New Brew Mag
Beer Northwest magazine enjoyed its first full year as a new beer publication.
Beer Cans
New Belgium Brewing of Colorado released its huge-selling flagship beer, Fat Tire Amber Ale, in cans for the first time. New England Brewing of Connecticut cans its beers. Oskar Blues Brewery of Colorado, the first micro to can its beers, continues full-force as a micro-canner. They’ve even tapped beers from a casket (on Halloween).
A brand-new micro in Nevada, Buckbean Brewing, began operations in 2008 with only canned beers. Black Noddy Lager, a Bavarian Schwarzbier, and Original Orange Blossom Ale, an ale brewed with Munich and caramel malts, American hops and orange flowers, are only available in 16-ounce cans.
And many other micros can their beers, touting facts that cans protect beer better than glass, are lighter to transport, can be taken places glass is prohibited (parks, forests, golf courses) and are more compact than glass.
New Beer Styles?
Discovered on some asteroid or in the middle of the jungle of Central America? No. This year the Great American Beer Festival added these new beers styles to its annual competition of 75 styles:
Fresh Hop Ale, American-Belgo Style Ale and Leipzig-Style Gose.
A New Beer Tasting Dedicated to Beer and Food
New in 2008 was SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience, held in Washington DC. SAVOR 2009 will be held on May 30, again in DC, at the National Building Museum.
Seasonals Appeal
Newly launched in 2008 was a website entirely dedicated to seasonal beers (the number one selling craft beer style if you seasonal beers can be called a style). www.seasonalbeerandfood.org lists seasonal beers by state availability and also mentions foods with which to pair the beers.
Repeal
2008 was the 75th anniversary of the Repeal of Prohibition. That’s a good thing for all of us who love beer, wine, spirits, cider, mead, saké—and so forth. There’s even a website for the occasion: www.75YearsofBeer.org.
Beer was actually made legal on April 7, 1933, but you couldn’t stock a whole liquor cabinet until the 21st Amendment repealed the 13-year disaster of Prohibition on December 5, 1933. If you want to toast the exact moment, President Roosevelt signed the proclamation that day at 7:00 p.m. Cheers.
Bavarians Hit U.S. Market with Beer Glasses
If the Bavarians think there’s gold in ‘them thar U.S. beer hills,’ who are we to say no to them? Maximilian Riedel, CEO of Spiegelau USA, presented the Bavarian glass-making firm’s new Beer Glass Collection at an Oktoberfest in August luncheon in New York City. On display, and then filled with beer, were glasses named Lager, Stemmed Pilsner and Wheat Beer, each specifically designed to showcase the aromas and flavors of these beer styles. The glasses are sold in sets of two and packed in tubes.
The PET Beer Bottle Celebrated 10 Years of Market Success
It was in October 1998, culminating years of research and testing, that O-I Plastic, now part of Graham Packaging, and Miller Brewing, now part of MillerCoors, introduced the innovative polyethylene terephthalate container. Say that 10 times fast after a few pints.
