1664 beer.
Carlsberg of Denmark and Heineken will divide Scottish & Newcastle’s assets between them and share the bill, with Carlsberg taking a slightly larger part. Heineken will obtain the British business, and Carlsberg will take full control of Russia’s largest brewer, which it owned with Scottish & Newcastle.
Analyst point out that Carlsberg’s interest in the Russian market – where it and S&N shared a partnership – was a driving force behind making the deal.
The takeover will give Heineken access to Britain’s cider market, which is growing 18.6%. It will also get Scottish & Newcastle’s businesses in Ireland, Portugal, Finland, Belgium, the United States and India.
From Lost Abbey: The brewery in San Marcos, Calif., will celebrate a Venetian tradition with a New World twist, throwing a party and at the same time releasing a new beer.
Carnevale di Lost Abbey on Feb. 2 draws inspiration from Carnevale di Venezia, during which citizens of Venice dress up as paupers, princes, ladies, lovers and fools, and gather in the Piazza di San Marco to dine, drink and dance. Lost Abbey will transform its brewery into a Venetian piazza, offering party-goers food, music and Lost Abbey’s award-winning ales. The party starts a 6 p.m. Admission is free for those in costume, $10 for those not.
Carnevale ale, a blonde saison accented with American hops, will debut at the party.
From Full Sail: The Oregon brewery is rolling out Slipknot Imperial IPA (7.8% abv, 80 IBU) this month as part of its Brewmaster Reserve series. It follows with Top Sail Bourbon Barrel Aged Imperial Porter in February, continuing its vintage barrel aged series.
Full Sail will celebrate three years of aging beers in bourbon barrels by pouring all three at events Feb. 7. That will include the bourbon-barrel-aged 2004 Imperial Porter, barrel-aged 2006 Black Gold Imperial Stout and this year’s 9/85% barrel-aged Top Sail Imperial Porter. The special tapping will take place at 5 p.m. at the Full Sail Tasting Room and Pub in Hood River, and at Full Sail’s Riverplace Brewery in Portland.
Wickwar Brewing Company of Gloucester won Supreme Champion Winter Beer of Britain 2008 during the Campaign for Real Ale’s National Winter Ales festival in Manchester.
Station Porter (6.1% abv) bested Robinson’s Old Tom and Hop Back Entire Stout for the top award. Wickwar describes the beer as “a rich, smooth dark ruby brown ale.”
Old Ales & Strong Mild Category
Gold – Purple Moose, Dark Side of the Moose (Porthmadog, Gwynedd)
Silver – West Berkshire, Maggs Magnificent Mild (Thatcham, Berkshire)
Bronze – Highland, Dark Munro (Birsay, Orkney)
Stouts
Gold – Hop Back, Entire Stout (Salisbury, Wiltshire)
Silver – Spitting Feathers Old Wavertonian (Waverton, Chester)
Bronze – Spire, Sgt. Pepper Stout (Chesterfield, Derbyshire)
Porters
Gold – Wickwar, Station Porter (Wickwar, Gloucestershire)
Silver – E&S Elland, 1872 Porter (Elland, West Yorkshire)
Bronze – Acorn, Old Moor Porter (Barnsley, South Yorkshire)
Barley Wines
Gold – Robinson’s Old Tom (Stockport, Cheshire)
Silver – Durham, Benedictus (Bowburn, Co Durham)
Bronze – Mighty Oak, Saxon Song (Maldon, Essex)
Anderson Valley Brewing has planned a serious party to celebrate its 20th anniversary. Festivities begin at 2 p.m. on Feb. 2 with tours, carriage rides and disc golf. Beer tasting and hors d’ oeuvres begin at 4 p.m., followed by a four course dinner at 6 p.m. Admission is $65 per person. For more information and to purchase tickets, call 707-895-2337, ext. 23, or visit the AVBC website.
Anderson Valley will also release its 20th Anniversary Imperial India Pale Ale on Feb. 2. This special brew comes in bottles and cases printed with a unique, colorful sunrise label. The 20th Anniversary Imperial Pale Ale is a limited edition batch.