From flickr user michaelallroy under a CC license

Beers like Natty Lite, Miller Lite, Bud Light, and PBR are getting a price increase to drive cheap-beer lovers toward more expensive brands.  Macrobrewers expect this will mean a transition to beers like Budweiser or other brands they own, but I can’t help but think it will also drive them to craft brewers.

I’d expect breweries like Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada to be beneficiaries of the move, mostly because they’re on many of the same shelves.  Also, in states where you can actually get it, Yuengling will probably also see a nice boost in sales.

From AdAge:

As brand manager for Keystone Light, Elina Vives would seem to be in a tough spot these days. The below-premium beer made big gains in the past few years as the economy tanked. But with trends improving, MillerCoors, along with Anheuser Busch, is raising prices on budget beers in a move to get drinkers to trade up to more-expensive brews such as Miller Lite and Bud Light, which struggled in the recession.

“What they’re really trying to do, both of them, is drive business to the premium brands where they make more money,” said Benj Steinman, president of Beer Marketer’s Insights. But for Keystone, which is owned by MillerCoors, that could mean losing momentum that made it one of the fastest share gainers in all of beer. So what’s a brand manager to do?

Also, as a side note, I had no idea Bud Light was so much more popular than Miller Lite.  It’s all bad, but when I’m somewhere and don’t have much of a choice, I always grab Miller Lite first.

From Flickr user Minnesota Historical Society

Legislation allowing a Brooklyn Center brewery and other Minnesota beer-makers to serve their brews directly to customers at their establishments cleared a state Senate panel Wednesday, after a concerted social media lobbying effort by Surly Brewing Co. helped soften opposition from the powerful liquor lobby.

…

Brooklyn Center-based Surly is seeking the change as it plans a $20 million brewery, restaurant and entertainment center. Owner Omar Ansari told lawmakers the expansion would boost state tax revenues by allowing his company to employ 85 construction workers and 150 permanent workers at its new complex. He also pointed out that Wisconsin and other states allow brewers to serve beer where it’s made.

This is the type of thing that makes sense, helps local business grow, provides more jobs, and supports good beer.

From flickr user San Diego Shooter

We’ve been big fans of our brewers spent grain beer bread, but what about spent grain beer cookies?  We’re so excited by the idea, we haven’t even had time to test the recipe.

Blog Omnomicon posts this recipe that seems like it would add something to the must-bake list after brewing.

Nutty Spent Grain Chocolate Chip Cookies

Adapted from a recipe featured by Seven Bridges Cooperative.

• 1/3 cup peanut butter
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1.5 cups spent grains (or alternatively, 1.5 cups of your favourite grain meal, prepared and still wet)
• 2 cups whole wheat flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts

Mix in the peanut butter, regular butter, sugar, milk and vanilla. Then add the flour, baking soda and salt. Once that’s all mixed, stir in the nuts and chips.

Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 425F for 8-10 minutes until the tops are just getting golden, but before the bottoms burn. Let sit on the pan for about five minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool.

Makes about 2 dozen cookies

One Iowa man has decided to bravely go where few have gone before: he’s given up all food for lent, and replaced it with beer.  But while outrageous, it’s not as crazy as it may seem at first.

Hold your giggles. You may assume that this is a high-falutin’ excuse to stay schnookered for a month and a half, but that’s not the case. We think. Wilson calls this a “historical study,” an attempt to live like a seventeenth-century monk. To sustain themselves during Lent, monks subsisted on a high-calorie, carbohydrate-crammed beer dubbed a doppelbock.

To sustain himself, Wilson, a veteran homebrewer, teamed up with the folks at the local Rock Bottom brewpub to create the Illuminator Doppelbock. It packs a hefty 288 calories per 12-ounce dose and a potent 6.67 percent ABV.

I’ve referred to many beers as “bread in a glass” simply because they seemed substantial enough to serve as a meal.  But for as much as I love beer, I wouldn’t want t0 do it for over a month.

from flickr

Our canning line should be in the building near July 4. It will be a couple of moths to get it up and running, but should start seeing Pale Ale in cans in late 2011.

We’re on the fence about what other beers to release, but I think we’ll have a couple of different brews available.

Cans will only be a small part of our output, but we’re excited to see how they’re received.

There are so many places where you can’t or won’t bring glass…up here in the foothills it just doesn’t make a lot of sense to bring a bunch of bottles with you in your backpack! This is really the reason we’re going for this.

From flickr user duane.schoon

The American Dietetic Association, which claims to be the “world’s largest organization of food and nutrition professionals,” is out promoting the health benefits of good beer.

While red wine is often touted as the heart-healthy libation, more evidence is showing beer has a great deal of nutrition and health-promoting qualities as well, according to an article published in the Winter 2011 issue of the American Dietetic Association’s member publication, ADA Times.

“Red wine enjoys a reputation for sophistication and health benefits, but as interest in artisan brewing gains momentum and emerging research reveals unique nutrition properties, beer is finding redemption not only as a classy libation with deep roots in many cultures, but as a beverage with benefits,” writes registered dietitian and ADA Spokesperson Andrea Giancoli.

Sure, you may get a bit of a beer gut if you over-do it, but there are clear health benefits to moderate beer drinking.  So be sure to drink one or two each — for your health.

Mark your calendars: Today the Brewers Association started their push for American Craft Beer Week, which is set for May 16-22, 2011.

Considered The Mother of All Beer Weeks, ACBW recognizes one of America’s true culinary arts and provides a platform for small and independent craft brewers to salute supporters and connect with their local communities. Thousands of today’s beer enthusiasts, beginners and hardcore geeks will toast craft beer, with ACBW events predicted to take place in all 50 states.

Those of us who love craft beer know this as a week where we can find great deals, interesting events, and plenty of other beer lovers at our favorite beer bars.  But we should also look at this as a time where we can politely introduce people to new beer.  If we want people to take part and love good beer as much as we do, there’s no better time to introduce them to the community during American Craft Beer Week.

We’ll write more about this as the week approaches, but mark your calendars and start thinking about what you can do to help advance craft beer in May.

Last summer Tröegs in Pennsylvania announced a new brewery, moving from Harrisburg, PA to Hershey, PA.  Since then, construction has been moving along, and a couple of new videos are online that show how things are progressing.

Why should you be excited?  For starters, they make what I think is probably the best beer I’ve ever had (though I’ve been told that this year’s batch isn’t their best).  As of now, their distribution has been limited to around 3 hours driving around the brewery, but they have pushed beyond that into parts of Ohio.  With a bigger brewery, you should see more of it on the shelves in your favorite beer stores.

According to Troegs, who have always offered brewery tours led by the Tröegs brothers themselves and call the expansion “T2″, you’ll still be able to experience their brewing process up-close.

At three times the size of Tröegs current location, the new 90,000 square foot facility will give guests a glimpse at the fermentation process, packaging room and oak barrel-aging room, and lab. The addition of a pilot brewing room offers insight to Tröegs experimentation—where its famous Scratch brews are dreamt-up and made.

From flickr user Bernt Rostad

The Phoenix New Times assembled a list of the worlds 10 strongest beers (even though the list is 11).  Most of these are OK for the novelty, but brewing for the sake of alcohol doesn’t usually result in good beer.

1. Brewdog The End of History (55% ABV)
2. Schorschbräu Schorschbock 43% (43.38% ABV)
3. Brewdog Sink the Bismarck! (41% ABV)
4. Schorschbräu Schorschbock 40% (39.44% ABV)
5. Brewdog Tactical Nuclear Penguin (32% ABV)
6. Schorschbräu Schorschbock 31% (30.86% ABV)
7. Sam Adams Utopias (27% ABV)
8. DuClaw Colossus (21.92% ABV)
9. Sonoran 200 (19.37% ABV)
10. The Bruery Black Tuesday (19.5% ABV)
11. Dogfish Head Worldwide Stout (18% ABV)

Dragon-heating a kettle probably does add something to the taste.