BIG BREWERS LOOK AT MERGING

InBev, the world's biggest brewer following the acquisition of Brazil brewer AmBev in 2004, has been linked to Anheuser-Busch and SABMiller, the other top two brewers in the world. All three companies are suffering from the increased costs of barley and aluminium cans, with deals likely to trim those costs and boost sales of beers such as Stella Artois, Peroni and Budweiser, according to industry analysts.

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Brewer secures $514m in debt funding

Transtasman beer and wine maker Lion Nathan has secured A$450 million ($514 million) in debt funding to refinance existing facilities. Lion Nathan said it has no further debt maturities until December 2008. The brewer, which recently acquired J Boag & Son for A$325 million, said the new funding had a weighted average maturity of 4.3 years.

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Enjoying beer the new way

Although an awareness of craft beer had "snowballed" in the last two to three years it has taken a while to gain momentum.

He said the growth of the wine industry over the past few decades would reflect in that of craft beer.

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Liquor giant plans expansion

Independent has appointed New Zealander Craig Cooper to head its Canadian operations, which McKay said had been unprofitable after being put on the backburner after founder Michael Erceg's death in 2005.

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Top 6 - Pseudo Imported Beers

It seems a shame that the large brewers of this country have had to license international brands to produce here because NZ'ers won't drink the locally brewed beers. Is this a reflection of the recipes the local brewers had come up with like Steinlager? or the use of the local malt and hops?(Maybe). Then again Kiwi Lager was a pretty good beer back in the early 90's before Heineken told DB they would have to drop it if they wanted to be able to brew Heineken.

Top 6 - Have Your Vote

Whisky Live - 16th February 2008 - Auckland, New Zealand

The Civic Theatre, Queen Street, Auckland
12 noon - 8pm

VIP TICKET NZ$110 (including one masterclass)
TRADE TICKET NZ$60 (Entry from 12pm)
STANDARD TICKET NZ$70 (Entry at 1.30pm)

For further details and to book your tickets visit
www.whiskylive.co.nz

Little Creatures Brewing - VACANCY - Brewery Engineer

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Speight's new sponsor of Ak Rugby, Blues

Lion Nathan New Zealand Managing Director Peter Kean says the sponsorship is a logical fit for the company.

“Speight’s stands for mateship, generosity, loyalty and practicality. While the brand originated in the South, these values are New Zealand values and what sets us apart from the rest of the world in spirit and attitude,” he says.

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IS BEER THE NEW WINE?

(of course it is…)

The Brewers Guild of New Zealand is proud to announce their partnership with premium event company – Clockwork (Winners of the 2007 Corporate Events Guide People’s Choice Award for Best Conference & Event Organisers).

With the emphasis on showcasing the best in beer, the Brewers Guild of New Zealand is confident that, with Clockwork on board, this years’ much anticipated BrewNZ Beer Festival and Awards Evening will be bigger and better than ever before! This years event will be looking to attract female and males alike; through well known chefs educating guests on food and beer matches, opportunities to speak with the brewers themselves, learning about the health benefits and of course enjoying good company with fellow connoisseurs and about to be connoisseurs. Because, of course, Beer is the new Wine…

The dates for this year’s events are September 2008 and will be held in Wellington. Details on sponsorship packages, programme and ticket sales will be available soon. However, if you are interested in sponsoring these events, please phone Lisa Garrity at Clockwork on 0800 CLOCKWORK. (0800 256 259)

Beer Haiku Friday - Reflections on the Stock Market Turbulence

Captain Hops goes all topical today with this haiku about the stock market troubles around the world. It is titled Bear Markets, Beer Markets:

Investing in beer
While the stock market crashes
Still brings high returns

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily

Weast Deadline - Friday 25th January 2008

This is a reminder that the deadline for Wyeast orders is tomorrow - Friday 25th January.

Orders to Tony
e. tony at realbeer.co.nz
f. 09 272 2335

Need a catalog? http://www.homebrewer.co.nz/wyeast0801.doc

RealBeer.co.nz Top 6

Top 6 list from RealBeer.co.nz. I thought to get things a little more interactive on the blog, I would start a Top 6 list (why top 6, cause NZ is too small to find 10 things in the beer and brewing world of some of the more intersting areas, also it is like a six pack, like what are the 10 best IPAs in NZ?).

The Top 6 list will hopefully be weekly and complement the Haiku Friday post. I'll start out posting on Tuesdays so people have something to vote and comment at work. There will be a poll each week. Enough rambling, here we go

Best Brewpubs in New Zealand - January 2008

Please vote, and make comments.

http://top6.realbeer.co.nz

The Welcome Return of Beer Haiku Friday

A lot of people make New Year Resolutions. A couple even keep some of them. Captain Hops is a simple man who only wants a few simple things from 2008:

Just what I wanted.
Peace, Love and understanding
and a case of beer.

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily

Getting back into it

The last beer column in the Wellingtonian newspaper for 2007 profiled the Moa range of beers:

It is perhaps fitting that the son of a famous winemaker heads a brewery which blurs the line between wine and beer. Moa beer is the brainchild of Josh Scott, son of Allan Scott, the founder of Allan Scott Wines. An accomplished wine maker himself, the implausibly youthful Josh has incorporated several wine making techniques into his range of beer including elements of the “methode traditionelle” used in making Champagne.

Glass Tip - The Wellingtonian for kind permission to republish

From the latest edition of the Free Radical, an article reviewing the results of the BrewNZ 2007 Beer Awards:

Beer awards are a bit like boxing tournaments. Just as a heavyweight fighting a flyweight would be a gross mismatch, it is hard to objectively judge the respective merits of a chocolately London Porter against a hoppy New World Pale Ale. Accordingly, beers are entered into one of ten classes (each with numerous sub-classes) so that like can be assessed against like.

There is an excellent article in the NY Times called Brews that go to Extremes:

“If one is good, then two is better!”

Such is the ethos of extreme beers, an all-American genre in which brewers are engaged in a constant game of “Can you top this?” Whether using an inordinate amount of traditional ingredients like malt or hops, or adding flavorings undreamed of by Old World brewers, American brewers have created a signature style that beer enthusiasts seem both to love and hate.

Mmmm... Unearthly IPAs... Sessionable...

Glass Tip - South East Asian Correspondent Belinda

Finally, for the hordes of people who wrote in clamouring for the return of Beer Haiku Fridays, rest assured this popular feature will resume tomorrow!

Beer in a Bot

Many of you may have seen this already, as it's shot to fame on the likes of digg.com and slashdot, but if not... check out this chunk of brewing ingenuity! Yep, it's a fully functional brewery-in-a-bot!

Glass tip to Barry "SOBA Homebrewer of the Year" Hannah

Study: $90 wine tastes better than the same wine at $10

Researchers from the California Institute of Technology and Stanford's business school have directly seen that the sensation of pleasantness that people experience when tasting wine is linked directly to its price. And that's true even when, unbeknownst to the test subjects, it's exactly the same Cabernet Sauvignon with a dramatically different price tag.

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Age restriction for beer festival

The 2008 Blues, Brews and BBQs festival will be restricted to those aged 18 and over in a move by event organisers to stamp out problems associated with the day.

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(Ed - removing the family element of the crowd will have the opposite effect, there will be more trouble with just 18+ drinkers)

About Last Night

What really happens to your body when you drink too much--and why most hangover remedies won't work.

Which leads to another theory that puts the blame for the hangover on pure physiology. Alcohol is first broken down in the liver into a toxic substance called acetaldehyde. Acetaldehyde is then further broken down into a harmless substance called acetate. At high doses, acetaldehyde causes nausea, vomiting, sweating and other symptoms akin to the hangover. Although there is no acetaldehyde in your system when you have a zero blood-alcohol level, some of the after-effects of the toxin may persist the morning after.

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'Teamaker' Hops Offer Benefits Without Bite

'Teamaker' is a new hop variety released by scientists in the ARS Forage, Seed and Cereal Research Unit (FSCRU) in Corvallis, Ore. It has an alpha acid content of 0.6 to 1.8 percent, giving it the lowest alpha acid concentration of any commercially available hop variety. In addition, its beta acid levels (5.4 to 13.2 percent) are significantly higher than those found in most varieties.

An extremely high beta-to-alpha ratio gives Teamaker all the health benefits of traditional hops cultivars without their characteristic bitterness, creating opportunities for nontraditional uses. In addition to herbal teas, beta acids from hops can substitute for formalin in sugar processing.

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Golden Bay microbrewery 'hot' travel destination

The Mussel Inn, although remote, is named alongside luminaries such as Guinness (Dublin), Monstein (Switzerland) and Cascade (Hobart) in the 10 top brewers.

Last year, a "beer bounty" offered by the Mussel Inn assisted the cull of thousands of possums. The inn exchanged a handle of beer in return for every possum tail delivered.

Built in 1992 by the Dixon family, the inn is described on its website as "Kiwi woolshed meeting Aussie farmhouse in style". A two-hour drive from Nelson, it is 17 kilometres from Takaka on the way to Collingwood. Next direction: keep an eye out for parked cars. A "land" telephone pole with old cellphones nailed to it is perhaps indicative of being removed from the rat race. You might spot a celebrity face among the patrons (a colleague swears that he saw George Harrison, of Beatles fame, there one night).

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Striking gold in Wanaka

As well as boasting some of this country's most breathtaking scenery, the small Central Otago town is home to my sister in law and her family and, by happy coincidence, one of New Zealand's most respected craft breweries.

Dave has put the business up for sale and, after almost 10 years of brewing, is looking to take a break, to spend more time with his family and to travel.

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