Category: Beverage Industry News
- Business of Beer 775
- Commentary 159
- Crisis Response 190
Bosteels “Deus” Previewed in the Pacific Northwest
Specialty beer importer MBI (Manneken-Brussels Inc.) has held a Seattle preview of “Deus,” a specialty beer it is bringing in from Belgium. The strong pale-golden ale is brewed by Brouwerij Bosteels of Buggenhout, Belgium, a brewery which has been in the same family for six generations since its founding in 1791. The brewery is already known for two Belgian specialty beers: Pauwels Kwak, a strong brown ale served in a custom “coachmen’s glass,” and Triple Karmeliet, a strong golden Belgian triple-style of ale. Deus is brewed and fermented to a strength of 11.5% alcohol by volume, then bottled in champagne-like bottles and sent to France’s champagne country for aging according to the “Methode Champenoise,” involving refermentation in the bottle, 12 months maturation time, and traditional “remuage” turning by hand during the aging process. The final process in the beer’s production includes the “degorgement,” in which the bottle’s neck is frozen and the plug of yeast is removed by bottle pressure, followed by a “dosage” to induce and preserve natural carbonation in the bottle, after which the bottle is corked and dressed. The specialty import will be available in limited quantities in select markets later this summer.
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Big Dog’s Brewing Company Breaks Ground
Big Dog’s Hospitality Group has announced that the construction of Las Vegas’ newest microbrewery has begun. Big Dog’s Brewing Company will be housed in a new 3,383 square foot addition being constructed at the company’s Draft House Barn and Casino facility, located at 4543 N. Rancho Road. The new facility will house a 15-barrel microbrewery system. Brewmaster Dave Otto, formerly of the Holy Cow Brewery on the Las Vegas Strip, will brew a wide range of beers, including light beers, ales, porters, and stouts. The brewery will carry 12 beers on tap at all times. Big Dog’s Brew will also be served at Big Dog’s Bar & Grill, 1511 N. Nellis at Owens, and Big Dog’s Caf
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Pyramid Opens Alehouse in Sacramento
Pyramid opened its doors to “the house that beer built,” the new Pyramid Alehouse in Sacramento. Located in downtown Sacramento, the newest Pyramid Alehouse addition is home to over 15 beers on draft, including year round, seasonal, and alehouse exclusive styles. The grand opening will be celebrated with an official ribbon cutting ceremony on July 16th at 11 am, hosted by the Mayor of Sacramento. The new Pyramid Alehouse is located just a few blocks from the Capitol in downtown Sacramento.
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Miller Battles A-B at Wrigley Field
Miller Brewing Co. has realized a long-held dream of establishing a major advertising beachhead at Chicago’s Wrigley Field, upping its competitive stance against archrival Anheuser-Busch. Miller’s media buying arm, Chicago-based Starcom Worldwide, has helped the brewery to secure a prominent and flashy rooftop billboard atop a house overlooking right field. The billboard is highly visible both to fans in the stadium and to television cameras when they pan in that direction. The high-profile placement of the Miller board mirrors that of a static roof sign Budweiser has had for more than a decade, atop another building overlooking left field. The new billboard represents a coup of sorts for Miller, whose products cannot be sold inside Wrigley, which allows only Anheuser-Busch brands and Old Style to be sold in the stadium. They may not be available in the park itself, but Miller products, especially Miller Lite, reportedly are big sellers at bars ringing the ballpark, many of which display banners showing the same message visible on Miller’s rooftop billboard. Illinois, along with Wisconsin, are considered Miller’s prime marketing turf.
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Budvar to sell?
First came the news that the Czech government may be willing to sell the brewer Budejovicky Budvar, after which the country’s press reported that big global players Scottish & Newcastle, Heineken, Interbrew, and Anheuser-Busch were all interested in the purchase. In another wave of privatization, reports have claimed that Budejovicky Budvar will be transformed into a joint-stock company in 2004. The company’s book value is calculated at 3.5 billion Czech crowns ($128 million), and the value of its trademark at around 10 billion crowns.
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Full Sail Launches New Package Design
Full Sail Brewing Company of Hood River, Oregon, announced the release its new product packaging featuring local sports action and scenic photography showcasing the Columbia River Gorge. Full Sail’s new look will be available in stores this month. “We first introduced this concept with our seasonal line-up,” said Irene Firmat, Full Sail’s Founder and CEO. “Due to the great response we received from our customers, we decided to apply it to our year-round brands: Full Sail Ale, Pale, and Rip Curl. We think this provides a great venue to celebrate our location and the talents of our local artists.” The new look was developed by 2Jones Illustration and Design of Hood River, Oregon, and features the photography of five local
photographers: Jay Carroll, Stephen Datnoff, Peter Marbach, Darryl Lloyd, and Fascination Photography.
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News AOB Releases New Book on Mead Making
The Association of Brewers’ Brewers Publications division has announced the release of its newest book, The Complete Meadmaker. Authored by master meadmaker and amateur orchardist Ken Schramm of Troy, Mich., the book provides a modern update on home production techniques for the world’s oldest adult beverage.
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In-Flight Magazine Ad to Feature “Ten Great Taphouses”
This summer, travelers who fly on Southwest Airlines and open its Spirit magazine will find a list of 10 great American taphouses.
The advertisement appears in the June, July and August in-flight magazine, and will reach more than 3 million readers each month. The project was organized by Realbeer.com and paid for by participating taphouses. Similar to the “Ten Great Steakhouses” ad seen in many in-flight magazines, this ad will feature unique taphouses across the US which offer an array of quality beers on draft. The ad was placed to coincide with American Beer Month in July when these establishments and many more, will be participating in the second Realbeer.com Challenge Cup, where bars and brewpubs across the country compete to see which can sell the most American beer July 22-24.
Each of the taphouses listed is special in its own way. The ad includes chains such as the Flying Saucer Draught Emporium, the renowned San Francisco taphouse Toronado and The TapWerks Ale House and Cafe in Oklahoma City which, despite being in a state that most beer drinkers associate with “3.2” beer, offers more than 100 draft choices in one pub and 85 in the other.
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Flying Fish is a Craft Brewing Success Story
Flying Fish has grown to become what many consider a success story in New Jersey’s craft brewing industry. Flying Fish is now New Jersey’s second largest brewery, producing 7500 barrels annually. It would need considerable growth to catch up to Number One New Jersey brewer Anheuser-Busch, but Flying Fish founder Gene Muller is running his brewery to plan, starting small and building gradually, adding brewing capacity and distribution outlets over time. Muller sometimes goes to auctions of breweries that didn’t last to look for equipment for any expansion needs, keeping costs down. His brewery has turned down requests to ship its product to the West Coast, not unlike several other East Coast craft brewers, preferring instead to serve its home market, where it can make sure customers get fresh beer and keep transportation costs down. The brewery is located in an industrial park in Cherry Hill, with enough space to increase production to 11,000 to 12,000 barrels per year in the current home, but not enough room to make the process more automated. Muller is looking for a bigger space, around 30,000-square-foot, in Philadelphia or southern New Jersey. The goal is to move into a new building with better visibility, in contrast to the tucked-away industrial park where the brewery currently is, so Muller and his crew can offer consumers brewery visits and weekend tours. Muller isn’t interested in turning Flying Fish into the next Sierra Nevada, the 22 year old Chico, Calif.-based brewery that is now producing 500,000 barrels a year, making it one of the 10 largest beer makers in the country. Flying Fish’s planned move is calculated growth. If it works out, the brewery could soon leave the ranks of microbrews, topping the 15,000 barrels per year production mark.
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Miller takes aim on Europe
SABMiller hopes to take advantage of Europeans’ love affair with American brands and plans to promote Miller Genuine Draft as a sophisticated international premium beer in Hungary, Slovakia, Romania, the Czech Republic, Poland and Italy. A spokesman said the aim is to promote Miller as the liquid symbol of America, in order to attract a new generation of European beer drinkers.
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SABMiller Profits Up 27%, Miller Volume Down 4.5% in US
International brewing giant SABMiller has posted pre-tax profits of $770 million for the year to the end of March 2003, up 27% from the previous year. The corporation’s Miller Brewing unit, which SAB acquired last July for $5.6 billion, performed below expectations, with volumes falling by 3.7% in the nine months since July, with volumes in the US down by 4.5%, according to SABMiller CEO Graham Mackay, noting that while international volumes had risen by 6.6%, it would take three years to turn the US brewer around.
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Bardo Brewery for Sale
One of the more colorful chapters in craft brewing history is drawing to a close as Bill Stewart, Jr. puts the Bardo Brewery in rural Amissville, VA up for sale. In a May 13 email, Stewart announced that he will be moving to Australia after July 1, and wants to find a buyer for the brewery and surrounding property. According to the Web site www.bardorodeo.com/sale.html, he’s asking for $950,000 for “the whole kit and caboodle,” which includes 25 acres of property, brewery and tasting room, log cabin, and a parcel of recipes that have won three medals in Great American Beer Festival competition. He’s willing to take offers, however. And if he can’t arrange a package deal, he ll consider selling the land and buildings separately while shipping the brewery to Australia “for our operation there.”
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Rock Bottom Announces Closing of Harvard Square Location
Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc. has announced the closing of its Cambridge restaurant, located in Harvard Square, to take place June 15, 2003, according to company President and CEO, Ned Lidvall. “It was a tough decision but it was in the best overall interest of the company to close this location,” Lidvall said. “Although the business was well operated, we could not overcome certain economic factors inherent in the market.” Lidvall said that all managers are being relocated to other Rock Bottom sites and as many staff members as possible will be employed at Rock Bottom’s two Massachusetts locations on Stuart Street in Boston, and in Braintree. “We are still very committed to the Boston region. Both our Stuart Street and Braintree locations continue to improve after their conversions from Brew Moon to the Rock Bottom concept a little over a year ago.” Lidvall said. The company acquired the Brew Moon concept in 2001, converting the 3 Brew Moons in the Boston market to Rock Bottom Restaurant and Breweries over the last 18 months. Cambridge has been a Rock Bottom since February 2002. Based in Louisville, CO, Rock Bottom Restaurants, Inc. owns and operates 87 restaurants throughout the United States – 52 Old Chicago restaurants and 35 brewery restaurants operating under the names “Rock Bottom Restaurant & Brewery,” “ChopHouse & Brewery” and “Walnut Brewery.” The company also owns and operates SingSing, a dueling piano bar concept with three locations and recently entered into a partnership with Rockies Brewing Company, Colorado’s first microbrewery. In 2002, it began franchising its Old Chicago concept and now has 6 open franchises with 58 in the development pipeline.
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Siebel Institute to Offer Microbiology Course in Montreal
This summer, the Siebel Institute of Technology will be conducting its Brewing Microbiology course at the Siebel Institute Microbiological Services division in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, August 18 – 29, 2003. Siebel’s Microbiological Services division is located at the National Research Council Biotechnology Research Institute, one of the world’s leading yeast & genetic research facilities. Students will be surrounded by research professionals using state-of-the-art equipment, creating an environment that is unique to brewing education
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Brewer Becomes Rapper
For the last several months, Sam Calagione, founder and president of Delaware’s Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, has been impersonating Woody Guthrie at beer dinners, speculating on what might have happened if Guthrie had chosen to pursue a career in brewing instead of folk singing. Now Calagione’s musical career has taken an abrupt turn. Along with his head brewer, Bryan Selders, he’s formed a rap group called the Pain Relievaz, and is releasing 1,000 copies of a five-song CD called “Check Your Gravity.” At the Battle of the Brewery Bands, held in New Orleans during the recent Craft Brewers Conference there, Calagione performed a solo, “I Got Busy With an A-B Salesgirl.”
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Latrobe Introduces New Beer
Longtime Pennsylvania regional brewer Latrobe Brewing Co. is introducing a new beer. It’s called “Loyalhanna Pennsylvania Lager,” and will be introduced in June, with initial distribution in Eastern Ohio, Western Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, and New Jersey, according to the company. The new lager beer will be introduced in both draft kegs and 12-ounce bottles. Latrobe, currently owned by Interbrew’s Labatt USA, is known for its Rolling Rock and Rock Light brands. Jon Genese, director of marketing for domestic specialty brands with Labatt USA, describes Loyalhanna as “a traditional amber lager with a hint of roasted character.” Loyalhanna Pennsylvania Lager is the second specialty beer brewed at Latrobe in the recent past; last November, the brewery launched Rolling Rock Black, a black Bavarian lager, which marked the brewery’s initial effort to carve out a seasonal niche. Latrobe had marketed a black lager in 1997, under the Latrobe Bavarian Black label. The newer Rolling Rock Black’s introduction was timed to mark the Pittsburgh Steelers’ 70th season in 2002. Loyalhanna Pennsylvania Lager will be available in 12-ounce bottles, packaged using a logo of a flowing stream. “Loyalhanna” is derived from the Delaware Indian word “lawelhanna,” which means “middle river.” Loyalhanna Creek flows behind Latrobe Brewery, and is sometimes a source of water for brewing.
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Kim Jordan Submits Goals for Industry at CBC Keynote Speech
In her keynote address at the Craft Brewers Conference earlier this month in New Orleans, Kim Jordan laid out an explicit set of objectives for the craft beer industry. Well articulated and inspirational in tone, Jordan suggested specific goals the craft brewing community should strive for to achieve a lasting legacy. Her speech prompted a rare standing ovation at the close.
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Dogfish Head Goes to the UK
Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout, brewed by Dogfish Brewery of Milton, Delaware, is going on sale in the U.K., where consumers can pick it up at “off-license” shops. The beer, with an alcohol of 23% by volume, is called the world’s strongest dark beer and is brewed using six different yeast strains over seven months and then aged. According to Britain’s just-drinks.com, the strong beer will go on sale in Safeway’s supermarkets. Good Beer Guide editor Roger Protz told Britain’s Sun newspaper, “If you drink too much of this stuff you won’t just drop down drunk, you could drop down dead. It should be sold in smaller quantities.”
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