Prost! Octoberfest/Oktoberfest is here

As I sit here enjoying my third bottle of Bell's Octoberfest beer (not in a row), I have to express my enthusiasm for this malty beer.  When I used to give beer tours, there were two points I tried to make clear.  First, beer is like milk in that it has to stay cold, doesn't like light, and freshness really counts.  Beer will expire.  Second, beer is like fresh bread.  It's made from wheat and at its best, malty style beers are like bread right out of the oven.  That's what I taste in Bell's.

Octoberfest beers or as the Germans would write, Oktoberfest, may be misunderstood.  The festival actually starts in September and finishes in October.  It was the celebration for a king's marriage or was it a horse race?  The details vary depending on your source.  It may have been a marriage ending with a horse race.  The festival runs 16 days or so.  The beers served at Oktoberfest are all lagers and therefore the fruity and hoppy flavors are not as prevalent.

While Oktoberfest is traditionally a lager, not an ale, many US craft breweries go with an ale style beer because they are set up to brew ales and not lagers. Lagered beers require more storage and time in tank.  

What I really dig about the Bell's is that unlike his other hoppy and fruity ales, this one really emphasizes the malt of a great lager and shies away from the fruity esters of some ale yeast strains.  Without getting too technical, the brewer can use different ale strains to emphasize or de-emphasize the fruity flavors of an ale.  A lager is brewed with a different yeast and typically does not show fruity flavors.  I think it's an excellent example of a German Lager from a brewery that mainly produces ales.  It is fresh bread in a glass.  

As I am a hop head, but enjoy all great beers, Bell's Octoberfest is a nice change of pace to the malty side of life.   Bell's is difficult to find this year, but other Octoberfest beers are around if you can't find this one.  

Remember to always drink your beer from a glass.  It really tastes better than from the bottle.

 - Salamanzar

Stone Brewery Launching in NC

All the way from San Diego, CA the Stone Brewing Co. is getting ready to launch their beers in North Carolina.  The launch date will start with a party for everyone at Tyler's Taproom in Durham at American Tobacco on Wednesday September 17th and the beer ships to Wine Authorities and other retailers on Thursday the 18th.  Everyone is invited to the kick-off party at Tylers starting at 5 PM until close.  They are bringing special beers just for the party along with their regular line up.  They will have: Stone Pale Ale, Stone IPA, Arrogant Bastard Ale, Oaked Arrogant Bastard Ale, Stone Ruination IPA, Stone Smoked Porter, Stone Levitation Ale, 2006 Double Bastard Ale, Stone 11th Anniversary Ale, Stone 07.07.07 Vertical Epic Ale, and the 2008 Stone Old Guardian Barley Wine!  

Wine Authorities will be selling the pale ale and the IPA in six packs to start, then work in seasonal products as they make their way from the West throughout the year.  Come have a pint with us and the Stone folks at Tyler's. See you there. - Salamanzar

Top Beer Brand Sales 2007

In a former career I was a brewer for Goose Island brewery in Chicago.  Back then we often talked about our beer output at the pub being somewhere between 2,500-3,000 barrels of beer per year. [1 barrel of beer = 31 gallons which is two standard kegs you see behind a bar or at a keg party]  For comparison, I would talk about the Budweiser company producing 97 million barrels per year on the brew tours.  Today the craft beer industry is still a tiny fraction of the total beer market.  

So I took a look at where things are today with beer sales.  Again, Market Watch magazine is a great source for these stats.  Here are the top beer brands in the US for 2007 in million barrels (31 gallons or 2 kegs).

• Bud Light (Anheuser-Busch) 41.2 million barrels
• Budweiser (A-B) 23.2
• Miller Lite (Miller Brewing Co.) 17.9
• Coors Light (Molsoon Coors Brewing Co.) 16.3
• Natural Light (A-B) 9.1
• Corona Extra (Crown Imports [Constellation/Grupo Modelo]) 8.1
• Busch (A-B) 6.5
• Busch Light (A-B) 6.0
• Heineken (Heinekin USA) 5.0
• Miller High Life (Miller Brewing Co.) 4.9

• Other beers made up for 66.6 million barrels

So total beer sold in the US for 2007 was 204.8 million barrels.  AB accounted for 86 million barrels of the top 10 beer sales.  Once again they prove, they are the king of beers.  You can see all the AB brands listed here.  Keep scrolling down to see them all! - Salamanzar