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Brewers of Indiana Guild Newsletter - January, 2007

B.I.G. News

A minor change to the web site to include a separate "On Tap" section.

Indiana Beer News

NINE G Brewing Company in South Bend, Indiana is available for immediate sale. Almost $600,000 has been invested in NINE G Brewing Company. This investment does not include brand development, customer base value or sweat equity. The owners currently owe approximately $345,000. No reasonable offer will be refused. Offers will be accepted through the 19th of January, 2007. This does not preclude a contract prior to the 19th. The purchase of NINE G Brewing Company will include all equipment and leasehold improvements. All 4 brands of NINE G beer, all logos and branding, all sales and promotional materials and all text and graphics will also be included in the sale.

Wanna have a beer festival named after you? Roger Baylor has opened entries for RichO's YourNameHereFest contest.

The Ram, Indy and Fishers, have 1/2 price growler refills during January. Every day. This is a system-wide promotion, not a reaction to the damage Cincinnati Bengal fans gave the Ram's restroom during the the Bengal/Colts game last month. "They broke beer glasses and signs and ripped paper towel dispensers right off the bathroom walls of the downtown brewery [Dave] Hornak manages. They brawled in the streets and got arrested after their team lost in the RCA Dome, right around the corner from the Ram Restaurant and Brewery." says the Kansas City Star.

Indiana bills introduced this session so far (no actions yet):

• SB 55 - Makes furnishing alcohol to minors a Class B misdemeanor (Class A on second offense) and a Class D felony if "serious bodily injury or death" results. Adds "knowingly or intentionally" to "recklessly.
• SB 31 - Requires a breathalyzer test to get credit on a riverboat.
• SB 256 - Allows liquor stores to sell alcoholic beverages on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve that fall on Sundays. (a year too late to be useful until 2017).

We expect more bills including Sunday sales at brewpubs and a large restructuring of the three-tier system language without much, if any, change in the results, beerwise.

The Ram had 28 Kegs stolen from the Fisher's restaurant over the holiday period. At 70¢ per pound, stainless steel is a temptation. If you see any melted slag embossed with a Bighorn logo please let them know.

Barley Island is set to move into Illinois in early February although this doesn't include distribution in the Chicago area. They will also be putting their Flat Belly Wheat in bottles in March. Production is right at capacity and the 60/- Scotch will be moved to seasonal status.

Upcoming Events

The next big festival is Lafayette Brewing's Winter Warmer festival on Feb 10. It's sold out as usual, though.

Feb 24th is the Michigan Brewers Guild Winter Beer Festival in Lansing.

Please see http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/events.html for Indiana (and some surrounding area) events. Also lists bands playing at member breweries.

On Tap

Please see http://www.brewersofindianaguild.com/ontap.html for the current tap lists of Indiana Breweries.

Miscellaneous News (if you didn't read it at IndianaBeer.com already)

Wanna buy a pub? $3M USD gets you an outback hotel in Birdsville. The nearest city is 900 miles away.

The Human Can Opener. See it now before David Letterman puts her on Human Pet Tricks.

Everything you ever wanted to know about the dreaded hangover. Including don't take Tylenol unless you want to serve your liver with bacon. - Bonus link to Super Bowl Party Science: How to Ration Snacks and Beer.

Since Fuller's bought Gales last year it's been a worry whether Gales Prize Old Ale would be continued. Fuller's now says it will. But it will be in new vessels since Ringwood bought the POA fermenter. It's made of kauri pine from New Zealand and is 80 years old. The bad news: Ringwood is going to put it in a museum rather than brew with it.

But over at the Youngs/Wells merger, they have announced Young's Dirty Dick's will be axed. Dick's Bodacious BBQ will have to find a new pet brew.

The numbers are just in. China drank more beer than any other country. "30.49 million kilolitres, up 5.2% from 2004". In 2005. It must have taken more than 11 months to ask each of the 1.3 billion people how much they drank. (2nd: US, 3rd: Germany, then Brazil, Russia, Japan).

Alcopops will cost more in California next year. They're reclassified as spirits, not beer. Excise tax goes from 20¢ per gallon to $3.30. Good move.

Another 1 to 2 percent will probably be added to the price of canned beer to make up for the rising cost of aluminum.

Internet quote: "If you had purchased $1,000 of Enron, you would have had $16.50 left of the original $1000. With WorldCom, you would have had less than $5.00 left. If you had purchased $1000 of Delta Air Lines stock you would have $49.00 left. But, if you had purchased $1,000.00 worth of beer one year ago, drank all the beer, then turned in the cans for the aluminum recycling refund you would have had $214.00. Based on the above, the best current investment advice is to drink heavily and recycle. It's called the 401-Keg Plan."

Louisville's Courier Journal looks at light beer. With reviews and calorie counts.

ABC News says if you mix too much caffeine and alcohol you die.

Here's a new Belgian stamp celebrating Geuze compared to a US stamp celebrating Prohibition.

Barley in December 2005 = $2.57 avg/bushel. Dec 2006 = $3.19 avg. The smaller guys already have contracts for 2007 barley and hops so this drought-driven scarcity won't have much impact if it's just a bubble. At least that's what we're told. Actually aluminum prices account for 20% of a mega-brews price while malt is 8 to 12%. Coors may have a 40¢/case price rise shortly because of aluminum. Of course there's the Yakima Valley fire last October that has already affected hop prices for the big guys. Doom. Gloom. article

The Soon-After Headache vs the Hangover Headache. Interesting.

Gordon Biersch is planning to open a new brewpub in Chicago in 2007.

Redhook and Widmer are talking about merging the companies. Both have marketing contracts and are partially owned by A-B.

And of course you've heard that Anheuser-Busch will be importing Budvar/Czechvar. The Irony tag surrenders. The AP says: According to a statement by the two rivals, Anheuser-Busch will become the U.S. importer of Czechvar. Budvar has exported its lager to the U.S. under the name Czechvar since 2001. The agreement gives Czechvar, currently sold in 30 states, access to Anheuser-Busch's marketing and sales expertise and wide-reaching U.S. distribution network. Anheuser-Busch added Czechvar to Beck's, Bass and Stella Artois and other beers on its import portfolio. The agreement, that became affective Jan 5, does not impact existing litigation or trademark disputes between the two companies in other countries.

Old Dominion in the DC area is rumored to be in the process of being sold to A-B. It's the 50th largest brewery in the US.

For a laugh at Gothamites, see New York Magazine's beer review give thumbs down to Schlenkerla ("smells like beef jerky"), JW Lees Harvest Ale ("Belgian-style"), and Rogue Chocolate Stout ("loooks like road tar"). Did you know NYC was coined Gotham after a fabled town in Nottinghamshire who's citizens feigned craziness when King John wanted to move into the neighborhood? Holy Bedlam, Batman.

News compiled by Bob Ostrander, Marketing Director. It's all considered accurate but then Bob has been known to have a drink or two while writing this so-called tome. Views expressed are not necessarily those of the Brewers of Indiana Guild, in which case Bob will lose his job. Some coupon offers are for Associate Members only, non-transferable, and may be withdrawn due to unforeseen circumstances, acts of the gods, bankruptcy, or other capricious reasons. It's illegal in Indiana to offer any alcoholic beverage at discount through coupons, prizes, or the fact that the drinker is female. Sorry.