• ‘Star Trek’ Klingon Warnog Beer Invites Fans to Drink Like Warriors

    April 4, 2014 Author: Scott
    Comments Off

    warnog-in-space-can

    By most accounts, we’re living in a golden age of television, but we’re also apparently living in a golden age of TV-based beer. There are currently beers inspired by “Game of Thrones” and “The Walking Dead” on the market.

     

    And now there’s a beer from the “Star Trek” universe.

     

    CBS Consumer Products and the Federation of Beer announced the first official “Star Trek” beer in Las Vegas on Monday, and it’s the kind of drink designed to make fans snarl and growl as only a Klingon could.

     

    Klingon Warnog will be brewed by the Evansville, Ind.-based Tin Man Brewing Co. According to the announcement, the dunkelweizen style beer has an aroma that is “predominantly mild banana and clove” that is “supported by subtle sweet malt character from the use of Munich malt.”

     

    The beer’s flavor “draws heavily from the blending of the rye malt and traditional clove character” and includes wheat and caramel malts. Making the 5.5% ABV Roggen Dunkel something strong enough for a surly Klingon to quaff. Or so they say. Klingons would probably prefer something around 10% ABV with a splash of battery acid.

     

    The Klingon Warnog will soon join other TV-based beers already on the market, including the “Game of Thrones” line of beers from Brewery Ommegang, which includes Iron Throne blonde ale, Take the Black Stout and the latest, Fire and Blood red ale, which will be released Monday.

     

    The Philadelphia-based Dock Street Brewing Co. will be releasing the “Walking Dead”-inspired Dock Street Walker on Sunday. The red-hued American pale stout uses an extra special ingredient to appeal to zombie fans: smoked goat brains.

     

    With all the TV-based beer available, it’s worth a reminder that fans should only binge on the shows. The beers are best enjoyed one at a time.

    Source: http://herocomplex.latimes.com/

  • Brewery Creates ‘Walking Dead’-Inspired Beer Made with Real Brains

    March 28, 2014 Author: Scott
    Comments Off

    brains26n-1-web

    Would you like some brains in your beer?

     

    Philadelphia’s Dock Street Brewing Company will release a zombie-friendly brew in honor of AMC’s “The Walking Dead.”

     

    The American Pale Stout, which has been dubbed Dock Street Walker, is made with malted wheat, oats, flaked barley, cranberry and an extra-special ingredient — smoked goat brains.

     

    “The pre-sparge-brain-addition provides this beer with intriguing, subtle smoke notes,” the brewery says in a press release. “In true walker fashion, don’t be surprised if its head doesn’t hang around forever.

     

    The beverage, which Dock Street Brewing Company is calling “quite possibly the smartest beer you’ll ever drink,” will be released on Sunday before “The Walking Dead” season finale.

     

    This isn’t the first time a brewery has crafted a beer in honor of an AMC drama

    Source: http://www.nydailynews.com

  • Jelly Belly to Introduce Draft Beer Flavored Beans

    January 31, 2014 Author: Scott
    Comments Off

     

     Jelly-Belly-logo

    Yes, the Draft Beer beans do actually taste like beer, but we’re a bit befuddled about our excitement level. To the chemical flavor guy at JB, congratulations you deserve a promotion, or at least a bonus.

    If I can talk to you man to (wo)man for a second — this bean probably doesn’t land in your top 10 favorite flavors, hell it may not even crack the top 100. How can it when they have Coldstone flavors? And unfortunately for our alcoholic readers of the site, the beans do not contain a smidgen of alcohol. But if you’re an addict of multiple vices and your vapor cig isn’t cutting it – the flavor of these beans might help you get through the trenches:

    jelly-belly-draft-in-hands

    We’re probably most excited for the new chocolate covered addition of last year’s Tabasco jelly bean. But for some apparent reason, JB decided to feature the new packaging around the entire booth and NOT HAVE SAMPLES AVAILABLE.

    This is a complete travesty since we’re at show that parallels a Saturday morning at Costco, if that Costco took Alex Rodriguez levels of HGH and found a way to rain down samples from the heavens. Shame on you JB. You temptress. So we ate some the Tabasco flavored beans with some Mexican chocolate from another booth because that’s our version of R&D. This bean really has some potential.

     

    Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/

  • Anheuser-Busch InBev rebuys Oriental Breweries

    January 24, 2014 Author: Scott
    Comments Off

    No Anheuser-Busch

     

    AB is at it again.  The big just want to get bigger.

    Anheuser-Busch InBev, the maker of Budweiser, says it has agreed to repurchase South Korea’s Oriental Breweries from private equity firms for $5.8 billion.

     

    AB InBev, the world’s biggest beermaker, never really wanted to part with the leading South Korean brewer, but decided to sell it in 2009 to KKR and Affinity Equity Partners for $1.8 billion, as part of a strategy to reduce debt during the financial crisis. The deal has proved highly lucrative for the private equity firms.

     

    Oriental Breweries is known for the Cass brand, South Korea’s biggest seller. InBev said Oriental Breweries had around $500 million in core operating profits in 2013.

    Source: http://www.usatoday.com

  • The Bountiful Breweries of the USA

    January 17, 2014 Author: Scott
    Comments Off

    US-Breweries

     

    Are you getting ready to plan a brew trip? Want to hit the most breweries possible without the inconvenience of having to find a ride to take you to all the corners of the earth? The latest print from Pop Chart Lab is here to help you out. The map features over 2,500 breweries, microbreweries, and brewpubs across the Unites States and measures 60″ x 40″. The epic map is fitting for any bar area or just to start marking off all your previous travels. So get some growlers ready and start studying and booking hotels. Oh, and start hydrating ASAP.

    Source:  http://coolmaterial.com/

  • Anheuser-Busch Sued Over ‘Hold My Beer’ Videos

    January 10, 2014 Author: Scott
    Comments Off

    No Anheuser-Busch

     

     

    A Montana-based craft brewer is suing the world’s largest beer-maker, alleging that popular YouTube videos for Bud Light violate its trademarked phrase, “Hold my beer and watch this.”

     

    Big Sky Brewing Co. filed its lawsuit against Anheuser-Busch in U.S. District Court in Missoula, Mont. The company says it has used the slogan since at least 2004, and has a trademark.

     

    At issue are three videos on Bud Light’s official YouTube site created by actor John Krasinski, best known for playing Jim Halpert on NBC’s The Office, and his business partner, Danny Stessen. The videos depict odd things that might happen after asking someone to hold your beer. In one, a woman celebrating her 100th birthday feigns death after asking a young man to hold her beer, then after the man and his friends leave, she high-fives and laughs with another elderly woman.

     

    The videos debuted about a month ago and, as of Tuesday, had nearly 5 million views. The videos are online only and do not air on television.

     

    Big Sky’s lawsuit includes photos of cans of one of its brews, the back reading “Hold my beer and watch this.” The suit, filed Dec. 20, seeks unspecified damages.

     

    Neal Leathers, president of Big Sky and one of the founders, said the Missoula-based company is “engaged in negotiations with Anheuser-Busch to try and get this resolved. Until something’s actually been resolved, we’re just sort of taking the no-comment route.”

     

    An Anheuser-Busch official, in an emailed statement on Tuesday, stood behind the videos.

     

    “These humorous Bud Light videos explore the unexpected things that could happen when you ask someone to hold your beer,” said Rob McCarthy, vice president of Bud Light marketing. “There is no trademark use of the phrase ‘Hold my beer and watch this,’ nor is there intent to create any association with Big Sky. Countless other videos and jokes use the same or similar words as a punch line or hashtag.”

     

    InBev, of Belgium, purchased Anheuser-Busch in 2008, but the company retained St. Louis as U.S. headquarters. The company makes several top-selling beers, including Bud Light and Budweiser. Anheuser-Busch InBev commands 47.6 percent of the U.S. beer market.

     

    Big Sky offers several craft beers with such names as “Moose Drool,” ”Trout Slayer” and “Slow Elk.” The company website says it is the nation’s 50th largest brewer with sales of around 45,000 barrels of beer in 2012. Big Sky brews are sold in 24 states.

    Source: http://money.msn.com/

  • Americans No Longer Want to Drink These 9 Beers

    December 13, 2013 Author: Scott
    Comments Off

    No Anheuser-Busch

    As craft beer consumption continues to rise, the fall of big beer comes closer at hand.

    While craft beer may seem to be all the rage these days, the number of people cracking open a cold one has actually been on the decline.

     

    According to Beer Marketer’s Insights, beer sales have slipped 2.3 percent between 2007 to 2012.

     

    Michelob Light has been a big loser, plunging 70 percent, while the once top-selling Budweiser, declined by more than 25 percent over the past five years. Miller Genuine Draft, Old Milwaukee and Heineken Premium Light are also losing market share.

     

    Part of the decline is attributed to people switching to wine and spirits — especially the flavored brands.  “The [beer] brewers have dabbled in that, and have had some success with, for example, Redd’s Apple Ale, but nowhere near the success that flavored vodkas and flavored whiskeys have had,” Eric Shepard, executive editor at Beer Marketer’s Insights.

     

    The website 24/7 Wall St. looked at the research from Beer Marketer’s Insights and identified nine beers Americans no longer drink.  Here they are:

     

    9. Labatt Blue- Sales loss (2007-2012): 28.3 percent
    8. Budweiser-Sales loss (2007-2012): 28.8 percent
    7. Heineken Premium Light- Sales loss (2007-2012): 36.7 percent
    6. Milwaukee’s Best Light- Sales loss (2007-2012): 39.7 percent
    5. Old Milwaukee- Sales loss (2007-2012): 54.0 percent
    4. Miller Genuine Draft- Sales loss (2007-2012): 56.4 percent
    3. Milwaukee’s Best Premium- Sales loss (2007-2012): 58.5 percent
    2. Budweiser Select- Sales loss (2007-2012): 61.5 percent
    1. Michelob Light- Sales loss (2007-2012): 69.6 percent

     

    According Shepard, the trend doesn’t appear to be changing. “The history of beer brands in the U.S. has generally been — and there are exceptions — once they start to decline, it’s very, very difficult to reverse it.”

     

    Guess it’s time to start stockpiling your favorite beer before it disappears all together.

    Source:  http://www.foxnews.com/

  • With Legal Weed Comes Hemp Beer

    November 22, 2013 Author: Scott
    Comments Off
    Producers of Joint Effort covered their label in references to marijuana and made their pull handles out of bongs.

    Producers of Joint Effort covered their label in references to marijuana and made their pull handles out of bongs.

     

    Marijuana’s legalization in Colorado and Washington has led to a boom market of growers, sellers and investors seeking to cash in as the long-illicit drug goes legit. And then there’s the ancillary market. Cannabis swag has been flourishing in each state, with the leaf appearing on everything from throw pillows to key fobs.  So it should come as little surprise that breweries are riding the green wave.

     

    As Washington processes its first applications for pot-related business licenses, local store shelves are being stocked with 22 oz. bottles of Joint Effort, a hemp beer crafted by two local breweries to evoke the aroma of weed. The name is a double entendre about their collaboration and the drug that was legalized there last November. It’s also part of the reason that the brew can be sold only in the Evergreen State.

     

    Beer brewed with hemp, a botanical cousin to hops, can be (and has been) sold elsewhere in the U.S., so long as it tests negative for mind-altering THC. But a hemp brew’s label can’t contain any slang or graphics “implying or referencing the presence of … marijuana” if it’s going to be approved by the federal government for sales across state lines. Joint Effort, made by Redhook Ale Brewery and Hilliard’s Beer, is decorated with the tag line “a dubious collaboration between two buds.” And those puns, a company spokesman says, were enough for the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau to reject their label application. That left the brewers to sell their resiny ale at home, where the state liquor board approved.

     

    The beer’s presence in bars makes the labels seem subtle by comparison. Pull handles that barkeeps yank to serve drafts of the brew are made out of actual bongs, purchased straight from local head shops. “We’re taking the whole passage of the law and celebrating the fact that we can do something legally that other states can’t,” says Matt Licklider, Redhook’s senior director of brewing and quality. Yes, they could sell their THC-free beer in other places if they toned down the look, but that would defeat the point, he says.

     

    Joint Effort was first sold on tap in July 2013, with bottles following in late October. So far, it’s available at 85 locations, including stores such as Safeway and restaurants like Red Robin. Redhook brand manager Karmen Olson says they plan to sell it through March 2014 and may extend the run if there’s popular demand.

     

    Though Redhook is now part of the larger Craft Brew Alliance, both that brewery and Hilliard’s were founded in Washington. The two companies were brainstorming on ways to collaborate soon after Initiative 502 passed in November 2012. Throwing ideas around over beers, they decided an ode to marijuana was in order. It certainly didn’t hurt to capitalize on the buzz of passing historic legislation either. The 22 oz. bottles are being sold at a price only novelty could justify: $3.99 to $5.99 a piece.

     

    This isn’t the first time Redhook has run a campaign to “acknowledge that we live in a cool progressive state where stuff like this happens,” as Olson says. Last November, voters also passed a referendum that made gay marriage legal. The company, which sells a Long Hammer IPA, put out a celebratory ad with a giant equals sign. “Redhook supports equality,” it read. “Because two Long Hammers are better than one.”

    Source: http://nation.time.com/2013/11/21/with-legal-weed-comes-hemp-beer/

  • World’s Strongest Beer

    November 1, 2013 Author: Scott
    Comments Off

    snake_venom

     

    There’s a new brew in town that claims to be the strongest beer in the world.

     

    Snake Venom –the latest creation from Scottish-based Brewmeister – has concocted a beer with a whopping 67.5 percent ABV, beating out the former title holder Armageddon made by the same brewery at 65 percent ABV.

     

    Brewers Lewis Shand and John McKenzie told Scotland’s Daily Record that they created Snake Venom after customers said that Armageddon was “too weak.”

     

    “Some even said they didn’t believe it was 65 percent, so this time we thought we’d go full out. We were too nice last time,” said Lewis.

     

    They said the beer took nine months to develop and was brewed with smoked peat malt and two varieties of yeast, one beer and one Champagne.  Like other beers that have pushed ABV boundaries, they used a technique where they freeze during the fermentation process – sometimes several times.

     

    Snake Venom is the latest beer in which brewers try to outdo each other by creating stronger and stronger beers.

     

    Scotland’s Brewdog first produced Tactical Nuclear Penguin at 32 percent ABV. German-based Schorsbrau retaliated by releasing Schorschbock at 40 percent, followed by Brewdog releasing Sink the Bismarck at 41 percent, and it went from there.

     

    Last year, Brewmeister’s Armageddon crossed into the 60 percent ABV mark.

     

    The brewery’s latest creation, Snake Venom, comes with a yellow warning label and drinkers are cautioned that the brew is meant to be sipped, not chugged.

     

    Source: http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2013/10/24/theres-new-worlds-strongest-beer/

  • Fantastical Fictive Beers

    October 25, 2013 Author: Scott
    Comments Off

    Fantastical Fictive Beers

    Presenting Fantastical Fictive Beers, for when only a fictional brew will do. Can you not get enough of that wonderful Duff? Want to crack a Girlie Girl with Al Bundy? Or maybe you need a Butterbeer to help you cope with the fact that a noseless wizard is always trying to kill you? Whatever your quaff, kick back and enjoy this scrupulously illustrated selection of 71 beers from some of the greatest movies, books, and TV shows ever…and, okay, even a few of the not-so-greatest.

     

    You can buy the poster here:
    http://popchartlab.com/products/fantastical-fictive-beers