BIG BREW 2001



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The Official Newsletter of the Cloudy Town Brewers

July 2002



Next Meeting

Wednesday July 10, 2002

8:00 P.M. at

Granite City Food & Brewery

Please bring anything you want to enter in the campout competition so we can judge and determine the one entry per club per category.

Meeting Minutes

Thanks to Granite City Food and Brewery for hosting our June meeting.

We discussed the Baker’s grand opening. Baker’s has been very receptive to us promoting the homebrewing and club there. They one thing at Baker’s we all would like to see improved is the yeast selection. We would like to put together a list of standard yeast strains. It was suggested that we recommend that Baker’s carry the Wyeast pitchable tubes.

Competitions

AHA National Homebrewers Conference - Big Texas Toast! Was held on June 20 2002 - June 22 2002. Quality Ale & Fermentation Fraternity (QUAFF), of San Diego, CA. won Homebrew Club of the Year. Curt Hausam, Strange Brew, Salem, OR won Homebrewer of the Year. Mark Densel, QUAFF, of Ocean Side, CA, won Meadmaker of the Year. Wayne Beckerman Hudson Valley Homebrewers, Stone Ridge, NY, won Cidermaker of the Year.

From Minnesota Scott Northius, Brew Rats, Champlin took the gold in Brown Ale (Category 10) and Steve Piatz, Minnesota Home Brewers Association (MhBA); Eagan won the bronze in Lambic & Belgian Sour Ale (Category 20).

For a complete list of competitions visit the Events & Calendar on the AHA’s web site at .

Club Only Competitions

|AUGUST 2002 - American Lager Competition |

|Hosted by Dave Houseman and the Beer Unlimited Zany Zymurgists |

|(BUZZ) of Malvern, PA |

|Category 1 American Lager |

|SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2002 - Strong Belgian Ale Competition |

|Hosted by Mike Moranz and the Minnesota |

|Homebrewers Association of Minneapolis, MN |

| |

|Category 18 Strong Belgian Ale |

|NOVEMBER/DECEMBER 2002 - Fruit & Spice Beer Competition |

|Hosted by Guy Ruth and the Dukes |

|of Ale of Albuquerque, NM |

| |

|Categories 21 & 22 Fruit Beer and |

|Spice/Herb/Vegetable Beer |

|JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2003- Bitter & English Pale Ale Competition |

|Hosted by Leo Vitt and the Minnesota |

|Timberworts of Rochester, MN |

| |

|Category 4 Bitter & English Pale Ale |

Tommy Z Generosity Award

Here are the point totals through June 2002.

|Erik Nelson |6 Points |

|Phil Thomas |4 Points |

|Darin Dorholt |3 Points |

|Chris Lusena |3 Points |

|James & Jean Michael |2 Points |

|Tom Zupanc |2 Points |

|Mike Esplan |1 Point |

|Keith Johnson |1 Point |

|Larry Nusbaum |1 Point |

|Charles Rice |1 Point |

|Jeff Saranpaa |1 Point |

Interclub Campout

The annual Interclub campout will be held August 2, 3, and 4, 2002 at Collinwood County Park in Cokato MN. The host for this year will be Minnesota Home Brewers Association. The competition host will be the Prairie Homebrewing Companions. Any club is welcome and must attend to enter the competition.

The Styles for the Competition are as follows:

• Open Pils (BJCP 1a, 2a and 2b)

• Open Belgian (BJCP Styles 18, 19 & 20 all sub-styles)

• Porter (BJCP Style 15)

• Session Beers (Any beer with 1.040 or less Original Gravity)

One entry per style per club. Since the campout is before the August meeting we need to judge anything you want to enter for the campout competition. The Best of Show winner will receive the coveted "Master of Malt" award once again.

July is American Beer Month

Celebrate American brewing history and support American breweries during American Beer month. July is American Beer month and we ask that you enjoy the great beers that this country produces. For events and ideas on how to celebrate American Beer Month please visit .

Benton County Fair

Once again this year the Benton County Fair is holding a homebrew competition. Preregistration forms must be received by August 2. Preregistration is not required but saves time on open entry day August 6. The competition is broken into two classes Ales and Lagers. There is also a wine competition. If anyone is interested please contact James Michael for an entry form.

Cloudy Town Brewers Mugs & Shirts

The Cloudy Town Brewer mugs are now available. The mug has wider base in a gray color with the club logo stamped in brown and green hop ring decal. They are available to club members for $10 and non-members for $12. Please contact Tom Zupanc if interested.

We have cream-colored T-shirts that are screen printed with the club logo. They are $12 for a club member and $15 for a non-member. We also have a few embroidered polo shirts that are $22 for a member and $25 for a non-member.

CTB Embroidery

Submitted By Tim Fuerstenberg

For anyone interest in getting our new Cloudy Town Brewer's logo embroidered onto their favorite garment, shirt, sweater or jacket (sorry they can't do hats), please bring your item(s) to our next meeting. The cost of the logo is $10 per item. If you need more information please contact Tim Fuerstenberg.

Autumn Brew Review

The Minnesota Craft Brewers Guild and the Minneapolis Downtown Council are pleased to present the second annual Autumn Brew Review. It will be held on September 7, 2002 from 1 to 7 p.m. at Peavy Plaza, Minneapolis.

Tickets go on sale July 15th on for $20 in advanced. You get a commemorative glass and an unlimited supply of fresh beer samples for breweries and brew pubs.

New this year is the Autumn Homebrew Review, an AHA sanctioned homebrew competition organized by the Minnesota Home Brewers Association. For more information on the Autumn Brew Review and the Autumn Homebrew Review please see .

Minnesota Brewing closes

From

Submitted by Darin Dorholt

Former Schmidt brewery closes after 150 years; Grain Belt brand may survive

JUNE 25, 2002 - The debt-ridden Minnesota Brewing Co, one of the last old-line regional breweries, shut down operations Monday.

Minnesota Brewing Chief Executive Officer Jim Freeman called Monday a sad day in the St. Paul plant's history. German settlers first made beer on the site of the former Jacob Schmidt brewery in 1855.

Ruth Suttles, a 22-year veteran of the bottling line, said she was operating the pasteurizer when production was halted. "All the cans are still in there, everything just stopped," she said.

Although the brewery faced $14 million in debts, workers were surprised by the swift action. Minnesota Brewing filed for bankruptcy protection in February, and there were hopes of a turnaround. However, the brewery couldn't keep up with production orders for its largest customer, the owners of Mike's Hard Lemonade. Mike's was made under contract at the St. Paul plant.

The brewery recently employed up to 160 full-time workers during peak summer months. An ethanol plant, built in 1999 with the help of state subsidies and designed to save the brewery by sharing overhead expenses, will remain open. It employs 14 people. It was "Now all Minnesota has left is a stinky ethanol plant near downtown St. Paul," said Jay Mitzuk, a brewery worker since 1972.

The brewery's best-selling brand, Grain Belt Premium, may survive. Mark Stutrud, founder of St. Paul-based Summit Brewing Co., said he would be interested in acquiring the Grain Belt label if it is priced reasonably. New Ulm-based August Schell Brewing Co. also has expressed some interest.

"It's a sad state of affairs," Stutrud said of Monday's plant shutdown. Stutrud pointed out that plants such as Minnesota Brewing as huge compared to Summit. They were built in an era when regional beers such as Grain Belt, Schmidt and Hamm's had large market shares. When Budweiser, Miller and Coors took hold as national beers, the old regional plants were left with too much unused capacity, Stutrud said.

World Beer Cup

The Association of Brewers held the awards ceremony of the World Beer Cup on June 12, 2002 in Aspen, Colorado. Minnesota winners are Vine Park Brewing Company, St. Paul, MN who took a bronze in English-Style Brown Ale (Category 52) with their Walnut Brown Ale and Summit Brewing Company, St. Paul, MN who took a bronze in Robust Porter with their Summit Great Northern Porter.

Japanese tastes-like-beer drink sparks price war

From St. Cloud Times and Associated Press

Submitted by James Michael

Thanks to a tax loophole, Happoshu or ‘fizzy liquor,’ is almost half the price

TOKYO (AP) – Beer has gone flat in Japan.

Once the mainstay of factory workers after a hard day’s work and the social cement of the office crowd, beer is quickly losing its loyal following – and not because Japanese don’t relish tossing back a cold one.

Thanks to a tax loophole, happoshu – a new, low-alcohol beverage that looks and tastes like beer - is almost half the price.

That happoshu has stolen 30 percent of the beer market underscores how economic hard times are tightening purse strings even at the expense of a drinking tradition dating to 1876, when German brewmasters helped found Japan’s first brewery.

“If the price were the same, I’d take real beer every time,” said Motohiro Suzuki, a self-described “everyday beer drinker,” as he cracked open a can of happoshu on his walk home from work. “But if it costs more, why drink it?”

War heating up

Cost-conscious consumers sent beer shipments tumbling 12 percent last year while happoshu shipments soared 42 percent. Now beer’s No. 1 rival is getting even cheaper as Japan’s brewers wage a happoshu price war that’s heating up just in time for the summer drinking season.

Sapporo fired the latest shot last week, dropping the price of one happoshu offering by the equivalent of 8 cents to $1.04 for a 12-ounce can. That compares with $1.73 for Sapporo’s bottom-rung beer.

Sapporo’s cuts matched recent ones at rivals Suntory, Kirin and Asahi.

Happoshu, which means “fizzy liquor” in Japanese, is the unlikely product of Japan’s heavily regulated economy. It was first introduced in 1994 by Suntory as a way of dodging a hefty tax on beer, which the government defines as containing 66.7 percent malt. The tax accounts for up to half a beer’s price.

Happoshu skimps on malt and loads up on the less esteemed ingredients of corn syrup, rice or sugar, thereby qualifying for a much lower tax. All the major brewers quickly introduced their own brands.

Hard sell

At first, it was a hard sell in a country that prides itself on quality brew and where beer is ubiquitous – from rooftop beer gardens at upscale department stores to street-side vending machines that cater to housewives and students.

But as the economy worsened – unemployment stands at record highs of about 5 percent – consumers gradually lapped up happoshu’s refreshingly low price.

Beer companies spurred sales by making happoshu’s initially lighter, sweeter taste more bitter like beer. They also rolled out hip promotions targeting young people – such as one TV spot for Suntory that features Kotaro Koizumi, the sporty 23-year-old son of Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi.

By 2000, happoshu accounted for 22 percent of the beer market, and some analysts say it could bubble up to 40 percent this year, especially with prices falling.

Beer companies hope the price wars won’t last long. Happoshu’s profit margins are razor thin compared to beer, and Japan’s brewers have all seen earnings erode.

Marauders

From St. Cloud Times Earthweek

Submitted by Bruce LeBlanc

Tea plantation workers in India's Assam state are being terrorized by herds of rampaging wild Asiatic elephants that storm into villages to guzzle homemade beer, then destroy mud and thatch huts in drunken rampages. The Indo-Asian News service reported that the elephant raids are occurring in many parts of northern Assam, where people traditionally brew rice beer at home.

The smell of the fermentation is said to attract the animals from the forest into populated areas. Assam is home to at least 5,500 of India's total elephant population of around 10,000.

Bin Laden beer banned

From

Submitted by James Michael

Romanian drinkers say it was 'better, cheaper'

JULY 1, 2002 - The sale of Bin Laden beer in the Romanian town of Mizil has been banned because local officials found it in bad taste.

Local residents aren't happy, claiming they are proud of the beer that they think is better than market rivals -- and is also cheaper.

The beer produced at a local brewery was sold only in the town's pubs and bars.

"I know it was illegal but it was ours," one drinker told the Romanian National newspaper. "And it was very good and cheaper than any others. We used to be proud we were the only ones to drink this stuff."

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