| Beer Ban Flops The 98th running of the world famous Bay to Breakers road race in San Francisco banned all beer in this annual celebration of sport and fun. Police confiscated many kegs of beer and succeeded in turning down the event's overall wattage, but came nowhere near to shutting off the tap. Tens of thousands of revelers openly swilled beer anyway. Party goers used all kinds of rolling stock, including shopping carts, to haul beer along the 7.46-mile route. Nor did the new rules seem to discourage the usual streakers who join in the race for short segments to the delight of thousands of onlookers. The fact that the city banned beer didn't stop some groups from bringing in kegs; they just had to be more surreptitious about it. One group of runners put their keg in a cart with a curtain around it, as if it were a surgical center. Others carried a table with them and set it up in the street occasionally as a makeshift bar. |
| Hail Hits Hops An unprecedented heavy hail storm has destroyed hop fields in Hallertau, Tettnang/Bodensee and Saaz in Czech Republic. Hallertau, the worlds' largest hop growing region (10,000 acres) has been the focus of the storm with over 25% of its hop fields completely destroyed. In addition, 3,750 acres were severely hit while another 3,750 acres received some damaged. In Tettnang/Bodensee over 30% of hop fields have been damaged or destroyed with the Saaz area losing over 500 acres. The Hallertau as a whole produces about one-third of all the world's hops. The affected areas represent about 6% to 7% of the world's hop-growing acreage and 15% of the total German hop harvest. The projected losses represent about 4.5% of the global hop harvest. (Click to enlarge pictures) |
Feature News from beernexus.com
| Bud Hit with Anti-Trust Probe Belgian Economics Minister Vincent Van Quickenborne has asked the Belgian antitrust authority to begin an investigation, of AB InBev which is based in Belgium and whose brands include Budweiser, Stella Artois, and dozens of others.The investigation will focus initially on AB InBev’s relationship with its malt suppliers. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that AB InBev is pressuring its suppliers with new purchasing practices, including a policy of taking as many as 120 days to pay suppliers after receiving goods. The brewer has also cut back its purchases of malt due to the economic downturn, prompting some European malt suppliers to complain that the company is breaking its contracts with them. Although most antitrust probes focus on the prices a company charges its customers, competition law also covers a company's relationship with its suppliers. The probe was begun due to official complaints filed by over a dozen InBev suppliers. AB InBev is planning to cut $2.25 billion in annual costs to help pay for last year's $52 billion purchase of Anheuser-Busch. Savings from suppliers are expected to account for some of those costs, the brewer says. |
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Removing the hail
Nearly knee deep in hail
Plows needed for the huge amount of hail.
