2008 Craft Beer Sales Figures Announced

Editor's note: This article has also appeared on www.realbeer.com/

February 23rd, 2009 | Posted by Jay Brooks

The Brewers Association, which tabulates industry growth data for U.S. breweries, announced that today’s small independent craft brewers are gaining alcohol market share due to a shift toward full flavor beer and increased support for local breweries. From 2007 to 2008, estimated sales by craft brewers were up 5.8 percent by volume and 10.5 percent in dollars. Overall share of the beer category from craft brewers was 4.0 percent of production and 6.3 percent of retail sales. More than 1 million new barrels of beer were sold in 2008, and close to half of those barrels were beer from craft brewers.

“2008 was a historic year for beer with the large brewers consolidating and imports losing share, while the top ten selling beer brands dropped in sales. At the same time, small independent craft brewers continued to gain share and attention,” said Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association.

With total U.S. beer being more than a $100 billion industry, the Brewers Association estimates the actual dollar sales from craft brewers in 2008 were $6.34 billion, up from $5.74 billion in 2007. Taxable barrels of the total beer category was 1,210,018 more in 2008 with craft brewers producing 473,364 of those barrels. Total craft brewer barrels for 2008 was 8,596,971, up from 8,123,607 barrels in 2007.

Beer’s popularity as America’s favorite fermented beverage continued in 2008 with Gallup stating “beer is back to a double-digit lead over wine.” Taking into account the challenges in today’s economy, BevincoNielsen released a survey showing beer was faring better than spirits, with wine lagging. The Brewers Association emphasized trading across from wine and spirits to beer continues, with some of today’s wine drinkers discovering the affordable enjoyment and rewards of craft beer.

More beer you can't have. Eastcoaster

Anchor To Release New Barrel-Aged Beer

 | Posted by Jay Brooks  www. realbeer.com

Anchor Brewing is set to release a very special, limited edition, beer they’ve been working on for a long, long time. Dubbed “Our Barrel Ale,” (an homage to their Christmas beer, “Our Special Ale“), it’s a blend of at least three of their beers. While just a guess, the three are possibly Liberty, Porter and Old Foghorn. All we can say for sure is it’s not Anchor Steam. The individual beers were aged in Anchor’s own used Old Potrero rye whisky barrels for at least six months, then blended together to create OBA. Only 100 cases of magnums will be available for sale when it’s released in mid-February. And you can only buy them at the brewery. The price will be $30.

We had an opportunity to try OBA last night at Anchor Brewery, at an event to launch SF Beer Week, a ten-day series of over 150 beer events in the San Francisco Bay Area. I’d say they nailed it out of the gate. The flavor imparted from the barrel aging is present, but is never overpowering, and the blend — whatever it turns out to be — works. It’s malty, sweet with an underlying hop character that is all integrated together so that nothing really dominates. This gives it a very smooth mouthfeel and nice complex flavor profile, exactly what a blended beer should be — something greater than the sum of its part. This is going to go fast, so get yourself a bottle or two before it’s all gone.

From Jim Mahar

MAHAR'S

WILL BE OPEN

THIS SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 22

FROM 2PM TO 8PM

 

 

ALSO

 

THANKS TO ALL OF YOU WHO JOINED US ON OUR TWENTIETH ANNIVERSARY.  I HOPE YOU HAD HALF THE FUN I DID.  THE TASTING OF ANCIENT BEERS WAS A REVELATION - I AM AMAZED JUST HOW GOOD A 74 YEAR OLD BEER COULD TASTE.  I'M THINKING OF WRITING TO ALL OF THE BREWERIES TO TELL THEM JUST HOW WELL THEIR BEERS HELD UP.  AT LEAST THE ONES STILL IN BUSINESS.  IT WAS GREAT TO SEE SO MANY OLD FRIENDS AND MAKE SO MANY NEW ONES.  THE FIRST DAY I OPENED THE ONLY ONES THERE TO HELP WERE LAURIE (OF COURSE) AND MY DAUGHTER JENNIFER.  20 YEARS LATER, CAITLIN - NOT BORN WHEN THE BAR OPENED WAS BY MY SIDE.  WHAT A LOVELY DAY - THANKS AGAIN - MAHAR

How to Know if a Beer is American Made

Anchor Brewing Co. in San Francisco

Beer has been an important beverage in the United States of America since the days of the Founding Fathers. Even through the prohibition period in America, beer and alcohol alike were both heavily desired. Like any popular nationally-produced product with a rich history, beer can be a source of patriotism and national pride. However, the American brewing industry has changed drastically over time. Well over four thousandbreweries existed in the US in 1873^[1]. Two years after Prohibition was repealed, only 750 breweries operated in the US. During the early 1980’s, there were only eighty breweries in the US, and the top six US “macro” breweries controlled over ninety percent of US beer production^[2]. All-American lagers, some made with rice and corn, were primarily produced during this time by the largest breweries. But the American craft brewing industry was beginning to produce flavorful and unique craft ales and lagers.

In 2007, there were 1,463 operating breweries, most of them small craft breweries^[3]. But while there is a great variety of beer available today, there is an increasing trend for breweries to be purchased by other breweries. Many of these breweries are not American, and beer that was once entirely American is now produced by foreign-owned companies. American breweries may also produce beer that appears to be foreign. There are different factors that may lead one to judge a beer as truly American, so follow the steps below to choose a real American beer.

 

[edit]Steps

1. Select the beer brand that is of interest. The beer brand is merely the name of the beer that is found on the beer label, such as Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, Samuel Adams Boston Lager and Pabst Blue Ribbon.
2. Look for mention of a company or brewery and its location on the beer label. The company may be similar to or different than the beer brand, and the location gives a good idea of. Miller Genuine Draft has Miller Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin listed on the label. Budweiser has Anheuser Busch of St. Louis, Missouri listed on the label, and Pabst Blue Ribbon lists Pabst Brewing Company of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
3. 

   
   Research the ownership of the listed company, brewery or brand. Many large and small breweries are owned by companies that are not specifically listed on beer labels. Some domestic breweries that have been in operation since the 1800’s that were entirely owned and operated by Americans are now owned and operated by foreign companies. To research the ownership of a brewery or related company, one can visit the official brewery website, perform an online search, and contact the brewery or related company. It may be useful to contact the corporate office of the brewery if one exists. In some instances, such as with Miller brewing, it may be difficult to accurately determine who the owner or controlling entity actually is. In this case, it is useful to examine the history of the ownership of the brewery and all related breweries before coming to a sure conclusion about the ownership of a brewery.
   
   
   • Miller was purchased by South African Breweries PLC in 2002, forming SAB Miller.
   • Coors and Molson brewing of Canada merged in 2005, forming MolsonCoors.
   • In 2007, SAB Miller and MolsonCoors formed a “joint venture”, forming MillerCoors. Pete Coors is the chairman of the joint venture, and executives from SAB Miller and MolsonCoors are also in important management positions.
   • Anheuser Busch was purchased by InBev in 2008, forming Anheuser Busch InBev. InBev is based in Belgium. Anheuser Busch InBev has established North American headquarters in the original St. Louis, Missouri Anheuser Busch headquarters.
   • The Gambrinus company (not the brewery) of San Antonio, Texas owns Shiner Brewing, Pete’s Wicked Ale, Bridgeport, and Trumer Pils in the US^[4].
   • Redhook brewing and Widmer brewing have merged to create a public company that is called the Craft Brewers Alliance. Redhook and Widmer, and therefore the Craft Brewers Alliance, are owned to a large extent by Anheuser Busch InBev.
   • D. G. Yuengling and Son, the oldest operating brewery in the US, is still owned by a Yuengling family member. It is located in Pottsville, Pennsylvania.
   • August Schell Brewing Company, is the second oldest operating brewery in the US and has been in business in New Ulm, Minn. since 1860. It is operated by a descendant of the founder August Schell and produces a large line of beers. They recently began purchased Grain Belt.
   • Sierra Nevada Brewing is owned by the American Ken Grossman. He is a co-founder of the brewery.
   • Anchor Brewing, which has been in operation since 1896, is owned by the American Fritz Maytag, of the Maytag family that once owned the Maytag appliance company.
   • New Belgium Brewing Company is an American employee-owned company.
4. 

   
   Find out what brewery actually brews the beer. The beer label may or may not state the actual brewery that produces the beer. The company that owns a beer brand may not actually brew the beer. One may need to perform an online search or contact the company that owns the brand in order to determine the name of the brewery that actually brews the beer. In many instances, beer that is owned by foreign companies is brewed in America by American breweries.
   
   
   • Pabst Brewing Company is wholly American, but it is a “virtual brewery” that does not physically brew beer. Pabst Blue Ribbon and many other beer brands that are owned by Pabst are brewed by Miller Brewing in Milwaukee. Pabst Brewing is technically the largest remaining American-owned brewing company.
   • Mackeson’s XXX stout is owned by Whitbread of England, but in the US is brewed by the Boston Beer Company in Cincinnati, Ohio. The Boston Beer Company brews Samuel Adams beer. In this instance, a foreign-owned beer is brewed domestically by a well known American beer company. However, about a third of the beers under the Samuel Adams brand are produced under contract by other domestic breweries.
   • Trumer Pils is brewed in Austria as well as in the US, but all Trumer that is available in the US is brewed in the US. The US brewery is US-owned.
   • D. G. Yuengling and Son has been brewing Yuengling beer in the US since 1829 and still brew all of their own beer.
   • Most American microbreweries and larger craft breweries are brewed by American breweries that are solely American-owned. These breweries include Sierra Nevada Brewing, Anchor Brewing, and New Belgium Brewing Company.
   • Some beers are made to look like craft beers that are brewed by individual craft breweries, but are in fact brewed and owned by larger foreign-owned breweries.
5. 

   

   Hops
   Determine the origin of the grains and hops that the beer is brewed from. There may be no foolproof way determine with certainty the origin of all of the ingredients that are used to make a particular beer, especially since the regions of the US that are ideal for growing hops and barley are near to or border Canada. However, the US is by far the primary grower of North American hops. US-grown barley may also be malted in Canada and then shipped to the US for use in brewing. It may be considered that the US and Canada have a mutual relationship. Taking this into account, the use of American ingredients in general can be evaluated.
   
   
   • American beers are usually made from domestically-grown as well as Canadian-grown barley and US-grown hops. Rice and corn are often used by the largest domestic breweries to produce light-colored pilsners such as Coors, Miller and Budweiser. The use of such adjunct ingredients is often criticized, but corn and rice have been used for many years to make American beer^[5]. They are typically grown in America, and corn has been used to make beer since colonial times.
   • Domestic breweries that produce more flavorful ales and lagers tend to use only barley malt, with the exception of wheat beers that are made with barley malt as well as wheat malt. Many such breweries, like the largest domestic breweries, primarily use domestic and Canadian (North American) barley and wheat because it is easier to procure and the farms may even be owned by the breweries (or by the controlling companies). Specialty European and British barley malts, wheat malts, and similar ingredients may be used in small quantities to give American beers desirable characteristics. Domestic beers also tend to be made with domestically-grown hops such as the Cascade variety that impart unique flavor and aroma characteristics to beer.
   • Some domestic breweries brew beers that are made entirely (or primarily) from imported grains in order to produce certain styles of beer that cannot be adequately made from domestic grains. Domestic beers may use imported hops to imbue beer with flavor and aroma characteristics that are not provided by domestic hops. As an example, Trumer Pils is made in the US with imported barley and hops, as it is brewed in the same manner as the Austrian Trumer Pils.
6. Weigh the facts and make a judgment. American beer can be produced in America by an American company and made with ingredients that are grown in North America. Some of the ingredients may be from Canada, but this is apparently the normal way of things for the American brewing industry. American beer may also be primarily made from imported ingredients. There may be some reason to give preference to beer that is primarily made from domestic ingredients, especially due to the fact that American beer styles were created in part due to the available domestic ingredients. Beer that is brewed in the US by breweries that are owned by foreign companies may be quite American in certain important ways. They may have been established in the US, and breweries such as Miller, Coors, and Anheuser Busch have existed as all-American breweries for over one hundred years. And as long as the beer is brewed in the US, the breweries support American workers and continue to brew important domestic beers. Even beer brands that are brewed in the US but are owned by foreign companies may deserve some merit, as the beer is produced in America and brewed by Americans for Americans

http://www.wikihow.com/Know-if-a-Beer-is-American-Made

Off The Menu: Hop Obama Ale

In a new wave of post-election crackdowns on using Barack'simage to sell products, Brooklyn-based brewery Sixpoint Craft Ales, which created Hop Obama Ale during Election Season, will no longer be selling the brew, according to The Brooklyn Paper (above, Sixpoint owner Shane Welxh pours some of the brew). Brooklyn Paper's Ben Muessig and Gersh Kuntzman explain the demise of Hop Obama:

Federal agents have ordered a Red Hook brewery to stop making its popular “HopObama” ale ....The cease-and-desist order was issued by the Tax and Trade Bureau of thefederal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms on the grounds that Sixpoint Craft Ales did not have permission from to use the president’s likeness...

“Sixpoint did have a label approval us for the product — but we realized that it was approved in error,” said TTB spokesman ArtResnick. “When we realized it [in December], we contacted them and they agreed to surrender the license. End of story.”

In an introductory post on their website, Sixpoint described Hop Obama: 

In keeping with the Illinois senator's unifying theme, the Hop Obama is an entirely unique ale that doesn't adhere to traditional style guidelines....Fused from an incredibly diverse background...we believe the delicious and refreshing quality it represents reminds us of the Senator's successful grassroots campaign that positively blossoms each and every day.

But wait, it's no foam offanyone's head: Sixpointspokesman Jeff Gorlechenclarified the cease and desist order for Gothamist: "This whole thing has gotten blown out of proportion."

Gorlechen said that the Hop Obama brew ran afoul of the law not because it was named after the President, but because it was named after a celebrity, which is illegal since it can be misinterpreted as an endorsement.

"We wouldn't have been able to name it after Scarlett Johansson, either," said Gorlechen.

The limited edition Hop Obama was so popular that Sixpoint has not ruled out bringing it back with a different name, although we're guessing it won't be named Michelle, Malia, or Sasha. The real kicker? The ale was frequently sold at fundraisers for Barack, and thousands of people bought it because portions of the proceeds were being donated to the Obama campaign. Grass roots gets the boot! (Pic: A historic glass of Hop Obama, from our pal Jill at La Vida Locavore, who campaigned heavily for Barack...)

And in case you're worried, the Feds have yet to pay a visit to our pal Sam Chapple-Sokol, the microbrewer who created bothThe Audacity of Hops and The Audacity of HopsInaugurale. Sam's brewing hasn't yet turned into a profit-makingenterprise, so he's not being harassed by Feds who are worried that he might be making money from lovin' Bam too much.

*More here, including an excerpt from a message Sixpoint owner Shane Welch sent out to Facebook friends about the "raid."....

*H/T to Daniel from WHOFarm. Shane Welch pic from New York Times. Obama star pic from cecily7.

'Natural selection' beer created

Scientists at Newcastle Centre for Life have created a beer to mark the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin's birth.

Named Natural Selection in honour of his work about the theory of evolution, it has been produced by the aptly named Darwin Brewery in Sunderland.

An initial brew of 3,000 bottles will be made available on Thursday to mark the anniversary.

The beer has been funded by the Newcastle ScienceFest 09, a 10-day celebration of science.

Tip of  the Hat to the BBC

Sierra Nevada Gas Machine

The inventor of the EFuel100 MicroFueler home ethanol maker has signed on Sierra Nevada Brewing to make ethanol from beer dregs.

E-Fuel on Tuesday said that the beer company will start testing EFuel's refrigerator-sized portable ethanol refineries in the second quarter of this year using discarded beer yeast as a feedstock for ethanol.

E-Fuel last year unveiled its $9,995 home ethanol machinewhich ferments a mix of water and sugar into ethanol. Ethanol is mixed into gasoline at 10 percent. Flex-fuel cars can run on E85, an 85 percent blend of ethanol and gasoline.

Sierra Nevada every year generates 1.6 million gallons of "bottom of the barrel" beer yeast waste, which it now sells to farmers as feed. The MicroFueler will be able to raise the alcohol content in that mix to 15 percent and remove water.

Initially, Sierra Nevada plans to use the ethanol in its own vehicles. Once it has excess fuel, it will look to supply employees and distribute through E-Fuel's distribution network, a company representative said.

In a statement, Sierra Nevada Brewing president and founder Ken Grossman said the MicroFueler has the potential to improve the environment by reducing waste and to make fuel domestically.

Photo Credit  Caroline McCarthy/CNET Networks  Written by Martin LaMonica senior writer for CNET's Green Tech blog.

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