Andy Brown, a highly respected and experienced Colorado brewer, has been named the new head brewer for Wynkoop Brewing Company.

Brown served as the head brewer for Left Hand Brewing from 2003 to 2007, and was recently a brewer for Oskar Blues Brewery before joining Wynkoop.

“Wynkoop is one of the pioneers in Colorado’s craft beer history,” Brown says. “I’m really excited about setting a new standard here, and increasing people’s recognition of the Wynkoop as the oldest and biggest anchor of the Denver brewpub scene.”

Brown was an avid homebrewer when he enrolled in the American Brewers Guild Craftbrewers Diploma Program in 1999. He graduated in 2000 and then trained under Dick Cantwell at Seattle’s Elysian Brewing Company in Seattle. He then moved back to Colorado and started his career in the state’s acclaimed craft beer trade.

Brown says he aims to boost brewing quality and efficiency at the brewpub, and add new beers and fine tune longtime house beers. All while taking advantage of the unique opportunities the brewpub’s brewing gear offers.

“Few brewpubs in the US serve as much cask-conditioned beer as we do here,” Brown says. “And the open fermenters allow a different flavor development during fermentation than the unitanks most craft brewers use. The large number of storage tanks here also allow me to make lager beers in the classic, slowly aged method.”

Mark Schiffler, a Wynkoop cofounder and current chief operating officer, says Brown’s hiring signals a rejuvenated attention to Wynkoop’s beer culture.

“Twenty years ago,” Schiffler says, “our original brewer, Russell Schehrer, set the tone for us with his focus on innovation and British-style beers. We’ve lost some of that focus over the past few years. These days we’re looking to raise the bar in all aspects of the brewpub, and Andy will help us reclaim our great reputation on the beer side of things.”

“Hiring a highly trained and experienced brewer like Andy,” Schiffler adds, “gives us the opportunity to elevate our beers and build on our legacy.”

Brown says he’s excited about the face-to-face contact brewpub brewing provides, and the location of his new employer.

“I’m really enjoying the brewpub setting and the contact with servers, bartenders and beer lovers,” Brown says. “Plus, I live just a few blocks away and can ride my bike to work every day now.”

The beginning of this year’s football season will see the return of those iconic Miller Lite television commercials where sports figures, comedians and other celebrities debated whether Miller Lite tasted great or was less filling. The “Great Taste, Less Filling” tag line debuted over thirty years ago and was responsible for reviving Miller Brewing and pushing them into the second place spot, behind Anheuser-Busch.

The newly created MillerCoors LLC is reintroducing the successful spots as part of a strategy to grow both Miller Light and Coors Light, both of which are behind Bud Light in the low-calorie beer sales race.

Hundreds of St. Louis Teamsters and families rallied today in downtown St. Louis to show support for Anheuser-Busch workers nationwide in the wake of the purchase of the iconic American beer company by Belgium-based brewing giant InBev. Carrying rally signs that said “InBev: Keep Your Promises!,” rally participants, along with Teamster trucks, overflowed Kiener Plaza next to the famous St. Louis Arch.

“For more than a hundred years, Teamsters and many other hardworking union members have made Budweiser and Anheuser-Busch the great American brand that it is today,” said Jack Cipriani, Director of the Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Conference and International Vice President. “Good jobs like those at A-B help our local communities grow. They provide access to good health care and the promise of a secure retirement.”

The Teamsters Brewery and Soft Drink Workers Conference represents more than 7,000 employees of Anheuser-Busch Companies Inc. in the United States and Canada. Today’s rally was co-sponsored by Missouri Jobs with Justice and included speakers and participants from InBev unions worldwide, the St. Louis Labor Council and employees from all 12 Anheuser-Busch breweries in the United States.

“We are here today to honor all of the workers at Anheuser-Busch and to tell InBev that winning the loyalty of the workforce is key to the company’s success in the 21st century and beyond,” Cipriani said.

InBev has promised to keep open Anheuser’s 12 U.S. breweries and to retain St. Louis as the company’s North American headquarters. During the upcoming contract negotiations the Teamsters plan to press Anheuser Busch to agree to this commitment in the labor contract.

At the rally, Union leaders representing InBev employees worldwide including Europe, Latin America and Canada announced an agreement to form a global alliance of InBev workers through the International Union of Food Workers (IUF). Paul Garver of the IUF stated, “InBev workers worldwide are building a strong, unified voice to insure fair treatment at the breweries and in our communities.”

“Our priorities are protecting good-paying American jobs and their communities, as well as preserving health care and pension benefits for all workers,” Cipriani said. “We urge InBev to keep its promises to its workers and the great communities like St. Louis that helped build Anheuser-Busch.”

Hundreds of working men and women at the rally included long-time Anheuser-Busch employees, many of whom have spent their entire working life at the St. Louis brewery.

“I want to make sure that all of the younger employees get the same benefits I am going to get when I retire,” said Tommy Davis, a 30-year employee of the St. Louis brewery. “I just want InBev to keep their promises.”

As the Olympics begin in China, one of the most recognizable Chinese beer brands, Tsingtao, is announcing that they are planning to build a new brewery in Thailand. If that proves successful, America is likely to be the next location for a Tsingtao brewery. The reasons given for the move are to insure product freshness and to lower transportation costs. Though Tsingtao Brewery does a good job in their home market, it only has a small percentage of the international market. According to statistics provided by the company, it has an annual output of 5.05 million kl, but only 1 percent is exported, one-third of which goes to the United States.

You probably read about the recent travails of Mt. Shasta Brewing Co., makers of Weed Ales. Their crowns — the bottle cap on their beers — reads “Try Legal Weed,” which is funny because it’s brewed in the northern California town of Weed, which was named for an actual person: Abner Weed. Well, the federal TTB (Tax and Trade Bureau) wasn’t laughing and told the brewery they had to remove the language because it violated their vague standard prohibiting drug references. You can read Weed’s version of the events here, and it was covered by a number of news outlets.

Today owner Vaune Dillmann announced that the TTB has reversed their decision and “Try Legal Weed” can once more grace their bottle caps. Dillmann shared the registered letter he received with the Associated Press earlier today, which stated.

“Based on the context of the entire label, we agree that the phrase in question refers to the brand name of the product and does not mislead consumers,” said the letter, dated Thursday.

In a letter to the hundreds of supporters who reached out the brewery, Dillmann added. “Weed fought the law and Weed won!”

Ghost River beers will soon be available in area bars and restaurants, as the new brewing company prepares to launch three new, locally-brewed, craft beers and one seasonal beer into the Memphis market.

Beginning in late July, Ghost River Brewing, the only local brewery using water from the Memphis Sands Aquifer, will begin selling their Ghost River Golden, Glacial Pale Ale, Brown Ale, and Hefeweizen (seasonal) beers through Southwestern Distributing Co.

“We believe the efforts of Steve and Gene Barzizza at Southwestern Distributing have helped expose the community to fresh, flavorful beer. This interest has expanded the market’s potential to support a local, craft-brewed beer,” says Chuck Skypeck, head brewer and co-owner of Ghost River Brewing.

And Ghost River Brewing isn’t just trying to make a profit. Ghost River is helping to support the Wolf River Conservancy by donating a portion of the proceeds of every barrel of beer sold. “It is important that we help the Wolf River Conservancy protect our local, natural resources and the quality of our famous drinking water.”

The Ghost River brand, created by Skypeck and local design firm Communication Associates, includes a new logo, web site, easy to recognize tap handles shaped like canoe paddles, and several local events planned for August.

“Great water makes great beer. Brewing locally guarantees that every handcrafted, full-flavored Ghost River Ale is the freshest beer available . . . and when it comes to flavor, freshness means everything!” says Skypeck.