Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Missouri Beer

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missouri
Today in 1821, Missouri became the 24th state.

Missouri
State_Missouri

Missouri Breweries

Missouri Brewery Guides

Guild: None known

State Agency: Missouri Division of Alcohol and Tobacco Control

maps-mo

  • Capital: Jefferson City
  • Largest Cities: Kansas City, Saint Louis, Springfield, Independence, Columbia
  • Population: 5,595,211; 17th
  • Area: 69709 sq.mi., 21st
  • Nickname: Show Me State
  • Statehood: 24th, August 10, 1821

m-missouri

  • Alcohol Legalized: December 5, 1933
  • Number of Breweries: 41
  • Rank: 13th
  • Beer Production: 4,530,683
  • Production Rank: 14th
  • Beer Per Capita: 23.8 Gallons

missouri

Package Mix:

  • Bottles: 32.8%
  • Cans: 59.4%
  • Kegs: 7.4%

Beer Taxes:

  • Per Gallon: $0.06
  • Per Case: $0.14
  • Tax Per Barrel (24/12 Case): $1.86
  • Draught Tax Per Barrel (in Kegs): $1.86

Economic Impact (2010):

  • From Brewing: $6,740,265,346
  • Direct Impact: $7,922,625,437
  • Supplier Impact: $5,170,179,818
  • Induced Economic Impact: $4,126,112,200
  • Total Impact: $17,218,917,455

Legal Restrictions:

  • Control State: No
  • Sale Hours: On Premises: Most establishments:
    (Mon–Sat) 6:00am–1:30am
    (Sunday) 9:00am–12:00am
    Special licenses in Kansas City and St. Louis: (Daily) 6:00am–3:00am
    Off Premises: (Mon–Sat) 6:00am–1:30am
    (Sunday) 9:00am–12:00am
    Sales permitted until 3:00 am in those Kansas City and St. Louis bars grandfathered into the ability to double as liquor stores.
  • Grocery Store Sales: Yes
  • Notes:
    • No open container law.
    • No state public intoxication law.
    • Liquor control law covers all beverages containing more than 0.5% alcohol, without further particularities based on percentage.
    • Cities and counties are prohibited from banning off-premises alcohol sales.
    • No dry jurisdictions.
    • State preemption of local alcohol laws which do not follow state law.
    • Certain bars in Kansas City and St. Louis grandfathered into the ability to double as liquor stores.
    • Special licenses available for bars and nightclubs which allow selling alcohol until 3:00am in Kansas City, Jackson County, North Kansas City, St. Louis, and St. Louis County.
    • Grocery stores, drug stores, and even gas stations may sell liquor without limitation other than hours.
    • Patrons allowed to take open containers out of bars in Kansas City’s Power & Light District.
    • Parents and guardians may furnish alcohol to their children.
    • Missourians over 21 may manufacture up to 100 gallons of any liquor per year for personal use, without any further state limitation, state taxation, or state license. (Obtaining a permit from the Federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau and meeting other requirements under federal law probably still is required for private citizens to manufacture distilled alcohol — but not wine or beer — for personal use.)

    Missouri law recognizes two types of alcoholic beverage: liquor, which is any beverage containing more than 0.5% alcohol except “non-intoxicating beer”; and “non-intoxicating beer,” which is beer containing between 0.5% and 3.2% alcohol. Liquor laws apply to all liquor, and special laws apply to “non-intoxicating beer.”

missouri-map

Data complied, in part, from the Beer Institute’s Brewer’s Almanac 2010, Beer Serves America, the Brewers Association, Wikipedia and my World Factbook. If you see I’m missing a brewery link, please be so kind as to drop me a note or simply comment on this post. Thanks.

For the remaining states, see Brewing Links: United States.

Bistro IPA Festival Winners 2011

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bistro
Family commitments kept me from attending this year’s Bistro IPA Festival, but owner Vic Kralj was kind enough to send me the list of the winners. Craig Cauwels’ IPA, from Schooner’s in Antioch, California, was chosen best in show at the 14th annual IPA Festival yesterday at the Bistro in Hayward, California. The full list of winners is below.

California Legislative Update

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california
There’s been a flurry of activity in California’s political power center lately, with a couple of new bills signed by governor Jerry Brown in Sacramento this week.

Tasting Room Bill (AB 1014)

The Tasting Room Bill makes it easier for breweries to serve samples of their beer without having to comply with all the same requirements as a full-scale restaurant.

From the press release from the CSBA:

Previously, craft brewers wishing to have a tasting room at the brewery would be required to install several industrial sinks, redo plumbing and electrical wiring among other requirements, simply to provide beer samples. These renovations can cost tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars creating a huge burden for small breweries.

“This bill will relieve craft brewers from the unnecessary burden of installing restaurant grade equipment that simply isn’t needed to pour a taste of beer,” said Tom McCormick, Executive Director of the California Small Brewers Association. “This is a common sense law that garnered bipartisan support at the Capitol. Yet another example that good beer brings people together.”

The bill, authored by Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher, R-San Diego and Assemblyman Wes Chesbro, D-Arcata, passed both the Senate and Assembly floor votes unanimously.

Caffeine Ban Bill (SB 39)

The second bill signed by Governor Brown, SB 39, was authored by Senator Alex Padilla, D-San Fernando Valley, and Assemblyman Jim Beall, R-Santa Clara County, who’s no friend to the beer industry.

Showing just what happens when you don’t pay journalists, the Huffington Post originally reported that passage of Senate Bill 39 meant that caffeine beer was banned, which is not correct. The bill was aimed at alcohol and caffeine energy drinks like Four Loko, Joose and their ilk. The bill only “bans any malt beverage to which caffeine has been directly added as a separate ingredient….” It does not include “beer brewed with coffee, tea or chocolate,” a carve out negotiated by the CSBA.

Baseball Bat Beer

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seattle-mariners
ESPN had an interesting little item today by Jim Caple entitled Pitcher Finds Good Use For Mariners’ Bats. The story concerns Seattle Mariners relief pitcher Chris Ray. In addition to pitching for the Mariners, Ray is also an avid homebrewer and has plans to open his own brewery, along with his brother Phillip, in Virginia. They’ve even picked out the name, COTU Brewing, which stands for “Center of the Universe.”

In Caple’s story, Ray is making beer using a dozen baseball bats, made of maple, for a charity beer he brewed at the nearby Fremont Brewing in Seattle. In the article, Ray is quoted about his beer.

“I’m not sure if it adds a ton of flavor, but it ties it into baseball and gives it a unique twist,” Ray said. “It might add a little bit of flavor, but maple is a hard wood — that’s why they use it for bats — so there’s not a whole lot of absorbing going on. There are a lot of beers that age on oak chips and toasted oak chips, so we just thought if it added a little flavor, great. If not, it’s a nice story.”

The beer, dubbed Homefront IPA, is a charity beer to honor American soldiers and debuted at Safeco Field this past weekend and will also be available in 22 oz. bottles beginning this week. Proceeds from sales of Homefront IPA will go to Operation Homefront, an “organization that provides emergency financial assistance to the families of military personnel.”

homefront-ipa

NBC Sports also had the story back in June about when the beer was first brewed. But the best account comes from Kendall Jones who writes a firsthand account of the brew day for his Washington Beer Blog in a post entitled A Relief Pitcher of Beer.

chris-ray-beer
Chris Ray pulling out spent grain (photo by Kendall Jones).

After the beer was brewed, the beer was then aged on Louisville Sluggers donated by the bat company. According to Jones:

The maple bats will be used to lend some extra character to the beer. They will be added to the conditioning tanks. Some of bats will be left whole and pristine, others cut into smaller pieces to help enhance the flavor imparted on the beer. Once the beer is ready, the whole bats will be removed, dried, and autographed by Chris’ teammates. The bats will then be auctioned off to raise money for Operation Homefront.

louisville-slugger

UPDATE: The CEO of the hops company Yakima Chief, Steve Carpenter, sent me a funny link about Ray that appeared in a Seattle fan blog, U.S.S. Mariner. In the post (which I should point out at the end is revealed to be satire), Chris Ray’s enthusiasm for good beer is gently skewered.

One reliever noted that Chris Ray had gotten “pretty annoying” by foisting dry-hopped XIPAs on his teammates, whose tastes tended towards lagers and mixed drinks. Eventually, the aspiring brewer went down with an injury and is now on the 15 day disabled list. Another pitcher confessed he was excited for the change. “Look, it’s finally warm out, I want to go out with my girlfriend and have something fun. I like Chris, but he was always rambling on about ‘simcoe’ and ‘amarillo’ and I was thinking he was talking about the Texas League or something, but no, he’s just explaining — again — why the beer I’m drinking is stupid.”