Planet Brew

Sam from Dogfish Head Brewery is interviewed for a Business Week Piece

Our beer is special because of what we put inside the bottle, not the hype and slick advertising that happens outside of the bottle.

If you are not an IT person then you probably don’t read the UK web site The Regsiter, so you probably missed their amusing response to beer prices increasing

Booze industry experts have issued a chilling warning that the British pint could hit £4 a pop – a price hike provoked by crap weather which has forced up the price of hops.

I managed to miss that Carlsberg was trying to buy Scottish and Newcastle. I found this piece that talks about some of the current mergers and acquisition activity in the beer world including expansion into china. Here is a story from the BBC on the subject.

I forgot to post this one, tomorrow night (thursday) RFD is hosting evening of great beers and delicious food pairings. Here is Dave’s email on the subject

Howdy Rowdies and Holy Goldie!
Let’s hear it for the girls!
ONE NIGHT ONLY
Thursday November 15th
Author Lucy Saunders comes to RFD for an evening of great beers and
delicious food pairings. Lucy is COOL! She has written several books on the subject
and is a true expert in both cooking with beer and pairing foods with beers.
Check out her sites.
_http://www.beercook.com/_ (http://www.beercook.com/)
_http://grillingwithbeer.com/_ (http://grillingwithbeer.com/)
I gotta sit down for a second. Diane is hosting this event. Lucy and the big
boss Diane Alexander herself (I’m in big trouble) will present an evening of
yummy beers and foods including these courses which will be paired with
crazy good beers from Dave’s stash!
Bittersweet salad with bittergreens and chocolate
Carrot Ginger Curry Soup
Cocoa Rubbed Pork Shoulder with Ancho Chile Sauce (paired with two
contrasting beers)
Chocolate Noir Cake with Framboise sauce
Food made with chocolate? food made with beer? who wrote these rules you
ask?
THERE ARE NO RULES! WE CAN’T HANDLE THE RULES!
Lucy will have copies of her new book “Grilling with Beer” available for
purchase and signing at this event. Tickets are only $40.00 for a multiple
course evening of wonderful pairings. Don’t miss this chance to meet one of the
beer worlds best writers. Call RFD at 202-289-2030 NOW and get your tickets
for this truly special evening. Doors open at 6 we will try our best to start
at 7!
As always a tip’o’the bottlecap and a please stay safe to all my buddies all
over the world from
BigPoppaHandPump /aka BeerGuyDave!

The Seatle Times is reporting that Redhook and Widmer Brothers to merge.

Both companies will keep their existing breweries, including Widmer’s breweries in Portland and Redhook’s in Woodinville and Portsmouth, N.H. They also plan to continue making their existing beers, including Redhook’s ESB and Widmer’s Hefeweizen.

Seem to bee the hot topic in the press, today the LA Times is running a piece on the cost of beer going up. For their article they talked with Snipes Mountain Brewery and Tommyknocker Brewery.

Snipes Mountain saw its barley malt prices grow 10% to 15% this year, and it paid $12.35 a pound for Cascade hops, far beyond the $5.60 allotted last year.

Read the whole article here

If you like strong winter beers then The Washington post has some suggestions for you. The Author had a chance to sample the following large selection of beers,  Anchor Brewing’s Co Our Special Ale, Sierra Nevada’s Celebration Ale, Clipper City Brewing Co’s Winter Storm, Old Dominion Brewing Co’s Dominion Winter Brew, Wild Goose Brewery’s Snow Goose, Fordham’s Scotch Ale, Brooklyn’s Winter Ale, Michelob’s Celebrate Chocolate and Michelob Celebrate’s Cherry and finally Mad Elf Ale from Troegs Brewing Co. I wonder how long it took the author to sample all those beers.

The Savanna Morning News has an article on something I think we knew was coming, the cost of our favorite refreshment is going to go up.

Driven by diminished supply, the price of hops has gone through the roof. Barley prices are also on the rise.

Customers at Moon River Brewing Co. on Bay Street can expect a similar pinch, said brewmaster John Pinkerton as he lamented that an order of hops that once cost $4.50 per pound is now upward of $20 per pound.

Here is another story on the same subject, from the Billings Gazette

So that combined with the cost of bottles, and transportation, it is a forgone conclusion that we will be paying more.

The Philadelphia Daily News’ article this week is on expensive beer.

The most expensive sixpack in America

Samuel Adams Utopias (Massachusetts), $140 for 24 oz. ($5.83 per ounce).
Lost Abbey Cable Car (California), $30 for 750 ml ($1.18 per ounce).
Russian River Supplication (California), $14 for 375 ml ($1.10 per ounce).
Avery Mephistopheles (Colorado), $12 for 12 oz. ($1 per ounce).
Church Brew Works Quadzilla (Pittsburgh), $20 for 22 oz. (91 cents per ounce).
Allagash Interlude (Maine), $19 for 750 ml (75 cents per ounce).

6 great high-end bargains

Sly Fox Rt. 113 IPA (Royersford), $5 for 22 oz. (23 cents per ounce.
Southampton Imperial Porter (Long Island), $5 for 22 oz. (23 cents per ounce).
Rogue Chocolate Stout (Oregon), $5.50 for 22 oz. (25 cents per ounce).
Ommegang Abbey Ale (New York), $8 for 750 ml (31 cents per ounce).
Weyerbacher Heresy (Easton), $7 for 22 oz. (32 cents per ounce).
Stone Vertical Epic (California), $8 for 22 oz. (36 cents per ounce).

Colorado’s Daily Times Call has a piece on craft brewing. I would love a chance to go on the bus tour mentioned.

On the eve of the Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Horst Grieger and more than 100 other beer enthusiasts boarded buses for a daylong tour of area breweries.

They mention Samuel Adams Utopias and Dogfish Head Brewery’s 90 and 120 Minute IPA