Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year® celebrates Moosehead Breweries' Derek Oland - digital journal 11-09-08 - Derek Oland has received the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur Of The Year 2011 Atlantic Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of his substantial achievements at the helm of his sixth-generation family business and in the wider community. "Derek not only continued a family tradition of success by leading Canada's oldest and largest independent brewery, but also created a brand that is now recognized around the globe," says Joyce Hoeven, Director of Entrepreneur Of The Year for the Atlantic region. "He has helped promote the responsible use of alcoholic beverages and guided the brewing industry to a position where the rights of both non-users and moderate consumers of alcoholic beverages are respected and protected. He is an example of sustainable development and social responsibility." As a teenager, Oland worked in the Moosehead's bottle shop, but his true entrepreneurial journey at the company began in 1961, when he was only 22 years old and fresh out of university. He held a number of sales and marketing positions with the company before becoming president and CEO in 1982. Olan was instrumental in broadening Moosehead's horizons, with moves into the US market before taking the brand global. Oland was appointed chairman in 1997. Full story
The resurgence of hops crops - toronto sun 11-08-28 - It's easy to forget that beer is an agricultural product. For all those commercials with waving fields of barley, brewing has historically moved away from the idea that ingredients are largely seasonal. It's something of a triumph of modernity that you're able to get the same product all the time. The supply chain is incredibly well maintained and scientifically analyzed to the point where it's possible to project shortfalls and surpluses of malt for coming years. It wasn't always like this, of course. Industrialization has taken much of the romance away from the process. For instance, with hop production, hop picking machines have divested us of a singular experience that used to signal a period of significant employment for thousands of workers. George Orwell, in his hop picking diary, wrote about the experience of travelling to Kent with Cockney workers who would become migrant labour for the period between late August and early October. Even in 1931, this was a poorly paid, unskilled job. He ascribed much of its enduring popularity to the idea that for Londoners, it was good fun to be out of the city, hastening to add that, "hop-picking is in the category of things that are great fun when they are over." Full story
Home brew: 13 household uses for beer - Ottawa citizen 11-08-26 - If you can bring yourself to part ways with your favourite brew, or a least some of the cheap stuff, you’ll be surprised by beer’s many uses around the house and garden. 1. Trap slugs and snails. Place dishes or jars of beer around your garden, especially in the evening. In the morning, the slimy critters, which have been drawn by the beer’s aroma/fermentation, will have drowned. The beer can be reused until it evaporates. 2. Trap fruit flies. If you keep a compost pail in your kitchen, you will also likely have fruit flies. Place a jar or can of beer on the kitchen counter. Cover the top with plastic wrap or paper, leaving a small opening for the flies to get in. They won’t be able to get out. 3. Distract bees and wasps from your outdoor gathering. Beer placed in cups around the outskirts of your picnic or barbecue will attract bees and wasps. It’s not a long-term wasp control tactic; it’s more like placing difficult relatives at the farthest table. 4. Get rid of mice. If you don’t have a cat, a small amount of beer placed in a pail will help take care of a mouse problem, especially if you prefer to capture mice in a humane fashion. Just put an inch or so of beer in the pail, place some type of ramp, such as a piece of wood for the mice to crawl up. The mice fall into the pail and then you can remove the inebriated mice elsewhere. Full story
Asian beer production leapfrogs Germany - the drinks business 11-08-16 - The news marks the first time in 35 years that production of beer in Germany has been surpassed by another country or region. Last year, beer production in Asia rose by 5.5% compared to a fall of 5.1% in Europe, according to Italian newspaper La Repubblica, which described the results as a “deepening crisis for the German beer industry”. The analysts responsible for the findings attributed them to the “low levels of competitiveness” in the German beer industry, which was in stark contrast to its Chinese and Indian counterparts. The report implied that the German industry was having difficulty getting out of the current financial crisis, with its brands always being the pawns in foreign takeover bids. The ownership of large and historic German brands such as Holsten and Paulaner under the respective wings of Carlsberg and Heineken (which holds a controlling share in Brau Holding International with Schörghuber Ventures) was used as a case in point. The fall in domestic alcohol consumption in recent years was also given as a possible reason. Full story
Beer and cheese: A match made in hops heaven - toronto star 11-08-11 - Brie and Chablis? Get lost. Gouda and rosé? Blech. Cheddar and a strong English bitter? Roquefort and a dark, fruity Belgian ale? Now we’re talking. Wine and cheese might be a staple of party planners everywhere, but for a truly rewarding match, knowledgeable foodies should turn to beer. Whether it’s a range of flavours that can’t be found in wine, or the palate-cleansing power of carbonation, beer has a whole lot of advantages over its snootier cousin when it comes to matching cheese, according to brewers, cheese aficionados and even some sommeliers. “People will put out a red wine and a cheese. Most of the time, it ruins both,” says Scott McKenzie, the founder of George Brown College’s fromager program and a cheese consultant. (A fromager is the cheese equivalent of a sommelier.) When speaking at food shows or private events, McKenzie tells his audiences to try pairing beer, not wine, with their cheese. Most are surprised. “I just love the faces of people discovering cheese and beer is a great match. The simple mention of it makes people smile. They suddenly realize, ‘Oh, you can do that?’ It’s almost a relief,” he says. Ben Shillow, assistant sommelier at Canoe, has also been touting beer’s virtue at the table, particularly with cheese. Full story
Beer makers get focused, one variety of hops at a time - washington post 11-08-10 - Beer’s third-most-important ingredient, after water and barley, is almost as mystifying to most beer drinkers as Prohibition. But a new kind of beer has recently emerged that gives consumers an unprecedented ability to learn: the single-hop India pale ale. It’s a style that demonstrates, as Boston Beer President Jim Koch once put it, that “hops are to beer what grapes are to wine.” Like grapes, the resinous flowers of Humulus lupulus are agricultural products that come in distinctive varieties, each with its own flavors and aromas. Instead of syrah and cabernet, the beer world has Simcoe and Cascade. Most beers are brewed with a mixture of hop strains; brewers use some kinds primarily to produce a beer’s bitterness and others to add fruity, floral or herbal aromas. (Potent double and imperial India pale ales often pile them on: Founders Brewing’s Devil Dancer, for example, includes 10 varieties of hops.) Other beers, such as the 19 IPAs in the Single Hop Series from Denmark’s Mikkeller, use just one. Full story
Picaroon’s Releases Two Special Brews - canadian beer news 11-08-06 - Picaroons Traditional Ales has two new beers available, both with a unique connection to the brewery’s local community. The first is Dave’s Adventure Ale, a beer brewed and named in honour of Dave Radford, a New Brunswick pilot who has been documenting his time spent as an African safari pilot for the online NBTV programs Botswana Bound and Zambia Bound. The beer is described as “an East-coast India Pale Ale that weaves intense hop bitterness and aroma throughout a blanket of malt background,” and also features ginger, lemon and rooibos tea as added ingredients. Also about to be released is Per Capita Apricot, an “exquisite, refreshing” apricot beer created especially for Fredericton Pride 2011. Per Capita will be available at boom! nightclub during the week of Pride celebrations, August 7th to 14th. Full story
ISLAND HOPS ON BEER FESTIVAL BANDWAGON - CBC 11-08-05 - Organizers of the province's new beer festival hope to debut a beer using Island-grown hops. The first annual Prince Edward Island Beer festival is scheduled for September 24th, featuring more than 50brews including a number from the region. Campbell Webster, organizer of the festival, says a new beer from P.E.I. should be ready in time for the event. "We're talking to a group that's developing a new beer with hops grown here. So they've been working with great care over a fairnumber of years getting ready to launch a new beer," says Webster. He says patrons will be ableto choose from two tasting sessions featuring regional, national, international and micro-brewed beers. Full story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/prince-edward-island/story/2011/08/04/pei-beerfestival-584.html
Convenience store convenience has to be next step for beer, wine, liquor - toronto sun 11-07-29 - Could it be possible Ontario is ready to take a quantum leap into the 20th century in the form of convenience store beer and wine sales? According to an Angus Reid study done on behalf of the Ontario Convenience Stores Association, we are ready. In fact, 60% of those 19 or over said yes when asked if we would support the idea of allowing private retailers, like corner stores, to sell beer and wine. “Ontario voters are simply asking for more convenience — like being able to pick-up some beer for their barbecue on Canada Day,” said Dave Bryans, the association’s president. Many are also irked by the LCBO and The Beer Store monopoly in the province. For convenience store owners who’ve been pounded by the surge in gas station stores selling the same products, allowing them to sell spirits would be a huge shot in the arm. And if the province ever does move forward it has to make certain gas stations don’t get the same right, not just for that reason but selling booze at the same place you buy gas for the car you’re driving won’t sit well for a lot of people. Besides they’re making enough money as it is — at least the big ones. Full story
A crafty, local beer - national post 11-07-28 - By seeding downtown rooftops with beer ingredients, a Toronto microbrewery is giving new meaning to the term "local beer." Soon after moving in to their Argyle and Ossington location, Bellwoods Brewery owners Mike Clark and Luke Pestl approached neighbours with a simple proposal: Provide the pair with space for a roof garden, and in return they would deliver the occasional cask of free beer. Seamlessly blending the Torontonian love of urban gardening and craft brewing, it was an easy sell, and eight homes and businesses soon signed up for what became known as the City Hops program. "It's just a science project," says Mr. Clark. "But we could see it turning into something bigger." Bellwoods' rooftop hops empire includes Ossington's I Deal coffee shop and Parks&Rec, a rooftop garden atop Parts and Labour, a Parkdale restaurant and bar. By 2012, the brewers aim to install additional hop gardens on Wychwood Barns and Evergreen Brickworks, two Torontoarea community centres. Hops, it turns out, grow remarkably well in downtown Toronto. With only a minimum of watering and tending, the brewers have found their plants grow upwards of 20 feet long - nearly twice their initial expectations. Next year, once the gardens are equipped with wooden trellising, Mr. Clark expects the hops to stretch to lengths of up to 30 feet - about the length of a bus. "They just explode out of the ground," says Mr. Clark. Full story
11-07-28 - Phillips Looks to Community to Choose Charity for Benefit Brew - Canadian Beer News - Phillips Brewing is making plans for a third annual benefit beer for a local charity, and for the first time, the brewery is asking the community to help select a worthy charity to support. From the press release: Phillips will design and produce a short-run specially-crafted beer complete with a custom label for the chosen group. The campaign is aimed at both raising awareness, and providing financial support by donating the net proceeds of the benefit brew to the chosen cause. Charities can be nominated online at www.phillipsbeer.com/benefitbrew. Nominations are open for 3 weeks from August 1st-21st. On September 8th a short-list of 10 applicants will be announced, and an online vote running from September 9th-23rd (2 weeks) will determine the winner. The benefit brew will be announced on October 1st and is expected in stores by early November.
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