News

Might 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.

The 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.

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.”

A judge had approved Pittsburgh Brewing’s reorganization plans. This provides the brewery with new cash to modernize.

The new ownership group will take over on July 7.

The 147-year-old brewery, maker of Iron City, IC Light and Augustiner brands, will be operated under the name of Iron City Brewing Co.

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.

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.

A proposal by Smuttynose Brewing Co. to construct a new brewery and restaurant off Route 1 is dead after Portsmouth the City Council denied a proposed zoning change that would have been the first step in the process.

Some of the opposition seems pretty provincial (but then we are biased):

Kathleen Hersey of 1761 Lafayette Road also opposed the change because she worried it would devalue her property.

“I can’t imagine anyone would want to look out their living room window and see an industrial plant in their neighborhood,” she said.

Others like Tim Ellis of 1781 Lafayette Road worried about odors. “How do I live in my house if it smells. You can go by the brewery right now and it smells,” he said.

Some people have short memories. Founder Peter Egelston pointed out he invested in Portsmouth downtown in the late 1980s when he was told it was foolish to do so.