You can now get your 2012 Bell’s Oberon fix 1.32 gallons at a time. Party kegs are now shipping.
Bell’s Oberon is a wheat ale fermented with Bell’s signature house ale yeast, mixing a spicy hop character with mildly fruity aromas. The addition Continue Reading →
Congrats thirsty people of America. The official brewery count in the United States has past 2,000 breweries. Make that 2, 051. The Brewers Association came home from the Craft Brewer’s Conference in San Diego and started some bean counting. The Continue Reading →
Not a 100% official press release- from Paul Gatza of the Brewers Association…
When Brewers Association staff returned home after the inspiring 2012 Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego, we turned our attention to the end-of-month reports we pull from the Continue Reading →
Further proof that beer can do anything. Gundersen Lutheran Hosptial in La Crosse, Wisconsin is taking aim at being completely energy independent. That’s not the story. It’s more like – how are they going to do it? Beer & Continue Reading →
Contaminated beer lines? Some bars and restaurants might not be cleaning as often as brewers would like. In Ohio, tap lines are required to be cleaned every two weeks, but admittedly the policy isn’t enforced. WKYC in Cleveland, Ohio conducted Continue Reading →
Sierra Nevada has officially announced the new head brewer for the new North Carolina location…
Scott Jennings as Head Brewer of the brewery’s new eastern facility in Mills River, NC. Scott has been with the company since 2001 in various capacities. Continue Reading →
Tracy McGrady, guard for the Atlanta Hawks, recently starred in a commercial for a Xuejin Beer. The commercial aired in Asia. He even speaks a little Chinese at the end.
You can now get your 2012 Bell’s Oberon fix 1.32 gallons at a time. Party kegs are now shipping.
Bell’s Oberon is a wheat ale fermented with Bell’s signature house ale yeast, mixing a spicy hop character with mildly fruity aromas. The addition of wheat malt lends a smooth mouthfeel, making it a classic summer beer.
Style: American Pale Wheat Ale
Availability: 12oz bottles, draft, mini kegs. Summer Seasonal.
5.8% ABV
Congrats thirsty people of America. The official brewery count in the United States has past 2,000 breweries. Make that 2, 051. The Brewers Association came home from the Craft Brewer’s Conference in San Diego and started some bean counting. The number of craft breweries stands exactly at 2,000. Non-craft (large breweries) 51. That’s brick and mortar. It doesn’t count contract or other forms of operation.
Paul Gatza (of BA) expands on the craft brewery timeline:
1988 – 100
1994 – 500
1996 – 1,000
1999 – 1,500
2008 – 1,500 (there was a dip)
2012 – 2,000
[FullMemo]
Not a 100% official press release- from Paul Gatza of the Brewers Association…
When Brewers Association staff returned home after the inspiring 2012 Craft Brewers Conference in San Diego, we turned our attention to the end-of-month reports we pull from the database for member count, operating brewery count, dues sent in by members, BA Forum users, and circulation numbers for The New Brewer. Lo and behold; our operating brewery count hit 2,051 as of April 30, 2012. The current count of craft brewers stands exactly at 2,000 and the count of domestic non-craft brewers stands at 51.
(These counts are for brick-and-mortar facilities, and does not include contract or alternating proprietorship operations so that there isn’t a double-counting of breweries.)
So when did we hit other milestones since craft brewers have been around?
1,500 craft breweries–2008 and 1999. We hit this number twice, with a dip in between. 1999 was the first time in the craft brewing era. Then we slipped back under in 2001, hit a trough of 1,394 in 2005 and climbed back over 1,500 in 2008. That seems that it was not that long ago, considering we are at 2,000 now.
1,000 craft breweries–We hit this number in 1996. This was a period of the most openings in the craft era, with 333 brewery openings in 1996. Unlike today, more than 60% of these openings were in brewpubs. I think of this as a time when many communities got their first brewpub and there were many opportunities and good locations for pubs . The count of brewpubs from 1996 to 1998 jumped from under 700 to 1,000.
500 craft breweries–It was only two years earlier that the craft brewery count hit 500. The year was 1994.The craft barrelage was less than a quarter of what it is today, but grew 44% off the smaller base.
100 craft breweries–1988 was the year. We added 40 brewpubs and 10 microbreweries that year, more than doubling the count of brewpubs in the country, and placing brewpubs as the majority of craft breweries in the country. Brewpub dominance of the craft business model reigns today, although the gap is closing as so many packaging breweries are opening. And it could flip to packaging breweries in the next couple of years. The craft brewery count was 124 in 1988. Craft brewers sold just over 316,000 barrels in 1988. The craft brewery count has grown about 16 times from then to now and craft barrelage has grown 36 times in that period.
So when do you think we’ll hit 2,500 craft breweries?
Paul Gatza
Further proof that beer can do anything. Gundersen Lutheran Hosptial in La Crosse, Wisconsin is taking aim at being completely energy independent. That’s not the story. It’s more like – how are they going to do it? Beer & cheese gas. If you’re anything like me, the first thing I think of is beer farts. High five for that. The hospital is actually looking at harnessing the energy potential of a biproduct of their production – biogas.
Biogas is produced by the anaerobic (no oxygen) breakdown of biodegradable materials (manure, sewage, plants, etc). It’s mostly methane (CH4) and carbon dioxide (CO2). These gases can be combusted (like a car engine does) to create an energy release, and used as fuel. There are a few breweries already doing this to reheat their boilers, including Spoetzel (Shiner) Anheuser-Busch, and MillerCoors.
Gundersen Lutheran is sourcing biogas from local breweries and cheese makers, along with a local landfill in order to power the hospital. They aim to be completely energy independent by 2014. [Grist]
Side note: contrary to popular belief, the “fart” is comprised more of nitrogen and CO2 than methane. Now you know.
Contaminated beer lines? Some bars and restaurants might not be cleaning as often as brewers would like. In Ohio, tap lines are required to be cleaned every two weeks, but admittedly the policy isn’t enforced. WKYC in Cleveland, Ohio conducted an experiment on a few local tap lines for presence of bacteria, including lactobacillus. Ruby Tuesday? Out and out failed.
Sierra Nevada has officially announced the new head brewer for the new North Carolina location…
Scott Jennings as Head Brewer of the brewery’s new eastern facility in Mills River, NC. Scott has been with the company since 2001 in various capacities. In 2004, Scott was named Research and Development Head Brewer, responsible for overseeing the brewery’s 10-barrel pilot brewhouse, where most of the in-depth technical research and recipe development takes place.
The new site should be functional by 2014. [PressRelease]
Tracy McGrady, guard for the Atlanta Hawks, recently starred in a commercial for a Xuejin Beer. The commercial aired in Asia. He even speaks a little Chinese at the end.
