Ales to ports: Ellinwood Craft Beer Festival has it all
In Florida, the refillable beer jugs known as growlers are the subject of an unlikely legislative battle. Under current law, breweries can sell beer in quart and gallon-size containers, but they cant fill a half-gallon bottle. Craft brewers want to end the ban. The big beer industry, led by a Budweiser distributor, wants to keep it . Now a lobbying group for Florida distributors who sell brews from MillerCoors and other large (non-Bud) beermakers is making what looks like a peace offering. In a video posted to its website Thursday, the Beer Industry of Florida promised its support for ending the ban: Were mobilizing an industrywide coalition to make this new container size legal, no strings attached, says the narrator of the video. As political issues go, this may seem like small beer. But the growler ban has attracted enough attention that Governor Rick Scott, a Republican whos up for reelection, and Charlie Crist, his Democratic challenger, have taken positions on growler sales. (Theyre both for them .) An earlier attempt to end the ban was scuttled when lawmakers, acting at the behest of big beer interests , weighed down a bill to repeal the growler ban with new restrictions on brewery sales. The shift in support from some distributors may be a sign ofmicrobreweries growing economic clout.Sales of domestic light beers are expected to hit a 10-year low in 2015. Craft sales, on the other hand, are increasing . There were 66 craft breweries in Florida last year, according to the Brewers Association, an industry group . And distributors can earn a higher markup selling craft beer, according to theBeer Industry of Floridasgrowler video. Then again, it may be too soon to read the groups video as evidence of a truce between small brewers and distributors for big beer brands. The video warns against lifting restrictions onbreweries selling directly to the publiccutting distributors out. Direct salescould inflate a beer bubble, distributors warn, that hurts retailers and feeds social ills, including over-consumption, increasing addiction, domestic violence, [and] drinking and driving. If theres a truce in the growler war, its still an uneasy one.
Souce http://bwads.businessweek.com/articles/2014-10-10/beer-growler-battle-in-florida-brews
It is rocket science! World's first 3D craft set for take-off - Yahoo News
Here are my top three Portland beer fests for this damp Saturday proamboard.jpg Last year's Pro/Am featured the latest digital beer menus from Digital Pour, which began when a tech-savvy customer offered to cobble together a digital beer board for Bailey's Taproom, and which he has since refined and now sells to pubs and tasting rooms around the country. (FoystonFoto) View/Post Comments If you ever doubt that we live in one of the world's great beer cities, consider that any of the half-dozen beer events happening in and near Portland on this dampish Saturday would be the main event for most towns. But this is Beervana which means we're spoiled for choice, so I'll tell you where I plan to be today... Peche Fest 2-10 p.m. Saturday Oct. 11, Saraveza, 1004 N. Killingsworth St.:$10 includes glass and two tix: additional tix $2 each. Features 19 peach-infused beers, five ciders and a mead, plus peach food specials. Fruit beers are for girls, right? Uh, well, not so much anymore, Cro-Magnon. Back in the early days of craft brewing, there WERE some not-very-subtle fruit beers --- an apricot ale and a very popular lemon lager leap to mind --- but these days you'd be hard-pressed to find a sweet fruit beer, let alone a cloying one: just try the tangy, dimensional beers on offer from Portland's The Commons and Logsdon Farmhouse Brewery in Parkdale ( both medal winners at this year's Great American Beer Festival, by the way) to see that sweet fruit beers are as passe as, oh, say, male chauvinism. Beer Pro-Am 1-6 p.m. Saturday Oct. 11, Zarr Studios, 1535 S.E. Ninth Ave.; $25, 21 and older only. I picked this as my favorite new festival of the year for 2013, because I love the idea of pairing amateur brewers with pros to make special beer. The results were mixed, sometimes resulting in what we professionals refer to as "a beer too far" but the good beers were very good, and this year there are twice as many beers total. How can you lose? Breakside Brewery Oktoberfest Noon 6 p.m. Saturday Oct. 11, Breakside Taproom & Brewery 5821 S.E. International Way, Milwaukie:$15 glass, four beer tickets and $1 food coupon for 21 and older. Free for minors. By now, you know the Breakside's IPA just won gold in the Great American Beer Festival's most hotly contested category, American IPA , which means that Breakside can lay legitimate claim to brewing America's best IPA.
Souce http://www.oregonlive.com/beer/index.ssf/2014/10/staying_inside_here_are_my_top.html
Photos: The Art of Beer - Beaumont Enterprise
Pour yourself a cold one, we'll fill you in on the details. First of all, it's not just about guzzling any old beer any more. More and more beer drinkers in the U.S. are quaffing expensive, flavorful craft beers sold in local markets. But if craft beer is small and hyper local, big beer is huge and hyper global. The largest beer companies have aggressively courted new markets in far-flung countries. Asia, led by China, is drinking more lagers and ales. And companies with global ambition need size and heft. So, they've been buying each other to the point where almost all the best-known beer brands are owned by just about four companies. Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken, SABMiller and Carlsberg together control 70% of the nearly $150 billion global beer market. Formed of the union of beer brewers around the world, they have led to such a varied portfolio of global beers, it can almost make your head spin. Anheuser-Busch InBev ( BUD ), the largest of the lot, was formed of the union of Belgian beverage giant InBev and American powerhouse Anheuser-Busch. In its portfolio: Budweiser and Bud Lite, the best-sellers in the United States. It also owns the America's most popular imported beer : Corona and many others. Apparently, that's not quite enough. There are reports that AB InBev wants to get even bigger and is raising funds to buy SABMiller ( SBMRF ), the world's third-largest brewer. SABMiller is best known in the U.S. for Miller Genuine Draft and Miller Lite. SABMiller was formed in 2002 when South African Brewers (or SAB) bought Miller Brewing Company. The London-based beer giant also bought Australia's Fosters a few years ago. Not wanting to be perceived like it was being left behind, SABMiller recently made an offer to buy Heineken, the world's second largest beer maker. Heineken, best known for its namesake brand, rejected the offer. The Dutch brewer owns hundreds of premium, regional and specialty beers in Europe. And like the other beer giants, Heineken too has been expanding in Asia. In 2012, Heineken bought Asia Pacific Breweries, maker of Tiger beer and Indonesia's Bintang, for $4.6 billion. It has also been buying breweries across Africa and South America. But the most popular beer in the world is one that many in the western hemisphere have probably never even heard of. Snow is the most consumed beer in the world and is sold in China. The lager is made by China Resources Enterprise and SABMiller. The Chinese knocked back 10.3 billion liters of Snow last year. China surpassed the United States in 2010 to become the biggest beer market in the world, in terms of total volume, according to market researcher IBISWorld. SABMiller also owns a majority stake in a joint venture with Molson Coors ( TAP ), which is itself a collaboration between Canadian and American companies. That joint venture, called MillerCoors, sells well-known beers Coors Lite, Keystone and Blue Moon, among others. As the big beer companies are busy getting bigger, it's the little guys that are getting all the attention in the neighborhood pubs. Craft beer makers , often referred to as microbreweries, make small quantities of beer in multiple flavors and colors and typically only sell in their local market . Sales of craft beer rose more than 17% last year, even as overall beer sales declined, according to the Brewers Association, which represents small brewers. Samuel Adams , brewed by Boston Beer ( SAM ), is the top-selling craft beer brand in America. But most craft beers are by definition small, and produced and sold locally.
Souce http://money.cnn.com/2014/10/09/news/companies/beer-101/index.html?section=money_news_international
Craft Beer: The 3 Biggest Threats to the Industry - NASDAQ.com
By Karen LaPierre County Reporter klapierre@gbtribune.com / View Larger ELLINWOOD From ales to ports, the third annual Ellinwood Craft Beer Festival celebrates the best beer the heartland has to offer. The beer connoisseur can sample 15 different regional beers, ranging from vanilla flavor to espresso to chocolate from breweries in Colorado, Kansas and Missouri at this years event. It is from 2-8 p.m. on Oct. 18 and costs $25. Were featuring some seasonal small batch breweries, said Richard Kimple, Ellinwood American Legion and chairman. The festival began, not only to bring people to Ellinwood on a date specifically chosen not interfere with home games of some state college sports, but to give beer lovers a chance to try new flavors. Plus, the event is the only craft beer fall festival in the area. Sponsored by the Ellinwood American Legion, the German theme is carried throughout the fall festival with music and German brats, bierocks and potato salad for sale. The type of beers available has been expanded to fifteen, providing beer lovers a chance to sample a wide variety of beer. Beers include the Great Divide, Yeti Imperial Stout, Left Hand Brewerys Milk Stout, Twisted Pines Espresso Stout, Breckenridges Vanilla Porter and Schlarflys Kolsch German style will all be there. Much of the beer will be served from kegs, but some bottled beer will be served as well. Bottled beer such as Odell Loose Leaf, Oskar Blues Old Chub and Emperyean Vanilla Porter will be available. This is beer with taste and flavor, said Kimple. Each participant will receive a souvenir six ounce Pilsner glass, which is new this year. In honor of Ellinwood Mayor Frank Koelsch, Kolsch beer, which is translated as Koelsch, is a specialty beer with a classic golden ale that is fermented at warmer temperatures, will be served, said Kimple. Mayor Koelsch is rapidly becoming Ellinwoods longest serving mayor, said Kimple. Koelsch served in Vietnam and has been active in building the membership in the American Legion. In addition, Sentinel Gallery, in conjunction with the festival, will be open and having some new art displays. The proceeds will benefit veterans from the Legion and the Wounded Warrior project.
Souce http://www.gbtribune.com/section/1/article/78700/
A Beer Growler Battle Is Brewing in Florida - Businessweek
The old adage states that "nothing goes up forever," but the craft beer industry would prefer to have you think otherwise. Since the late 1970s, microbreweries have been popping up like weeds across the country, with some eventually blooming into national brewers. In fact, the number of breweries in the U.S. has exploded from just 89 in the late 1970s to 2,538 as of 2013, according to the Brewers Association. At the current double-digit growth rate, we may have more than 6,500 breweries in this country by 2025. With this rapid rise in craft beer interest, it has to be asked whether this growth is sustainable, or if we're entering a "craft beer bubble." Admittedly, I'm a big fan of craft beer -- you know, the type of connoisseur that drinks his beer out of the proper glassware and takes notes while trying to decipher the type of hops used or the various flavor notes on my palate. But, I also don't work in the beer industry, so my knowledge of its innerworkings are limited to what I can read in an annual report or a conference call. In order to get a true feel for the threats facing the craft beer industry, I turned to RateBeer founder and CEO Joseph Tucker to provide his insight into the matter. Craft beer's three biggest threats Tucker's website allows users to rate tens of thousands of beers based on a number of criteria such as aroma, taste, and appearance to help weed out hidden gem brewers, while also proving to be an excellent breeding ground for the exchange of beer industry knowledge. In other words, he was the perfect person to pose the following question: "What are the three biggest challenges currently facing the craft beer industry?" Here's what Tucker had to say: No. 1: Getting swallowed by "Big Beer" I don't think Big Beer "figuring it out" with either strategic acquisitions or emulating craft brands will be a significant factor in cooling down the still exploding craft sector. While brands like Blue Moon and Shock Top have enjoyed success, Big Beer continues to be hit where it hurts -- their flagships. We're already seeing greater advantages for the craft sector at the distribution, retail, policy, and lending levels -- and now tougher than ever for Big Beer to push the genie back into the bottle. Craft is here for the long term. It's simply much easier to be in the beer business today than it was 10 years ago. Source: Flickr user Jhong Dizon. Tucker hits a on a key point here with the threat that bigger breweries bring to the craft scene: their deeper pockets. Anheuser-Busch InBev , for example, purchased Goose Island in 2011 and Blue Point Brewing earlier this year in order to capitalize on the rapidly growing craft beer movement. However, deeper pockets won't necessarily mean more market share for larger brewers, even if their money could be used to quickly ramp up distribution that these acquired craft brewers had previously lacked. Beer drinkers have increasingly shown that they're willing to pay a premium price for quality beer. Simply put, if big breweries focus too much of their attention on acquiring or developing craft beer brands, they could risk alienating their core, high-margin products, which would be bad news for these companies over the long run. No. 2: Becoming watered down by naive new brewers [The] ease of getting into the craft beer business is its greatest weakness. The last hit to the market, taken in the late 1990s and lasting until 2005, was mainly due to an over exuberance by newcomers who saw opportunities in what was then called "microbrewing," but didn't have the market knowledge to produce lasting success. Too many got into the business focusing on how to make money instead of on how to make a great product. It was small beer's success that attracted those who hurt the entire market. The consumers couldn't count on a better product and many of those coming in found a crowded market with increased pressure from Big Beer. Many of the bandwagon microbrewers, who were downloading recipes off the Internet, went out of business and eventually banks became more wary of lending to small brewers, policy liberalization died, consumers drifted and eventually the tide turned. We're unfortunately seeing a similar environment now, where many new naive brewers are entering the market not understanding some of the bigger basics -- product differentiation, distribution, quality control, location. And more similarly to the late 1990s, I've heard just as many newcomers talk about passe ideas such as market share and flagships with little inkling about the details of popular styles that today's more beer savvy consumers demand -- you can't have the business right and the product wrong. We're already seeing some increased churn where the overall number of brewers is still rising rapidly but the rate of closures has also increased somewhat. Increased natural churn will be the new normal for a while. Source: Flickr user Hans Splinter. Tucker's point hits on the main lure of craft beer: the intrigue of its exclusivity . It's exciting to be able to taste something that few people have tried, or that can't be had in every grocery store. It's also a thrill to examine the nuances in taste, appearance and aroma, for instance, from what's becoming a large number of breweries. But the problem becomes this: At what point is the industry so watered down with unqualified brewers that it begins to detract from the intrigue of craft brewing? Between 2006 and 2012, the amount of craft beer produced soared 71% to 13 million barrels as craft beer market share by dollar volume increased to 10.2% of the domestic beer market. However, as Tucker alluded to in his answer, more than 300 breweries closed their doors between 1996 and 2000 because of a mixture of undercapitalization and owners chasing returns in an industry they didn't quite understand. Based on craft beers' current growth projections, this shakeout could be on the precipice of repeating itself once again. No. 3: Losing the "craft" appeal Additionally, the bigger craft brewers are becoming much stronger regional and national brewers, and some small brewers have complained that many of the unfair business practices associated with Big Beer are now being taken up by craft brewers filling their shoes. Sam Calagione, the owner of Dogfish Head, sees a "bloodbath" up ahead. A few successful craft brewers are out there aggressively taking tap handles, lobbying for newcomer-hostile policy, and abandoning the "coopetition" and "us Davids against them Goliaths" ethos that helped build the craft sector. It's craft beer eating its own young. Lastly, Tucker makes the interesting point that it's possible for craft breweries to stop having that small-town feel and become too large for their own good -- essentially becoming Big Beer themselves. From a profitability standpoint, that may not be a bad thing, but it could alienate what had been a core customer as well as hurt the momentum of the craft beer movement. Source: Flickr user Steven Guzzardi. Perhaps the two companies that have to balance the struggle of sticking to their roots while also pushing the envelope across the U.S. are Boston Beer , the maker of Samuel Adams, and Craft Brew Alliance , the parent company of several craft brands, including Widmer Brothers, Redhook, and Kona. Boston Beer has done an exceptional job of counteracting the loss of its small feel by having founder Jim Koch personally appearing in many of Sam Adams' commercials. Portraying a down-to-earth CEO making beer for those who want something more than what Big Beer is offering, Sam Adams and Boston Beer continue to find the mark year after year. For Craft Brew Alliance, it's becoming increasingly tough to stick to its roots. Despite being self-labeled as an independent craft beer producer, Craft Brew Alliance's major shareholder, owning nearly one-third of its outstanding shares, is none other than Anheuser-Busch InBev. In other words, the bigger Craft Brew Alliance becomes, the more difficult it could be to retain its craft feel. The sun is shining on craft beer Obviously, craft beer is poised to face some challenges in the coming years if its current growth trajectory remains unchanged. But, in the words of Tucker, "The genie is out of the bottle. Consumers know good products. Governments know craft is better for employment and revenue. And the playing field is no longer hopelessly controlled by established multinational corporations. Good beer will prevail." For the craft beer connoisseurs among you, as well as investors, this would be a welcome and bubbly forecast indeed. Speaking of bubbly outlooks, check out the real winner inside the new Apple iWatch! Apple recently revealed the product of its secret-development "dream team" -- Apple Watch. The secret is out, and some early viewers are claiming its everyday impact could trump the iPod, iPhone, and the iPad. In fact,ABI Researchpredicts 485 million of this type of device will be sold per year. But one small company makesApple'sgadget possible. And its stock price has nearly unlimited room to run for early, in-the-know investors. To be one of them, and see where the real money is to be made, just click here !
Souce http://www.nasdaq.com/article/craft-beer-the-3-biggest-threats-to-the-industry-cm400950
World's first 3D craft set for take-off 6 hours ago . View gallery The 3D printed rocket is seen prior to assembly in central London on October 10, 2014 (AFP Photo/Jack London (AFP) - Fuelled by beer and the enthusiasm of amateurs, a British team on Friday said it was preparing to launch the world's first ever 3D printed rocket. Showing off the human-sized rocket in a central London office, Lester Haines, head of the "Special Projects Bureau" at technology magazine The Register, described the technical challenges and "big future" of 3D printing in aeronautics. "You can do highly complex shapes that simply aren't practical to do any other way," he told AFP, dressed in a white lab coat sporting the project motto "Ad astra tabernamque", which means "to the stars and the pub". "NASA are already 3D-printing metal rocket parts, so it's obviously got a big future." The project -- sponsored by German data analytics firm Exasol -- was suggested by readers of The Register and goes by the grand title "Low Orbit Helium Assisted Navigator", or LOHAN for short. It took 30 committed team-members, including doctorate aeronautical engineers, four years to build the rocket. View gallery Director of the film team Fenke Fros (L), managing director of Exasol UK Guy Lipscombe (C) and head The biggest challenge, according to Haines, was getting the standard hobbyist rocket motor to fire at high altitudes. The team said it will launch the rocket from Spaceport America, the home of Virgin Galactic in New Mexico, later this year, after securing the 15,000 ($24,000, 19,000 euros) needed for lift-off on crowdfunding site Kickstarter. A huge helium balloon will lift the rocket 20,000 metres (65,600 feet) into the stratosphere, at which point the onboard GPS will ignite the engine, catapulting it to speeds of around 1,000 miles (1,610 kilometres) per hour. The three-kilogramme rocket, which cost 6,000 to print, will then use an onboard autopilot to guide it back to Earth, all captured by an onboard video camera. Haines explained how 3D printing's main advantage was in speeding up the process of refining prototypes, requiring only a tweak to the computer-aided design (CAD) plans that instruct the printer. He called LOHAN "a because it's there project", and had no commercial value, but added that the number of potential uses for similar Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) was "endless". With the countdown on, Haines dispelled any suggestions the crew was feeling the pressure. "We got some of the team turning up for a beer tonight," he revealed. "It's going to get really messy." Science
Souce http://news.yahoo.com/rocket-science-worlds-first-3d-craft-set-off-202117826.html
Beer 101: Big changes are brewing - Oct. 9, 2014
Funds from the event will go toward next exhibits and educational programs at the museum. Photo taken Friday 10/10/14 Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX Photo: Jake Daniels Spencer Pratt reacts to a new beer during Friday's Art of Beer... The Art Museum of Southeast Texas hosted the eighth annual The Art of Beer fundraiser on Friday night. Guests were invited to sample more than 100 beers and talk with brewers, as well as take in the exhibits at the museum. Funds from the event will go toward next exhibits and educational programs at the museum. Photo taken Friday 10/10/14 Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX Photo: Jake Daniels The Art Museum of Southeast Texas hosted the eighth annual The Art... Tammy and John McKissack serve up samples of the beers from their Texas Big Beer Brewery during the Art of Beer event at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas on Friday. The Art Museum of Southeast Texas hosted the eighth annual The Art of Beer fundraiser on Friday night. Guests were invited to sample more than 100 beers and talk with brewers, as well as take in the exhibits at the museum. Funds from the event will go toward next exhibits and educational programs at the museum. Photo taken Friday 10/10/14 Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX Photo: Jake Daniels Tammy and John McKissack serve up samples of the beers from their... Andrea Fratus, left, and Kasey Sclerandi combine the tastes of cookies and beer during the Art of Beer event at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas on Friday. The Art Museum of Southeast Texas hosted the eighth annual The Art of Beer fundraiser on Friday night. Guests were invited to sample more than 100 beers and talk with brewers, as well as take in the exhibits at the museum. Funds from the event will go toward next exhibits and educational programs at the museum. Photo taken Friday 10/10/14 Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX Photo: Jake Daniels Andrea Fratus, left, and Kasey Sclerandi combine the tastes of... Adam Balla of brewmont.net talks with others at the Art of Beer event at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas on Friday. The Art Museum of Southeast Texas hosted the eighth annual The Art of Beer fundraiser on Friday night. Guests were invited to sample more than 100 beers and talk with brewers, as well as take in the exhibits at the museum. Funds from the event will go toward next exhibits and educational programs at the museum. Photo taken Friday 10/10/14 Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX Photo: Jake Daniels Adam Balla of brewmont.net talks with others at the Art of Beer... Samples of various beers are poured for guests at the Art of Beer event at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas on Friday afternoon. The Art Museum of Southeast Texas hosted the eighth annual The Art of Beer fundraiser on Friday night. Guests were invited to sample more than 100 beers and talk with brewers, as well as take in the exhibits at the museum. Funds from the event will go toward next exhibits and educational programs at the museum. Photo taken Friday 10/10/14 Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX Photo: Jake Daniels Samples of various beers are poured for guests at the Art of Beer... Chris Johnson tries the Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat during Friday's Art of Beer event. The Art Museum of Southeast Texas hosted the eighth annual The Art of Beer fundraiser on Friday night. Guests were invited to sample more than 100 beers and talk with brewers, as well as take in the exhibits at the museum. Funds from the event will go toward next exhibits and educational programs at the museum. Photo taken Friday 10/10/14 Jake Daniels/@JakeD_in_SETX Photo: Jake Daniels Chris Johnson tries the Shock Top Honeycrisp Apple Wheat during... People gather to try new brews at the Art of Beer event at the Art Museum of Southeast Texas on Friday afternoon. The Art Museum of Southeast Texas hosted the eighth annual The Art of Beer fundraiser on Friday night. Guests were invited to sample more than 100 beers and talk with brewers, as well as take in the exhibits at the museum. Funds from the event will go toward next exhibits and educational programs at the museum.
Souce http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/article/Photos-The-Art-of-Beer-5815523.php
No comments:
Post a Comment