If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

By now I’m sure most of you know about the bottle recall from Sam Adams which was issued today. The Boston Beer Company, the 4th largest brewer in the U.S., has voluntarily recalled select 12 ounce glass bottles of its beer. Company officials say the brew could contain small bits of glass. According to the Associated Press,

The Boston-based brewer says routine quality control inspections at its Cincinnati brewery found defects in some of the beer bottles which were made by a glass bottle supplier.

The maker of Samuel Adams beer says the defects could cause small bits of glass to break off and possibly fall into the bottle.

How do you know if your bottle is one of the bad ones? The sub par bottles are embossed (at the base) with the the letter “N”, followed by the number “35″, followed by the letters “OI” (so it would appear “N35OI”).

The company released the following statement today via their website:

During a routine bottle inspection at one of our breweries, we detected possible defects in a small percentage of bottles resulting in the random presence of bits of glass, most the size of grains of sand, but some small slivers in some bottles as well. Based on this sample, we quickly began testing bottles of Samuel Adams at all of our breweries and identified that the problem appeared to be isolated to a single glass plant of the five that supply us.

We assembled a panel of food safety, medical and packaging experts including a medical doctor who have thoroughly evaluated the samples. People who bite or swallow a fragment could possibly be injured. While the possibility of injury to an individual consumer is very low and the Company has had no reports of any injury, we do know that the risk is not zero, so we are voluntarily recalling all products in bottles from this specific glass plant that we believe could possibly be affected.

It also appears that the affected bottles are not contained to any one Sam Adams brew, so if you have some fresh in your fridge, it might be a good idea to give them a quick once-over. If you do have recalled bottles in your possession, the company promises a full refund. click here to find out how to get your money back.

Technorati Tags: sam adams recall, boston beer company, sam adams, beer

Popularity: 17% [?]

Men Behaving Badly star, actor Neil Morrissey, is launching his own brand of beer. According to MarketingWeek, the entire stunt is part of a three-part series called Neil Morrissey’s Perfect Pint, which has been commissioned by the production company Fresh One and talkbackThames. The series will follow the Morrissey and friend Richard Fox as they search for the “perfect pint of beer” across the U.K. before getting their hands on a home brew kit. When that is successful, Morrissey and Fox supposedly decide to buy a microbrewery and make the beer on a commercial scale. The show is currently in production and will air later this summer. The Men Behaving Badly star will then launch three beers later this year. Of the whole experience Morrissey says:

“Beer should not be just for men with sparrows in their beard or lager louts. I want to create the everyman’s ale.”

Sparrows in their beards?…

Technorati Tags: Men Behaving Badly, Neil Morrissey, beer, The Perfect Pint, Neil Morrissey’s Perfect Pint

Popularity: 19% [?]

Carlsberg claims it has made “probably the best beer in the world” and they’re backing it up with a price tag to match. According to bloomberg.com,

The brewer, Scandinavia’s biggest, introduced a beer today that costs 2,008 Danish kroner ($396.47); the price being based on the year of its introduction. The Vintage No. 1 brew will be sold at three Copenhagen restaurants, including Noma, a holder of two Michelin stars and the world’s 15th-best restaurant in 2007, according to S.Pellegrino.

Carlsberg has produced 600 bottles of the 10.5% ABV beer, each of 37.5 centiliters (a little less than one pint). According to the brewer, the manufacture of this beer isn’t going to stop any time soon, either. Another version — costing 2,009 kroner — will be introduced next year and one for 2,010 kroner the year after, the company said today in an e-mail.

“We’re trying to raise the bar for what a beer can be,” Jens Eiken, the brew master at Jacobsen who developed the product, said today by phone. The beverage is ‘cheap’ considering the amount of time the brewery spent developing it, he said.

Don’t expect any bottles of Vintage No. 1 reaching state-side, however, as no plans have been made (as of yet) to export the brew (oh to be an eBayer in Denmark…). The beer will replace the current most expensive beer in the world — Samuel Adams Utopias — upon the high priced thrown.

“Carlsberg Will Sell $400 Beer, World’s Most Expensive” [bloomberg.com]

Technorati Tags: Carlsberg, Vintage No. 1, beer, Sam Adams Utopias, extreme beer

Popularity: 18% [?]

Can a beer cherished by Mexican-Americans become a hit in the general U.S. market?

That’s the question Crown Imports, importer of Modelo Especial, is hoping will be answered with a resounding “yes”. Crown plans to advertise the wildly popular Mexican lager to a general American audience for the first time. The company will run ads in male-oriented magazines such as Esquire, Golf, Wired and Rolling Stone, aiming to reach consumers who like to sample an array of beers.

Convincing the public to try Modelo won’t be easy, though. Although sales of Modelo Especial have increased in recent years – it’s now the third best selling import in the United States – the beer isn’t particularly well-known outside the Hispanic community. According to TheState.com, surveys conducted by Crown have revealed that only about 3% of consumers of imported beer listed Modelo Especial as one of the brands they knew. TheState.com reports that,

…executives at Crown, a joint venture of Grupo Modelo and New York wine and spirits maker Constellation Brands, have been encouraged by recent sales growth in the general market, fueled in part by slick new packaging. They also believe that, once they get more drinkers to sample the beer, they will come back for more. “We consider this beer to be the industry’s best-kept secret,” said Bill Hackett, president of Chicago’s Crown. “We think it’s appropriate that we really pull it out from under the radar.”

[image via gorriti]

Technorati Tags: Modelo Especial, Crown Imports, Beer, Mexico

###

PS - Most of the people are suffering over weight problems and looking for prefect diet plans. A lot of diet plans like idiot proof diet are available in market to assist people in this respect. Among different weight loss products, a large variety of diet plans and diet pills are available.

Popularity: 7% [?]

2007 was certainly a big year for the beer world. Small, independent brewers have experienced tremendous growth across the country (while, thankfully, sales at the “big three” have remained relatively flat); there has been an explosion in the “green” and organic brewing sector; the popularity of homebrewing continues to rise; on a much sadder note - beer lost one of its greats, and much more. So, what will 2008 bring? Here are some predictions:

1. The price of beer will go up

A pretty obvious one for anyone who has been paying attention. The price of both hops & barley have skyrocketed by as much as 400%. The result will be increased prices for the consumer across the board (it’s not just craft breweries, the huge commercial breweries will be affected too); some are reporting increases of $0.50-$1.00 per six-pack. The question at this point isn’t “will the price of beer go up?” but rather “by how much?”

2. There will be more breweries “going green”

It started happening in 2007 - breweries like Sierra Nevada, Stone Brewing, Michigan Brewing Co., Peak Organic, New Belgium, and many more all took strides towards sustainability this year. I’ve already been told to expect the same from Smuttynose Brewing Co. in Portsmouth, NH some time in 2008. With the current national trend towards “going green” such as it is, it seems rather obvious that more and more breweries will jump on the bandwagon this coming year (which isn’t a bad thing, by any stretch).

3. The giant breweries will mimic the little guys 

As craft beer sales continue to rise, and the sales of the major breweries remain stagnant, you will see more “craft beer-style” releases from the major breweries - either under their own name (which Miller is set to do), or psydonyms (as Anheuser Busch already does). In fact,

Miller Brewing Company in early February will begin test-marketing Miller Lite Brewers Collection, a family of three craft-style light beers.

The lineup includes a blonde ale, an amber and a wheat — each with significantly fewer calories and carbs than typical beers of that style.

As the year progresses, the giant breweries will continue to fight for a piece of the growing craft pie and will do so with releases such as the ones from Miller, so keep your eyes peeled.

Where do you see beer going in ought eight?

Technorati Tags: beer, going green, hops, craft beer,  beer news, 2008

Popularity: 13% [?]

A beer that was once both respectable & fashionable, Stella Artois has no doubt lost some of its glamour. But Britain’s Telegraph reports today, in an effort to reclaim its glory, the beer will soon be undergoing a major change - before long, the beer will be known simply as Artois (and then simply as some weird symbol after that). According to the article which appeared in the Telegraph,

The beer has been derided by a judge who said it was a a word he heard too often in his courtroom when dealing with drunk young men.

The company hopes the name change, coupled with a re-branding marketing kick, will help shed the new-found negative stigma and help Artois find its place atop the thrown once more.

Popularity: 9% [?]

In some good news for Good Beer Advocacy nation-wide, after years of biggering and biggering, it appears that sales of imported beer are on the decline. According to Brandweek,

Constellation Brands, Fairport, N.Y., which handles Corona and other Modelo products via the Crown Imports joint venture, did not, as usual, disclose exact figures last month, but CEO Robert Sands did say that third-quarter shipments for the leading brand declined by “low-single digits.”

Heineken, whose fate isn’t quite as bad, faces declining numbers, too. after posting increases at a rate of 7.7% from 2004 to 2006 (per Beer Marketers Insights), their numbers are up just 1.3% from January to June this year, compared to a year ago. 

Why the sudden change in beer-drinking trends? Analysts claim that a price increase for Corona, along with the growing popularity of local craft beers are starting to have an impact. Huzzah.

-

Popularity: 6% [?]

Fosters (you know, that Australian word for ‘beer’) has just released its first ever Internet-only ad, entitled Stubby Symphony.

Why has Foster’s decided its Stubby Symphony ad is best on the web? It’s the medium of choice for its target market. According to an article from Austrailia’s Daily Telegraph, Foster’s group marketing manager for their Victoria Bitter brand (commonly known as VB) Ben Wicks said,

“We just think it adds to the surprise. We are talking to them (young men) in their space, and their space is increasingly digital,”

The ad features more than 90 musicians, most from the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, and all of their instruments are made from VB bottles, with liquid used to alter the notes in each bottle. The filming of the ad took place in Melbourne’s Concert Hall.

The company is also encouraging web users to submit their own films using “VB stubbies”, with first prize receiving 52 cases of Foster’s beer. 

This campaign is, of course, marketing genius on Foster’sbehalf. In no other medium does an advertisement travel so quickly and freely. As you can see below, the ad appears on blogaboutbeer.com–by way of YouTube–completely free of charge (and I promise this isn’t the only site where you can find it). Thanks in no small part to the blogging revolution (and every daily newspaper and every magazine in the world having an online presence), Foster’s is able to produce an ad, in all likelihood pay for it only a few times, claim to be spearheading the revolution of Internet-only beer advertising, and the ad spreads for free, across the blogisphere, like wildfire (guilty as charged). Truly genius; and undoubtedly only the beginning.

Without further adieu, the click below to view the ad:

Popularity: 9% [?]

There’s big news brewing on the Canadian Beer Front, according to today’s Winnipeg Sun, A new deal between Fort Garry Brewing (Manitoba’s largest brewer and distributor) and British Columbia-based Russel Brewering will result in,

“More Manitoba jobs, new beer brands on Winnipeg shelves, and possibly a larger regional profile for Manitoba-made beer,”

Russell’s CEO told the Sun.

Fort Garry shareholders voted last night to accept a friendly takeover of the Winnipeg-based beer maker in a deal reportedly worth between $3.5 and $4 million.

Russell Breweries CEO Brian Harris said the fact most Fort Garry shareholders opted for a stock swap rather than a 40-cent-per-share payout proves investors have a lot of confidence in the new, larger company that now has brewing facilities in Winnipeg and Surrey, B.C.

Harris said the Winnipeg plant capacity will be increased from the 35% it’s running at now to between 70 and 90% over the next year, which will increase jobs at the Linden Woods plant. The facility will continue to brew Fort Garry and Two Rivers brands, and will begin brewing Russell’s brands too. Harris told reporters,

“The product that’s brewed (in Winnipeg) is “fantastically good beer.”

The B.C. company’s flagship beer is Russell Cream Ale. It also brews lager, pale ale and blond beer, all of which it hopes to sell in all the western provinces. Russell is now conducting research to see how widely to sell the Fort Garry brands, said Harris. Russell also currently holds the exclusive right to sell beer at B.C. Lions CFL games in Vancouver.

Harris said beer buyers in Manitoba can expect Russell products to appear on vendor shelves here during the first few months of 2008.

Popularity: 6% [?]

According to an articlein today’s Boston Globe, the rice used by Anheuser-Busch Co. to brew Budweiser beer is,

Tainted with an experimental, genetically engineered rice strain, according to an analysis released yesterday by the environmental organization Greenpeace. Three of four samples of unprocessed rice from the beer maker’s mill in Arkansas showed the presence of the strain, Bayer LL601, Greenpeace said.

The real question we all know, of course, is not “what is a genetically modified strain doing in the rice in Budweiser?” but rather, “WHAT THE HELL IS RICE DOING IN THE BEER IN THE FIRST PLACE?!”

While anyone who knows anything about beer knows that rice has no place as a replacement for better ingredients in beer in the first place, Greenpeace’s Doreen Stabinsky notes that U.S. consumers have a right to know that, when rice is used in beer, that it is genetically modified rice. To that end, the group has created an off-color YouTube “commercial” entitled ”Wassup With Your Beer?” to alert users to the presence of genetically altered rice in Budweiser; the video can be seen below:

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPZlYmCqALY[/youtube]

Popularity: 6% [?]