| Bye-bye State Stores With their finances on the rocks, states that control the sale of liquor to the public are looking at handing the job to private enterprise, a move that could raise revenue, streamline government and prove a boon to the spirits industry. Virginia, North Carolina, Washington and Mississippi are all weighing proposals that would reduce the powerful role they play in sales of liquor, and in some cases wine, via state-owned distributorships and/or retail outlets. The effort could take months to play out because lawmakers have to show how privatization would deliver significant revenue and cost benefits. Is That Name Legal? Flying Dog Brewery has launched RAGING BITCH, a Belgian-style IPA, to celebrate its 20th Anniversary. Raging Bitch, both the beer and the art that graces its label, are, according to the brewery,intentionally, edgy and provocative. The beer itself, an American IPA fermented with Belgian yeast, with alcohol at 8.3% ABV. Some distributors and retail accounts have covered up the name since they find it offensive. Flying Dog was selected as Mid Sized Brewing Company of the Year at this year's GABF. |
| Design a Label for Newcastle Brown For a limited time a Newcastle Brown Ale microsite includes an application allowing visitors to create their own personalized beer labels. Final concepts are also added to an online gallery for fans to vote for their favorite design. Check it out and good luck in the contest: http://newcastlebrown.com/yourlabel/ All Water Is Not The Same Making beer without water is like eating a hot dog without mustard or the bun yet water is the most diverse ingredient in beer. Elemental differences in water provide hidden flavors and assist the brewer in achieving specific flavors; it's often the most difficult ingredient of brewing to replicate. In Munich, the water gains alkalinity from carbonates in the natural environment. This leads to superb malt flavor when the beer is complete and limits the potency of the hop flavor. Think of your favorite Irish Stout and the ability of the bicarbonates to bring out malt flavors are incredibly clear. Similar to Munich, the native water in Dublin is naturally high in carbonates. Contrast this with the high sulfate levels in Pilsen, Czech Republic, where the malt flavors are depressed and hop flavor and aroma is drawn out. Therefore, it would be difficult to brew a stout in Pilsen and a Pilsner in Dublin simply because of the impact that water has on the sugar extraction from the grain. The waters of Burton in England contain gypsum, which benefits making pale ale to such a degree that brewers of pale ales will add gypsum to the local water in a process known as Burtonisation. Don't worry about your local water, today, almost any water can be chemically adjusted to create the exact style of beer desired, although pure water supplies are still prized greatly. |
Feature News from beernexus.com
| It's a Green Magic Hat Breweries employ a number of strategies in disposing of the grain left after the sweetened liquid, or wort, is filtered before brewing; it cannot simply be dumped down the drain. At Harpoon Brewery’s Boston brewery, the spent grain goes to an area farm for feed. Magic Hat Brewing has decided to go a different, more green, route. Magic Hat has partnered with Purpose Energy Inc. in constructing a 2 billion BTU digester adjacent to the brewery in South Burlington, Vt., where it will take the remnants of the beer fermentation process and break it down into methane that can power a brewery’s boiler and other systems that traditionally run natural gas. The technology is a way to help breweries increase sustainability and cheaply dispose of beer byproducts as well as help breweries become more energy independent. “The cost for them to remediate this by-product can be about as expensive as the cost of energy itself. With an anaerobic digester they can get a two-fer, producing methane for energy and breaking down the grain." said Eric Fitch, CEO of Purpose Energy. After a successful pilot with Yuengling’s brewery in Florida in 2006, Fitch said he wanted to construct his first commercial-scale digester at a brewery within driving distance producing at least 50,000 barrels of beer per year. Of the five breweries that met the criteria, he came upon Magic Hat and quickly made a deal. Purpose Energy broke ground on the site adjacent to the brewery in February, leasing it from Magic Hat for $1 a year. Magic Hat pays Purpose Energy to take its waste grain and turn it into biogas and then sells that gas back to the brewery at below-market rates. Fitch said he hopes to use any profits from the Magic Hat operation to finance similar digester developments at breweries of similar size. |
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edited by Jim Attacap