Beer in the new era

omg that label is terrifying

wau

speaking of designs, i love the silk-screened bottles a la rogue:

http://web.mit.edu/~tcarlile/www/images/blog/354roguechipotle.jpg
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/179/371479782_c4ad50733d.jpg
http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3282/2637472443_ebc585741c_o.jpg

Yup, I mentioned those upthread.

from brewer's association http://www.beertown.org/ba/media_2009/Top_50_Release.html

TOP 50 CRAFT BREWING COMPANIES BY BEER SALES VOLUME
(BASED ON 2008 SALES)

1 Boston Beer Co. Boston MA
2 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Chico CA
3 New Belgium Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO
4 Spoetzl Brewery Shiner TX
5 Pyramid Breweries Inc. Seattle WA
6 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR
7 Matt Brewing Co. Utica NY
8 Boulevard Brewing Co. Kansas City MO
9 Full Sail Brewing Co. Hood River OR
10 Magic Hat Brewing Co. Burlington VT
11 Alaskan Brewing Co. Juneau AK
12 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA
13 Bell's Brewery, Inc. Galesburg MI
14 Kona Brewing Co. Kailua-Kona HI
15 Anchor Brewing Co. San Francisco CA
16 Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland ME
17 Summit Brewing Co. Saint Paul MN
18 Stone Brewing Co. Escondido CA
19 Abita Brewing Co. Abita Springs LA
20 The Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn NY
21 New Glarus Brewing Co. New Glarus WI
22 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton DE
23 Long Trail Brewing Co. Bridgewater Corners VT
24 Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. San Jose CA
25 Rogue Ales/Oregon Brewing Co. Newport OR
26 Great Lakes Brewing Co. Cleveland OH
27 The Lagunitas Brewing Co. Petaluma CA
28 Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Paso Robles CA
29 SweetWater Brewing Co. Atlanta GA
30 Flying Dog Brewing Co. Frederick MD
31 BJ's Restaurant & Brewery Huntington Beach CA
32 Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants Louisville CO
33 BridgePort Brewing Co. Portland OR
34 Odell Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO
35 Victory Brewing Co. Downingtown PA
36 Mac and Jack's Brewery Redmond WA
37 Big Sky Brewing Co. Missoula MT
38 Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants Chattanooga TN
39 Karl Strauss Brewing Co. San Diego CA
40 Breckenridge Brewery Denver CO
41 Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe Eureka CA
42 Otter Creek Brewing Co. Middlebury VT
43 Utah Brewers Cooperative Salt Lake City UT
44 North Coast Brewing Co. Fort Bragg CA
45 Blue Point Brewing Co. Patchogue NY
46 Boulder Beer Co. Boulder CO
47 Pete's Brewing Co. San Antonio TX
48 McMenamins Breweries Portland OR
49 Anderson Valley Brewing Co. Boonville CA
50 The Saint Louis Brewery, Inc. St Louis MO

here's overall rankings: (ha, the first 3 represent like 95% of the market)

TOP 50 OVERALL BREWING COMPANIES BY BEER SALES VOLUME
(BASED ON 2008 SALES)

1 Anheuser-Busch InBev St. Louis MO
2 MillerCoors Brewing Co. Chicago IL
3 Pabst Brewing Co. Woodridge IL
4 Boston Beer Co. Boston MA
5 D. G. Yuengling and Son Inc. Pottsville PA
6 Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Chico CA
7 Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc. Woodinville WA
8 New Belgium Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO
9 High Falls Brewing Co. Rochester NY
10 Spoetzl Brewery Shiner TX
11 Pyramid Breweries Inc. Seattle WA
12 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR
13 Iron City Brewing Co. Pittsburgh PA
14 Minhas Craft Brewery Monroe WI
15 Matt Brewing Co. Utica NY
16 Boulevard Brewing Co. Kansas City MO
17 Full Sail Brewing Co. Hood River OR
18 Magic Hat Brewing Co. Burlington VT
19 Alaskan Brewing Co. Juneau AK
20 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA
21 Bell's Brewery, Inc. Galesburg MI
22 Goose Island Beer Co. Chicago IL
23 Kona Brewery LLC Kailua-Kona HI
24 Anchor Brewing Co. San Francisco CA
25 August Schell Brewing Co. New Ulm MN
26 Shipyard Brewing Portland ME
27 Summit Brewing Co. Saint Paul MN
28 Stone Brewing Co. Escondido CA
29 Mendocino Brewing Co. Ukiah CA
30 Abita Brewing Co., L.L.C. Abita Springs LA
31 The Brooklyn Brewery Brooklyn NY
32 New Glarus Brewing Co. New Glarus WI
33 Dogfish Head Craft Brewery Milton DE
34 Long Trail Brewing Co. Bridgewater Corners VT
35 Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. San Jose CA
36 Rogue Ales/Oregon Brewing Co. Newport OR
37 Great Lakes Brewing Co. Cleveland OH
38 The Lagunitas Brewing Co. Petaluma CA
39 Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Paso Robles CA
40 SweetWater Brewing Co. Atlanta GA
41 Flying Dog Brewing Co. Frederick MD
42 BJ's Restaurant & Brewery Huntington Beach CA
43 Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants Louisville CO
44 BridgePort Brewing Co. Portland OR
45 Odell Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO
46 Victory Brewing Co. Downingtown PA
47 Straub Brewery Saint Marys PA
48 Cold Spring Brewing Co. Cold Spring MN
49 Mac and Jack's Brewery Redmond WA
50 Big Sky Brewing Co. Missoula MT

Really amazed how well Deschutes is doing on those lists above! Fine brewery, one of the ones I miss most not living in the Pacific Northwest anymore.

it's funny how many of the top-selling crafts are still not available nationwide - as much as possible i try to sample unfamiliar (to me) breweries just about every time i pick up a six, and i've got pretty decent liquor/beer stores around. but all in all about 50% of the craft list i haven't even seen in stores

yeah, i've never even heard of new belgium and they're the third-biggest craft brewery by sales?

here in MA we obviously get all the new england/east coast stuff and a pretty wide selection of west coast beers, but for one reason or another i rarely see the larger midwest cos. out here

yea me neither xp

also kind of funny how what i thought were tiny, local, regional-favorite breweries like Long Trail (what i always thought was only for grizzled old new england dudes) are actually right behind big guys like DFH

New Belgium makes Fat Tire, which is showing up in a LOT of Midwest bars and stores. Their marketing must be killer, 'cause I don't think the beer is all that great.

3 Pabst Brewing Co. Woodridge IL

Woodridge?? I thought they were based in San Antonio, not a suburb I used to bike through when I was a kid.

oh yea i've heard of fat tire

New Belgium makes Fat Tire, which is showing up in a LOT of Midwest bars and stores. Their marketing must be killer, 'cause I don't think the beer is all that great.

Before 2005 or so, you couldn't get New Belgium east of the Mississippi, and I used to hear stories from a friend who lived in Boulder about people driving across state lines to buy cases of Fat Tire, so I was all excited about it when it finally arrived in Chicago. But yeah, I'm not really a fan.

speaking of beer guys i brewed my first ever batch of homebrew last week! buddy of mine who's been homebrewing for a while has all the equipment. so we bought of bunch of grain and hops and all and hung out for a few hours boiling and mixing it all up. was a total blast! not nearly as complicated as i thought it would be tho it definitely helped that he knew what he was doing

xp I do think that they were able to drum up a lot of interest through word-of-mouth, though. They rolled it out gradually -- at first just Fat Tire on taps, then 22s in stores, then six-packs of 1554 and other varieties.

How come Goose Island doesn't count as a craft brewery?

yea no idea

what did Sundar mean by THE NEW ERA?

xp I hadn't noticed no Goose island up there. That list seems odd in several places. Is tiny New Glarus really selling more than Rogue or Flying Dog?

Yeah, that seemed strange to me, too, since New Glarus isn't distributed outside Wisconsin.

other weird one was alaskan brewing co. out of juneau - are they big on the west coast or something? just seems weird that they're selling more than say, stone or DFH (who i see pretty much everywhere)

The definition of a craft brewer as stated by the Brewers Association: An
American craft brewer is small, independent, and traditional. Small: Annual
production of beer less than 2 million barrels. Beer production is attributed to
a brewer according to the rules of alternating proprietorships. Flavored malt
beverages are not considered beer for purposes of this definition. Independent:
Less than 25% of the craft brewery is owned or controlled (or equivalent
economic interest) by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not
themselves a craft brewer. Traditional: A brewer who has either an all malt
flagship (the beer which represents the greatest volume among that brewers
brands) or has at least 50% of its volume in either all malt beers or in beers
which use adjuncts to enhance rather than lighten flavor.

Apparently Anheuser-Busch owns 39.5% of Widmer Bros., which in turns owns 35% of Goose Island.

Also:

Where can I purchase Alaskan Beer?
You're in luck if you live in Alaska, Washington, Oregon, Idaho, Montana, Wyoming, California, Nevada, Arizona or Colorado because Alaskan beer is both available and popular

These are the breweries that, to my knowledge, I have never heard of:

6 Deschutes Brewery Bend OR
7 Matt Brewing Co. Utica NY
9 Full Sail Brewing Co. Hood River OR
12 Harpoon Brewery Boston MA
14 Kona Brewing Co. Kailua-Kona HI
16 Shipyard Brewing Co. Portland ME
18 Stone Brewing Co. Escondido CA
23 Long Trail Brewing Co. Bridgewater Corners VT
24 Gordon Biersch Brewing Co. San Jose CA
28 Firestone Walker Brewing Co. Paso Robles CA
29 SweetWater Brewing Co. Atlanta GA
31 BJ's Restaurant & Brewery Huntington Beach CA
33 BridgePort Brewing Co. Portland OR
34 Odell Brewing Co. Fort Collins CO
36 Mac and Jack's Brewery Redmond WA
38 Gordon Biersch Brewery Restaurants Chattanooga TN
39 Karl Strauss Brewing Co. San Diego CA
40 Breckenridge Brewery Denver CO
41 Lost Coast Brewery and Cafe Eureka CA
42 Otter Creek Brewing Co. Middlebury VT
43 Utah Brewers Cooperative Salt Lake City UT
45 Blue Point Brewing Co. Patchogue NY
47 Pete's Brewing Co. San Antonio TX
48 McMenamins Breweries Portland OR
49 Anderson Valley Brewing Co. Boonville CA

where do u live jaymc?

I'm guessing not New Jersey, becuase some of those (Petes, Harpoon, Matt's, Long Trail) are ubiquitous around here.

Chicago

Oh wait, Pete's = Pete's Wicked Ale? OK, scratch that one off.

Full Sail, Bridgeport and Breckenridge have been west coast staples since I lived in Seattle in the early 90's, and I can get them in most Minneapolis liquor stores. Are those really not in Chicago? McMenamin's is a chain of brewpubs; no bottling.

big surprise for me is anderson valley from CA (also strange it doesn't seem to be available in chicago?) being as low as it is - i remember drinking it in cleveland quite a lot and now buy it pretty often in MA

xp I've never seen them, but it's possible they're at some of the larger beer/wine warehouses.

Anderson Valley is available in Chicago, though it is not common. Not sure about those other ones.

I like the regional nature of beer, when I went home to CT for XMas it was like a whole new beer world.

Anderson Valley is available in Chicago, though it is not common.

Yeah, I just did a GIS, and the label looks vaguely familiar. Never tried it, though.

I've only ever seen it here at Trader Joes, of all places.

what did Sundar mean by THE NEW ERA?

nu-ilx era.

i was glad to get some bell's hopslam over the weekend before it goes out of season.

This suggests that I should know Lost Coast and Otter Creek, too.

I like the regional nature of beer, when I went home to CT for XMas it was like a whole new beer world.

― Dr. Johnson (askance johnson), Tuesday, April 14, 2009 11:32 AM (2 minutes ago) Bookmark

yea, i love this. but i guess i also wish i could get my hometown favorites where i actually live (e.g. no great lakes or bell's in MA, which is a bummer)

also i think one of my favorite things about beer are the seasonal styles - been in spring mode lately drinking a lot of bocks and wheat beers, switching over from strong ales, scotch ales and stouts from the winter

i was glad to get some bell's hopslam over the weekend before it goes out of season.

Oh man, how is it? I almost tried it at Hopleaf last week.

Anderson Valley Hop Ottin IPA is great! It's findable in Minneapolis, but not common here either.

Hopslam is wicked expensive, but ya get what ya pay for. It's soooo good!

http://www.bigbossbrewing.com/images/header.gif

my new beer crush

Btw, this is what I did have at Hopleaf:

1. Two Brothers Cane and Ebel (love this beer so much)
2. Grimbergen Double (great Belgian, very drinkable)
3. Bell's Cherry Stout (a little too intense for me)

self-xpost: actually Bad Penny is not that good but I really like the other two, and I'm totally in love with their design sense

Oh I also tried the Dogfish Head Palo Santo, and that was a kick in the ass. And not necessarily in a good way, either. I usually steer clear of ABVs over 10%, though, so maybe I just wasn't used to it.

oh man Palo Santo is so good! but I would only ever drink it when I was stoned cuz I wanted to, like, really appreciate the flavor, man, y'know?

(other beers that fall into this category include Old Rasputin and, strangely enough, Rogue Chipotle Ale)

I had this crazy belgian sour beer a few weeks ago, it was amazing. Any recommendations for good sour beers, belgian or otherwise?