Originally, Iron City Brewing (f.k.a. Pittsburgh Brewing) claimed they were only closing the canning line, but it appears the whole kit and kaboodle is leaving Pittsburgh for the greener pastures of Latrobe. That’s another big loss of a historic brewery, one that’s been around since 1861. The Pittsburgh City Paper has a long, interesting article on what’s going on, entitled Bitter Beer: The Loss of Iron City Has Left A Bad Aftertaste. Needless to say, it doesn’t look good.
Star Trek’s Engineering Deck Brewery
If you’re like me, you love what I call “brewery porn,” which is photos of brewing equipment either installed or by themselves. So when I watched the film reboot of Star Trek, I was convinced that portions of the movie — the engineering deck — were filmed inside a large brewery. Sitting in the darkened theater back in May, I remember thinking it looked a lot like Anheuser-Busch’s brewery in Fort Collins. But I forgot about it until last night, when I re-watched the film on DVD. It turns out I was half-right. It was filmed in a large Anheuser-Busch brewery, but it was the one in Van Nuys, California (which in retrospect makes sense, since it’s closer to Hollywood).
Reading over the Trekkie chatter about the movie, it appears that the decision to use the brewery as stand-in for the engineering deck was one of the least popular things about the new film. But perhaps what was most surprising was that, while to anyone reading the Bulletin or who’s been inside a brewery it was completely obvious, many people didn’t even realize what it was. But if you did know, it was a bit jarring and made it more difficult — as critics charged — to continue the suspension of belief necessary to get lost in the story. One common criticism I didn’t agree with was that while the rest of the ship was all shiny and new looking, the engineering deck (brewery) looked dark and dingy. But remembering the tours of cruise and military ships I’ve been on, that’s the way it often is. The places for the passengers are decorated for comfort and are appealing to the eye while in the places where it’s just for the employees, such niceties are ignored and decorated merely for convenience and functionality. Below are a few screencaps and other photos from the film inside the Anheuser-Busch brewery in Van Nuys. Being a Star Trek fan since I was a kid, I still liked the film and would recommend it on its own merits. Despite certain anomalies and inconsistencies, it was still entertaining and enjoyable to watch. Except, of course, for the brewery.
Nuclear symbols were painted on the fermenters to make them look more reactor-like.
A screen cap from the film inside the brewery in Van Nuys.
Another screen cap, this one after the characters Captain Kirk and Scotty beam back aboard the Enterprise.
Director JJ Abrams (in the foreground) directing Star Trek inside the A-B brewery.
In this view, similar to the first one, you can see the flying camera used, and developed by J. Patrick Daily.
Beer In Ads #6: Biere d’Alsace
The artist for today’s ad was born in the Alsace, in 1873, in what is today part of France. But two years before he was born, it belonged to the German Empire, who had annexed it after the Franco-Prussian War that began in 1870. Why is that relevant? Because Jean-Jacques Waltz, better known as “Hansi,” grew up hating the Germans and early in his career drew editorial cartoons poking fun at them. This won him few friends in Germany and in fact he even spent time in jail, “imprisoned several times by German authorities for making fun of the German military and professors.” In addition to putting down his captors, he wrote and drew scenes extolling Alsace’s virtues. One of his most famous works was a history of Alsace for kids by “Uncle Hansi,” L’Historie d’Alssace. The ad today features a girl in the traditional costume of the Alsace, and in fact it shows up in a number of Hansi’s works. I’m not sure if the illustration is advertising for a specific brewery of just beer from the Alsace generally. There is a brewery in Luttenbach (near the border between France in Germany in the Alsace) today known as Les Caves de la Brasserie. The date in the star, 1648, seems to suggest an older brewery, one that perhaps is no longer with us.
Pubs Becoming Hubs?
My friend and colleague, Pete Brown, who wrote Hops and Glory, tweeted this interesting editorial that ran on today’s Guardian Online, entitled Are Pubs Finally Becoming Hubs?. Definitely worth a read.
The Homebrew Chef’s Toronado Bars
The morning after the Monk’s Blood Beer Dinner, Sean Paxton delivered a tray of his newest confectionery concoction, Toronado Bars, to the CSBA meeting that began Tuesday morning at Russian River Brewing.
All I know about them is they’re cake cookies that pay homage to the iconic San Francisco beer bar and they included cherries soaked in Russian River’s Consecration. Natalie even opened a few bottles of Consecration to pair with them. You’ll have to wait until the December issue of Beer Advocate magazine to get the full story (and the recipe). I can tell you they were incredibly delicious.
Monk’s Blood Dinner
Monday night a beer dinner was held at the 21st Amendment Brewery & Restaurant in San Francisco to celebrate the release of their newest beer in a can, Monk’s Blood, the first in a new series they’ve dubbed the “Insurrection Series.” The cans themselves will be out in four-packs in about two weeks. Here’s what they’ll look like:
The text around the can reads as follows (thanks to the beer sage for transcribing it, and most importantly, saving me from having to do it):
Legend has it that in the evenings, the monks would retire to their chambers & settle in with a few passages from the Good Book. But Brothers Nicolas and O’Sullivan [21st Amendment partners] had other plans. Working in the brewhouse all day, they were forced to repeat the same old recipes the elder monks had invented years before. They needed a little diversion. And found it in the cellar of the monastery with a fresh twist they put on the beer and the way they enjoyed it. Brother Nicolas (or Nico to his close friend) brought some hand-rolled cigars. O’Sullivan, the outspoken one, broke the vow of silence by spinning a remix of some Gregorian chants. Together, they’d throw down a couple nice hands of Texas Hold’Em and savor the handcrafted brew they created in secrecy. Everyday was good. Or so it seemed. But deep in his heart, Nico knew they were drifting into the ‘dark side’ of beer. Next thing you know they’d be skipping Lent. Then on night they’d face the Judgment for their actions with a hard knock at the door. Outside, the Abbots and elders would be holding stone in the air. A threat the brothers were sure would lead to the spilling of Monk’s Blood.
From the press release:
Monk’s Blood pays homage to the monks of Belgium’s monasteries who have been brewing some of the world’s great beer for centuries. During times of fasting, the monks subsist solely on beer, which they refer to as “liquid bread”. Beer, quite literally, is in their blood. The most sublime of the monk’s premium brews is dark like blood, rich and nourishing.
21st Amendment founders Nico Freccia and Shaun O’Sullivan traveled to Belgium to develop the recipe for this special beer, visiting small, traditional breweries in the hop fields of west Flanders, not far from the famous Trappist abbey of Westvletren. Monk’s Blood is designed to pair beautifully with rich winter stews, creamy cheeses, unctuous desserts or just by itself, in a Belgian tulip glass, with a good book by the fire.
The beer itself is a strong, dark Belgian-style beer that’s 8.3% abv. It’s 34 IBUs, using Centennial, Magnum and Amarillo hops. In addition to the eight malts (including Special B and oats), an Abbey ale yeast, it is flavored with dark Belgian candi sugar, cinnamon, vanilla beans, and dried black Mission Figs. Then it’s aged on oak. The result is a complex, delicious beer with a sweet nose consisting of a melange of aromas. The flavors, too, are complex with caramel and candy sweetness balanced by American hop character that works surprisingly well. The finish is long and sweet.
The Homebrew Chef, Sean Paxton, relaxing with some Monk’s Blood after the end of the beer dinner.
Sean Z. Paxton, put on the five-course dinner using all of the Belgian-style 21st Amendment beers from the BRU/SFO Project that’s going on all month at 21A and Magnolia. To see the meal and the beers poured at the dinner, see the photo gallery below.
My favorite part of the dinner was the frites, of course, and while most table shared a basket or two of them, because Sean knows my love of frites, I got my own basket of frites. (Photo by Jesse Friedman. To see his account of the dinner, see his Beer & Nosh post.)
Here is a slideshow of the Monk’s Blood Beer Dinner. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.
Want A Healthier Heart? Drink More Beer!
This has got to drive the anti-alcohol lobby nuts, and especially their medical co-conspirators who continue to insist that a binge drinker is simply someone who drinks five or more drinks in one session. The UK newspaper, The Independent, had an interesting article today, provocatively titled “Drink half a dozen beers every day and have a healthier heart: Teetotallers more likely to have heart attack than drinkers, study shows.”
According to the article, “Drinking a bottle of wine a day, or half a dozen beers, cuts the risk of heart disease by more than half in men, it has been shown.” That’s based on a study just published in the medical journal Health entitled Alcohol intake and the Risk of coronary heart disease in the Spanish EPIC cohort study.
In the Abstract:
Background
The association between alcohol consumption and Coronary Heart Disease (CHD) has been broadly studied. Most studies conclude that moderate alcohol intake reduces the risk of CHD. There are many discussions on whether the association is causal or biased. The objective is to analyse the association between alcohol intake and risk of CHD in the Spanish cohort of the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer (EPIC).Methods
Participants from the EPIC Spanish cohort were included (15,630 men and 25,808 women). The median follow up period was 10 years. Ethanol intake was calculated using a validated dietary history questionnaire. Participants with a definite CHD event were considered cases. A Cox regression model was performed adjusted for relevant covariables and stratified by age. Separate models were carried out for men and women.Results
Crude incidence rate of CHD was 300.6/100,000 person-years for men and 47.9/100, 000 person-years for women. Moderate, high and very high consumption was associated with a reduce risk of CHD in men: HR 0.86 (95% CI= 0.54-1.38) for former drinkers, 0.64 (95% CI= 0.4-1.0) for low, 0.47 (95% CI= 0.31-0.73) for moderate, 0.45 (95% CI= 0.29-0.69) for high and 0.49 (95% CI= 0.28-0.86) for very high consumers. In women a negative association was found with p values above 0.05 in all categories.Conclusions
In men aged 29-69 years, alcohol intake was associated with a more than 30% lower CHD incidence. Our study is based on a large prospective cohort study and is free of the abstainer error.
The Independent distills it in clearer language:
In one of the largest studies of the link between alcohol and heart disease, researchers have found that the protective effects of a daily tipple are not limited to those who drink moderately but also extend to those who consume at what are conventionally considered to be dangerously high levels.
The research was conducted among 15,000 men and 26,000 women aged from 29 to 69 who were followed for 10 years.
The results showed that those who drank a little — a glass of wine or a bottle of beer every other day — had a 35 per cent lower risk of a heart attack than those who never drank. Moderate drinkers, consuming up to a couple of glasses of wine a day or a couple of pints of ordinary bitter, had a 54 per cent lower risk.
The surprise was that heavy drinkers consuming up to a bottle of wine or six pints of ordinary bitter had a similar 50 per cent reduction in risk of a heart attack to moderate drinkers. Those drinking at even higher levels were still half as likely to suffer a heart attack as the teetotallers.
Larraitz Arriola, who led the study, said alcohol caused 1.8 million deaths a year around the world and 55,000 deaths among young people under 30 in Europe alone. “The first thing to say about our research is that alcohol is very harmful. If you drink heavily, you should drink moderately. The more you drink, the worse off you will be.” The researchers only looked at the effect of alcohol on the heart and confirmed what 30 years of studies have shown — that it is protective. The effect was independent of the form in which the alcohol was taken, as beer, wine or spirits. However, people who only drank wine had slightly less protection.
Not surprisingly, British “scientists” are calling the results “flawed,” most likely because it flies in the face of their politically-motivated advice and the ridiculous (and recently revealed to be completely arbitrary) “units of alcohol” that set the nation’s alcohol policy for over twenty years. In a BBC article, they’re still treating the guidelines as if they mean something, which is almost funny.
In May of 2006, Danish study that also found healthy heart benefits for alcohol drinkers, though in that study they concluded that drinking levels above moderate would not increase benefits. This new Spanish study appears to conclude otherwise. In every article I’ve seen on this study, everyone is scrambling to make sure to tell people not to go out and start drinking more, due to other risks from heavy drinking. I’d say anyone that suddenly started binging based on this study probably deserves whatever ill effects they experience. But seriously, do health professionals really believe people are that stupid? I’m sure there are a few stupid enough (P.T. Barnum had it right) but it’s more likely they were already unhealthy drinkers just looking for an excuse.
What I take away from this is simply that the arbitrary and self-serving definitions of binge drinking are not only wrong, but very, very wrong. I attend beer dinners all the time, drinking an average of four, five or six different beers (and sometimes more) over several hours, paired with several courses. These dinners cost $50, $75, $100 (and sometimes more). They are attended by people who can afford that, people with good jobs, professionals, people with families, upstanding members of their communities. Yet in the U.S., the CDC claims if you have “five or more drinks in a row,” you’re an unhealthy binge drinker, endangering your own life, and possibly those around you. That makes every one of the people at all the beer dinners I attend, binge drinkers, and, to some in the anti-alcohol movement, automatic alcoholics, too. Could any standard be farther from reality?
Despite all the warnings of binge drinking, it appears by defining it in a way that’s so far removed from ordinary experience, that it actually makes it completely meaningless. Certainly there are people who drink too much and put their health at risk. But lumping them together with those who occasionally drink “five or more drinks in a row” safely and without sinking into alcoholism, the problems of the people who really need help never get addressed. All it does is give the AnAl’s more ammunition to scare people with, and few media outlets ever call them on it. After all, it has the stamp of a government agency. But we all know it’s not accurate by any stretch of the imagination to call the average beer dinner attendee a binge drinker. At least now we know their heart will get a boost. In the end, I think the best advice is “everything in moderation … including moderation.”
Breweries Have 5th-Most Satisfied Customers
According to a new survey, released yesterday by the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (and tweeted my way by Anat Baron — thanks!), Breweries ranked 5th in overall satisfaction by consumers among industries polled by the group. Here are the first five with their score in parentheses (out of 100):
- Personal Care & Cleaning Products (85)
- Soft Drinks (85)
- Full Service Restaurants (84)
- Automobiles & Light Vehicles (84)
- Breweries (84)
For breweries, this is the highest marks they’ve received since this poll began, and represents a 1.2% increase over last year.
As reported by Brand Week, comfort foods like candy and beer continued to do well.
Beer manufacturers reached their highest level to date with a score of 84 (out of a 100-point scale) to mark a 1.2 percent change from 2008 rankings. Top companies included Anheuser-Busch InBev (85) and SABMiller (83), which grew 3.7 percent and 1.2 percent respectively from last year. Molson Coors Brewing (81) dipped by 2.4 percent, while “all others” maintained their rank at 83.
The ACSI had their own take on beer in their analysis:
Beer: A Comfort Drink?
Beer drinker satisfaction has soared to an all-time high in ACSI. It too seems to follow the pattern of chocolate and sweets, but perhaps a bit less pronounced. The industry improved 1.2% to an ACSI score of 84, led by a 4% climb for Anheuser-Busch to a score of 85. Just a year after it was acquired by the Belgian-Brazilian conglomerate InBev, Anheuser-Busch matched its biggest ever single-year gain to reach its highest level ever. InBev has made a number of changes in business strategy—it sold the ten theme parks owned by Anheuser-Busch to reduce debt and focus on core business, cut over 1,000 employees, and overhauled management. The company has seen increased sales of lower-priced brands such as Natural Light and Busch and of newer products such as Bud Light Lime and Golden Wheat varieties.
Results for Miller and Coors brands, which market under a joint operating agreement, were mixed. Miller improved slightly, up 1% to 83, while Coors dropped 2% to 81, falling to the bottom of the industry. The Coors brand portfolio is composed of a greater proportion of high-end entities and more high-priced brands compared with Anheuser-Busch. In the midst of an economic downturn, customers typically look more to value for money. Coors drinkers report a sharp decline in value for money.
The ACSI also noted a pattern during economic downturns:
“The same thing happened in 2001 in the midst of the previous recession and also in 2004 when concern over the Iraq war and rising fuel prices appeared to be reflected in higher satisfaction with comfort foods,” said Professor Claes Fornell, founder of the ACSI and author of The Satisfied Customer, in a statement.
Newspapers and Cable/Satellite TV tied for last, though Airlines were a close second-to-last.
First Bay Area Holiday Fest A Good Start
Last Sunday, my old company, Beverages & more, where once upon a time I was the beer buyer for almost five years, hosted the first holiday beer fest in the Bay Area. Dubbed the BevMo Holiday Beerfest, it was organized by local beer festival promoter Jeff Moses, who also does the Monterey Beer Festival, among others. It was held at the Herbst Pavilion at Fort Mason in San Francisco.
It was a good space and they wisely used only a portion of the hall so it wasn’t too large inside. I’ve long thought San Francisco needs a holiday beer festival, Pacific Coast Brewing’s holiday tasting notwithstanding. Winter and Christmas beers are some of my favorite seasonals because brewers tend to really be creative with them. Plus, I like spice beer more than most.
I’d guess only about one-third of the beers there were in fact winter seasonals or holiday beers, but still, it was a good start. Unlike many festivals, beer from abroad was also served, which allowed a greater range of beers to be available. I think this could, over time, develop into a great annual festival, especially if the focus on holiday beers increases. Organizer Jeff Moses only had a few weeks to put this year’s festival together, so I expect next year’s to be even grander (no pressure, Jeff). Naturally, I couldn’t try everything there, but of what I did have, here are a few stand-outs:
- Anchor Christmas Ale 2009: The last few years have not seen the roller coaster flavor changes of the late 1990s, more’s the pity. But it’s as solid as ever and still one of my all-time favorite holiday beers and one of my go-to beers for Thanksgiving.
- Anderson Valley Winter Solstice: For years, this beer has been too vanilla-forward for my tastes, but this year they’ve got the balance just right, with just a delicious hint of the vanilla.
- Ayinger Weizen Bock: A great mix of wheat character and the dark, malt strength of a bock.
- Grand Teton Pursuit of Hoppiness Double Red Ale: A terrific big, hoppy beer; one of two great double reds at the festival.
- Lhasa Beer: A clean pilsner brewed in Tibet. Despite the politics surrounding the beer, it tastes pretty decent.
- Mad River John Barleycorn Barleywine Style Ale: Another beer that continues to improve. The last few years, this beer has been fantastic, and this year’s edition is no exception.
- Ninkasi Believer Double Red: Not yet in the Bay Area, but soon, I’m told. Keep an eye out for this, and their entire line. If you love hoppy beers, Eugene, Oregon’s Ninkasi Brewery will quickly become one of your favorites. Brewmaster Jamie Floyd has a deft hand with big, hoppy beers. The Double Red is a terrific hop monster with great balance.
- Okocim Polish Porter: I haven’t tasted this porter in a few years, and it’s even better than I remember. A really nice example.
- Uncommon Brewers Rubidus Red Ale: A beer brewed with mushrooms that nicely captures the savory flavors of Candy Cap mushrooms balanced by the addition of maple sugar.
Here is a slideshow of the BevMo Holiday Beerfest. This Flickr gallery is best viewed in full screen. To view it that way, after clicking on the arrow in the center to start the slideshow, click on the button on the bottom right with the four arrows pointing outward on it, to see the photos in glorious full screen. Once in full screen slideshow mode, click on “Show Info” to identify each photo.
Top Ten Tuesday: Top 10 New Breweries
I recently came upon another interesting group of Top 10 lists by Newsweek about the first decade of the 21st century. It’s called The Decade in Rewind 20/10 and one part of their look back at the aughts includes a new Top 10 list every day. The list that caught my eye was an interesting one, Unknown in ’99, Indispensable Now which picked 10 things that we can’t do without in 2009 but didn’t exist ten years ago. Some things take years to catch on, but these caught on like wildfire. I use over half of them all the time, and couldn’t imagine life without them. Here’s that list:
- Wikipedia
- YouTube
- iTunes
- Digital Video Recorder (DVR)
- Gardasil
- Chipotle
- TMZ
- Red Bull
- Free Credit Reports
- Online Airline Check-In
So it got me thinking about the breweries that have been around for less than ten years. With Sierra Nevada coming up on their 30th anniversary, a growing number of successful breweries are older than a decade, in some cases two decades. But many new breweries have seen a phenomenal amount of success in a relatively short time. Undoubtedly, the market has changed considerably from where it was pre-millennium and that probably accounts for more favorable conditions for new craft brewers. But alone that’s not enough to account for it all. Some of these new breweries just stepped up and kicked butt. So for my 20th Top 10 list, here are my choices for the ten most important and influential breweries that began within the last ten years. These are the young Turks, the mavericks and the rookies. Some are here because they make great beer while others have made their mark through their influence. I should stress I don’t think I have a complete list of every brewery that’s opened since 1999. Also, I didn’t include new locations opened by an older, existing brewery, or ones that moved. And I certainly haven’t been to all of them at any rate. So undoubtedly I’m going to miss some worthy places, but I can only pick ten. Let me know who you’d put on the list. Here’s List #20:
Top 10 New Breweries
| Ninkasi Brewing (OR; 2006) | |
| The Bruery (CA; 2008) | |
| Pretty Things Beer & Ale Project (MA; 2008) | |
| 21st Amendment Brewery (CA; 2000) | |
| Surly Brewing (MN; 2006) | |
| Southern Tier (NY; 2003) | |
| Captain Lawrence (NY; 2006) | |
| Tie: Laurelwood Public House & Brewery (OR; 2001) / Hopworks Urban Brewery (OR; 2008) | |
| Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales (MI; 2004) | |
| The Lost Abbey (CA; 2006) |
It was, as always, really difficult to keep the list to ten, and a great many terrific and deserving breweries were left on the cutting room floor. Here’s a few more that almost made the list:
Alpine Beer Co. (CA; 2006); Bard’s Tale (NY; 2004); City Brewing (WI; 1999); Fifty Fifty Brewing (CA; 2007); Five Seasons Brewing (GA; 2000); Heavyweight Brewing (NJ; 1999); Moon River (GA; 1999); Natty Greene’s (NC; 2004); Nebraska Brewing (NE; 2007); Piece Brewing (IL; 2001); Pisgah Brewing (NC; 2005); Roots Organic Brewery (OR; 2005); Short’s Brewing (MI; 2004); Trumer Brauerei (CA; 2003)
Let me know your favorites, and if there are any that you think should have made the list, please post a comment.
NOTE: It’s a little sad that I have to mention this, but while I encourage a lively debate, that doesn’t mean I enjoy being insulted or attacked. This is meant to be fun and encourage discussion — notice the “Just For Fun” tag? Please stop reminding me it’s “just” opinion. Of course it is. Are you under the impression that I think this list is somehow definitive? Just to clear it up, it’s not. I know it. If you’d read the introduction, which apparently many people did not, you’d know it too. It’s the very definition of subjectivity. But please try to remember, as you type those angry words, that even though you can’t see me, I am a real human being. Honest, I exist. Before you hit send, ask yourself if you’d say the things you’re writing to a person who was standing right in front of you, having a conversation. If not, please take a breath, calm down, and try again. I’ve deleted the worst offenders because, oddly enough, I don’t enjoy being on the receiving end of vituperation any more than you probably do. Let’s try to keep it civil, people. Okay?
Also, if you have any ideas for future Top 10 lists you’d like to see, drop me a line.