Beer News

Headwaters Pale Does Good Things

Victory Brewing’s Headwaters Pale Ale doesn’t just delight your tastebuds, but helps protect the environment.  The Downingtown based brewing company has donated part of the proceeds from the sales of their pale ale to the Guardians of the Brandywine, a Continue Reading →

Bell’s Bombers To Be Sold In Eccentric

Laura Bell of Bell’s Brewing has clarified more about the 750ml bottle releases.   They will be headed for the Eccentric Cafe in downtown Kalamazoo, MI.

Laura posted some clarification to a BeerAdvocate.com forum on 5/7/11:

[quote style=”boxed”]We have started the label Continue Reading →

O’Fallon Brewing Purchased

O’Fallon Brewing has been purchased.  Last week, Jim Gorczyca a now former Anheuser-Busch executive left his role at AB to go into craft beer full time.

O’Fallon was on the hunt for investor to maintain the brewery and grow a little.  The Continue Reading →

Foam Returns For Phish

Sierra Nevada Brewing is a fan of Phish.  Foam Pilsner was brewed for the annual Phish Festivals.

Foam was available last year at Phish 8, held last year in California – a.k.a. “hippie Halloween.”  A sales rep for Sierra Nevada told Continue Reading →

Bruery: More Barrels, No Orchard White

The Bruery is entering their 3rd year.  Their popularity has grown exponentially.  Their beers, amazing.  Things couldn’t be better.  Now the Rue family has a choice to make.  Build a bigger brewery, incur debt, and bring in outside investments, or Continue Reading →

Pour Your Own Beer At Taco Mac

Starting today, Taco Mac starts table taps at their Prado location in Atlanta, Georgia.   Now you will be able to sit at one of the tables featuring the tap handles, and pour your own beer.

How does this Continue Reading →

Stone Brewing To Open Hotel?

Stone Brewing held a media conference about their expansion, European efforts, & new projects.    Here’s some notes from the conference.

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European Stone location will be in either Belgium or Germany.  There has been over 50 proposals to Continue Reading →

Posted in Beer News, Victory Brewing Company

Headwaters Pale Does Good Things

Victory Brewing’s Headwaters Pale Ale doesn’t just delight your tastebuds, but helps protect the environment.  The Downingtown based brewing company has donated part of the proceeds from the sales of their pale ale to the Guardians of the Brandywine, a group that promotes clean water.  Victory receives the water used in brewing from Brandywine creek, a mere 14 miles from the mash tun.

Full Press Release

Victory for the Environment: Beer Grant Champions Clean Water Initiative

Victory Brewing Company donates a portion of proceeds from Headwaters Pale Ale to Guardians of the Brandywine to promote individual responsibility for clean water.

DOWNINGTOWN, PA — Beer is the product of four simple ingredients ­– water, hops, malt, and yeast. Victory Brewing Company prides itself in using the world’s best ingredients for making beer. The brewery was purposefully opened less than 14 miles from the pristine headwaters of the Brandywine Creek. Because of the important role water plays in the production of quality beer, Victory Brewing Company initiated The Headwaters Grant as a way to give back to the groups working hard to protect the natural resource.

In mid-February, Victory Brewing Company launched a new beer brand: Headwaters Pale Ale. The beer’s name pays homage to the water with which is it brewed, and a penny from every bottle sold is collected and distributed to the recipient of Victory’s Headwaters Grant.

On May 17, the Guardians of the Brandywine received the first Headwaters Grant.

“The pure water flowing from the East Branch of the Brandywine Creek has contributed so much to the character of Victory Brewing Company,” said Victory Brewing Company President, Bill Covaleski. “Therefore, it was an obvious step for us to give back to the creek which has so generously provided to us.”

This initial Headwaters Grant will assist The Guardians’ mission of achieving Exceptional Value designation for the upper reaches of the East Branch of the Brandywine, as well as to fund The Guardian’s program, “My Creek.” This outreach program aims to educate individuals to take ownership of clean water issues. With help from Victory Brewing Company, The Guardians plan to inspire citizens to start making a difference in their own backyards.

“Our shared belief in the value of clean water, healthy streams and rivers, and protecting the Brandywine make for an excellent partnership,” said Guardians of the Brandywine Secretary, Tish Molloy. “The Brandywine is a Chester County jewel and we look forward to working with Victory to protect and preserve the high quality waters that flow through it.”

Headwaters Pale Ale is Victory’s fastest growing brand. As the popularity of the beer increases, so will the size and reach of the grants awarded each year.

Pic: VictoryBeer.com

 

Posted in Beer News, Bell's Brewing

Bell’s Bombers To Be Sold In Eccentric

Laura Bell of Bell’s Brewing has clarified more about the 750ml bottle releases.   They will be headed for the Eccentric Cafe in downtown Kalamazoo, MI.

Laura posted some clarification to a BeerAdvocate.com forum on 5/7/11:

[quote style=”boxed”]We have started the label approval process for a number of different brands intended to be packaged in 750s. At this point we are just going through the approval stages and will release a “schedule” once we’ve decided on it. The 750s will only be available in our General Store in Kalamazoo and will not be distributed to our sales territories. As some of you know, we do not fill growlers at our pub in Kalamazoo and we want to provide a way for patrons to have the opportunity to take home some of the pub only beers… A more formal announcement of the Eccentric Cafe only 750 program will be released over the next few weeks.  Thanks!  -Laura Bell[/quote]

Currently, bombers slated for 750ml release include Sparking Ale, The Wild One, Quinannan Falls Lager, Golden Rye Ale, & Wedding Ale.  Eccentric Cafe just under went some pretty big renovations recently along side Bell’s 50+million dollar expansion.

Posted in Beer News, O'Fallon Brewing

O’Fallon Brewing Purchased

O’Fallon Brewing has been purchased.  Last week, Jim Gorczyca a now former Anheuser-Busch executive left his role at AB to go into craft beer full time.

O’Fallon was on the hunt for investor to maintain the brewery and grow a little.  The brewery was founded in 2000 by Tony and Fran Caradonna.  While Gorczyca is now the owner, the Cardonnas and O’Fallon head brewer Brian Owens will still remain with the brewery.

O’Fallon Brewing is known for it’s 5 Day IPA (a personal favorite), a peach wheat called Wheach, and Cherry Chocolate beer.  These beers have been scarce on shelves for sometime now.  The lineup will stay the same for now, but the distribution channels have changed.  Missouri Beverage Company will no longer distribute O’Fallon, in Favor of Grey Eagle & Krey Distribution.

Fans of O’Fallon will start seeing the beers back on shelves in by June. The brewery averages about 6,400 barrels per year. (198,400 gallons.) <STLToday>

More about O’Fallon – http://www.ofallonbrewery.com/

Posted in Beer News, Seasonal Return

Foam Returns For Phish

Sierra Nevada Brewing is a fan of Phish.  Foam Pilsner was brewed for the annual Phish Festivals.

Foam was available last year at Phish 8, held last year in California – a.k.a. “hippie Halloween.”  A sales rep for Sierra Nevada told me last night the Foam Pilsner will be back again for “Super Ball IX” held at Watkins Glen in New York State July 1-3.

About Foam:

Foam is a German style pilsner brewed with grassy noble hops, and a blend of German and American malts.  Close to 200 kegs are slated for the festival this year.

Availability: Draft only, Phish festivals.

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Posted in Beer News, The Bruery

Bruery: More Barrels, No Orchard White

The Bruery is entering their 3rd year.  Their popularity has grown exponentially.  Their beers, amazing.  Things couldn’t be better.  Now the Rue family has a choice to make.  Build a bigger brewery, incur debt, and bring in outside investments, or keep the brewery a small, family owned business.  Of course, they are choosing the later.  A couple of changes are going to be made.  Recently The Bruery leased a warehouse to fill with thousands of oak barrels. More barrel aged beers will hit the market.  Sadly, Orchard White is no more.  The newsletter I received earlier today says it all:

To all the loyal fans and retailers of our beer,

As we approach our 3rd anniversary, it’s incredible to look back at the journey of these last few years. Our growth has been of a magnitude that we never could have imagined when brewing our first 15-barrel batch. As you might already know, we’ve been operating at capacity for over the last year and a half; a near doubling of capacity in January of this year has been a mere drop in the bucket. We’ve reached a fork in the road. One path is to open a much larger brewery that would satisfy demand over the long term, and accumulate millions of debt and bring on outside investors to get to that point. The other path is renewal of our original vision: a small, family-owned business making some of the most interesting, highest-quality specialty beers available in the market in our own unique way. After much debate, research and soul-searching, we’ve chosen the latter path — but on a grander scale.

We have just leased a temperature controlled warehouse space that we will be filling with thousands of oak barrels, allowing us to create some of our favorite beers such as Oude Tart, Melange #3, and a variety of other delicious and innovative beers. We’re extremely excited for this cellar expansion both because it will allow our creativity to shine and because it will help us get our favorite beers into more glasses in more cities. Since day one at The Bruery, we’ve been making barrel aged ales with an eventual goal to fill shelves with these complex and full-bodied beers. Until now, we have only been able to do this on a limited basis, primarily reaching only those in our Reserve Society. This new investment will allow us to brew more, distribute more and get more specialty beer into the marketplace.

With this change, we have had to make room in our brewing schedule to brew the beers that we’ll be barrel aging. Unfortunately, Orchard White is the victim. While we have great love for Orchard White, we feel there are many great witbiers available and believe our limited resources are best spent elsewhere. Further, Rugbrød will now only be available in the fall and winter, with Hottenroth taking it’s place in the spring and summer beginning in 2012.

As a company focused on quality over quantity, and founded on the basic fact that making beer is fun, we’re excited to continue brewing up our dream. We won’t be putting down our mash paddles in place of mechanized processes, we won’t be switching our khaki shorts for navy-blue suits and most importantly, we won’t be sacrificing our original vision for any reason whatsoever. Simply said, we are growing at our own pace.

Thank you all for the support these past three years. It’s your love of style-bending beers that have helped us, and breweries like us, to grow and will keep us growing in the years to come. If you can make it, we’d love to see you at our 3rd Anniversary Beer Festival on May 29th to help us celebrate our future!

Cheers,
Your Friends at The Bruery

 

Posted in Beer News

Pour Your Own Beer At Taco Mac

Starting today, Taco Mac starts table taps at their Prado location in Atlanta, Georgia.   Now you will be able to sit at one of the tables featuring the tap handles, and pour your own beer.

How does this work?

There are 3 tap handles per tap tower.  Each table’s tap lineup is different.   They are connected to a iPod (yes, iPod) with a specialty app installed.  The server will enter in his or her special code allowing the taps to flow.   It is metered, which will only allow a certain preset limit of beer to pour.  When it cuts off, the server must re enter the code to have the taps flow again.   This prevents beer waste, over serving, etc.

How Do I Sit There?

If it’s open, be asked to be seated there.

Who Decides What Beers?

The beverage director of Taco Mac, Owners

I think the rest is self explanatory.  There are 5? tables with taps for a total of 15 tap handles.  Below is some pictures of the wiring for this new system.

Taco Mac Prado
5600 Roswell Rd
Atlanta, GA 30342-1150
(404) 941-1503

Posted in Beer News, Stone Brewing Co.

Stone Brewing To Open Hotel?

Stone Brewing held a media conference about their expansion, European efforts, & new projects.    Here’s some notes from the conference.

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  • European Stone location will be in either Belgium or Germany.  There has been over 50 proposals to date.  Still deciding.
  • The retail location in the South Park area of San Diego will open within a month. Swag, growlers (14 taps), bottles, glassware, etc.
  • New restaurant & beer garden construction.  Location includes a 10 gallon pilot system, restaurant w/ organic food & growler fills etc.
  • New beer series! More info to follow.
  • Stone Hotel?  Yes, apparently.  Keep reading.
  • Stone Soda. Apparently creating a diet sode without aspartame

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Via The San Diego Reader:

[quote]Chief among those is the Stone Hotel, an intimate 50-room venue that will be situated across the street from Stone’s main brewing facility in Escondido (which will undergo an expansion to add a new brewery and additional parking). The timeline on this ambitious project is fuzzy, but other projects on the docket are already under way.[/quote]

To recap – Brewery expansion – from 150,000 (2011) to 500,000 capacity by 2012.  New retail store in South Park area of San Diego, CA.  New Hotel. Farm for organic foods for Stone World Bistro.  European Expansion to either Germany or Belgium.

<Info Via Stone Media Day search on Twitter, San Diego Reader, The Full Pint>