Archive for February, 2007

 

 

 

 

 

 

Two new Unibroue beers are arriving Thursday: Unibroue “16″ and Quelque Chose, a fruit beer. We love Unibroue, as one-half of Bruisin’ Ales is from Montreal. We even made Don de Dieu our featured beer, because there is so much more than Trois Pistole and Maudite. Personally, we miss Eau Benite. Those were the days. But, we digress …

“Chelque Chose” translates loosely as “some thing,” or slang, as in “that’s something else.” And, it is—indeed. This beer, as intended, should be served warm. From the brewery’s website:

Quelque Chose was launched in January 1996. This versatile beer was specifically developed as a winter beer because, when warmed to 70ºC (160ºF), it can be taken as a hot drink. On the other hand, on the rocks, it is a wonderful aperitif. The cherries are soaked for months in slightly bitter ale before being blended into the beer. Quelque Chose is made with dark roasted malts, and the end result is something commonly known as an authentic nectar. The most original of the Unibroue line, it is highly appreciated by winter-sports enthusiasts.

On BeerAdvocate.com, it seems people either love it or hate it. (We could not even find it on RateBeer.com.) But it’s definitely “some thing” we look forward to.

Photo: Unibroue

Thank you, Asheville_Pubcrawler, for publishing a story we completely missed in last week’s news for some unearthly reason.

Last fall, BeerAdvocate, All About Beer and Beverage Retailer all proclaimed in one way or another that 2007 would be the “Year of Beer.” Seems they were on to something—and likely had enough preliminary numbers to make that proclamation.

Snippet from the Asheville Beer Blog:

BOULDER, Colo.–(BUSINESS WIRE)–The continuing growth of craft beer entered double-digit territory in 2006, with sales by craft brewers up 11.7% by volume for the year. This comes on top of strong growth in each of the prior three years and illustrates the ongoing surge of consumer interest in craft beers.

“American tastes are clearly changing thus the demand for more flavorful and diverse beers is exploding,” said Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association, which tabulates industry growth data.

The Brewers Association estimates 2006 sales by craft brewers at over 6,600,000 barrels (one barrel equals 31 U.S. gallons), up from an adjusted total of just under 6,000,000 barrels in 2005. The increase totals over 690,000 barrels or 9.5 million case-equivalents. For 2006, craft beer posted a retail sales figure of $4.2 billion.

You can read the Brewers Association’s full press release on Business Wire. 

 

 

 

Great news out of upstate NY! We met the southeastern rep for Duvel-Moortgat today, which is the parent of Ommegang (and now Achouffe, too). After a few rough patches in the past few months, including the bottling system breaking down, Ommegang is back on track. While Ommegang is hands-down the premier Belgian-style of the USA, it’s no secret that Allagash has given them a run for their money lately on the inventive-ness scale.

Duvel-Moortgat is putting unbelievable amounts of cash into Ommegang, all the while respecting the actual brewery, unlike the InBev empire, which bought up loads of breweries and then closed them down (R.I.P. Hoegaarden). The beautiful little abbey-style brewery in Cooperstown, NY is about to be quadrupled in size with a whole new “green brewing” system installed. The old brewery will continue to be operational and will be used mainly for tours. By going green, Ommegang will use the heat from boiling to heat offices and harvest energy via solar panels for enough energy to run the brewery and possibly even supply the surrounding town. Hooray!

After the unfortunate bottling menace, which forced Duvel to brew Ommegang in Belgium temporarily (check your bottles, kids, and see if it says “Brewed in Belgium” and try the beers side-by-side with the Ommegang proprietary yeasts v. the Duvel yeasts), Ommegang is back and unveiling a new brew in 2007: Ommegeddon. Word is, it’s already bottled and resting, and once released should be similar to the Trappist Orval. We can expect it sometime this summer. Also, look for a second specialty brew sometime in the Fall that coincides with their 10th anniversary.

Overseas, Duvel is tripling the size of their own brewery as well as Achouffe’s, letting them tend to their little tavern in Belgium. We have no problem with this as long as the beer and the brand isn’t compromised. Duvel also invested in protecting the Maredsous brand.

No further word on the collaboration between Brooklyn Brewery and Achouffe, Cuvee D’Achouffe, and whether or not it will be regularly bottled. If only we were able to go to Zythos this weekend!

From around the world today:

An accountant from Garfield, N.J. has moved his accounting firm into an area bar for tax season. Now you can enjoy a beer while doing your taxes—something you probably do anyway, except someone else is doing the work.
Source: United Press International

Columbia University did a blind taste test of beer which they say proves knowing who makes a beer (or knowing what’s in it) taints your tastebuds. The research was published in the journal, Psychological Science.
Source: LiveScience.com

In Austin, a beer can does more damage than the knife the perp was carrying.
Souce: PostBulletin

Rhode Island and Oregon both want to add a beer tax to subsidize … wait for it … substance abuse programs, among other things.
Source: Statesman Journal / Brown Daily Herald

Queensland is dealing with “environmental havoc” caused by imported cane toads from Hawaii. One pub owner is taking matters into his own hands and offering a beer bounty for captured toads. One bag of toads = One beer.
Souce: Jaunted

Beer barrels attack in the countryside of Somerset, U.K., when a brewery “lorry” overturned, sending 100+ kegs flying into private yards, damaging gardens and spraying beer.
Source: Metro.co.uk

Nova Scotia and New Brunswick are still bickering over Molson.
Source: CBC.ca

Beer prices in the U.K. may go up as farmers replace barley crops with those for biofuels.
Source: Daily Record UK

Beer launching fridge. With video.
Source: Gizmodo

 

 

 

 

 

 

Our family is, collectively, a pretty witty bunch. Today, Dad A sent us this little beer prayer to start the week. We’ve read it before, but never saw the picture (above) where someone actually painted it on a taproom wall (and nevermind that they neglect ‘ale’):

Our lager,
Which art in barrels,
Hallowed be thy drink.

Thy will be drunk,
(I will be drunk)
At home as in the tavern.

Give us this day, our foamy head.
And forgive us our spilages,
As we forgive those who spill against us.

And lead us not into incarceration,
But deliver us from hangovers.

For thine is the beer,
The bitter and the lager,
Forever and ever,
Barmen.