News

New Belgium Brewing announced the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) has purchased the balance of company shares, making it 100% employee-owned. New Belgium has been a partial ESOP since 2000 with a controlling interest held by co-founder Kim Jordan and her family.

“There are few times in life where you get to make choices that will have multi-generational impact – this is one of those times. We have an opportunity to write the next chapter of this incredible story and we’re really excited about that,” Jordan said. “We have always had a high involvement ownership culture and this allows us to take that to the next logical level. It will provide an elegant succession framework that keeps the executive team in tact ensuring our vision stays true going forward.”

Jordan plans to remain CEO for the long-term and the executive team at New Belgium will continue in its current form.

The Fort Collins brewer is currently building a second facility in Asheville, North Carolina that will begin beer production in 2015. The transition to 100% ownership will enable New Belgium to include their future co-workers in Asheville.

The deal was completed on the 28th of December with a companywide announcement made during New Belgium’s annual winter retreat this week. All 456 employee-owners were present for the celebration. Prior to this deal, New Belgium co-workers held 41% of the company’s shares.

Brooklyn Brewery, D. Carnegie & Co., and Carlsberg Sweden have announced the launch of a new brewery and restaurant in central Stockholm.

According to a press release, the Brooklyn-New Carnegie Brewery will be built in the Luma Factory buildings in Hammarby Sjöstad, a residential and commercial complex that fronts on Stockholm harbor. The waterfront brewery will have brewing capacity for 8,000 barrels (almost 250,000 gallons), and restaurant capacity for 100 visitors inside and another 150 visitors outside.

The Brooklyn Brewery will manage and operate the project through a wholly owned Swedish subsidiary, and Brooklyn brewmaster Garrett Oliver and his team will brew special Brooklyn beers and develop new beers for the New Carnegie brand. “We love Stockholm, and the whole Brooklyn brewing team is looking forward to their stints at Brooklyn-New Carnegie. We’re going to have a lot of fun brewing and creating beers with our Swedish team,” said Oliver.

In 2011, the Brooklyn Brewery collaborated with Carnegie to produce a bourbon barrel-aged version of Carnegie Porter to celebrate the 175th anniversary of the Carnegie Brewery.

“We distributed Carnegie Porter years ago in New York,” said Brooklyn Chief Operating Officer Eric Ottaway. “We have great respect for the tradition that Carnegie represents, and we look forward to developing the portfolio of beers.”

Joakim Losin, CEO of New Carnegie, said the brewery and restaurant would be a meeting place for Sweden’s craft brewers and their followers, and a school for Swedish beer lovers. The new brewery/restaurant will be open for tours as well as lunch and dinner.

Carnegie is the oldest trademark in Sweden. The company was purchased by Carlsberg when it bought the Pripps Brewery in 2001, and Carlsberg Sweden was established.

Brooklyn Brewery brands have been imported by Carlsberg Sweden since 2006. Sweden is the largest export market for the Brooklyn Brewery.

Brooklyn ships many of its bottled beers to Sweden, including its flagship Brooklyn Lager and its 750-ml bottle-conditioned beers like Brooklyn Local 1 and Brooklyn Sorachi Ace. It also ships tankers of beer to Sweden which are kegged in Falkenberg. Brooklyn Lager and Brooklyn East India Pale Ale are available on draft all over Sweden.

Brooklyn Brewery is America’s leading craft beer exporter.

Goose Island Beer Company founder John Hall will step down as chief executive officer at the end of the year. Hall started Goose Island as a brewpub in 1988 and it grew into a top-producing brewery. He will continue to own two Goose Island brewpubs in Chicago.

Hall sold the company to Anheuser-Busch InBev in 2011. Andy Goeler, who has been with A-B for 30 years, will take over as Goose Island CEO. Goeler recently has been in charge of the fast-growing Shock Top brand.

Anheuser-Busch has significantly expanded Goose Island distribution in the last 18 months, producing much of popular beers at A-B breweries in other states. Goose Island used the space this freed up to make more of high-end beers such as Bourbon County Stout and Matilda. According to the Chicago Tribune:

. . . in a phone conversation Friday, Goeler made clear that his focus is expanding Goose Island nationally with four core beers – 312 Urban Wheat Ale, Honker’s Ale, India Pale Ale and a rotating seasonal (Mild Winter, Summertime or Fall Harvest), all of which will largely be brewed at AB plants in Baldwinsville, N.Y. and Ft. Collins, Colo. Starting next week, Goose Island beer will be distributed in all 50 states, making it one of the few craft brands with a true national footprint.

The Tribune also reported, the brewpubs will “maintain their relationships with the AB-owned Goose. Goose will not only continue to produce high-end beers, Goeler said, their output will be expanded with (still more) space for barrel aging. And . . .

(Goeler) said staying true to the company’s history is vital to its expansion, and the fact that the company will continue to be run from Chicago, rather than St. Louis, seems to lend the thought credence.

“The roots of Chicago, to me, are so critical to the long term health off the brand across the country,” Goeler said. “If you lose that connection, you’ve lost the brand.”

Hall will join an “Anheuser-Busch Craft Advisory Board” that will help guide the brand.

Brewery Ommegang captured four medals at European Beer Star awards. Judging was held last month and winners were announced Tuesday at Brau Beviale in Nuremberg, Germany.

Twenty-three America breweries won medals in the judging, which has quickly grown into one of the world’s premiere beer competitions. It attracted 1,366 entries from 45 countries this year, compared to 271 entries in 2004.

The Cooperstown, N.Y., brewery that is owned by Duvel in Belgium won a gold medal for Ommegang Gnomegang, a silver for XV Anniversary, and bronze for Rare Vos and Ommegang Ale.

Two American breweries won three medals (in both cases two gold and one silver): Deschutes Brewery in Oregon and Boston Beer, for its Samuel Adams beers.

Firestone Walker Brewing also won three medals, two golds in the judging (for Union Jack and Double Jack), and another gold from beer drinkers. The “Consumers’ Favourites” were chosen in public voting on the 50 gold medal winners.

Other America breweries winning two medals including Oskar Blues, Pelican Pub & Brewery, Odell Brewing, and FiftyFifty Brewing.

The complete results.

U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration has cited the Craft Brew Alliance with 14 alleged safety violations as a result of its investigation into the accident in which Redhook Ale Brewery worker Ben Harris died in April.

Harris was killed when a keg exploded while he was cleaning it at the Portsmouth, N.H., brewery.

Investigators said Harris was using a compressed air line to purge liquid from the interior of a plastic keg when the keg exploded and fatally struck him. During the investigation officials determined that the explosion resulted from excess air pressure introduced into the keg from the keg cleanout line. They found the line lacked an air regulator that would have limited its air pressure to less than 60 pounds per square inch, which is the maximum air pressure limit recommended by keg manufacturers.

OSHA also found that other employees who used the cleanout line were exposed to the same hazard while cleaning out steel kegs.

OSHA recommended a penalty of $13,000 for the violations.

Investigators also discovered several other unrelated deficiencies. These resulted in $50,500 in recommended penalties for the Craft Beer Alliance.

In response to the findings, Redhook released a statement saying that the investigation into the tragedy found that Redhook and the Craft Beer Alliance did not willfully violate workplace safety standards.

The statement, released by spokesman Ted Lane, also said the citations mentioned in the report have already been addressed. “The Portsmouth brewery uses compressed air to push waste beer out of returned kegs prior to washing and filling,” according to the statement. “The brewery believes it was operating safely because it has historically washed and filled only stainless steel beer kegs without incident.”

One of these years it will be physically impossible for the Great American Beer Festival to get bigger.

As it is, 2,700 different beers were served at the Colorado Convention Center in Denver and 4,338 beers from 666 breweries were assessed by 185 judges from 11 countries during the competition held in conjunction the festival.

The complete list of winners in 84 categories is here (a pdf). The breweries that were most successful in their class were:

Small Brewing Company and Small Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Funkwerks, Funkwerks Brewing Team

Mid-Size Brewing Company and Mid-Size Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Tröegs Brewing Company, John Trogner III

Large Brewing Company and Large Brewing Company Brewer of the Year
Pabst Brewing Company, Gregory Deuhs

Small Brewpub and Small Brewpub Brewer of the Year
Devils Backbone Brewing Company – Basecamp, Devils Backbone Brewery Team

Large Brewpub and Large Brewpub Brewer of the Year
The Church Brew Works, Steve Sloan

Brewpub Group and Brewpub Group Brewer of the Year
Great Dane Pub & Brewing Company, Rob Lobreglio

Finally, a few other fun numbers . . .

– 578 breweries in the festival hall
– More than 2,700 beers served at the festival
– 49,000 attendees
– Approximately 2,800 volunteers
– Average number of competition beers entered in each category: 50.6
– Category with highest number of entries: American-Style India Pale Ale, 203

The California craft brewing industry generated approximately $3 billion in total impact to the state’s economy, a press release from the Craft Brewing Association revealed. Citing a 2012 study sponsored by the CCBA in conjunction with the University of California, CCBA president Steve Wagner of Stone Brewing said:

“The craft brewing industry is thriving in California, generating approximately $3 billion in total economic impact and creating 22,000 jobs in 2011 despite being on the heels of the most significant recession since the Great Depression. The California craft brewing industry is an integral part of the state’s economy – making up more than 1.5% of total economic output.

“California’s craft brewers have prospered through difficult economic times, but the industry remains dependent on the support of the state’s leadership to ensure these small and independently owned businesses have the freedom necessary to expand while adding jobs and supporting their communities.”

CCBA Executive Director Tom McCormick added:

“As the craft brewing industry continues to grow – adding more jobs and generating more tax revenue – so will its positive impact to California and the local communities that are home to our craft brewers. California’s craft brewers generated approximately $400 million in local, state and federal tax revenue in 2011 while the industry grew by 13% in production and 15% in dollars compared to 2010.”