Thursday, March 31, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.31.2011

Some more big canning news, as Bell's announced that it will begin canning in Spring 2012. Bell's has not decided which brands it will can or whether it will be using 12-ounce or 16-ounce cans. Bottles will still be the brewery's primary packaging method.

Avery may soon be experimenting with absinthe barrels.

Lots of news from Stone coming from Beer News today. It looks like they're considering building a separate facility for doing wild ales. They are also conducting diligence on a site in Germany, and seem likely to have a Citra beer out later this year.

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.30.2011

Click here to vote in Round 4 of the Washington Post's 2011 Beer Madness.

Great Divide is pulling out of a large number of states, including Michigan, DC, and much of Virginia. Luckily, it looks like Northern Virginia customers will still have access to Great Divide through Hop & Wine, so DC is mostly in the clear as well. Musings Over a Pint has a post on Great Divide's back-and-forth history in Virginia.

In other distribution news, Shelton Brothers is pulling out of Indiana, meaning the Hoosier state will no longer receive beer from Cantillon, Mikkeller, Struise, and others. See the report from Hoosier Beer Geek. This is yet another setback for Indiana, which also recently lost Dogfish Head.

De Struise released a small number of bottles of Double Black, a massive 26% iced version of Cuvee Delphine, early this morning, around 5:00 AM EDT. The bottles sold out in a little over an hour, even with a hefty price tag. Here's the Beer Advocate discussion on the topic. Thankfully, rumor has it that the next batch will be out soon and released in 33cl bottles as opposed to this release, which was in 750ml bottles.

The tax relief bill for small brewers has been introduced in the House and Senate.

Based on a tweet from FiftyFifty (Twitter), it looks like this year's Eclipse versions will be aged in the following barrels: Buffalo Trace (new), Elijah Craig (was previously done in 2009), Four Roses (previously done in 2010), and Rittenhouse Rye (new). The brewery also put up a separate webpage devoted to Eclipse, which announces that Futures for this year's batch will be available on April 15.

New information on the status of Discovery's Brewmasters TV show came to light today, as Anthony Bourdain tweeted that Big Beer had nixed the program by threatening to pull their advertising. The revelation sparked quite a bit of discussion on Beer Advocate.

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.29.2011

It looks like the proposed Maryland legislation to allow some alcohol shipping is moving forward; however, the bad news is that the language still only includes wine. Thanks to Beer in Baltimore for the tip.

Monday, March 28, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.28.2011

Unbelievable news came today, as it was reported that Anheuser-Busch is purchasing Goose Island. Current brewmaster Greg Hall will be stepping down. The special announcement letter from Goose Island's founder John Hall is available here. Further information is available in the press release, which indicates that the two Goose Island brewpubs are not part of the deal. It also indicates that John Hall will remain in his current role. It will be interesting to see how all of this shakes out, though it's possible that things could remain relatively the same for GI.

An interview with Greg Hall is available here. In it, he indicates that he plans to leave the beer industry, and that this was the perfect time to do it. Given his connection to the food community, I wonder whether he involves himself more on the food side, still interacting quite a bit with the brewing community?

Flying Dog has sued the Michigan Liquor Control Commission, alleging violating of its freedom of speech for Michigan's rejection of its "Raging Bitch" label.

The Bruery posted a photo of Sean Lawson of Lawson's Finest helping out at the brewery, saying that they're working on a collaboration that will, of course, involve maple syrup.

Friday, March 25, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.25.2011

Big collaboration news today, as Sierra Nevada and Russian River announced today that they will be releasing a Belgian Pale Ale with Brett in bottles nationwide in 2012.

Surly announced today that the bill that will allow it to build its "Destination Brewery" will get a hearing with the Minnesota Senate Commerce Committee on April 5, 2011.

The Wine Enthusiast has an article on the collaboration between Dogfish and Sam Adams, which will be making its debut at SAVOR.

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.24.2011

Flossmoor Station details what's "on the horizon." Get ready for the 2011 DLD Pre-party.

Lew Bryson examines the positives and negatives of increased beer choice.

Stone Imperial Russian Stout won't be out until early May this year. Thanks to Beer News for the tip.

Wednesday, March 23, 2011

Todd Ashman of FiftyFifty offers his thoughts on one of the segments of this year's Craft Brewers Conference.

Bell's posted an official press release regarding its cease and desist letter to Northern Brewer, which was referenced here yesterday.

Maryland may soon join Virginia and DC in allowing the direct shipment of some alcohol. Now, let's just hope this includes beer and not just wine. Thanks to Beer in Baltimore for the tip.

The Atlantic recently interviewed Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head.

There were 6,000 tickets sold to Dark Lord Day. Also, the Munster police plan on keeping tighter control on the festivities this year.

Tuesday, March 22, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.22.2011

Click here to test your beer geography knowledge--10 minutes to name which of the 49 listed beers correspond to which state. Note that North Dakota does not currently have any production breweries, though that is set to change later this year.

The Indy Star has an article detailing some concerns that Three Floyds, Upland, and Sun King have regarding the state's taxation. As these three breweries approach annual production volumes of 20,000 barrels, they'll be subject to higher taxes and lose other benefits unless Indiana changes its 1993 law.

Make sure to vote in Round 2 of the Washington Post's Beer Madness 2011.

After you head over to WaPo's brackets, vote here in Round 3 of DRAFT Magazine's bracket.

DRAFT Magazine drops the scoop that Anchor is to re-release the coveted Our Barrel Ale.

Beer Pulse has information on this year's Samuel Adams Longshot six packs, which will contain two bottles each of the following: Friar Hop Ale (Belgian IPA), Blackened Hops (American Black Ale), and Honey B’s Lavender Wheat (American Pale Wheat Ale).

Northern Brewer received a cease and desist letter from Bell's, which does not want Northern Brewer to refer to its Bell's Two Hearted Ale clone as Three Hearted Ale. See the Beer Advocate community's thoughts on the subject here.

Monday, March 21, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.21.2011

Hill Farmstead announced on its Facebook page that it may soon be expanding capacity, as Shaun has decided to place the new brewhouse in what could have been a taproom/pub. It seems like he still has his eye on a taproom in the future, however.

Deschutes began expansion on its brewpub.

Sierra Nevada posted a video about its new line of Ovila beers.

The Brewers Association released findings detailing that "[s]mall and independent craft brewers saw volume increase 11 percent and retail sales dollars increase 12 percent over 2009, representing a growth of over 1 million barrels (31 gallons per U.S. barrel), equal to more than 14 million new craft cases."

Friday, March 18, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.18.2011

Mike over at themadfermentationist recently posted an extraordinarily-informative post entitled "Maintaining Brett and Lacto Cultures."

The Bruery received over 100 new bourbon barrels today. Who wouldn't be excited about that?

Modern Cow (aka alfrantzell of Beer Advocate) has a gut-wrenchingly-hilarious series of comics regarding Tomme Arthur of The Lost Abbey.

Thursday, March 17, 2011

Daily Beer Digest - 03.17.2011

It's St. Patrick's day and there seems to be plenty of debate over green beer and whether it's necessary to have Irish styles today. I plan on taking a middle-of-the-road approach with some GREEN Flash West Coast IPA.

On the heels of several announcements about Dark Lord Day, Three Floyds issued a "State of the Brewery" letter last night.

There continue to be an absolutely ridiculous number of threads on Beer Advocate about Founders KBS. For example, see here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. I think you get the point.

The BEER Act of 2011, which would reduce the taxes paid by small breweries and raise the production cap to be considered a small brewer, continues to pick up co-sponsors in the Senate.

cmstaten posted some very interesting links on cellaring conditions and evolving flavor profiles on Beer Advocate. The linked information comes from Stone's own Mitch Steele and Dr. Bill.

Dark Lord Day tickets will go on sale Saturday March 19 at 1 PM (see #4). I assume this is Central.

You can now vote in Round 2 of the Washington Post's Beer Madness 2011 bracket. Commentary on Round 1 can be found here.

DC Brau (@dcbrau) got its certificate of operation today, meaning that DC is even closer to finally having a production brewery.

Wednesday, March 16, 2011

Daily Beer Digest

Here is the first installment of Daily Beer Digest, which I hope will be a recurring event.

I had a few extra minutes this morning, so I added the dry hops to my Bitter Beer Face American Bitter, which I brewed on March 6. Thanks to all those on the Beer Advocate Homebrewing forum for helping out with this one. This was my first time adding dry hops in the carboy--rather than in the keg--with unwaxed dental floss used to hold the hop bag in suspension. The procedure was easy enough, and hopefully it yields good results.

Upland Lambics went on sale at 12:00 PM EDT this afternoon. This round Upland offered the Blackberry and Cherry Lambics with a limit of 1 per style per person at $20 per bottle. Amy and I were each lucky enough to grab an allocation of each style. Looking forward to it as the Blackberry is the only variety I haven't been able to try yet.

Deschutes has finalized expansion plans that will eventually result in a capacity increase of 105,000 barrels, responding to an increase in demand for their products. Good news has been coming from Deschutes lately, as they also recently announced that they'll be pasteurizing their beer that comes out of barrels after having infection issues with 2009 Abyss and 2009 Mirror Mirror. Amy and I were luckily spared with The Abyss, as none of our 6 bottles were infected. We're hoping for the same for the 3 bottles of Mirror Mirror I gave Amy for Christmas, as this it's one of her favorite beers. We opened one that was infection-free just after Christmas, so we're hoping that the rest are the same and have the refrigerated just to be safe.

The beer menu for SAVOR was announced. Overall, some very good things to try, though some breweries are a bit disappointing. I'd especially like to see Cigar City be a little bit more adventurous. I wasn't particularly pleased with them offering off-the-shelf bottled beers at this year's Night of the Funk, especially with the knowledge that I had passed on this year's Hunahpu's release and its crazy draft lineup in favor of the Night of the Funk / Extreme Beer Fest combo.

Hoosier Beer Geek put up an interview with Barnaby from Three Floyds, detailing some information about this year's Dark Lord Day. Judging by the picture in the post, this year's wax color with be yellow.

In other absolutely fantastic Three Floyds news, Zombie Dust (formerly Cenotaph) will apparently be released in six packs.

Founders' new bottling line is up and running.

Brew Your Own posted on article on reading malt specification sheets.

Alaskan Brewing will be headed to Minnesota starting in May. Great news for me, as now I should be able to order their beers when I make my online Surly purchases at France 44.