December 2006 Beer News -- Beer Info

Pairing food & beer: A little head knowledge goes a long way toward great dining(December 31) - New York - Brooklyn brewmaster Garrett Oliver is evangelist-like about preaching to the world that real beer with real food is righteous and good. Complete Story

Atlanta's Sweetwater turns 10(December 30) - Atlanta - One founder has adopted the job title of Big Kahuna. He and his accomplice's idea of advertising is the company logo imprinted on a Frisbee. Complete Story

Smuttynose Brewery not so micro(December 29) - New Hampshire - Smuttynose has graduated to the big time in their craft by brewing more than 15,000 barrels this year. Complete Story

Allure of ale drives dad to sell family pet(December 29) - Germany - A thirsty German sold his six-year-old stepdaughter's pet beagle to the owner of a bar to pay for beer, the Bild newspaper reported on Friday. Complete Story

Oregon Brews Top National Craft Beer Sales(December 28) - Oregon - Deschutes Brewery beer has topped a national craft beer sales list. Complete Story

Colorado College Teaches Beer 101(December 27) - Colorado - It's a college student's dream come true. Beer 101, for credit. Students in the hospitality and restaurant administration program at Metropolitan State College of Denver are learning the art of beer in one of the only programs of its kind in the country. Complete Story

Beer with an orange?(December 26) - Ohio - Corona with lime wedge? That's so yesterday. Complete Story

Anheuser-Busch offers Redbridge beer for those with wheat allergies(December 21) - National - On Wednesday, Anheuser-Busch introduced Redbridge, which the company called the first nationally available beer made from sorghum, a grain that is different from wheat and barley. Complete Story

Ancient Peruvian brewery is toasted, then torched(December 20) - History - Drunks may cause a ruckus, but they do not burn down the breweries that feed their thirst. But archaeologists have found that things were different 1000 years ago in Peru. Complete Story

Let's just call it 'destination' beer(December 20) - Colorado - In the US, Colorado may be the epicenter of the brewpub trend. Complete Story

Give the gift of beer(December 19) - Colorado - Just four shopping days left before Christmas. We hope you've had all your shopping done for weeks and will spend these next few days relaxing with family and friends while the procrastinators of the world frantically finish their holiday shopping. Complete Story

Craft brewer's grows to include 18 states(December 19) - USATODAY - Steve Hindy's Brooklyn Brewery is expanding its sales into six more states, taking it into the Midwest and making its brews available in 18 states in all. Complete Story

Telegraph Winter Ale(December 18) - California - The beer fairy stopped(or should hopped be a better word) by my desk one night last week, leaving for my drinking pleasure a champage-sized bottle of Telegraph Brewing Company 's Winter Ale. Complete Story

Granite City Food & Brewery Opens in Madison(December 16) - Wisconin - Granite City Food & Brewery, a Modern American upscale casual restaurant, has opened a new restaurant in West Madison. Complete Story

Former Olympia Brewery Forced into Bankruptcy(December 16) - Washington - Three creditors forced the former Olympia brewery into involuntary bankruptcy Thursday, blocking a foreclosure sale scheduled for today and throwing the one-time community icon into further turmoil. Complete Story

Beer Sales can tell the future(December 16) - Arizona - Futurist Eric Garland is not just elaborating on the obvious when he writes that China will "overtake the United States as the world's number one beer market" before the end of this century. Complete Story

Holiday Beers for Holiday Cheers(December 15) - Yahoo - Major national beer companies like Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing, and many smaller, craft brewers such as Sierra Nevada and Goose Island, have a full line of seasonal drinks around this time of year. They run the gamut from a simple, spicy, Bavarian-style wheat beer to a rich, chocolaty lager, so you can easily find the perfect pairing for your Holiday party. Complete Story

SABMiller, China Resources JV buys two breweries(December 15) - Hong Kong - China Resources Snow Breweries, the joint venture between China Resources Enterprise and SABMiller, will pay 176-million yuan ($22,51 million) for two breweries in northern China to strengthen its leading position in the world’s largest beer market. Complete Story

Carolina Ale House to open(December 15) - South Carolina - North Carolina-based Carolina Ale House will open its first S.C. restaurant across from the Columbiana Centre mall this month. The sports-themed restaurant will open Sunday at 277 Columbiana Drive, according to the company’s news release. Complete Story

New Front Street Brewery welcomes its patrons with old and updated flavors(December 14) - North Carolina - Walking into the recently reopened Front Street Brewery is like coming home. That funky orange art deco lamp still hangs over the door, dark wood trim warms the vintage space and the same wildly intricate black cast-iron railings fence the upstairs dining room. Complete Story

Brent on Beer(December 14) - California - There is a double dose of news coming out of Moylan's Brewery & Restaurant. First,the signing of a big-name free-agent brewer and seconde, a pending equipment upgrade that will expand brewing capacity. Complete Story

Beer Man: Michelob vanilla brew is an atrocity(December 14) - Wisconsin - The makers of Budweiser and Michelob decided to test the waters of the specialty beer market with a winter seasonal lager made using real vanilla beans and aged in oak barrels that held bourbon. Complete Story

Brewhaha over Yule ale(December 13) - New York - A brewer in Massachusetts is suing the New York State Liquor Authority claiming the agency cost it big bucks when it tried to banish Santa, Rudolph and a bunch of elves from its beer labels. Complete Story

Beer spa opens in Czech Republic(December 13) - A beer health spa has opened in the converted cellar of the Chodova family brewery, situated in Chodova Plana in the Tachov region of the Czech Republic. Complete Story

BEER OF THE WEEK(December 13) - Fort Worth,TX - Complete Story

12 beers of Christmas(December 12) - Chicago - Whether it's maids a-milking or lords a-leaping, we've always been a little weirded out by the "12 Days of Christmas." We'd much prefer 12 beers for Christmas. In fact, that's what we're going to do this year. Join us if you like--but take it slow. You don't want to wake up with 12 drummers drumming inside your head. Complete Story

Women to open gluten-free brewery in Northwest Arkansas(December 12) - A woman affected by a disease that stops her from enjoying wheat products will soon be able to say "beer me" without concerns of stomach aches or illness. Complete Story

Iron Hill Brewery to open in Lancaster(December 12) - Delaware - The Wilmington based Iron Hill Brewery & Restaurant chain has chosen Lancaster, Pennsylvania, for its 7th location. Complete Story

Beer's your turkey dinner!(December 11) - STUFF cooking a dull old traditional Christmas dinner this year - try our Beer Can Turkey recipe instead. Complete Story

Local beer makers want Floridians to develop a taste for microbreweries(December 11) - As a resident of Denver for 11 years, Marc Wolff was a fixture at brewpubs, bought locally brewed beers and logged several visits to the annual Great American Beer Festival. Complete Story

Maryland brews up a beer revival(December 10) - BALTIMORE - Beer is to Baltimore as crabs are to Maryland. And it seems it's always been that way. Complete Story

137-year-old brew tastes "absolutely amazing"(December 9) - London, Dec.9 (ANI): A recently discovered cache of 1869 ale should have been undrinkable, but liquor and beer connoisseurs are claiming that the brew tastes "absolutely amazing". The Victorian beer was part of a cache of 250 vintage bottles found in the vaults of Worthington's White Shield brewery in Burton-on-Trent. Complete Story

Small breweries, big beer(December 8) - Fortune - This is a heady time for boutique beer producers all over the country. After an Internet-style rise and fall in the late 1990s, craft beers are on the climb again, with $4.3 billion in U.S. sales in 2005, a 13 percent lift from a year earlier. (By comparison, mass-market beer sales slipped 1.5 percent over the same period.) Complete Story

Brew News - JUST IN TIME FOR HANUKKAH(December 8) - Oregon - Jeremy Cowan founded Shmaltz Brewing Co. (www.shmaltz.com) 10 years ago in San Francisco, partly as an inside joke. But a taste of his new Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A. will persuade you that He'Brew beer is more than just good shtick. Complete Story

Is prospect for brewery going flat?(December 8) - ACUSHNET, MA — The proposed Samuel Adams brewery in Freetown is likely to cost double the original estimate, the founder of Boston Beer Co. said yesterday. Complete Story

Brew masters - Beer making a craft that's part science and part art(December 7) - In the last few years, Mendocino County has become famous for its wines, but among the vintners and winegrowers are two brewmasters, making beer with every bit as much care as any winemaker. Complete Story

Denmark's Carlsberg to build brewery in India(December 7) - COPENHAGEN (Reuters) - Danish brewer Carlsberg said on Thursday it plans to build a brewery in Rajasthan in a joint venture with a group of investors to tap into the growth potential in the Indian beer market. Complete Story

Beer: New beer emporiums on map(December 6) - The statistics -- craft beer sales up 11 percent in the first half of the year, according to the Brewers Association -- are reflected in the golden, amber and chocolate brown hues of brews being poured at more and more places.Complete Story

Beer Invention(December 6) - It''s exactly the kind of invention you'd expect a college student to come up with and while at University of Madison, Mathew Younkle did just that. It's a turbo tap beer invention. It pours out beer at a high pressure, and minimizes the foam. Complete Story

Beer naming winners(December 6) - Nassaua - Almost two months after the most exciting competition in Grand Bahama had finished, Bahamian Brewery and Beverage Company an-nounced that it had chosen the first of its two names. Complete Story

Texas Craft Breweries Launch Campaign to Allow Direct-To-Consumer Sales(December 6) - Saint Arnold's wants to sell to the public fresh from the brewery. Complete Story

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. Exercises Option to Buy FuelCell Energy Power Plants Under Provisions of its Power Purchase(December 6) - DANBURY, Conn.----FuelCell Energy, Inc. , a leading manufacturer of efficient electric power generation plants for commercial and industrial customers, today announced that Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. will purchase the four 250 kilowatt Direct FuelCell® power plants that have been providing base load electricity and heat to the brewery's production processes during initial operations...Complete Story

A-B, InBev strike US import deal(December 1) - Anheuser-Busch Companies has struck a deal with Belgium brewer InBev to become the exclusive US importer of a number of InBev's premium European import brands, including Stella Artois, Beck's, Bass Pale Ale, Hoegaarden and Leffe. Terms of the agreement were not disclosed. Complete Story

Brewery coming to Anaconda(December 1) - Montana - ANACONDA — The brewing tradition is back in Anaconda, where the Rocky Mountain Brewing Co. and the Rocky Mountain Brewery Grill will open on Super Bowl Sunday, which is Feb. 4. Complete Story

Great Winter Beers

	Anchor's Our Special Ale - Every year since 1975 the brewers at Anchor have brewed a distinctive and unique “Christmas Ale,” which is available from early November to mid-January. The Ale’s recipe is different every year—as is the tree on the label—but the intent with which we offer it remains the same: joy and celebration of the newness of life. Although the recipes must remain a secret, many enthusiasts save a few bottles from year to year—stored in a cool dark place—to taste later and compare with other vintages. Properly refrigerated, the beer remains intriguing and drinkable for years, with different nuances slowly emerging as the flavor mellows slightly.
	SweetWater Festive Ale - Well, the temperature is dropping and the days are getting shorter. You know what that means don't you? It's time for Sweetwater's Winter Brew. A full-bodied, high-octane brew capped off with our use of cinnamon and mace. This beer will warm you all the way to your bones. Brewed only one day a year. We only bottle 7200 liters, 3800 12 oz. cases, and a handful of kegs, so get it while you can. 8.6% alcohol
	Rogue's annual holiday offering, Santa's Private Reserve, is a variation of the classic Saint Rogue Red, but with double the hops--including Chinook, and Centennial, and a mystery hop called Rudolph by head brewer John "more hops" Maier!This holiday elixir is brewed with two-row Harrington, Klages and Munich malts, along with Hugh Baird 30-37, Carastan 13-17, and Crystal 70-80 malts, plus free range coastal water and John's proprietary top-fermenting Pacman yeast.
	Great Divide’s award-winning Hibernation Ale is Colorado’s original strong ale – it has been our winter seasonal each year since 1995. Since that time, Hibernation has become the most sought-after winter beer in Colorado. Hibernation’s massive flavors are so intense that it requires over three months of aging each year. Each summer, while our brewers are still spending their weekends in flip-flops and shorts, they prepare for July’s Hibernation brewing schedule. This scrumptious, collectible, and imminently cellarable ale is only available for six weeks each year, from November 1 to December 15.

Strange Brew
Happy Tail Ale
Non-alcoholic and non-carbonated, Happy Tail Ale is the ultimate liquid refreshment for your best friend. This beer is made in a real brewery and starts with artesian water and choice malted barley. Brewed in 500-gallon copper kettles, Happy Tail Ale also features all-natural beef drippings (no by-products or chemicals!). Plus, it's fortified with Glucosamine and Vitamin E! Every ingredient in Happy Tail Ale is human grade, as Dog Star Brewing Company does not believe in giving our canine family members less than superior food and beverages. Complete Story

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