Tuesday’s ad is for John Labatt Limited, from 1943. Apparently part of a wartime series, as this first one is marked “Famous Signals of the Royal Canadian Navy, No. 1.” Labatt directed a lot of its advertising during World War II toward extolling the virtues of the Canadian army and navy, and in this one they even promote “the Overseas League Tobacco Fund” to ensure soldiers won’t run out of cigarettes.
Today in 1959, US Patent 2906435 A was issued, an invention of Frank Nichols, for his “Air Pressure Actuated Beer Dispenser and Coil Cleaner.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
This invention relates to beer dispensing apparatus in which beer is on tap continuously, and in particular, beer dispensing apparatus where beer is supplied from kegs or other containers to cooling coils and taps by filtered air under pressure continuously and in which the coils are cleaned by a detergent suspended in water and wherein the moisture is removed by air under pressure.
The purpose of this invention is to provide beer dispensing apparatus in which all foreign tastes or flavors due to leakage of oil, gases, and the like into the system are eliminated.
I saw Sam only briefly at GABF last week, not long enough to have a conversation. He was finishing a panel talk on pilsners with Matt Brynildson and Vinnie Cilurzo, and I had the stage next, to announce the North Amercian Guild of Beer Writers awards. We shook hands, and hugged, and he was off to the next event. I wish I’d had more time, because he obviously had some news. Dogfish Head announced this morning that LNK Partners, a private equity firm based in New York, has bought a 15% stake in the craft brewery, and will also hold one of the five voting seats on Dogfish Head’s board.
In the Beer Street Journal, Sam told his employees and co-workers the news.
Today, I am excited to announce that Mariah and I added a new asset as external support to Dogfish Head – LNK Partners. You are likely thinking, who or what is that? Well, they are an incredibly smart and experienced group of people who have worked with companies of all sizes and styles like Levi’s, Performance Bicycle, Gatorade and Calvin Klein to help those guys achieve their goals in their respective industries. LNK is making an investment to own 15% percent of our company…
He also said he plans to eventually repurchase the shares from their private equity partner, but the cash infusion was necessary at this time to allow for Dogfish Head to continue on its growth path. They also recently finished a $50 million expansion, which was almost entirely financed with bank debt.
Brewbound has further details on the announcement.
Sam, Emily Sauter (from Two Roads Brewing) and me at Belmont Station during the Oregon Brewers Festival in Portland earlier this year.
The Craft Brew Alliance, or CBA — which includes RedHook, Widmer and Kona — announced today that “it has formed a strategic partnership with Cisco Brewers,” Nantucket Island’s only small brewery. The Massachusetts brewery will enter “into a master distribution agreement and alternating proprietorship” with CBA, which according to the press release, will give Cisco “access to CBA’s extensive sales and distribution network and New Hampshire brewery to support Cisco’s growth, and bring more of their coveted island-inspired craft beers to more consumers throughout the Northeast.” The press release is cagey in using “strategic partnership” and not acquisition, merger or a buyout. Money undoubtedly changed hands, but nothing was disclosed about the moneteary arrangements of the deal.
More from the press release:
Through the alternating proprietorship agreement, Cisco will not only leverage CBA’s state-of-the-art brewing facility in Portsmouth, N.H., but the two craft beer companies will also share a master brewer. CBA Lead Innovation Brewer Mark Valeriani will oversee production of Cisco beers at Cisco’s brewery on Nantucket, as well as CBA’s Portsmouth brewery, which is ideally located to support growing demand in the Northeast for distinctive craft beers with local relevance.
“This new partnership is exciting to us for several reasons,” said Andy Thomas, chief executive officer, CBA. “First, the team at Cisco has built an exceptional company with a deep connection to its local community and strong cultural values that mesh really well with CBA. Second, Cisco has already established a strong presence in the Northeast, which is an important market for us as we continue to expand the Alliance and leverage our East Coast footprint. And third, we see some terrific growth opportunities for both companies as we partner to bring more great brands and brews like Whale’s Tale and Grey Lady to more beer drinkers in the East.”
Cisco Brewers is one of the fastest-growing craft breweries in New England and has been featured by People Magazine, TripAdvisor, and the Huffington Post, among others, as a top destination on Nantucket. As demand for the brewery’s innovative beers continues to expand, the master distribution agreement with CBA will enable Cisco to increase distribution of its beers in chain and other retail accounts throughout its core markets in the Northeast. CBA will work with its network of wholesaler partners, as well as Cisco’s existing wholesalers, to bring the beers to market.
“Today, there are a lot of options for breweries that want to grow. Working with the team of people at CBA to craft this partnership has been extremely energizing,” said Cisco Brewers Chief Executive Officer Jay Harman. “Having a partner that knows how to manage a wholesale network and properly bring craft beer to market is just one of the reasons this partnership with CBA is so appealing. Anyone who has been to Cisco falls in love with the beer but also the mismatched handmade bar stools and carefree unbuttoned culture that makes us who we are. When it comes to sharing Cisco off the island, and the steep competition in New England and beyond – with a new brewery opening every 12 hours – our goal is to get good, fresh beer to market in a way that truly represents our brands and culture.”
Harman continued: “We evaluated several options when looking for ways to embark on the next stage in our journey, and after sitting around the kitchen table with Andy and his team, we realized we had found a partner who could not just help us grow, but who could also help us realize the full potential of what we started 20 years ago.”
The partnership with Cisco Brewers expands CBA’s family, which already includes one of the westernmost island breweries, Kona Brewing Company, with one of the easternmost island breweries in the United States. Cisco Brewers was founded 20 years ago on Nantucket Island, 25 miles off the coast of Cape Cod, and is best known for such island-inspired brews as Whale’s Tale Pale Ale, Grey Lady Ale, and Shark Tracker Light Lager, which benefits science and education programs for OCEARCH.
Today in 1885, US Patent 327099 A was issued, an invention of William Painter, for his “Bottle Stopper.” Painter patented a number of bottle-related items, but is undoubtedly best known for having invented the first crown bottle top. There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
My invention is particularly designed for use with bottles or similar vessels containing fluids under pressure from eft’ervescence or otherwise; but it is adapted as well for use where such pressure does not exist.
Stoppers have heretofore been made secure against internal pressure in one of two ways by using a tie-wire, also by special stopperriety; or by placing the stopper inside the bottle and so arranging it that the stopper is forced against a seat or packing by the pressure within. The first of these methods is objectionable because of the expense, and in some cases the inconvenience of its use and liability of accidental opening, The second is so for the same reasons, and for the outside of the bottle is an obstruction to ready and effectual cleansing both of the bottle and stopper. Stoppers secured by external fastenings are retained solely by the power of the device to overcome the internal pressure. Those within the bottle are retained because they present a solid mass too large to pass through the bottleneck. In neither case referred to does the lateral expansion of the stopper itself against the interior of the bottle mouth enter as an element of its action in resisting internal pressure, as it does with stoppers made according to my method.
My invention differs from all others in the respects named. It is made of thin material, and placed within the bottle. neck or mouthward, so that it presents the resistance of an inverted arch or dome having its haunches supported by contact with the walls of the bottle-mouth, which are preferably indented or grooved to afford a more secure hold. Pressure upon an arch is always transferred in part as lateral pressure against its abutment, while a similar pressure upon a solid body having the same convexity does not tend to I displace the abutment laterally, but to shear of the bottle neck and stopper off the edges of such solid body. This physical principle illustrates the actual difference between my cup-shaped disk-stoppers and all others with which I am acquainted.
The Brewers Association announced this morning that the American Beer Industry has hit another milestone: there are now over 4,000 active breweries in the U.S. It also appears likely that the previous high of 4,131, which was achieved in 1873, will likely be broken if not by the end of this year, then certainly sometime in 2016.
Here’s the press release from the BA’s economist, Bart Watson:
Much of the beer world’s attention in the past week was focused on the Great American Beer Festival. However, the week also brought another milestone in the resurgence of local American brewing, with the Brewers Association database passing 4,000 active breweries. Although precise numbers from the 19th century are difficult to confirm, this is almost certainly the first time the United States has crossed the 4,000 brewery barrier since the 1870s.
Van Wieren (1995) notes that the Internal Revenue Department counted 2,830 “ale and lager breweries in operation” in 1880, down from a high point of 4,131 in 1873. Given the strong pace of openings (approximately two openings/day with a net increase of 1.9/day factoring in closings), it is likely that later in 2015, or early in 2016, there will be more active breweries in the United States than at any point in our nation’s history. This is a remarkable achievement that would have been unthinkable in late 1970s, when the number of American breweries dipped below 100.
More recently, it seems only a short while ago that I was writing about passing the 3,000 brewery mark, and many of the same thoughts still apply: the continued return to a localization of beer production and the potential for future growth balanced by ever increasing competition and future challenges for breweries to differentiate themselves. I’ll also repeat what I said then:
“What it does not mean is that we’ve reached a saturation point. Most of the new entrants continue to be small and local, operating in neighborhoods or towns. What it means to be a brewery is shifting, back toward an era when breweries were largely local, and operated as a neighborhood bar or restaurant. How many neighborhoods in the country could still stand to gain from a high-quality brewpub or micro taproom? While a return to the per capita ratio of 1873 seems unlikely (that would mean more than 30,000 breweries), the resurgence of American brewing is far from over.”
The past 15+ months have borne out that statement as the map of U.S. brewing has continued to diversify. There are now breweries in more than 2,000 unique cities across all 50 states. At the same time, there are also nearly 1,000 cities with a population of more than 10,000 that don’t have a local brewery yet, and numerous neighborhoods in larger cities without a local brewpub or taproom. As America’s beer culture continues to deepen and spread, there are still ample opportunities for well-differentiated, high-quality entrants. So, to all the hard-working brewers/brewery staff that have made 4,000 breweries a reality, and to the next wave of innovative entrants to follow, cheers!
Today in 1981, US Patent 4291821 A was issued, an invention of James E. Nezworski, assigned to The Perlick Company, Inc., for his “Keg Tapping System Unit and Valve Interlock.” Here’s the Abstract:
In a keg tapping system, a keg unit in each keg has coaxial gas and liquid valves, and a tavern unit, detachably connectable to the keg unit, has a lever actuated plunger that is depressed to open the valves in the keg unit and to open a gas valve in the tavern unit. The keg unit has a well in its top in which the tavern unit is rotatably received and diametrically opposite lugs projecting into that well to cooperate with a flange on the tavern unit body in providing a bayonet connection between the units. Affixed to the lever on the tavern unit is an abutment carrier having abutment portions cooperable with said lugs. If the bayonet connection is not fully engaged, one abutment portion engages an upper surface on one of the lugs to prevent the lever from being swung down to its valve-open position; with the lever down, an abutment portion engages a lug to prevent rotation of the tavern unit to a position at which the bayonet connection is disengaged.
Monday’s ad is for Blatz, from 1939. A woman is delivering a tray of Blatz beer, and boy does he look happy. It’s another one of those magic beer bottles. Less than half the bottle has been emptied, but she’s filled the pilsner glasses. So either they’re six-ounce glasses or ginormous bottles. Maybe magic tricks are the way to a man’s heart.
Today in 1971, US Patent 3608790 A was issued, an invention of Mack S. Johnston, for his “Tapping Device For Beer Kegs and the Like.” There’s no Abstract, although in the description it includes this summary:
The present invention relates to a new improved tapping device for drawing fluids such as beer from containers such as beer kegs or barrels using a gas to drive the fluid from the container. Particularly, the present invention relates to a new improved tapping device usable with conventional beer kegs of the type having a 1% inch tapping opening and comprising a novel keg adapter for sealing and the keg opening, a unique coupler reliably attachable to the adapter at the dispensing establishment for dispensing beer, a new siphon tube configuration for the keg adapter whereby the keg may be substantially completely drained of beer notwithstanding its employment in high-pressure systems, and a novel beer shutoff valve for the coupler whereby flow of beer from the keg to the faucet can be shutoff at the keg.
On Saturday, September 26, the winners of the 34th Great American Beer Festival were announced. A record 6,647 beers were judged in 92 categories by 242 judges, of which I was again privileged to be one. I was on hand at the awards ceremony and thought I’d share the results again, this time along with some of the photographs I took during the awards.
Inside the back of the theater, about an hour before the award ceremony began.
Justin Crossley, from The Brewing Network, on stage getting ready to simulcast the awards.
After the theater filled up.
A partial panorama view of the theater.