Laos Brewing company to go international
Here’s an interesting article that hit the web a few weeks ago. It sparked my attention because of the recent InBev merger with AB. Will Laos Brewing be the next power house or will they become inviting to MillerCoors (SAB etc.) or AmbBev?
Sean
2Beerguys.com
Drink Craft Beer, You’ve Earned It!!
Brewer Aims to Put Laos on the Map
Savvy Marketing Is Seen Making Tourist Favorite a Hot Trend in West
By JAMES HOOKWAY
VIENTIANE, Laos — A Soviet-trained female brewmaster is trying to turn an obscure Laotian lager into the world’s next great cult beer, largely by tapping into the buzz about the brew being carried home by visitors to this small communist country.
The 49-year-old Sivilay Lasachack, who seldom drinks beer, preferring sweet tea instead, thinks her Czech-inspired Beerlao has what it takes to follow in the footsteps of Mexico’s Corona Extra.
To some, the idea that a Laotian beer might one day be the toast of a cosmopolitan cabal of beer drinkers might not seem very promising. Laos has no brewing tradition to speak of and little international business.
The nation of six million people is nestled between China, Vietnam and Thailand. It has become a trendy destination for backpackers and adventure tourists, in part because of its slow pace and relative lack of exposure to the West.
But Ms. Sivilay, chief brewmaster at Lao Brewery Co. is counting on savvy marketing to overcome the beer’s relatively unimpressive pedigree, in a bid to emulate Corona’s rise to global stardom.
That rise began in the 1970s when Corona’s brewer, Group Modelo SA, noticed that lots of empty bottles of the beer weren’t being returned to distributors for redemption. The reason: After partying the weekends away at Mexican beach resorts, American surfers and college students were taking cases of the beer home with them. In response, Modelo started marketing Corona in a low-key, unconventional way, linking it to memories of sunshine and the beach.
Ms. Sivilay says she concluded Beerlao might find a similar niche after she and her colleagues heard that backpackers who had visited Laos were trying to find the beer when they got back home. “It was just after Laos began opening up to tourism and business in the 1990s,” Ms. Sivilay recalls as she strides down the gantries crisscrossing her shiny, modern brewery.
“A lot of visitors were going home and asking bars and supermarkets for Beerlao, and then local beer distributors began contacting us. That’s when we knew we might have an international brand,” she adds.
Taking in the sunset over the Mekong River while knocking back an ice-cold beer has become a must for visitors to Laos. Along a half-mile stretch of the river in Vientiane, the capital, hundreds of stalls and bamboo-frame restaurants have sprung up to cater to thirsty tourists, providing a unique Asian twist on the German beer hall.
“There’s nothing like kicking back with a Beerlao,” says Brian Walters, a 23-year-old visitor from Charlotte, N.C., while his companion, 24-year-old Lindsay Stapleton from Denver, waves off a woman trying to sell them some fried grasshoppers to accompany their drinks.
Ms. Sivilay and the rest of Beerlao’s management team are trying to amplify a similar buzz overseas. They appear to be making some progress. Carlsberg AS of Denmark recently doubled its stake in the brewer to 50% and is prepared to put its global distribution chain at Beerlao’s service, company officials say.
But Lao Brewery doesn’t want to come on too strong. Its marketing manager, 47-year-old Bounkanh Kounlabouth, fears that promoting Beerlao too aggressively will scare off its grass-roots following. Instead, he would rather follow Corona’s example of becoming an “accidental” brand. “We don’t want to undermine Beerlao’s word-of-mouth appeal, so for us it is better to let it grow naturally.”
Mr. Bounkanh spends much of his time trying to engineer such an “accident.” Because he is relying on foreign tourists to spread the word about Beerlao, he is promoting the brand heavily in Laos. “We won’t let the competition get a foothold,” Mr. Bounkanh says.
The next step: Bringing Beerlao to the rest of the world. The beer is already sold in several major markets, including Britain, Australia, Japan and the U.S.
“We were a bit skeptical at first,” says James Morgan, a director at British distributor Milestone Point Ltd. “But it’s one of the few brands where the customer seeks it out rather than the other way round.”
Beerlao is winning fans in the U.S., too. Paul Sher, general manager at one of the beer’s U.S. distributors, H.C. Foods Co. Ltd. in Commerce, Calif., says Beerlao is picking up some momentum at supermarkets and other outlets.
Beerlao’s rise has followed an unusual path. Most Laotians aren’t big beer drinkers. In fact, Lao Brewery was founded by French and Lao businessmen in 1971 mostly to slake the thirst of French colonists.
After the Vietnam War, Laos’s new communist rulers sent the country’s best and brightest for training in physics, medicine and other disciplines in communist states in Eastern Europe. Ms Sivilay was assigned to study brewing and spent six years in what was then Czechoslovakia learning from Prague’s master brewers.
Ms. Sivilay’s big break came shortly after she returned to Vientiane to work at Lao Brewery, with the collapse of the Soviet Union. With the financial lifeline to the brewery’s Soviet sponsor cut, its managers turned to her to keep the brewery going.
Her first move was to introduce rice to replace some of the imported grains which the brewery could no longer afford. Mixing the mash by hand, she also began recycling yeast-a trick she learned in Prague-and brought Beerlao much closer to a classic European pilsner. Sales figures are hard to come by in Laos’s state-run economy, but Lao Brewery currently produces 200 million liters of beer a year, and it is the country’s biggest taxpayer.
Ms. Sivilay says these days she rarely needs to taste a beer to see if it is any good. “I smell it and see how the head settles in the glass to judge whether it’s a good beer,” she says. “The tourists seem to like it though.”
As do some international beer judges. Ms. Sivilay’s brew has won a string of prizes, including honors at international beer competitions in Moscow and Prague, and she hopes Beerlao will one day put her tiny country on the map.
“The judges often say ‘We love your beer, but where is your country?’ We hope to change that,” she says.
MSN Trip Recommendations - Thoughts?
This article appeared on MSN a few weeks ago. It is really hard to make a short list of places that are worth traveling too. I can think of a few that are missing, but it’s a pretty good start … ( Stone Brewery - Simply Amazing place. It’s got to be the best in the world. Don’t forget the Dogfish head 360 Experience. I’ve included a couple on my bucket list.)
If there’s a brewery that’s on your list, please add a short description in a comment.
Sean
2Beerguys.com
Drink Craft Beer, You’ve Earned It!!
Think there’s nothing better than a cold beer when it’s hot out? Sip some warm weather brews at these American brewery tours and tastings.
By Bret Stetka for MSN City Guides
After years of internal debate, I’ve come to the conclusion it’s OK to plan a vacation solely around visiting a brewery. There’s nothing wrong with, say, driving six hours to Maine just to sip an Allagash White Ale in its natural habitat … or planning an entire extra day in San Francisco to get the most out of the Anchor Brewing Company. This sort of behavior is fairly common when it comes to things like lobster rolls and sourdough, so why not beer?
For those of you on board with my new revelation, I’ve compiled a list of some of the country’s most worthwhile brewery tours and tastings, but with a seasonal catch. I’ve selected breweries not only offering a great visitor experience, but also producing some of my favorite summer beers. So in the interest of seasonality, I’ve featured one warm weather beer from each brewery, guaranteed to be crisp, refreshing and highly drinkable, without comprising flavor. I’m sure there are plenty more tour-worthy breweries out there filled with hops, malt, boilers and tasty summer brews, so let us know your favorite in the message boards.
Allagash Brewing Company – Portland, Maine
Most beer lovers would agree the Belgians make the best beer in the world—a point not lost on Rob Tod, who started Allagash in 1995, and whose Belgian-inspired beers are among the finest produced stateside. At the time, Americans had firmly accepted German, Czech and English-style brews, but general knowledge of Belgian brewing was limited to vague monastic associations (many Belgian beers are brewed by monks) and puzzled queries: “I thought the Belgians were known for waffles?” But these complex, often very strong beers have caught on big, and now lines of eager drinkers form every Monday through Friday to tour Allagash and sample their White, Dubbel and hearty Triple brews.
Summer Beer: Allagash White (5.0%) - This American interpretation of a Belgian-style white—or “wit”—beer is bright, citrusy and has a pleasing bite thanks to the brewer’s own special blend of spices.
Harpoon Brewery – Windsor, Vt.
Boston’s best known brewery that isn’t named for a founding father was started in 1986 when Rich Doyle and Dan Kenary, after traveling through Europe, realized American beer didn’t have to taste like seltzer water. While their Boston brewery offers frequent tastings, it’s Harpoon’s second location in the obscenely green fields of Windsor, Vermont that’s most worthwhile. The Windsor outpost offers tours on Fridays and Saturdays, plus an outdoor beer garden complete with beer samplers and a lunch menu featuring loads of cheese from Vermont’s Cabot Creamery.
Summer Beer: Harpoon Summer Beer (ABV 5.0%) - A German Kölsch style ale, this straw-toned refresher has the light drinkability and moderate hoppiness of the real thing.
Great Divide Brewing Company – Denver, Colo.
According to brewers advocacy group The Beer Institute, Colorado is the nation’s largest supplier of beer. The state produces an astounding 23 million barrels a year, 9,000 of which are made by Great Divide. GD was an early player in the Denver craft beer scene and has earned just about every brewing award and accolade imaginable. Visitors can hang out in the tap room glugging the brewery’s standard line-up—along with specialty brews only sold at the bar—or take the free tour and make do with tasting samples.
Summer Beer: Samurai Ale (ABV 5.1%) - This unfiltered beer brewed from barley malts and rice is hazy and hoppy, and has a subtle fruity tartness characteristic of rice beer.
Anchor Brewing Company – San Francisco
The Anchor Brewing Company dates all the way back to the gold rush, but officially got its name in 1896 when German brewers Ernst F. Baruth and Otto Schinkel Jr. bought and renamed the brewery from Gottlieb Brekle, another German brewer with an equally beer-y name. Anchor managed to survive both Prohibition and the rise of major national breweries (we won’t mention any names), and played a huge role in igniting the micro-brewery craze in the early 1980s that makes this list possible. Brewery tours are free, offered weekdays and extremely popular—so it’s best to call ahead and make a reservation.
Summer Beer: Anchor Steam Summer (ABV 4.6%) - First brewed in 1984, this simple, crisp and lemony ale was supposedly the “first American wheat beer in modern times.”
Bell’s Brewery - Kalamazoo, Mich.
Bell’s brewed its first beer in 1985 in a 15-gallon soup kettle, and before long was producing 135 barrels a year. Their annual output has since expanded to over 90,000 barrels and Bell’s has become one of the most respected craft breweries across the beer-loving Midwest. While the brewery doesn’t offer tours, their Eccentric Café hosts live music and serves all of Bell’s standard brews, along with many small-batch specialty beers not available anywhere else.
Summer Beer: Oberon Ale (ABV 5.8%) - This seasonal summer brew is all wheat and bready yeast infused with soft and subtle fruitiness.
Tröegs Brewing Company – Harrisburg, Pa.
Chris and John Trogner claim the word “Troeg” refers to an “aura of complete enjoyment” and can be used as an adjective—as in, “My, you look Tröegy this morning.” I can’t verify or disprove the claim, but let’s just say I haven’t been able to find the word in any dictionary and it sounds suspiciously like their last name. Regardless of name derivations, the Trogner brothers established Troeg’s Brewery in 1997 and, along with a number of other impressive breweries, have helped establish greater Philly as one of the country’s best local beer scenes. Stop by Saturdays for free tours and tastings, then take home a case, keg or two-liter growler.
Summer Beer: Sunshine Pils (ABV 5.3%) - Sharp pilsner taste with a bold, hoppy finish that keeps on going.
Molson Brews Up Ethanol For 2008 Dem Convention Vehicles
This article surfaced a couple of months ago, but it’s still interesting enough to share.
Sean
2Beerguys.com
Molson Brews Up Ethanol For 2008 Dem Convention Vehicles
Molson Coors, which began converting waste beer to ethanol in 1996, produces about 3 million gallons of ethanol per year, will donate thousands of gallons of E85, an ethanol-gasoline fuel blend, worth an estimated $40,000 — to fuel the General Motors flex-fuel vehicles that will provide the transportation needs for the Denver 2008 Democratic Convention.
The 85-percent ethanol and 15-percent gasoline from Molson differs from the more common corn-based variety in that it is made from beer lost during packaging or rejected for quality reasons at the company’s brewery in Golden, Colo.
Molson is purchasing the ethanol from Merrick & Co., which, under a 15-year agreement crafted in 2005, leases land from Coors, buys the residuals from the brewer and makes the ethanol at a plant next to Coors brewery in Golden.
In December Coors said it plans to reduce its total greenhouse gas emissions by 12 percent by 2010.
Clipper City announces seasonal release of Vienna Lager
Clipper City Brewing announces seasonal release of their Vienna Lager.
Sean
2Beerguys.com
Drink Craft Beer, You’ve Earned It!!!
Since our Clipper City MarzHon has won the top medal for Vienna lager at the Great American Beer Festival for the last two years, we decided it was time to make that beer available outside the immediate local market on an occasional basis.
So once a year, as the Oktoberfest beers of the world are arriving, we now release this beer with a special label (it is an Oktoberfest style beer, after all). As you can see the label is a tribute - with a sense of local style - to the young women who deliver litres of beer at the big event in Munich.
And while we know it is just a bit early in the year to start thinking of your lederhousen - the season IS right around the corner - so make sure you grab some of our MarzHon to go with those fabulous grilled sausages, rye bread, and mustard. I am certain you will not be disappointed!
Prosit! Hugh Sisson, Managing Partner for Clipper City Brewing Co, LP
Update on Fort Collins Brewery Expansion
From their recent newsletter, the biggest delay was the arrival of their 40BBbl fermenters (which were due in May). They have actually ran out of a beer or two, so they couldn’t have arrived at a better time. I’ve included a photo of its arrival.
Sean
2Beerguys.com
Drink Craft Beer, You’ve Earned It!!
New home will double Fort Collins Brewery capacity
BY PAT FERRIER
Fort Collins Brewery will more than double its capacity when it builds a new $5 million brewery, upscale restaurant, lofts and commercial space at the northwest corner of Lincoln and Lemay avenues.
Owners Tom and Jan Peters will vacate the building on Lincoln Street that has served as a brewery since the early 1990s when it opened at H.C. Berger Brewery.
“It’s a little sad,” Peters said. “It’s destined to be a brewery and it has served us well.”
But the site is small, parking is difficult and there are no bike lanes to accommodate cycling tours that often visit, he said.
“This popped up as an almost ideal location.”
Design plans are under way for the 2.5-acre property owned by the Kennedy Family Trust but the brewery could be open as early as June, Peters said. Closing on the property is expected by the end of the year.
The new facility, on what is now the city’s dumping ground for excess snow, will allow the brewery to expand its production and distribution beyond its current 20 states.
“We have new distributors contacting us every week,” Peters said. “We want to offer the same quality beer to enthusiasts in all states that Coloradans have enjoyed for so many years.”
The craft beer market has grown 16 percent in the last year, according to the Boulder-based Brewer’s Association.
Fort Collins Brewery experienced 80 percent growth last year and is working on expanding its distribution on the West and East coasts.
Widening distribution of its Chocolate Stout, Major Tom’s Pomegranate Wheat, Rocky Mountain IPA and other brews means expansion is critical, Peters said.
“It’s poor business to turn away business,” he said.
The brewery produced more than 5,000 barrels last year, still small in the craft brewer market, but will have the capacity to produce 45,000 barrels at the new site.
Accompanying the brewery will be a 4,000- square-foot upscale restaurant with glass walls that allow guests to watch the packing line, brew house and fermentation areas.
Vote for the Best Unfiltered Band
For Immediate Release
Vote for the Best Unfiltered Band; UFO Hefeweizen and
Sonic Bids Search For the Freshest Sound in the Northeast
August 14, 2008 (Boston, MA) – UFO Hefeweizen, the Harpoon Brewery’s UnFiltered Offering and the northeast’s original wheat beer, has partnered with Sonic Bids, the world’s preeminent music booking site, to discover the region’s best UnFiltered sound. The 2008 Best UnFiltered Band Search, an online battle of bands, is a fusion of fresh beer and fresh music.
Starting in mid-June hundreds of the region’s most talented, up-and-coming bands entered song submissions on the Sonic Bids website during the six-week entry period. A panel of “UFO Music Specialists” reviewed each band’s entries and selected the 10 bands that most embody the UFO Hefeweizen vibe.
Now it is up to the beer and music-loving public to decide which of the 10 finalists will be crowned the 2008 Best UnFiltered Band in the Northeast. The voting is open to the general public on the Harpoon Brewery website, www.harpoonbrewery.com, starting on August 25th. Voters are invited to listen to each of the 10 finalists’ entries and select their favorite UnFiltered sound. The voting period ends on September 12th.
The winner of the 2008 Best UnFiltered Band Search will be announced on the newly launched UFO Hefeweizen website, www.UFOHefeweizen.com, on September 15th, 2008. The winner of the competition will receive the following:
* A paid performance slot at the annual Harpoon Summer Session 2009 ($1,000 plus accommodations and hospitality)
* A full day of studio time at MixOne studios in Boston
* A year’s supply of UFO Hefeweizen
* A one-year feature on the new UFO website, www.UFOHefeweizen.com
* A free mp3 download offered on www.UFOHefeweizen.com
Each of the 10 finalists will be featured for one month on www.UFOHefeweizen.com as a UFO “Band of the Month” and will receive a UFO gift package, and a one-year supply of UFO Hefeweizen.
UFO is a German style of beer called Hefeweizen. Unlike most beer styles, hefeweizens are unfiltered, so the yeast remains in the beer. With UFO, there’s nothing held back, nothing filtered away. For more information about UFO Hefeweizen, visit www.harpoonbrewery.com.
Until September 15th… www.UFOHefeweizen.com.
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Rock the Mike: The Freeman Brainefit
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DENVER’S BEER AND MUSIC COMMUNITIES JOIN FORCES TO
HELP FRIEND AND CANCER PATIENT
Denver, CO (August 13, 2008) – “Rock the Mike: The Freeman Brainefit,” a
fundraiser for Mike Freeman, the frontman for some of Denver’s favorite Punk
bands will be held on Saturday, August 23 at the Flying Dog Brewery
Warehouse.
Mike was recently diagnosed with Stage IV Glioblastoma Multiforme (GBM),
which is an extremely serious brain tumor and the most aggressive of its kind.
Mike is currently undergoing radiation and three types of chemotherapy,
including some experimental treatments. All proceeds from the event will go to
Mike and his fiancée, Jennifer to help offset medical expenses.
Rock the Mike: The Freeman Brainefit starts at 7pm and will feature six bands,
belly dancing, DJs and complimentary beer samples from Flying Dog, Great
Divide and Breckenridge Breweries. A $20 donation is requested at the door.
The tumor, therapy and medications can be very taxing on the body and mind,
but Mike has stayed positive and strong throughout. Fellow band member and
best friend, Joel Abell, says, “Mike’s great attitude has been prevalent throughout
this whole process. Mike’s fight is not an easy one to take on, but because he
believes in himself, so does everyone around him.”
Mike is a long-time member of the Denver Punk scene and is a member of Gina
Go Faster and Start Tomorrow. Mike has also been a prominent figure in
Denver’s craft beer industry, with over 10 years of service at Flying Dog Brewery.
###
For further information contact:
Stephanie Kerchner, PR and Event Coordinator
303.292.5027 x 126
steph@flyingdogales.com
Recent review: Lagunitas Brown Shugga
“An aborted batch of their Old Gnarleywine ended up tasting nearly as good as that they were hoping for, so they bottled it. God bless capitalism.” — Lagunitas Brewing Company
Pours a light caramel to medium amber in color producing a very healthy sized tan colored head with a frothy consistency and excellent retention. Despite the size and great retention of the head, there is very little activity in the glass. Aroma is leaping out of the glass with warm alcohol and soft bread caramel malts with some sticky, syrupy, sugary notes and some dates. Initial taste is full of alcohol warmth behind a very velvety texture that comes through as sweet, and gets a little sour at the end although the alcohol remains. Heavy bodied, the texture is creamy and velvety with an oily mouth feel. Soft bitterness that reminds of the 90 min IPA. Very tasty, great mistake!
Reviewed on July 27th, 2008.
Style: Barley-wine style Ale | ABV: 9.9% | Overall Score: 21/30
POLL: Have you had second thoughts about a craft beer purchase?
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Stone Brewing Company installs waste water treatment plant
Background: Escondido’s Stone Brewing Co. has been trucking 40,000 gallons of wastewater every month to San Diego for treatment because Escondido’s municipal sewage treatment plant cannot handle its high sugar and protein content.
What’s changing: The brewery has spent $850,000 to build its own wastewater treatment facility. It will begin operating Wednesday.
Brewery will start treating wastewater
On-site facility will save hundreds of thousands of dollars
By Angela Lau - UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER
ESCONDIDO – These days, Escondido’s Stone Brewing Co. is not just brewing beer. It’s also simmering a stew of industrial-strength bugs, in tanks far removed from the barley and hops, to treat sewage.
The brewery is taking a detour from its traditional operations and will soon begin treating its own wastewater to save money. It had been spending hundreds of thousands of dollars each year to truck beer residue laden with sugar and proteins to San Diego for treatment.
That’s because of a glitch in the local wastewater treatment chain.
Escondido’s municipal wastewater treatment plant, which is nearing capacity, cannot handle all of the brewery’s concentrated wastewater because it contains too many dissolved solids, which require intensive treatment.
The city limited the brewery to no more than 25,000 gallons a day. The rest had to be shipped out by truck.
The brewing company had no idea it would face a wastewater quandary when it decided to move its operations from San Marcos and bought 3 acres at 1999 Citracado Parkway, said Steve Wagner, president and brew master.
“We found out about it in the later stages of moving here,” he said.
That was December 2005.
Soon after the brewery opened, it began spending as much as $12,000 a month to truck 40,000 gallons of wastewater to a San Diego treatment plant.
In the meantime, the brewery continued to grow. Its production of beer grew every year, from 12,400 gallons in 1996 to 2.1 million gallons last year. It is now ranked 20th in the nation in craft-beer sales by the Brewers Association, a Boulder, Colo.-based trade organization.
Despite the soft economy, the real estate market crash, high gas and food prices, and all the belt-tightening surrounding them, Wagner predicts more growth this year, topping 2.7 million gallons.
His optimism was borne out by the Brewers Association’s statistics, which showed a 6.5 percent increase in craft-beer sales nationwide in the first half of this year, compared with the first half of last year.
It doesn’t mean consumers are drowning their sorrows in beer, Wagner said. People are switching from macrobrewed beer, such as Budweiser, to craft beer, he said.
That has translated to more beer waste and expense for Stone.
So three months ago, the brewery spent $850,000 to install two wastewater treatment tanks adjacent to the brewery. One is 30 feet tall and 22 feet in diameter, the other 25 by 17.
While other larger breweries, such as New Belgium Brewing Co. in Fort Collins, Colo., boast of going green with their wastewater treatment facilities, Wagner said his decision was aimed at the bottom line.
“We had no choice,” he said.
Inside the bigger tank are Wagner’s heroes – large quantities of bacteria.
To prime the system, Stone borrowed 3,000 gallons of sludge from the city of Escondido and poured it into the big tank. Workers then tended to it with the same kind of precision they used in making beer.
First, they added a small amount of beer wastewater to the sludge to allow the bacteria to acclimate. Each day they added more, along with phosphorus as a nutrient.
By Wednesday, the tank should be teeming with bacteria ready to gorge on beer residue, producing the brewery’s first gallon of lower-strength wastewater, Sherwood said.
The effluent will be diluted enough to be sent to Escondido’s sewage treatment plant.
“If it goes as planned, they will be able to discharge the full amount to us without a problem,” said John Burcham, the city’s deputy utilities manager.
Wagner wants to take his wastewater enterprise a step further.
He is applying for permits to add filtration systems to produce the ultimate prize – recycled water that can be used to irrigate the brewery’s expansive landscaping. It guzzles up to 5,000 gallons of potable water a day now because Escondido does not produce enough recycled water.
But that still is not enough for Wagner. His goal is not to use the city’s sewage treatment plant at all.
To get there, Wagner is negotiating with the brewery’s next-door neighbor, Palomar Medical Center West, a hospital under construction, to sell Stone’s recycled water to irrigate the hospital’s 9.3 acres of landscaping. The hospital’s owner, Palomar Pomerado Health, is eager to go green.
“We are in informal discussions about how we can use their nitrogen-rich water for irrigation,” said Andy Hoang, Palomar Pomerado Health’s spokesman. “We want to be the leader of sustainability and conservation.”
