Mental Floss had an interesting story about how Pabst Brewing Co. got the blue ribbon that graces every bottle and can of their beer. In How Did Pabst Blue Ribbon Win its Blue Ribbon? author Matt Soniak details the events at the 1893 Columbian Exposition in Chicago that led to Pabst claiming total victory and justifying that blue ribbon in the years that followed.
For the third straight year I missed the Bistro IPA Festival, even with them moving it from its usual August date to today. Happily, owner Vic Kralj was again kind enough to send me the list of the winners. Carlsbad Raceway IPA, from Pizza Port in Carlsbad, near San Diego, was chosen best in show at the 16th annual IPA Festival today at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list of winners is below.
At this year’s Craft Brewers Conference, the keynote address was given by Kim Jordan from New Belgium Brewing. The context of Jordan being asked this year to speak is because ten years ago, when CBC was in New Orleans, she gave an optimistic keynote speech then predicting that craft beer would break the 10% barrier. While we’re not quite there yet — the current estimate is 6.5% of volume — great progress has been made and the future certainly looks rosier than it did in 2003. As someone who was sitting in the audience in New Orleans during that keynote, I was keen to hear what Kim would have to say a decade later. Below is a photo I took of Jordan giving that speech in 2003.
Below is my video of Kim Jordan’s keynote address. Technical difficulties (okay, I was slow on the draw) delayed the start and I missed the first few seconds, probably no more than 30 seconds worth. Also, due to YouTube’s size limitations, I had to break it into two parts in order to upload it. Enjoy.
Part 1:
Part 2:
So yesterday my friend Maureen Ogle, author of Ambitious Brew, was in town, on vacation with her family, and we had lunch at Russian River Brewing. Before lunch, we stopped by the production brewery so Maureen could say hello to Vinnie and Natalie, and also so she could take a peek at the brewery. After the tour, I was chatting with Vinnie who told me some big news. Although it’s apparently been in the works for some time, and is not a secret, they’ve been fairly low key about spreading the news.
While we were all in D.C. at CBC, Jennifer Talley, who was with Squatter’s in Utah for eighteen years, and more recently was the brewery production manager at Redhook Brewery in Washington, was in Sonoma County searching for a place to live. That’s because as of May, she’ll be brewing with Vinnie at Russian River Brewing, and eventually will be taking over the brewery’s barrel program. She’ll start out as a shift brewer and once Kevin Robinson leaves Russian River to concentrate on his new venture, Divine Brewing, Jen will become lead brewer. As Vinnie joked with me, “she has more experience than I do.” They’re thrilled to have her, and it’s easy to see why. Jen’s been one of the more important and influential brewers in her more than two decades in the industry. She was the 2011 recipient of the BA’s Russell Schehrer Award for Innovation in Craft Brewing, is on the technical committee of the MBAA and started her brewing education at the Siebel Institue of Brewing Technology. There’s no doubt her presence will make Russian River even more of a powerhouse brewery than it already is, not to mention freeing Vinnie to concentrate on big picture concerns. Congratulations to both Russian River and Jen for the new gig. I’m certainly glad to have another stellar brewing neighbor here in Sonoma.
Jennifer and Natalie Cilurzo (middle two), both now from Russian River Brewing, along with Carol Stoudt (left) and Teri Fahrendorf (right) after a panel discussion at GABF on women in brewing in 2007.
Today’s infographic shows Beer: The Four Process, done as part of a series of posters by “The Bone Collector,” a 20 year old graphic designer from Brisbane, Australia.
Click here to see the poster full size.
I’m pleased to announce that a number of South Bay, Silicon Valley brewers have banded together to form the Bay Brewers Guild, a new trade group for brewers located “South to Monterey, North to The Northern most point of the SF bay, East to all breweries that call the Bay their home (this can include places such as Livermore, Pleasanton, Walnut Creek, etc.), and West to the Pacific Ocean.” The new guild has been brewing for some time now, but it recently became official, and they’re a 501(c)3 non-profit organization as of November 27, 2012.
In a press release announcing their formation, the guild’s stated goals are the following.
They’re just getting started, and will be conducting monthly meetings. ALso, there’s no online presence yet, but I imagine that’s in the works. Executive Director of the new guild is Dan Satterthwaite, who’s a Siebel trained brewer who’s worked for Gordon Biersch and is currently in the process of opening his own brewery in Santa Cruz. If you’re in their geographic area and not currently a member, please contact Dan about becoming involved in the guild. Congratulations to everybody involved.
Founding Members of the Bay Brewers Guild:
Since today is World Water Day, our infographic for the day is So You Want To Save Water? Though it’s not strictly about brewing or beer, it seems relevant since water is the biggest ingredient used in brewing beer. Two interesting mentions of beer are in the poster. The first is that it takes 19.81 gallons to produce a glass of beer. I’m not sure about the exact number, but I do know many brewers are aware of their own water ratio and work hard to lower it. The second is that you can save 15,582 gallons of water per year if you switched from a daily glass of milk to a daily glass of beer. Now that’s conservation I can get behind.
Click here to see the infographic full size.
Wow, this is big news. My old friend Jeremy Cowan sent me a note this morning about this. His company, Shmaltz Brewing, makers of He’Brew and the Coney Island Craft Lagers of beers, will very shortly no longer be a contract brewer. He’s building a 20,000-square foot, 50-barrel brewery in Upstate, New York — Clifton Park (about 10 minutes north of Albany) — which will have an annual capacity of 20,000 barrels. Production is expected to begin in April or May, with a grand opened currently scheduled for July 7, 2013. He’s been working on the plans for this for a year and was finally ready to announce it to the world. Also, great news, is that his brewer, at least initially, will be Paul McErlean (who I’ve judged at GABF with). Paul oversaw all Shmaltz’s contract brewing before and “created every recipe in Shmaltz’s award winning family of beers.”
Here’s more information from the press release:
After 16 years as one of contract brewing’s loudest cheerleaders, Shmaltz Brewing Company, handcrafters of HE’BREW – The Chosen Beer® and Coney Island Craft Lagers®, is breaking with tradition and opening its own New York State production brewery. Located in Clifton Park, NY, 10 minutes north of Albany’s capital district, Shmaltz’s new home boasts a 50-barrel brewhouse with 20,000 barrels of annual capacity. With a $3.25 million dollar budget and countless hours of planning and preparation, what began as an improbable fantasy only one year ago, has blossomed into a nearly 20,000 square foot brewing reality.
The first stainless kettles were delivered this week and the inaugural brew date is targeted for late-April. Packaging should commence in May and June, and Shmaltz projects bringing 100% of its production in-house by mid-to-late summer. The heart of Shmaltz’s new operation features a custom-made, 5-vessel manual workhorse brewhouse as well as 8 fermentation and 2 bright beer tanks manufactured in the US from Oregon’s JV Northwest. The 120-bottle-per minute packaging line comes from the well respected Italian experts at SBC/BC International. The new Shmaltz brewery will package 12 and 22 ounce bottles and kegs of their diverse core and seasonal favorites. Several new releases and collaborations are on tap for 2013, and Shmaltz will continue their acclaimed exploration of barrel-aging with a current inventory of more than 300 bourbon, rye whiskey, and tequila barrels. The brewery projects hiring upwards of 10 full time staff for the new operation in addition to the dozen staffers currently handling sales, marketing and contract brewing operations. The space also touts a 1,700 square foot tasting room, and roughly 800 square feet of office space.
Even with this new beginning, Shmaltz will be piloted under the watchful and experienced eyes of the same dynamic team that’s brought the craft beer world many years of delicious beer and delicious shtick, including Jeremy Cowan (Proprietor), Bob Craven (General Manager), Matt Polacheck (Art Director), Zak Davis (National Sales Manager), Jesse P. Cutler (PR Director), and Paul McErlean (Consulting Brewmaster who created every recipe in Shmaltz’s award winning family of beers).
A press event and ribbon cutting ceremony will be announced shortly for late April or early May. The official, public grand opening bash will take place on Sunday, July 7, 2013. Specific details will be announced soon. Following the opening, craft beer enthusiasts will be able to enjoy the nectar of the new brewery gods at Shmaltz’s tasting room throughout the year. Brewery tours will be available to the public — times will be announced this summer.
Congratulations to Jeremy and the whole Shmaltz tean. L’chaim.
Wow, this is big news. Grub Street has the exclusive news that Sierra Nevada Brewing is planning on opening a taproom on Fourth Street in Berkeley, and will be located at 2031 4th Street, by University Avenue. Someone from the brewery told them that “it will be a full-time tasting room with food, though there won’t be a full brewpub or restaurant.”
I learned the following details from Sierra Nevada. They will operate the space, which they describe as “a small unit alongside other streetside venues.” They’re looking to open later this year, assuming all permitting, licensing, construction, etc. goes smoothly (do they ever?). They anticipate serving light snacks like pretzels, so it appears the focus of the place will be more on “enjoying and learning about the beer.”
Today’s infographic is a timely one, and was released just this morning. The Brewers Association today released the preliminary numbers for beer sales last year. Not surprisingly, the 2012 numbers look great, and continue the trend in recent years of forward momentum for craft beer. The big news is simple. “In a year when the total U.S. beer market grew by one percent, craft brewers saw a 15 percent rise in volume and a 17 percent increase in dollar growth.”
But here’s a bit more, from the press release:
With production at 13,235,917 barrels in 2012, craft brewers reached 6.5 percent volume of the total U.S. beer market, up from 5.7 percent the previous year. Additionally, craft dollar share of the total U.S. beer market reached 10.2 percent in 2012, as retail dollar value from craft brewers was estimated at $10.2 billion, up from $8.7 billion in 2011.
Also, the number of breweries continues to rise at an amazing pace. The surprising thing to notice is that the growth is almost entirely in production breweries, which increased 44%!
In 2012, there was an 18 percent increase in the number of U.S. operating breweries, with the total count reaching 2,403. The count includes 409 new brewery openings and only 43 closings. Small breweries created an estimated 4,857 more jobs during the year, employing 108,440 workers, compared to 103,583 the year prior.
And here’s all of that good news, distilled into a colorful infographic.
