For our 16th Session, our host, Thomas, from Geistbear Brewing Blog, has chosen the topic “beer festivals” for June, the month when beer festival season really heats up.

Don’t get me wrong, I still very much enjoy beer festivals. But they don’t hold the same charm they once did. When I was first learning about beer and when the craft beer movement was in its relative infancy, new discoveries could be made every day and at almost every beer festival. Admittedly, some might be better left hidden, but there was a real sense that you might turn up something spectacular. In fact, you expected that you would. I was recently in New Zealand, and their national craft beer movement is where we were then in many ways. I tasted a lot of different beers there, and quite a lot were — to be diplomatic — problematic. They only started an actual brewer’s guild two years ago — similar to our Brewer’s Association — and only recently took over the country’s biggest beer festival, Beer NZ, and are trying to create their own GABF-like event. I’d love to go back there in September and judge at the event, but I’m not sure yet if I can work out the details. Consumers there are only beginning to discover that beer can taste differently than they have been led to believe by the big industrial breweries, who like our own, have turned beer into an interchangeable industrial product.

I’ve had several conversations about this phenomenon with different people. Roughly twelve to fifteen (or more) years ago, at GABF, it was not uncommon to find a beer with problems or even a defective sample. Over the last decade, that’s become harder, much harder. It’s now very much the exception. And while I think it signals a maturity of the craft beer industry that the vast majority of breweries are making consistently good beer, in some ways I miss those more romantic early days. Please don’t misunderstand that. I don’t miss finding bad beer. That’s certainly not what I mean by romantic. But that sense of exploration and uncertainty made finding something wonderful that much sweeter.

These days, in my dotage, I prefer the smaller, more intimate festivals, especially ones that highlight a particular style. Those type of festivals provide wonderful opportunities to really compare beers of a similar style and learn more about them. That’s still quite exciting. You can do that at bigger festivals, too, of course. I’ve been doing that at GABF since the beginning. Pick a particular beer style and then walk around the hall (or wherever) and just order samples of only that style. It’s a great way to learn about a style, who makes it well, or what you like or dislike about it more generally.

The modern beer festival, which probably began with CAMRA’s Great British Beer Festival in the mid-1970s, is a far cry from the European harvest festivals and large scale trade fairs that were their likely progenitors. But they are probably the best tool we have to spread the word about great beer. Because in the end, words are meaningless compared to actually tasting the beer itself. So this summer, during the beer festival’s high season, try to invite as many non-craft beer drinker friends as you can to go with you to a festival. They might go kicking and screaming, but some day they might also thank you. If you can expose your friends to the lifelong experience of appreciating good beer, you know you will have improved their life and done them a great favor. Beer festivals provide the opportunity, all you have to do is provide your friends. See you there.

The proposed merger of U.S. operations between SAB Miller and Molson Coors has been approved by federal regulators after an eight-month investigation into possible anti-trust issues. In a statement released today, the U.S. Government said “the proposed joint venture between Miller and Coors is not likely to lessen competition substantially” and concluded that it “is likely to produce substantial and credible savings that will significantly reduce the companies’ costs of producing and distributing beer” instead. According to the Business Journal of Milwaukee, this was the last remaining “hurdle” necessary before the McMerger will take place, which more than likely will now occur in the next few weeks. The planned joint venture, which was revealed back in October of last year, would have Coors and Miller combine their operations in the United States (including Puerto Rico) “in an effort to better compete with dominant domestic brewer Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc.” The new entity will be known as MillerCoors, which is why I’m calling it the McMerger.

Each parent company will have a 50% voting interest but an economic interest of 58% for SAB Miller and 42% for Molson Coors, based on the assets contributed by each to the joint venture. Pete Coors will become the chairman and Leo Kiely, from Molson Coors will be CEO of MillerCoors. No word yet on how many employees of either company are likely to lose their jobs. Once completed, the “Big Three” will become the “Big Two.” A large brewery is generally defined as one which produces over 2-million barrels of beer annually. Currently, only four breweries meet that definition: Anheuser-Busch, Miller, Coors and Pabst. But as Pabst does not own a brewery and contracts to have all of its beer made elsewhere (primarily at Miller brewing facilities) they are generally no longer considered one of the big boys. The feds have declared the merger no big deal, but I’m not entirely convinced. We’ll see how it plays out, but I can’t help feeling a little uneasy about the prospects.

UPDATE: The Wall Street Journal has now weighed in with their thoughts:

The merger combines Miller Brewing Co. of Milwaukee, the second-largest U.S. brewer with about 18% market share, and Coors Brewing Co. of Golden, Colo., the No. 3 player with about 11% market share.

The companies aim to pare $500 million in costs over the first three years of the venture, in part through lower transportation costs derived from using each other’s breweries to make each other’s beers. As one company in the U.S., Miller and Coors will also have more leverage with retailers, which could help them garner more shelf space at bars and stores. Anheuser, based in St. Louis, controls nearly 50% of the U.S. beer market and boasts the nation’s top-selling beer, Bud Light.

Today’s L.A. Times had a nice write up of Charlie Bamforth and his advocacy of beer’s superiority over wine, typified by his most recent book, Grape vs. Grain.

Here is a chart of the latest style trends broken out by the top six selling styles, based on seventeen-month’s worth of sales as of May 18, 2008, courtesy of DBBB, the Domestic Brewers Bottled Brands. They publish the book, “The Essential Reference of Domestic Brewers and Their Bottled Brands” and have a website, which offers monthly online updates of the book.

The chart is based on IRI Data showing sales of beer from January 2007 through May 18th of this year by beer style. IRI is short for Information Resources, Inc., a company that surveys sales of beer (and everything else) from over 15,000 retailers (mostly groceries) in the U.S. As a result, their data is invariably skewed toward the national and regional brands since it doesn’t take into account direct sales and sales from small mom & pop stores. I used to get IRI data from almost every medium to large brewer who called on me when I was the beer buyer for BevMo. And while it’s not as accurate for craft beer in specific, it does give you a general idea of certain trends, especially when you follow it over a period of time.

Bruce Paton, the Beer Chef, has announced the next three beer dinners to be held at the Cathedral Hill Hotel.

1. Friday July 18: Bear Republic
2. Friday September 19: Moylan’s
3. Monday October 20: An educational evening of Beer and Cheese

Well, those all sound tasty. Menus should be coming shortly, at least for the next one, and I’ll post them as soon as they become available. See you there. Bring your appetite.

Sapporo Breweries is planning to brew a beer made from barley descended from seeds grown in space, specifically in the Russian section of the International Space Station two years ago. Sapporo claims the results will be the “world’s first ‘space beer,'” putting them at odds with an earlier claim that I wrote about last year by Microgravity Enterprises, albeit somewhat derisively. The Japanese company’s efforts do seem a bit closer to the mark than the other, at least in my opinion.

According to Reuters, Sapporo said in a statement. “By pursuing the infinite possibility that space has, we wish to present our customers with rich and enjoyable proposals to enjoy a new beer culture.” Sapporo will not sell the initial results, but instead will sample select consumers on the new space beer, which should be — ahem — launched this November. Working with Okayama University scientists, they will produce just over 166 gallons of beer (630 liters). I doubt anyone will be able to taste any difference, but I’d still like to be one of the lucky ones chosen to try it.

This Reuters video has a terrible sound problem so be prepared to mute it or lower the volume on your computer.

The F.X. Matt Brewery, makers of Saranac Brewing, caught on fire earlier today as “flames erupted” shortly after a music event at the brewery began. The area was evacuated because the fire appeared to be ammonia based, according to the AP story. According to later updates at Syracuse.com, it appears the blaze began in the building where packaging is done and most likely was the result of a problem with the machine that makes six-pack can plastic rings. That building is adjacent to the 100-year old brewhouse and the fire department is working to keep the fire from spreading to the historic building. Fred Matt, co-owner of the brewery, reportedly remarked that he’s uncertain whether or not the brewery will be capable of continuing bottling operations. At least two brewery employees were hospitalized for smoke inhalation.

Photo by William Cannon of the Associated Press, and there are many more photos of the fire at the Utica Observer-Dispatch website.

Home again, home again, jiggity-jig. As a result of seeming anomalies based on crossing the International Date Line, I’ve arrived back home today around seven hours before I left New Zealand last night, which was (or rather will be) really later today, at least for me. Anyway, regular posting will resume tomorrow and there will be more news on International Brewers Day shortly. Below is a shot from our beach house in New Zealand a few days before we left, right after a short rain.