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Brewhouse ransacked for copper parts

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Thieves broke into the Wachusett Brewing Co. in Westminster, Mass., to steel copper that can easily be peddled as scrap.

The saddest part if the copper was part antique German-made brewhouse, far more valuable than scrap.

The copper components were part of a large antique onion-dome style copper brewhouse that was made in Germany in 1951. Company president Edward C. LaFortune III said he and his two partners bought it in 2004 from the former owner, who paid $100,000 to have it shipped to this country. The owners planned to refurbish the brewhouse because it is unique and a lot larger than the stainless steel one currently in use.

He said all the components that were stolen probably have a scrap value of $2,000, but will cost a minimum of $20,000 for the company to replace.

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Dogfish Head wants your shorts (short films)

Posted in Breweries, Just for fun on   

Dogfish Head Brewery in Delaware has put out the call for entries for the 2nd Annual Dogfish Head Short Film Competition.

First place is worth $3,000, 2nd $2,000 and third $1,000. Also, the top three films will also be screened at this year’s 10th Annual Rehoboth Beach Independent Film Festival (in November).

Inspiration from the website:

We want to incorporate as many different, individual, vignettes of the ‘little engines that could’ into the world of Dogfish Head and we want to celebrate filmmakers whose visions jibe with our own. In addition to the copious booty we will lay on first-through-third place annual winners, we will show many of the competition submissions online and in our pubs and breweries as well. Our goal is to build a short film competition that is as far from the mainstream as our 90 Minute I.P.A. is from Bud Light. So what are you waiting for? Crack open a cold on, pour it into a nice snifter, and let it come up to cellar temperature while you storyboard. Sip. Brainstorm. Sip again. Write dialogue. Sip again. Cast. Sip. Make that film. Good luck. Cheers.

Start here for details.

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No news here: Craft beer sales strong

Posted in Breweries, News on   

Here are some headlines from past years:

2001: Craft beer sales up 4.2%
2002: Craft beer sales top $3.3 billion
2003: Craft beer sales surge
2005: Craft beer sales soar
2006: Craft beer sales soar

Do you see a trend here? At some point this doesn’t look like news. Craft beer is not a novelty. (That doesn’t mean we should be complacent, or quit beating the drum to make the beers we like even more readily available.) That’s a good thing.

The Brewers Association, having already announced that craft beer volume sales were up 11.7% in 2006 yesterday issued a press release stating that scan data from Information Resources Inc. shows craft beer with a 17.8% increase in supermarket sales for 2006.

Those are dollar sales, not volume sales. Dollar sales now account for 6% in stores that IRI tracks, and predictions are that number will reach 7% this year. Next week at the Craft Brewers Conference in Austin the topic of one panel discussion is: “Funding and Developing Capital to Get to 10% Share.” Just a few years ago the discussion was if craft beer could get to 10%.

And with craft brewers headed to Texas, this news arrived today: First quarter sales for Houston-based Saint Arnold Brewing were up approximately 35% from a year ago.

“The Texas beer market used to consider craft beers a novelty, but in recent years beer drinkers throughout the state have been trying and adopting more flavorful beers,” said brewery founder Brock Wagner. “We are gratified in seeing how many Texans are embracing both the local and craft aspects of our brews.”

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New Sam Adams brewery still possible

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Southcoasttoday.com makes it clear that Boston Beer’s deal to brew some of the Samuel Adams beers in Latrobe, Pa., doesn’t mean the company won’t built a new facility in Freetown, Mass.

(Freetown Selectmen Lawrence) Ashley said Boston Beer and Freetown are still communicating regularly to review the latest developments in the local project.

“I had a call from Boston Beer this morning. It seems to me they’re still certainly very interested in Freetown,” he said.

The Freetown brewery would produce 700,000 to 1 million barrels of Samuel Adams beer a year. The facility would operate 24 hours a day and brew most of the 18 varieties of Sam Adams beer.

Samuel Adams sales increased 17% in 2006.

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Boston Beer buys into Latrobe brewery

Posted in Beers, Breweries, News on   

From Rolling Rock to Samuel Adams beer?

The Boston Beer Co., brewer of Samuel Adams beers, has signed an agreement with a wholly-owned subsidiary of City Brewing Co. to brew some of its beer in Latrobe, Pa.

According to a company press release, Boston Beer and City Brewing will upgrade the brewery by purchasing equipment to allow for Samuel Adams’ traditional brewing process, use of proprietary yeasts and extended aging time, and beer bottling and kegging. Brewing of Boston Beer products is expected to begin during the second quarter.

“This agreement gives us increased flexibility,” said Martin Roper, President & CEO of Boston Beer.

The agreement with City Brewing is not expected to have an impact on brewing operations at the Boston Beer’s breweries in Boston and Cincinnati.

Boston Beer continues to investigate building a new brewery near Boston. The company originally sold beer brewed under contract at other breweries, but now produces the majority of its beer at its own Cincinnati brewery.

Boston Beer’s investment at Latrobe is expected to be between $3 million and $7 million and commensurate with Boston Beer’s commitment to the brewery, the parties are discussing the potential of Boston Beer having an ownership interest in the brewing facility.

City Brewery acquired the Latrobe facility last year after owner InBev sold the Rolling Rock brand to Anheuser-Busch and announced it would close or sell the brewery where Rolling Rock had been brewed since 1939. City is headquartered in LaCrosse, Wis., where it has also brewed products for Boston Beer.

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UK to boost tax on beer

Posted in Breweries on   

UK Chancellor Gordon Brown’s new budget includes index-linked increases to duty on beer, cider and wine.

Britain’s brewers, pub owners and beer drinkers quickly mounted protests.

“This is a slap in the face for one of Britain’s world beating businesses,” said Mark Hastings, British Beer and Pub Association director of communications. “Gordon Brown has chosen to turn his back on a brewing sector facing intense pressure from rapid cost inflation and the forthcoming smoking ban. Once again, the Chancellor has battered beer and favored stronger alcoholic drinks like spirits.”

The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) slammed the increase as “false economy.”

CAMRA Chief Executive Mike Benner said: “This is a false economy for the Government as we may now see an exodus from pubs after beer prices rise.

“This is bad news for the millions of people who enjoy British pubs but will now face a higher cost to visit them. Therefore trips to the pub will become less frequent and the revenue the Government makes from VAT will suffer.”

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A-B wins a round in Bud battle

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Another round in the centurylong dispute between Anheuser-Busch Cos. and Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar is settled, with the win going this time to the American beer-maker.

Anheuser-Busch said Wednesday an Italian appeals court ruled in its favor, ordering cancellation of three registered trademarks held by Budejovicky Budvar, including two for Budweiser Budbrau and one for Budweiser Budvar.

The whole story.

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Texas won’t run out of Shiner

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Were Texas beer drinkers ever worried that an announcement the Spoetzl Brewery would begin selling beer in Chicago meant there might be a shortage in their home state?

“I can assure you that we will always make sure that Victoria and the state of Texas will have plenty of beer,” marketing director Charlie Paulette said at a gathering in Victoria. “We are fully staffed and have plenty of capacity, so there won’t be a shortage of Shiner beer in Texas.”

Paulette did go into surprising details about marketing plans for the Windy City. A few highlights:

– He said the natural reaction of distributors in the past has been to place Shiner in country-western bars and steakhouses with a “Texas” name. “And then they think they’ve done the job,” he said. “Actually, the places that originally made Shiner popular were those real, authentic music clubs, like in Austin, and the neat, eclectic places around the state. University of Texas grads really helped us establish the brand originally.”

– He said Paulette said the company would be concentrating on its lead product, Shiner Bock. The consumers are people who have experience with the beer – graduates of the University of Texas, North Texas State, Texas A&M and Texas Tech who live in the Chicago area. He said contact would be made through offers of beer donations to alumni group functions and e-mail “blasts” to members of those groups.

– Chicago was selected quite a while ago, Paulette said, and will be the only market expansion for Shiner beer this year. “We tried to move into Atlanta in 1995 and into San Francisco about six years ago and weren’t very successful,” he said. “You would now be hard pressed to find Shiner Bock in either of those cities. But Chicago is the third largest market in the country and the third largest market for craft beers, so it can be a place where we are successful. And we’re always getting asked by people from that area when they were going to start getting Shiner beer.”

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Boulevard goes Lunar

Posted in Beers, Breweries on   

Lunar AleBoulevard Brewing Company has announced the release of its first new year-round beer in more than a decade – Lunar Ale. An unfiltered brown ale, Lunar is brewed with two-row malted barley and a small amount of dark roasted German malt, giving the beer its characteristic color.

The recipe also includes substantial quantities of Midwestern wheat, producing a distinctive natural haze. Fermentation employs a special strain of Belgian yeast, which imparts subtle aromatic notes.

“Never has there been a better time in our history to introduce a new year ‘round beer, especially one that we believe will have such widespread consumer appeal,” said Bob Sullivan, Boulevard’s vice president and chief marketing officer. “Lunar is truly in a class by itself, stylistically speaking. It’s as approachable as our popular Unfiltered Wheat Beer, but offers its own unique harmony of flavors, with an alluring cloudy brown color. We think it’s out of this world, and we hope consumers agree.”

Boulevard recently completed a major expansion and now may use its former brewhouse to produce specialty beers. One reason Boulevard drinkers haven’t seen a new year-round beer in 10 years is the brewery has struggled to keep up with demand. The Kansas City Star (free registration) reports a new Smokestack Series should start shipping in summer.

Boulevard brought test batches of some of these beers to the Great American Beer Festival last October. A beer to be called Saison-Brett, which as the names implies is brewed in the saison style with Brettanomyces (a wild yeast) added during secondary fermentation, was particularly well received.

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St. Peter’s plans new brewery

Posted in Breweries, News, Uncategorized on   

A UK brewing company that recently considered selling the business instead plans to build a new £3 million brewery. Construction may not start for two years.

St Peter’s Brewery at South Elmham, near Bungay, has reached full capacity on its 13th century rural site as the firm’s beers are sold across 22 countries.

“We’re delighted that St Peter’s beers are proving so phenomenally popular, not just across the UK but worldwide,” said managing director Colin Cordy. “Our big challenge though is to keep meeting that demand and the next natural step is to build a completely new brewery. The construction process would take up to a year and our aim is to start production at the new site about two-and-a-half to three years from now.”

St Peter’s was put up for sale with a £20 million price tag in summer 2005 but taken off the market a few months later when directors decided to continue running the business independently.

Founded in 1996 by John Murphy, the award-winning company is based in St Peter’s Hall, a half-moated manor house surrounded by converted outbuildings.

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Heineken targets airport bars

Posted in Beers, Breweries on   

A new bar at Hong Kong’s international airport serves up as much Heineken branding as it does beer. Bar stools reflecting green neon match the Heineken-logo T-shirts for sale. TV screens show Heineken ads and sports events sponsored by the company. While the bar sells other beers as well as wine and spirits, only Heineken-owned brands are available on tap.

The Wall Street Journal (subscription) reports that Heineken plans a series of bars like these around the world.

This is a little different, but not entirely different, than breweries liscensing their name for use in U.S. aiports. This has been common for years, whether it is a Samuel Adams Brewhouse, Anheuser-Busch or a locral brewery. In St. Louis you can find a Schlafly pub, for instance. The Minneapolis-St. Paul airport has both a Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurant and a Leinie Lodge.

But Heineken seems to have high expectations for its own efforts. “If you enter the Heineken Bar, you enter the world of Heineken,” said one manager.

BTW, best fact hidden deep in the story: Beer is the second most consumed beverage after coffee.

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From the beer business wires

Posted in Beers, Breweries, News on   

– A strong fourth quarter wraps up an excellent year for Boston Beer, producer of Samuel Adams beer.

– Bud.TV got off to a slow start. Part of the problem is the registration process. “The first week after Super Bowl, the site got an average of 20,000 visits a day, but only about 800 to 1,000 a day were registering–we think because of the registration process,” reported A-B vice president Tony Ponturo.

– Miller Brewing is giving a national push to Miller High Life’s “Take Back the High Life” campaign. The company reports “Midwestern customers are swapping trendiness for value, so the brewer is taking its promotion of the lower-priced beer nationwide.” Kinda like this headline: Miller: Midwesterners Appreciate Lower-Priced Beer.

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150 years of Steven Point beers

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To celebrate 150 years of business the Stevens Point Brewery – long ago Chicago Daily News columnist Mike Royko declared Point Special the best beer in American – released five historic labels created from actual labels in the brewery’s archive. Represented are labels from the 1800s, 1920s, 1950s, 1960s and the 1980s, as well as the current Point Special Lager label.

“Many companies do a retro label. What we did is use many labels,” said Joe Martino, Stevens Point Brewery operating partner was quoted in the Steven Point Journal. “We put them out at the same time instead of one at a time.”

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California dreamin’

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A couple of stories from California:

– With the the Pyramid Brewery and Alehouse marking its 10th anniversary in Berkeley, The Daily Californian visits and adds some perspective.

The Berkeley Historical Society last year held an exhibit titled “Fermenting Berkeley” studying the city’s history with alcohol, with UC Berkeley students, local alcohol-makers and a strong pro-Prohibition movement at odds throughout.

– Did you know that since 1982, Sierra Nevada has sponsored some kind of cycling team; first, club teams that mainly participated in recreational events, and for the last eight years, a professional team?

The Chico Enterprise Record has the details.