Founders new brewhouse now in production!

 Oct.6- Founders new brewhouse is cranking out it's very first batch of Dirty Bastard.  The brewhouse will continue to be utilized to brew specialty batches and taproom-only beers. This means that, in total, their brewing capacity has increased from 30bbl to 115bbl per turn. Awesome!

Congrats Michigan breweries at GABF!

GABF 2011 Winners

The winners have been released for the Great American Beer Fest. Click here for the entire list of medals. Listed below are the Michigan medalist.

Category: 14 Experimental Beer – 83 Entries

Gold: Mangalitsa Pig Porter, Right Brain Brewery, Traverse City, MI

Silver: Petit Obscura, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA

Bronze: Belgorado, Wynkoop Brewing Co., Denver, CO

Category: 24 Aged Beer – 36 Entries
Gold: Expedition Stout, Bell’s Brewery, Galesburg, MI
Silver: Release the Hounds, Bull & Bush Brewery, Denver, CO

Bronze: 2004 Triple Exultation, Eel River Brewing Co., Fortuna, CA

Category: 69 Belgian- and French-Style Ale – 56 Entries

Gold: California Ale, Telegraph Brewing Co., Santa Barbara, CA

Silver: TAPS Biere de Garde, TAPS Fish House & Brewery (Corona, CA), Brea, CA

Bronze: Pin-Up Blonde, Bastone Brewery, Royal Oak, MI

Category: 70 Belgian-Style Lambic or Sour Ale – 51 Entries

Gold: Fifth Element 2008, Squatters Pub Brewery, Salt Lake City, UT

Silver: Blue Sunday, New Holland Brewing Co., Holland, MI

Bronze: Barton Kriek, North by Northwest, Austin, TX

Category: 78 Sweet Stout – 19 Entries

Gold: Steel Toe Stout, Ska Brewing Co., Durango, CO

Silver: Cream Stout, Redwood Brewing Co., Flint, MI

Bronze: Outlaw Oatmeal Stout, Great Basin Brewing Co., Sparks, NV

ABI's latest venture, the Belgian Beer Café

Belgian Beer Café® Offers Truly Unique Experience Along with Ambitious Plans for 60 U.S. Locations Hasselt, Belgium (September 2011) - It has been said about Belgian beers that there is a “beer for everyone.” If the popularity it has already found around the world is any indication, Belgian Beer Café is soon going to discover that everyone will be there for a beer when the unique Belgian bar / restaurant concept arrives on American shores. Created in 1998, Belgian Beer Café is truly fresh and exciting and sure to be a welcome addition to the U.S. casual dining landscape. The recipe is simple: Offer an extensive selection of world-renown and local-brewed Belgian beers; classic Belgian cuisine; an attentive, knowledgeable, white-jacketed wait staff and an atmosphere that evokes the comfortable surroundings of a classic Brussels brasserie café.
 The first Belgian Beer Café is tentatively scheduled to open at Newark Liberty International Airport in New Jersey in late 2011 / early 2012. Franchise / licensing projections call for the opening of approximately 60 Belgian Beer Cafés in the U.S. within three to four years. In addition to the Newark airport location – licensed to HMSHost – a tentative development agreement is expected to bring 10 Belgian Beer Cafés to the New York City and Boston metropolitan areas within the next five years.
 Each Belgian Beer Café will typically feature 20 to 40 Belgian beers, both bottled and draught, representing a full range of flavors. Only authentic Belgian beers are available in eight different styles: Abbey, Amber, Fruit, Gueuze, Lager, Specialty, Trappist and Wheat. Each is served in the proper glassware at the proper temperature, with a specific pouring ritual (see sidebar) for draught beers. Patrons are also sure to appreciate the delectable cuisine found in every Belgian Beer Café. Each will feature a wide array of Belgian and Belgian-inspired dishes such as Mussels, Vol au Vent (a light pastry shell filled with meat), Flemish Beef Stew, Cheese and Shrimp Croquettes and much more. For the less adventurous, the menu will feature such American staples as burgers and chicken wings as well as regional favorites.  belgianbeercafe

Canadian Breakfast Stout

Canadian Breakfast Stout (CBS) will be the second release in the company’s 750mL “Backstage Series”. It will be released to the market October 3, 2011 with a taproom release party on October 1.
 The taproom release at 235 Grandville Ave SE in downtown Grand Rapids will begin at 11 a.m. on October 1. There will be about 1700 bottles available for purchase at $18 each. A strict limit of two (2) bottles per person will apply, and all bottles will be available on a first-come, first-served basis. Because a line is expected to form before 11 a.m., numbers will be handed out so that the line can remain intact once the taproom doors open. CBS will be featured on draft, and CBS merchandise will be available in the Founders company store, which is on the north end of the taproom. As with all Founders specialty products, growler fills will not be available for CBS.
 Canadian Breakfast Stout is an Imperial Stout brewed with a blend of coffees and imported chocolates, then aged in spent bourbon barrels that have most recently been aging pure Michigan maple syrup. The final product has had stellar reviews and is currently the fifth highest rated beer in the world on www.BeerAdvocate.com.

Thank you New Holland!

Homebrewers United was a great time!

Fall Hop Harvest

Now that you have spent the entire growing season diligently caring for your vines, it is time to harvest what can turn out to be copious amounts of hops on healthy, mature plants. The following will cover some guidelines for you to follow in order to assure that you are harvesting your hops at their peak of potency and freshness. A little study in this area will allow you to accurately time your harvest so that you can maximize your return on your annual investment in water and time.

Take note, the following guidelines are on a cone by cone basis, rarely, if ever, will all of your cones be ready for harvest simply because some of them are presenting the signs that they are ready to harvest. Harvests can many times take days, or weeks to complete in separate stages for the home brewer. Hops farmers will often harvest everything at once, but at home you can take more care.

1. Hop cones appear less “tight”, the leaves of the cone are visibly “opening” 
2. The bases of the hop leaves are showing ample amounts of bright yellow lupulin 
3. When squeezed, the cones emit the fragrant scent that you would come to expect from fresh hops (pungent, fragrant)
4. When the cone is squeezed between your fingers and released, it feels papery, resilient, not green and hard
5. The small bract leaves at the base of the hop stem are beginning to dry and the tips are browning 

Typically when you observe a hop cone presenting all of the above traits, there will be an ample number just like it, enough to justify harvesting all of those that have peaked. Those cones that do not exhibit the signs listed above are best to be left alone until they do. It can take days or even weeks for them to mature.

Once you have harvested the ripe cones, it is time to prepare them for preservation. Hops have several enemies when it comes to maintaining their characteristics.

1. Temperature
2. Oxygen
3. Time

Hops must be stored cool, or better yet frozen. The oils that exist in the lupulin glands are volatile and do not store well at room temperature. These oils are also easily oxidized, which means that long term storage planning must include some sort of vacuum packaging. Lastly, even if you have frozen and vacuum packaged your hops, time is one enemy that you cannot avoid, that is, unless you actively brew and use your hops!

To prepare your hops for storage as discussed above, they are typically dried. You can freeze them wet, or use them wet in a specialty beer if you like! There is a school of thought, however, that believes that freezing WET hops will actually serve to preserve the hops longer, though drying them is the norm. (Source Charlie Papazian, Homebrewers Companion)

To dry the hops you can use many methods, but stay away from cookie sheets and ovens if you can. Hops are fragile, their oils and thusly their characteristics are extremely susceptible to degradation from high temperatures, best to dry them slowly and naturally. Food dehydrators have been used with success, or another method that is used with great success is the box fan and window screen method.

If you have a home, you most certainly have windows, and you most certainly have some window screens to go along with them. You can use some chairs, 5 gallon buckets, really anything you can think of to support the window screen horizontally above the floor. Now, you must do the same with a cheap box fan from any retail store… supported above the floor (to allow it circulate air), but below your window screen, facing upward.

You can then spread your freshly harvested hops across the screen in a singular layer and turn the fan on low. You don’t want the hops flying all over your garage, but you do want to promote drying and air circulation. Agitate the hops periodically to ensure even drying of all of the hops. Allow this process to carry on until your leaf hops are papery and sufficiently dry to store. Once this is accomplished, vacuum seal and freeze any hops that you do not intend to use right away to preserve them.

When you are picking, make sure to keep the different varieties you grow in separate containers and drying screens as not to mix them up.

Vander Mill cider garden now open

MittenBrew, Christopher Epplett In hopes of promoting more on-site consumption of its hard cider, Vander Mill celebrated the grand opening of its outdoor cider garden Friday. Hard cider’s increasing popularity has created fairly rapid growth for Paul Vander Heide’s cider mill. Friday’s opening of its more than 2,000 square-foot outdoor garden was another benchmark for Vander Mill. “It’s a relaxing, family-friendly place to have a drink,” Vander Heide said. “We’re trying to maintain a balance of family-friendly and craft-alcohol drinking.”
Among the “family-friendly” options, youngsters were carted around on a train powered by a tractor and took full advantage of an adjacent playground area surrounded by five acres of woods to the east of the mill.
In the past three years the cider mill has seen increased traffic, which the owner attributes to familiarity of its products now served at 28 bars/restaurants and 40 store retailers across the state, mostly in West Michigan.
 “There’s a lot of traffic coming from Grand Rapids and they recognize the logo, they recognize the name,” Vander Heide said. “And then there’s other people seeking it out.”
  Vander Mill, 14921 Cleveland St., is en route for beachgoers to Grand Haven State Park or Ottawa County’s North Beach Park. Those taking I-96 and exiting on M-104 pass the mill on their right heading into town (on the left as heading out of town). The store is open during the summer Tuesday-Saturday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday noon to 7 p.m.
During the event, two specialty ciders were on tap in addition to eight others — the mill usually has 10 ciders on tap. The specialties, Luscious Lutes, hard cider fortified with apple brandy, and Doubled Over, a dry-hopped, bourbon-barrel aged cyser, are both available until the batches run out.
 “We’re hoping to have a food element,” Vander Heide said. “The concept is going to be that we do 100 percent Michigan product. We would hope the additional food we offer would feature the products sold in the store.”
 Vander Mill was recently state-approved for a microbrewing license and is working on federal approval. The owner says Vander Mill will brew various fruit beers, “things that are kind of in our vein.” “We are a cider mill first,” he said. “We’re going to make a beer that has cider in it, you can bet on that.” The brews — perhaps two or three offered on-site with occasional one-offs at local bars — will be made “on a really micro scale,” according to Vander Heide.
 The mill is transitioning from poly totes to tanks, which should help produce a higher volume of cider. In total, three tanks will be used — a 2,000-gallon fermenter and two 850-gallon brite tanks for carbonation. “It’s really going to help us improve consistency batch to batch,” Vander Heide said, adding the tanks will give a more consistent carbonation and help manage the company’s overall distribution growth.
 Vander Heide said. “It’s not how much we can sell, it’s who we can sell it to. We want to be able to sell it as a craft cider, not just a cider.”

Another list of favorites from Zymurgy...

 Zymurgy magazine, the publication of the American Homebrewers Association, released its ninth annual list of the 50 best beers in the country and West Michigan breweries can pat themselves on the back.

Bell's Brewery Inc., of Kalamazoo, and Founder Brewing Co., of Grand Rapids, dominated by putting two beers in the top three and three brews in the top five.
 Bell's IPA Two Hearted came in at No. 2, trailing Pliny the Elder from Russian River, of Santa Rosa, Calif.
Pliny the Elder has won the last three years.
 Founders' Kentucky Breakfast Stout was tied for third with Dogfish Head's 90 Minute IPA. Bell's Hopslam took fifth and the Expedition Stout claimed 19th.  Marshall's Dark Horse Brewing Co. also came in tied for No. 48 for its IPA, Crooked Tree.
Here is the full list
1. Russian River Pliny the Elder
2. Bell’s Two Hearted Ale (Kalamazoo)
3 (tie). Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA
3 (tie). Founders Kentucky Breakfast Stout (Grand Rapids)
5. Bell’s Hopslam
6. Stone Arrogant Bastard
7. Sierra Nevada Celebration
8 (tie). Sierra Nevada Torpedo
8 (tie). Stone Ruination
10. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
11. Stone Sublimely Self Righteous
12. Sierra Nevada Bigfoot Barleywine
13. Goose Island Bourbon County Stout
14 (tie). Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter
14 (tie). Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale
16 (tie). Dogfish Head 60 Minute IPA
16 (tie). New Glarus Belgian Red
18. North Coast Old Rasputin
19. Bell’s Expedition Stout
20 (tie). Deschutes The Abyss
20 (tie). Left Hand Milk Stout
20 (tie). Odell IPA
20 (tie). Samuel Adams Noble Pils
20 (tie). Surly Furious
20 (tie). Troegs Nugget Nectar
26 (tie). Rogue Dead Guy Ale
26 (tie). Samuel Adams Boston Lager
28. Anchor Steam
29 (tie). Bear Republic Racer 5
29 (tie). Ommegang Three Philosophers
29 (tie). Oskar Blues Ten Fidy
29 (tie). Three Floyds Alpha King
29 (tie). Three Floyds Dark Lord
34 (tie). Avery Maharaja
34 (tie). Dogfish Head Indian Brown
34 (tie). Dogfish Head Palo Santo Marron
34 (tie). Three Floyds Gumballhead
38 (tie). Dogfish Head 120 Minute IPA
38 (tie). Lost Abbey Angel’s Share
38 (tie). New Belgium La Folie
38 (tie). New Belgium Ranger
38 (tie). Oskar Blues Old Chub
43 (tie). Ballast Point Sculpin IPA
43 (tie). Great Divide Yeti
43 (tie). New Belgium 1554
43 (tie). Russian River Blind Pig
43 (tie). Ska Modus Hoperandi
48 (tie). Alesmith Speedway Stout
48 (tie). Dark Horse Crooked Tree (Marshall)
48 (tie). Green Flash West Coast IPA
48 (tie). Summit EPA
48 (tie). Victory Prima Pils

Michigan homebrew bill passes

Michigan homebrew bill passes Michigan State House, moves on to state senate.
LANSING — A bill that would allow homebrew to be served in licensed Michigan brewpubs and restaurants passed the Michigan State House of Representatives Thursday.

 House Bill 4061 passed by a vote of 105 to 5, according to the Brewers Association.
The bill, which would allow homebrewed beer to be served for competitions and club meetings, will now go to the Michigan State Senate, where it has been assigned to the Regulatory Reform Committee.

Michigan Beer Cellar to start bottling

 While making a name for themselves in the increasingly competitive craft beer market that is West Michigan, Michigan Beer Cellar is deciding to take their art a step further. The Sparta based brewery already distributes kegs of their brew to approx. 15 pubs across the area. Now they're looking to expand on that by distributing their brew in bottle form. Upon label approval and bottling line installation, they're looking to start with 4 different brews.

Short's Brewing Co. has an app

By Josh Smith Are you planning a special event and need some help figuring out how much beer to plan for?Well, the good folks at Short's Brewing Co. have created a very handy tool for just that kind of brainteaser.Their new app - beer-calculator - will help you calculate how much beer you need based on the total number of guests, percentage of guests who drink beer, and the number of drinks per person.Their Beer Ordering Calculator will advise you how many 1/2 barrels, 1/4 barrels, 1/6 barrels, or 12 oz. cases you should plan for.For example, say you are throwing a bash and invite say, 50 of your best friends. If you assume half of them drink beer and each drinks two, you should be able to getaway with:

• 0.40 1/2 barrels

• 0.81 1/4 barrels

• 1.21 1/6 barrels

or 1.56 cases (24 - 12 oz. bottles)

It's probably best to round up or even pad it a little (good craft beer tends to runs out fast). I also briefly tested this on my smartphone and it worked pretty well with my browser — in case you need to recalculate on the fly. 

Helpful Reading

  Book Review: Brewing Better Beer by Gordon Strong

Posted by Alan Mcleod

 Gordon Strong is a very accomplished home brewer and judge so I was interested in reading what he admits is a very personal take on making your own beer at a high level of skill.

A few words on what this book is not. It is not really a beginners guide. Look elsewhere for that. My favorite (mentioned also by Strong) remains Homebrewing, Vol. 1 by Al Korzonas even if it does not include all-grain brewing. It is not a style guide and it's also not jam packed with stats and tables. It's more about beer and brewing than a description of brewing. There are recipes to illustrate points being made but it is not a book of recipes. Spaced throughout the book there are sections titled "So What Do I Do?" in which Gordon sets out his personal preferences on the given topic relating them to his own experience and taste.

And that is what I see this book as offering - a way to make your own way into and along a path of skillful and even competitive brewing. And I also see it as useful for anyone wanting to explore skilled and experienced drinking.

Gordon Strong is the current Beer Judge Certification Program (BJCP) President, as well as the world’s only Grand Master Level V Beer Judge.  Gordon is also an accomplished home brewer, who won the 2009 Ninkasi award as the American Homebrewer’s Association Winningest Brewer.

How Do You Know When?

BYO asked, “You know you are a homebrewer when . . .” 
• it’s more important to brew than buy Christmas presents.
• your four-year-old is on a first name basis with the owner of the homebrew shop.
• every vacation, road trip or errand turns into a quest for breweries, beer and beer equipment.
• you enjoy smelling bunghole emissions.
• you realize the most organized part of your life is your brewing records.
• you’re looking at a new house and the first thing you’re looking for is the best place to brew.
• in order to get the Christmas decorations out of the closet you have to first move bottles, fermenters, a stainless steel kettle and a wort chiller.
• there are more refrigerators/freezers in your garage than cars.
• you correct the waiter on a style of beer.
• you’re making beer for everything from the fantasy football draft to the company holiday party.
• you measure manhood by how many taps you have on your kegerator.

Washing Yeast for reuse

 There is a way of cleaning up used yeast or washing/rinsing out the spurge material. It is a series of steps that involve diluting the yeast sludge with sterile water and pouring off the foreign debris that rises to the top and that settles to the bottom of the mixture. The middle area of the rinsed solution contains the healthy, viable yeast cells.

In any case, here are the steps to washing your yeast:

Pour off the excess liquid from the top of the container of salvaged yeast

Fill the container with sterile water (in my case I boil and cooled filtered water)

Agitate the jar until completely mixed, don't leave any lumps intact.

 Let mixture rest until there is a clear separation of the three layers (you should be able to see a lighter layer in the middle, that is formed by the healthy yeast)

 Once the separation is clear (20 to 30 minutes) gently pour off (discard) the top layer, then pour the middle layer (yeast) into another sanitized container and discard the bottom layer

A clear seperation of the three areas, the light middle area is the healthy yeast and you can see it congregating at the bottom (light area)

This is a look after a second seperation is complete.

With the yeast now in a new container repeat the process to clean even further. Repeat as many times as you wish.



After a third repeat filling with sterile water and agitating

 
 
 
 
 
 

 
This is the final result.

Pretty clear liquid covering a healthy yeast cake

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You can store the yeast longer under these conditions making it easy to step up a culture from washed yeast to create a very large and healthy colony

Release The Hellhounds!

pr-usa.net: Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Celebrates 100th Birthday of Mississippi Delta Bl

May 8, 2011 marks the 100th birthday of singer/songwriter/guitarist Robert Johnson -- the archetypal Mississippi Delta bluesman who purportedly sold his soul to the Devil at the crossroads of Highway 61 and Highway 49 in exchange for uncanny musical prowess. In honor of the Robert Johnson centennial, Delaware's Dogfish Head Craft Brewery has created "Hellhound On My Ale," a super-hoppy brew inspired by the otherworldly soul and complexity of Johnson's music.

 Produced in a small-quantity-limited run, "Hellhound On My Ale," is 100% dry-hopped with Centennial Hops with sublime citrus notes courtesy of dried organic lemon peel and flesh added pre-fermentation (a taste-bud tribute to Johnson's musical mentor, Blind Lemon Jefferson). "Just as Johnson's unique style was a hybrid of Delta blues, country and even vaudeville," said Dogfish founder and president Sam Calagione, "Centennial Hops are a recently developed variety that is a hybrid of Brewer's Gold, Golding, and Fuggles hop varieties. Centennial Hops grow in the Northwest United States and have wonderful floral and citrus notes." Rounding off the centennial spirit of the ale, Hellhound is brewed at 10.0 abv.

 Coming in early May, Dogfish Head's "Hellhound" will be available in Delaware, Maryland, District of Columbia, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Connecticut, Maine, Massachusetts, Vermont, Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan, Ohio, Arizona, California, Colorado, Nevada, Oregon and Washington.
 The newly crafted Robert Johnson ale was created, according to Calagione, as a way to "celebrate his artistry and his centennial simultaneously. Johnson's playing was so complex and full that his one guitar sounded like two. His voice and lyrics were as distinct as his guitar playing, and stood out as distinct beyond the other blues musicians of the day. Beyond that you have the legend of Johnson selling his soul to the devil in return for mastery of the guitar. We wanted to make an ale that paid tribute to all that."
 "Robert Johnson is an American treasure," said Adam Block, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Legacy Recordings, "and his musical legacy and remarkable folklore are well worth celebrating. In this spirit, Sam and Dogfish Head have brewed an appropriately wonderful and delicious tribute to Johnson and his music."
 Dogfish Head and its "off-centered ales for off-centered people" were the subject of "A Better Brew," an article in The New Yorker (Nov. 24, 2008) examining the rise of extreme beer. "Beer has lagged well behind wine and organic produce in the ongoing reinvention of American cuisine. Yet the change over the past twenty years has been startling," wrote Burkhard Bilger. "Dogfish is something of a mascot for this unruly movement. In the thirteen years since Calagione founded the brewery, it has gone from being the smallest in the country to the thirty-eighth largest. Calagione makes more beer with at least ten per cent alcohol than any other brewer, and his odd ingredients are often drawn from ancient or obscure beer traditions. It is to Budweiser what a bouillabaisse is to fish stock."
 Robert Johnson's alleged contract with Satan brought forth an incandescent guitar technique and a run of 10-inch 78 rpm singles for the Vocalion, Oriole, Conqueror and Perfect labels recorded in San Antonio in 1936 and Dallas in 1937. Those songs have become a cornerstone of 20th century music, and Columbia Records' identity, and will be celebrated on two CENTENNIAL releases from Columbia/Legacy, a division of SONY MUSIC ENTERTAINMENT.
 Over the years, Johnson's influence has resounded in the music of Muddy Waters ("32-20 Blues"), Elmore James ("I Believe I'll Dust My Broom"), Junior Parker ("Sweet Home Chicago"), John Hammond Jr. ("Milk Cow's Calf Blues"), the Rolling Stones ("Love In Vain," "Stop Breakin' Down Blues"), John Mayall ("Ramblin' On My Mind"), Cream ("From Four Until Late"), Eric Clapton ("Cross Road Blues"), Johnny Winter ("When You Got a Good Friend"), Paul Butterfield and Bonnie Raitt ("Walkin' Blues"), Fleetwood Mac and ZZ Top ("Hellhound On My Trail"), Led Zeppelin ("Traveling Riverside Blues"), Keb' Mo' ("Preachin' Blues"), Cassandra Wilson ("Come On In My Kitchen"), and countless others. It is by far the most empowering body of work in American history to emerge from one solitary blues figure.

Pierre Celis, Brewer of Hoegaarden and Celis Beer, Dead at 86

By Brittanie Shey  Pierre Celis, the "King of Belgian White Beer", died over the weekend. He was 86.

In spite of several unfavorable transactions with major brewing companies, Celis is widely considered one of the forbearers of the craft-brewing movement in America. His self-named brewery operated in Austin from the mid-1990s to 2001. He was also the founder of Hoegaarden beer.

 Celis was born in Hoegaarden, Belgium, and founded the beer named after his hometown in 1966. Hoegaarden had been without a witbier brewery, a specialty in the area, for 11 years. Though the wheat beer style had been a Belgian staple since the 1400s, Celis was widely considered to have reignited the declining popularity of the beer style.
But he was just getting started. In 1987, a fire gutted the Hoegaarden brewery. Celis, who had no insurance, took loans from other breweries, the largest of which, Artois (as in, Stella Artois) ended up with a share in the business. After Artois was sold to EnBev, Celis faced pressure to make his beer more marketable. Instead of caving, he sold the brewery altogether and moved his operations to    Austin, Texas, where, it's said, he was drawn by the water quality in the Edwards Aquifer.
By the mid-1990s he was again brewing wheat beer in the style famous to Hoegaarden, now called Celis Beer, and making a name for himself as one of the early leaders of the American craft beer movement. And yet again, his investors went corporate on him, selling their shares to major conglomerates. In 2000, Miller bought the company from Celis, closed the brewery, and then sold the brand name to Michigan Brewing Company.
 Celis Beer was relaunched a few years later, but it was no longer brewed in Texas, and most likely, no longer brewed according to Pierre's original recipe.
Though Celis split his time between Austin and Belgium, his daughter Christine had managed most of the brewery's day-to-day operations until the buyout. Pierre continued brewing witbier in Belgium according to his original recipe for Hoegaarden up until recently, even visiting 512 brewery in Austin three years ago, according to the Alamo Drafthouse blog.

Another crafter falls to the 'dark side'

By Josh Noel and Emily York
 Goose Island Beer Co., the Chicago-based brewing powerhouse, announced this morning that it will be taken over by Anheuser-Busch (A-B) for $38.8 million.

Goose Island, whose legal name is Fulton Street Brewery LLC, is selling a 58 percent stake in the company to A-B for $22.5 million. The Craft Brewers Alliance, in which A-B holds a 32 percent stake, has agreed to sell its own Goose Island stake to A-B for $16.3 million. The Craft Brewers Alliance owns the remaining 42 percent of Goose Island.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. (AB InBev), the world’s largest brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. AB InBev was formed when InBev NV bought Anheuser-Busch Cos. in 2008.
As part of the deal, A-B will also invest $1.3 million in the Fulton Street brewery to increase production capacity. Goose Island sold approximately 127,000 barrels of beer in 2010.
Brewmaster Greg Hall will be stepping down. Founder and president John Hall will stay on as CEO.
“Demand for our beers has grown beyond our capacity to serve our wholesale partners, retailers, and beer lovers,” Hall said in a statement. “This agreement helps us achieve our goals with an ideal partner who helped fuel our growth, appreciates our products and supports their success.”
He added that the “new structure will preserve the qualities that make Goose Island’s beers unique, strictly maintain our recipes and brewing processes.”
If approved by regulators, the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011.
“These critically acclaimed beers are the hometown pride of Chicagoans,” said Dave Peacock, president of Anheuser-Busch, said in a statement. “We are very committed to expanding in the high end beer segment, and this deal expands our portfolio of brands with high-quality, regional beers. As we share ideas and bring our different strengths and experiences together, we can accelerate the growth of these brands.”
A-B’s move comes at a time when craft beer sales have surged, while major brewers’ sales by volume have been flat or decreased. Big brewers have been hoping to tap into craft beers’ growth without alienating drinkers who prefer craft brews to more mainstream ones.
Craft beer is expected to make up 11 percent of total beer consumption this year.
Although the Craft Brewers Alliance’s 2006 investment in Goose Island has technically exempted the brewer from craft-beer status, the company’s popular brands have shared the problem of other craft beers: increasing capacity to meet surging demand.
Goose Island is best-known for its 312 Urban Wheat Ale, and respected in craft circles for other products like Matilda and Bourbon County Stout. Goose Island has been outsourcing some production and seeking additional investment to expand capacity.
In an interview with the Tribune last month, brewmaster Greg Hall said the company’s sales had “outpaced our forecast in 2010, so that we weren’t quite ready for all of the growth we got.” Goose Island also hired an investment banker to assist the family in securing funds for expansion.
“Our long-term goal is to have a new brewery in Chicago,” Hall said. He said the company is buying new tanks for the current facility, “but you can’t just go to Wal-Mart” and buy them.
Several craft brewers have recently cut distribution in the face of straining capacity. The brewer Dogfish Head, which is based in Milton, Del., announced earlier this month that it would pull out of Tennessee, Indiana, Wisconsin and Rhode Island.
“The glass-half-full view is that we (and a handful of other U.S. craft breweries making similar moves) have to do this because the number of U.S. drinkers buying and enjoying craft beer are growing so quickly!” Dogfish founder and president Sam Calagione wrote on the company’s blog. “This decision will allow us to still get many different, exotic, Dogfish specialty and seasonal beers into our slightly smaller footprint. It will also ensure that more cases and kegs of our core, year-round beers will be available closer to home.”

Michigan Say's 'NO' to the B-word... Again!

 First Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Beer couldn’t sell his “Bitches Brew” in Michigan and now Maryland based Flying Dog Brewery  is suing the Michigan State Liquor Control alleging the agency is censoring its free speech by rejecting labels for the bottler’s “Raging Bitch” 20th Anniversary India Pale Ale

In a complaint filed Friday, the brewery asks a federal judge to issue an injunction overriding the board's decision and allow it to advertise and sell the beer here.
The commission, which regulates alcohol sales and advertising, deemed language on the bottle to be “detrimental to the health, safety, or welfare of the general public,” according to the lawsuit, which also names five commissioners as defendants.
Flying Dog says in court records it has refrained from retailing in the state out of fear of criminal penalty – up to four years and a fine of up to $5,000 - for selling without a license.

The company markets approved labels, including “Doggie Style” Classic Pale Ale, “In Heat Wheat” Hefeweizen Ale and “Old Scratch” Amber Lager, at many chain and specialty stores in West Michigan.

“Flying Dog's inability to legally sell (the anniversary ale) in Michigan has damaged Flying Dog by costing it significant sales,” of the beer and branded products, the lawsuit claims. “(It also is) generally damaging Flying Dog's goodwill in Michigan and thus hurting the sales of Flying Dog's other beers and products that may be legally sold.”

A spokeswoman for the Liquor Control Commission could not be reached and it's not clear if the state Attorney General, which would handle the case, had been served with the lawsuit.

The brewing company, which has its roots in Colorado and has ties to Gonzo-journalist Hunter S. Thompson, asserts that the state violated its First Amendment rights by refusing to endorse the artwork and inscription from renowned illustrator and writer Ralph Steadman. Steadman partnered with Thompson for “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” and has written for The New York Times and Rolling Stone.

Flying Dog says it applied to sell its new beer, now its most popular and voted as one of the top 10 new beers of 2010 by a trade publication, in Sept. 2009. Commissioners turned down the request a month later, leading to an administrative appeal.

The commission affirmed its decision with commissioner Patrick Gagliardi offering that the board is not adverse to edgy writing but that “we do have a responsibility here to place product in a public place with the names that are on it, and that's what we take very seriously,” according to the suit.

Gagliardi was referring to Steadman's partial label inscription of “Remember, enjoying a Raging Bitch, unleashed, untamed, unbridled – and in heat- is pure GONZO.”

The profanity used by Flying Dog has never been approved by the state commission, but the state has allowed sales of alcoholic beverages with a vulgar term on the label. Among those are a Grand Rapids brew “Dirty Bastard,” crafted by Founders.

Laws governing the liquor board allow them to reject the registration of anything that is “deemed to promote violence, racism, sexism, intemperance or intoxication or to be detrimental to the health, safety or welfare of the general public.”

Flying Dog's proposed label, outside of the profanity, has a drawing of a female dog and reads, in part: “Two inflammatory words...one wild drink. Nectar imprisoned in a bottle. Let it out...It has taken 20 years to get from there to here. Enjoy.”

The beer debuted 20 years after George Stranahan and Richard McIntyre opened the Flying Dog brewpub in Aspen, Colo. At another bar, they befriended Thompson, who introduced them to Steadman. That led to the collaboration of Steadman's irreverent illustrations and words being on the bottler's beer.

Brewery operations later moved to Maryland and the company now sells about 900,000 cases per year.

Ska Brewing Parody pokes at "Brew Masters"

Ska Brewing Parody Mocks More Successful, Better Looking Craft Brewers
DURANGO, COLO., (Mar. 6, 2011) --It's different colors, it has alcohol, it's beer... but for Dave Thibodeau and his co-minions at Ska Brewing Co., (the very first craft brewery to copy Oskar Blues by canning), beer is a passion, a business, and a personal quest to make delicious craft beer and stay employed at the same time. "Brew Minions" is a parody of the Discovery Channel's recent series "Brew Masters", featuring Sam Calagione and Dogfish Head Brewery.
Brew Minions follows Dave and his team as they flawlessly execute a project to make a 30th Anniversary beer for the long-running NYC Ska band The Toasters. Along the way they cross high mountain passes and travel almost across town, pioneer techniques to produce beers (and short films) of questionable originality, and ignore advice from Sam himself, who makes a cameo, but was otherwise not harmed in the making of this video.
 Check it out.  SKA brew parody

Hangin' Frank gets a new name

By Josh Smith BELLAIRE — Short's Brewing Co. will rename and craft a new label for its seasonal beer Hangin' Frank.

 The India Pale Ale was one of Short's first beers and was named and brewed for the City Park Grill in Petoskey, according to their website.
 The rebranding will involve coming up with a new name and new artwork for this much loved beer. For anyone wondering why we have a beer called “Hangin’ Frank” in the first place, it involves the legend and folklore of the City Park Grill in Petoskey, which is the restaurant that inspired this particular beer. We regret any pain that this beer name and artwork has caused, and appreciate your understanding!"
 Refer to the brewery's website for the full story behind the label/name.Shorts wanted to be very clear that there was no intent to offend or rely on gimmicks or shock value.

   hmmm... look out Dead Guy Ale you may be next