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Why those beer kegs keep disappearing

Posted in Breweries, News on   

The Associated Press revisits the ongoing story about how, with metal prices rising brewing companies expect to lose hundreds of thousands of kegs and millions of dollars this year as kegs are stolen and sold for scrap.

Here’s why it makes a difference to you:

Craft brewers are anxious to solve the theft problem because as much as 40 percent of their business is tied up in keg sales, triple the industry average, said Ken Grossman, founder and owner of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

His company, based in Chico, Calif., expects to lose at least 3 percent of its kegs each year and often must wait months for replacements because it orders in smaller batches.

The thefts couldn’t come at a worse time because the craft beer segment has outpaced growth in the domestic market, he said.

“If you can’t meet the need, you’re not going to grow much anymore,” Grossman said.

The price scrap yards pay for stainless steel has steadily grown for a year, peaking at about $1.50 to $1.70 a pound last month, said Marty Forman, president of Forman Metal Co. in Milwaukee. But that has dropped to about 50 to 70 cents a pound recently, which could provide some relief to frustrated brewers, he said.

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Summit launches community for fun and obscure

Posted in Beer culture, Breweries on   

Summit Brewing in Minnesota has launched a website it is calling The Social Element. It is video-driven and designed to “show off the mad skills of the adventurous, outrageous, exciting, fun and obscure groups you thought may exist, but were afraid to ask.”

The web-based community project focuses on the kinds of outside-the-box activities seen on the streets of Saint Paul and beyond.

They’re the activities that make you say, “Say What?” It’s the double-tall bike makers and riders, nordic battle reenactment “warriors”, and the Lake Superior surfers who make thesocialelement.com what it is – a community of groups that share the common bond of passion for activities one wouldn’t ordinarily see or do.

Dozens of smaller breweries have tapped into Internet social networks, most often at MySpace. A few (with links to their MySpace pages, so you may want to turn down the volume on your computer):

– Flying Dog Brewery
– New Holland Brewing
– Boulevard Brewing
– Schlafly Beer

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Oregon celebrates craft beer all month

Posted in Beer culture, Breweries on   

Remember American Beer Month?

The Brewers Association conducted the promotion for six years, the last in 2005, and it has been replaced by American Craft Beer Week.

But it lives on some places, such as the Boscos restaurant-breweries in the mid-South and the entire state of Oregon.

“We are proud to be the only state that has designated a special month to recognize our local craft brewers,” Brian Butenschoen, Executive Director of the Oregon Brewers Guild, stated in a press release to announce the return of Oregon Craft Beer Month. ”Beer is one of Oregon’s iconographic agricultural products and Oregon Craft Beer Month is a wonderful opportunity to stop and lift a glass to all the passion and success we have had here.”

The month builds toward the Oregon Brewers Festival, July 26-29, which celebrates its 20th anniversary.

Governor Tom McCall Waterfront Park in downtown Portland provides the Willamette River and Mount Hood as backdrops for the Brewers Festival. At least 50,000 beer enthusiasts are expected to attend.

Other Craft Beer Month events include a beer and sausage fest, cheese pairings by the dean of American beer writers, Fred Eckhardt, an Oregon Brewers Guild barbecue featuring 24 special beers that you can’t get at the Brewers Festival, and a parade of brewers strutting along Portland sidewalks to the beat of the March 4th Marching Band.

Look for details at the Oregon Brewers Guild website.

Meanwhile feel free to pour yourself one of “Oregon’s iconographic agricultural products.”

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Miller to brew Foster’s in the U.S.

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Miller Brewing Co. plans to enter a licensing partnership to brew and sell the Australian beer Foster’s Lager in the United States.

Miller is entering a 10-year agreement with Foster’s Group Limited. Under the arrangement, brewing of the Foster’s Lager and Special Bitter brands sold in the U.S. will transfer from Molson Coors of Canada to Miller breweries in Fort Worth, Texas, and Albany, Ga., in November.

The new arrangement will reduce shipping costs and allow Miller to invest more in the brands’ long-term growth, according to a statement Monday from SABMiller Plc, Miller’s corporate parent.

The Foster’s brands would continue to be distributed and marketed in the U.S. through Foster’s USA LLC, a joint venture between Miller and Foster’s Group Limited.

The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reports that this represents “a new commitment to the lagging brand.”

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Sapporo now ‘lifestyle brand’

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And you thought Sapporo was a beer.

The brewing company is billing itself as more, in this case a lifestyle brand, by launching a campaign called “Sapporo Inspired,” a marketing program that allows Sapporo to create co-branded products with brands within the apparel category.

This spring, over 30 Sapporo inspired products created by 9 different brands including Jhung Yuro, Ciano Farmer, Crooks and Castles, New Era, Jungle Gurl, Cassette, Alex Nash, Artful Dodger, and Zero Halliburton, were presented on the runway at Sapporo Inspired, a fashion show which took place at Mansion in Miami Beach.

Already the most popular Japanese beer imported into the U.S., Sapporo Premium has doubled its sales since Sapporo began working with Epiphany Media in 2005.

“We are excited to see the impact these brilliant (apparel) products has had for our Sapporo client, the traction the brand has experienced has been nothing short of amazing,” says Coltrane Curtis, the founder and Creative Director of Epiphany Media.

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Guinness considers closing original brewery

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Guinness breweryMight Guinness close its St. James’s Gate brewery, where the famous stout was first brewed in 1759?

The Sunday Independent reports owner Diageo might move the brewery to a new site to the north of the city and sell the existing property for as much as 3 billion euros ($4 billion).

The company is “considering a number of important investment decisions on upgrading and renewing its brewing facilities in Ireland in the coming years,” Diageo replied in a statement today. “No decisions have been made or will be made until the assessment is completed.”

The St. James’s Gate brewery exports Guinness extract, the “essence” of the drink, to more than 45 countries. The brewery also makes all Guinness for Ireland and the U.K.

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Beer Activist alert: Help needed in Georgia

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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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St. Ambroise vs. St. Urbain

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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

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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

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Michigan boosts deposit on beer kegs

Posted in Breweries, News on   

Michigan has tripled the deposit on beer kegs, a number not quite so shocking since the state previously had a very low deposit for $10 and the new fee of $30 is less than in most states.

It costs a beer manufacturer about $152 to buy a new half-barrel when one disappears, according to Ken Wozniak of the Michigan Liquor Control Commission. He said a Michigan brewing company asked the commission last year to raise the $10 deposit to $90 per keg.

“The commission thought that request was a little steep,” Wozniak said. “The purpose of the increase in the barrel deposit to $30 was to ensure the return of the keg, not necessarily to cover” beer manufacturer’s cost of the keg.

Increasing pricing for scrap metal have made kegs an attractive target for thieves.

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Selling craft beer in the heartland

Posted in Breweries, Trends on   

– The Chicago Sun-Times reports on booming sales for Goose Island Brewing, up 60% this year. The reason is the deal the brewery struck less than a year ago with Widmer Brothers/Anheuser-Busch that put Goose Island beer in the hands of a large distribution force.

“We used to get a lot of calls — from Woodridge, Lake of the Hills — saying ‘I can’t find your beer,'” said brewmaster Greg Hall. “We don’t get as many of those calls anymore.”

– The St. Louis Post-Dispatch heads to Memphis on a beer selling trip with Dan Kopman of Saint Louis Brewery/Schlafly Beer (“We’re the other brewery in St. Louis”).

Schlafly is trying to carve out an identity by promoting its product as craft beer from America’s beer capital.

An interesting story about the challenges, including promoting beer in a market (Memphis) that so far has not been particularly craft friendly.

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Craft beer surge bound to fade?

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Graham Mackay, CEO of brewing giant SABMiller, sits down with Fortune’s Matthew Boyle to talk about “rival Anheuser-Busch, the company’s new beer Miller Chill, and why goats make great mascots.”

The interview indicates that running his business is about more than the beer that ends up in the glass. Speaking about recent declines in profits he says, “The issue right now is cost pressures, in aluminum specifically. We spent about $100 million dollars more on aluminum this past fiscal year than the year prior.”

Not to spoil the interview for you, but here are two answers bound to interest Realbeer.com Beer Therapy readers.

What is your favorite beer?

Pilsner Urquell.

What do you make of the craft beer resurgence in America?

I think it’s going to fade. It’s inevitable.

The interview.

Updated June 6: Tomme Arthur answers the same questions.

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Bud.TV not dead yet

Posted in Breweries, Trends on   

It would appear that the rumors of the death of Bud.TV have – in the words of Mark Twain – “been greatly exaggerated.”

The Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports, “Despite earlier suggestions that it might scrap its struggling online entertainment channel, Anheuser-Busch has decided instead to revamp the Web site to make it edgier.”

Instead of reinventing the way consumers – particularly young male consumers who drink beer – use the Internet, A-B seems to have figured out those web surfers already know how they want websites to work.

While during the site’s rollout Anheuser-Busch touted its slickly produced original content, Bud.TV will also now begin pulling videos and content from other sites. Its aim is to become an aggregator of cool information for beer drinkers. One idea the brewer is toying with: a “joke of the day.” Anheuser-Busch is also hoping to have Bud.TV content appear on other sites such as YouTube and Yahoo as a way to drive traffic.

A-B need look no further than Rogue Ales for an idea how to do that right.