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Samuel Adams voluntarily recalls bottles

Posted in Breweries, News on   

The Boston Beer Company announced a voluntary recall of select 12-ounce bottles of its Samuel Adams beer which may contain small grains or bits of glass.

The precautionary recall comes after routine quality control inspections at the company’s Cincinnati brewery detected defects in certain beer bottles, manufactured by a third-party glass bottle supplier that might cause small bits of glass to break off and possibly fall into the bottle. The affected bottles come from only one of the five glass plants that supply the company with bottles.

The affected products are embossed on the base of the bottles with the following marking: The letter “N” followed by the number “35” followed by the letters “OI.”

Boston Beer has set up for website for consumers where they may enter bottle codes to see if they have bottles that have been recalled.

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Pike celebrates Repeal Day in grand style

Posted in Beers, Breweries, Just for fun on   

Here’s how to celebrate Repeal Day the right way.

Breweries, brewpubs and bars across the country today are celebrating the 75th anniversary of when beer resumed shipping beer (although Prohibiton was not officially over) in 1933, but none may be doing it better than the Pike Brewery in Seattle. Check out the schedule.

11:00 am – 6:00 pm: Hourly Tours of The Pike Brewery

6:30 p.m. – 10:00 pm: Museum Lounge-Theater seating:
Pike’s Repeal Party celebration continues with a Repealathonon the 80 inch high definition screen.

6:30 pm – 7:30 pm: The American Brew 2007
Filmmakers Roger Sherman and Jesse Sweet’s “The American Brew” is an hour-long documentary film celebrating the rich history of America’s favorite beverage of moderation. Many modern craft breweries and brewers are featured, set against a background of antique photos and films, the work is visually exciting. It vividly brings the viewer in touch and taste with America’s beer brewing heritage. Sherman’s documentaries have received numerous honors the past three decades including a Peabody Award, an Emmy Award and two Academy Award nominations, and Sweet has garnered attention and praise for his work in the history,
crime, biography and documentary genres.

7:30 – 8:00 pm: Prohibition’s effect on Beer
A discussion presented by Charles Finkel who grew up in Oklahoma during prohibition where it wasn’t repealed until 1959.

8:00pm – 9.30 pm: The Lady Eve 1941
Directed by Preston Sturges Starring Barbara Stanwyck, Henry Fonda, and Charles Coburn.

A hilarious comedy about the love life of Charlie Pike, scion to The Pike Brewing Company fortune. Charlie couldn’t remember whether pale ale, brown ale, porter and stout were bottom or top fermented – he was more interested in rare snakes and beautiful women. The movie features Pike Pale, “the Ale that won for Yale.” The Lady Eve was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, Original Story in 1944. In 1994, it was selected for preservation in the United States National
Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.

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Marston’s acquires Hobgoblin, Brakspear

Posted in Breweries, News, Trends on   

UK brewer Marston’s has announced it has acquired Refresh UK, which owns the Wychwood Brewery, brewer of Hobgoblin and Brakspear.

The Publican reports “the acquisition is consistent with Marston’s strategy of developing a portfolio of premium beer brands to complement the Marston’s range, led by Marston’s Pedigree.”

This purchase by Marston’s follows the company’s acquisitions of Jennings in 2005 and Ringwood in 2007.

Marston’s has said it is committed to continuing the operation of the acquired Wychwood Brewery in Witney.

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Alabama homebrewers can use our help

Posted in Homebrewing, News on   

Support Your Local BrewerySupport Your Local Brewery has issued an E-Action Alert for Alabama, to help legalize homebrewing.

There’s the news:

Dear Alabama Beer Enthusiasts:

Your phone calls and emails have helped gain a hearing for Alabama’s Senate Bill 355 (SB355), which would legalize homebrewing in the state of Alabama. The bill will be considered by the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee at a public hearing this Thursday, April 3.

The text of SB355 can be found here:
www.legislature.state.al.us/searchableinstruments/2008rs/bills/sb355.htm

What is needed NOW is additional support from Alabama residents prior to Thursday’s hearing, to ask the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee members to do two things:

(1) Pass SB355 out of committee favorably.

(2) Persuade other Senators not on the Tourism and Marketing Committee to call for a vote on the Senate floor and pass the bill there.

Contact information for Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee members can be found below. Please call the first phone number listed for each Senator, which is the number for their Senate office. This should take about 10 minutes total. A receptionist will answer. Just make the two points described above.

Also, please email the Senators on the committee. A list of all of the email addresses that you can cut and paste into an email can be found below the Tourism and Marketing Committee contact info.

Additionally, if you have time, you can call the second phone number listed, which is a business phone for the Senators.

If SB355 clears the Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee and is scheduled for a vote by the full Senate, we will follow up with additional information to help obtain passage of the bill in the Senate and hopefully move it on to the Alabama House.

Thank you for your support for Alabama homebrewers and SB 355. Please forward this message on to any other Alabama residents that you feel would be interested in supporting this bill.

Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee Members

BOBBY SINGLETON (D), Chairman
(334) 242-7935
bsingle164@yahoo.com

EDWARD B. “E. B.” McCLAIN (D), Vice-Chairman
(334) 242-7867
(205) 781-0786
ebmc@bellsouth.net

LOWELL RAY BARRON (D)
(334) 242-7858
(256) 623-2298

CHARLES BISHOP (R)
(334) 242-7894
(205) 221-4950

W. H. “PAT” LINDSEY (D)
(334) 242-7843
(205) 459-2478

DEL MARSH (R)
(334) 242-7877
(256) 237-8647

MYRON C. PENN (D)
(334) 242-7868
(334) 775-9778
myronpenn28@hotmail.com

QUINTON T. ROSS, Jr. (D)
(334) 242-7880
qtross2002@hotmail.com

RODGER SMITHERMAN (D) [Mr. Smitherman is the sponsor of SB355]
(334) 242-7870
(205) 322-0012
rodger.smitherman@alsenate.gov

WENDELL MITCHELL (D)
(334) 242-7883
(334) 244-1877
wmitchell@faulkner.edu

ZEB LITTLE (D), Senate Majority Leader
(334) 242-7855
(256) 775-7707
zeb@zeblittlelawfirm.com

“JABO” WAGGONER (R)
(334) 242-7892
(205) 978-7405
jabo.waggoner@alsenate.gov

Senate Tourism and Marketing Committee Email Addresses

bsingle164@yahoo.com; jabo.waggoner@alsenate.gov; zeb@zeblittlelawfirm.com; ebmc@bellsouth.net; myronpenn28@hotmail.com; qtross2002@hotmail.com; rodger.smitherman@alsenate.gov; wmitchell@faulkner.edu

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The meaning of ‘Beer is Back’

Posted in Beer culture, Breweries on   

Start with the radio address of August Busch Jr.:

Busch delivered his speech April 7, 1933. Anheuser-Busch and many smaller brewers have in recent years celebrated the day the Cullen-Harrison Act took effect, legalizing the sale of 3.2% alcohol by volume beer in the District of Columbia and the 20 states in which state laws did not prohibit its sale. (The national repeal of Prohibition for all forms of alcohol, begun in 1919, did not become finalized until Dec. 5)

This year it’s a bigger deal, given that it’s the 75th anniversary. The Brewers Association, Beer Institute and the National Beer Wholesalers Association have partnered for a special “75 Years of Beer” celebration. You’ll find a list of breweries celebrating at Beertown.org.

Nobody is doing it bigger than Anheuser-Busch. The nation’s largest brewing company will celebrate the anniversary at its St. Louis brewery with with a gathering commemorating the events of April 7, 1933, including the introduction of the Budweiser Clydesdales and the re-broadcast of August A. Busch, Jr.’s national radio address from the steps of the Budweiser brewery’s Bevo bottling plant (the video above).

Budweiser bound for the White HouseA new historical exhibit at A-B’s St. Louis tour center, including more than 50 rare Prohibition-era items, is now open to the public. Artifacts on display include photos, bottles and advertisements for Prohibition-period products, as well as a video tribute to the events of April 7, 1933.

(In the photo to the left, Adolphus Busch III, August A. Busch, Sr. and August A. Busch, Jr. display a case of Budweiser labeled for delivery to The White House.)

Budweiser bound for the White HouseThe company has sent out a press kit that includes a time line tracking Prohibition — a reminder how far its roots go back — detailing how the business survived during Prohibition (selling malt syrup among other things), analyzing the economic impact and plenty more. Much of the information can be found here, including how the Clydesdales became associated with Anheuser-Busch.

An A-B press release reports: “As the clock atop the brewhouse showed one minute past midnight on April 7, 1933, sirens and steam whistles sounded, the large wooden doors of the brewery’s Bevo bottling plant opened to the cheers of the thirsty, and 55 trucks laden with America’s favorite brew rolled out into the night, delivering the first cases of post-Prohibition Budweiser to the masses.”

Of course, the assembled weren’t just celebrating the return of beer. With beer came jobs. Just before beer was re-legalized in 1933, Anheuser-Busch employed 1,960 people. Upon repeal, A-B added 1,700 employees to the payroll and by 1938, A-B employment was up to 4,325 employees.

A good reason to toast with a beer April 7 (as well as the 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th, 9th . . .).