Beer In Ads #1827: Kossuth — Greatest Of Hungarians

February 20, 2016 By Jay Brooks

Saturday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1914, No. 10 in another series they did in 1914-15 called the “National Heroes Series.” The tenth, and final, one features Lajos Kossuth, who “was a Hungarian lawyer, journalist, politician and Governor-President of the Kingdom of Hungary during the revolution of 1848–49. With the help of his talent in oratory in political debates and public speeches, Kossuth emerged from a poor gentry family into regent-president of Kingdom of Hungary. As the most influential contemporary American journalist Horace Greeley said of Kossuth: “Among the orators, patriots, statesmen, exiles, he has, living or dead, no superior.” Kossuth’s powerful English and American speeches so impressed and touched the most famous contemporary American orator Daniel Webster, that he wrote a book about Kossuth’s life. He was widely honored during his lifetime, including in Great Britain and the United States, as a freedom fighter and bellwether of democracy in Europe. Kossuth’s bronze bust can be found in the United States Capitol with the inscription: “Father of Hungarian Democracy, Hungarian Statesman, Freedom Fighter, 1848–1849.”

Bud-national-heroes-1914-Kossuth

James Beard 2016 Semifinalists Announced

February 19, 2016 By Jay Brooks

The 2016 semifinalist nominations for the James Beard Awards were announced Wednesday, and the good news is there are quite a few beer professionals among the nominees for “Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional.” If you’re not familiar with the prestigious food awards, here’s how the James Beard Foundation describe their annual awards. “Covering all aspects of the industry — from chefs and restaurateurs to cookbook authors and food journalists to restaurant designers and architects and more — the Beard Awards are the highest honor for food and beverage professionals working in North America.” Until very recently, the awards were almost exclusively food and wine-centric, but more recently “beverage professionals” has slowly been expanding to include craft beer and spirits, too. It’s been nice to see the prejudice against beer in the food, cooking and restaurant world finally beginning to slide away. Too slowly, perhaps, but still … it’s about time and nice to see.

The list released Wednesday is the semifinalists. On March 15, a smaller list of finalists will be announced from among the semifinalists and the award winners will be announced May 2. In the category “Outstanding Wine, Spirits, or Beer Professional,” six of the twenty semifinalists work in the beer world. Last year it was five and the year before there were seven beer professionals nominated. Hopefully, many of them will make the cut next month. Here’s the beer people for this year:

Sam Calagione, Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, DE
Wayne Carpenter, Skagit Valley Malting, Burlington, WA
Vinnie Cilurzo, Russian River Brewing Company, Santa Rosa, CA
Jeppe Jarnit-Bjergsø, Evil Twin Brewing, Brooklyn, NY
Jim Koch, The Boston Beer Company, Boston
Rob Tod, Allagash Brewing Company, Portland, ME

Congratulations to all the semifinalists. It’s a great list, all deserving, though I’m especially pleased to see Vinnie Cilurzo, who’s a friend and neighbor.

Patent No. 398330A: Hop-Shovel

February 19, 2016 By Jay Brooks

patent-logo
Today in 1889, US Patent 398330 A was issued, an invention of Benjamin F. Jacobs, for his “Hop-Shovel.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The invention relates to improvements in hop-shovels; and it consists in the constrution and novel combination of parts, as hereinafter set forth.
It has been the practice to remove the hops from the kiln by means of a rake, which is objectionable, for the reason that when the hops are first dried and yet warm they break up very easily and are very sensitive to the handling they receive. When raked out of the kiln, they not only break, but lose their dust, which detracts materially from their marketable value. The object of my invention is to obviate this difficulty by providing a bag to hold the hops and the dust when it is desired to remove the hops from the kiln.

US398330-0

Patent No. 554806A: Filling And Bunging Apparatus

February 18, 2016 By Jay Brooks

patent-logo
Today in 1896, US Patent 554806 A was issued, an invention of Marion Warren, for his “Filling and Bunging Apparatus.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The object of my invention is to provide apparatus for filling packages with liquid and bunging the same expeditiously and securely, the same being especially adapted for the treatment of carbonated beverages, such as lager-beer, which by means of my improved apparatus I am enabled to place in the trade or selling package without material loss of gas or pressure.

US554806-0
US554806-1
US554806-2

Victory & Southern Tier Announce Merger

February 16, 2016 By Jay Brooks

victory-new sign-plus southern-tier sign-equals abv
Victory Brewing, of Downington, Pennsylvania, and Southern Tier Brewing, of Lakewood, New York, announced today a merger between their two companies. Essentially, they’ve created a holding company called Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV) for both companies, and ABV will essentially own both breweries. Here’s how they characterize the newly created entity in their joint press release.

Artisanal Brewing Ventures is located in Charlotte, NC and was formed by Phin and Sara DeMink and Ulysses Management LLC; a New York based family office, with the vision of creating a home for like-minded, best-in-class craft breweries in close partnership with their founders. Ulysses Management was founded 20 years ago by Joshua Nash as the successor firm to the pioneering investment firm Odyssey Partners, LP. Ulysses invests in profitable, well-established companies with tangible, competitive advantages with the goal to build long-term value that benefits all stakeholders. To learn more about Ulysses Management please visit www.ulyssesmgmt.com.

Here’s more from the press release, which is on Southern Tier’s website:

Having just marked 20 years in the craft brewing industry, Victory Brewing Company (Victory) proudly announces a landmark alliance with Southern Tier Brewing Company (Southern Tier) under parent company Artisanal Brewing Ventures (ABV). As the first major transaction of 2016 within the rapidly evolving craft beer industry, this union presents a new model for craft beer partnerships by preserving brewery independence while pooling deep collective resources.
The new strategic framework between ABV, Victory and Southern Tier provides capital, security and vision for the future. ABV, formed to unify independent craft brewers and distillers, embraces the collaborative craft spirit while administering crucial growth resources. Arlington Capital Advisors acted as exclusive financial consultant to Victory. Wells Fargo’s Beverage Finance group provided capital to support the investment and continued growth at ABV. The transaction is expected to close within the next 60 days.
Under the umbrella of ABV, Victory and Southern Tier will independently operate their breweries, commanding a joint capacity of over 800,000 barrels of potential annual production. This alliance creates one of the largest brewers in the Northeast and ranks within the top 15 craft brewing companies in the United States according to Brewers Association criteria with combined 2015 shipments of over 250,000 barrels. With a world-class roster of complementary beer brands and an even stronger standing in the marketplace, ABV will shepherd Victory and Southern Tier in collaborative sales and marketing efforts to strengthen, support and expand its distributor and retail partnerships. Victory and Southern Tier brands will become increasingly available to loyal and new consumers across their combined markets as a direct result of this union.
“The craft beer community is at its most critical moment since its inception as larger brewing corporations have bought into our grassroots movement, irrevocably changing the marketplace. Like-minded brewers such as Victory and Southern Tier can preserve our character, culture and products by banding together,” said Bill Covaleski, Founder and Brewmaster of Victory Brewing Company. “Allied we can continue to innovate and best serve the audience who fueled our growth through their loyal thirst.”
“Having gotten to know Phin, John and the whole management team, I am more excited than ever about the innovations that lie in our collective futures. One walk through their brewery and I knew that Southern Tier had the same belief in quality and excellence that has driven our culture for 20 years,” explains Ron Barchet, COO of Victory Brewing Company.
The Victory and Southern Tier leadership teams and employees will remain intact. Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet of Victory, who will become significant shareholders in ABV, will join the Artisanal Brewing Ventures’ Board of Directors. CEO John Coleman and CFO Bill Wild will lead ABV’s management team.
“This is exactly the kind of alliance we imagined when we created Artisanal Brewing Ventures in 2014,” said Phin DeMink, founder of Southern Tier Brewing Company and also a major shareholder in ABV. “This is a concept that was specifically designed by and for craft brewers, so we can focus on the things we’re best at while creating meaningful scale advantages. I’m proud to see this model validated and am grateful that my friends Ron and Bill have become our partners.”
“This is the ultimate craft beer collaboration. It is an honor to be associated with these pioneering entrepreneurs who have been contributing to the industry since craft’s early days,” said John Coleman, CEO of ABV. “I look forward to guiding these two truly great organizations forward as they collaborate, innovate and share best practices.”
“I believe this is a watershed transaction for the craft brewing world. This union of two great regional players preserves their independence and distinct cultures while sharing administrative and management functions to support deeper investment in sales, marketing and innovation,” commented Vann Russell, Managing Director and Founder of Arlington Capital.

This is something that has been in the works for many months. The trademark application for ABV was filed last year, in late August. That suggests that the deal would have been all but done if they’d progressed to the point of getting the new logo trademarked.

abv-crowns

Here’s more from the press release on the two companies.

About Victory Brewing Company

Victory Brewing Company is a craft brewery headquartered in Downingtown, PA. Founded by childhood friends, Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet, Victory officially opened its doors in February of 1996. Victory’s second state of the art brewery opened in February of 2014 in Parkesburg, PA to serve fans of fully flavored beers in 37 states with innovative beers melding European ingredients and technology with American creativity. In addition to the original Downingtown brewpub, Victory’s second brewpub is in Kennett Square, while Parkesburg recently launched self-guided tours and the third brewpub.

Bill_Ron_2015(Social)
Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet.

About Southern Tier Brewing Company

In 2002 Phin and Sara DeMink founded Southern Tier Brewing Company in Lakewood, New York with the vision of reviving the practice of small batch brewing to a region rich in brewing tradition. Following several expansions from 2009 through 2013 Southern Tier now ships over 100,000 barrels annually to 33 states to meet growing demand for Southern Tier’s diverse portfolio of innovative beers that embody the spirit of American craft brewing. In 2015 Southern Tier Distilling Company was formed to create innovative small batch spirits using unique local ingredients under a New York farm-distilling license.

STBC_phin_sara
Sara and Phin DeMink,

Patent No. 1017086A: Process Of Removing Alcohol From And Purifying Beer

February 13, 2016 By Jay Brooks

patent-logo
Today in 1912, US Patent 1017086 A was issued, an invention of Henry E. Deckebach, for his “Process of Removing Alcohol From and Purifying Beer.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:

The process of treating beer consisting of withdrawing it from the fermenting tub, passing heated, compressed air through it, carrying off the air, sending the beer a strainer, returning it from the strainer to the fermenting tub, and continuing the circulation until the beer has been lowered to the desired temperature.

US1017086-0

« Previous Page