Headlines: October 2008 Alpha King Challenge — 2008 Tomme Arthur of Port Brewing (San Marcos, CA) was crowned "Alpha King" at the Falling Rock Tap House in Denver for the second time in five years. Arthur's Hop 15 Double IPA took first place in the 2008 Alpha King Challenge. He's only the second brewer in the competition's ten-year history to wear the crown twice. (Brendan Moylan of Moylan's Brewing won back-to-back Alpha King Challenges in 2001 & 2002 for his Moylander's Double IPA.) Second place went to another previous winner, Ed Bennett, and his Boundary Bay Imperial IPA, from Boundary Bay Brewing (Bellingham, WA). Bennett won top honors at the 2006 Alpha King Challenge. The third place winner was Jeff Erway of Chama River Brewing (Albuquerque, NM) for The March Hare (an IPA). A total of 70 beers from the U.S. competed in this year's 10th annual Alpha King Challenge. A team of 18 judges including brewers and beer writers selected the top three beers in a blind tasting. The contest was sponsored by Hopunion LLC, Brewing News and Three Floyds Brewing and takes its name from Three Floyds' Alpha King Pale Ale. Posted: October 24, 2008 Corona is King in Cancún At least in the four resorts owned by AMResorts on Cancún (Secrets Maroma Beach, Secrets Capri, Secrets Silversands and Paraiso de la Bonita), where the draft beer is either Corona Extra or Negra Modelo. Who can complain with the sun, sand, sea and wind that are "muy maravillosos?" Hops are for americanos del norte (bitter people that they are). Posted: October 24, 2008 Brewpubs — Now Saképubs? The first saké brewery/restaurant in the world outside of Japan has opened in Minneapolis. The new place, called moto-I, makes handcrafted sakés on-site and pairs them with Japanese food. Posted: October 24, 2008 Better Beer: College Team Creating Anticancer Brew A group of Rice University students are using genetic engineering to create beer that contains resveratrol, a chemical in wine that's been shown to reduce cancer and heart disease in lab animals. Rice's "BioBeer" will be entered in the International Genetically Engineered Machine (iGEM) competition in November in Cambridge, MA, the world's largest synthetic biology competition, a contest where teams use a standard toolkit of DNA building blocks to create living organisms that do odd things. Posted: October 24, 2008 4th Annual Great American Distillers Festival Nearly 1,300 spirits enthusiasts sampled the finest creations of America's new breed of craft distillers at the 4th Annual Great American Distillers Festival held in Portland, OR, last August. Close to 30 craft distillers brought their tastiest vodkas, rums, gins, whiskeys, brandies and other spirits for two days of sampling, seminars and informal interaction with the distillers. More than 50 micro-distilled products were available. There was also the second annual Mixmaster Mixology Contest sponsored by the Oregon Bartenders Guild, Rogue Spirits and Imbibe Magazine. Posted: October 24, 2008 New Belgium Brewing Named One of 15 "Top Small Workplaces" in the United States by The Wall Street Journal and Winning Workplaces New Belgium Brewing of Ft. Collins, CO, makers of Fat Tire Amber Ale, has been named one of the Top Small Workplaces in the United States by The Wall Street Journal and its partner, Winning Workplaces. New Belgium was selected from more than 400 entries for a variety of reasons, including open-book management, sustainable business practices and its commitment to an employee-owned culture. Posted: October 24, 2008 2009 Beerdrinker of the Year Search is Underway Wynkoop Brewing of Denver, CO, is seeking beer resumes from the nation's most beer-minded men and women for the 2009 Beerdrinker of the Year contest. The 13th annual contest seeks and honors the most passionate, knowledgeable beer lovers and beer ambassadors in the United States. The 2009 Beerdrinker of the Year wins free beer for life at Wynkoop Brewing and $250 of beer at their local brewpub or beer bar. They also win apparel proclaiming them The 2009 Beerdrinker of the Year, and have their name engraved on the Beerdrinker of the Year trophy at Wynkoop. They also brew a special beer with Wynkoop head brewer Andy Brown that is served at the 2009 Beerdrinker of the Year National Finals on February 21, 2009. Complete details are available at www.wynkoop.com . The deadline for entries is December 31, 2008. Posted: October 7, 2008 2008 Los Angeles International Beer Competition The California Fermentation Society has announced the results of the 2008 Los Angeles International Beer Competition: Best Of Show Finalists Older Viscosity Port Brewing Co./The Lost Abbey Wood And Barrel-Aged Strong Beers Trumer Pils Trumer Brauerei German-Style Pilsner Samuel Adams Octoberfest Boston Beer Company German-Style Marzen Samuel Adams Black Lager Boston Beer Company German-Style Schwarzbier Twilight Ale Deschutes Brewery English-Style Summer Ale Organic IPA Eel River Brewing Co. English-Style India Pale Ale Firestone Pale Ale 31 Firestone Walker Brewing Co. American-Style Pale Ale Hopsickle Imperial XXXIPA Moylan's Brewery & Restaurant Imperial Or Double India Pale Ale Scottish Soldier Silver Moon Brewing Co. Scottish-Style Ale Abbey Triple Sprecher Brewing Co. Belgian-Style Tripel Pt. Reyes Porter Marin Brewing Company Robust Porter Piper's Scotch Ale Sprecher Brewing Co. Peated Strong Scotch Ale Posted: October 7, 2008 13th Annual Great Eldorado BBQ, Brews and Blues Festival — The Winners Reno, NV — August 2008 Best of Show: Tamarack Amber Ale, Sequoia Brewing People's Choice Award: Firestone Walker Brewing Other first place awards for Light Ales to Stouts included: Blue Moon's Honey Moon Summer Ale, Samuel Adams Boston Lager, Pyramid Ales' Pyramid Hefeweizen, Napa Smith's Pale Ale, Moylan's Brewery's Dragoon's Dry Irish Stout and Lindemans' Framboise. Second place prizes: Buckbean's Black Noddy, Third St. Ale's Kölsch Bier, Sierra Nevada Brewing's Crystal Wheat, Kona Brewing's Firerock Pale Ale, Newcastle Brown Ale, BJ's Brewhouse's Lasto's Oatmeal Stout and Blue Moon's Wit. Third place prizes: Alaskan Brewing's Summer Ale, Kona Brewing's Longboard Lager, Silver Peak Brewery's Baileywheat Hefeweizen, Hoppy Brewing's Total Eclipse Black Ale, Anheuser-Busch's Shock Top Belgian White and Firestone Walker Brewing's Pale 31 and DBA. Posted: October 7, 2008 Bill Leinenkugel Bill Leinenkugel, for many years the president of the Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co, died on September 22. He joined the company as a salesman following World War II, and served as president from 1971 to 1986, the fourth generation of his family to do so. When he retired, his son Jake Leinenkugel stepped into the position heading the nation’s seventh oldest brewery. Under Bill Leinenkugel’s leadership, the brewery itself in Chippewa Falls, WI became a destination for beer lovers and vacationers, with the addition of a hospitality and tour center. He served the beer industry as a director and past president of the Brewers Association of America and director and secretary of the Wisconsin State Brewers Association. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials be sent to the Community Foundation of Chippewa County in memory of William and Mary Lou Leinenkugel, St. Joseph’s Hospital Home Hospice, Family Support Center, or Zion Lutheran Preschool. Posted: September 26, 2008 Goose is Cooked in London Chicago’s Goose Island Brewery made a spectacular entrance into the British market in September with a beer dinner at the legendary White Horse pub in Parson's Green, south London. Hosted by brewmaster Greg Hall, the evening comprised a six-course meal of mini Yorkshire puddings with roast beef and hot horseradish accompanied by Goose Island IPA; fresh English mussels in a white wine and cream soup with Matilda blond beer; sorbet with Urban Wheat beer; roast stuffed goose and seasonal vegetables backed by Honkers Ale; chocolate and vanilla torte with Bourbon County Stout; and British cheese board with Pere Jacques Trappist-style ale. Roger Protz, a top table guest among many beer writers present, commented: “The marriage of beer and food was brilliant and the beers are truly memorable. IPA and Honkers have been available in Britain for some time, but the news from Greg that such amazing and succulent brews as Pere Jacques and the stunning stout will also go on sale here is truly exciting.” Posted: September 15, 2008 Grow Old — Drink Less A comprehensive, long-term health study published in the August 2008 issue of the American Journal of Medicine found that people generally drank less as they got older and later generations drank less than their predecessors. It was also found that the participants in the study drank less beer and more wine as they got older, with that shift more pronounced for men than for women. Beer made up at least half of men's alcohol intake before they reached their mid-30s, but only about one-quarter by their mid-70s. The study of residents of Framingham, Mass., included 50 years of data of 8,600 white adults, all of whom were born between 1900 and 1959 and were at least 28 years old when they began reporting in detail on their health and lifestyle habits. Posted: August 18, 2008 Spiegelau Beer Glass Collection Maximilian Riedel, CEO of Spiegelau USA, presented the Bavarian glass making firm’s new Beer Glass Collection at an Oktoberfest in August luncheon in NYC recently at Blaue Gans, an Austrian “wirtshaus.” The collection consists of the Lager, Stemmed Pilsner and Wheat Beer glasses, each specifically designed to showcase the aromas and flavors of these beer styles. The glasses each are sold in sets of two and packed in tubes. Reidel, an 11th generation member of the Reidel glass making family (which owns Spiegelau) and CEO of Reidel Crystal USA, co-presented the tasting with Brewmaster Garrett Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery, who Reidel called his “mentor for beer.” He said the decision was made to have Spiegelau design the beer glasses because the Bavarian firm has more of a history with beer glasses than Reidel, an Austrian company more in tune with wine glasses. Spiegelau began making beer glasses in 1521. Posted: August 18, 2008 New Zealand International Beer Awards 2008 The Supreme Winner at the New Zealand International Beer Awards 2008 was Rogue Ales of Oregon with I2PA. There were 12 classes of awards, all of which can be seen at www.nz-beer-awards.co.nz/results.htm   Posted: August 18, 2008 San Diego County Fair Craft Brewers Competition & Festival, Del Mar, CA The best-of-show beer was West Coast IPA from Green Flash Brewery of Vista, CA. There were 27 classes of awards, all of which can be seen at www.sdfair.com/fair.   Posted: August 18, 2008 Great British Beer Festival — Champion Beer of Britain 2008 Alton's Pride, brewed by Triple fff Brewery in Hampshire, is the Champion Beer of Britain 2008 at the Great British Beer Festival, held August 5-9 at Earl's Court in London. Alton's Pride, a true session beer at 3.8% ABV, was judged by a panel of brewers, beer writers and journalists from a field of sixty finalists in seven beer style categories. The Triple fff Brewery opened in 1997. The Silver award went to Black Dog Freddy from Beckstones (Cumbria), and the Bronze went to current National Winter Beer of Britain winner, Station Porter from Wickar Brewery (Gloucestershire). A complete list of winners is available at www.camra.org.uk.   Posted: August 9, 2008 U.S. Craft Beer at the Great British Beer Festival — Top American Cask-Beer Seventeen American craft breweries were represented at this year's Great British Beer Festival. The breweries served 57 beers in the Bières Sans Frontiers area of the festival. The Export Development Program of the Brewers Association facilitated the beers’ trip to Great Britain. The 2008 Champion American Cask-Conditioned Beer Award went to The Angel's Share from Lost Abbey Brewery in San Marcos, CA. The 12.5% ABV beer, hardly a session beer, is brewed with copious amounts of caramel malt to emphasize the vanilla and oak flavors found in the freshly emptied bourbon casks, where it spends six months maturing. Second place went to Mayflower Brewings' Porter, a new brewery in Plymouth, MA, and third place went to The Cambridge Brew Houses' IPA from Granby, CT. Posted: August 9, 2008 Schlitz Is Back Schlitz, “The Beer That Made Milwaukee Famous,” has returned to its birthplace in what is claimed to be the original formula (gleaned from old notes and interviews with former brewmasters). Schlitz is brewed by Pabst, the maker of another retro beer, Pabst Blue Ribbon. Schlitz was first brewed more than 150 years ago and was the top-selling beer in the U.S. for most of the 20th century. The brand died an ignoble death as clueless brewery owners dumbed down the recipe, eventually making it undrinkable for many of its regular customers. The Schlitz brewery closed in 1981 and the next year the owners sold the brand to the Stroh Brewery of Detroit, which later sold Schlitz and other brands to Pabst. Posted: August 9, 2008 A Year’s Supply of Miller Lite For those who don’t prefer full-flavored beer, Miller is offering a year’s supply of Miller Lite to anyone catching a grand slam baseball at a Major League game this season. Proof of the catch must be a picture of the ticket stub, a picture of the caught ball and proof the catcher is of legal drinking age. Complete rules are available at www.MillerLite.com.     Posted: August 9, 2008 Jim Koch of The Boston Beer Company Receives American Homebrewers Association Award Jim Koch, founder of The Boston Beer Company and Brewer of the Samuel Adams line of beers, was recognized with an award for his outstanding service to the community of homebrewers at the opening session of the American Homebrewers Association’s annual National Homebrewers Conference in Boulder, CO. Koch received the American Homebrewers Association Governing Committee Recognition Award for his many years of “proudly marketing his homebrewing roots as part of the Boston Beer Story.” Over the years, Boston Beer Co. has created national promotions and advertising campaigns encouraging consumers to learn how to make their own beer. One of these is the LongShot Competition, in which homnebrewers compete to have their beer brewed and bottled by Boston Beer Co. Posted: August 3, 2008 New Gallup Poll Shows Increased Preference for Beer A new Gallup poll shows that U.S. adult consumers now prefer beer to wine by a double-digit margin. In 2005 wine supplanted beer in the poll and there were many “beer is dead” articles in the press. The pollsters said the trend back to beer reflects a shift among drinkers aged 30 to 49 years old. Gallup’s data from 2004 to 2005 concludes that wine and beer were almost equally preferred. Wine as a favorite peaked at 39 percent in 2005 and has since slipped to 31 percent. Beer is now chosen first by consumers 47 percent of the time. Drinkers indicated they consumed an average 3.8 alcoholic drinks a week, a drop from a high of 5.1 drinks per week in 2003. Daily drinking among college graduates and those earning more than $75,000 is more common than it is among non-graduates and those earning less. The poll included 1,016 telephone interviews conducted July 10-13. Posted: August 3, 2008 Miller Lite Brewers Collection Test Suspended WMillerCoors has suspended the test of the Miller Lite Brewers Collection because the brand did not perform as well as hoped in test markets. Instead, MillerCoors will focus its attention on its priority brands: Coors Light, Miller Lite, Blue Moon, Miller High Life, Keystone Light and MGD 64 (which has been performing well as it ramps up for a national launch). The Miller Lite Brewers Collection included Miller Lite Wheat, Miller Lite Amber and Miller Lite Blonde Ale.     Posted: August 3, 2008 Beer Sales Down in Britain Beer sales in Britain declined sharply in the second quarter, dropping 4.5% compared with the same period last year. Beer sales in pubs were down 10.6%, according to the British Beer & Pub Association. Approximately 107 million fewer pints were sold in April to June compared with the same period last year — a shortfall of 1.2 million pints a day. On-premise beer sales fell by 144 million pints, down 1.6 million pints a day. The BBPA attributed the drop to pub closures, rising prices and lower consumer confidence. Over the first half beer sales were down by 2.9% compared with 2007, while total beer sales in 2007 were -3.9% from 2006. Beer sales in pubs are now at their lowest level since the Great Depression. Posted: August 3, 2008 Budvar Not Yet for Sale Budejovicky Budvar, the Czech brewer of Budvar (Czechvar in the U.S.) is owned by the Czech government, a holdover from the country’s Communist past. Rumors of the state selling off the brewery are always in circulation, but a recent announcement from the Czech Prime Minister’s offcice stated that no sale was imminent. Last year the government announced it would prepare Budvar for privatization, thus leading the way for a sale. Budvar and Anheuser-Busch have sued each other in dozens of countries over use of the Budweiser name for many years. Both companies claim exclusive rights to the name.     Posted: August 3, 2008 Beer for Gorillas Wynkoop Brewing of Colorado has partnered with Denver-based Mountain Gorilla Conservation Fund (MGCF) to raise money and support to aid the endangered mountain gorillas of Africa. From now until October, Wynkoop Brewing and its allied businesses (Cherry Cricket, Wazee Supper Club, Pearl Street Grill, Phantom Canyon Brewing, Gaetano’s Italian and Goosetown Tavern) will serve a special fundraising beer, Silverback Smoked Porter. The beer is an Imperial-style porter brewed with about 35% beechwood-smoked malts from Bamburg, Germany. Wynkoop is donating 25% of all sales of the beer to the MGCF. There’s also a drawing that gives the winner and a guest a chance to visit the mountain gorillas. The prize package for the “In the Steps of Dian Fossey” contest includes two roundtrip tickets from the U.S. to Rwanda or Uganda, hotel accommodations, transportation and two permits for gorilla trekking www.denvergorillarun.com. Posted: July 28, 2008 New Belgium & Elysian Work Together New Belgium Brewing of Fort Collins, CO, and Elysian Brewing of Seattle, WA, both independently owned, will work together in an “artisanal collaboration” to brew their beers at each other’s breweries. The breweries said they will “increase efficiency, encourage creative experimentation and take a bold collaborative step into the future of American craft brewing.”     Posted: July 28, 2008 Marin County Beer Festival Raises $40,000 for Bay Area Cancer Clinic The 8th Annual “Fermenting Change” Microbreweries Battling Breast Cancer, hosted by Marin Brewing, Moylan’s Brewing and Noonan’s Bar and Grill in California, made a donation of $40,000 to the Charlotte Maxwell Clinic, a clinic offering cancer services to low income women, with offices in Berkeley and San Francisco. Posted: July 28, 2008 American Craft Beers Featured at July 4th Opening of New U.S. Embassy in Berlin, Germany Beer from American craft brewers flowed in Berlin as dignitaries from Germany and the U.S. gathered to open the new U.S. Embassy on the Pariser Platz square on July 4th. Over 4,500 guests including current German Chancellor Angela Merkel, former President George H. W. Bush and former ministers of the German government attended the ceremony. The reception featured 47 different craft beer brands from 13 American craft breweries.     Posted: July 28, 2008 Duvel Buys Liefmans In Belgium, Duvel Moortgat Brewery will buy Liefmans Brewery, which declared bankruptcy and ceased brewing in 2007. Liefmans was established in Oudenaarde in 1770. Duvel will resurrect some of the Liefmans brands, such as the brown ales and fruit beers. Posted: July 28, 2008 Football and Sprecher Beer: Share the Passion A beer promotion in Glendale, WI, from Sprecher Brewing is a pre-season mini-camp, Football and Beer: Share the Passion. Geared especially for women, the mini-camp is “designed to shatter myths and increase appreciation for football, beer and tailgate food.” Ten percent of all class registration fees will be donated to Red Cross Wisconsin Floods Relief.     Posted: July 28, 2008 Northwest Craft Breweries Finalize Merger to Form Craft Brewers Alliance Two of the country’s original craft breweries, Portland, OR-based Widmer Brothers Brewing and Woodinville, WA-based Redhook Ale Brewery (with a second brewery in Portsmouth, N.H.), have completed their merger to form Craft Brewers Alliance.     Posted: July 28, 2008 MillerCoors SABMiller and Molson Coors Brewing have created MillerCoors, with headquarters in Chicago. The new entity was launched on July 1. Posted: July 28, 2008 Avery Graphics Wraps World’s Largest Beer Can The world’s largest beer can, a replica of a 1970s Old Style Beer (from The G. Heileman Brewing Co., owned by Pabst Brewing) has been wrapped by Avery Dennison Graphics & Reflective Products of Painesville, OH. The beer can was commissioned by Dave Leach, a Chicago-based collector of the world’s largest items.     Posted: July 28, 2008 It's All Over Except for the Whinnying of the Clydesdales After weeks of wait-and-see by beer industry watchers, Anheuser-Busch sold itself to InBev, the Belgian/Brazilian beer monolith, for $70 a share, equal to an enterprise value of $61 billion (according to analysts Mark Swartzberg and Mark S. Astrachan of Stifel Nicolaus Associates). Two A-B directors, including August Busch IV, will serve on the board of InBev, to be renamed Anheuser-Busch InBev. The closing date of the deal wasn’t announced, but it’s expected to take place in a month or two. The corporate takeover melodrama began with InBev making an unsolicited bid to purchase A-B for $65 a share. That was rejected by A-B’s board. InBev countered with a lawsuit seeking to oust the A-B board of directors with one more to InBev’s liking. A-B punched back with a lawsuit claiming InBev made false and misleading accusations against A-B, and that InBev’s Cuban business dealings ran counter to U.S. law and would make InBev ownership of A-B impossible. A-B’s historic home, St Louis, is expected to become the headquarters of the North American operations of the new company. This was one promise made by InBev to A-B in its original letter offering to purchase the longtime American brewer (in business since 1852). Other promises included globally expanding the Budweiser brand and no closures of A-B’s 12 U.S. breweries. The fate of the Clydesdales and A-B’s many other businesses (theme parks, aluminum cans, malting facilities, hop farms, etc.) is unknown. The Brazilian bankers who control InBev are known internationally as ruthless cost-cutters with their eyes on nothing but the bottom line. Many industry analysts expect to see A-B cut back, the craft-style and marginal-selling brands discontinued, the frills trimmed and for the Budweiser brand to bob in a beery sea of international brands sold by InBev. Posted: July 20, 2008 Anheuser-Busch Rejects InBev Proposal—InBev Files Suit The A-B board of directors gave InBev a big “No thanks,” to the Belgian-based brewer’s unsolicited, non-binding proposal to acquire all outstanding shares of A-B for $65 per share. A-B’s board of directors “unanimously determined that the offer is financially inadequate and not in the best interests of A-B shareholders.” InBev countered with a statement saying it “remains committed to its proposed combination with A- B,” and at the same time started the process of what looks like a hostile takeover. The Belgian-Brazilian beer company is seeking a declaratory ruling in Delaware to seek alternative routes to make the deal happen they way InBev wants. The company filed suit in Delaware Chancery Court seeking a judgment to confirm that shareholders acting by written consent may under Delaware law remove without cause all thirteen of the present A-B directors. Posted: July 1, 2008 Small Brewer Wins Silver Telly Awards Stampede Brewing, the Texas-based brewer of Stampede Light (a vitamin-fortified light lager) won five awards at 29th Telly Awards. The competition honors local, regional and cable TV commercials and programs, film and video productions and web commercials, videos and films. The award-winning Stampede Light commercial can be seen in several cities or online at www.stampedebeer.com or on YouTube under Stampede Beer Commercial. Posted: July 1, 2008 Sean Sears Crushes The Competition at Third Annual Bud Light/USA Rock Paper Scissors League Championship Sean Sears, 23, of Chicopee, MA, emerged from hand-to-hand combat with more than 300 of the nation’s finest Rock Paper Scissors players to claim the 2008 Bud Light/USA Rock Paper Scissors League (USARPS) Championship and its $50,000 first prize. The third annual tournament, to be aired Monday, October 6 as part of a special edition of FSN’s Best Damn Sports Show Period, took place June 21-22 at the Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, where competitors from all corners of the United States converged to compete for the title of America’s best Rock Paper Scissors player. All participants won regional Bud Light-sponsored USARPS tournaments across the country. Sears is now on a two-month training regimen leading up to the inaugural International Rock Paper Scissors Federation (IRPSF) Championship to be held in Beijing, China, during the Summer Olympics. There, Sears will compete against Rock Paper Scissors champions from Canada, Guam, Hong Kong and Ireland for global recognition as the world’s best Rock Paper Scissors player. Posted: July 1, 2008 Great Lakes Brewing Turns 20 On September 6, Great Lakes Brewing (Cleveland, OH) celebrates its 20th anniversary. As part of the celebration, Great Lakes will release a specialty four-pack of Imperial Dortmunder (7.5%, a bigger version of the micro’s flagship beer, Dortmunder Gold Lager) in July. There will be 20 days of celebrations at the brewery, starting on August 17. Posted: June 23, 2008     Samuel Adams Creating the American Dream Jim Koch, founder of the Boston Beer Co. (brewers of the Samuel Adams beers) has created Samuel Adams Creating the American Dream, a philanthropic program to assist lower-income entrepreneurs in the food and beverage industry who “have a dream and a plan but need a little help.” Posted: June 23, 2008     A New Brewery For Samuel Adams Boston Beer Co. has completed the $55 million purchase of the former F&M Schaefer Brewery in Upper Macungie Township, PA (the Leheigh Valley). Boston Beer bought the brewery from Diageo, the world’s largest drinks company (spirits, wine, beer). Boston Beer has plans to brew up to two million barrels of beer a year at the brewery. “It’s an interesting brewery,” said Boston Beer Co. founder Jim Koch. “It’s probably the most modern traditional brewery in the United States.” Schaefer opened the brewery in 1972. It was sold to Stroh in 1981 and to Pabst in 2001, which sold it that year to Diageo. Posted: June 23, 2008 Miller-Molson-Coors Merger The U.S. Department of Justice antitrust division has finished its eight-month investigation of a proposed joint venture between Molson Coors Brewing and Miller Brewing, concluding that the joint venture would not reduce competition in the market. Miller Brewing is owned by London-based SABMiller. Molson & Coors merged in 2005. Posted: June 23, 2008 Pacifico VW Busses Seattle-based advertising agency Creature has created a fleet of hand-painted 1960s Volkswagen buses as part of the marketing campaign for Pacifico Beer. This fleet of vintage, hand-painted buses, many of which were designed by Seattle artists, will serve as the beer brand’s official vehicles across the U.S. West Coast surfers on trips to Baja California, Mexico, first discovered Pacifico, and the folks at Creature wanted vehicles that embodied the brand’s identity. Creature located 19 VW vans to serve as their “Surf Buses,” mainly consisting of Type II Split Window Buses released from 1958 thru 1967 and two 1971 Bay Window Buses. These vehicles were commonly used by surfers in California in the 1960s to travel down the California coast and into Mexico to surf. Posted: June 23, 2008 Will Anheuser-Busch be the next to Go Foreign? InBev, the world’s largest beer conglomerate, has made a bid to buy Anheuser-Busch, the largest brewer in the U.S., to create, as InBev puts it, “the global leader in beer with Budweiser as its flagship brand.” InBev was created in 2004 as a merger between Belgian brewing group Interbrew and Brazilian brewing group AmBev. Always mentioned in news reports as a Belgian company (the headquarters are in Leuven, Belgium), many beer industry analysts privately refer to InBev as a Brazilian company because the CEO is Brazilian and Brazilian banks are large shareholders of the company. If the deal, unsolicited by A-B’s management, goes through, the new company would be one of the world’s five largest products companies, according to a statement put out by InBev. In a letter to A-B’s CEO August Busch IV, Carlos Brito, InBev’s CEO, said that the name of the new company would evoke Anheuser-Busch’s heritage, the Budweiser brand would expand globally, the North American headquarters and global home of Budweiser would remain in St. Louis, MO, and there would be no closure of A-B’s 12 U.S. breweries. Busch IV was quoted earlier this year as saying that A-B wouldn’t be sold “under my watch.” Busch family members have run the company and been involved in top management since the brewery’s founding in 1852 by Eberhard Anheuser. InBev’s major international brands include Stella Artois, Beck’s, Bass, Hoegaarden and Leffe from Europe, and the much lesser-known (in North America and Europe) Brazilian brand Brahma. InBev and A-B entered into an agreement last year in which A-B imports many of InBev’s European brands into the U.S. and distributes them through the extensive A-B distribution network, considered to be the best in the U.S. beer business. U.S. nationalist sentiments are in play with the creation of websites such as www.savebudweiser.com and www.SaveAB.com. InBev countered with www.globalbeerleader.com. Posted: June 19, 2008 Mondial de la Bière 2008 Considered by many beer lovers to be the best beer fest on the planet, the 15th edition of Mondial de la Bière, held in Montréal, Québec, from May 28 to June 1, had a plethora of beers (including 15 beers brewed especially for the festival), ciders, wines, conference speakers and awards. 75,000 people visited the festival and more than 450 products were served, including 235 new ones. The Mbière Jury, made up of nine experts representing the worldwide brewing industry, awarded two platinum and ten gold medals. The platinum winners (the highest award) went to Le Bilboquet (Québec) for La Corrivaux, and to Hopfenstark (Québec) for Saison Station 10. The ten gold winners were (beer name followed by brewery): Ergot (Benelux) Boulevard Saison (Boulevard Brewing) Aphrodisiaque (Brasserie Dieu du Ciel) Tchucké (Broadway Pub Brasserie Artisanale) Big Swell IPA (Maui Brewing) La Grivoise Double (Micro-Brasserie Le Trou du Diable) Imperial Red Ale (Rogue Ales) Imperial India Pale Ale (Rogue Ales) Chocolate Stout (Rogue Ales) Chipotle Ale (Rogue Ales) The favorite three beers of the public were: Gold: Aphrodisiaque (Brasserie Dieu du Ciel) Silver: Rosée d’Hibiscus (Brasserie Dieu du Ciel) Bronze: St-Ambroise à l’Abricot (McAuslan Brewery) There was also the first edition of the Cartoon Beer Contest, organized in conjunction with Oleg Dergachov, MA, cartoonist and sculptor, and Deborah Wood, homebrewer and Master of Arts degree holder. Participants in this contest had to create a cartoon featuring beer. The winners were: Gold Beer Stein: Mihai Danielescu (Romania) Silver Beer Stein: Ivan Anchukov (Russia) Bronze Beer Stein: Bretislav Kovarik (Czech Republic) Mondial de la Bière will return to Montreal in 2009 from June 3 to 7, and also next year, for the first time, to Strasbourg, France from October 16 to 18. “We wanted to establish ourselves in Europe, and Strasbourg, the French beer capital, was a natural choice,” said Jeannine Marois, founder and president of the Mondial de la Bière. “Several French and Québec partners have contributed to the success of this project, which will symbolize nothing less than the creation of a Montréal-Strasbourg brewing axis. We are embarking on a great adventure!” Posted: June 19, 2008 Fire In The Brewery New York’s F.X. Matt Brewing, an independent regional brewery founded in 1888, suffered more than $10 million in damages in a fire on May 29. Matt brews the Utica Club and Saranac brands. Posted: June 19, 2008 A Luxury Beer from Foster’s Foster’s Brewing of Australia recently sent the Queen of England a gift-wrapped bottle of Crown Ambassador Reserve Lager, the first beer in a limited release of 5,000 champagne-style bottles which sell for $60 each (and only in Australia). The brand, packaged in a 750-ml bottle and billed as a luxury beer, has been produced sporadically by the brewery since 1954 to commemorate Queen Elizabeth’s first visit to Australia. Posted: June 19, 2008