Author: Professor Good Ales

Written by Harold Brubaker for philly.com

Small craft brewers have defied the nation’s stubborn economic slump, unable to meet growing demand despite a pullback by consumers overall.

Several brewers in Pennsylvania and New Jersey are out to fix that supply problem by building new facilities, doubling and even tripling capacity to produce lagers and ales, and adding small numbers of jobs along the way.

Flying Fish Brewing Co. in Cherry Hill has paid $750,000 in deposits on equipment for a planned move to Somerdale that will triple its maximum capacity from the current 14,000 barrels a year.

Sly Fox Brewing Co. is planning to triple its current 10,000-barrel capacity when it moves from Royersford to Pottstown next year.

And last week, Tröegs Brewing Co., now in Harrisburg, was running tests at a new brewery in Hershey, Pa., that will double its capacity from 60,000 barrels, or 1.86 million gallons, a year from 30,000 barrels right out of the gate.

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Written By Norman Miller for GateHouse News Service

The Pennsylvania Brewing Company almost died in 2008.

Founder Tom Pastorius sold the Pittsburgh brewery to a private equity firm. Instead of keeping the small brewery and brewpub open, they fired the whole brewing team and closed the brewery and restaurant and paid another brewery to brew the beer at a much lower quality and price.

But Pastorius and three new partners bought the business back in 2009 and reopened in 2010. Now the Pennsylvania Brewing Company, which is also known as the Penn. Brewery, is now distributing its beers.

“When Tom retired, they kind of ran us into the ground,” said brewer Andy Rich. “It’s been an uphill battle, and we’re gaining ground. There have been some growing pains, but we’re getting there.”

That’s good news for lager lovers because the Penn. Brewery specializes in German-style lagers.

“We’ve always done German-style lagers,” said Rich. “(Pastorius) worked over in Germany, loved the beer, and really couldn’t find something of that quality over here.”

So instead of trying to find imported beers, Pastorius started brewing his own beers in 1986. They were the first-brewery in the Pittsburgh area. They are still one of the few U.S. breweries that brews mostly lagers.

“We’re definitely a unique part of the craft segment,” said Rich. “People are doing more ales. That’s kind of unique. It’s a more expensive way of doing beer because you have to pay for all of the cooling costs. There aren’t a lot of people doing that kind of thing.”

Penn. Pilsner is the brewery’s flagship beer. It’s a 4 percent alcohol by volume (ABV) Vienna-style lager (the same style of beer as Samuel Adams Boston Lager).

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Written by Michael Bauer for insidescoopsf.sfgate.com

Beer is quickly becoming as popular as wine in San Francisco –not surprising, given the city’s distinguished brewing tradition. Earlier this year, Travel and Leisure readers ranked SF as the ninth in America’s Best Beer Cities.

And beer’s popularity is on the increase at at some of the city’s best restaurants. There have always been places like Toronado that features about 50  brews, and  the Monk’s Kettle that has 25  on draft and even more bottles. But you know there’s something brewing when mainstream hotels like the Palomar  (above Old Navy,  on Market and Fourth streets), creates a “Local Brew for Two Package” to lure people to the city.

The special room package starts at $229. Guests receive a mini-fridge filled with Anchor Steam beer, and warm pretzels from the Fifth Floor restaurant in the hotel, sent to the room on request. The press release also mentions the restaurant’s $25 burger, bourbon and beer promotion, where diners in the bar get a thick burger and fries, a shot of bourbon and a pint of artisan beer that change seasonally.

Other restaurants have also beefed up their beer offerings. Here are a few that stand out:
Continue reading “Hold the Wine, Bring Me a BEER!”

Author Not Credited. From timesofindia.indiatimes.com

From the last week of September to the first weekend of October, it is the happiest time of the year for beer lovers all over the world. Wondering why? Well, think mugs and steins overflowing with frothy beer, tables filled with people and friends and family waiting to get a taste of the delicious beer – It’s Oktoberfest time again.

This age old festival, which takes place in Germany every year since 1810, has over 2 million people travelling across the country just to attend this glorious fair in Munich.

Joining in the celebrations from across the seven seas is our city, that doesn’t lag behind when it comes to the number of beer lovers!

Forgetting all their favorite ‘buy one get one free’ offers or even the popular ‘happy hours’, Beer-o-holics, if we may call them, rush to the nearest Oktoberfest celebrations in the city, to enjoy a few mugs of draught beer.

While Germany may brew special beer for its biggest ever fair, Hyderabad too is all set to celebrate this festival by bringing out the best best of beers and typical German food like SauerKraut (Sour Cabbage) with Wurstl (sausages), Hendl (chicken), Schweinebraten (roast pork), along with Brezn (Pretzel), Knodel (potato or bread dumplings), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes) and Blaukraut (red cabbage).

Beer-ing it on!
Continue reading “It is Beer O’ Clock in the City!”

No author credited. Posted at benningtonbanner.com

BENNINGTON — There are so many brews being poured at this year’s Southern Vermont Homebrew Festival that they had to move the location.

The annual festival, now in its fifth year, will be held on Saturday, Sept. 24, from noon to 5 p.m., at 210 South Street (across the street from Town Hall).

Attendees will sample wonderful home brews, enjoy great food, listen to live music, watch brewing demonstrations, get brewing tips, and so much more. And some home brewer will walk away with the bragging rights of having their winning brew prepared and served at Madison Brewing Company. There will also be a People’s Choice Award, with a $200 prize.

The tastings throughout the afternoon will include more than 50 brews ranging from Boston Brewin’ Coffee Porter, a Robust Porter, and Husky Al’s Pumpkin Lager, a Spice, Herb, and Vegetable Beer to Vanilla Bourbon Imperial Porter, a Specialty Beer and Hoppy Grief Ale, an English IPA. And that just starts the list. There are Pilsners, English Ales, Stouts, and more.
Continue reading “Vermont Homebrew Festival”

Written by Dana Cimilluca for online.wsj.com

LONDON—Iconic Australian brewer Foster’s Group Ltd. dropped its resistance to a takeover by SABMiller PLC and agreed to a sale to its U.K. rival for a sweetened price of more than $10 billion.

The deal values Foster’s at 5.10 Australian dollars a share, or A$9.9 billion (US$10.17 billion), 4% above what SABMiller offered when it kicked off its pursuit of the company in June. Foster’s said Wednesday that as part of the deal, it would return 30 Australian cents a share to its shareholders and that Foster’s shareholders owning the stock as of Sept. 7 would be entitled to a dividend of 13.25 Australian cents in October. That would bring the value of the offer to A$5.53 a share, or 13% above SABMiller’s first offer

SABMiller’s original offer came just a month after Foster’s completed the separation of its beer and wine operations. .Although many industry watchers expected the demerger to lead to multiple bids for the beer business, no rival bid to SABMiller’s emerged, though Foster’s said Wednesday that it would still consider one. That, as well as recent choppiness in global financial markets, likely helps explain why Foster’s was ultimately unable to manage to extract more of a takeover premium out of SABMiller.
Continue reading “SABMiller to Buy Foster’s for Over $10 Billion”

Written by Stanley A. Miller II for Milwaukee Tap/The Journal Sentinel

There are brewery tours that give visitors some company propaganda and a cup of beer.

And then there is the Legacies of Milwaukee Brewery Tour, an all-day junket under the guidance of an archaeologist and a local historian specializing in the city’s brewing culture and industry.

“It’s very in-depth and . . . you can’t find this anywhere else,” said Kevin Cullen, an archaeologist at Discovery World who started hosting the Legacies tours last year.

“Sure, people are enjoying the beer on the bus,” Cullen said. “We are tempering it with history and comedy along the way. It’s a great way to see the city in a way you’ve never looked at it before.”

The Legacies tours are an intellectual’s brewery adventure that includes introductions to local brewmasters, being ferried to historical breweries both still standing and long gone and even visiting the final resting places of the city’s founding beer barons.
Continue reading “Tour Visitors Can Drink Up City’s Brewing History”

Written by Elizabeth Gunnison for Esquire

When former Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer rolled into the capital last week to receive his Medal of Honor, the 23-year-old war hero’s one request was to share a beer with the president. Meyer’s beer of choice is Bud Light, but Obama broke out the good stuff for the occasion: White House Honey Ale, one of three beers brewed on White House grounds with the help of a beehive the Obamas had installed on the South Lawn. President Obama is the first-ever American leader to brew his own beer in the White House, and he even personally ponied up the initial $200 necessary to buy the home-brewing equipment. We approve.
Continue reading “Obama’s Homebrew Needs a New Name”

 

Written by E.D. Cain for Forbes

I’ve spilled a good deal of ink on craft beer in the past, discussing how regulations have factored into the big beer monopolies, and questioning whether small brewers need to be unionized the way the big brew shops do. I’ve also written about craft beer as it applies to the “human economy” (more on the human economy here).

Suffice to say, the American beer industry fascinates me, not least of all because until quite recently it was dominated by a handful of very big corporations making a very limited, and subpar range of brews. The craft brew revolution has changed all that.

Continue reading “The Rise of Craft Beer in America”

 

Written by Ryan Farrell for craftbeer.com

“You’re a beer judge?”
“Yes.”
“So, you judge beer?”
“Yup.”

This is roughly what it sounds like when I’m on a plane, or at a wedding—or sometimes on a plane going to a wedding—and the topic of work and my job at the Brewers Association (BA) comes up. The next part usually goes one of three ways:

1. The Overexcited:“Dude, that’s awesome!” I’ve even gotten a few high fives. Then I explain that’s not really what I get paid for. “I help handle the finances, HR and write the occasional article. But, yes, I love my workplace.”

Continue reading “My First Semester at Beer College”