Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for 2011 Week 4

A non-comprehensive roundup of the week's
news of beer and other things.

Week 4
23 January 2011 - 29 January 2011

• 2011.01.29
  The Brewers Association now considers Yuengling Brewing Company as a 'craft' brewery. Maybe, it's time to shed the 'craft beer' label, and re-tool the association as the United States Brewers Association.
• 2011.01.29
  Maryland lawmakers have submitted legislation to allow direct shipping of wine to consumers in the state. Via WTOP Radio News.
• 2011.01.29
  Birthday in beer: Jeff Wells, co-founder of Washington D.C. Beer Week.

• 2011.01.29
  National Bohemian —no longer brewed in Baltimore, Maryland, but in Eden, North Carolina, for Pabst by SABMiller/Coors— will soon again be available as draft beer in Baltimore, and other markets.
• 2011.01.29
  Bill proposed to allow brewpub in downtown Hagerstown, Maryland.
• 2011.01.29
  ElBaradei says the Egyptian state has collapsed; Mubarak must go. Via New York Times.


• 2011.01.28
  The Brewers Association has released the 2011/12 edition of The Brewers Resource Directory. Many consider it to be the definitive list of breweries, beer equipment fabricators, ingredient suppliers, wholesalers, associations, publications, legal and technical resources, etc.
• 2011.01.28
  So you want to sell your beer in bottles? Baying Hound Ales offers a how-to guide with links to appropriate government sites.
• 2011.01.28
  The White House has ordered several cases of beer from Hinter Land Brewery of Green Bay, Wisconsin, for President Obama's Super Bowl party.
• 2011.01.27
  Virginia's newest brewery, Blue Lab Brewing, to celebrate its grand opening in Lexington. Via Musings Over A Pint.


• 2011.01.27
  An industry analyst finds that the future looks young and strong for the 'Craft Beer' industry.
• 2011.01.27
  Stop with naming beers with hop puns, says Maryland brewer.
• 2011.01.27
  Happy 255th birthday, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart.
• 2011.01.27
  Evolution Brewery eying move from Delaware to Maryland, for bigger digs. Regulatory hurdles remain. http://ow.ly/3JSLY
• 2011.01.26
  How's that for privacy? Mark Zuckerberg’s Facebook Fan Page hacked. Via Mashable.
• 2011.01.26
  Dunkel, schwarzbier, tmave: the Washington Post tastes "the dark side of lager."
• 2011.01.26
  Without distribution partners signed, New Belgium Brewery announces sales expansion into Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia for September 2011.
• 2011.01.25
  Maryland's alcohol tax proposal. It's either only a dime a drink - or a 1,189% increase. Via BeerinBaltimore.
• 2011.01.24
  Bob & Ellie Tupper, and the 20,000 beers they've tasted. Via Washington Post.
• 2011.01.24
  The first canned beer was sold today, in 1935, in Richmond, Virginia, by the Krueger Brewery of New Jersey. Via Wired.
• 2011.01.24
  Adam Avery: “I can’t see sour beer being the next big thing." Others think it could it be the 'new hoppy.' Via CraftBeer.com.
• 2011.01.24
  "Hon" trademarker Denise Whiting apologizes. If you're not from Baltimore, Maryland, you wouldn't understand. Via Baltimore Sun.


• 2011.01.23
  Birthday in beer: Charlie Papazian, author of The Complete Joy of Homebrewing, and founder of the Great American Beer Festival, the Brewers Association, and the American Homebrewers Association.

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• Clamps and Gaskets is a weekly wrap-up of stories  not posted at Yours For Good Fermentables.com. Most deal with beer (or wine, or whisky); some do not. But all are brief, and many are re-posts from my Twitter account: twitter.com/cizauskas.
• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.

Pic(k) of the Week: Wolf Moon

According to Space.com, the first full moon of the year, in January, is referred to as the Wolf Moon, a tradition begun by Native Americans.

Amid the zero cold and deep snows of midwinter, the wolf packs howled hungrily outside Indian villages. The Full Wolf Moon was also known as the Old Moon or the Moon After Yule. In some tribes, this was also known as the Full Snow Moon; most applied that name to the next moon.

The photograph (if that indeed is an exact term for a digital camera image) above was taken in Alexandria, Virginia, on the evening of 19 January 2011.

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Pic(k) of the Week: one in a weekly series of personal photos, usually posted on a Saturday, and often of a 'good fermentable' as subject.

Future Looks Young and Strong for 'Craft Beer' Industry

Annual figures for sales and production for the US small brewery industry will be released by the Brewers Association during its Craft Brewers Conference, scheduled for 23-26 March 2011 in San Francisco, California.

In the meantime, look at these figures from Caroline Levy —beverage analyst for CLSA— as reported by Beer Marketer's Insights.

The volume of craft beer sold will increase by 8% per year over the next 3 years. That's —conservatively— a total growth of more than 2.4 million barrels by 2013. Levy sees this growth partially as a result of several demographic factors.

• 90% of Americans now live within 50 miles of a craft brewery.
• Over 25% of 21-24 year olds show an interest in beer with 'flavor,' versus less than 10% for consumers 25-30 years older. [Hmmmph!] At the same time, while just 6-7% of adults regularly drink craft beer, almost 60% express an interest in them.
• The number of drinkers aged 21-39 [the demographic segment most likely to purchase beer] will grow by 7.8% by 2020 to over 90 million, nearly tripling from a 2.7% increase from 2000-2010.
• Based upon these trends, the ranks of core craft beer drinkers could swell by 40-50% by 2020, to about 29 million (12% of the drinking-age population).

Contrast that with the trend in the mainstream beer business.

In 2010, total beer sales —of which conglomerate beer sales, by volume, accounted for 94%— were down 1.9%, even though income was up as prices were increased. The distinction between sales by volume and sales by dollars is significant. By the former metric, craft beer accounted for 4.3% of total beer sales; by the latter, its share was 6.9%. Savvy restaurateurs and store owners realize that they can make more money selling craft beer, bottle by bottle, than mainstream beer.

BMI finishes their mini-report with this challenge:

Imagine the prospects for craft brewers if they can broaden appeal among Hispanics and women, neither of which are a huge part of the craft beer consumer base.

Beer Marketer's Insights releases its full 2011 report in June. More from the Brewers Association: here.

John Barleycorn Must Die

Today is the 252nd anniversary of the birth of Scots poet Robert Burns. His re-working of "John Barleycorn" is a lyrical description of beer (and whisky) making. A barleycorn —a kernel of barley— contains the fermentable starch material of beer and whisky.

[The best laid schemes o' mice an' men / Gang aft agley: See Alexander Mitchell's comment, below, concerning authorship.]

In 1970, the English rock group Traffic put the verses to music, and had a Top 10 hit with John Barleycorn Must Die, from an influential album of the same name. The Brookston Beer Bulletin has selected the song as one of the 10 best ever sung about beer. (View a performance of the band performing the song in concert: here.)

JOHN BARLEYCORN

There were three kings into the east,
Three kings both great and high,
An' they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn should die.

They took a plough and ploughed him down,
Put clods upon his head;
An' they hae sworn a solemn oath
John Barleycorn was dead.

But the cheerfu' spring came kindly on,
And show'rs began to fall;
John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surprised them all.

The sultry suns of summer came,
And he grew thick and strong;
His head weel armed wi' pointed spears,
That no one should him wrong.

The sober autumn entered mild,
When he grew wan and pale;
His bending joints and drooping head
Showed he began to fail.

His colour sickened more and more,
He faded into age;
And then his enemies began
To show their deadly rage.

They've ta'en a weapon long and sharp,
And cut him by the knee;
Then tied him fast upon a cart,
Like a rogue for forgerie.

They laid him down upon his back,
And cudgelled him full sore;
They hung him up before the storm,
And turned him o'er and o'er.

They filled up a darksome pit
With water to the brim;
They heaved in John Barleycorn,
There let him sink or swim.

They laid him out upon the floor,
To work him farther woe,
And still, as signs of life appeared,
They tossed him to and fro.

They wasted, o'er a scorching flame,
The marrow of his bones;
But a miller used him worst of all,
For he crushed him 'tween two stones.

And they hae ta'en his very heart's blood,
And drank it round and round;
And still the more and more they drank,
Their joy did more abound.

John Barleycorn was a hero bold,
Of noble enterprise;
For if you do but taste his blood,
'Twill make your courage rise;

'Twill make a man forget his woe;
'Twill heighten all his joy:
'Twill make the widow's heart to sing,
Tho' the tear were in her eye.

Then let us toast John Barleycorn,
Each man a glass in hand;
And may his great posterity
Ne'er fail in old Scotland!

Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for 2011 Weeks 2/3

A non-comprehensive roundup of the week's
news of beer and other things.

Weeks 2/3
8 January 2011 - 22 January 2011

• 2011.01.22
  A new Virginia brewery: Blue Lab Brewing Company in Lexington, Va. Via Rockbridge Weekly.
• 2011.01.21
  The Brewers Association announces the lineup of participating breweries for 2011 Savor, the annual beer-with-food exposition, 3/4 June, in Washington, DC.
• 2011.01.21
  Birthday in Beer: beer (and golf) writer Tom Bedell

• 2011.1.21
  A profile of Port City Brewing Company, a soon-to-open Alexandria, Virginia, production brewery. Via DCBeer.com.
• 2011.01.20
  Facebook bans beer blog Musings Over A Pint, then rescinds ban. Offers no explanation.
• 2011.01.19
  Freakonomics asserts that the cost of a wine is a dominant factor in perceiving the quality of a wine, more so than varietal, tannic structure, etc.


• 2011.01.19
  Beer writer Lew Bryson questions the validity of the new guidelines for 'session beer,' as promulgated by the Great American Beer Festival.
• 2011.01.19
  The 20 most powerful people in US beer business, via Beer Business Daily. A 'craft beer' maker the No. 1 spot for the first time.
• 2011.01.19
  Again, neither rose nor cognac for Edgar Allan Poe. For the 2nd year in a row since 1949, a 'mysterious' visitor fails to appear at poet's grave in Baltimore, Maryland.
• 2011.01.19
  Nine breweries are among 71 businesses awarded Good Food Awards. Via RealBeer.com.


• 2011.01.17
  The 50 best bars in the U.S., via BarFinder.com. The 100 best beer bars in the U.S., via Draft Magazine.
• 2011.01.17
  Brooklyn Brewery fires up the brewhouse in its new 50,000 barrel facility. Via BeerNews.org.
• 2011.01.17
  Discovering the remnants of an Iron Age Celtic brewery of 2,550 years ago, in Germany. Via Science News.
• 2011.01.16
  “Totally pointless categorization of something that is the same shit." Beer writer Stephen Beaumont on Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and beer styles.


• 2011.01.16
  A list of who's who in jazz on Twitter, via Elements of Jazz.
• 2011.01.15
  Washington D.C.'s legendary Town & Country Lounge, at the Mayflower Hotel, closes.
• 2011.01.15
  Catoctin Creek Distillery in Loudoun County, Virginia, is that county's first distillery since Prohibition.
• 2011.01.15
  Did a thirst for beer spark civilization? Maybe, says biomolecular archaeologist Patrick McGovern. Via The Independent.
• 2011.01.13
  Virginia Governor McDonnell outlines a new, scaled-back, retail-only plan for privatizing the state's ABC (liquor, some Virginia wines) stores.


• 2011.01.13
  Mid-Atlantic beer news: Jim Lutz -past Sales Director at Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland- now President/CEO of Coastal Brewing, in Delaware, parent company of Dominion Brewing and Fordham Brewing.
• 2011.01.13
  The Brewers Association releases its 2011 Beer Style Guidelines.
• 2011.01.11
  Washington Post's take on the Brewers Association's change of definition of craft brewery from 2 million to 6 million barrels.
• 2011.01.11
  Evidence of a 6,000 year old winery discovered, oldest confirmed.
• 2011.01.10
  Flags at half-staff throughout the nation for the victims of the shootings in Tucson, Arizona.
• 2011.01.10
  New Burley Oak Brewery to open in Berlin, Maryland, but later than expected. http://burlyoak.com
• 2011.01.10
  Wikio has announced its January 2011 rankings for US wine blogs. At the top position is Dr. Vino
• 2011.01.10
  Wikio has announced its January 2011 rankings for US beer blogs. At the top position is Brookston Beer Bulletin.
• 2011.01.09
  Could a craft brewer end up in the White House: John Hickenlooper, Colorado's new governor. Via beer journalist Jack Curtin.
• 2011.01.09
  Yoga: the antidote to the alcohol hangover?


• 2011.01.08
  Post merger with Gordon-Biersch, has Rock Bottom begun cracking down on brewer independence?

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• Clamps and Gaskets is a weekly wrap-up of stories  not posted at Yours For Good Fermentables.com. Most deal with beer (or wine, or whisky); some do not. But all are brief, and many are re-posts from my Twitter account: twitter.com/cizauskas.
• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.