Beer Industry Resources
22.7.08
Bud Bought Out
Guess it's not a done deal yet and might happen as early as the end of the year. It's a strange time we live in when more and more
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Beer, Ethanol and The Democratic Convention
What does beer have to do with the National Democratic convention other than a bunch of politicians getting liquored up? You might be surprised to hear the answer. The convention will be powered by beer in more ways than one!
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Braised Duck
If you like duck and you like beer, you're gonna love duck cooked in beer. Pretty sure I got this one out of The Great American Beer Cookbook which has a bunch of killer recipes, all cooking with beer. Salute!
DUCK BRAISED IN ALE
Duck breast can be cooked quickly on the grill, but slower, moister cooking is recommended. The recipe recommends using a full-flavored pale ale that's not too aggressively hopped. Serves 4
Legs and wings of 2 ducks
3 small onions, quartered
1 bottle Pale ale
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
2 cups celery, in thick diagonal slices
1/2 cup poultry or meat stock
Pinch of salt
1. Heat a skillet over high heat and sprinkle generously with salt. Sear several pieces of the duck at a time, cooking mostly on the skin side and adjusting your heat so the fat doesn't smoke. Cook until the skin is well browned and has rendered some fat. As their done, transfer them to a flameproof covered casserole. Discard fat.
2. Scatter onions over the duck in the casserole and add in your beer with some freshly ground pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook at a simmer or in a 250 F oven until your duck is very tender. Should take about 1 1/4 hours.
3. When your duck is about 10 minutes away from done, heat your oil in a small saucepan and briefly saute your celery. Add the stock from your casserole, cover, and stew 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
4. Transfer the duck and onions to a serving dish, top it all with your celery, and keep it warm. You can use a gravy separator to remove excess fat from the cooking liquid or just siphon the liquid from under the fat with a bulb baster.
5. Return the defatted liquid to the pan, bring it to a boil, and reduce it by a third. Pour this sauce over the duck and serve.
DUCK BRAISED IN ALE
Duck breast can be cooked quickly on the grill, but slower, moister cooking is recommended. The recipe recommends using a full-flavored pale ale that's not too aggressively hopped. Serves 4
Legs and wings of 2 ducks
3 small onions, quartered
1 bottle Pale ale
Freshly ground black pepper, to taste
1 tablespoon olive oil or butter
2 cups celery, in thick diagonal slices
1/2 cup poultry or meat stock
Pinch of salt
1. Heat a skillet over high heat and sprinkle generously with salt. Sear several pieces of the duck at a time, cooking mostly on the skin side and adjusting your heat so the fat doesn't smoke. Cook until the skin is well browned and has rendered some fat. As their done, transfer them to a flameproof covered casserole. Discard fat.
2. Scatter onions over the duck in the casserole and add in your beer with some freshly ground pepper. Bring to a boil, cover, and cook at a simmer or in a 250 F oven until your duck is very tender. Should take about 1 1/4 hours.
3. When your duck is about 10 minutes away from done, heat your oil in a small saucepan and briefly saute your celery. Add the stock from your casserole, cover, and stew 5 minutes. Remove from the heat and keep warm.
4. Transfer the duck and onions to a serving dish, top it all with your celery, and keep it warm. You can use a gravy separator to remove excess fat from the cooking liquid or just siphon the liquid from under the fat with a bulb baster.
5. Return the defatted liquid to the pan, bring it to a boil, and reduce it by a third. Pour this sauce over the duck and serve.
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12.7.08
Craft Beer in a Can?
I recently read an article about craft breweries canning their products which was pretty interesting. I was skeptical at first, but then tried a few, and I have to say I was impressed.
Besides, you shouldn't drink our craft beer out of the bottle anyway, so what's the difference with a can? The container should hardly matter. One benefit is that there is zero chance for getting skunked (no light penetration). Also, they can be brought where glass cannot (pool side, the beach, public parks, camping grounds--I wouldn't be surprised to see some offered on airlines in the next few years).
People used to fight the composite plastic wine bottle 'cork' too... some still may, but most analyses find it's actually better at protecting the wine, and reseals better. And wine in a box--yup, that's come a very, very long way as well. And did you know that Trader Joe's 2-Buck Chuck (retails for $1.99 for a 750mL bottle) accounts for about 1 out of every 12 bottles of domestic wine purchased in America? So, there--shattered 3 misconceptions about wine--needs a cork, must be in a bottle, and must be expensive... people are coming around to questioning everything and just going with what tastes good (and what's economical, particularly these days).
A similar thing is going on with canned beers. Trust me, we're going to see more and more canned beers, without a doubt. The misconception that micro or good beer needs to come in a bottle is just due to the fact that when micros started, canning lines were only produced for MASSIVE scale brewing operations, and bottling lines available at the time could accommodate smaller production scales. But a few years back a company in Canada created a canning line that would accommodate the canning production scale of micro and regional breweries, for a cheaper price than most intro bottling lines, and now it's taking off... consider the trade off just in how much glass weighs--to get it to the brewery before filling, and to distribute when filled... riding on trucks every step of the way, eating up gasoline... So, cheaper to acquire the line, and cheaper to move around the product.
Here are some beers with good distribution that you can probably find locally. Buy one or more of these and taste them for yourself.
All canned, all from Oskar Blues Brewing Company (Lyons, CO): Old Chubb, Gordon Ale, Dale's Pale Ale.
Anything from Surly B.C. (Minneapolis, Minnesota, I believe)
Anything from Steamworks B.C. (Durango, CO)--their Steam Engine Lager I've had from the can.
The only true issue with canned right now is you can't "can condition" due to pressure issues/cans bursting--but for most of what we run stylistically in the domestic clubs, this is not a problem. Other reports (metallic taste, etc.) are no longer a problem. Plus, canning has permitted more start up micros to actually get their products out, as canning lines are finally cheaper at the micro scale than bottling lines, meaning more true micros are getting their products out, in the can format.
Besides, you shouldn't drink our craft beer out of the bottle anyway, so what's the difference with a can? The container should hardly matter. One benefit is that there is zero chance for getting skunked (no light penetration). Also, they can be brought where glass cannot (pool side, the beach, public parks, camping grounds--I wouldn't be surprised to see some offered on airlines in the next few years).
People used to fight the composite plastic wine bottle 'cork' too... some still may, but most analyses find it's actually better at protecting the wine, and reseals better. And wine in a box--yup, that's come a very, very long way as well. And did you know that Trader Joe's 2-Buck Chuck (retails for $1.99 for a 750mL bottle) accounts for about 1 out of every 12 bottles of domestic wine purchased in America? So, there--shattered 3 misconceptions about wine--needs a cork, must be in a bottle, and must be expensive... people are coming around to questioning everything and just going with what tastes good (and what's economical, particularly these days).
A similar thing is going on with canned beers. Trust me, we're going to see more and more canned beers, without a doubt. The misconception that micro or good beer needs to come in a bottle is just due to the fact that when micros started, canning lines were only produced for MASSIVE scale brewing operations, and bottling lines available at the time could accommodate smaller production scales. But a few years back a company in Canada created a canning line that would accommodate the canning production scale of micro and regional breweries, for a cheaper price than most intro bottling lines, and now it's taking off... consider the trade off just in how much glass weighs--to get it to the brewery before filling, and to distribute when filled... riding on trucks every step of the way, eating up gasoline... So, cheaper to acquire the line, and cheaper to move around the product.
Here are some beers with good distribution that you can probably find locally. Buy one or more of these and taste them for yourself.
All canned, all from Oskar Blues Brewing Company (Lyons, CO): Old Chubb, Gordon Ale, Dale's Pale Ale.
Anything from Surly B.C. (Minneapolis, Minnesota, I believe)
Anything from Steamworks B.C. (Durango, CO)--their Steam Engine Lager I've had from the can.
The only true issue with canned right now is you can't "can condition" due to pressure issues/cans bursting--but for most of what we run stylistically in the domestic clubs, this is not a problem. Other reports (metallic taste, etc.) are no longer a problem. Plus, canning has permitted more start up micros to actually get their products out, as canning lines are finally cheaper at the micro scale than bottling lines, meaning more true micros are getting their products out, in the can format.
Permanent link to Craft Beer in a Can?.
History of Toasting
This is a pretty cool article on the history of toasting that was written by Will Anderson a few years back. Pretty cool stuff.
Toasting, to drink to someone's health or happiness, is a custom that goes back as far as drinking itself. In fact, it's one of mankind's oldest social customs. Prehistoric tribes were known to have practiced several variations of toasting. Even the Greeks and Romans solemnized their drinking by offering up good health to their many gods.
It wasn't until seventeenth-century England, though, that the word "toast" came into being. In those days beer was often enjoyed by a fireplace along with bits of toasted bread which was often added to the beer for a little extra flavor. As the addition of the toast was done before drinking and the wishing of health, wealth, or whatever, it stands to reason that the name for the latter took its name from that of the former.
So actually there's not that much reason to the above reasoning at all, but words have come to be in far stranger ways, and it is the more or less accepted derivation of "toast."
Regardless of how it came about, toasting is a wonderful custom. In Austria, it is custom to look each person in the eye and say "prost" as you toast them individually. I like that custom. I sign that you are really connecting with the person and not just raising your glass to the entire room. Somehow a beer has always seemed to taste better when drunk to someone or something. So here are a few of my favorite toasts culled from the thirst-provoking pages of Lewis C. Henry's Toasts for All Occasions (Halcyon House, Garden City, New York).
May the most you wish for be the least you get.
Here's to temperance supper, With water in glasses tall,
And coffee and tea to end with-And me not there at all.
Here's to a long life and a merry one,
A quick death and an easy one,
A pretty girl and a true one,
A cold beer- and another one.
May you live all the days of your life. - Swift
Toasting, to drink to someone's health or happiness, is a custom that goes back as far as drinking itself. In fact, it's one of mankind's oldest social customs. Prehistoric tribes were known to have practiced several variations of toasting. Even the Greeks and Romans solemnized their drinking by offering up good health to their many gods.
It wasn't until seventeenth-century England, though, that the word "toast" came into being. In those days beer was often enjoyed by a fireplace along with bits of toasted bread which was often added to the beer for a little extra flavor. As the addition of the toast was done before drinking and the wishing of health, wealth, or whatever, it stands to reason that the name for the latter took its name from that of the former.
So actually there's not that much reason to the above reasoning at all, but words have come to be in far stranger ways, and it is the more or less accepted derivation of "toast."
Regardless of how it came about, toasting is a wonderful custom. In Austria, it is custom to look each person in the eye and say "prost" as you toast them individually. I like that custom. I sign that you are really connecting with the person and not just raising your glass to the entire room. Somehow a beer has always seemed to taste better when drunk to someone or something. So here are a few of my favorite toasts culled from the thirst-provoking pages of Lewis C. Henry's Toasts for All Occasions (Halcyon House, Garden City, New York).
May the most you wish for be the least you get.
Here's to temperance supper, With water in glasses tall,
And coffee and tea to end with-And me not there at all.
Here's to a long life and a merry one,
A quick death and an easy one,
A pretty girl and a true one,
A cold beer- and another one.
May you live all the days of your life. - Swift
Permanent link to History of Toasting.
Eggplant Recipe
I don't recall where I found this recipe. I'm pretty sure a friend let me make a copy of it. If you're an eggplant nut like I am, you're gonna dig it!
BAKED EGGPLANT IN HONEY BEER
1 Lg eggplant
Olive oil
Herbs de Provence
12 oz. Honey Lager, or more, as required 375 ml
Parsley sprigs for garnish
Slice, salt and drain your eggplant prior to cooking it. Cut it lengthwise into slices of roughly 1 inch (2.5 cm) in thickness and drizzle each side of each slice with olive oil. Gently rub a heaping pinch of herbs into each side of the eggplant slices, taking care not to bruise the flesh.
Put the slices flat in a baking dish and pour in enough beer to almost, but not quite cover the eggplant. Bake covered at 275 F for 30 min and then flip the slices for another 30 min. Serve garnished with sprigs of parsley.
BAKED EGGPLANT IN HONEY BEER
1 Lg eggplant
Olive oil
Herbs de Provence
12 oz. Honey Lager, or more, as required 375 ml
Parsley sprigs for garnish
Slice, salt and drain your eggplant prior to cooking it. Cut it lengthwise into slices of roughly 1 inch (2.5 cm) in thickness and drizzle each side of each slice with olive oil. Gently rub a heaping pinch of herbs into each side of the eggplant slices, taking care not to bruise the flesh.
Put the slices flat in a baking dish and pour in enough beer to almost, but not quite cover the eggplant. Bake covered at 275 F for 30 min and then flip the slices for another 30 min. Serve garnished with sprigs of parsley.
Permanent link to Eggplant Recipe.
Microbreweries Facing High Hop Prices
Since the end of 2007, the price for hops worldwide has been skyrocketing due to what many industry experts have described as a "perfect storm" of events that have led to significant shortages on the open market. This is making for a difficult year for American microbreweries, brewpubs, and homebrewers, who, unlike the huge "macrobreweries" like Anheuser-Busch and Miller, don't have long-term hop futures contracts that insulate them from rising costs.
So, how did this hop shortage occur? Well, the chain of events began back in the early 1990s when global hop production hit an all-time high of almost 250,000 acres planted. This created a huge excess of inventory, and because hops are often turned into hop extract which can have a shelf-life of several years, the glut grew and grew. This oversupply eventually pushed the prices down (sometimes below the cost of growing the hops in the first place) and many hop farmers went out of business or pulled up their hops in favor of more profitable crops. As of 2006, less than 115,000 acres of hops were planted worldwide.
Now, after a couple of years of poor hop harvests in Europe, a weak dollar spurring increased exports of hops out of the U.S., and the simultaneous exhaustion of the supply of hop extract that has been in reserve inventory, American craft brewers are being faced with hop prices that are in some cases 5-10 times what they were a year ago. A decrease in the supply of barley is also compounding the problem, so consumers are noticing price increases for most beer styles, with highly-hopped beers like India Pale Ales (IPAs) and the super-highly-hopped Double IPAs (aka Imperial IPAs) being particularly hard hit.
Exactly how long the hop shortage will continue is up for debate, but most experts see it lasting through the end of 2008 and likely extending into next year. Eventually the high market prices will coax more farmers into planting hops and the prices will begin falling as supply and demand return to a normal equilibrium.
If you're an optimist, the silver lining in all this is that it's just the sort of challenge that propels craft brewers onward to new innovations. As you probably already know, craft brewers are creative types who are constantly looking for excuses to tinker with new formulas and to try wild ideas, so don't be surprised if your favorite brewer starts experimenting with different (and more easily attainable) hop varieties, or unveils an excellent new lightly-hopped Scottish Ale or Bock. In the meantime, the ubiquitous IPA should still be available from most microbreweries, just expect to pay a bit more for one for the next year or two.
So, how did this hop shortage occur? Well, the chain of events began back in the early 1990s when global hop production hit an all-time high of almost 250,000 acres planted. This created a huge excess of inventory, and because hops are often turned into hop extract which can have a shelf-life of several years, the glut grew and grew. This oversupply eventually pushed the prices down (sometimes below the cost of growing the hops in the first place) and many hop farmers went out of business or pulled up their hops in favor of more profitable crops. As of 2006, less than 115,000 acres of hops were planted worldwide.
Now, after a couple of years of poor hop harvests in Europe, a weak dollar spurring increased exports of hops out of the U.S., and the simultaneous exhaustion of the supply of hop extract that has been in reserve inventory, American craft brewers are being faced with hop prices that are in some cases 5-10 times what they were a year ago. A decrease in the supply of barley is also compounding the problem, so consumers are noticing price increases for most beer styles, with highly-hopped beers like India Pale Ales (IPAs) and the super-highly-hopped Double IPAs (aka Imperial IPAs) being particularly hard hit.
Exactly how long the hop shortage will continue is up for debate, but most experts see it lasting through the end of 2008 and likely extending into next year. Eventually the high market prices will coax more farmers into planting hops and the prices will begin falling as supply and demand return to a normal equilibrium.
If you're an optimist, the silver lining in all this is that it's just the sort of challenge that propels craft brewers onward to new innovations. As you probably already know, craft brewers are creative types who are constantly looking for excuses to tinker with new formulas and to try wild ideas, so don't be surprised if your favorite brewer starts experimenting with different (and more easily attainable) hop varieties, or unveils an excellent new lightly-hopped Scottish Ale or Bock. In the meantime, the ubiquitous IPA should still be available from most microbreweries, just expect to pay a bit more for one for the next year or two.
Permanent link to Microbreweries Facing High Hop Prices.
Craft Beer Sales Skyrocket in 2007
Great news for lovers of craft-brewed beer: According to data recently released from the Brewers Association, the craft beer segment of the U.S. beer market grew at a rate far outpacing the rest of the beer industry. While the industry as a whole was up 1.4 percent in terms of the volume sold over 2006 figures, sales of craft beer were up an impressive 12 percent! Additionally, craft beer has achieved a market share of just under 4 percent according to volume sold and just under 6 percent according to actual dollars spent, for total annual sales of 5.7 billion dollars.
This growth builds on steady recent progress; sales of craft beer are up almost 60% over the last four years in terms of revenue. We couldn't be happier to see so many more people discovering the joys of flavorful microbrewed goodness! Here's to drinking quality beer and supporting local brewers! Prost!!
This growth builds on steady recent progress; sales of craft beer are up almost 60% over the last four years in terms of revenue. We couldn't be happier to see so many more people discovering the joys of flavorful microbrewed goodness! Here's to drinking quality beer and supporting local brewers! Prost!!
Permanent link to Craft Beer Sales Skyrocket in 2007.
