MBD Presents Beer in the News: Good News for Craft Brews!

Craft Brew Sales look up.  Wayyyyyyyyyyy up!



A vision of the future in Ontario?  Only time will tell!



An LCBO spokesman, speaking to TAPS magazine, announced that Ontario craft brewery sales are up a whopping fifty percent from 2009 to 2010.  That's a monumental achievement, and something the OCB and the brewers can be very proud of.  While beer in general has seen sluggish sales over the past decade or so, craft brews have been the only market to see genuine growth.  Hopefully this means more craft brews on the shelves in the coming year!

http://www.tapsmagazine.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=143%3Alovin-local-beer-this-valentines-day-ontario-craft-brewers&catid=56%3Ablogcategory&Itemid=70



Ontario Takes Steps to Stop Being So Lame, "Grow Up."

For many foreign or out-of-province tourists, Ontario's draconian liquor laws might come across as...well, draconian.  (It could be worse, I know) Fortunately, change seems to be horizon, as the governing Liberals have stated their intentions to relax liquor laws at our province's festivals and major events.   Instead of forcing beer lovers to consume their drinks in cramped, isolated, stigmatizing "beer tents" and "alcohol zones", the proposed change would allow patrons at licenced festivals to take their booze with them freely around the grounds.  Control would still be an issue, and the details of enforcement still need to be worked out, but I think it's a step in the right direction.  Maybe if the Bills move to Toronto we might actually be allowed to tailgate like everyone else.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/news/politics/ontario-plans-to-loosen-liquor-laws-at-festivals/article1917148/?cmpid=rss1

Whither Canned Beer?

Fox News, that bastion of logic and not-yelling-at-your-guests, also got into the discussion, giving American craft brews a rare moment in the spotlight, zeroing in on the recent trend for craft brewers to put their products in cans, rather than bottles.  Although Ontarian craft beers have come in cans for many years (Neustadt, Mill Street, Steam Whistle, and recently Wellington), there still remains a stigma against the aluminum packaging method, with most craft breweries and reviewers preferring the stuff to come out of the bottle.  But canned beer is making a comeback and seems to be gradually winning over fans, especially in the United States.  Canned beer is cheaper, lighter to ship, takes up less space on the shelf and in the fridge, is immune to light pollution, and easily recyclable - pour it into a rinsed beer glass and there really isn't a difference in taste.  Not that there should really be a tinny taste to the beer, as modern canning methods utilize non-reactive materials to keep the metallic flavor out and the goodness in.  One brewery in particular has made a name for itself by virtue of this canning method.  Oskar Blues Brewery of Colorado has pioneered the concept of releasing exceptional craft brews in cans with tremendous success.  Oskar Blues brews have taken the nation by storm; their Dale's Pale Ale and Ten Fidy Imperial Stout are consistently rated among the U.S.'s best craft beers - and both come almost exclusively in cans.   Other breweries, like 21st Amendment and Maui Brewing have also adopted the canned route.  Clearly, this article is geared towards the less discerning drinking fan, but still, it's nice to see great craft breweries make the major news networks now and then.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2011/02/24/worlds-best-canned-beer/?test=faces

Beer in the News: Old, Old, Old, Old Ale...

Couple of neat mentionings of beer and beer-related topics in the news I thought I'd pass along:

In addition to a lovely collection of bottles of this and that, my Christmas beer haul included some great books on beer and brewing that I've slowly begun poring over.   One tome that I got a good start on before loaning it to an archaeologically-minded friend was Patrick McGovern's Uncorking the Past: The Quest for Wine, Beer and Other Alcoholic Beverages, which I'm sure will prove to be a fascinating look at the history of humanity's obsession with booze.   McGovern is a world-renowned expert on both the history ancient beverages and the science behind discovering them (according to his website, he has been called the "Indiana Jones of Ancient Ales, Wines, and Extreme Beverages," a glorious title that immediately grabbed my attentions).   His 2009 volume explores the myriad ways in which humanity began to discover the art of brewing, beginning with the early civilizations of Mesopotamia, Greece, China and Egypt.  No sooner did I began reading his book that a new discovery regarding the history of alcoholic beverages made headlines in newspapers around the world.   Fancy that.  I know it's not about beer, but at Matt's Beer Den, we support the history of all alcoholic beverages.


Apparently the Areni-1 4952 BCE Oak-Aged Pinot Noir
goes great with tilapia and spinach.



While humanity has been tinkering with the idea of making fermented beverages for millennia, just this month archaeologists have discovered the first organized wine-making production site in the world.  In other worlds, this particular finding - a series of earthen pots and vessels in an Armenian cave complex (Areni-1) - represents the world's oldest winery, dating back to approximately 5000 BCE.  As McGovern himself observed, "the evidence argues convincingly for a wine-making facility," which indicates that the complete domestication of the grape likely occurred many years earlier than previously estimated.  The wine was most likely used in a religious or other ceremonial activity, given the proximity of the wine barrels to gravesites within the cave.    

The rest of the article can be found here:

http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/919608--world-s-oldest-winery-discovered-in-mountain-cave



Eberdingen-Hochdorf's Celtic Stag IPA exhibited
subtle notes of citrus, pine bark, sourdough bread
 and animistic polytheism. 



On a more beer-related topic, archaeologists working in a Celtic site in western Bavaria have recently uncovered evidence of sophisticated malting and brewing activities from around the time of the founding of the Roman Republic, approximately 2500 years ago.  Although the history of beer in general goes back nearly twice as far as that, this is nevertheless an excellent find: archaeological evidence of ancient beer brewing is difficult to come by, so whenever they are found, the academic community becomes slightly giddy.  The malted grain found within these brewing vessels is so well preserved that scientists believe the flavors of the end product could potentially be extrapolated.  As archaeobiologist Peter Stika notes, the ancient brews probably utilized "gruit" - a mixture of local herbs and spices (but not hops) - to give flavor the end product, which was likely "cloudy, contained yeasty sediment and...imbibed at room temperature."  I'm sure Sam Calagione and the rest of the Dogfish Head team are already salivating at the opportunity to recreate this ancient Celtic ale.

http://www.sciencenews.org/view/generic/id/68846/title/Reviving_the_taste_of_an_Iron_Age_beer_

Cool, huh?