MSNBC had an article last week on the increased costs of hops and barley, and what that’s doing to Rising Beer Prices. There’s nothing particularly illuminating or novel about the piece, apart from the video, which was shot at both Los Gatos Brewing and the Tied House, both in the San Jose area.
Last week Miller’s Brew Blog revealed that Costco was brewing up three private label beers under the Kirkland private label brand name. Today they’re reporting a fourth one, this time a German Lager. So the news for smaller brands in Costco stores is even more grim. As I opined last week, these Costco Beers will more than likely displace existing beer skus.
The German Style Lager label.
The back label tells the tale.
NOTE: Noble Beer News has posted all four of the labels if anyone is keen to see them. I knew all the illustrations on the labels would have something to do with brewing, but curiously the Amber Ale drawing is of Weyermann Specialty Malts, a malthouse in Bamberg that I visited in November. I wonder if owners Thomas and Sabine are aware of that?
This is part two in my two-part series of goofy YouTube videos about beer I’ve stumbled upon. This one uses stop-motion, a cheap but time-consuming way to make an animated film. If you haven’t guessed by now, among my many other idiosyncratic passions, is animation. I fell in love with cartoons and all things animated at an early age and never really stopped. My favorites are Rocky & Bullwinkle (I even tried to name my son Bullwinkle, but my wife vetoed that one), the old black and white Max Fleischer Popeyes, anything by Tex Avery and more recently, Wallace & Gromit. Anyway, this one isn’t high quality, animation-wise, but it is a little humorous and the idea has potential. Enjoy.
Continuing my recent posts about beer and chocolate, my good friend and colleague, Stephen Beaumont, in his monthly feature for February, also tackles pairing the two. He nicely takes to task fellow Canadian wine writer Natalie MacLean, for her own list of wines to pair with Valentine’s Day treats. Beaumont takes her list of ten chocolate desserts and suggests some delightful sounding matches. Since her original wine pairings came from an e-mailed newsletter, I don’t know what wines she chose for the desserts (NOTE: Ms. MacLean has been kind enough to post those wine pairings in a comment, to see them please click on “Comments” below), but they can’t have been anywhere near as perfect as the beer. It will be certainly interesting to see if MacLean takes the bait and agrees to a side-by-side tasting of both.
A custom label maker has on their website a map of the United States with a beer label for each state. For instance, California is Firestone Walker and Oregon is Full Sail. How many can you name? Some are hard to see and some are obscure choices, but it was a fun exercise. Visit etiquette systems for a list of the answers by state or a flash version of the map.
You’ve probably heard this song before. I know I have. It’s been around for a while now, attributed to everybody from Weird Al Yankovic to They Might Be Giants, though I’m still not entirely sure who actually performs it. It’s only mildly amusing, in a baser sort of way, but the video here really makes it. Whoever edited this together did a great job of matching the song to various snippets from Japanese anime. That’s what makes it funny, at least in my opinion. Enjoy.
Wow, it’s hard to believe this is our twelfth Session or that a full year has gone by since we began this delicious odyssey. Our host this time around, Jon Abernathy, of The Brew Site, has chosen one of my favorite beer styles, and a most appropriate one for the season: Barley Wine. I was fortunate enough last year to judge both a preliminary round and the finals for Barley Wine at the Great American Beer Festival, along with Rich Norgrove, from Bear Republic, and George Reisch, brewmaster at Anheuser-Busch, among others. We had some very lively and engaging discussions about the style guidelines. It was a most enjoyable and satisfying way to spend an afternoon.
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The earliest Barley Wines were not well defined, but were simply the strongest beers a brewery made, usually using the first mash runnings. They were originally called by names like first sort, malt wine and malt liquor to indicate both their relative strength and their distinctiveness as compared to grape wine, and later as old ale, stock ale or simply strong ale. Other names have been used, and in some cases continue to used occasionally, such as stingo, wee heavy and even winter ale. It wasn’t until the early part of the 20th century that the name Barley Wine began to take hold. One of the earliest, and perhaps most famous, was Bass No. 1, which was labeled Barley Wine beginning in 1903, according to most accounts. The first Barley Wine I can recall enjoying was a bottle of 1977 Thomas Hardy, which I drank while still living in New York around 1979 or 80. It was at that time as different as anything I’d ever let pass through my lips. But it wasn’t until relocating from North Carolina to California in the mid-1980s that I had another example. |
Naturally, our paternalistic government can’t chance us being too stupid to know the difference between a beer and a wine, though why that would be such a horror I can’t fathom. For that reason, the TTB prohibits not only mixing beer and wine but even a label that might confuse the average citizen, who apparently they believe is an idiot. Thus it is in the U.S. that Barley Wine is almost always referred to as the cumbersome barleywine-style ale. In America, over fifty brewers currently bottle a version of Barley Wine, and undoubtedly many more make only a draft interpretation.
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Anchor’s Old Foghorn was the first Barley Wine in America, at least after Prohibition. It was first brewed in 1975, and first appeared in bottles the following year. And while it’s essentially an English-style Barley Wine, the only hops used are our native citrusy Cascades, making it one of the most successful single-hop beers. It’s also well-hopped, for an English-style, at around 65 IBUs. Cascades are also used for dry-hopping. Anchor ages it for at least nine-months (and as long as eighteen), and thereafter put it in 7 oz. bottles — at least until 2005 when they changed it to a 12 oz. size. The beer is quite lively when poured into a glass, and the effervescence is very evident as the tan head builds before your eyes. The colors I saw were copper with beautiful streaks of a deep ruby red. My three-year old daughter, Alice, looked at me quizzically as I held the glass up to the light. So I invited her to tell me what colors she saw. Alice saw oranges and pink. The nose was sweet and malty with just a touch of lemon citrus aromas fighting their way to the surface. There was also some earthy and raisin aromas too. The initial sensation is one of dancing bubbles on the tongue, as the effervescence continues into the taste. The flavors of malty sweetness dominate, especially in the foretaste, but then playful hops cut in mid-taste making the overall character surprisingly mild. The finish lingers long as a warming sensation with sweet malt remaining after the hops have left the dance early. It improves as it warms as more and more of the flavors are released from cold storage. Despite years of more extreme examples, Anchor’s delicate flavors and balance make this still one of the finest American-made Barley Wines. It’s just a delight from start to finish. I just love the complexity and diversity that this style exhibits. No two taste exactly alike, and therein, at least for me, lies their charm. The Toronado Barleywine Festival is just two weeks away, and I can’t wait to taste this year’s crop. I’m also planning a trip to Seattle in mid-March for the Hard Liver Barleywine Festival at Brouwer’s. This should be a fun late winter. |
Today, the Wall Street Journal let the cat out of the bag that despite rumors to the contrary, Anheuser-Busch and InBev have indeed met to discuss a possible merger, and that such a merger could conceivably take place this year. In the article, Anheuser-Busch Dances With InBev, states that “InBev and Anheuser already have held discussions, say people in the industry familiar with both brewers’ thinking. Although reports of the talks surfaced as long as a year ago, they have become more serious, and a deal is possible this year, people in the industry say.” They further note that, as became clear last month, much of A-B’s growth in 2007 came from their imports, including those that came from their deal last year with InBev. But some analysts believe shareholders may not be so quick to jump on the bandwagon, because the huge cost of such a merger would dampen a big rise in the share price, perhaps netting no more than a 10% bump initially. But worldwide, there’s very little market overlap between the two, which from an operations stand point makes the two a good fit. Although the Journal also notes — as have other insiders — A-B has every incentive to delay such a merger for as long as possible in the hopes of resuscitating sales of their flagship brands. This would raise A-B’s stock price, possibly dramatically. Need another reason to wait? A-B currently owns 50% of Grupo Modelo, the makers of Corona, but they have no control. That may change, however, as some believe an opportunity is coming whereby A-B could buy a controlling interest in the maker of America’s most popular import brand.
Based on that information, Bloomberg News this morning promptly reported that InBev’s stock shot up in their native Brussels as did A-B’s stock price here, as well. Both InBev and A-B have declined to comment.
From Bloomberg News:
A merger of the two biggest beermakers by sales would make sense because they dominate different parts of the world, analysts say. It also would help them to stay in the lead as SABMiller Plc and Molson Coors Brewing Co. combine their U.S. units to compete more effectively in the country and Carlsberg A/S steps up its growth by taking over Scottish & Newcastle Plc with Heineken NV.
“From a strategic and geographical point of view, it would be a good move,” Wim Hoste, an analyst at KBC Securities in Brussels, said by telephone. “They have hardly any geographical overlaps, and merger news might be contagious.”
I can’t say I’m surprised as this has been fodder for the rumor mill for well over a year now. At this point I think I’d more shocked if it didn’t happen eventually, but now sooner seems more likely than later.
One bit of levity in all this. DealBreaker.com, which bills itself as “a Wall Street Tabloid,” in a piece entitled One Brewer To Rule Them All, suggests a new name for the merged behemoth: InBusch.
My good friend and colleague, Lisa Morrison, has another fine piece on beer and chocolate in syndication today. I ran across it locally on KTVU Channel 2. It’s called Chocolate, Beer Make Dynamic Duo: Flavors In Beer Take Chocolate To New Heights. After detailing how wine is a bust, while beer and chocolate are a match made in heaven, she offers several suggested pairings. Ah, February. Beer and chocolate. What’s not to love.
Earlier this week, I posted an advertising analysis of Super Bowl commercials and how effective Anheuser-Busch has been in creating or maintaining brand awareness. If you just can’t wait until super Sunday, the Associated Press has a montage video online of several of the spots that A-B will be airing during the big game. There are also almost a dozen other ad previews you can watch, as well.
UPDATE: Chris Thilk, from the MWW Group (the ad agency that created the A-B commercials), was kind enough to send me individual YouTube links to each of the teaser ads.