Enkidu Brew

Via Union Leader:

The move comes after the company merged with a private microbrewery to form Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc., and sold a quarter of its shares to kingpin Anheuser-Busch InBev.

“This bolsters our brand family and makes us a stronger player in the craft beer markets,” Redhook plant manager Amanda Telford said. “It gives us something for everyone.”

Redhook, a publicly traded company with plants in Portsmouth and Woodinville, Wash., merged on July 1 with privately held Widmer Brothers Brewing Company of Portland, Ore., maker of Widmer Hefeweizen.

Redhook’s Portsmouth plant was already bottling and distributing Hefeweizen on the east coast for Widmer, providing groundwork for the deal. The merger is now opening up the Portsmouth plant to bottling a number of brands from Widmer and its subsidiaries.

Kona Brewing Company of Kailua Kona, Hawaii, and Goose Island Beer Company of Chicago, Ill., subsidiaries of Widmer, were swept up into the deal, enabling Redhook plant to introduce beers from these lines into New England markets.

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Only for one brew, and only for Chicago.

Dogfish Head and Three Floyds will brew Popskull, a limited-batch German-style brown ale, at Three Floyds’ Munster, Ind., brewery Thursday. The beer, aimed at hardcore micro-brew fanatics, will be sold at the Munster brewery and possibly some select Chicago-area retailers and bars.

“These are two shining stars in the beer world and both are very popular in Chicago,” said Jerry Glunz, general manager of Louis Glunz Beer Inc., a Lincolnwood distributor that works with both companies. “They are both very innovative brewers and people are very excited to see what they will produce.”

Lincoln Anderson, a sales and marketing representative with Three Floyds, said Popskull is a slightly sweet, high-alcohol malt beer. He estimates a 22-oz. bottle will sell for $12 to $25.

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This is the first I’ve heard of these guys.  We’ll have to take a closer gander as they are about two and a half hours west of Enkidu.  They seem to be running a decent little spot with cheap taps and live music.

Via Pisgah blog:

We ordered 22 bottles today to take the next step and get our Pale Ale in more hands. Thanks again for voting us the best brewery in Western NC. More beer is on the way. They will be our usual - unfiltered and bottle conditioned!

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Via North County Times:

Until zymurgy spreads elsewhere in the solar system, Stone Brewing Co. will have to settle for this accolade: According to Beer Advocate magazine’s annual survey, Stone is the top brewery on Planet Earth.

(”Zymurgy” is a highbrow word for beer-making, befitting Stone’s connoisseur market.)

Stone beat out such well-regarded competitors as Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. in Chico; Bell’s Brewery in Kalamazoo, Mich.; and Bières de Chimay, a Trappist brewery in Belgium.

A maker of famously hyper-hoppy beers, Stone also took five spots out of 25 for top beers. They are: Stone Imperial Russian Stout, (2nd); Stone Ruination IPA, (11th); Stone IPA, (17th); Double Bastard Ale, (18th); and Arrogant Bastard Ale, (22nd). First place went to Trappistes Rochefort 10 Quadrupel, brewed by Brasserie de Rochefort, in Belgium.

Beer Advocate magazine based its awards on reader ratings of the breweries and beers, as given on its Web site, www.beeradvocate.com. The awards were announced in December.

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This morning’s New York Times travel section has a piece on the city of Philadelphia slowly returning to early roots as a brew town once again, with half a dozen breweries and pubs opening in recent years.  Most notably, each new bar in the area features microbrews.

From historically minded breweries that pay homage to our founding fathers, to bohemian pubs that craft unusual ales, the city is undergoing a kind of beer renaissance.

Much of the upswing can be attributed to Philadelphia’s bubbling night life. The new breweries, said Don Russell, who as Joe Sixpack writes a weekly column about beer for The Philadelphia Daily News, “are filling a need that’s out there being created by the local bar scene. Every single bar that has been opening up has a multitap system and is featuring microbrews.”

Combine that robust tavern scene with cheap real estate in emerging neighborhoods, and you’ve got the ingredients for a beer blast. In recent years, a half-dozen breweries and specialty pubs have opened in Philadelphia, ranging from boutique breweries that make micro batches to green-powered plants looking to become the city’s next biggest thing.

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Is the party really over?  If there is one thing that usually holds it’s own during a recession, it’s beer.  People drink because they are happy, and drink because they are sad.  Maybe we have finally hit that wall where beer is put in it’s place on the priority list, when before it was naturally set apart from life’s decisions on it’s golden platform to remain out of harm’s reach.

SABMiller PLC, the London-based brewer of Grolsch, Miller Genuine Draft and Peroni Nastro Azzurro lagers, said on Thursday its beer shipments fell unexpectedly in the third quarter as consumers pulled back on their demand.

Carlsberg A/S, the Copenhagen-based maker of Carlsberg beer, said it was cutting 274 jobs to save on costs due to a future “where we face more uncertainties and risks,” the company said in a statement.

SABMiller said lager volumes fell 1 percent in the three-month period that ended Dec. 31, compared with the same period a year earlier, because of the economy.

“Consumer demand has been affected by the current global economic slowdown, and has continued to weaken in many of the group’s markets,” the company said in releasing its quarterly trading update, which does not provide financials.

The big boys aren’t the only ones checking their registry.  Restaurants are feeling the bite as well as more and more customers are squeezing in their visit during happy hour, where drinks are usually half price.

“You start watching your pennies a bit more,” Romero said as he sipped a $3.75 pint of Honey Blond Ale one recent afternoon in the Yard House restaurant in downtown Long Beach. Just a few hours later, the same beer would sell for $6.

Chicago-based Goose Island beer is following Chicago-based Obama to DC.

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PRESS RELEASE

Wherein, Ommegang makes a 2009 resolution: To get our act together and give out the news you need well ahead of the game.

(Cooperstown, New York) In years past Ommegang released our specialty beers on a schedule seemingly based on every other random time period. With ongoing growth, the challenge of the guessing game has worn off. For 2009 we’ve committed to a schedule designed to keep everyone informed well in advance of releasing specialty beers. Let us know what you think, if you so desire, and remember to take frequent breaks from the demanding job of journalism to enjoy a fine beer. Happy 2009.

Inauguration Ale (a.k.a. Obamagang)
January - February
6.2% ABV - Draft only

The TTB won’t let us call the beer Obamagang on the keg label. So it will be known legally as Inauguration Ale 2009, but the tap handles will be more…um…direct. The style lies between a porter and stout, with a bit of Kriek and a touch of chocolate blended in. It will be on draft only, beginning with the inauguration - in limited areas including DC, NYC, Syracuse, Philly, Chicago and Boston. We will donate a percentage of sales to charities in the respective cities where the beer is sold, and we’ve asked our distributors to match our donations and pick the local charities. (Also please note that the beer is not an endorsement of Obama.)

Ommegang Biere de Mars
January - March
6.5% ABV - 750 ml bottle only

Belgian-style amber with Brettanomyces in the secondary fermentation, and also dry-hopped, making Biere de Mars amber ale with a bit of extra zing, extra tartness, and a touch of farmhouse funk. The original batch was brewed in the summer of 2008 for sale only at the brewery, but the response has been great, so here it comes for all.

Ommegang Rouge Flemish Red Ale
April - June
5.5% ABV - Draft only

Authentic Flemish Sour Red Ale. Brewed with our Belgian partner Bockor Brewery and imported to the US. The beer is spontaneously fermented, and then refermented and aged at least 18 months in French oak casks. It’s an unblended “Grand Cru- style” Flemish Sour Red Ale. Available on draft only, and an amazingly pleasurable drink.

Ommegeddon Funkhouse Ale
June - August
8% ABV - 750 ML bottle only

Ommegeddon is an 8% ABV Belgian-style ale with a wild twist - a dose of Brettanomyces yeast and a blast of dry hopping. It’s a strong blonde ale with a sharp citrus flavor that, like other Ommegang ales, has a dry finish. Its dryness and funkiness begat the name of Ommegeddon. This will be the fourth official brewing of the beer and we expect it to continue to evolve.

Ommegang Chocolate Indulgence
September - November
7.0% - Draft and 750 ML bottle

Since the 2007 - 10th Anniversary Edition - of Chocolate Indulgence Stout, our brewstaff and Department of All Things New and Delicious have been conducting research and experiments to further develop the character of the beer. (We tend to never sleep when it comes to fine-tuning the flavor and character of our beers.) We feel that the just-released 2008 batch has been honed to sublime levels of chocolaty / malty / decadent goodness - and that the 2009 brew will break some other new ground.

Ommegang Christmas/Noel/Winter Beer
November - December

It’s never too early to start thinking of next Christmas. The final name, ABV and packaging are under wraps for now, but the beer will - probably - fit somewhere in the range of a high-gravity Belgian-style winter warmer, with an Ommegang twist. (Feel free to send ideas, recommendations and samples of Noel beers you love. We promise to use for educational purposes only.)

Brewery Ommegang opened in 1997 to craft-brew fine Belgian-style ales. The brewery creates five ales year-round as well as a range of seasonal and specialty ales. The beers have won national following by connoisseurs of fine beer and are distributed in over 40 states. Ommegang production and sales continue to grow rapidly and the company is in the process of significant physical expansion to meet growing demand. The brewery is located on a 136-acre farmstead in Cooperstown, New York and offers free daily tours and tastings, as well as a well-stocked brewery store and an online store. Ommegang is open every day of the year except for Christmas Eve day, Christmas Day, Thanksgiving Day, and New Year’s Day. For more info, 1-800-544-1809, or visit  http://www.ommegang.com

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