National

My Report Card From 2007

December 31, 2007

Last year at this time, I made five predictions for the 2007 beer year. Let’s see how I did.   Craft beer growth will hit double digits for 2006 and also will continue to rise through 2007. My Score: A+ This one wasn’t a stretch, of course, though things will likely be trickier next year. [...]

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Beer & Christianity Redux

December 14, 2007

This came to me via Rick Sellers at his Pacific Brew News concerning another poll by ChristiaNet concerning Christian’s attitudes towards beer drinking. I meant to write about this earlier, but it got away from me. The story is about a poll ChristiaNet conducted with their readership, which they state involves twelve million monthly page [...]

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New Beer TV Show … Maybe

December 14, 2007

A company from Sacramento, California — The Idea Factory — was in town Monday and Tuesday shooting a pilot for a new television show about craft beer. They’ve already done several successful cable shows, and their work can currently be seen on the Garden Channel, the DIY channel and Discovery Health. The host is brewer [...]

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Prohibition Returns!

December 5, 2007

Reason Magazine is a fine and well-respected Libertarian magazine that had a very interesting article in last month’s issue. I say fine and well-respected because they saw fit to ask me to write an article for them last year, showing exceptional good taste, and as a result I still get a copy of the magazine [...]

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Happy Repeal Day

December 5, 2007

Today is the 74th anniversary of the repeal of national Prohibition in the United States. Bob Skilnik has, naturally, the most complete account at his Beer In Food blog. His piece is called “National Prohibition; Its REAL Anniversary” and goes into great detail about the history swirling about at that time. It’s definitely worth a [...]

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Craft Brewers Merge, Too

November 14, 2007

The last time I took a trip, that one to Denver for GABF, Miller and Coors merged their domestic operations. Now I’m in Munich, Germany on my last day of a long beer trip and Widmer Brothers and Redhook announce, they too, will be merging. I have got to stop leaving the house otherwise who [...]

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Stella Artois’ Take On Their New Web Launch

November 5, 2007

Those of you who have been following the online debate among beer bloggers regarding ethics which was sparked by e-mail many of us received regarding the new Stella Artois website launch will no doubt be intrigued by their latest press release, which was about the website re-launch. In it, they claim that traffic has increased [...]

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A Cool, Blonde Drink of Offense

November 5, 2007

Since I’m in Germany right now, this item caught my eye. It’s about the National Organization for Women (or NOW) singling out St. Pauli Girl’s new ad campaign as being “offensive to women.” Adrants described the new campaign as follows: In its new campaign, dubbed “Drop Dead Refreshing,” St. Pauli Girl is playing a little [...]

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Sam to Sam: “Sorry About That”

October 26, 2007

Okay, it’s not exactly a full-blown apology, but the words “for that we apologize” do appear in a statement released today by the Boston Beer Co. regarding what they characterize as “clarification” of “what really happened in Portland, Oregon.” The statement begins: The Boston Beer Company, brewer of Samuel Adams Boston Lager, wishes Portland City [...]

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Garrett’s Thoughts (And My Own) on MillerCoors

October 22, 2007

On Friday, the New York Times ran an editorial by Garrett Oliver entitled Don’t Fear Big Beer. Oliver is the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery as well as the author of the seminal book on beer and food, The Brewmaster’s Table. I have a lot of respect for Garrett’s opinions, generally, and he makes some good [...]

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GABF 2007: Day 3, Friday

October 12, 2007

Friday we finished judging at Noon and I rushed over to a media lunch with Lucy Saunders, Sam Calagione and Marnie Old. Then there was the Alpha King Challenge at Falling Rock along with some other events Chris Black had planned for us, including kegs of Sierra Nevada’s new Harvest Ale. After that, the Friday [...]

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GABF 2007: Day 2, Thursday

October 11, 2007

Thursday morning began, not counting judging, with a quick trip to Great Divide Brewing‘s Hospitality Reception for brewers and the media. I’ve been going to their soirée for as long as I can remember. Then the first session began at the Denver Convention Center. The first session is not usually as crowded as later ones, [...]

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Coors & Miller To Collaborate?

October 9, 2007

+ Holy Cow! You get on a plane for a few hours and all hell breaks loose. While I was flying to the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, SAB Miller and Molson Coors announced that they will “combine their U.S. operations to create a business that will have annual sales of $6.6 billion and [...]

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Greenpeace Asserts GE Rice Used in Bud

October 8, 2007

Greenpeace today released the results of an independent analysis of rice at an Arkansas mill which supplies rice to Anheuser-Busch for use in their beer. The lab found genetically engineered rice in 75% of the samples. From the press release: An independent laboratory, commissioned by Greenpeace, detected the presence of GE rice (Bayer LL601) in [...]

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Toasting Michael

October 1, 2007

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, you know last night was the National Toast to Michael Jackson, a benefit for Parkinson’s Disease and a chance to all raise a glass to the leading light in beer writing. I went to the Toronado in San Francisco to join the toast. Real Beer was there with [...]

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Reminder: National Toast Tonight

September 30, 2007

Don’t forget the National Toast to Michael Jackson will take place tonight, Sunday, September 30 at exactly 9:00 p.m. EST (6:00 p.m. for those of us on the left coast). Find which establishments will be participating at the Michael Jackson Memorial. If Michael’s writing has touched you life and your enjoyment of good beer, join [...]

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