Winter beer piece coming; Kaspers in St. Louis
In response to Matt's question, my winter beer column runs Wednesday, Nov. 26.
I'm in St. Louis visiting my 27-year-old son, who it turns out is also writing a beer blog called Gut Check for The Riverfront Times, a St. Louis weekly. Go figure.
Next week, I am visiting Anheuser-Busch (now owned by InBev) and will let you know if I detect any Belgian notes. Any thoughts on InBev taking over AB?
Any suggested questions for the St. Louis brew crew?
Anybody have an early pick for favorite holiday beer?
Comments
Favorite winter brews: Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale and Clay Pipe's Pursuit of Happiness. Both are wonderful!
Posted by: Patrick D | November 22, 2008 8:14 AM
Hey Rob,
I read this rumor on a message forum from a guy who claims to work at one of the A-B breweries in regard to possible changes coming down the pike with the InBev acquisition:
"They want to save money by cutting the frequency of process instrumention calibrations by 70% a year(oxygen,pH,temperature,pressure,CO2)this all impacts the quality of the beer."
That may be something worth looking into while you're there. It actually could be a major story (as beer stories go) that you could potentially break, if it's true.
Other things that might be worth an inquiry or two:
- Has Rolling Rock changed it's recipe? It seems to taste worse lately.
- Is InBev committed to Michelob beers as a separate line? What changes have occurred since Michelob has become a sub-division of A-B, if any? Is it just a marketing ploy or a real change?
On a non-InBev related note, my favorite winter beers include SA Winter Lager, SA Cranberry Lambic, and Old Fezziwig Ale. Basically, everyone reading this should go out and pick up a SA Winter Classics mix pack. :) The Cream stout is awfully good, too.
Posted by: John | November 22, 2008 11:57 AM
With the completion of the sale to InBev, does that make Sam Adams the largest American brewer?
Posted by: NR | November 23, 2008 11:05 AM
Personally, I've always been fond of the Harpoon Winter Warmer, but there are plenty of solid one's out there - the Troeg's Mad Elf is good, and packs a little bit of a kick.
As for InBev, I would be surprised if they messed with a cash cow like AB. I think all the Bud drinkers were needlessly worried during the acquisition.
I think what we might see is a different product line added to their existing lines in order to more aggressively target the drinkers of imports and micro-brews.
Posted by: Kevin S. | November 23, 2008 11:08 AM
Dogfish's Chicory Stout is an excellent, excellent beer. For a little more wallop in a stout I like Victory's Storm King or Flying Dog's Gonzo Imperial Porter.
Posted by: Grant | November 23, 2008 11:59 AM
The Stonewall Stout or the spiced stout made by Blue and Gray Brewing Co. out of Fredericksburg, VA is are two of the best holiday-ish beers around.
Posted by: bryanintimonium | November 24, 2008 8:22 AM
Technically NR, the largest "brewer" is Pabst. but that is a debate that will has been waged since InBev bought AB (Pabst is a "virtual brewer", where they own the brands but Miller makes most of the beer). Sam Adams isn't so innocent either as they contract our a portion of their beer- amazingly enough, they dont make much beer in Boston. Which makes the largest beer producing breweries (companies that make 100% of their beer) Yuengling and Sierra Nevada- according to 2007 numbers.
Posted by: Jason | November 25, 2008 9:39 AM