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AC Golden Brewing Company’s Peche and Apricot sour beers will arrive tomorrow (Friday, May 25) in limited quantities at Mile High Wine and Spirits in Lakewood, Colo. The beers are part of AC Golden’s Hidden Barrel Collection. They were bottled throughout last year and have been cellared since then to allow bottle conditioning to occur. Peaches and apricots from Palisade, Colo., were used in crafting the beers. Peche won silver in the American-style Brett Ale category at the Brewers Association World Beer Cup earlier this month. Eight cases of Peche and 14 cases of Apricot will be available.

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.)

via Brewers Association.

S 745 does several things that favor wholesalers, middlemen who take beer from producers, collect taxes and fees, and sell it to retailers. The bill makes it harder for beer producers to terminate contracts with wholesalers or impose higher prices on wholesalers with whom they may be having a business dispute. It also says that wholesalers can’t wave their protections through franchise agreements with brewers.

One thing that seems peculiar is that the NC Brewers Guild favors the bill (per the piece).

via WRAL.

As a result, Starr Hill is in the middle of a five-year, million dollar capital expansion project.  The tasting room will be three times bigger, a new deck is coming, and more tanks are being installed to produce more bottles each day. "To put all of this into perspective for you, right now Starr Hill produces about 275,000 cases of beer each year.  In five years, that number will jump to 826,000," Thompson said.

via NBC 29.

Beijing’s emerging craft brewing scene will get another shot in the arm next month with the city’s first annual Craft Beer Festival, taking place on June 2 at Beijing Shijingshan Electrical Relay Factory. The event, the first of its kind in the Chinese capital, comes off the heels of the first annual Shanghai Beer Week and Sinan Mansions Beer Festival, the latter of which attracted over 2,000 attendees.

via Jing Daily.

This photo gallery captures two steps of the process. The first 11 photos come courtesy of Sierra Nevada’s Bill Manley, and they document the trip that Sierra Nevada’s brewers took to Kansas City in March to work with Boulevard Brewing Co.’s brewers to determine the final blend for Terra Incognita, the 2012 SAVOR collaboration beer. The final four pictures show the labeling process that took place in May in Kansas City. Boulevard’s Julie Weeks took photos of the massive effort to hand-label 4,800 bottles of beer.

via SAVOR Craft Beer.

Tracy McGrady was a legitimate superstar during his time with the Rockets, but there’s no question that playing with Yao brought him an added level of fame in the world’s biggest emerging market. As a case in point, check out this ad for Chinese beer Xuejin, in which McGrady tries to jump to grab a ball lodged between the rim and the backboard on a playground hoop.

via Yahoo! Sports.

Last week we reported that Wingman Brewers started canning its beer. Not only was this a big deal for Wingman Brewers, it was a big deal for Northwest Canning, LLC and all breweries looking to package beer in aluminum cans without making the significant capital investment typically required to set up a canning line. Wingman Brewers was the first brewery to use Northwest Canning’s service. Others will soon follow: the company says more clients are already lined up.

via Washington Beer Blog.

(Portland, OR) – Churchkey Can Company CEO, Ryan Sowards, and Co-Founders, Justin Hawkins and Adrian Grenier (the latter of HBO’s Entourage), gave some insights into the company’s fast start at a tech conference this week.

TechCrunch, one of the world’s largest technology news sites, is hosting the TechCrunch Disrupt conference in New York City. Separate from the TechCrunch news business is CrunchFund, a venture capitalism company, largely consisting of former TechCrunch employees. CrunchFund General Partner, MG Siegler, interviewed the Churchkey guys and CrunchFund happens to be an investor in the company.

So, what did they have to say?

Churchkey’s Pilsner is currently distributed in Portland, Oregon and Seattle, Washington. Washington-based distribution partner, Odom Beverage, sold out of their initial allocation in four days, according to Sowards. Sowards recalls a story in which he gave a sales rep a case and the rep took the beer around to five accounts. Sowards was told, “5 for 5. In 27 years of selling beer, this is the easiest sell I’ve ever had.”

Even the Seattle Mariners contacted the company to get the beer stocked at Safeco Field.

Sowards says the company will launch in the San Francisco market on June 5th. After that, the company will open Austin, then Los Angeles, New York, Chicago and Denver. The other markets will be opened late summer and fall.

They are ‘allocating’ beers to their wholesalers (versus wholesalers being able to order as much as they want). Sowards acknowledges that “scarcity drives demand” but says they still want brew enough beer to be able to meet demand.

Hawkins says they will likely work with homebrewers to draw up a recipe for an ale next.

The brand does have its detractors including seasoned beer writer, Stephen Beaumont, and some TechCrunch commenters. They question the need to go back to the older, ‘less advanced’ version of the beer can requiring the churchkey, one that Hawkins says ceased being the industry standard in 1965.

Press Release:

(Chicago, IL) – Phusion Projects, LLC announced today that the three best-selling flavors of Four Loko – Fruit Punch, Watermelon and Lemonade – will be making their Canadian debut, as the company enters a major foray into international sales.

As the leading progressive adult beverage in the U.S., Four Loko is an adult flavored malt beverage that features innovative flavors. The three Four Loko flavors will be available in 8 percent Alcohol by Volume (ABV) and come in 695ml (23.5-ounce) cans. The products debuted in mid-May at all 200 Liquor Depot stores in Alberta and will be available in June at nearly 200 of Ontario’s Beer Stores.

“There has been a strong demand from Canadian Four Loko fans to bring our products to the Great White North,” said Steve de Luca, vice president, international development. “As part of our launch into Canada, we are introducing our three most popular flavors which provide a unique taste that we think Canadians will appreciate. We are very excited about the extensive opportunities we see in Canada.”

For more information on our corporate initiatives, visit the Phusion Projects Facebook page.

About Phusion Projects
Phusion Projects, LLC is a Chicago – based alcoholic beverage company that sells its products – including Four Loko, Poco Loko and Earthquake – nationwide. From the company’s inception, Phusion Projects has been committed to making contributions to communities, operating as a responsible member of the alcoholic beverage industry and setting unmatched standards in this regard. To learn more about Phusion Projects and its commitment to responsible drinking, please visit http://www.phusionresponsibility.com and http://www.phusionprojects.com. In addition, we encourage you to learn the facts about Four Loko at http://www.phusionprojects.com/factvsfiction.html.

SOURCE Phusion Projects, LLC

Devoted Bond fans everywhere are pissed — a list that includes former James Bond actor George Lazenby, who played 007 in "On Her Majesty’s Secret Service." Lazenby tells us, cutting the martini in favor of a Heiney breaks a sacred tradition — and to add insult to injury, "It’s not the best beer out there, either." Lazenby adds, it’s sad filmmakers will always "go where the money is."

via TMZ.

Owner Kiernan May sold the brewed-under-contract brand to Paper City Brewing Co., of Holyoke, Mass., the brewery that has been making his beer for the past few years. Paper City plans to continue the brand, primarily in Massachusetts and Vermont, and possibly parts of New York, May said.

Likely to be the smallest M&A deal in beer this year…

via Syracuse.com.

Boston Beer Company Chairman, Jim Koch, passed up on a meatball served to him by one of MSNBC’s Morning Joe co-hosts. The co-host mentioned how the “monolithic breweries” were starting to release craft beers under different names to which Koch replied, “Yeah, there is Goose Island, Blue Moon, Shock Top but hey, they’re good beers. It’s good beer for all and I think Sam Adams would have loved that.”

Straddled the edge there masterfully…

via MSNBC.

The St. Louis-based spirits and beer distributor has reached a deal with Anheuser-Busch to buy Eagle Brands, A-B’s directly owned distributorship in Miami. The agreement gives the wholesaler a new territory, and puts it back in the Anheuser-Busch wholesaler network, which it exited when it sold an Oregon distributorship in January.

via St. Louis Post-Dispatch.

Press Release:

(Chico, CA) – Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is proud to announce 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.

“Scott is an incredible asset to Sierra Nevada,” said Brian Grossman, co-manager of the North Carolina brewery. “He’s had his hand in developing some of the brewery’s most popular beers, and has been instrumental in the creation and innovation that has stemmed from the beers in our Beer Camp program. His technical brewing skills are first-rate, as is his ample creativity. Under his brewing leadership, our North Carolina location will be in great hands.”

Scott joined Sierra Nevada in 2001 after visiting apprenticeships with Young & Co.’s Brewery Plc. “The Ram Brewery” in London. He holds a Certified Brewmaster certificate from the prestigious brewing institute VLB Berlin, and specializes in technical brewing and recipe development. Working under Steve Dresler, Sierra Nevada’s longtime Head Brewer, he did the primary recipe formulation for popular Sierra Nevada beers: Kellerweis, Ruthless Rye IPA, the Ovila Abbey Ales series and countless limited edition, Beer Camp, and small-batch beers. Steve Dresler will remain as Head Brewer in Chico, and Scott’s new position will oversee all of the brewing, fermentation, and filtration at the new Mills River facility and will be instrumental in commissioning the new brewhouse.

In January, Sierra Nevada announced that it was expanding its brewery with a second facility located in Mills River, North Carolina. Once online, this new facility will provide needed capacity for the brewery and will help facilitate distribution to customers across the eastern United States more quickly and with a smaller environmental footprint. The facility is expected to employ more than 100 people, and be operational by spring 2014.

About Sierra Nevada
Founded in 1980, Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is one of America’s premier craft breweries, highly regarded for using only whole-cone hops and ingredients of the finest quality. Sierra Nevada has set the standard for artisan brewers worldwide as a winner of numerous awards for its extensive line of beers including the flagship Pale Ale, Torpedo, Porter, Stout, Kellerweis, four seasonal beers, Estate Ale, Harvest Ales, Ovila Abbey Ales and a host of draught-only specialties. For more information about the brewery, and to see what job positions are currently being recruited, please visit www.sierranevada.com

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The S/V Denis Sullivan, which launched in June 2000, will have some unique cargo aboard as she sails the Great Lakes this summer. The Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Company has donated Big Eddy Imperial India Pale Ale (IPA), which will age in a wooden apple brandy barrel aboard this majestic educational sailing vessel. The wooden barrel is from Great Lakes Distillery.

Leinenkugel’s Big Eddy Imperial IPA fills the senses with five distinctive Pacific Northwest hops, which are added at each stage of the brewing process. Hops include Warrior, Cascade, Simcoe, Citra, and the extremely rare Amarillo. After aging aboard the S/V Denis Sullivan within the wooden barrel, the beer’s complexity and bold flavor will be even more pronounced. Discovery World, which also is aging a wooden barrel of Big Eddy IIPA in its Thirst Lab, plans to tap the barrels at a fundraising event this fall.

Stift Engelszell in Austria is the eighth brewery to be approved to use the ‘Trappist’ designation and is only the second outside of Belgium. Pardon the rough Google translation…

The label “Authentic Trappist Product” can now be assigned to this beer after a thorough and months-long review because of the International Trappist Association (IVT) in advance. Since the “Gregory” is derived from a community of Trappist brothers, she made ​​her descent to honor and must-like all products manufactured by Trappist or Trappistines-now rightly a Trappist be called!

International Trappist Association.

(San Antonio, TX) – Ranger Creek Brewing revealed the forthcoming Small Batch Series in its newsletter today.

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We’ve got a pretty exciting new series of bottled beers that has been quietly hitting shelves over the last couple of weeks.  We’d like to formally introduce you to our exciting new Small Batch Series!

Our Small Batch Series is a line of seasonal single batch brews designed to be unique, interesting, and often experimental. Each one is made in small quantities and with a completely different recipe. The unique color, number, and QR code on each label identifies each batch, the details of which can be referenced on our website or by scanning the QR code with a smart phone. Small Batch Series releases are meant to age well over time, so drink a bottle now and save others to enjoy later. They will cellar best in a dark place around 50 degrees. Each batch is brewed and bottled by hand and undergoes a secondary fermentation in the bottle. Pour carefully so as not to rouse the yeast.

Our first Small Batch Series release is an Oak-aged Rye OPA. It is a resurrection of UNO, our one-year anniversary beer released on draft in November, 2011. We took our signature Oatmeal Pale Ale, added rye to the grain bill, and aged it in oak barrels for a month. The resulting beer has a soft malt sweetness highlighted with spicy and earthy rye malt, toasted coconut, soft pineapple, apricot, citrus, floral hop flavor and aroma with a dry finish of oak.

Oak-aged Rye OPA
12.7 oz. (375 ml) bottle
Label color: Burnt orange
Wax dipped

 
Limited Edition, Collector’s Item  
We’ll only brew one batch of each Small Batch Series release.  As a result, we’ll only release a VERY limited number of bottles, and once they are gone they will be gone for good. Be sure to grab a couple of bottles so you can drink one and save the others to add to your collection.  

Baby Belgian Bottles

We invited two beer writers to each come and brew a beer of their choice on our scratch system here at Tröegs. Lew Bryson and Jack Curtin go head to head in this Scratch Beer Showdown. Lew worked hand in hand with Jeff Musselman to come up with the recipe for his Zwickel Licker an unfiltered Dortmunder Export Lager. Jack snuck in the brewery in the cover of darkness and blindfolded Tim Mayhew while he brewed his Biere de Grouch with a secret ingredient. Sunday, June 3rd 2012 from 5-9pm at Standard Tap in Philly we will be celebrating Philly Beer Week and sampling these labors of love.

via YouTube | Troegs.

I’ve met with the monks at the abbey, been privy to some of the development of this project and some of the monks on the project attended to our Belgian Beer Fest and joined the site for research purposes. The project has been in the works for many years; including consulting with all of the other Trappists breweries and several American brewers and distributors. The last time I talked to them it was at The Publick House (Monk’s Cell) in Brookline, MA and the project was moving forward; they were meeting with Chimay.

via BeerAdvocate Community.

Anheuser-Busch, which has breweries in New York and Ohio, has joined forces with Blue Marble Biomaterials to turn leftover grain into chemicals that will create an array of consumer products. Blue Marble Biomaterials is hesitant to reveal how the technology works until it is done experimenting.  The products that could result are as diverse as clothing, cosmetics, soap and biogas, an alternative energy source.

via Great Lakes Echo.

Spanish photographer Iñigo Bujedo Aguirre just shared with us these beautiful photos of one of Jean Nouvel‘s latest project in Barcelona, Spain: A gastronomy and cultural center for Catalan beer company Moritz.

Fotos >> ArchDaily.

Sponsored Guest Post:

The Southern NH Brewers Festival craft brew event has three goals:

1. Create an intimate event where craft beer enthusiasts can enjoy some great beer as well as get a chance to speak with the breweries responsible for making the beer.

2. Buck the trend of festivals as a business only.  With one session, everything included and a limit on ticket sales, the goal is to focus on the event experience, not to make the most money possible.

3.  Give everyone participating in the festival the chance to tell their story by pouring beer, talking to fest-goers and providing information about their products for no fees on our website, a collector’s quality brochure and a free iphone app.

Where will the festival be held?

Under the big top at White Birch Brewing in Hooksett, New Hampshire, rain or shine.

When is the fest?

Saturday, July 14, 2012 with a VIP session beginning at 5 p.m. and general admission starting at 6 p.m. The entire event will end at 9 p.m.

How much are tickets?

Cost is $35 for designated driver tickets, $45 for general admission and $60 for VIP. There are 50 designated driver tickets, 450 general admission and 250 VIP tickets available.

Order tickets here.

What does a VIP ticket get me?

VIP tickets allow you in to the festival an hour earlier than the rest of the crowd. It will give you a chance to sample beers with shorter lines and speak with the brewers in a more quiet setting. Outside of that, both tickets are identical.

What is included with the ticket price?

• Beer poured by the breweries
• Tasting glass
• Festival program
• Food from two great restaurants
• Plenty of drinking and rinse water
• Free parking

For festival information please visit www.snhbf.com

How many other festivals will White Birch Brewing attend?

I get this question a lot in the summer and a fair amount all year.  It’s a good question and one I try to answer honestly.  The answer is not many.

Why doesn’t White Birch Brewing do more festivals?

As we enter our third year of business, I thought I’d pass along what I’ve learned since I joined the industry when it comes to festivals.

There are a lot of festivals out there.  I never had any idea there were so many.  From huge festivals organized around a theme at major destinations on down to small town fests.  Most have a charity behind the event.  Many are just run as an entertainment event.   Regardless of whether it is for a charity or a for profit event, it seems there are more festivals in 2012 than when I opened in 2009.  The increase in the number of festivals is also mirroring another poor trend – most festivals don’t pay for the beer they are serving.  That is a large reason for why I don’t attend more festivals.

How do you know if a festival pays for its beer? 

Ask the organizers.  I am advocating for festivals to buy the beer they serve.  I am asking you to ask the question of a festival and only go where the festival buys its beer.  I buy all the beer served at the Southern NH Brewers Festival as well as the food and water.  It’s all included in your ticket price so you can just come and enjoy.  The next time you wonder why I’m not at a festival it’s most likely because they won’t buy beer, not just my beer, but any beer.   They just want you to buy it from them.

Aren’t festivals expensive to run?

Sure, it costs a good amount of money to run a festival.  I organized our Southern NH Brewers Festival in July 2011 so I’m intimately aware of the costs to run a festival.  Venue, insurance, state fees, security, off duty police, food, water, volunteer T–shirts,  drinking glasses for fest-goers, marketing, website programming, coffee, etc.  This doesn’t even count towards the hours planning, filling out paperwork and running around getting things done.

You may have noticed that I did not put the cost of buying beer in the previous paragraph.  That’s intentional.  You see, for the Southern NH Brewers Festival and any other festival White Birch Brewing has participated in, those festivals pay for the beer they serve.

Why don’t all festivals buy the beer they’re serving?

Unfortunately, due to a long history of festivals as a “marketing” promotion for larger breweries, many festivals continue to expect beer for free.  With the growth of so many smaller festivals, I’ve often wondered why this practice of expecting free beer by festivals persists.

Beer fests say they can’t afford to buy the beer?

I’ve offered to participate in many festivals if they buy my beer at wholesale.  The answer always comes back that they can’t afford to buy my beer or any beer for that matter.  Why is that?  Consumers think the tickets are worth buying, stores seem to think the same beers are worth selling to their customers and where draft exists many bars seem to think it’s worth selling craft beer as draft product to their customers.

But I like the festival’s cause. 

If you go to a festival because it favors a charity, do real good and give money to the charity directly.  If you still want to buy tickets, ask if they are a 501c3 organization and for a copy of their financials.  How much of that “charity” money is actually going to the charity and not the organizer’s payroll?  A favorite example of mine is a charity festival that touted it donated $8500 to the cause it supports.  Sounds good right?  Wonder why it wasn’t more since they did not buy the beer and they sold $105,000 worth of tickets, charged for food, charged for water and hosted the fest on their own grounds.

I just want to go have a good time. 

Nothing wrong with wanting to have a good time.  If the festival is not a charity festival, ask if they buy the beer being offered.  If the answer is no, ask them why not?  If they say it’s to keep the ticket price lower, consider that you and your friend(s) could spend the same amount at a local store on beers you haven’t tried and enjoy more beer in a friendly environment or you could just have a fun night out.  If you decide you still want to go, just don’t wonder why you see a lot of the same big brands and rarely any small ones.

I offer my take.

While I’d love to sell items of value that I am given for free, that is not happening any time soon.  As a small business I make decisions each day to stay in business, pay my bills and ensure that we make payroll.  Spending good money on festivals to give away large amounts of beer for free is a great way to lose money and, worst case, go out of business.

Yes, I am advocating for festivals to buy the beer they serve.  Yes I am asking you to ask the question to a festival and only go where the festival buys its beer.  I buy all the beer served at the Southern NH Brewers Festival, the food and water too.  It’s all included in your ticket price so you can just come and enjoy.  The next time you wonder why I’m not at a festival it’s most likely because they won’t buy beer, not just my beer, but any beer.   They just want you to buy it from them.

I hope to see you at our festival.

Cheers,

Bill Herlicka
Founder
White Birch Brewing, llc
Hooksett, NH

Black Tuesday. 2011 vintage is on shelves today. $30/bottle, 1 bottle limit, 360 bottles available, plenty to go around, so be nice in line!

One day only and apparently there is still a decent number of bottles left as of 1pm PST per the Facebook thread.

via Facebook | The Bruery.

(Spokane, WA) – The re-birth of Northern Lights Brewing as No-Li Brewhouse surfaces this week for the first time after the company’s late April announcement.

Co-Owner, John Bryant, tells BeerPulse that the company recently bottled its first run of 22′s with Born and Raised IPA and launched the new brand just yesterday in Spokane.

Here is more context on the changes from Spokesman.com:

Founder and owner Mark Irvin has brought on craft beer veteran John Bryant as a business partner, and the two have changed the name of the brewery to No-Li Brewhouse with aspirations to brew at least 10,000 barrels every year and sell across the region and out of state, including to pubs and restaurants along the West Coast, in Denver and even in New York City. It’s an ambitious plan sparked by the addition of Bryant to the ownership group. He was the vice president of sales and marketing at Deschutes Brewery, the successful Bend, Ore., enterprise that grew from 17,000 barrels to 140,000 barrels during Bryant’s tenure. He also worked as chief operating officer of Colorado breweries Odell Brewing and Oskar Blues Brewery.

After the Spokane re-launch, the plan is to launch in select Colorado locations in July (Fort Collins and Denver where Bryant has spent a lot of time over the years) and Brooklyn in the fall. Odom Beverage Corp. is handling distribution in Washington though the company will still self-distribute around the immediate home market.

Greg Owsley, formerly the Chief Branding Officer with New Belgium and now running his own company, The Storied Brand, consulted with Irvin and Bryant to help them re-discover then-Northern Lights’ identity. Says Bryant, “What Greg is really great at is identifying the roots of what you are.”

The company isolated the turning point for the local Spokane community as the World’s Expo in 1974. At the time, it was the smallest city to host the international exposition. Everything about the brand is inspired by that time period and the imagery is meant to invoke a sense of familiarity across other communities as well.

In 2011, the brewery produced 1,500 barrels. Functional capacity is currently at 6,000 barrels and would likely max out around 10,000 barrels in the existing facility. Bryant hopes to eventually grow into a regional brewery (exceed 15,000 barrels of production annually) and would need to consider moving to a new facility in order to get there.

For now, he and Irvin are focused on building up No-Li’s following in Spokane.

The company celebrates its 20th anniversary next year.

Note: the 22 oz. bottles are screen printed with a custom neck and body label.

Michael Dawson from Northern Brewer Homebrew Supply & Brewing TV gets some one-on-one time with Summit Brewing Company’s Mark Stutrud to discuss Summit’s new year-round American IPA release "Saga IPA."

via YouTube | Brewing TV.

Press Release:

(Voorhees, NJ) – The region’s most popular brewery and dining destination, Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, will open its 10th location at Voorhees Town Center (13107 Town Center Boulevard, 856.545.9009) in winter 2012/2013. This will be the second Iron Hill in southern New Jersey, following a tremendously successful Maple Shade location. Voorhees Town Center, a mixed-use property owned by Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (PREIT), is emerging as the true ‘downtown’ of Voorhees.

“Our vision for Voorhees Town Center is to bring together a blend of national retailers with the best of regional and local restaurateurs, merchants and businesses so that it is truly a community where people can where people can shop, dine, live and play,” says Joseph F. Coradino, President, PREIT Services, LLC and PREIT-RUBIN, Inc. “The addition of a high-quality, leading restaurant like Iron Hill is another step in this transformation.”

“We were looking for a place with a vibrant community where we could become a part of a great neighborhood, and Voorhees Town Center is exactly that,” says Iron Hill founding partner Kevin Finn, who along with co-owners Kevin Davies and Mark Edelson, have continuously sought out thriving locations for their award-winning concept. All three partners are New Jersey natives.

Beyond the comfortable and welcoming interior of the bar and dining areas, large plate glass windows will separate the restaurant from the state-of-the-art brewery that will produce Iron Hill’s award-winning brews. Through the brewery’s windows, beer enthusiasts will be able to watch the brewing process. Guests will enjoy Iron Hill’s six house beers, monthly beer releases and selections from the Bottled Reserves, the brewery’s most award-winning beers from over the years that have been bottled to enjoy in the restaurant or to take home. Iron Hill’s house beers are: Iron Hill Lager Light, a crisp and refreshing lager with subtle malt and hop flavors; Raspberry Wheat, an American wheat beer with just a touch of natural raspberry flavor; Ironbound Ale, a medium-bodied American Pale Ale with an overwhelming hop presence; Pig Iron Porter, a dark ale with a bold roasted flavor with chocolate notes and slight bitterness; Vienna Red Lager, a European-style, medium-bodied amber beer with a delicate malt aroma; and a rotating Seasonal Belgian Ale.

Finn, Davies and Edelson will enlist Philadelphia-based Sandvold Blanda Architecture + Interiors, who have designed each of their locations, to create the 250-seat restaurant featuring comfortable dining areas, an open kitchen and an exposed microbrewery. In the bustling lounge area, floor-to-ceiling windows will open up completely to the street, weather permitting, dark wood high-top tables and a large mahogany bar offer the perfect place to enjoy freshly brewed beer, select wines by the glass and creative cocktails. Gray slate floors, forest green accents and a vibrant beer-inspired mural, created by acclaimed artist Jeff Schaller, help create the restaurant’s handsome atmosphere.

About Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant

Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant is the region’s fastest-growing restaurant group. Their nine locations are in Newark and Wilmington, DE; Media, West Chester, North Wales, Phoenixville, Lancaster and Chestnut Hill, PA; and Maple Shade, NJ. Their acclaimed beers have accumulated a wealth of awards from the nation’s top beer festivals, and their restaurants have earned more than 100 “Best of” nods from local and national publications. Iron Hill is poised for even more impressive growth in the coming years with plans to open five additional locations by 2015 from Washington DC to Northern New Jersey.

For more information about Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant, or to make a reservation at any of their locations, please visit www.ironhillbrewery.com, follow them on Twitter @ironhillbrewery and like them on Facebook (Iron Hill Brewery and Restaurant).

About Voorhees Town Center

Voorhees Town Center (www.voorheestowncenter.com), located 10 miles southeast of Philadelphia in southern New Jersey, features a blend of local, regional, and national retailers, restaurants, and services. It is in the midst of an $83 million mixed-use redevelopment that includes a renovated two-level mall with Voorhees Town Hall, an award-winning office building, luxury residential apartments and condominiums, and a boulevard lined with Rizzieri Studio Salon, Rizzieri Aveda School for Beauty & Wellness, It’s a Doggie Dog World, and The Sporting Club at Voorhees Town Center. The Mall, anchored by Macy’s and Boscov’s, includes The Children’s Place, Bath & Body Works, and Foot Locker.

About Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust

Pennsylvania Real Estate Investment Trust (www.preit.com), founded in 1960 and one of the first equity REITs in the U.S., has a primary investment focus on retail shopping malls. Currently, the Company’s portfolio consists of 49 properties, including 38 shopping malls, eight community and power centers, and three development properties. The Company’s properties are located in 13 states in the eastern half of the United States, primarily in the Mid-Atlantic region. The operating retail properties have approximately 33 million total square feet of space. PREIT is headquartered in Philadelphia, PA. PREIT is publicly traded on the NYSE under the symbol PEI.

(Seattle, WA) – It was only a matter of time before the American Homebrewers Association’s (AHA) National Homebrewers Conference made a stop in the beer-friendly city of Seattle. The sold-out conference is projected to bring 1,850 participants to the Puget Sound region.

With over 30,000 AHA members and approximately 1 million homebrewers nationwide, it comes as no surprise that the conference filled capacity in short order. For many serious homebrewers, the National Homebrewers Conference is a must-attend event each year, thanks to its educational seminars, social events and camaraderie.

Hobbyists will immerse themselves in three days of concentrated education to expand their homebrewing knowledge.

Expert speakers, including well-known authors and professional brewers, will cover the gamut of topics, ranging from ingredients to brewing techniques to advanced recipes. While attendees may have a difficult choice deciding which seminars to prioritize, all will be sure to hear the keynote address, given by Charles Finkel, founder of Seattle’s own Pike Brewery.

Perhaps the only thing harder than choosing between seminars is deciding on which beers to sample during the evening social events. Attendees are treated to a host of special beers at Thursday’s Pro-Brewers Night, an event that will see 40 breweries from Washington and beyond impress the beer enthusiasts with their finest fermentables. Then, homebrew clubs take center stage for Friday’s Club Night. Two parts homegrown beer festival, one part costume party, Club Night always delivers with wacky fun and artful homebrew.

Finally, the conference winds down on Saturday, June 23 with a grand banquet and award ceremony featuring “The Homebrew Chef,” Sean Paxton. The 2012 National Homebrew Competition winners will be awarded at this closing event. With over 7,800 entries in 28 different style categories, this year’s competition has been the largest to date and is the largest beer competition in the world!

The American Homebrewers Association has worked on behalf of the homebrewing community since 1978 and celebrates a membership of more than 30,000 homebrewers. The American Homebrewers Association (AHA) organizes events including the National Homebrewers Conference and National Homebrew Competition. The AHA also publishes Zymurgy magazine. The AHA is part of the Brewers Association, whose Brewers Publications division is the largest publisher of contemporary and relevant brewing literature for today’s craft brewers and homebrewers.

Beer lovers are invited to learn more about the dynamic world of craft beer at CraftBeer.com. Follow the AHA on Twitter, and join us on Facebook.

(Austin, TX) – Some news from Jester King Craft Brewery‘s email blast earlier today…

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Late Friday afternoon, we received official notification from the Texas Department of Agriculture that Jester King is now a certified organic producer under the USDA’s National Organic Program. This makes us the first, and as of today, the only brewery in Texas authorized to label our beers as certified organic.

The first of our beers to carry certified organic labeling will be this year’s version of Drink’in the Sunbelt Hoppy Wheat Beer, followed by our next batches of Mad Meg Farmhouse Provision Ale and Boxer’s Revenge Barrel-Aged Wild Ale. Le Petit Prince Farmhouse Table Beer, Noble King Hoppy Farmhouse Ale, Wytchmaker Farmhouse Rye IPA, Das Wunderkind! Sour Saison, and Bonnie the Rare Berliner Weisse also received full organic certification and will be labeled as such once we run through our current stock of labels. Black Metal Farmhouse Imperial Stout, which is over 70% organic, but uses a small amount of non-organic specialty malt, has been certified “Made with Organic Ingredients” and will carry the Texas Department of Agriculture seal, the next time labels are printed.

We believe that if a brewery is committed to organic production, that commitment ought to extend to all of its products and not just a single beer. For this reason, since we first began brewing over a year and half ago we’ve used organic ingredients in every instance where we felt confident we could do so without detracting from the overall quality of our beer. We’ve done this even when it means paying 2-3 times as much for ingredients as we otherwise would, such as is the case with Weyermann Organic Pilsner Malt, which we use as a base malt for many of our beers. Fortunately, the range of organic ingredients available to us has continued to grow, and for the last several months, we’ve been able to use increasingly larger quantities of organic ingredients in our recipes, to the point that the majority of our beers now use 100% organic malt.

As for hops, the varieties we’re currently using are not certified organic; but that is in the process of changing. Given the critical role that hop flavors and aromas play in our beer, we’re being careful that our transition to organic hops does not compromise the character of our beer in any way. Over the last several months, we have been testing organic varieties from numerous suppliers. We’ve found some that we feel are of exceptional quality and that we will soon start testing on a larger scale. As of the first of next year, the National Organic Program will require all brewers wishing to label their beer as “Organic” to use exclusively organic hops.

In instances where certain ingredients cannot be found organically or where the organic versions that are available aren’t as good as their conventional counterparts, we will continue to hold the quality of our beer above all else. Even if a particular beer doesn’t meet the organic labeling requirements, we’ll continue, as we always have, to use as high of a percentage of organic ingredients as we can without compromising our quality standards. We’re very pleased and honored to be allowed to label our beers as “Certified Organic” but at the end of the day, creating the greatest depth, harmony and complexity of flavor that we can is and always will be what we consider most important.

Press Release:

(Chicago, IL) – Phusion Projects, LLC announced the introduction of Moskato Life, a unique malt-based, progressive adult beverage that drinks like a moscato wine, which is currently the third most consumed wine in the U.S. The new product line showcases Phusion’s ability to recognize changing consumer tastes and deliver innovative beverage flavors.

Moskato Life is a combination of light carbonation and sweetness that delivers on consumer’s desire for varied drink choices. Packaged in a 750 ml bottle at 6 percent alcohol by volume (ABV), Moskato Life is available in two flavors – Moscato and Rose. The product is available now in select markets with national availability by the summer’s end.
In developing Moskato Life, Phusion studied the gain in popularity of moscato wine, best known for its light-bodied, sweet taste and recent recognition in the hip-hop and urban community. Traditionally an after-dinner wine, moscato has taken up new residency as a more mainstream beverage among the under 40 crowd.

“We strive to be an innovative company that recognizes trends in the beverage industry and work to develop products that align well with those opportunities,” said Chris Hunter, one of the co-founders of Phusion Projects. “Moskato Life is a malt-based beverage that represents attainable luxury, showing consumers it doesn’t have to cost a lot to live a lavish lifestyle.”

The Moskato Life line will be supported by marketing efforts including an interactive web presence of dedicated Facebook page with targeted advertising.

About Phusion Projects
Phusion Projects, LLC is a Chicago – based alcoholic beverage company that sells its products – including Four Loko, Poco Loko, Earthquake and Moskato Life – nationwide. From the company’s inception, Phusion Projects has been committed to making contributions to communities, operating as a responsible member of the alcoholic beverage industry and setting unmatched standards in this regard. To learn more about Phusion Projects and its commitment to responsible drinking, please visit http://www.phusionresponsibility.com and http://www.phusionprojects.com. In addition, we encourage you to learn the facts about Four Loko at http://www.phusionprojects.com/factvsfiction.html.

SOURCE Phusion Projects

iPad magic at the world famous German “Hofbraeuhaus” in Munich, the beer capital.

via Youtube | iOS Magic.

As part of Chicago Craft Beer Week, we opened up our barrel warehouse for 9 holes of mini golf. Brewers from Goose Island, Haymarket, Virtue Cider, Flossmoor Station, and Arcade created the holes and a fun time was had by all.

Cool pics >>
Facebook | Goose Island.

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Our beers should be much easier to find in South Carolina, thanks to our new distribution partners:

Lee Distributing in Charleston-covering the Charleston/Hilton Head markets.

Greenco Beverage in Greenville- covering Greenville and the north west corner of the state

Better Brand Inc. in Myrtle Beach- covering Myrtle Beach and the northeast section.

Comer Distributing Company, Inc. in Rock Hill, SC- covering north central SC.

New Belgium, Oskar Blues and Odell tend to grab the headlines a lot but what about some of the others in Colorado?

Among Colorado’s 139 licensed craft brewers are Summit County’s own Backcountry Brewery, Dillon Dam Brewery, Pug Ryan’s Steakhouse & Microbrewery and the Breckenridge Brewery — with High Country demand for craft beer as strong as ever.

via Summit Daily.

Legend has it Sahti dates back to the days of the Vikings.

via YouTube | Samuel Adams.

On Friday, June 1 we will release Goose Juice Rye IPA, the newest beer from Hoppin’ Frog. A really cool fact is that this will bring our brewer Goose’s great home-brewed recipe to many of our happy customers! This is a tasty Rye IPA, one …of the best new styles and flavor combinations to come out of the craft brewing world recently. The recipe is a real winner, featuring the special Motueka hops from New Zealand, for a refreshing hops character adding a lively passion-fruit aroma and flavor.

via Hoppin' Frog blog.

The cans of the brewery’s flagship beer will be marketed as Tall Hoppy Cans — or THC. "We got 100,000 cans to start with — that’s about 4,000 cases — and we’re hoping to go through them at a rapid rate," says brewery owner Bob Baile.

An update on Twisted Pine’s expansion, too…

via Cafe Society.