HEINEKEN has been selected to receive this award by GBCHealth for its enduring commitment to and excellence in its support for health-related programming for its employees, their dependents and the communities in which it operates.

John Tedstrom, CEO GBCHealth, stated, “HEINEKEN is an unsung hero in Global Health. It is a corporate leader who has dedicated its energy, attention and resources over more than two decades to tackling some of the most challenging global health issues of our time. From the company’s first HIV awareness and prevention programs in 1989 to its decision in 2001 to offer

HIV care services as part of its employee medical benefits package (a program many other companies have since replicated), to being an integral voice in shaping critical policy efforts,

Heineken has been a trailblazer in the global health space going above and beyond its core business to address issues that other companies find difficult to address.”

Stefaan van der Borght, Global Director Health Affairs HEINEKEN, said, “We are extremely honored with this award. At HEINEKEN people are our greatest assets. No other asset in the company is as important as the people that contribute with their work to our business results.

Therefore, HEINEKEN commits itself to provide a healthy working environment for all employees, contractors working on its premises and for those hired by HEINEKEN further along the supply chain. We have been actively focusing on health care of our employees and communities for over twenty years now and will continue to do so going forward. At the same time we realize our health care work has only just begun.”

HEINEKEN operates in many different countries. Particularly in the area of healthcare, being a multinational company means taking on responsibilities and actively contributing to the development of societies. HEINEKEN is active in helping combat the world’s poverty diseases: malaria, tuberculosis and HIV/AIDS. Its HIV/AIDS program is an important and integrated part of HEINEKEN’s healthcare initiatives, aimed at both prevention and access to anti-retroviral drugs.

At the end of 2007 HEINEKEN launched the Heineken Africa Foundation in order to support the improvement of health for communities in sub-Saharan Africa. HEINEKEN has endowed the Foundation with 20 million EUR (approximately $25.7 million), which allows up to 1 million EUR (approximately $1.3 million) per year to be invested in relevant health projects and health-related education. To date, the Foundation has committed 3 million EUR (approximately $3.9 million) which supports 33 projects.

About HEINEKEN USA
HEINEKEN USA  Inc., the nation’s premier beer importer, is a subsidiary of Heineken International BV, which is the world’s most international brewer. European brands imported into the U.S. include Heineken Lager, the world’s most international beer brand; Heineken Light; Amstel Light, a leading imported light beer brand; Newcastle Brown Ale, the leading imported ale in the United States; and Buckler non-alcoholic brew. HEINEKEN USA is also the exclusive USA importer for the Tecate, Tecate Light, Dos Equis, Sol, Carta Blanca and Bohemia brands from Mexico. For a safe ride home, download the HEINEKEN USA -sponsored Taxi Magic™ application from your smartphone at taximagic.heineken.com. Please visit www.EnjoyHeinekenResponsibly.com.

At least 13 breweries and beer-related businesses will donate beer for purchase and beer gear for auction. Hank West & The Smokin’ Hots will play from 6-8pm.  There is no cover, but donations in any amount will be gratefully accepted. This event, joining local breweries and showing care for all in the industry, is also the kickoff event for Asheville Beer Week.

“The plans for the night started out as a just a fun event, but Jamie’s idea to do fund-raiser was immediately accepted. Phone calls and emails went out within the hour. The response has been really wonderful. The whole Beer Week idea is to be inclusive, so we love that so many breweries and beer lovers can gather here in a combined effort to help this family,” said Highland employee, Leah Wong Ashburn.

The following companies are participating as of May 11, 2012 at 12pm: Asheville Pizza and Brewing Co., Bruisin’ Ales, Catawba Valley Brewing Co., Craggie Brewing Co., French Broad Brewing Co., Green Man Brewing Co., Heinzelmännchen Brewing Co., Highland Brewing Co., Lexington Ave. Brewery, Pisgah Brewing Co., Southern Appalachian Brewery, Redhook Brewing and Thirsty Monk.

Link to the event: http://www.highlandbrewing.com/whats-up/event/benefit-for-ben-harris/

For more information about Highland Brewing Company: www.highlandbrewing.com

Still the only one in a NC craft brewery, the Anton Paar takes up about as much room as a microwave and is a $60,000 investment in beer quality. It has a modular design, with a base unit that measures specific gravity. The other modules measure alcohol, color and carbonation. In the future, the haze module may be added, which measures clarity.

“It calculates anything you want to know: ABV, original gravity, final gravity, apparent efficiency, real efficiency, apparent extract, real extract, and the number of calories in a 12 oz. bottle.” Much more information than the average beer drinker can see, smell or taste, but all required for exceptional quality. Erica has been happy to find that beer color is very consistent within each style. Carbonation levels have become more consistent thanks to the test she conducts on every batch of beer – every day during fermentation, several times in the packaging line, and in the final package. Erica exports data to Access and collaborates with brewers John Lyda and Joey Justice to look for trends and improvements to be made.

Bottles are enclosed in the explosion-proof base unit, then put under 85 pounds of pressure per square inch. The pressure is needed so that when cap is punctured by a metal straw, the beer is least affected from the change. The beer is analyzed right from the bottle.

Equipment this sophisticated “gives us the ability to further refine our processes for many years… This machine will take us as far we can go. We’re getting great information now, but it does so much more, and we will grow with it.”

Erica cleans and calibrates the machine almost every day for the most accurate readings – a labor of love that began on Valentine’s Day.

House Bill 359 (McClellan) allows manufacturers to lease space in their brewhouses to smaller-scale brewers and Senate Bill 604 (McWaters) allows retail sales of beer and sampling on the premises of Virginia breweries. The governor was joined by legislators, brewers from around the state, distributors, representatives from the Virginia Craft Brewers Guild, representatives from the Virginia Manufacturers Association, commissioner of the Alcoholic Beverage Control Neal Insley, and representatives from the Virginia Tourism Commission. After the bill signing the governor helped unveil a new logo for craft beer from the Virginia Tourism Commission “Virginia is for craft beer Lovers.” Virginia currently has 44 licensed breweries.

Speaking about the legislation, Governor McDonnell said, “This legislation positions Virginia’s craft brewers to grow and create more jobs in the Commonwealth. From Arlington to Abingdon, entrepreneurial Virginians are innovating and brewing critically acclaimed beers. The legislation signed today will make it easier for our breweries to serve as destinations for potential customers and allow some of our talented small-scale brewers to lease space from established brewers and overcome some of the significant start-up costs. I would like to thank Senator Jeff McWaters and Delegate Jennifer McClellan for their leadership as patrons in the House and Senate in passing these important bills. Growing Virginia’s craft breweries will grow Virginia manufacturing, agriculture and tourism jobs.”

Eric McKay, co-founder of Hardywood Park Brewery said, “Senate Bill 604 is a landmark bill for Virginia’s craft brewers and for its manufacturing industry at large. Fueled by a passion for quality, innovation and unique flavors, a focus on local ingredients, a commitment to community philanthropy and a dedication to environmental sustainability, Virginia’s craft brewers are significantly empowered through Governor McDonnell’s unprecedented support. SB 604 will, without question, create a substantial number of hospitality and manufacturing jobs, generate significantly greater sales tax revenues, increase tourism, attract new and expanding craft breweries to Virginia, support local agriculture, and enhance Virginia’s food and beverage culture. We commend Governor McDonnell for identifying this opportunity for economic growth through greater liberties to productive and responsible manufacturers.”

Brett Vassey, President and CEO of the Virginia Manufacturers Association said, “The Virginia Craft Brewers Guild is honored by the support of Governor McDonnell, Senator McWaters and Delegate McClellan. SB604 and HB359 will support innovative brewing and expanded opportunities for Virginia’s brewers. These bills represent a golden opportunity for economic development in the Commonwealth and we are incredibly proud of the burgeoning craft beer industry.”

On May 5, the winners of the 2012 World Beer Cup were announced in San Diego. Five Virginia breweries won medals, competing with 3,921 beers from around the world.

Category 6: Herb and Spice Beer, 80 Entries
Bronze: GingerBread Stout, Hardywood Park Brewery, Richmond, VA

Category 8: Coffee Beer, 56 Entries
Bronze: Coffee Stout, Rock Bottom Arlington, Arlington, VA

Category 17: American-Belgo-Style Ale, 48 Entries
Silver: Blue Reserve, Blue Mountain Brewery, Afton, VA

Category 35: Vienna-Style Lager, 41 Entries
Gold: Vienna Lager, Devils Backbone Brewing Co., Roseland, VA

Category 70: Extra Special Bitter, 49 Entries
Silver: GAR Pale Ale, Great American Restaurants, Centreville, VA

Bills Signed Today

SB604 (McWaters) Brewery licensee retail and samples

• Allows a brewery licensee to sell at retail the brands of beer that the brewery owns at premises described in the brewery license for on-premises consumption and in closed containers for off-premises consumption. The bill also allows these licensees to offer samples of the brewery’s products to individuals visiting the licensed premises, provided that such samples shall be provided only to individuals for consumption on the licensed premises and only to individuals to whom such products may be lawfully sold.

HB359 (McLellan) Terms under which licensed brewery may manufacture beer

• Requires the ABC Board to adopt regulations prescribing the terms and conditions under which a licensed brewery may manufacture beer pursuant to an agreement with a brand owner not under common control with the manufacturing brewery and sell and deliver the beer to the brand owner
• Will allow current manufacturers to lease space in their brewhouses to new or smaller-scale brewers

The current Dry Dock Brewery location will remain unchanged, continuing its dual roles of a working brewery and flagship tasting room.  However, the East Hampden Avenue facility will be largely exempt from the ever-growing production demands.  With the exception of some limited draught only releases, all distribution will come from the new production facility so the present brewery can be used more for experimental, barrel-aged, and sour beers.  “We will be able to play even more on our current system.  Although it is small, it has all the capabilities of step mashing and decoction that our new, larger brewery will have so it will be a perfect pilot system,” DeLange said.

Dry Dock has yet to decide who will distribute its brand in Colorado, but has been actively interviewing distributors and is close to making a decision.  Kevin DeLange said, “There are a few in Colorado that have been inquiring, as they’ve seen us grow, and at least 10 out-of-state distributors have reached out to us as well.  We’re going to spend 2013 getting our feet under ourselves here in Colorado.”  Since opening in 2005, Dry Dock has never been able to keep up with demand.  “We talked to a lot of brewery owners at the Craft Brewers Conference and they all advised us to take it slow.  Although this facility has huge potential, we don’t want to over extend ourselves too quickly.”

About Dry Dock Brewing Co.:

Dry Dock was founded in 2005 by Michelle and Kevin DeLange next to The Brew Hut, their homebrew and winemaking shop.  In April 2006, Dry Dock won a gold at the World Beer Cup for its HMS Victory ESB in the Special or Best Bitter Category.  Since then, Dry Dock has won 3 additional World Beer Cup awards and 11 Great American Beer Festival medals including Small Brewing Company of the Year in 2009.  Located in Aurora, Colorado, Dry Dock currently sells 70% of its 3,000 bbl/yr beer production in its tasting room.  It also self-distributes in the Denver metro area.

For more information, please contact Kevin DeLange, kevin@drydockbrewing.com.

• Dry Dock Brewing Company | Kevin DeLange | kevin@drydockbrewing.com |www.drydockbrewing.com/

Among the multiple activities in which Moylan’s Brewery & Restaurant will be participating, one garnering the most “buzz” is a collaboration brew effort between Moylan’s Brewery and 2010 AIBA champs Nøgne Ø’s with Brewmaster Kjetil Jikiun to create the inaugural beer for Good Beer Week during the sold-out Masterclass of Champions. This is the first collaboration effort in Moylan’s 17 year history and it will have beer lovers the world over clamoring for a taste.

Moylan’s Brewery participating in 2012 Good Beer Week will culminate at the awards presentation dinner at the The Melbourne Exhibition and Convention Centre, in Melbourne, Australia on Thursday, May 17th. Celebrating its 20th year, the AIBA has grown in stature to become one of the most highly regarded awards in its industry, attracting a remarkable number of high quality and innovative beers from Australian and international breweries.

Moylan’s Brewery & Restaurant opened in 1995, and it’s fine ales can be found in 35 states, 2 U.S. territories and 4 foreign countries

• Moylan’s Brewery & Restaurant | Gabby Cullen | gabby@moylans.com |www.moylans.com

The weekend opens with a Saint Arnold beer dinner at The Irish House featuring Saint Arnold Founder/Brewer Brock Wagner and Executive Chef Matt Murphy. The dinner will feature seven Saint Arnold beers, each paired with one of Murphy’s delicious and creative dishes. For instance, Chef Murphy will pair Saint Arnold Brown Ale with butter-poached crawfish and oven roasted Tabasco-rubbed Beef Tournedos. Another course pairs Saint Arnold Weedwacker with oyster, shrimp and jumbo lump crab over Papa Tom’s Irish cheddar grits, basil and bacon rouille. Brock Wagner will also break into his supply of Saint Arnold Divine Reserve No. 10, which will be paired with a cheese and chocolate plate.

Editors and producers please note that Chef Matt Murphy of The Irish House is available for interviews and cooking demonstrations.

“It is always exciting to work with a skilled chef such as Matt who can use the flavors in the beers and the food to complement and expand upon each other,” said Brock Wagner, founder/brewer of Saint Arnold Brewing. “The tour stop in New Orleans is something I’ve been looking forward to since we first expanded into Louisiana nearly 18 months ago. We expect to have a lot of fun sharing the Saint Arnold story with the craft beer community in New Orleans.”

Saint Arnold’s New Orleans Super Weekend also includes a tap takeover at Fat Harry’s following the beer dinner on Friday night. On Saturday, Brock Wagner and Saint Arnold Brewer Vince Mandeville will participate in The Avenue Pub’s 4th Annual Craft Beer Tasting, which will be followed by Saint Arnold’s first-ever New Orleans Pub Crawl and an after-party at The Bulldog. The fun continues Sunday with breakfast by NOLA pie guy Nathan Winner using Saint Arnold beers as an ingredient and a crawfish boil at The Avenue Pub.

A commemorative limited edition hand-printed poster by Carlos Hernandez will also be available. For details, please visit http://www.saintarnold.com/nolaweekend/.

About Saint Arnold Brewing Company

Saint Arnold Brewing’s 13 brews are made and sold by the company’s staff of 38 dedicated employees. Ranked 43rd on the Brewers Association list of top craft breweries, Saint Arnold was listed by USA Today as one of the “10 great places to see what’s brewing in beer,” and Smart Meetings magazine named it among the “Top 5 breweries to host an event.” Saint Arnold is located at 2000 Lyons Avenue and its brewery tour and tasting is offered every weekday at 3:00 P.M. and Saturdays starting at 11 A.M. For more information on Saint Arnold’s five year-round and five seasonal beers as well as root beer, log on to www.saintarnold.com.

• Saint Arnold Brewing Co. | Daniel Keeney | dan@dpkpr.com | www.saintarnold.com

To combat this, some chemists and brewers have created non-alcoholic (N/A) beer that, IMHO, only makes sense for alcoholics (from whom I’ve given up the argument that they should just drink other beverages instead of soft drinks made to taste beer-like). To combat beer bellies, there’s beer with far fewer carbohydrates and calories that natural beer contains. This only makes sense for people who play beer pong and the like.

But nowadays, some people suffer from Celiac Disease (1 in 133 Americans) or are in some way gluten-intolerant. Drink regular beer and they will surely get sick. As such, there is a growing market for gluten-free beers. Instead of traditional cereals like barley, they’re generally made from sorghum and/or buckwheat. Tragically for the glutarded, most are unpalatable. (Dogfish Head added a strawberry field however, to their sorghum-based Tweason’ale, for a resulting beer-juice hybrid. Portland’s Harvester adds chestnut flour and tons of hops to make their GF beers tasty. Also from Portland, Widmer Bros. just launched the Omission brand of authentic flavored beers made from real barley malt but filtered to the point it features less than 20 parts per million making it as gluten-free as N/A beers that are 0.5 percent ABV or less.)

Which is why it kills me that there’s a growing segment of the population who are not Celiacs, who are not allergic to gluten, but who merely adopt a GF diet because they think it’s healthier. Newflash: It’s not the gluten in cinnamon buns that are making you flabby, it’s the sugar, carbs and butter!

I overheard a guy talking about how he was going to start a gluten-free brewery, so I struck up a conversation with him. Here’s all I needed to hear: A) he isn’t gluten intolerant; B) he’s never homebrewed. Here he is proselytizing the gluten-free lifestyle—just like many people I’ve encountered—without understanding the basic tenets of what it means to be truly allergic to gluten. My guess is these are the same people who’d rather suffer through four 64-calorie beers than one delicious 264-calorie brew.

“We are so happy to welcome Governor Hickenlooper and honored to have a him sign a bill at our Grand Opening,’ says General Manager Carlin Walsh, ‘After all the Governor is a fellow brewer himself.’

Elevation is a new Colorado microbrewery co-founded by four friends; Carlin, Christian, Sheila and Xandy, on a cool Colorado summer night over a few craft beers and a back yard BBQ.  The brewery plans on joining an elite group of approximately 20 microbreweries across the nation specializing in seasonal barrel-aged and specialty beers.

The Colorado microbrewing industry has been growing rapidly and accounts for over $446 Million dollars in total economic impact on Colorado’s economy according to the Colorado Brewers Guild.  Elevation Beer Co. is one of 141 breweries and brewpubs now open in Colorado with over 70 new breweries planning to open in Colorado over the next 12-18 months according to the Brewers Association.

“We plan on making rare artisan beers produced right here in the heart of Colorado,’ says Head Brewer and Co-founder Christian Koch, “using as many Colorado ingredients as possible, and hopefully bringing dozens of jobs to Poncha Springs and Chaffee County over the next few years.”

Governor Hickenlooper will be giving a short speech during the event as well as signing the bill into effect starting at 12:00pm.

The brewery’s doors will open at 11:00am and the event will also feature live music from several local bands, as well as local food vendors, and 8 different Elevation beers on tap.

For more information, or to receive press passes for the event please contact:
Sheila Bustamante
Marketing Manager
719-539-5258
sheila@elevationbeerco.com

About Elevation:
Elevation Beer Co. is an artisan microbrewery located in Poncha Springs, Colorado, just minutes from Salida, Monarch Ski Area, Arkansas River Headwaters, and over seven 14,000-foot peaks.  Elevation specializes in brewing large adventurous beers for the craft beer fanatic, while trying to elevate the perception of what beer can be.

• Elevation Beer Co. | www.elevationbeerco.com/Elevation_Beer_Company.html