Beer News Round Up

I'm headed out on the road for work for the next couple of days so here's a number of news items to report from the last week or two to keep you busy.

Sierra Nevada has taken their annual Anniversary Ale out to the masses.  In the past, it was only available at the brewery.  Since demand for the beer was pretty high (people road tripping to Chico!) they decided to bottle the seasonal and make it available at retail.  I am not going to do a full tasting write up, but I will give it a thumbs up.  If you like their signature Pale Ale, you will most likely enjoy this IPA.  It has that signature Sierra Nevada flavor but is a little higher on the IBU count.  Anniversary Ale is brewed with the same hop varieties as the Pale Ale and adds Munich malt to the recipe.  The final gravity of the IPA is also higher leading to a little more sweetness.

According to the Brewers Association, craft brews continue to grow.  In fact, volume is up +11% over last year and most of the US beer industry growth is coming from craft.  From their press release:

"Overall, the U.S. beer industry sold one million more barrels in the first half of 2007 compared to 2006, with 400,000 of these new barrels produced by craft breweries. This equates to 3.768 million barrels of craft beer sold in the first two quarters of 2007 compared to 3.368 million barrels sold in the first half of 2006."

Beer is also making headlines in the Wall Street Journal for a new trend to explore techniques and ingredients more common to wine (Here's the link to the story).  In fact the author goes so far as to call it "winey beer".  I'm not so sure I like the term since it makes it seem like brewers are merely trying to copy or become wine.  I would also argue that the large format bottles and pricing are not so much an attempt to mimic wine.  First, these beers are higher in alcohol which means that a larger amount of malt or sugar is required.  That adds to the cost and thus increases the price a brewer must charge to make money.  Second, these beers tend to be more labor intensive and take time to produce.  If you put beer into a barrel and have to wait for it to age or to complete a wild fermentation, you have money tied up in that product.  There has to be some sort of return to the brewer for all of this extra cost and effort.  With that in mind, its still worth a read.  Just realize that the author isn't necessarily an expert on beer and the industry.  Jay Brooks over at Brookston Beer Bulletin put together a more detailed response to the article that includes a few points I missed.  Definitely check out his post as well if you venture over to the WSJ.  As always, he puts together a passionate piece with great points.