Friday, February 29, 2008

Brewers Association Announces Retail Sales Up 16 Percent

Boulder, CO – Thursday, February 28, 2008 – In what has become a true American success story, the craft beer market again grew by double digits in 2007, leading all other segments in the beer category. The Brewers Association reports estimated sales by independent craft brewers up 12 percent by volume and 16 percent in dollars for 2007. Craft brewers' share of the beer category is 3.8 percent of production and 5.9 percent of retail sales.



The Brewers Association annually polls the country’s craft brewers to estimate the total volume of beer sold by brewpubs, microbreweries, and regional craft breweries in the United States, and uses scan data to estimate sales. Results show that the U.S. had 1,449 total breweries in operation in the U.S. during 2007, including 1,406 small, independent, and traditional craft brewers¹. Nearly 70 percent of craft breweries are brewpubs that sell most or all of their beer on-premises.

“Since 2004, dollar sales by craft brewers have increased 58 percent,” said Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association. “The strength of this correlates with the American trend of buying local products and a preference for more flavorful foods and beers.”



The Brewers Association estimates the actual dollar sales figures from craft brewers at more than $5.74 billion, up from $4.95 billion in 2006. Sales in barrels equaled 8,011,141 (one barrel is 31 U.S. gallons) up from 7,147,050 barrels in 2006². The 2007 increase totals 864,091 barrels, which is the equivalent of 11.9 million cases or 285 million 12-ounce bottles of beer.

Beer Haiku Friday - It was the best joke in the world

Captain Hops writes about the secret aim of every great drinking story or joke in his Haiku The Best Medicine?

a joke so funny
it made beer come out his nose
to his wife’s chagrin

Glass Tip - The Clever Chaps at Beer Haiku Daily

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Wednesday, February 27, 2008

Why are wheat prices rising?


Wheat prices have hit record highs and tight supplies of the staple crop have ignited concern about rising food costs.

The price of higher-quality spring wheat jumped almost 25% on Monday - the biggest one-day increase to date.

World wheat stocks are expected to hit a 30-year low this year, partly driven by the worst drought in Australia in 100 years, which halved the winter wheat crop to 12 million tonnes in 2007.

Full Story

Top 6 - Beer Towns In New Zealand


I have done this poll a number of times over the years and thought this would be a good opportunity to expand on just the city name. Here are the some of the best beer outlets that make these towns the best.

Top 6 - Beer Towns In New Zealand

Monday, February 25, 2008

The Hallertau Hop Harvest Festival - 1st March 2008

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Sunday, February 24, 2008

New Zealand Beer Festival - 2008 Video

Epic Beer Stand


Jump Around

Friday, February 22, 2008

Beer Haiku Friday - Hail to the Bartender

Today's Beer Haiku from Captain Hops is a well deserved ode to all the great bartenders out there. What a difference they can make. Hail to the Bartender, indeed.

knowing bartender
with a wise word and quick pour
right when you need it

Glass Tip - As ever, Beer Haiku Daily

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Wednesday, February 20, 2008

Foster's profit growth loses fizz

Foster's mainstream beers have come under pressure as consumers switch to higher-margin premium beers.

Full Story

Tuesday, February 19, 2008

NEW BEER FESTIVAL GOES FOR QUALITY NOT QUANTITY

MarchFest, a major annual craft beer and music event based on the German OktoberFest, is launching next month to celebrate the Nelson region’s craft brewing tradition. Like OktoberFest, MarchFest will feature previously unavailable beers brewed by local brewers especially for the event. All the special festival brews have been created for MarchFest with the proviso that they must be brand new and must include locally grown hops.

Full Story

Top 6 - Lost Kiwi Beers


Over time beers come and go due to many reasons. A lot of it these days is that everyone wants to drink international style lagers (or should I say drinking brands) that are bland and boring. So I thought I would come up with six beers that I would like to try again once, now that they are not available anymore.

Top 6 Lost Kiwi Beers

Monday, February 18, 2008

Hug your yeast!

SOBA Homebrewer of the Year, Barry Hannah, brings this morning's fun little diversion...

Don't you just love yeast? Those magical beasties are responsible for turning that sweet malty liquid, infused with hops, into a tasty beverage fit for kings! Nobody used to know what made wort ferment into beer. It was assumed to be magic or a gift from a god - hence its early name; "Godisgoode". Thanks to science, we now know exactly what our single celled friends are and what they do for us. But, what can we do for them?

The answer? Hug them!



Awwwww!

Friday, February 15, 2008

Beer Haiku Friday - Work

I'm sure everyone feels like this about work sometimes. Not me though, absolutely everyone in the company I work for is just great.

Working with morons
I think my head will explode
A beer? Now?! Okay.

Glass tip - Those fine fellows at Beer Haiku Daily

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Monday, February 11, 2008

Brewfest 2008

Trentham Racecourse, home of the highly successful Wellington Cup will host the first “Brewfest” event there on Saturday 16th February. Upper Hutt city promotion Manager Paul Lambert describes the event as a “boutique brewery version of a wine festival with associated live bands and food.”

The Wellington region is renowned for its busy events schedule and “Brewfest” organisers have been working hard to bring together a great day out for Wellingtonians.

Bands will be performing live on stage from midday until 6.30 pm. Organiser Gavin McLaughlin says he has focussed on bringing together ingredients that will attract an 18+ audience to relax and sample good food in one of the most accessible venues in the region. Trentham railway station is right next to the course.

David Greer, well known for his music talents has planned the entertainment which includes tap jazz group “Shaken not Stirred.”

Gates open at 10.30am. Tickets are only $35 from i-site Visitor Centres in Wellington, Porirua, Kapiti, Hutt City and Upper Hutt City or online at www.brewfest.co.nz.

Note: as I post this, the website is currently down, but I'm assured this is temporary.

Friday, February 08, 2008

Beer Haiku Friday: Remember when Beer was Fun?

This week's inspirational offering is from Captain Hops and is called "Remember when Beer was Fun?"

Wild and carefree.
Remember when beer was fun?
Wasn’t last night great!

Glass Tip - As ever, Beer Haiku Daily

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Monday, February 04, 2008

Top 6 - Beer Festivals in New Zealand

As craft beer quickly becomes more popular, and the selection of beers from craft breweries grow, we are seeing more and more Beer Festivals popping up around the country. Since we are heading into February we are hitting the peak month for getting out and sampling beer.

A Beer Festival should be that opportunity for you to sample beers you don't usually drink or don't have access to in your local market or area where you drink and shop.

Top 6 plus your vote

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A shoebox in't middle o' t' road

Apologies to those who don't get my rather odd choice of an article title. Have a reference. Anyway, Python-esque humour aside, I love Yorkshire. So, it seems, does the Herald. Have a look at this great article on pub crawls (well, rambles) through the Yorkshire moors. Lets hope the Travel section manages to influence the often questionable beer content in the rest of the paper. A little fact checking wouldn't have hurt (play spot the errors in the comments below if you like), but the sentiment was sound. Nice one, Herald. I am now longing for my cloth cap, a warm day, and my lined CAMRA pint glass!

Glass tips to my wife Alexandra, and Barry Hannah. You little beer elves, you.

Best of Beer

My first Wellingtonian beer column for 2008 is about the Very Best of 2007. It covers my top ten New Zealand beers for the year as well as awards for the best Wellington bars and bottle stores.

As is becoming traditional in this column, I have compiled a list of my favorite New Zealand beers of 2007. There is no pretension these are necessarily the "best", they are simply the beers I enjoyed the most last year.

Glass Tip - The Wellingtonian newspaper for permission to republish here

An early front runner for best beer writing of 2008 has to be this offering about Hofbrau from Aaron Watson:

I first saw it two years ago in a restaurant, a tap with a large HB emblazoned on it and the word Hofbrau. Immediately, I thought of David Hasselhoff. But I didn’t let that put me off and bravely ordered a stein. Like David, it was light tan and had a big head.

Glass Tip - The Capital Times

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Saturday, February 02, 2008

Change behaviour but don't jump

In a recession, if that's what we're going into, consumers may not want to spend their discretionary money at the likes of Pumpkin Patch or even have discretionary money, says Jeff Matthews, senior financial adviser at Spicers Wealth Management. It's likely, however, that they're still going to be buying beer, electricity and petrol.

Full Story

Friday, February 01, 2008

Beer Haiku Friday - Ouch

Today's Beer Haiku Daily from the vaults made the cut simply because it made me laugh. It is about stupid behaviour while drinking which seems most appropiate given the Sevens kick off later today. The Haiku is called Ouch and is by the man I like to call "The Man", Captain Hops.

Sapporo steel can
Please don’t crush it on your head
It will leave a mark

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily

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