Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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ABI Buys 10 Barrel

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ABI 10-barrel
This caught me by surprise. Anheuser-Busch InBev announced today that it is buying 10 Barrel Brewing, the award-winning brewpub located in Bend, Oregon. 10 Barrel is the brewery that Tonya Cornett, formerly of Bend Brewing, moved to a couple of years ago.

From the press release:

“For the past eight years, we’ve been brewing beer, drinking beer and having fun doing it.” said co-founder Jeremy Cox, who will continue to lead 10 Barrel along with his partners, co-founder and brother Chris Cox, and Garrett Wales. “We are excited to stay focused on brewing cool beers, get our beers in more hands, and make the most of the operational and distribution expertise of Anheuser-Busch,” said Cox.

10 Barrel expects to sell approximately 40,000 barrels of beer in 2014. Apocalypse IPA, the brewer’s most popular beer, accounts for nearly half of the company’s total volume.

“10 Barrel, its brewers, and their high-quality beers are an exciting addition to our high-end portfolio,” said Andy Goeler, CEO, Craft, Anheuser-Busch. “The brewery is a major contender in the Northwest, an area with a large number of craft breweries. We see tremendous value in the brewery’s unique offerings and differentiated style, which 10 Barrel fans know and love.”

In addition to the Bend brewery, the acquisition will include the company’s existing brewpubs in Bend and Boise, Idaho; and a Portland brewpub scheduled to open in early 2015.

The deal should close by the end of the year, though the terms or price have not been disclosed.

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The founders of 10 Barrel also posted a short video explaining their decision and, perhaps more importantly, asking people to give them the benefit of the doubt before rushing to judgment and “let the beer do the talking.”

CCBA Celebrates 25 Years

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This year the California Craft Brewers Association (CCBA) celebrates its 25th anniversary, and they just concluded a two-day conference in Santa Rosa. I missed the first day (traveling home from Belgium) but gave a talk yesterday morning on the history of craft beer in California. But the highlight of day two was a panel discussion with three craft beer pioneers, John Martin (Triple Rock), Ken Grossman (Sierra Nevada) and Fritz Maytag (Anchor), moderated by Vinnie Cilurzo (Russian River).

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The trio spoke for around an hour, then the audience asked a few questions. I captured the main part of the talk (not the Q&A) in two parts (due to limitations of my camera) which you can watch below. There’s a short gap in between the two videos, only a few seconds. It’s a fun and fascinating talk. Enjoy.

And here’s Pt. 2.

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After the talk, John Martin, CCBA executive director Tom McCormick, Vinnie Cilurzo, Fritz Maytag and Ken Grossman.

Beer In Ads #1363: Finest Beer Served … Anywhere!

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Monday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1950. This is from a series of billboard ads from around the same time I stumbled upon, though I’m sure the originals in color are more spectacular, though in case I’m a little glad it’s in black and white. In this ad for Pabst, they’re advertising with two lads — bellhops? — a beer on a silver tray, with the tagline “finest beer served … anywhere!”

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Beer In Ads #1362: Burger And A Beer

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Sunday’s ad is for Pabst Blue Ribbon, from 1951. This is from a series of billboard ads from around the same time I stumbled upon, though I’m sure the originals in color are more spectacular, though in case I’m a little glad it’s in black and white. In this ad for Pabst, they’re advertising with a giant burger and a beer, asking “what’ll you have?,” a popular tagline of Pabst, along with this statement: “finest beer served … anywhere!”

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Beer In Ads #1361: Have Dinner With Me Tonight

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Saturday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1946. This is from a series of billboard ads from around the same time I stumbled upon, though I’m sure the originals in color are more spectacular, though in case I’m a little glad it’s in black and white. In this ad for Budweiser, they’re advertising with a giant glass of Bud apparently making a phone call, ringing someone up for dinner. How crazy/cool is that? Yes, please, dinner with beer.

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Beer In Ads #1359: Let Me Cool You Off

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Thursday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1951. This is from a series of billboard ads from around the same time I stumbled upon, though I’m sure the originals in color are more spectacular, though in case I’m a little glad it’s in black and white. In this ad for Budweiser, they’re advertising with a giant bottle of Bud up in the mountains, along with a full tall glass, and is that a snowed in cabin I fee behind them? Who wouldn’t want to be there?

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Beer In Ads #1358: No Wonder It’s … Again

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Wednesday’s ad is another one for Schlitz, also from 1950. This is from a series of billboard ads from around the same time I stumbled upon, though I’m sure the originals in color are more spectacular, though in case I’m a little glad it’s in black and white. In this ad for Schlitz, they’re advertising with a football player, agin using the tagline “No wonder it’s … The Beer that made Milwaukee famous.” I still don’t quite understand it, but I did discover it was designed by a well-known ad man at the time, Howard Scott.

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Beer In Ads #1357: No Wonder It’s …

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Tuesday’s ad is for Schlitz, from 1950. This is from a series of billboard ads from around the same time I stumbled upon, though I’m sure the originals in color are more spectacular, though in case I’m a little glad it’s in black and white. In this ad for Schlitz, they’re advertising with a clown — and I HATE clowns — but even so I don’t quite understand this one. Essentially it’s saying “No wonder it’s … The Beer that made Milwaukee famous.” But why? Because … clown?

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