Just for fun

When the Archbishop of York, Dr. John Sentamu, went to visit Pope Benedict XVI in Rome he took him an unusual gift — Holy Grail, a beer brewed by the Black Sheep Brewery located in Masham, England.

The archbishop was in Rome to celebrate the Week of Prayer for Christian Unity to strengthen ties between the two churches.

Monty Python’s Holy Grail was specially commissioned to mark the 30th anniversary of the famous television program.

The Pope is said to prefer beer to wine and water and this wasn’t the first time that he had sampled one of the brewery’s beers. Managing director Paul Theakston said, “We were absolutely delighted, if not a little surprised, when we received the request from the archbishop to provide the Pope with a bottle of Holy Grail. We do not imagine that His Holiness will be swapping holy water for Holy Grail just yet, but to have him enjoy one of our favorite tipples is a real honor for the whole brewery and give the Holy Grail ale name a whole new meaning.”

Harpoon Brewery and Brooklyn Brewery have a little something riding on the outcome of Sunday’s Super Bowl game.

With the New England Patriots would be playing the New York Giants, Harpoon president Dan Kenary dialed up his friend Steve Hindy, president of Brooklyn Brewery, and arranged a wager. The bet: if the Patriots win the Super Bowl, Brooklyn will pour a keg of Harpoon IPA in their tap room and if the Giants win, a keg of Brooklyn Lager will be tapped in Harpoon’s Boston tap room.

“We know that the oddsmakers are giving the Patriots a 12-point advantage, but we have a lot of faith in our Giants and Eli Manning,” Hindy said in a press release. “The Giants closed strong this season while the Pats looked a bit tired in the last few games, so we accepted an even bet with Dan and Harpoon.”

On Monday, the brewery that has won the wager will ship a keg of their flagship beer to the losing brewery for tapping on their draft system.

After 147 years of doing business, August Schell Brewing Co. in Minnesota has brewed one million cases of beer for the first time.

To celebrate president Ted Marti later took the case of Schmaltz’s Alt to an old horse-drawn wagon, which Schell’s sometimes uses in parades. However, the special case of dark brown beer made the trip to several downtown restaurants and bars in an SUV because the old wagon needs some work and the horses that usually pull it were not available.

Schell’s selected Schmaltz’s Alt for its millionth case to honor Marti’s father, Warren Schmaltz Marti, who was president of the brewery from 1965 to 1986.

Schell’s is the nation’s second oldest operating brewery.

What better way to celebrate five years of microcanning than by releasing really big cans?

That’s not exactly what the folks at Oskar Blues in Lyons, Colo., are doing, but it sort of looks like that doesn’t it?

Not long after the brewery started selling Dale’s Pale Ale in cans, founder Dale Katechis said:

“People see the can and think they need to drink right from it. You’d never drink a full-flavored beer from a bottle. This is a better, safer package than a bottle. It’s draft beer in a mini-keg, and you don’t drink draft beer right from a full-size keg.”

Now the mini-kegs are getting a little bigger. The brewery is rolling out 5-liter/1.3 gallon mini kegs. Keg cans (with built-in taps) Dale’s Pale Ale will reach select stores along the Front Range starting Dec. 3. They will retail for around $24.

Visitors to the Oskar Blues pub in Lyons can buy these cans filled with Dale’s Pale Ale, as well as Old Chub Scottish Style Ale, Gordon, Ten FIDY and the brewpub’s other-in-house beers. These cans have replaced the traditional glass growler at Oskar Blues.

The brewery has also added its Ten FIDY Imperial Stout (the name is an allusion to motor oil and the dark luscious color of the 9.4% abv beer) to its can lineup. The suggested price for a four-pack is $12.99.

Since selling its first can of Dales Pale Ale in November of 2002, and being followed by scores of other craft breweries selling beer in cans, Oskar Blues has grown twenty-fold.

The brewery sold 700 barrels the year before installing its first table-top, two-cans-at-once filler, and this year will ship 14,000 barrels.

“It’s been an incredible run for us,” Katechis said. “We launched our Canned Beer Apocalypse as something of a joke, and a way to draw attention to our brewpub. Some of our peers thought we were nuts at the time. But we heard from many retailers and consumers back then who loved the irreverence and practicality of the idea.”

It’s always a good day at the brewery when a prince drops by. Prince Charles recently visited Oxfordshire’s Wychwood Brewery, because that’s where his Duchy Originals Organic Ales are brewed.

Rupert Thompson, Wychwood Brewery’s managing director pictured with Prince Charles, introduced him to the Wychwood brewing team as well as hop growers and maltsters.

“We are all absolutely delighted and honored that The Prince of Wales took so much time from his busy schedule to visit the Wychwood Brewery. It is a huge tribute to everyone who works at Wychwood that The Prince, who was so obviously fascinated in the production process, was able to recognize all the hard work that goes into our beers,” Thompson said.