Month: March 2012

This boat rocks: Andrea, bartender at Port Jeff Brewing Co., keeps the brews flowing in the tasting room, where the bar is a boat. (Long Island Press)

Written by Timothy for longislandpress.com

A veritable local beer boom is flowing across Long Island, where the number of craft brewing companies building breweries nearly doubled in the past year, drawn from a burgeoning cottage industry of home brewers—despite negative economic news.

Long Ireland Beer Co. opened in Riverhead last summer, Port Jeff Brewing Co. set up shop in its namesake village downtown in the fall, and Great South Bay Brewery opened its Bay Shore headquarters this winter. They join Barrier Brewing Co.—poised to quintuple its bare-bones Oceanside operations this spring—by following in the footsteps of LI foamfathers Blue Point Brewing Co., Southampton Ales and Lagers along with fellow newcomers Greenport Harbor Brewing Co., founded just after the 2008 financial crisis hit.
Continue reading “Long Island’s Craft Brewery Boom Takes Off”

Floating beer pong table

Welcome to our newest writer here at Professor Goodales. We have never covered beer pong, so maybe it’s time we did!-PGA

Written by Robert Lobitz forprofessorgoodales.net

Beer pong is among the most popular games at college parties all over the world. While you may have decided that you’re definitely playing the game at your party, the difficult thing is trying to choose the best beer pong table for the party. You have to think about how many tables you need, the size of the venue, how many people are attending the party and many other factors besides.
Continue reading “Which Beer Pong Table is Best for a College Party?”

Written by Chris Furnari for brewbound.com

Craft beer sales are quickly approaching $1 billion in U.S. supermarkets and the U.S. brewery count is climbing towards 2,000. It’s no secret that 2011 was a phenomenal growth year for the craft beer industry, and now we have some year-end Symphony IRI data to back it up.

The Brewers Association reported in January that 260 new breweries came online in 2011; nearly every brewery we’ve spoken with is reporting significant volume growth.

Speaking at the “Power Hour” hosted by the Brewers Association, IRI’s Senior VP of Beer, Wine and Spirits, Dan Wandel, discussed craft beers performance especially in U.S. Supermarkets.

Here are the most important takeaways:

Craft’s dollar share in U.S. Supermarkets was up 15 percent over last year to 10.8 share, the sixth consecutive year of growth. That’s double the share it held in 2006. These numbers prove why craft beer is the number one growing beverage-alcohol segment in U.S. Supermarkets

So what products are responsible for the growth? Wandel pointed to several areas. Variety and seasonal packages, IPA’s, large-format bottle offerings, the rise of canned beer and even private label brands (see below) are the major catalysts.

Top Vendors:

Boston Beer Co. continued to lead the way as the top craft vendor, generating $173 million in sales. Sierra Nevada and Craft Brew Alliance followed with $92.1 and $77.4 respectively.

But despite impressive dollar sales growth, seven of the top ten vendors actually lost a combined 4 share points of total segment dollars, no doubt because of the numerous emerging breweries earning more space on supermarket shelves. Only Bells Brewery and Stone Brewing Co. were able to gain a collective 0.2 percent dollar share.

Styles Driving Growth:
Continue reading “Craft Beer to Reach 12 Share at U.S. Supermarkets in 2012”

Written by Jeremy Pittari for picayuneitem.com

Note: the headline is a bit misleading. Craft beer IS legal in Mississippi, though homebrewing still isn’t. This mostly has to do with abv-PGA
PICAYUNE — A bill is moving slowly through the state legislature that would put Mississippi on par with every other state in the nation in terms of beer production and consumption.

Under current state law, alcoholic content of beer sold and manufactured within Mississippi can not exceed 5 percent. That law prevents craft beers — generally those manufactured by small breweries or in limited amounts by larger breweries — from being sold in Mississippi stores. In turn, residents who wish to purchase craft beers are forced to spend their money out of state, said Butch Bailey, who is the president of the self-proclaimed grassroots organization Raise Your Pints.
Continue reading “Craft Beer in Mississippi? Bills to Allow It Now in Mississippi”

Written by Emma Jacobs for npr.org

The year the Quidi Vidi Brewing Co. started brewing beer with iceberg water, a giant iceberg floated up against the cliffs around St. John’s, Newfoundland.

“It was a big berg and it jammed right across the harbor here,” says Charlie Rees, the brewery’s tour guide.
Continue reading “Newfoundland Gives Whole New Meaning To Ice Cold Beer”

Profiled by Ken Carman for professorgoodales.net

Centennial? Nose is grapefruit and if not Centennial, various grapefruity hops. NICE nose. Some malt but way in background in the nose. Pure white pillow foam but some slight rock: long lasting; even in the small 4oz at best glass. Black with ruby highlights and clarity good.

Mouthfeel: grass and dark malt. A bit of an almost acidic tang to the roof of the mouth. Body moderate range.

Here’s the problem: the hopping. As far as I know: not fresh hop, but even if it is they’re usually not this “grassy.” The grass dominates and becomes a bit harsh. Could also be described as grapefruit rind-y. Too long of a boil on the hops may have added a bit too much astringency. After a couple small glasses the hops became annoying.

I love fresh hops, so either way there was a problem here and it didn’t taste like old, or infected, beer.

I have had few beers from Widmer that don’t have some stylistic problem. This is no change, unfortunately. But, if you don’t mind an over abundance of less than desirable grass sense that seems not all that fresh hoppy? Go for it.

Written by Rachel Forrest for seacoastonline.com

PORTSMOUTH — They came to taste one of the world’s best beers. The line to sip a glass of the Portsmouth Brewery’s 2012 release of Kate the Great Russian Imperial Stout snaked outside and around the corner from the restaurant on Market Street beginning at 2:55 a.m. By 10:50 a.m. when the doors opened, it was close to 500 strong, at least double last year’s number.

The first fans in line were on a mission.
Continue reading “Beer Fans, Brewers, Celebrate Kate the Great Day”

ACBW 2012 is May 14 – 20

Posted by Stan Lee at tasteterminal.com

As microbreweries continue to grow, so do beer weeks all throughout the States, but no other beer week takes it to a national level like the American Craft Beer Week (May 14 – 20) organized by the Brewers Association; an organization that promotes micro and independent American brewers. The ACBW celebrates the delicate work by small American breweries to produce what goes in your glass by attending or hosting events involving brewers all across America. We connected with Brewer Association’s Craft Beer Program Director Julia Herz and asked her three questions about the beer industry, the beer week and how she’s going to celebrate it.

As craft beer producers continue to grow in the U.S., where do you see the industry going in the next five years?
Continue reading “Brewers Association’s Julia Herz tells How She Celebrates American Craft Beer Week”