In this issue:
* 'Bone Head' Judges Pick GABF Winners
* Sierra Nevada, Rogue Shine Internationally
* Restoration Ale
* La Trappe Regains Trappist Sanction
* Monks Ask Americans Not to Buy Their Beer
* Grant's Ales Production Leaves Yakima
* Carlsberg Wields Ax
* When is a Bud a Bud?
* Web Watch
- Flying Fish Celebrates 10 Years
- Great Canadian Beer Festival
* Poor Richard's Ale
* Coaster Knows When to Order Another
* Finish Brewery Makes Gluten-Free Beer
* Got Beer Milk?
* Name That Style
* Search for Top Beer Drinker Begins
* Health Warning for Heavy Drinkers
* Eckhardt Among Beer Writers Honored
* Quote of the Month
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'BONE HEAD' JUDGES PICK GABF WINNERS
SandLot Brewery at Coors Field set a Great American Beer Festival record by
capturing seven of the 206 medals awarded in the Professional Panel Blind
Tasting competition. The festival itself attracted 29,500 beer lovers over
three days to sample more than 1,600 beers served at the Colorado Convention
Center. SandLot, owned by Coors, also generated one of the loudest cheers
during the awards ceremony in Denver when the name of its silver-medal
winning European-Style Pilsener was announced: "Most Beer Judges Are Bone
Heads."
SandLot was honored as Small Brewing Company of the Year. Anheuser-Busch
won
Large Brewing Company of the Year and Sierra Nevada Brewing captured Mid-
Size
Brewing Company of the Year. Iron Hill Restaurant & Breweryin Wilmington,
Del., won Large Brewpub of the Year, and Pelican Pub & Brewery in Pacific
City, Ore., won Small Brewpub of the Year. Pelican also won Small Brewpub
honors in 2000, and this year just edged 2003 and 2004 winner Pizza Port
Solana Beach.
The GABF competition drew a record 2,335 beers in 69 categories, with 109
judges hailing from seven countries. The most popular category was
American-Style India Pale Ale with 102 entries.
http://www.beertown.org/events/gabf/medals/medalists.aspx
SIERRA NEVADA, ROGUE SHINE INTERNATIONALLY
American breweries Sierra Nevada Brewing and Rogue Ales both took home
multiple medals in the 2005 Brewing Industry International Awards handed out
in Germany, while Samuel Adams and BridgePort Brewing also scored major
victories. The bi-annual awards are sometimes called "the Oscars of the
brewing industry." First run in 1886, they honor excellence in "the
commercial worth of the beer quality" and are only judged by currently
practicing professional brewers.
Sierra Nevada Pale Ale won Champion Beer in the International Kegs
competition after capturing gold in the 3.9%-6.9% subcategory. Sierra Nevada
Pale Ale also won silver in International Ales 5.2%-6.9% and Sierra Nevada
Porter captured bronze in International Dark Milds 4.9%-6.9%. Rogue Ales
grabbed four medals, taking gold and silver in International Specialty-Other
Specialty Ingredients with Rogue Chocolate Stout and Rogue Hazelnut Brown,
winning silver in International Strong Beer-Lager with Morimoto Imperial
Pilsner, and taking bronze with Rogue American Amber in International Ales
5.2%-6.9%.
Samuel Adams won Champion Beer in International Dark Milds with Sam
Adams
Cream Stout as well as winning gold in the 2.5%-4.8% subcategory.
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002700.php
RESTORATION ALE
The Abita Brewing Co., located 30 miles north of New Orleans but spared major
storm damage from Hurricane Katrina, has launched two initiatives to help
raise funds for Katrina victims. "The rebuilding and restoration of the
greater New Orleans area is vitally important," said brewery president David
Blossman. "We're proud to be a Louisiana Company and feel blessed that we are
still able to brew beer and keep our employees working." Abita has brewed
special "Fleur-de-lis" Restoration Ale, with one dollar from the sale every
six-pack going directly to the Louisiana Disaster Recovery Foundation. The
Abita Springs brewery also created a line of T-shirts, hats and a special
"Fleur-de-lis" ribbon pin and car magnet to raise funds for the hurricane
victims. Blossman said that 100% of the net proceeds from the sale of the
merchandise would go directly to the LDRF. All of the items can be viewed and
purchased www.abita.com.
LA TRAPPE REGAINS TRAPPIST SANCTION
Now there are seven "sanctioned" Trappist beers. The International Trappist
Association has announced it will allow La Trappe in the Netherlands to again
use the official Trappist logo on its beers. In 1999, the I.T.A. withdrew its
logo for all the La Trappe beers after the agreement concluded by
Koningshoeven Abbey with Bavaria B.V. The Association considered the
situation so confused that it could not guarantee the authentic provenance of
beers bearing the name of "La Trappe." Consequently, Koningshoeven Abbey
had
ceased to use the logo. To satisfy the logo criteria, Koningshoeven Abbey
recently revised its cooperation agreement with Koningshoeven Brewery (a
subsidiary of Bavaria B.V.). In the new agreement, the position of the monks
resulted in the Trappist provenance of "La Trappe" beers being strengthened
and guaranteed.
http://www.brewlikeamonk.com
MONKS ASK AMERICANS NOT TO BUY THEIR BEER
The monks at the abbey of St. Sixtus of Westvleteren have turned to one of
America's largest newspaper to make it clear they don't want their coveted
beer sold in the United States. Brother Joris, the monk who oversees brewing
at Westvleteren as well as running the library, agreed to be interviewed by
USA Today for a story about he monastery brewery so he could to warn
Americans against buying illegally imported Westvleteren. "My message is,
people should know that the beer arrives there in a very un-Trappist-like
way," he said. "It's the result of a lot of maneuvering in the dark before it
actually shows up there. "I would advise your readers not to ask for or buy
Westvleteren," he said. "You do not support the Trappist cause by buying
Westvleteren in the United States."
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002708.php
GRANT'S ALES PRODUCTION LEAVES YAKIMA
Bert Grant's Real Ales will no longer be brewed in Yakima, Wash., where
Yakima Brewing and Malting Co. founder Bert Grant established America's first
post-Prohibition brewpub in 1982. Financially troubled Yakima Brewing
announced it is moving production to unspecified breweries in the Southeast,
West Coast and Northeast, apparently brewing only under contract. "The
decision to close the brewery was a tough one psychologically, but
financially it was really easy to make," said Paul Brown, vice president of
operations for the company. Brown said the move will cut production costs by
as much as 50% and will help reduce distribution costs by as much at 30%.
Brown said the new facilities' locations were chosen because they are close
to the company's major distributors, but he declined to provide specific
locations.
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002718.php
CARLSBERG WIELDS AX
Carlsberg, the world's fifth-largest brewer, could close up to 14 of its 29
breweries in Europe as part of a plan to streamline its production on the
continent. The Danish brewery, producer of Carlsberg and Tuborg beer brands,
has not decided yet which breweries would be closed, and when, or how many
jobs would be affected. "As a group, our breweries also must become more
efficient across the borders," spokesman Jens Peter Skaarup said. "It will
mean that some breweries will be closed." In an interview with the Boersen
financial newspaper, Carlsberg Chief Executive Nils Smedegaard Andersen
singled out the production facility in Copenhagen, saying, "it likely would
not exist" in six years.
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002706.php
WHEN IS A BUD A BUD?
American brewer Anheuser-Busch has long tangled with Czech brewer
Budejovicky
Budvar about which brewery can use the names "Budweiser" and "Bud" in
markets
around the world. Budvar avoids the dispute in the United States by selling
its beer as Czechvar although it holds to the right to use "Bud" and
"Budweiser" in many other countries. Now another "Budweiser" has entered the
fray in the United States. Although Czech brewer Budejovicky Mestansky
Pivovar says it will avoid a trademark fight by call its beer B.B. Burgerbrau
in the U.S., it also makes reference to its Budweis roots in its marketing.
"I don't want to stick my hand in that fire," said Rob Neuner, president of
Classic Beverages of Darien, Conn., the U.S. importer of B.B. Burgerbrau.
"Budweiser is a trademark of Anheuser-Busch. We don't want to market the beer
as Budweiser per se, but we don't see any problem saying the beer is from the
town of Budweis."
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002699.php
*******************WEB WATCH*******************
FLYING FISH CELEBRATES 10 YEARS ON WEB
When Flying Fish Brewery launched its web site in 1995 most folks weren't on
line. There was little spam and no illegal file sharing. There was also no
Amazon.com and no Netflix. The brewery offers a trip back in time as it
celebrates 10 years on the Internet.
http://flyingfish.com/fishtales/ten_years.cfm
GREAT CANADIAN BEER FESTIVAL
Among the beers Stephen Beaumont came across at the Great Canadian Beer
Festival was a blackberry habanero ale. Read his opinion about that, plus the
fact that almost a quarter of the beers on offer were served in
cask-conditioned form, making the GCBF without question the single largest
source for cask ale in Canada.
http://www.worldofbeer.com/features
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POOR RICHARD'S ALE
Beer drinkers around the United States may get to taste the results of
judging held away from the rest of competition at the Great American Beer
Festival. Two award-winning brewers with ancestral ties to Benjamin Franklin
joined with a member of the Benjamin Franklin Tercentenary Commission and
others to select a recipe for Poor Richard's Ale - a beer for Americans
nationwide to hoist in January to celebrate the 300th anniversary of
Franklin's birth. Tony Simmons of Brick Oven Brewing Co. in Pagosa Springs,
Colorado, brewed the winning entry. His recipe for an Old Ale includes both
molasses and flaked corn, two ingredients that the judges deemed to be likely
ingredients of a Franklin-era ale. The winning recipe will be dubbed "Poor
Richard's Ale" and this recipe competition is the first part of a program to
help celebrate the 300th anniversary of Benjamin Franklin's birth in January
2006 with a special beer. The recipe will be distributed to breweries around
the nation and they will be encouraged to brew their own version of the
recipe to be available to consumers at the time of the celebration.
COASTER KNOWS WHEN TO ORDER ANOTHER
Two German students invented a beer coaster they promise will send for more
beer when a drinker is ready for a refill. The "smart" beer mat, created by
Matthias Hahnen and Robert Doerr from Saarland University in Saarbruecken,
senses when a glass is nearly empty and signals a central computer behind the
bar. Andreas Butz, the students' supervising professor, told the
International Conference on Ubiquitous Computing in Tokyo that he believes
the invention has a commercial future. He explained to a CNN reporter that
sensor chips in the plastic coaster are the key. When the weight of the glass
drops to a certain level, the sensor chips detect that it is close to empty
and alerts the bartender via a radio signal. "It's a funny idea but the nice
thing about it is these students have followed it through right to the end.
They've come up with the idea but they have made it practical - it is even
dishwasher-proof," he said.
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002712.php
FINISH BREWERY MAKES GLUTEN-FREE BEER
A Finnish brewery announced making the made the world's first malt beer that
does not contain gluten. Millions around the world cannot drink beer because
they are allergic to gluten. The Laitilan Brewery issued a press release
stating, "Until recently, real beers have been prohibited from celiac
(gluten-intolerant) patients' diet ... Today they are allowed to enjoy the
full-malt Kukko Pils beer from Laitilan brewery." the company said in a
statement. It calls Kukko Pils "the world's first ever full-malt beer brand
to receive the international gluten-free product trademark." Other breweries
have produced Gluten-free beers using spelt as a substitute for barley.
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002717.php
GOT BEER MILK?
A French dairy farmer invented a product he calls milk beer. "Everyone
thought I was crazy to try to make a milk-based alcohol," said Marcel
Besnard. He said low prices and strict quotas had led him to look for other
ways to market milk. The new drink, Lactiwel, made from milk and malt,
contains 2% alcohol by volume. It is brewed using a fermentation process
similar to that of traditional beer, except that instead of using beer yeast
for fermentation Bernard uses kefir (a Turkish milk product) yeast and lactic
bacteria.
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002684.php
NAME THAT STYLE
Among the 377 brewery booths promoting beers during the Great American
Beer Festival in Denver was one with a big question mark. Near the festival
stage consumers found a booth serving but a single beer each session and
leaving it to consumers to determine what was in their tasting cup. "The point
was to get consumers thinking about the characteristics of the basic beer styles
and to see how well they know those styles," said Ray Daniels, Director of Craft
Beer Marketing for the Brewers Association. After receiving a sample of
mystery beer, consumers were asked to determine which of six basic beer
styles the beer fell into. The style groups included Pilsner, pale ale and
India pale ale, amber ale or lager, porter and stout, wheat beer, and
Belgian-style ales. Nearly 1,400 consumers participated in the mystery beer
program during the four sessions of the festival. On average, they correctly
identified the style being poured 70% of the time - but there were wide
variations in success based on the style of beer being poured.
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002711.php
SEARCH FOR TOP BEER DRINKER BEGINS
Wynkoop Brewing Co. has boosted the prizes and widened the search in its
annual effort to pick a Beerdrinker of the Year. The contest deadline is Dec.
31 and resumes must include each entrant's beerdrinking philosophy and
details highlighting their passion for beer. Resumes should provide evidence
of the entrant's understanding of beer, its history, and its importance to
civilization. The 2006 Beerdrinker of the Year wins free beer for life at
Wynkoop Brewing Company and $250 (up from the previous amount of
$100) of
beer at their local brewpub or beer bar. "Taphouses and beer bars are a
crucial part of America's beer culture," said Marty Jones, organizer of the
Beerdrinker of the Year search. "Their customers are some of our nation's
most devout and knowledgeable beer lovers, we want them to be a part of
this
search." Beerdrinker of the Year resumes can be sent by mail to:
The Beerdrinker of the Year
Wynkoop Brewing Company
1634 Eighteenth Street
Denver, Colorado 80202
HEALTH WARNING FOR HEAVY DRINKERS
Regular drinkers of spirits and those defined as heavy beer drinkers run a
higher risk of developing colorectal tumors, according to a new study.
Researchers also found wine drinkers may have a lower risk. "Alcohol is
pernicious with regard to colorectal" tumors, Dr. Joseph C. Anderson from
Stony Brook University, New York. "Lifestyle plays a role as genetics does
in
the development" of the tumors, also known as polyps. Colorectal cancers
are
a major cause of death, but develop slowly over a period of several years.
Before a true cancer develops, a growth of tissue or tumor usually begins as
a non-cancerous polyp, which may eventually change into cancer. A polyp
develops on the lining of the colon or rectum.
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002701.php
ECKHARDT AMONG BEER WRITERS HONORED
The Brewers Association recognized the work of three journalists during a
presentation at the Great American Beer Festival in Denver. The awards,
sponsored by Rogue Ales, were given to Ken Wells for work that appeared
in
the Wall Street Journal, to Mike Reidel and Sandy Riesgraf for a feature
piece that appeared on Fox 13 News at 9 in Salt Lake City, Utah and to Fred
Eckhardt for an article that appeared in All About Beer Magazine.
"American
consumers have learned more about the flavor and diversity of the beers
made
in this country as a result of the work done by these journalists," said Ray
Daniels, Director of Craft Beer Marketing for the Brewers Association and
coordinator of the Beer Journalism Awards program. "Thanks to Rogue
Ales, we
are able to both recognize and reward the work that they have done."
http://www.realbeer.com/news/articles/news-002713.php
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QUOTE OF THE MONTH
"Stop the madness! Drink wines made by people, not corporations."
Hoyt Hill, writing in the Nashville City Paper, and pointing out 30% of the
wine sold in the United States is distributed by one wholesaler, and that 80%
of the wine produced in Australia is made by three companies.
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