Month: June 2011

More than 100 events across Ontario are planned for June 19 to 25

Written by Laura Robin for Ottawacitizen.com

If you’re traveling pretty much anywhere in Ontario (or even if you’re staying home) during the week of June 19 to 25, you can probably take part in some sparkling beer-related activities. It’s the second annual Ontario Craft Beer Week and the celebrations go from Niagara Falls to Vankleek Hill and include everything from a steamship cruise to beer pong tournaments.

“The idea is to celebrate excellence in craft beer,” says Gary McMullen, chair of the Ontario Craft Brewers Association, which has close to 30 members. “There are now craft brewers spread across the province, in big cities and small centres, and it’s a chance for everyone to get together and celebrate and taste the products.”

McMullen, who is 43, says that when he was a kid “there was only one brand of beer in the fridge” but now there are nearly 40 craft breweries across Ontario.

“It’s definitely not a fad,” he says. “Everyone talks about a renaissance in beer. If you step back and look at the cultural changes in North America as a whole, you realize that we’re only a few generations from being pilgrims, when people were just trying to make it through the winter. Now, we’ve developed to the point that we can appreciate culture and food and drink.”

More than 100 events are planned for Ontario Craft Beer Week. Here’s just a taste:

The weekend of June 17 to 19 in Toronto: CASK Toronto will be putting on its third annual Cask Ale Crawl. At more than 10 participating pubs in Toronto, you can order cask beer, get a special passport stamped and win prizes.

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Written by Jason Notte for thestreet.com

BOSTON (TheStreet) — Craft brewers who make

low-alcohol beer and put their beer in cans seem to be ignoring history. In reality, they’re learning from it.

The trend toward low-alcohol “session beers” and cans instead of bottles can be a little troubling for anyone old enough to remember the direction American beer took in the late 1970s and early 1980s. When Pabst relaunched the Schlitz brand in 2008 and 2009, Schlitz senior brand manager Kyle Wortham lamented that the beer being sold under the brand’s name before the relaunch had suffered the same “death by 1,000 cuts” that had stripped Schlitz and brands such as Narragansett, Lone Star and others of their original flavor.
Continue reading “Cans? Low Buzz? What’s Up With Craft Beer?”

Written by Paul Mulshine for The Star Ledger

Coincidentally, before I posted that item about Governor Scott Walker’s role in rigging the beer market, I happened to have picked up a six-pack of Pangaea Lillja Argosy IPA.

It was a good  India Pale Ale, perhaps my favorite style of ale. Best of all it cost a mere $6.50, a good price these days.

If Walker gets his way, such small breweries will have a tough time making a go of it. Bottling and packaging costs about four times as much as the actual brewing process and it’s hard for a small brewer to make a profit if he can’t  control his distribution.

I’ve interviewed many a microbrewer over the years and all complain that the toughest part of the job is getting wholesalers to push their product.

The bill the Walker administration is pushing would prohibit microbreweries from getting wholesale distribution licenses, thereby creating an artificial monopoly for the big distributors.
Continue reading “And While We’re on the Subject of Wisconsin Beer…”

Written by Patricia Daddona for theday.com

Bill passed Wednesday similar to the measure establishing wine trail

By July 1, beer lovers will have a Connecticut Beer Trail in place that leads them to breweries across the state.

Continue reading “Brewery Owners Raise Glass to State Beer Trail”

Hidden Valley is a beautiful, serene setting that rests behind Watkins Glen State Park. There will be an indoor courtyard tasting area with music and specialty food and an outdoor courtyard area also with tasting and live music. Event is held rain or shine.

Some overnight group cabin rentals, sleeping 10-20, will be available for $120, email for details.

For more information about reserving a cabin for groups of 10 or more, or any other information, please contact Kathy at roosterfishbooking@gmail.com, or check the Roosterfish Facebook page.

No one under 21 allowed on the site unless accompanied by a parent.

Designated Driver’s are encouraged.

Wristbands will be issued and must be worn at all time by all people on the site.

Enjoy the best breweries in the Finger Lakes Region and support an amazing cause while you taste, dance and enjoy a festive evening.

Partial list of participating breweries with more joining daily
Continue reading “Beer Festival News”

Written by Michelle Minton for openmarket.org

In the battle between international brewing giants SABMiller and ABInBev, Wisconsin craft brewers could bear the heaviest burden. On May 31, the state legislature’s Joint Finance Committee approved a measure to be added to the state’s budget proposal which would prevent brewers from owning distributorships and retail licenses in Wisconsin. This means that if you’re a brewer, you can’t also sell alcoholic beverages to customers or retail shops.

The biggest backer of the bill is SABMiller, or as it is known in the US, MillerCoors. They have been pushing the measure, they say, in order to protect the vitality of Wisconsin beer in the face of a hostile invasion from their main national competitor, AB InBev, aka Anheuser-Busch. InBev has reportedly begun a nationwide campaign to purchase distributors in many states, something that MillerCoors says threatens all other brewers’ ability to get their beers in bars and on shelves. That’s the line that MillerCoors is peddling, but craft brewers in Wisconsin say they, and their ever increasing presence in the beer market, is the true target of the proposal.

While the text of the measure has not been made available to the public yet, the proposal would reportedly remove brewers’ current right to own wholesaler and retail licenses. Brewers of less than 300,000 barrels annually will still be able to self-distribute, but current brewers and new wholesalers would be required to have 25 independent retail customers prior to being granted the right to distribute. According to a MillerCoors spokesperson, these new rules would also prevent small brewers from banding together to form their own distributorship. In addition to all of that, the measure would prevent brewers from owning retail licenses, meaning that they could have a brewpub, but they would only be allowed to sell their own product. Breweries that already own retailing outlets would be allowed to retain one.

Continue reading “Wisconsin Proposal Hurts Craft Beer, Protects Big Brewers”