Tuesday’s ad is still another one for Budweiser, this one also from the 1960. It’s another ad from their “Where there’s life” series, this one is called “The Story.” A shiny couple on the beach at night, roasting weenies over a fire, while the woman in a one-piece bathing suit and a cape pours a beer as they both grin unnaturally like Cheshire cats. It must have been a very good day.
Archives for March 31, 2015
Patent No. 4653388A: Small Scale Production Brewing
Today in 1987, US Patent 4653388 A was issued, an invention of Noel R. Wilkinson, for his “Brewing” process, though specifically more of a “small scale production plant.” Here’s the Abstract:
An improved brewing unit in which energy is saved by providing a mash tun, hot water tank and kettle in a single unit, by partially enclosing the mash tun with the tank and if necessary pre-heating the water supply to the tank by using the heat from wort coolers provided between the unit and fermentation tank; further improvements are provided by constructing the kettle as a combined kettle and whirlpool in a single chamber having a circular wall and a tangential inlet to the wall, a pump and wort boiler being in circuit with the kettle so that wort is continuously circulated through the boiler and tangential inlet to the kettle while the worts are boiled. The combined kettle and whirlpool saves space and enables the process of brewing to be shortened with resultant savings in both energy and brewing time.
The Top 50 Annotated 2014
This is my eighth annual annotated list of the Top 50, skipping last year because the BA provided that information then, so here again you can see who moved up and down, who was new to the list and who dropped off. So here is this year’s list again annotated with how they changed compared to last year.
- Anheuser-Busch InBev; #1 nine years, no surprise
- MillerCoors; ditto for #2
- Pabst Brewing; ditto for #3
- D. G. Yuengling and Son; Same as last year
- Boston Beer Co.; Same as last year
- North American Breweries; 5th year on the list, same position as last year
- Sierra Nevada Brewing; Same as last year
- New Belgium Brewing; Same as last year
- Craft Brewers Alliance; Same as last year
- Gambrinus Company; Same as last year
- Lagunitas Brewing; Same as last year
- Bell’s Brewery; Up 1 from #13 last year
- Deschutes Brewery; Down 1 from #12 last year
- Stone Brewing; Up 3 from #17 last year
- Sleeman Brewing; Not in Top 50 last year
- Minhas Craft Brewery; Down 1 from #15 last year
- Brooklyn Brewery; Down 1 from #26 last year
- Duvel Moortgat USA (Boulevard Brewing/Ommegang); Down 4 from #14 last year
- Dogfish Head Craft Brewery; Up 1 from #20 last year
- Matt Brewing; Down 2 from #18 last year
- Harpoon Brewery; Down 2 from #19 last year
- Firestone Walker Brewing; Up 1 from #23 last year
- Founders Brewing; Jumped Up 12 from #35 last year
- SweetWater Brewing; Up 2 from #26 last year
- New Glarus Brewing; Same as last year
- Alaskan Brewing; Down 2 from #24 last year
- Abita Brewing; Down 5 from #22 last year
- Anchor Brewing; Up 1 from #29 last year
- Great Lakes Brewing; Down 2 from #27 last year
- Oskar Blues Brewing; Up 3 from #33
- Shipyard Brewing; Down 10 from #21 last year
- Stevens Point Brewery; Up 13 from #45 last year
- August Schell Brewing; Down 5 from #33 last year
- Summit Brewing; Down 2 from #32 last year
- Victory Brewing; Down 2 from #37 last year
- Long Trail Brewing; Down 5 from #31 last year
- Ballast Point Brewing & Spirits; Up 1 from #38 last year
- Rogue Ales Brewery; Down 2 from #36 last year
- Full Sail Brewing; Down 5 from #34 last year
- Odell Brewing; Up 4 from #44 last year
- Southern Tier Brewing; Down 1 from #40 last year
- Ninkasi Brewing; Down 3 from #39 last year
- World Brew/Winery Exchange; Down 13 from #30 last year
- Flying Dog Brewery; Down 1 from #43 last year
- Pittsburgh Brewing (fka Iron City); Down 2 from #47 last year
- Uinta Brewing; Not in Top 50 last year
- Bear Republic Brewing; Down 1 from #46 last year
- Left Hand Brewing; Up 2 from #50 last year
- 21st Amendment Brewery; Not in Top 50 last year, though they were on the list in 2012
- Allagash Brewing; Not in Top 50 last year
Not too much movement this year, except for a few small shufflings. Only four new breweries made the list; Sleeman Brewing, Uinta Brewing, 21st Amendment Brewery and Allagash Brewing.
Off the list was Blue Point Brewing, Cold Spring Brewing, CraftWorks Breweries & Restaurants (Gordon Biersch/Rock Bottom), Karl Strauss Breweries, Lost Coast Brewery, and Mendocino Brewing.
If you want to see the previous annotated lists for comparison, here is 2013, 2012, 2011, 2010, 2009, 2008, 2007 and 2006.
Patent No. 4653290A: Beer Keg Ice Sleeve And Method Of Making Same
Today in 1987, US Patent 4653290 A was issued, an invention of Shelley R. Byrne, for his “Beer Keg Ice Sleeve and Method of Making Same.” Here’s the Abstract:
An ice sleeve cooler for beer kegs or other beverages comprising a slip-over ice sleeve open at the bottom and open at the top and having inner and outer sleeve members with an ice pocket therebetween. The bottom of the sleeve members are joined in sealed relation and have a draw-string for attachment around the lower side wall of the keg, and both inner and outer sleeve members have top draw-strings for individually attaching these members to the keg. The method of fabricating the ice sleeve cooler from a one-piece sheet of plastic stock involves the steps of folding and sealing the sheet to form the double sleeve members with an integral bottom edge.
Top 50 Craft Breweries For 2014
The Brewers Association just announced the top 50 craft breweries in the U.S. based on sales, by volume, for 2014, which is listed below here. For the seventh year, they’ve also released a list of the top 50 breweries, which includes all breweries. Here is this year’s craft brewery list:
Seven breweries are new to this year’s Top 50 Craft Breweries list; Yuengling (due to a change in the definition), Breckenridge, Craftworks Restaurants & Breweries, Green Flash, Minhas Craft Brewery, Narragansett and Troeg’s. Here is this year’s press release. For the past seven years, I’ve also posted an annotated list, showing the changes in each brewery’s rank from year to year. Last year, the BA thoughtfully has already done that, saving me a lot of time and math, but they haven’t done it again this year, so I’ll have that again later today.
Patent No. 724100A: Wort-Separator
Today in 1903, US Patent 724100 A was issued, an invention of Max Henius, for his “Wort-Separator.” There’s no Abstract, but in the description claims that the “object is to provide a wort-separator of novel as well as comparatively simple and inexpensive construction, whereby the filtration of wort, both from grains and hops, may be effected more thoroughly and with greater economy both of time and labor than by any other filtering means hitherto employed and of which I am aware.”
Top 50 Breweries For 2014
The Brewers Association has also just announced the top 50 breweries in the U.S. based on sales, by volume, for 2014. This includes all breweries, regardless of size or other parameters. Here is the new list:
Here is this year’s press release.
Patent No. 149046A: Improvement In Cooling And Preserving Beer
Today in 1874, US Patent 149046 A was issued, an invention of Peter Libber, for his “Improvement In Cooling And Preserving Beer.” There’s no Abstract, but this introduction sums it up:
This invention relates to device for cooling and preserving beer and ale and similar substances in the process of manufacture, and which is required to be kept at such a temperature as to prevent its becoming sour in the process of fermentation preparatory to being barreled; and it consists in the construction and arrangement of the cooling float or swimmer employed to regulate the temperature of the beer in the fermenting tubs, as will hereinafter be more fully explained.