After an incredible week at the Craft Brewers Conference in San Francisco and having the opportunity to hang out with the Deschutes Brewery crew at a few of their Deschutes Brewery Base Camp Week – San Francisco events, we are excited to announce their events for Deschutes Base Came Week – Phoenix, which we are wishing we could attend, but sadly that won’t be the case. If you are in the area, get there and try some of their incredible beers!

DESCHUTES BREWERY BASE CAMP – Phoenix, Arizona

Tuesday April 5

• Beer Tasting at Total Wine & More in Tempe (2-5pm)
  Here’s your chance to discover your favorite Deschutes Brewery beer, and maybe even take some home to further your exploration. We’ll be pouring several of the beers we have for sale in the store.
• Specialty Reserve Series Beer Tasting at Taste of Tops (5:30-8pm)
  Not only will the giant Deschutes Brewery barrel on wheels, Woody, be here, but you should be too! We’ll be pouring the Lost Barrels of Mirror Mirror (yes, they were really lost and rediscovered in the brewery’s warehouse) and The Abyss ’08 – finely aged for your drinking pleasure. This is a rare chance to try some rare beers from Oregon’s Deschutes Brewery. Pair your beer with some hand-rolled cigars and view the mad skills of a visiting professional cigar roller.
• Specialty Reserve Series Beer Tasting at Robbie Fox’s (7-10pm)
  We’ll have some of Deschutes Brewery’s most popular beers – Mirror Pond Pale Ale, Black Butte Porter and Inversion IPA – for you to try at this event, along with the latest vintage of The Abyss. Woody, the brewery’s giant traveling beer barrel, will be rolling in around 8 p.m. Pair your beer with some hand-rolled cigars and view the mad skills of a visiting professional cigar roller.

Wednesday April 6

• Beer Tasting at Total Wine & More in Glendale (1:30-4:30pm)
  Here’s your chance to discover your favorite Deschutes Brewery beer, and maybe even take some home to further your exploration. We’ll be pouring several of the beers we have for sale in the store.

Thursday April 7

• Whole Foods
  In-Store Beer Tasting (2-5pm) | Tasting and Small Plate Dinner (6-8pm) $10
  Is there really anything better than working a little bit of beer tasting into your grocery shopping trip? Deschutes Brewery will be at Whole Foods with samples of its lineup of craft brews in the afternoon, and a small plate pairing dinner in the early evening. The special brews we’ll be pouring include The Abyss ’10 and Jubel 2010, which is only released once every 10 years.
• Specialty Beer Tasting at Papago Brewing (7-10pm)
  Deschutes Brewery’s Reserve Series beers are always a little hard to find, but none more so than The Dissident ‘10 which had an extremely limited release. We’ll also be pouring the brewery’s Black Butte XXI, the brewery’s 21st anniversary beer, which is full of chocolaty goodness. A few bottles of Jubel 2010, The Abyss ’07 & ’08 will also be cracked open.

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Reps. Jim Gerlach (L) and Richard Neal (R) introduced the Small BREW Act

Boulder, CO • March 30, 2011— Brewers Association (BA) announced today that legislation seeking to enact a graduated beer excise tax rate of $3.50 and $16.00 for America’s small brewers has been introduced in both chambers of Congress. The BA is the not-for-profit trade group that represents the majority of U.S. brewing companies.

The Senate bill, S. 534, was introduced on March 9 by U.S. Senators John Kerry (D-Mass.) and Mike Crapo (R-Idaho). Joining Senators Kerry and Crapo were 17 of their Senate colleagues who signed on as original co-sponsors.

S. 534 mirrors the provisions contained in last session’s S. 3339 which gained the support of 28 U.S. Senators. Specifically, S. 534 would reduce the small brewer tax rate on the first 60,000 barrels by 50 percent (from $7.00 to $3.50/barrel) and institute a new rate of $16.00 per barrel on beer production above 60,000 barrels up to 2 million barrels. Breweries with an annual production of 6 million barrels or less would qualify for these tax rates.

“Small brewers have been growing and creating jobs ever since the craft beer revolution began,” said Senator Kerry. “Today there are over 40 small breweries in Massachusetts and 1,700 across the country, and this bill will help ensure that these small businesses keep people on the payroll and create jobs even during tight economic times.”

The Small Brewer Reinvestment and Expanding Workforce Act (Small BREW Act), H.R. 1236, was introduced by Representatives Jim Gerlach (R-Pa.) and Richard E. Neal (D-Mass.) on March 29. Joining them as original co-sponsors are Representatives Earl Blumenauer (D-Ore.), Peter A. DeFazio (D-Ore.), Duncan D. Hunter (R-Calif.) and Erik Paulsen (R-Minn.). Several of these Representatives are members of the House Ways and Means Committee. Like its Senate counterpart, the House’s Small BREW Act would enact a graduated beer excise tax rate of $3.50 and $16.00.

“With the economy sputtering, Congress must create conditions that allow small businesses to become more competitive, protect existing jobs and create new employment opportunities,” Representative Gerlach said.

“Small craft brewers are growing, creating jobs and contributing in small and big ways to the recovery of the American economy,” said Charlie Papazian, president, Brewers Association. “The bipartisan effort by Congressmen Gerlach and Neal is a strong message most Americans will raise a toast to and is indicative of the grassroots community spirit with which Americans are embracing to work towards economic recovery and sustain it for the future.”

Papazian added, “The 1,700+ small American breweries account for about five percent of all the beer enjoyed in the United States and 50 percent of brewery jobs. The bipartisan support the Small BREW Act engenders will help assure a positive impact on agricultural, manufacturing, hospitality and distribution jobs for the future.”

Ray Stark - Hollywood film producer, power broker and art collector – was born October 3, 1915 in Chicago, Illinois. Ray’s Restaurant and Stark Bar - the Patina Group’s new Mediterranean restaurant and bar, featuring farm-to-table ingredients and hand-crafted cocktails – was born March 5, 2011, adjacent to the new Resnick Pavilion at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

The bar and restaurant – sleek, contemporary, minimalist – was designed by the long-time LACMA go-to firm, Renzo Piano Building Workshop. The decor features usable art by Eva Zeisel, Russel Wright, Charles and Ray Eames, and Herman Miller, among others. The food – seasonal, most of it from the restaurant’s wood-burning oven and grill – is designed by acclaimed chef Kris Morningstar (Mercantile, District, Casa). The cocktails are the work of Michel Dozois (Neve Ice), and sommelier Paul Sanguinetti (Fraiche) has sculpted the wine program.

Ray Stark is known for a list of blockbusters including Funny Girl, The Sunshine Boys, Annie and Steel Magnolias. Ray’s restaurant is producing acclaimed dishes like their chile with chorizo, dates, goat cheese and almond sauce; and an amazing porchetta/smoked pork crackling dish that is at once rich and crispy and as comforting as a down-home Sunday supper.

Their house cocktails, bearing names like Steel Magnolias (strawberry, basil, sparkling wine), Cheap Detective (St. Germain, Cynar, Campari), Lost in Yonkers (rum, freshly squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, raspberry, cucumber) and Little Annie (gin, Cointreau, egg white, freshly squeezed lemon juice, raspberry syrup, cherry) are beginning to draw crowds.

But perhaps the biggest attraction to the destination – even more than the fact that someone is finally serving high quality cocktails on the Miracle Mile (with free parking at LACMA after 7pm!), is the feeling of eating and drinking [inside] a work of art.

Ray’s is open for dinner from 5-10PM and Stark Bar serves from 11AM-11PM. The restaurant and bar are both closed on Wednesdays.

By Josh Noel and Emily York
Goose Island Beer Co., the Chicago-based brewing powerhouse, announced this morning that it will be taken over by Anheuser-Busch (A-B) for $38.8 million.

Goose Island, whose legal name is Fulton Street Brewery LLC, is selling a 58 percent stake in the company to A-B for $22.5 million. The Craft Brewers Alliance, in which A-B holds a 32 percent stake, has agreed to sell its own Goose Island stake to A-B for $16.3 million. The Craft Brewers Alliance owns the remaining 42 percent of Goose Island.

St. Louis-based Anheuser-Busch is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch InBev N.V. (AB InBev), the world’s largest brewing company based in Leuven, Belgium. AB InBev was formed when InBev NV bought Anheuser-Busch Cos. in 2008.

As part of the deal, A-B will also invest $1.3 million in the Fulton Street brewery to increase production capacity. Goose Island sold approximately 127,000 barrels of beer in 2010.

Brewmaster Greg Hall will be stepping down. Founder and president John Hall will stay on as CEO.

“Demand for our beers has grown beyond our capacity to serve our wholesale partners, retailers, and beer lovers,” Hall said in a statement. “This agreement helps us achieve our goals with an ideal partner who helped fuel our growth, appreciates our products and supports their success.”

He added that the “new structure will preserve the qualities that make Goose Island’s beers unique, strictly maintain our recipes and brewing processes.”

If approved by regulators, the deal is expected to close in the second quarter of 2011.

For the rest of the article, please visit Chicago Breaking Business.

Mutineer Magazine is excited to announce an ambitious partnership with Second Glass and their Wine Riot national tour. Wine Riot will visit five cities in 2011 to include Los Angeles, Boston, Chicago, New York City and Washington DC. At Wine Riot, guests will have the opportunity to try 250 wines from around the world as well as eat, learn and ask questions about wine at crash course wine seminars.

Here are a few questions with Tyler Balliet, President and Founder of Second Glass about the tour and partnership with Mutineer Magazine.

Mutineer: What was your approach to Wine Riot in Boston?
Tyler Balliet: We know it’s possible to learn and have fun at the same time but at some point, wine event people forgot this. That’s what really resonates with young people in Boston. You come to a totally bitchin’ event, drink awesome wine, meet really great people and a crap-ton of fun and learn about wine! People love it in Boston so much that we’ve sold out the last two events. We have no desire to grow the capacity of the event so we plan on just making the experience better and better, for the same number of people.

Mutineer: Your thoughts on taking Wine Riot on the road to new cities?
Tyler Balliet: We built Wine Riot with the idea of taking it to other cities across the country. While we know each city and region is different, the idea of Wine Riot, having fun and simultaneously learning about wine, is universal. While not without it’s challenges, the 2011 Wine Riot US Tour is going to be f-ing amazing! We reached out to some really amazing wineries that are coming on the entire tour and we’re also working with local wineries in each region. Personally, we’re going to have a blast plus, we get to expose tens of thousands of people to awesome wine!

Mutineer: What are your thoughts on Mutineer’s involvement with Wine Riot?
Tyler Balliet: I’ve been a fan of Mutineer since issue #1! It’s a really great publication that really resonates with what we’re doing at Second Glass. Artisan, hand-made, quality beverages isn’t an industry or business, it’s an art form and a movement! We are so stoked to be partnering with Mutineer because they have the exact same view as we do! We say drink more wine and Mutineer says drink more everything!

We couldn’t agree more with Morgan’s sentiment and when I asked Mutineer Magazine’s Editor in Chief Alan Kropf for his thoughts on our involvement with Wine Riot, he quickly replied with “This is arguably the most epic millennial-driven partnership we’ve embarked on and I’m excited to see how young wine drinkers react. I’m a huge fan of Second Glass and there was no way Mutineer was going to miss out on being a part of a Wine Riot national tour. Absolutely no way.”

Mutineer Magazine is sponsoring all five events nationwide and will be on hand this Saturday and Sunday, March 25-26 in Los Angeles for the inaugural event of 2011. Look for us and copies of Mutineer Magazine are sure to be flowing as freely as the wine and good times. Mutineer will be also be giving away tickets to each event, stay tuned to our Facebook and Twitter with information how to win tickets of your own.

For more information on Second Glass, Wine Riot, event dates, locations and prices, please visit the Second Glass website.

Boulder, CO • March 21, 2011—The Brewers Association, the trade association representing the majority of U.S. brewing companies, today released 2010 data on the U.S. craft brewing industry. Small and independent craft brewers1 saw volume2 increase 11 percent and retail sales dollars increase 12 percent over 2009, representing a growth of over 1 million barrels (31 gallons per U.S. barrel), equal to more than 14 million new craft cases.

“Beer lovers increased their appreciation for American craft brewers and their beers in 2010,” said Paul Gatza, director, Brewers Association. “Craft brewers’ stories resonate with Americans who are choosing small, independent companies making delicious beers in more than 100 different styles.”

The Association also reported a growth in the number of U.S. breweries, with eight percent more breweries than the previous year. In 2010, there were 1,759 operating breweries. Craft brewers produced 9,951,956 barrels, up from an adjusted3 8,934,446 barrels in 2009.

“Prohibition caused a dramatic decline in the number of breweries in the United States, but the number of breweries is now at an all-time high,” added Gatza. “With well over 100 new brewery openings in 2010, plus 618 breweries in planning stages, all signs point to continued growth for the industry.”

In 2010, craft brewers represented 4.9 percent of volume and 7.6 percent of retail dollars of the total U.S. beer category. The Brewers Association estimates the actual dollar sales figure from craft brewers in 2010 was $7.6 billion, up from $7 billion in 2009.

Overall, the U.S. beer industry represented an estimated retail dollar value of $101 billion. U.S. beer sales were down approximately one percent, or 2 million barrels, in 2010 compared to being down 2.2 percent in 2009. Total beer industry barrels dropped to 203.6 million, down from 205.7 million barrels in 2009. Imports were up five percent in 2010, compared to being down 9.8 percent in 2009. (Note: the Brewers Association does not count flavored malt beverages as beer.)

Gatza added, “We also found that three percent of craft brewer barrels, by volume, are distributed in cans, confirming a growing trend.”

For St. Patrick’s Day, there is green beer .. but is there green wine? There certainly is.

Nestled in the foothills of the Sierra Mountains, Irish Vineyards of Murphys, California has been producing their “Slainte” since 2004. Slainte is 100% Viognier but Irish uses certified food coloring in order to get the green coloring in their wine that one typically associates with beer on St. Patrick’s Day. For those hesitant to try food colored wine, they should know that the coloring does not add any flavor to the wine and it is still a great Viognier, just a bit more festive!

To stay with the St. Patrick’s Day theme, bottles are priced at $17 each and it is released in limited amounts beginning in February and it will usually sell out over the St. Patrick’s Day weekend.

For those in Murphys and the Calaveras County area this weekend, I suggest stopping in Murphys for their annual Murphys Irish Day this Saturday March 19th starting at 10. Main Street will be shut down and full of food, crafts, wine, beer, etc., as the people of Murphys celebrate their Celtic heritage.

The Mutineers will be at Murphys Irish Day in full force and we hope to see you there!

The Board provides strategic direction for the Brewers Association. With 37 full-time employees and additional independent contract staff, the Brewers Association serves 1,634 Brewery Members, 223 Wholesalers, 348 Allied Trade Members and 25,000+ American Homebrewers Association Members. Continue Reading »