"microbreweries" news and stories

The list of America's top 50 craft brewers is out and while big boys Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada and New Belgium (Fat Tire) are again on top, there is a newcomer to list.

After 20 years of brewing, the Saint Louis Brewery - makers of Schlafly - has joined the ranks of top craft brewers. (If you can find it, try their creamy Oatmeal Stout.)

Released by the Brewers Association, the industry arm of the craft-brew industry, the annual list of craft and overall brewers looked at sales for the year 2008. Compared to 35 last year, 37 of the top brewers are on this year's overall list were small independent companies producing less than 2 millions barrels a year.

Big Sky Brewing Co. from Missoula, Mont., and Mac & Jack's Brewery of Redmond, Wash., joined the overall list where the real Big Boys, including Anheuser-Busch InBev and MillerCoors Brewing Co., hold court.

A little consolidation, of course, helped. The merger of Miller and Coors - Nos. 2 and 3 last year - opened up a slot as did the union of Widmer Brothers and Redhook Craft Brewers into what is now Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc.

As it's one of the few industries growing in this economy - 5.8 percent in 2008 - as we head into happy hour, time to cozy up to the bar and skip the Bud for a local draft.

Earlier this week, the Brewers Association released their 2008 Craft Beer Sales Numbers. The report is simultaneously exciting and humbling, and makes an extremely interesting read for casual drinkers, or those who are seeing more unique brews on their local store shelves but don't quite know what to make of it.

America is currently home to 1,527 breweries. (Almost makes you worried that one might be sneaking up behind you right now...) The Brewers Association deems 1,483 of those "craft breweries" -- consisting of large craft breweries, microbreweries and brewpubs. For those not great at math, that leaves 44 "non-craft" brewers. Further number-crunching shows us that over 97% of companies making beer are making craft beer. But what you need to keep in perspective is that 97% are only making 4% off all the beer consumed in the US. Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors and the like are still churning out the vast majority of America's suds.

So it's easy to see why, despite all the recent notoriety, craft brewers still have an us against the world mentality (with global conglomerates like InBev helping to up the ante). But despite this, for the seventh year in a row, the stats show all the craft brew hype hasn't just been a big public relations trick. Once again, craft brewers saw an increase in their share of the U.S. beer market, jumping a quarter of a percentage point. That might not seem like a lot, but it's significant: While non-craft beer saw a minimal 0.6% in growth last year, and imports dropped off 3%, craft beer saw a 5.8% growth rate. The top 10 beer brands all saw decreases in sales while craft beers staked out small but significant territory.

In other good news for beer lovers, the Brewers Association points out that a 2008 Gallup poll shows beer has once again taken a double digit lead over wine as America's alcoholic beverage of choice. One can surmise part of that increase may be a result of craft beers raising the profile of beer as an upscale beverage.

You can check out all the statistics for yourself here. Or true diehards and industry-types can head to the Craft Brewers Conference in Boston where a more extensive report will be released on April 22nd.

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It started a few years ago when some of the large breweries started putting out microbrew styled seasonal and specialty brews. Now it has become big business. We already know that Miller is releasing a chocolate flavored beer in limited numbers in the mid-west through the end of the year. Anheuser-Busch also has a chocolate beer in its Michelob Celebrate line, which started last year with its vanilla oak beer. They will also have pumpkin ale out this fall and vanilla-flavored bourbon ale to be released for the winter. Blue Moon, a Coors company has long been known for its seasonal beers especially the pumpkin.

Expect to see many more flavored beers coming out over the next year or two. The most popular are pumpkin, honey, vanilla and nuts. I love the fact that the big breweries are brewing craft styled beers. I have home brewed beer, cider, and mead since college and I worked in a brewpub in grad school. I'm a big craft beer fan and enjoy my high quality brews with big natural flavors. The more people that get exposed to great beer, the more that will be made, all to my benefit of course.

One of my current favorites is Samuel Adams with their limited release Brewer Patriot collection which I tried several times recently and thought both interesting and tasty. These are traditional brewing styles from young America that may not be to everyone's taste, but show how vastly different craft style beers can be. There are four beers in the collection: Traditional Honey Ale with ginger, lemon peel, and honey at 5.5% alcohol, George Washington Porter with molasses and licorice (unknown alcohol level), James Madison Dark Wheat Ale with hand-smoked malted barley (unknown alcohol level), and 1790 Root Beer Brew with herbs, spices, vanilla, honey, and molasses at 5.5% alcohol.

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Leatherbritches is a delightfully named brewery located in one of the UK's most picturesque regions - the Peak District.

Sadly their website is 'under construction' which doesn't help in tracking down details of their participation in the Peak Booze and Blues Festival. All I can find out is that it is running from the 26th May to the 29th. There will be around 100 ales to sample as well as the blues music. You need to find The Bentley Brook Inn, Fenny Bentley, DE6 1LF where all the fun is happening. More details of the brewery and attached hotel can be seen on the Peak District website. Looks lovely.

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