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Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Top 50 Breweries for 2006

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The Brewers Association has just announced the top 50 breweries in the U.S. based on sales for 2006. Here is the new list:

  1. Anheuser-Busch; St Louis MO
  2. Miller Brewing; Milwaukee WI
  3. Coors Brewing; Golden CO
  4. Pabst Brewing; Woodridge IL
  5. Boston Beer Co.; Boston MA
  6. D. G. Yuengling and Son; Pottsville PA
  7. Sierra Nevada Brewing; Chico CA
  8. Gambrinus; San Antonio TX
  9. New Belgium Brewing; Fort Collins CO
  10. High Falls Brewing; Rochester NY
  11. Widmer Brothers Brewing; Portland OR
  12. Redhook Ale Brewery; Woodinville WA
  13. Pittsburgh Brewing; Pittsburgh PA
  14. Pyramid Breweries; Seattle WA
  15. Minhas Craft Brewery; Monroe WI
  16. Matt Brewing; Utica NY
  17. Deschutes Brewery; Bend OR
  18. Boulevard Brewing; Kansas City MO
  19. Alaskan Brewing; Juneau AK
  20. The Harpoon Brewery; Boston, MA
  21. Full Sail Brewing; Hood River OR
  22. Anchor Brewing; San Francisco CA
  23. Kona Brewing; Kailua-Kona HI
  24. Magic Hat Brewing Company; South Burlington VT
  25. Gordon Biersch Brewing; San Jose CA
  26. Bell’s Brewery; Galesburg MI
  27. Summit Brewing; Saint Paul MN
  28. August Schell Brewing; New Ulm MN
  29. Shipyard Brewing; Portland ME
  30. Mendocino Brewing; Ukiah CA
  31. Goose Island Beer; Chicago IL
  32. Abita Brewing; New Orleans LA
  33. Long Trail Brewing; Bridgewater Corners VT
  34. Brooklyn Brewery; Brooklyn NY
  35. New Glarus Brewing; New Glarus WI
  36. Rogue Ales; Newport OR
  37. Stone Brewing; Escondido CA
  38. Stevens Point Brewery; Stevens Point WI
  39. Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants; Louisville CO
  40. Firestone Walker Brewing; Paso Robles CA
  41. Great Lakes Brewing; Cleveland OH
  42. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery; Lewes DE
  43. Straub Brewery; Saint Mary’s PA
  44. Lagunitas Brewing; Petaluma CA
  45. Flying Dog Brewery; Denver CO
  46. Sweetwater Brewing; Atlanta GA
  47. Odell Brewing; Fort Collins CO
  48. Mac and Jack’s Brewery; Redmond WA
  49. Big Sky Brewing; Missoula MT
  50. Otter Creek Brewing; Middlebury VT

 

From the press release:

The Brewers Association, which tabulates industry growth data, reports that in 2006 77.7% of the craft beer produced was made from the top 50 craft brewing companies. Additionally, 34 out of the top 50 brewing companies in the U.S meet the Brewers Association’s definition of a craft brewer.

“Beer made by small, independent and traditional breweries is definitely an American success story,” states Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association. “There’s a change in lifestyle going on. People are trading up and that is what is creating such strong demand for craft beer”.

With just under 1400 small breweries the segment eclipsed 6.7 million barrels in 2006. The fastest growing craft beer sector in 2006 was microbreweries (those under 15,000 barrels a year). Sales were up 16%, showing customer support for local breweries. Total craft beer industry sales have grown 31.5% over the last 3 years an early 2007 indicators point toward accelerating sales growth.

“If you Google craft beer you’ll see more press coverage than ever before. This is because beers from craft breweries provide diversity and flavor and that’s what people want,” stated Julia Herz, a spokesperson for the Brewers Association.

Twenty-two states are represented in the top 50 brewing companies list, according to the Brewers Association. California hosts (7) top breweries. Colorado has (5) and Oregon and Wisconsin each host (4) top producers. The remainder of the top 50 operate from New York (3), Pennsylvania (3), Vermont (3), Washington (3), Illinois (2), Massachusetts (2), Minnesota (2), Missouri (2), Alaska (1) , Louisiana (1), Maine (1), Michigan (1), Montana (1), Ohio (1) and Texas (1).

 

 

In 2006, while sales of large domestic brewers still lagged behind their 2004 peak, the craft beer segment continued to explode. Scan data from Information Resources Inc. shows craft beer with a 17.8% increase in supermarket sales for 2006—more growth than any other alcohol beverage category in the supermarket sales channel. For more sales statistics, the Brewers Assocation has set up a statistics page on their website.

This is more excellent news for craft beer, as the final number even exceeded easrlier estimates. Let’s raise a glass and offer a toast to craft beer’s continuing success. Cheers to all of those brewers making such wonderful, world-class beer.

Suggestions for Beer Haters

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There’s a post today on the Seattlest with the provocative title “Do You Hate Beer?” It begins:

Do you just absolutely hate beer? Have you ever been amazed that people would actually prefer to drink beer with their nice dinner, rather than the typical bottle of expensive red wine? If you are set in your beer-hating ways, try these libations. They may change your mind.

The author then lists five beers: Manny’s Pale Ale, Rochefort Trappistes 10, Lindemans Framboise, Duchesse De Bourgogne and Rogue Chocolate Stout. For each there is an explanation of the beer, what food to pair with it and even where in Seattle you can find it. I may not agree with every suggestion, but it’s a great idea to simply challenge people who believe they don’t care for beer to explore the diversity in beer that they probably aren’t even aware exists.

It might be a worthwhile project for some of us to put together a list of beers in a variety of styles to suggest for the person who doesn’t like beer to try, with this same sort of basic information. I like the idea of being able to give someone a list or give them a link to a ready-made list of suggested beers they might try. Who’s with me?

For trivia’s sake, the Seattlest is part of the Gothamist, a network of fifteen city blogs that do a good job of covering each city using local bloggers. Here on the left coast, in addition to Seattle, there’s also one for San Francisco and Los Angeles.

Sierra Nevada’s New Pry-Off Cap

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I made a trip up to Chico, California last week to interview Ken Grossman for an article I’m working on and fortuitously happened upon a new innovation that Sierra Nevada Brewing just launched. They’ve discarded the twist-off crown in favor of a new one they’re calling a “pry-off cap.” They’re using up their old stock now and then replacing it with the new crowns so over the next few weeks or months you’ll begin seeing the new crowns on store shelves. Some, like Pale Ale, have already made the switch.

What’s innovative about this is the material they’re using inside the cap that sits against the top of the glass bottle providing the seal. Oxidation is, of course, probably the most common reason beer goes bad. Twist-off crowns and regular crowns do a pretty good job of creating an oxygen barrier and keeping out the oxygen, but they’re not perfect and some oxidation will occur over time. So Grossman spent the last 6-7 years researching how to make a better seal. What he came up with was a super high-density non-PVC substance that’s used in Germany but is uncommon here. It’s harder than the usual rubbery crown insides and requires a bit more pressure to seal, which is why they can’t use the twist-off cap any longer. But the new substance keeps out oxygen ten times better than anything else Sierra Nevada tested, so having to use a bottle opener is a small price to pay for a fresher beer that stays fresher longer. Now that’s a good use of new technology.

 

SABMiller Eyeing S&N?

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At the end of March, Heineken appeared to be the leading contender in a takeover bid for Scottish & Newcastle. Now the latest rumors have SABMiller considering their own bid to take over the Scottish beer giant for the sum of £6.5 billion (around 12.75 billion in U.S. dollars). If successful, many believe SABMiller would sell off pieces of S&N, specifically it’s French interests along with Foster’s, John Smith’s bitter and Strongbow cider, to international drinks company Diageo. If true, official details should be released by the end of the week.

Brew Years Eve

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At 12:01 a.m., 74 years ago, beer became legal for the first time in thirteen years. Though it would be eight more months until Prohibition officially ended (on December 5), President Franklin D. Roosevelt kept his first campaign promise by encouraging Congress to modify the Volstead Act and they passed the Cullen-Harrison bill, which FDR signed it into law on March 23. The bill allowed the sale and manufacture of low-alcohol beer (3.2% alcohol by weight/4.0% by volume), along with light wines, too. For brewers, it represented a return to brewing and those that had remained opening making non-alcoholic products quickly retooled. Those that had been shuttered for over a decade had a harder time re-opening, but some did manage it. Ultimately Prohibition did irreparable harm the industry as a whole and less than half of America’s breweries did not survive.

And we’re still waiting for an apology from all the temperance nutcases who thought making alcohol illegal would turn society into a utopia. If anything, it made things much, much worse. Virtually every societal ill temperance nutjobs believed prohibition would fix were only made worse. Instead of a more civil, crime-free world, crime actually increased significantly, not least of which directly is directly attributable to bootlegging and bathtub gin. An entire new enforcement agency was created to deal with all the new criminalized behavior by the Volstead Act, made famous by Elliot Ness and his “Untouchables.” And that was in part because corruption became rampant especially among law enforcement and local officials who took bribes and looked the other way while speakeasies operated with homemade and illegal booze. This corruption in turn made the average citizen’s respect for the law evaporate.

All those people who used to work at breweries, wineries, distilleries along with their salesmen, advertisers, marketers, distributors, delivery men, and on and one were suddenly out of a job, causing much economic harm. It’s no mere coincidence that our worst economic depression took place during this same period of time. In every sense this experiment was ignoble and failed to achieve any of its goals.

Originally, and for many years after, brewers referred to April 7 as “New Beer’s Eve” Although the fortunes of many breweries and the industry as a whole ebbed and flowed, overall the number of breweries continued to plummet until the early 1980s, when the microbrewery revolution began to reverse that trend.

The Brewers Association, a trade organization for small and regional breweries, is reviving the holiday under the name “Brew Years Eve” and encouraging their members to host celebrations all over the country. Their website lists hundreds of events by state

From their press release:

While the full repeal of Prohibition came on December 5, 1933, a modification of the Volstead Act legalized beer with 3.2 percent alcohol by weight (4.0 percent by volume) starting on April 7 of that year. In fact, one of the first public delivery of beer went to the White House to honor Franklin Delano Roosevelt who had won the presidency in part because he favored repeal. From April 7 on, the country’s brewers were back in business and Americans enjoyed legal beer for eight months before wine and spirits were once again legitimate.

Today, brewers bring Americans a lot more than just beer. Since the 1970s, the ranks of brewers have grown to include more than 1400 small, traditional and independent craft beer makers. Each contributes jobs and a variety of local and federal taxes to the economy.

To learn more about the history of Prohibition, here are some interesting links:

Budvar to Privatize

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Czech brewer Budejovicky Budvar — from the Bohemian town of Budweis — announced today that it will be transformed into a joint-stock company as the first step toward privatization. Currently, Budvar (whose beers are marketed in the U.S. under the name Czechvar) is a state-owned company.

Agriculture Minister Petr Gandalovic, whose ministry controls Budvar, also said today that privatization will depend largely on any outcome in the long-standing trademark dispute with Anheuser-Busch, whose beer brand “Budweiser” was inspired by the town of Budweis. The speculation is that this move, along with several other proposed similar privatizations of other nationally held companies, is being taken to assist the government in dealing with a recent budget crisis.

Greene King Visits the Clue Farm

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The Publican is reporting that Greene King is going to subject its decision to remove the locally brewed Harvey’s Best Bitter from the Lewes Arms to an “internal review” where most expect that decision to be reversed. Though no timetable has been set, Harveys will once more be sold at the pub most likely within the next few weeks.

From the Publican article:

Adam Collett, marketing director for Greene King’s managed pubs, acknowledged his company had “underestimated the strength of feeling which led to many locals boycotting what was once a great British pub. As a result, it has lost some of its character and greatness.”

Although he defended Greene King’s right to remove the beer from the pub “and, where we choose, not to sell rival beers”, he admitted the group “did not fully appreciate its special position in Lewes as the former ‘Brewery Tap’, or take into account its history and traditions”.

Sure they did, just a simple misunderstanding. They’ve been completely belligerent and intractable throughout this episode, to say now that they just didn’t “fully appreciate” how locals felt about their local beer is more spin control. They knew exactly what they were dealing with from almost the beginning, but they believed they could outlast the boycott and they also didn’t count on the publicity the story generated. The PR backlash was so bad that it probably led to former marketing director Mark Angela leaving over his handling of what became a “public relations nightmare” and the restructuring of the managed pubs division. Collett, who replaced him, was undoubtedly tasked with fixing the Lewes problem. Naturally, Greene King denies this scenario. It was just a coincidence is what they’ll probably say. I guess Angela just wanted to spend more time with his family, that’s a common reason given by exiting executives.

Notice that even within the conciliatory reversal of position, Greene King retains the bullying language that they will do whatever they want and “where [they] choose, [will] not [to] sell rival beers.” To me that signals a company desperately wanting to fix its negative public image but without changing its corporate culture in any meaningful way. They may have bought a clue in this particular instance, but it probably won’t help them if they face similar opposition at another location.

I’m certainly happy for the people of Lewes who fought for their local heritage. Getting a big company to see reason and be a better corporate citizen is no easy feat. It’s proof once more that sufficiently motivated groups of organized people can successfully challenge institutions, and that makes the world a slightly less depressing place. Congratulations to the Friends of the Lewes Arms. Next time I’m across the pond, I’d like to stop in the Lewes Arms and have myself a pint of Harveys.

Alabama Maintains Image of Backwardness?

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I saw a blog post the other day that made me chuckle by a young entrepreneurial businessman who believes that the finest beers in the world come from Redhook and Pyramid, not that there’s anything wrong with them. But he begins his post with something to the effect that most people don’t think of San Diego as a place to find good beer. You’d have to have gotten stuck drinking beers from 1987 to not notice that San Diego has one of the most vibrant beer cultures anywhere in world, and a handful of breweries there have literally redefined hoppy beers. But what does that have to do with Alabama? Nothing, really, except that in my mind it would be hard to find a place I perceive as more backward, beer-wise at least, as Alabama. It’s a beautiful state and I’ve been through it twice, though I confess that I didn’t stay long. There homebrewing is still not legal, despite federal legalization in 1978! Brewpubs were only very recently made legal there, albeit still under limited circumstances.

In 1937, four years after Prohibition ended, when Alabama reluctantly passed the Alcoholic Beverages Control Act, beer finally became legal again in the Yellowhammer State. Having convinced business owners that if they allowed workers to drink beer over 5% abv (6% today) or in packages larger than one pint that productivity would suffer. And that means approximately 98 of the top-rated 100 beers on Beer Advocate are still illegal in Alabama because they’re either too strong or in a bottle too large, or in some cases both. That’s assuming you live in county that’s not “dry,” meaning no alcohol can be produced, sold or distributed. Approximately one out of every three is dry, with 26 of Alabama’s 67 counties designated dry. There are also some “wet cities” within the dry counties and draft only areas in the state, along with a maze of Sunday laws, too, according to the state’s ABC website.

An excellent grassroots non-profit organization, “Free the Hops,” has been working tirelessly to bring Alabama kicking and screaming into the 21st century. They created a bill, SB 211 (which passed in the Senate), and in the House, HB 1195, with Representative Thomas Jackson (D-Thomasville) sponsoring the bill.

Unfortunately, according to the Decatur Daily, it was defeated yesterday by failing to get the necessary two-thirds votes. The main reason cited in the article was that old canard, “the children.”

Here’s a sample of the genius thinking of Alabama’s elected officials:

“I can’t see us doing something that’s going to encourage people to drink more and get drunk faster,” said Rep. DuWayne Bridges, D-Valley. Bridges said the measure would increase the problem of teenagers drinking by making more potent brew available to them. “Our children don’t need to increase their alcohol consumption,” Bridges said.

Rep. Richard Laird, D-Roanoke, said young people would still find a way to drink the stronger beer. “The only thing this bill will do is just get our young people dead a whole lot faster,” Laird said.

I find it quite amazing that these so-called representatives of the people are so willing to completely ignore the right and wishes of every adult in the state in order to reduce the possibility that one of these extreme beers might fall into the hands of a minor. If that’s the logic, do all wines and spirits likewise have to be 5% abv or less? They don’t, of course, and it’s the usual hypocrisy where beer is demonized while the higher alcohol drinks do not face the same obstacles.

As anyone with an ounce of common sense and even a little experience with beer will tell you, the complex flavors of big beers do not appeal to younger palates. If they want to get drunker quicker they’ll gravitate toward sweeter wines or mixable liquor, both of which are already legal in the state. All this prohibition accomplishes is restricting Alabama adults from the full enjoyment of a product that’s readily available to most of the rest of the world, in effect punishing their own citizens.

This is not the best way to live. When you go too far in trying to protect children that you infringe on the rights of your adult population you’ve jumped into the deep end of fanaticism. I’m sure the feeling is mutual, but I’m certainly glad I don’t live in a place that’s more concerned about what it’s kids could get their hands on than the rights of its adult population.

But there is a silver lining. According to “Free the Hops” and a comment posted by a friend at the BA, news of the bill’s demise may be premature. Here’s how Free the Hops explains it:

HB195 did not make the floor for a vote today. An odd little corner of our constitution known as the Budget Isolation Resolution (BIR) kept our bill off the floor. More on that later, but in a nutshell, our state constitution mandates that at any point before the legislature has passed a state budget, every bill must first pass a BIR vote before it goes for a “real” vote. And while a bill can pass a “real” vote with a simple majority, it must pass a BIR vote with a 3/5 majority. In other words, you need MORE votes to pass a BIR than you need to pass the floor. Therefore, even though we had a solid majority of votes today, it was not sufficient to pass the BIR, and thus we never made the House floor.

Especially surprising and troubling was that certain Representatives who told their constituents they would support HB195 voted “No” on the BIR today. They voted against us. They lied to their constituents. This is a deep matter I will explore in depth, and tirelessly so. I will not rest until the truth is exposed. The fact that AL Representatives lied to their constituents about how they would vote on a particular bill is a matter far bigger than the Gourmet Beer Bill.

Realize that our House bill was not killed. It can still be put back on the calendar and we can get another shot. If we can convince a handful of today’s “NO” votes to abstain or vote yes, this is worthwhile. We are FAR from finished this year.

There are a LOT of questions floating around. A lot of emotions. A lot of comments. A lot of fact-based thoughts. A lot of everything for those of us who started this day thinking we’d see HB195 pass the House. I simply don’t have time to answer every question and address every comment. There is too much to be done.

But know this: I am more energetic and more committed than I have ever been to seeing the 6% limit raised.

Our House bill was not killed today; it simply did not make the floor for a vote. Our Senate bill is still very alive. Our local bills are still very alive. We just have a lot of work to do, me especially. And the result will be over 6% beer hitting the shelves somewhere in Alabama in 2007. We are FAR from finished this year.

So why did the Decatur Daily report that the bill had been defeated? Good question, perhaps Associated Press Writer “Billy” Bob Johnson or the newspaper is against the bill, who knows? I hate to sound the conspiracy gong so early, but it’s more than a little odd. It’s either that or an example of some pretty shoddy reporting.
 

UPDATE NOTE 4.6: This post has been substantially updated thanks to the comment from Bradley. Thanks for that.

Sam Adams to Be Made in the Glass-Lined Tanks of Old Latrobe

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The big story yesterday, reported by practically everybody, is that the Boston Beer Co. — makers of Samuel Adams beers — have signed a contract with City Brewing of Wisconsin to brew Sam Adams beer at the newly acquired Latrobe Brewery. It appears the relationship between Boston Beer Co. and City Brewing on this project will be some form of partnership, with Jim Koch’s company kicking in between three and seven million dollars to upgrade the Pennsylvania facility. In addition, “the parties are discussing the potential of Boston Beer having an ownership interest in the brewing facility.”

The parties expect the brewery to be up and running again in the second quarter, which means anytime over the next three months, and possibly as soon as next month. Happily, around 250 brewery employees should finally be back at work after InBev’s sale of the Rolling Rock brand — but not the Latrobe brewery — to Anheuser-Busch for $82 million closed the plant last July. Anheuser-Busch declined to buy the brewery and moved production to its facility in Newark, New Jersey, where it’s been brewing Rolling Rock for almost a year. Curiously, Boston Beer was one of the leading contenders in last year’s rumor mills surrounding who might buy the threatened Latrobe brewery and save it from closure. Federal, state and local officials and politicians worked tirelessly with InBev to find a buyer and rumored potential suitors also included Pittsburgh Brewing, Sierra Nevada and Yuengling before City Brewing bought it for an undisclosed amount.

Boston Beer’s co-packing contract with Miller is set to expire in October of next year, so this is seen by financial analysts as putting to rest any long-term concerns about meeting rising product demand. Sales volume increased 17% last year. Boston Beer President and CEO Martin Roper indicated that the Latrobe deal gives Sam Adams “increased flexibility” and they chose Latrobe brewery in part because of its heritage. As a result, yesterday afternoon shares of Boston Beer rose 66 cents to $33.74.

Samuel Adams has also been pursuing a property in Freetown, Massachusetts to build a brewery from scratch. According to company spokeswoman Michelle Sullivan. “’We’ve signed a purchase and sale on the site,’ Sullivan said, adding the company has also hired consultants to look into building plans.” Boston Beer also owns the Hudepohl-Schoenling in Cincinnati, Ohio and a smaller pilot brewery in Jamaica Plain, a little southwest of their headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts.