I’m sure you’ll be able to find at least one beer event in your area. and if you don’t see one listed on this handy guide and calendar it’s easy enough to make your own event. you could get a selection of different beers, invite your friends over and have a night of tasting. or you could visit one of the 1600 breweries around the country for a tour. or you could just have a night out with pizza and some tasty beer.

hopefully you won’t have the problem that the crazy “city name beer week” events like San Francisco, San Diego and Philadelphia create which is back to back to back events or multiple events on the same night that are “must attend or you’ll miss it”. it’s a lot of fun to have so many things to choose from but we’re happy that it’s only once a year.

Links:
here is the resolution from the 11th Congress.
find an event in your area.
video of the resolution 1297 being past. [snooze]

join us for National Home Brew Day May 7, 2011 where people from all over the world show the art of making home brew.

there is no better way to learn about brewing beer then to brew beer with people that know how to brew. every brewer that we know is more than happy to have you come over to watch, stir the mash, clean the kettle or man the grill. be sure to bring your favorite craft beer to share because a brew day is a long day.

this year the American Homebrewers Association (AHA), which organizes the Big Brew celebration, selected three recipes for 2011: a traditional English version of an India Pale Ale, a Wit, and a Porter. the three recipes can be found here.

Homebrewers who would like to register their Big Brew event still have time to do so online. Or, those looking to participate, learn the basics of the hobby or simply enjoy the camaraderie of homebrewing can find a local site to visit on Saturday. most of the events around the country will start at noon. but check with your host for the exact times.

for more information, links, and recipes visit the Brewers Association page about Big Brew day.

Looking for the link the BNA5 party? here you go: www.Justin.tv/brewingnetwork

this just in….

With the help of Gail and Steve from Beer by Bart, Mike Condie and The Trappist, a memorial for the beer community has been scheduled for this Sunday, March 1, at 1:00 p.m. at the Trappist in Oakland, specifically at at 460 8th Street in Oakland, near the 12th Street BART station.

I’m sure everyone will have a fun story to tell. we’ll try to capture what is appropriate. if you need more details Jay has them here.

Everyone is posting or twitter about Bill Brand the beer writer from the Oakland Tribune. He didn’t make it. February 8th after a dinner and beer event at the 21a he got crashed by a train. What sucks is that I walk by that intersection nearly every day and know from first hand experience that you can’t always hear what is rolling by. The train doesn’t make a lot of noise by design. It’s bell is suffering from the doppler effect. You just have to pay attention.

ShaunO has a picture from Friday the 6th during opening day pub crawl for SF Beer Week. it was taken at Magnolia. Bill on on the left.

links:
http://www.ibabuzz.com/bottomsup/2009/02/20/sad-news/
http://www.brookstonbeerbulletin.com/dammit-bill-brand-passes-away-in-the-night/
http://www.insidebayarea.com/localnews/ci_11748243

The Chicago Tribune reports that The president, knowing the importance of presidential beer liking, wisely replied that he’s “always up for a beer.” and why wouldn’t he be is the question? just because the guy is the leader of the free world doesn’t mean that he doesn’t have a six pack of something awesome in his fridge to enjoy at the end of the day. Remember Roosevelt was delivered some of the first beer at the end of Prohibition where he declared “I believe this is a good time to have a beer.”

Link

From the article:

Graham Kent of London wrote: “I cannot pass over the unforgivable use by a serious writer on wines and spirits of ‘whiskey’ to refer to Scotch whisky.’’ He goes on to say: “I am afraid I found the constant misspelling of the product made your article quite unreadable. It is exactly the same as if you had called it ‘gin’ all the way through or were to describe Lafite as Burgundy. It is simply a basic error that a reputable writer should not make.’’

It’s nice to know that we are the only guys on the interweb that drop the wrong facts.

Link

Anheuser-Busch Cos Inc accepted a sweetened $52 billion takeover bid from Belgium-based InBev NV NV, creating the world’s largest beer maker and placing an iconic U.S. company into foreign hands.

Ending a month-long standoff, InBev, which makes Stella Artois and Beck’s, agreed to pay $70 per share in cash for the maker of Budweiser, up from its original unsolicited bid of $65 per share, both companies said on Monday. The
improved offer marked a 27 percent premium to Anheuser’s record-high stock price in October 2002.

The deal, which InBev and analysts expect to gain regulatory approval, would be the largest cash transaction in history, according to research firm Dealogic and the second- biggest ever foreign takeover of a U.S. company after Vodafone Group Plc’s $60.3 billion acquisition of AirTouch Communications in 1999, according to Thomson Reuters data.

The combined Anheuser-Busch InBev would have about $36.4 billion in annual net sales, with 40 percent coming from the United States, and would brew about a quarter of the world’s beer.

link

first run of beer made by the 21st Amendment. it’s kinda stunning to see.

evidently ShaunO took down his video.

While it looks like a big win, there is actually some bad news here. That is brewpubs and micros closing for whatever reason. Comparing 2007 with 2006 there were 12 less brewpub and micro breweries closures which is 40 versus 52. Added up that means that 90 places closed in the last two years. On the positive side during the same time frame 94 new places opened in 2006 along with 82 openings in 2007. Added together 176 places opened. An overall growth of 86 new pubs to haunt or hold court.

In other news some things stay the same. Between 2006 and 2007 there were 20 large brewers and 23 other non craft brewers. Which we believe to be the same as the year before and the year before that.

Get all raw the stats right here.