We’ll miss you, Linda

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Linda Starck

Linda Starck, who has been a friend to literally thousands in the brewing community for more than 20 years, died Friday. She was diagnosed with lung cancer a year ago.

Linda – you would only have to say “Linda” (no last name needed) at any gathering of brewers, such as the Great American Beer Festival or the Craft Brewers Conference and others knew who you were talking about – was a Brewers Association staff member for more than 20 years.

A Celebration of Life is being planned in her hometown of Boulder, Colo. The family is collecting photos immediately for use at the memorial service. The Brewers Association has also created a page for friends to share thoughts and stories.

For too brief a time we got to work with Linda as she represented advertising sales on RealBeer.com and Pro Brewer. More than a colleague, anyone who knew her considered her a friend, a fellow beer lover and powerful, positive force of nature. She will be deeply missed by us all.

Alaskan celebrates first at Toronado

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Alaskan Big Nugget Barley Wine (2004 vintage) took first place in judging that kicked off the Toronado Barley Wine Festival, which wraps up this weekend in San Francisco.

“I think it’s a real honor to win at the Toronado,” said Darin Jensen, an Alaskan Brewing quality assurance analyst and former brewer. “It’s great that our 2004 Big Nugget did so well, because it proves how well our barley wine ages.”

Angel’s Share from Lost Abbey was second, while Hair of the Dog’s Doggie Claws and Uinta Brewing XI tied for third. Yes, Uinta, the 100% wind-powered Utah brewery.

Ninety judges assessed 54 beers in the competition, and as always it truly was a festival. Jay Brooks has photos to prove it.

Great beers in the Phoenix Valley

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azcentral.com picks the top 10 locally brewed beer in the Phoenix Valley.

Don’t think they are in order – and since Ed’s Cave Creek Chili Beer (an interestsing novelty in 1993) is listed second let’s hope not. The list (visit the link above for details):

Kiltlifter Scottish Ale
Four Peaks Brewing Company

Cave Creek Chili Beer
Black Mountain Brewing

Oak Creek Amber
Oak Creek Brewing Company
2050 Yavapai Drive, Sedona

8th Street Ale
Four Peaks Brewing Company

Sonoran 100
Sonoran Brewing Company

Orange Blossom
Papago Brewing Company

Eisbock
Papago Brewing Company

Hefevenom
Mogollon Brewing Company

Sonoran Brewing Company Root Beer
Sonoran Brewing Company

Many of these are available in bottles, but not all, so it’s a little surprising not to see a beer from the excellent BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery in Chandler or Gordon-Biersch in Tempe.

Rogue’s 10,000th batch

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Rogue 10,000Rogue Ales master brewer John Maier has brewed his 10,000th batch. (In fact, he brewed it Nov. 14 of last year, but Maier is not one to rush a beer out of the brewery.)

Maier brewed the first batch of Rogue Ales in a garage on the Yaquina Bayfront in Newport, Oregon, on May 18, 1989. In the 18 years since he created and brewed 60-plus beers.

But to the important stuff. What about the beer; what’s the style?

“It’s not any style, but it will be good,” Maier is quoted as saying in a Rogue press release.

To brew the beer he used Vienna, French special aroma and Maris Otter pale malts; Yakima Summit and German Saphir hops; the top-fermenting Pacman yeast; and as always free range coastal waters.

The specs: 22 Plato, 78 AA, 60 IBU, 30 Lovibond. It is packaged in 750ml black ceramic bottles with swingtop closures. Maier, as you can see from the illustration, is pictured on the front. Only 10,000 serigraphed bottles are available.

Odell’s Single-Barrel series honored

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The Coloradoan newspaper Best in Business awards have honored the employees of Odell Brewing with “Innovator of the Year.”

The Fort Collins brewery was praised for using its five-barrel pilot system to create it Single Batch Series of beers.

“Investing in innovative brewing technologies has positioned Odell Brewing for success by producing truly one-of-a-kind beers,” said Coloradoan writer Laura Bailey.

“We’re constantly looking for something new, different, and unique. We employ a five-barrel pilot brewing system for on-going research and development. This system allows us to experiment with innovative beer styles, variable ingredient mixes and advanced technical modifications,” said Wynne Odell, Odell’s co-CEO.

Odds on an A-B, InBev merger?

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The Financial Times (via MSNBC) has a complete analysis of why the rumored merger between brewing giants InBev and Anheuser-Busch makes sense, and why it might not happen.

They said the biggest obstacle to a deal would be reluctance on the part of the Busch family to relinquish management control of Anheuser.

The family has only a small shareholding in the company but August Busch IV, great-great grandson of the founder, was appointed chief executive last December. His father, August Busch III, remains a powerful influence on the board.

The company has been struggling over recent years as its domestic brands face increasing competition from wine, spirits and imported beer.

Analysts believe the board will give Mr Busch IV time to prove he can turn the company around on its own before considering other options.

But if growth remains sluggish, pressure is likely to build from shareholders for a merger with InBev to be considered.

The story points out that it’s the Brazilian dealmakers behind AmBev who control management of InBev (Interbrew before it merged with Ambev). The bottom line is they are businessmen, not brewers.

Sierra Nevada in the high tech world

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When Microsoft rolled out is long-awaited Vista software at a large gathering in San Francisco, Sierra Nevada Brewing shared the spotlight. No, Microsft wasn’t handing out free beer. Sierra Nevada representatives were there because the brewery partcipated in early training for Vista.

Sierra Nevada was one of about 60 mid-size companies that were part of early training. A story in the Chico Enterprise offers an idea of the technology involved in running a brewery the size of Sierra Nevada (the second largest craft brewery in America).

Microsoft’s Diana Beckman said Sierra Nevada was chosen because “their experience illustrates the strength and benefits of the desktop searching abilities featured in Vista.

“As part of their quality control and manufacture process, Sierra Nevada Brewery runs nearly 100 tests on each batch of beer — dozens of batches of beer per week. It generates and constantly references an enormous amount of data points during their quality control and manufacture processes.”

Greg Koch’s vBlog offers another look, this time the amazing pilot brewery. You’ll have to scroll down to June 8 to see it.

Safeguarding the children from beer

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The rigorous age-verification system Anheuser-Busch initiated for those who want to visit the new Bud.TV isn’t restrictive enough for some.

Twenty-three attorneys general have written to Anheuser-Busch Cos., asking the brewer for better tools to make sure underaged viewers aren’t accessing its new Bud.TV site.

An A-B spokeswoman pointed out that many site users (or would-be users) disagree.

The St. Louis-based brewer, in a statement Friday, called itself the first in its industry to adopt independent age verification for the company’s Web sites. It said it has even faced some criticism that the age checks were too cumbersome and turning away some adults.

“Despite these extraordinary efforts, some have urged us to make the age verification process more difficult and even more invasive of people’s privacy,” said a company spokeswoman, Francine Katz, in a statement.

In fact, Louisiana’s Attorney General Charles Foti – one of those behind the letter – said he didn’t have any evidence that underage children are accessing the web site, but said it’s clear that more could be done to safeguard children.

Sure, the site does feature adult content – it’s a “channel,” but on your computer instead of the TV. But the tools for a parent to block their children from visiting Internet channels are at least is easy to implement as those block TV channels.

Are these government officials taking this stance because Anheuser-Busch is a target they can easily identify (as opposed to a gazillion pornographic websites that have no similar mechanisms)? Or could it be because beer is involved?

Free beer as in free speech

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Free beerYou are correct if you’ve figured out that a project to create “open source” beer doesn’t mean you end up drinking beer that you get for free.

The idea of open source beer has been around as something of a joke since 1998, but students in Denmark have taken it a step further and begun a Free Beer project.

Sunday’s Boston Globe (free registration) offered the best explanation we’ve seen of the philosophy behind open source software and how the concept might be extended to other areas – such as the production of beer.

“Free software” began in the early 1980s when software developers first started asserting intellectual property rights over their works. The problem wasn’t so much that developers were making money off software, but rather that, by asserting these rights, they were no longer allowing the free and informal sharing of code. The free software movement’s objection, which was largely cast in moral terms, was essentially that while charging money for software was fine — everyone has to eat — it is not right to prevent others from using, studying, distributing, or improving on it.

The concept, and practices, of open source sprung from this.

Although the Free Beer project is fun – don’t you smile just saying the words? – brewers have been sharing information about how to brew better beer pretty much since they first learned how to make it.

Dive bars and Internet connections

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Can a dive bar have Wi-Fi?

Something to think about next time you nurse a beer at your favoirte dive bar.

Don Russell offers his own definition plus lists some Philadelphia standouts.

And, no, he doesn’t think a self-relfecting dive bar should have a wireless Internet connection.

To me, a dive is a place where the drinks are cheap, the atmosphere is dark and comfortable, and there are absolutely no pretensions of trendiness.

There are no candles in the bathroom, no wi-fi and no cover charge. The TV is tuned to the lottery at 7, and the jukebox has Frank, Bruce and the Stones – but only pre-“Some Girls.”

Shouldn’t there also be a Simpsons Happy Hour (the juke box unplugged and patrons asked to order only during commercials)?

A-B, InBev merger rumored

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A Brazilian daily reports that Anheuser-Busch and InBev, the two largest brewing companies in the world, have held prelimary merger talks.

Not surprisingly, neither company is commenting.

“We do not comment on market speculation,” said Gwendoline Ornigg, InBev’s director of corporate external communications.

Anheuser-Busch echoed that, saying it was the company’s policy “to not confirm, deny or speculate on reports of potential investments, acquisitions, mergers, new business partnerships or other transactions.”

Industry analysts offered differing views on whether the deal might happen and how, according to the St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

It is “still too early to discern potential deal structure” or who would run the combined company if the report is true, Banc of America Securities analyst Bryan Spillane wrote in a research note.

Deutsche Bank analyst Marc Greenberg wrote that “the economic rationale (for a merger) is not obvious,” given the high cost of combining the two.

The two companies have done business together more than once. Anheuser-Busch just became the exclusive U.S. importer of Inbev SA’s beers, including Beck’s, Bass and Stella Artois. Last May, Anheuser-Busch bouhgt InBev’s Rolling Rock beer brand and last February said it would be the sole U.S. distributor of the European beer Grolsch.

Time features spicy side of Fal Allen

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Time features American brewing pioneer Fal Allen’s innovative beers at Singapore’s Archipelago Brewery in a story it headlines “Waiter, There’s a Herb in my Beer.”

Andrea Teo, Archipelago’s managing director, expects Allen to uses spices.

“I thought, what a great name: Archipelago somehow resonated with spices and islands . . . What if we make a spiced beer with indigenous local spices?” she asked.

Some of Allen’s beer include use ingredients like tamarind, palm sugar, ginger, lemongrass and even wolfberries, which are normally used in traditional Chinese medicine.

16th century village inn top English pub

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The Campaign for Real Ale (CAMRA) announced the Tom Cobley Tavern, Spreyton, Devon, as its National Pub of the Year 2006.

This 16th century village inn has been run by Roger and Carol Cudlip for the last four years. In that time they have turned the Tom Cobley Tavern into the epitome of a Community Pub, acting as an indispensable meeting place for local groups, sports teams and residents.

“I am absolutely over the moon. This is the highest accolade CAMRA can give to a pub and naturally we could not be more delighted that it has been given to us,” said Roger Cudlip. “Our success is down to the support of the villagers. We look after them and they look after us in exchange. The Tom Cobley Tavern is a proper rural pub and every night we have a great clientele mix of young and old. The key is to get involved and be part of the life of the community.”

The pub will receive its award Friday to mark the beginning of CAMRA’s inaugural Community Pubs Week, a campaign to highlight the vital role pubs play in the lives of local communities.

Valentine’s Day beer suggestions

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If you’re not drinking AleSmith My Bloody Valentine tomorrow what other choices do you have?

– The Brewers Association offers something of a primer on beer and chocolate.

– Stephen Beaumont has a more complete Valentine’s Day Beer & Chocolate Companion at World of Beer.

– Donovan Hall gives us the recipe for a Liverpool Kiss. Officially you mix “a dark beer with cassis liqueur.” He goes into more detail.