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BEERWeekTM Archive Most Recent Issue: February 7 - 14, 2005 "Freshness dated for your safety."
Welcome to BEERWeekTM, February 7 - 14, 2005
Volume 10 Number 6.
Timely and breaking beer news is sent out every Monday morning by email to subscribers. Past issues are published here as a reference archive. To get your beer news when it breaks, please subscribe. ---- HEADLINES ----
---- INTERNATIONAL NEWS ---- ---- NEWS FROM THE BREWERIES ---- ---- EVENTS ---- -------------------------------------------- THE WEEK IN NEWS This is the final issue of BEERWeek. As I was rounding up news this last week, I had a detailed and insightful conversation with Martin Kelly, someone who I have always admired in the industry. Martin previously worked for Miller and then headed up Pyramid Breweries. He has recently taken over the lead role of running Magic Hat Brewing in Vermont (story below). Martin and I share a very similar outlook for the craft brewing segment and discussed at length the future of our industry. Although neither of us claim to have a crystal ball, there are a number of trends, that when taken together into consideration, seem to indicate that the segment will look quite different five to ten years from now. Two such trends taking place are retailer and wholesaler consolidation. Large grocery chains, in a fierce struggle to compete with big-box stores, continue to acquire smaller, regional grocery chains. It will become increasingly more difficult for small and mid-sized brewers to direct-store deliver to the growing geographical footprint that these larger chains will occupy. Martin gave a recent example of that in the Northeast, where Albertsons has purchased Shaw's. It was recently announced that Albertsons will shift all beer buying decisions and schematic design to their headquarters in Utah, and the chain will soon require DSD to all stores in order to be considered for SKU placement. Many small brands who currently have Shaw's authorization will not meet this criteria; losing a key volume outlet. And we all know the continuing difficulties with distribution. Consolidation is rampant. The most recent example; a key distributor in the complex San Francisco Bay area network has just been acquired by an out of state distributor with close ties to Coors (story below). And if the import rights to Corona change hands in 2006, possibly shifting the brand into the A-B distribution network, it could have a dramatic affect on the profitability of mid-sized distributors, again promoting further consolidation (story below). It has played out painfully many times before; bigger distributors tend to carry fewer craft brands. With each merger of houses, there is always a re-evaluation of the portfolio; and usually a handful of brands that are discontinued. What does this mean for the craft industry? Small to mid-sized breweries, in the 6,000-25,000 bbls per year range will have a very hard time surviving. Particularly those who depend to a certain degree on chain store volume, who is spread out widely geographically, and who favor distributors that are ripe for consolidation. Certainly not all brewers in this category will meet their demise. Some will find an exit strategy with a happy ending, through consolidation or a creative alliance. Some will thrive on a strong local following or a reputation for quality and innovation. But there is a wide swath of brewers who seem to be operating on auto-pilot and have little sense of a changing future. To survive the future, small brewers must prepare for the future now. An important step in that exercise is to have a five to ten year vision and plan in place. To intimately know and understand what is going on at all levels of the beer industry. To study the trends and embrace past history. A number of small brewers I have talked to have undertaken this task, and have adjusted their sales, marketing, financial and distribution strategies in meaningful ways. Many small beer brands have not, and appear to make decisions based on the landscape today; not that of the future. The innovative breweries find new ways to move forward. Other breweries copy them; usually too late. Martin said he is still "bullish" on the craft industry. And so am I. There are many bright spots to behold. Small specialty distributors continue to arise, perhaps providing some relief in the distribution channel. The Specialty Beer Wholesalers Conference will once again gather small distributors together this April (story below). And as the segment continues to garner market share, perhaps more SKU space will open at retail. The socio-demographics continue to improve for good beer, even among the newest generation. Now is the time to innovate for the future. There is no doubt that the craft brewing industry will look very different by the time 2010 roll around. And how time flies! Cheers! Tom McCormick ------------------------------------------ ---- THE HEADLINES ---- MARTIN KELLY JOINS TAKES HELM AT MAGIC HAT Martin Kelly has recently joined Magic Hat Brewing Company to run the company's day to day operations. Company founder Alan Newman will remain on board and will now focus his time primarily on creative elements of the brand, external affairs and regulatory issues. Kelly is well known in the industry having previously served as Chairman of the Board, President and CEO of Pyramid Breweries before resigning last year. Prior to Pyramid, Kelly served as Regional Vice President for the West Coast region at Miller Brewing Company. Newman described Kelly's role in enthusiastic terms. "Martin brought a beer perspective to our company and has been able to connect the dots," said Newman. "The amount of business coming our way just by connecting the dots is amazing." According to Newman, Kelly has guided Magic Hat in distributor relations, restructuring of the sales side of the company and long-term planning. The Burlington, Vermont company has enjoyed a 24 percent increase in business last year and is off to a 27 percent increase for orders through February. When Kelly resigned from Pyramid Breweries, he anticipated taking some time to "stop and smell the coffee," he said. "I didn't see staying in the industry." In May of last year, Kelly agreed to assist Newman in developing a five year plan for the brewery on a consulting basis. Upon completion of that project, Kelly was offered, and accepted a full time position running the company in September. "I saw a real opportunity to do something special," Kelly said in describing Magic Hat's position in the market. Kelly said that the company will take on "modest expansion" at a "deliberate and measured pace." The brand was just recently introduced in the Philadelphia market. Magic Hat sold about 48,000 bbls last year. The brewery has an annual capacity, with plant modifications, of around 120,000 bbls. Kelly continues to reside in Southern California with his family and spends about half of his time in Vermont. - Tom McCormick A-B Q4 PROFITS RISE - VOLUME DOWN In a reoccurring theme lately for Anheuser-Busch, the company announced last week that fourth quarter profits were up, but volume was down. Profits grew by 13 percent in the fourth quarter, thanks to a significant increase in international volume and domestic price increases, which helped to offset a decline in domestic beer volume which fell by 1.5 percent to 22.9 million barrels. America's biggest brewer saw a slight slip in its hold on market share, going from 49.7 percent to 49.6 percent. A-B earned $332 million, or 42 cents per share, for the period ending Dec. 31, compared to earnings of $294 million, or 36 cents per share, in 2003. The domestic sales sector was nearly flat at $3 billion, compared to $2.98 billion a year ago. International beer volume performance was far more robust, up to 4.7 million barrels from 2.5 million barrels, an increase of 120.5 percent. Excluding China's Harbin, which A-B acquired last year in the third quarter, international beer volume grew 2.7 percent in the fourth quarter and 3.2 percent for the full year. Worldwide brand barrels were up by 8.8 percent; worldwide Anheuser-Busch beer brand volume takes in both domestic volume and international volume. Full-year earnings were also up, to $2.24 billion, a 7.9 percent rise from $2.08 billion in 2003. Net sales for the year were up 5.6 percent, from $14.15 billion to $14.93 billion. The lucrative, nearly two-decade marriage between the maker of Corona and its Texas-based importer for the eastern half of the United States is on the rocks, the Gambrinus Co. of San Antonio confirmed last week. Gambrinus, which imports Mexico's Modelo line of beers, said Grupo Modelo of Monterrey first tried to acquire the Texas company, then, when the overture was rebuffed, indicated that it will not renew the import agreement, which expires Dec. 31, 2006. That would be a major blow for Gambrinus, founded by former Modelo marketing executive Carlos Alvarez, who later acquired the Spoetzl Brewery, maker of Shiner Bock. Gambrinus has since made numerous investments in the craft segment, acquiring Bridgeport Brewing Company of Portland, Oregon, a surprise purchase of the floundering Pete's Brewing Company, and recently buying the brewery and brand names of Golden Pacific Brewing Company in Emeryville, California. About 90 percent of Gambrinus sales are Corona and other Modelo beers -- 4.5 million barrels out of 4.9 million, said Benj Steinman, editor of Beer Marketers Insights. But all is not beery sweetness for Grupo Modelo. in Anheuser-Busch holds a 50.2 percent stake. Corona shipments to the U.S. grew by just 2 percent last year, even though it's still the biggest import brand in El Norte, with an estimated 97 million cases sold in the U.S. last year, or 50 percent more than Heineken, which slipped behind Corona to become the number two American imported beer in 1997. Modelo will be facing increased competition in its export markets, especially in the U.S., where Number Two Mexican brewer Fomento Económico Mexicano (FEMSA) has linked arms with Heineken - yes, Heineken - to distribute its Dos Equis, Sol, and Tecate brands. If a move is made, it could have a profound impact on the distribution tier. Many Corona distributors are small to mid-sized Miller and/or Coors distributors that depend on the number one import brand as a significant portion of both revenue and margin. If Modelo creates its own import company, it would likely align the brand with the Anheuser-Busch distribution network. That scenario would certainly push many current Corona distributors into consolidation mode. This would not be the first time that an international brewer decided to take control of its American distribution. Heineken, for years imported into the U.S. by the Van Munching corporation, set up its own American importing business, putting Van Munching out of business in the process. Modelo could add about 5.6% to overall operating income, or about $64 million annually, by cutting out Gambrinus as its importing middleman, a business move that is reportedly encouraged by A-B Chairman August A. Busch III. This shouldn't come as a surprise; Modelo contributed 11% of Anheuser's total net income in 2004. GOLDEN BRANDS SELLS TO DBI Golden Brands Beverage Distributors, a San Francisco Coors/Miller distributor has been sold to DBI Beverage Distributors of Nashville, Tennessee. Golden Brands, which carries a far greater portfolio of craft brands than most Coors/Miller houses, is a well known distributor of specialty beer brands being one of only two beer distributors with operations in the City. The other is an Anheuser-Busch distributor, who handles just a few select specialty brands. DBI Beverage is owned by David Ingram, Chairman and President of Ingram Entertainment Inc., a national distributor of home entertainment products including DVDs, prerecorded videocassettes, and video games. Ingram Entertainment Holdings Inc. had total revenues of $1.03 billion in 2003. David Ingram has close ties with Coors Brewing Company and the Coors family. Ingram formed DBI Beverage in 2002 specifically to acquire Crown Beverage, the Coors distributor in Memphis, Tennessee, home to one of three national Coors operations. It is speculated that DBI may be on the hunt for further Coors house acquisitions. Ingram says future revenues at the San Francisco operation will depend on consolidation opportunities in the Bay area market. "If we do a good job of managing this one, we'll have opportunities to look at other deals," he says. Golden Brands' managers and 150 employees will be retained, and the new owner will continue using the Golden Brands name in the San Francisco market, DBI said last week. Terms of the asset purchase were not disclosed. Golden Brands has annual revenue of about $70 million, said a spokesman for the new owner. The company is headed by Robert Stahl, President and General manager. Golden Brands was formed in 1933 by the Molakides family and was owned by Ted Molakides along with his brothers. - Tom McCormick The 2nd annual Specialty Beer Wholesalers Conference will once again take place prior to the Craft Brewer's Conference, being held this year in Philadelphia. The SBWA is a two-day program of panel discussions on how to improve specialty beer distribution business. Discussions will be primarily aimed toward distributors with annual volumes of 750,000 case-equivalents or less and whose primary beers are specialty brands. The conference will be held April 12-13th at the Philadelphia Downtown Marriott. The CBC follows on April 13-16th at the same location. Sessions this year will primarily be panel presentation style. A high level of interaction with the panels will be encouraged to foster back-and-forth discussion of ideas, practices, techniques, and other issues related to the specifics of specialty beer distribution. The conference is not considered an appropriate venue for brands to try to gain access to wholesalers, and brewing representatives are discouraged from attending. The agenda also does not include start-up information, but instead focuses on the operations of existing wholesalers. Last years first conference in San Diego drew over 40 participants ranging from one person operations to larger houses carrying more than 1000 SKU's and a sales staff of over 20. One thing in common at last year's conference; an intense passion to not only sell, but also promote good beer. In sharp contrast to the vast majority of today's beer distributors, the attending wholesalers were keenly knowledgeable and passionate about quality beer, and whose operations are nearly exclusively dependent on specialty beer. The camaraderie and exchange of information, both during the discussions and at the social gatherings last year were highly valuable. This year's conference registration fee again includes dinner on the first night. This year's format has changed to accommodate the expected larger attendance and instead of a roundtable format will be a series of panels, encouraging open dialog among the attendees. As access to market continues to plague the specialty beer category, the emergence of more small, independent distributors is one of the few hopeful developments in the distribution tier. Many in the group of specialty wholesalers at the conference were craft brewers who self-distribute their brands alongside other craft and specialty brands, often working in conjunction with similar distributors in nearby markets. For more information go to http://beertown.org/events/cbc/attendee/wholesaler.html. The conference is being assisted by the Brewers Association, but is not part of the BA. Instead, it has been organized by a variety of industry members. - Tom McCormick A Los Angeles judge has dismissed a class-action suit accusing beer giants Anheuser-Busch and Miller Brewing Co. of encouraging underage drinking by targeting teens with their advertising. Ruled Superior Court Judge Peter D. Lichtman ruled that state law indicates regulating alcohol ads is the job of the Department of Alcoholic Beverages Control, not the courts. He also said the suit had failed to identify beer ads that were literally false. Additionally, plaintiffs failed to show how they'd suffered any direct harm as a result of beer marketing campaigns, the judge wrote. Beer and spirits makers face similar class-action suits in Ohio, Colorado, North Carolina and the District of Columbia that allege they use sexually charged ads to induce illegal drinking by teens. Lichtman's ruling has no direct bearing on those cases. The Celebrator Beer News will be celebrating its 17th anniversary on February 20th at the Trumer Brewery in Berkeley, Calif. The event takes place one day after the start of the Barleywine Festival at the Toronado in San Francisco, and is the grand finale of a week of beery event throughout the Bay area sponsored by The Celebrator News. See a complete listing of all the festivities in Events section below. A dozen or so breweries will be pouring their wares. The annual event has become a popular gathering of beer industry luminaries from up and down the West coast. An industry Battle of the Brewery Bands will be a featured part of the event, including performances by the Hysters (Anchor Brewery), the Sierra Nevada Band, Roots Blues from Lagunitas Brewing, the Maltose Falcons Band and the industry-staffed Rolling Boil Blues Band. The Trumer Brewery was the original Golden Pacific Brewery before being purchased by The Grambrinus Company. Gambrinus has since under taken a major renovation and turned the facility into a showcase brewery. The Celebrator has arraigned for discounted rates at local hotels. For more information on purchasing tickets or other event questions, call 510-538-2739 Adolph Coors Co. shareholders voted to close the deal that merges the Colorado brewery with Montreal-based Molson, ending 132 years of independence for Coors. The combined company, Molson Coors Brewing Co., will become the world's fifth-largest brewer with $6 billion in sales. "Coors and Molson were both founded by bold pioneers in their own time, and our family looks at this merger as a pioneering step in its own right," said chairman Pete Coors, who will initially become vice chairman of the merged company. "We are looking for a very long and fruitful relationship together." Molson shareholders approved the deal last week, but only after the two companies sweetened the pot with $532 million in a special dividend. Coors shareholders weren't part of that windfall. Before the dividend was announced there was speculation Molson shareholders would reject and merger and that the Canadian brewery might be sold to another company. "It is a step in the right direction, but what Coors shareholders get out of it I'm not sure," said Felix Jablonski, a Lakewood resident and Coors shareholder since the company went public in the 1970s. "We have to wait and see what happens. (Coors chief executive) Leo Kiely doesn't make mistakes." With $175 million in costs savings projected by 2007, Kiely declined to detail whether layoffs would occur. "There are some overlap and some redundancies, of course," he said. "But those are the tough decisions that you make to endure generationally in the beer business." With the beer industry consolidating on an international scale, Coors executives said they saw this merger as a strategic move to stay viable. "Survival has always been our long-range strategy," former Coors chairman Bill Coors said. "Things change. You have to change with them to survive." - BEERWeek Staff Anheuser-Busch appeared to be paying special attention to taste in this year's Super Bowl commercials - and we're not just talking beer. The double entendres, bathroom humor and crude sight gags that dominated commercials last year were absent on Super Sunday. It's part of a trend. This year, Super Bowl advertisers were struggling to strike a delicate balance between funny and uncontroversial. Many took their creative cues from the NFL and Fox, which went to great lengths to scour this year's festivities. Hip-hop music was gone from the halftime roster in favor of boomer favorite Sir Paul McCartney. Fox even tweaked the name of a special network broadcast of its cable hit "The Best Damn Sports Show Period" to "The Best Darn Super Bowl Road Show Period." And after consulting with the National Football League and News Corp.'s Fox, the network that broadcast this year's big event, A-B decided not to broadcast "Wardrobe Malfunction," a commercial that spoofs last year's halftime show debacle by fabricating a story of how Janet Jackson's breast ended up exposed during her dance number. The spot, which is set backstage before last year's halftime show, shows a stagehand trying to open a Bud Light by using Jackson's outfit to get a better grip on the slippery bottle. He accidentally rips the garment and makes a fumbling attempt to fix it with some tape. Later, the young man is watching the show when the crowd screams and a stunned game announcer chimes in: "Wow, that's something you don't see every day." "Why take the risk? All you need is one person to be offended," said Bob Lachky, Anheuser-Busch vice president of brand management and director, global brand creative. "Some people don't want to be reminded of the incident." Nevertheless, the ad has drawn plenty of attention. While the estimated 90 million consumers that tuned in to Super Bowl XXXIX didn't see the halftime spoof, the company already has posted the spot on Budweiser.com and previewed it for the media. The ad is likely to make its way to millions of consumers. The site ballyhoos: "See the ad you didn't see on the big game." - BEERWeek Staff Anheuser-Busch has introduced another new beer in its domestic market with the launch of Budweiser Select, introduced with a television ad during the 2005 Super Bowl. By February 21st, the new beer will be available nationwide. The decision to go with a full-on national launch was made after positive consumer response to Budweiser Select in test markets, and A-B is rolling out the new beer earlier than planned, according to Don Meyer, A-B's director of Budweiser Select marketing. A 12 ounce serving of A-B's new Budweiser brew contains 3.1 grams of carbs, 99 calories, and 4.3 percent alcohol/volume, and will be marketed with the tag-line "Crisp taste with no aftertaste." Budweiser Select will be positioned in the same price range as sister products Budweiser and Bud Light, and supported by a substantial deployment of Anheuser-Busch marketing and advertising strength. Media veteran Bob Brennan is joining Miller Brewing Co. as director of marketing services. After twenty years with Publicis Groupe's Leo Burnett, Brennan left to replace Steve Buerger in the Miller marketing services director position; Buerger left to take up employment with Time Warner last December. Brennan will direct all media buying and planning, interactive advertising, and sports and event marketing efforts, reporting to Bob Mikulay, executive vice president of marketing, and will be based at Miller's Milwaukee headquarters. Miller's annual media buys are around $260 million; the second-largest American brewery primarily uses WPP Group's Ogilvy & Mather for its creative work, and Publicis Groupe's Starcom for the media account. (Source: David Kaplan, MediaPost) America's Distilled Spirits Council wants booze sales to continue to go up. One way to do this is to add Sundays to the legal opening days for liquor shops. In the last two years, the DSC has lobbied eleven states to allow Sunday liquor shop openings, which brought the total number of states allowing Sunday liquor sales to 32. Next up on the DSC Sunday agenda: Colorado. Going to bat for the DSC is Colorado State Senator Jennifer Veiga, a Democrat from Denver, who considers the state's opening-hours restrictions on liquor shops silly. Perhaps the most surprising part of the DSC's effort is the lack of response from religious leaders, including the likes of James Dobson's Focus on the Family, based in Colorado Springs. Perhaps Dobson is still smarting from the ridicule heaped upon him and his organization after his SpongeBob fiasco. Sunday-closing laws - typically referred to as "Blue Laws" - have their roots in 17th century theocratic colonies. Such laws were written on blue paper, and the laws were intended to protect the church's franchise by keeping Sundays holy. Religion's part in regulating Sunday business has dwindled substantially since then, but there are still some old-fashioned Blue Laws on the books, regulating hours at places like car dealers and liquor store owners. Such laws help them save money (supposedly), cutting operating costs for the one day a week that they stay closed. The laws also benefit other retailers. On Sundays, when liquor shops are closed in Colorado, the only alternatives for buying packaged alcohol beverages are supermarkets and convenience stores, which can legally carry only wine coolers and so-called "three-two" beer. With no liquor stores open on Sundays, three-two beer sales are strong. This would probably change if the state's liquor shops were opened on Sundays. But liquor storeowners oppose the Sunday liquor proposal. Part of the reason is the difficulty of competing against bigger retailers, who will probably push to allow wine and liquor sales in their shops, putting further competitive pressure on small liquor shops. There are also 93 breweries in Colorado, ranging from huge Anheuser-Busch and Coors plants to tiny craft breweries, and they're against the proposal too. They see Sunday openings leading to consolidation in retailing, resulting in fewer liquor shops, which in turn would cut down the need for the delivery fleets of the member businesses in the Colorado Beer Distributors Association. Steve Durham, Distilled Spirits Council lobbyist, admits that increased liquor sales is his group's primary goal, but disagrees that Sunday openings would be detrimental to small liquor shop owners, dismissing such views as speculation. (Source: Al Lewis, Denver Post) BREWERY SHUTDOWNS IN GERMANY Germany's consolidating beer market is facing numerous challenges, including brewery overcapacity. The Dr. Oetker group, which became Germany's largest beer brewer through acquisitions last year, announced that two major breweries are to be shut down, taking 450 jobs with them. The Berliner Kindl brewery will close its doors in early 2006, as will the Brinkhoff brewery in Dortmund. Both breweries are part of the Brau und Brunnen beverage group, which Oetker acquired last year for 360 million euros. Oetker is now integrating Brau und Brunnen into the family-owned company's Radeberger beer division. Oetker said the two brands would continue to exist and production would be shifted to other sites: Brinkhoff will be produced at Oetkers's DAB brewery in Dortmund, and Berliner Kindl will be moved to the Schultheiss brewery in Berlin, in one of the most significant German brewery consolidation moves in recent memory. Oetker currently holds 15 percent of the German beer market. The reasons for the shutdowns are obvious and painful to a country with a proud brewing tradition, but the business of brewing beer is faced with a declining beer market and overcapacity in the industry. Such cuts were considered inevitable. Other Oetker brands include Radeberger and Jever, as well as Schöfferhofer Weizen, Clausthaler non-alcoholic beer, and Sion Kölsch. To an outside observer, Germany appears to be brewer's heaven, with 1260 breweries. But those breweries have been struggling in a declining market, and the decline has been going on for years. Nearly thirty years ago, in 1976, German per-capita beer consumption stood at 156 liters, or 41 gallons; beer made up nearly a quarter of all individual beverage consumption. It seemed like it would be that way forever, but lifestyle changes were in the works, driven by health consciousness among consumers as well as changing demographics, including a graying population, which have lead to declining levels of beer consumption. In 2003, per-capita beer consumption had dropped to 118 liters, and there's no sign of an uptick on the horizon. Ernst & Young beverage sector analyst Rudolf Böhlke puts it quite bluntly by saying, "German beer has an image problem. Beer has the image of being a thirst-quencher and not a luxury article like wine." The country's breweries operate in accordance with the federal Biersteuergesetz, or Beer Tax Law, which is the modern-day successor to the centuries-old Reinheitsgebot. The law places fairly strict limits on what brewers are allowed to do when making beer, and German beer is widely regarded as a high-quality product, but there's little brand distinction; mass-market German pilsners have to sell on image, because they're almost all of similar quality and flavor. Not all sectors of the brewing industry are facing the same problems. For small guesthouse-breweries, the German equivalent of brewpubs, the future looks good. Such breweries are relatively small, and don't sell much of their beer off-premises, offering fresh products on draught to thirsty customers. The so-called Mittelstand, or medium-sized breweries, are the ones facing the toughest times, caught in between a rock and a hard place, with brewhouse capacities too large for smaller regional nice markets, but with budgets too small to allow them to elbow their way into the big-league markets. Brewing giants from outside of Germany have muscled in, with Interbrew, Heineken, and Carlsberg all establishing substantial presences there. If there's an upside to all this, it's the role of beer in Germany. Beer is still widely regarded as an integral part of German culture, and Germans remain loyal to their regional and hometown brands, and overall, they're still proud of their national beverage. It wasn't so long ago that the British were identified with beer to nearly the same extent as the Germans, but beer consumption has been on a steady decline there, too. Britons are drinking 20% less beer than they were 25 years ago, and brewery shutdowns have been a fact of life in the UK. In abandoning their traditional pints of beer, British drinkers are turning to wine instead, and if consumption patterns continue, Britons will become Europe's biggest wine spenders on wine, and UK wine consumption will outstrip France's within four years. The British spent 5 billion pounds (sterling) on 1.5 billion bottles of wine in 2003, and by 2008, they're projected to be spending 6 billion pounds on 1.74 billion bottles annually, putting the UK in the number two position among global wine consuming countries. The U.S. is still the world's top wine-consuming country on an overall volume basis. The growth in British wine consumption almost mirrors beer's decline, up by 21.5 percent between 1999 and 2003. It's not just wine from that Continent, either; New World wines from Australia and elsewhere are enjoying a flourishing market in the UK. CLIPPER CITY BREWING CO. RE-RELEASES "HEAVY SEAS" LINE Clipper City Brewing Company has announced the re-release of the second beer in its "Heavy Seas" line, Small Craft Warning. Clipper City General Partner, Hugh Sisson, describes the product as an "Uber Pils," a bock-strength pilsner made with imported German malt, and brewed to an alcohol by volume of around 7%. This is consistent with their entire 'Heavy Seas' line, which showcases heavier beer styles designed to appeal to the niche market of serious, 'big' beer enthusiasts." Sisson went on to say that Small Craft Warning would be made on a year round basis, "sort of the flag ship of the line." The first beer in the line, Winter Storm, shipped in mid October of 2004 and will not be available again until October 2005. Small Craft Warning will begin shipping January 24 and will be available in six-packs, kegs, and one-sixth barrels. The "Heavy Seas" line currently features four different beers representing a variety of beer styles, including an imperial stout, Belgian-style ale, and an imperial IPA. All of the beers are bottle conditioned. Hops & Props Saturday, February 12, 2005; 6pm - 10pm Museum of Flight 9404 East Marginal Way South Seattle, Washington Phone: 206-768-7105 Web: http://www.museumofflight.org/visit/hopsandprops.html Beerapalooza February 12-20, 2005 San Francisco Bay Area 3rd annual Beerapalooza presented by the Celebrator Beer News and local breweries and beer venues. See the February/March 2005 issue of Celebrator or check out celebrator.com for more information. Events include the following: February 12, Hayward, Calif. Double IPA Fest at The Bistro. 510-886-8525 February 13, San Francisco, Calif. Chocolate & Beer Dinner at Rogue Ales Public House. 415-362-7880. February 16, Oakland, Calif. Beer Dinner Featuring Vinnie Cilurzo of Russian River Brewing Co. and Matt Brynildson of Firestone Walker Brewing Co. at Barclay's Jack London Square. Call 510-663-4634 for info. February 17, Berkeley, Calif. Homebrew Invitational Fiesta. Meet John Palmer (author of How To Brew) and enjoy Firestone Walker beers during a homebrew competition for Stout and IPA at Lanesplitters Pub. Call 510-849-0400 for info. February 18, San Francisco, Calif. Chocolate & Belgian Beer Dinner at Cathedral Hill Hotel with Cocoa Pete Slosberg. Call 415-776-8200 ext. 7785. February 19-26, San Francisco, Calif. Toronado Barley Wine Festival. Info at 415-863-2276 or toronado.com. February 20, Berkeley, Calif. 17th Anniversary Party for Celebrator Beer News with Battle of the Brewery Bands featuring music by Anchor, Sierra Nevada, Lagunitas and the Rolling Boil Blues Band. 12 breweries pour at Trumer Brewery in Berkeley. Call 800-430 BEER or see celebrator.com. SPECIAL INDUSTRY ADMISSION PRICE!
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