By some miracle, the Clown Shoes Beer / Beer Advocate story actually made it onto a local Boston tv news station. Here is the footage of tonight’s feature that appeared on Boston CBS affiliate, WBZ-TV.

Update 1: Sorry, decided to close comments on this one.

Update 2: Candice’s comments can be found here.

Here’s Part 1 of a 2-Part Tuesday edition of beer notes…breweries west of the Mississippi in this one…

Port Brewing: Above, the story of the La Cruda Porter collaboration. Informative (though a bit long and with early 90s educational video music throughout).

Jester King Craft Brewery / Mikkeller: Per the blog, “Renowned gypsy brewer Mikkel Borg Bjergsø of Mikkeller is planning on visiting Jester King in November to brew a special Texas edition of Mikkeller’s Beer Geek Brunch, which will include the addition of smoked malt and chipotle peppers.”

Odell Brewing: The brewery advises drinkers about carbonation levels in Hiveranno and Woodcut No. 5. They are intentionally released with a low carbonation level and say to age the beers if you want to wait for bottle conditioning to raise the carbonation level.

Firestone Walker: Per The Full Pint, re: one of FW’s new sour projects, “Base beer is a close relative to Solace with 35% of the malt bill being made up of Wheat Malts. The bug blend will most likely be Brett/Lactic. The beer is being housed in French Oak Wine Barrels once home to Viognier. Olalliberries were added to specific barrels.”

Fulton Beer: Sounds like the brewhouse is set to arrive this Friday…

Saint Arnold Brewing: About to release Christmas Ale in July…

Harvester Brewing: The New School Beer Blog reports that Harvester Brewing will become the first American all gluten-free brewery. Colorado’s New Planet Beer has been gluten-free for a while but I’m not sure if they are 100% gluten-free?

Marshall Brewing: Per Facebook, “Announcing Arrowhead Pale Ale – Our first ever summer seasonal! Arrowhead Pale Ale aims to quench the thirst of hot summer afternoons and warm evenings. Arrowhead is an American Pale Ale crafted to provide refreshment as a lighter, highly quaffable ale complimented by unique aromatic citrus notes that both tickle the nose and enliven the palate. Complexity, balance, and softness make Arrowhead Pale Ale a ridiculously easy drinking summer seasonal. Available on draft and in six packs June 29th.”

Bonus I: Sam Calagione dressed as a cheerleader

Bonus II: Oregon Business talks craft beer growth.

Bonus III: More on what’s happening in Wisconsin

Bonus IV: Foster’s rejected a bid on its brand from SABMiller, reportedly over $10 Billion USD…wow.

(Escondido, CA) – The news keeps coming for Stone Brewing.

As part of a video discussing the company’s recently reported $26.6 million local investment, President and Brewmaster, Steve Wagner, revealed an interesting tidbit about the brewery’s fall collaboration beer.

“One of the other cool things we’ve been able to do at Stone Farms is put some pumpkins in the ground. We planted some pumpkins that will be harvested late summer and we will be doing another collaboration beer for October release, a pumpkin ale. We’ll be doing this with Dick Cantwell of Elysian Brewing and Patrick Rue of The Bruery.”

We were tipped off to this possibility last August with the help of a Brewpublic interview with CEO, Greg Koch.

Also of note (this may or may not have been reported elsewhere already…), some of the beers made on the 10-barrel pilot system at the new Liberty Station brewery and restaurant will only be served there.

(Denver, CO) – Breckenridge Brewery takes a new brand of mockery for a test drive.

According to AdAge, Breckenridge “spent a measly $10,000 producing the parody campaign, called ‘Truth in Beervertising,’ which includes four ads that will air on Denver Fox affiliate KDVR during local news and Broncos football games. The agency is Cultivator Advertising & Design, Denver.”

Cultivator also does work for New Belgium and Great Divide Brewing.

See the other videos below.

Some videos to help pass the time…

Above, hear Tomme Arthur discuss some of special releases from The Lost Abbey on New Brew Thursday.

Below, CNN gives some coverage on the St. Louis craft beer scene.

Brooklyn Kitchen shows how to open a corked bottle of Brooklyn Local 1 with a heavy-duty knife…or a sword.

Oklahoma’s COOP Ale Works gets some airtime.

Bonus video that I can’t attach below: Harriet Brewing on a local CBS affiliate.

A few new videos to check out…

Three brewery owners visited the Fox News site early this morning to talk about how the small brewers tax reduction bill benefits America through job creation.

Portsmouth Brewery’s Tod Mott recently visited Struise where they brewed Kate the Great and Black Albert. Mott gives a tour of Struise’s facility.

Finally, the guys from NewSchoolBeer.com interview Ryan Saari of the upcoming Oregon Public House, a unique concept in which the pub is a non-profit organization and all profits go to a charity of the customer’s choice.

A few videos to start off your week…

The Stone Brewing guys shot some video for the Highway 78 collaboration beer. The beer is being released for the first time today.

Next up is an update on Heretic Brewing via the Brewing TV guys. If you’re expecting Jamil Zainasheff to brew up classic styles, you’re in for a surprise.

Finally, a local news affiliate covers the growing Indianapolis brewing scene.

(Milton, DE) – Here’s a preview of tonight’s episode of Brew Masters.

A new episode of Brew Masters airs tonight at 8pm EST on the Discovery Channel. “Ancient Ale” features an Egyptian beer named Ta Henket which is now on sale at the Rohoboth brewpub, according to the Dogfish Head Twitter account.

Per the Dogfish Head website, “Working with our archeologist friend Dr. Pat McGovern, this beer was created to incorporate the ancient ingredients and techniques described in Egyptian hieroglyphics. It was brewed to 11.4 Plato with Emmer (an ancient form of wheat) and loaves of hearth baked bread and flavored with dom-palm fruit, chamomile, and zatar. Fermentation was carried out by a native Egyptian saccharomyces yeast strain captured by Sam and Floris during a recent trip to Egypt.”

Dogfish Head Founder/Owner, Sam Calagione, added on Beer Advocate this afternoon, “We also have a place holder in our 2011 budget for an ancient Egyptian recipe we are collaborating on with our old pal Dr. Pat McGovern – this project is at the center of tonights brew master episode.”

Episode description: “Dogfish Head is about to brew a batch of ‘Chateau Jihau,’ a 9000 year-old recipe based on pottery jars recovered from a village in Northern China. Sam heads to Egypt in order to bring back to life beer from one of man’s earliest civilizations.”

Next week’s episode will feature the Eataly NYC collaboration with Mario Batali and Italian brewing partners, Leonardo Di Vincenzo and Teo Musso.

(Milton, DE) – Brew Masters returns with an “all-new” episode tonight…why do the networks say this anyway? Is it possible for an episode to be partially new?

Info and clips about tonight’s episode, Grain to Glass, can be found in my blurb from last week. It starts at 8pm EST. Meanwhile Dogfish Head lead man and Brew Masters host, Sam Calagione, is continues his media tour of sorts if you can call it that.

Last week, he made a stop over at Fox Business studios to rub elbows with anchor, Tracy Burns. This past Sunday, he was a guest on The Brewing Network’s Sunday Show. Host, Justin Crossley, briefly touched on some of the criticism that the show isn’t giving enough love to other craft beer makers. He points out that Calagione is saying all the right things in interviews; he champions the craft beer scene in the U.S. in every one of them. What the community cares about though is whether that manifests itself on the show, one watched by an estimated one million or so households each airing.

That remains to be seen with three episodes remaining in the first season.

Here’s an excerpt of the latest update, sent out tonight, from Dogfish HQ:

Big news – the 2011 Dogfish Head Beer Release Schedule has been posted! [PDF link]

What you will see all the way at the bottom is the plan to release our new ‘Brand X’ beers in November of 2011. While we aren’t ready to share all the details on these beers quite yet, we are having lots of fun testing and planning the release of them, so stay tuned.

(Milton, DE) – Just received word from Dogfish Head HQ…

From Dogfish Head’s Mariah Calagione:

‘Brew Masters’ is moving to Thursdays! Not sure of all the intricacies of TV programming (we’re sticking to beer making), but I am personally glad for the earlier time slot. Starting Thursday, Dec. 9, all new BREW MASTERS episodes will premiere Thursdays at 8 p.m. E/P. [...]

On the beer side, World Wide Stout is now out and about and Fort will be leaving the brewery and heading to wholesalers towards the end of December. As for the 2011 Beer Release schedule, I am waiting for the final okay from the rest of our team before I post that, but I am hoping to have it ready to post next week!

Both of the clips shown here are from next week’s episode, Grain to Glass. The Discovery Channel episode description reads, “When a company approaches Sam about making a beer out of cedar scraps salvaged from their hand-made surfboards, Dogfish jumps at the chance to create their first ‘cedar-fied’ beer. But, the team faces a major setback when 9,000 gallons of their signature beer, 120 Minute IPA, gets flagged by Quality Control.”

Courtesy of Discovery Channel

(Milton, DE) – Discovery Channel calls an audible.

For none-football fans, that means they’re suddenly changing things up. A new episode of Brew Masters airs tonight at 10pm EST, specifically the episode about a tomato tree beer called Portamarillo. Epic Beer implied on its blog yesterday that this could actually make it to the U.S. sometime next year.

From the Press Democrat, in “Punkin and Portamarillo,” “Sam goes to New Zealand to get the fixins for an indigenous brew [the tomato tree beer]. Meanwhile back the brewery, a whole bunch of Punkin ale might have to be dumped after it gets bottled in the wrong bottles.”

As for the buzz around last night’s episode, it was apparent that it had died down dramatically, at least on Twitter. There are fewer than 750 comments with the #BrewMasters hashtag in the last 24 hours when there were at least 3,000 during the debut episode.

I personally enjoyed “Chicha” more than “Bitches Brew” though I couldn’t help but think that I would probably tune into something else were I not a fan of beer or history.

One last note for readers in Canada per the Toronto Sun: “BrewMasters comes to the Discovery Channel on Monday, Jan. 17, and will be shown six Mondays after that, at 10 p.m. It will repeat on Fridays at 8 p.m., and Saturdays at 9 p.m.”

Please vote in the lower right to rate last night’s episode if you watched it.

Discovery Networks finally uploaded some Brew Masters videos onto Youtube.

First up (above) is a 30-second ad spot featuring Dirty Jobs’ Mike Rowe. Up second, Dogfish Head‘s Sam Calagione talks about the modus operandi of his brewery. The third video features Calagione talking with a Sony exec about the Bitches Brew concept. The last video features DFH brewers discussing the recipe for Bitches Brew.

[Ed. note: Hat tip to Jay for doing the legwork. The episode originally aired on Thursday night but appears to be re-airing Friday night at 11pm EST. Plug your zip code in here to see if your tv service provider carries BTV. If not, you still may be able to watch the episode live online.]

(Press Release)

Every entrepreneur hopes to strike it big, but the reality is that 80% of small businesses fail within the first 18 months. What if entrepreneurs from around the U.S. had the chance to get real-life advice from some of America’s best-known CEOs?

This season, “Bloomberg The Mentor” tests that concept when four small business owners receive a crash course in management and strategy from top business executives.

In the series premiere, Jim Koch, founder and chairman of The Boston Beer Company, the largest independently owned American craft brewery and brewer of award-winning Samuel Adams beers, brings his national business expertise to the co-owners of Oceanside Ale Works in California.

Mark Purciel, a former teacher, and Scott Thomas, a firefighter, initially started brewing hand-crafted ales as a hobby. In 2005, the duo co-founded Oceanside Ale Works, one of the only manual brew houses in the nation. Now, Purciel and Thomas dream of transforming their passion for beer into a nation-wide business. But without significant management experience, can Purciel and Thomas make the right decisions about scaling their business and finding a way to increase sales and distribution?

During the episode, the unconventional entrepreneurs wing it through a sales meeting with LA nightclub impresario Sam Nazarian… before finally meeting their ultimate mentor, Jim Koch, who offers the brewers some tough advice on next steps for their business.

Last month, I highlighted videos featuring Fritz Maytag, Jack McAuliffe and Michael Jackson.

This month, I’ve discovered three more worth watching. These feature Homebrewing pioneer Fred Eckhardt, Sierra Nevada Brewing’s Ken Grossman, and New Glarus Brewing’s Dan and Deb Carey. I have seen Grossman on video before somewhat frequently but this is the first extended one-on-one interview that I have seen with him. As for Eckhardt and the Careys, this is my first time seeing them on video. BrewingTV is responsible for both the Eckhardt and New Glarus videos while Celebrator Beer News did the Grossman interview. Enjoy!

(Chicago, IL) – Here’s an update on the Goose Island Bourbon County Stout variations and a few other things.

According to the brewery’s Steve Link via Beer Advocate, “We are currently planning on releasing Vanilla BCS around November 1st and Rare BCS after Thanksgiving.” Needless to say, neither of these should last long on the shelf and it is likely that many store managers will only offer them to those who specifically ask. The regular edition of Bourbon County Stout will be released in late November according to STL Hops (it’s worth clicking that link if you’re in the STL area).

…As far as the Vintage Reserve Ales line goes, the brewery has removed the release dates for Juliet, Madame Rose and Lolita from the website. As previously reported, Goose Island has had some capacity issues this year so this comes as no surprise. The good news is that, according to Facebook, Madame Rose was bottled in late September so release shouldn’t be too far down the road. Learn more about Madame Rose in the video above.

…At GABF, 312 won the gold medal in the English Style Summer Ale category and Bourbon County Brand Stout won the bronze for Barrel Aged Strong Stout.

…In addition to Goose Island IPA bottles and draft, the brewery now has approval for Honker’s Ale labels brewed at Portsmouth, NH. See my original report.

(Munster, IN and Aberdeen, SCOTLAND) – For the second time in the past week, there is news of a Three Floyds collaboration.

Three Floyds recently traveled to Scotland to brew a beer with the BrewDog crew called Bitch Please. When asked whether the beer will be shipped to the U.S. in bottles, BrewDog Managing Director, James Watt confirmed that it would be but cautioned that the amount would be pretty limited.

From the video…BrewDog Brewmaster, Martin Dickie, says that the beer uses seven different malts including Scottish oats, peated malt, Cara-Aroma and Carahell. The malt bill lends a dark appearance and it is malty and full-bodied says BrewDog Head Brewer, Stewart Bowman. Three Floyds President, Founder and Brewmaster, Nick Floyd describes the unique all-New Zealand hop mix: Green Bullet for bittering, Nelson Sauvin for aroma as well as Motueka.

Some of the beer will be dry hopped and bottled while some will be aged in Rum and Whisky casks. No release date to report as of now…

Saturday Night Schedule:

Saturday, September 18th 6:30pm MST – Beer Media Panel w/ Justin Crossley, Stan Hieronymus and Jay Brooks
Saturday, September 18th 7:30pm MST – Beer Activist Panel w/ Jacob McKean, Pete Johnson, Ashley Routson and Scott Newman-Bale

UPDATED: Click on the winners list so far here. Alternative video available here.

The Brewing Network is responsible for the great live coverage at GABF this year.

Click here to follow along with live #GABF tweets (right-click & open up new tab/window).

Click here for the Brewers Studio Pavilion videos from Thursday and Friday (featuring Charlie Papazian, Jim Koch, Ken Grossman and others).

Saturday Coverage:

Pro-Am Winners

Bronze – Robust Porter – Wormtown Brewing – Worcester, MA
Silver – ? – Rockyard Brewing – CO
Gold – Red Velvet – Eagle Rock Brewery – Los Angeles, CA

Stay tuned…immediately after the presentation, the full award winners list will be posted here (and everywhere).

Friday Archive:

International Brewing Collaborations w/ Stone, Terrapin and Norrebro Bryghus
The Brewers Feud: 21st Amendment vs. Iron Hill Brewery
You Too Can Brew w/ Charlie Papazian and Jim Koch from Sam Adams

Thursday Archive:

Sierra Nevada 30th Anniversary w/ Ken Grossman and Charlie Papazian
Sour Power w/ New Belgium, Cascade and Trinity
Sustainable Brewing w/ Hopworks, New Belgium and Sierra Nevada

Brewbound posted up a trio of videos that make up a half hour interview with Stone Brewing CEO, Greg Koch, over the past couple weeks.

Part I is found above. Part II can be found here and Part III can be found here.

Koch gives his thoughts about the state of the industry with some comments specifically aimed at new entrants into the craft beer space. It’s interesting that Koch brings up what happened to craft beer in the mid-90s (the rapid rise and fall of new breweries) because Victory Brewing‘s Bill Covaleski recently brought this up as well. With the number of new breweries bursting at the seams in 2010, inevitably, some of these breweries are looking to cash in on the growth in craft beer more so than doing it as a “passion play” as Koch calls it. Look at MillerCoors which is positioning to make a larger splash in this market as well. All of this is causing some unrest with the veterans of the industry who don’t want low-quality entrants to turn off people from the craft beer movement. Koch is careful to stay politically correct but gives a pretty solid hint as to what he thinks about a couple craft breweries in the industry.

As a craft beer drinker on the younger side, I’m still in the midst of learning about what happened in the beer industry before I was even born.

So I thought I’d take this opportunity to share a few videos that have surfaced recently with some pioneers. Perhaps you have read about these folks but you haven’t necessarily seen them talk on video so without further ado…

Above is an interview that was posted just this week with Fritz Maytag, who started Anchor Brewing over 40 years ago.

Below is Jack McAuliffe, founder of New Albion Brewery, and Ken Grossman, founder of Sierra Nevada Brewing, talking about the recent collaboration and New Albion’s place in American craft beer history.

Finally, on a slightly different note and a turn away from the contributions of brewers . . .

The third anniversary of the passing of Michael Jackson, a.k.a. The Beer Hunter, came last week. Jackson was a pioneer in the world of craft beer through his writing over the course of three decades. He even had his own brief television series (or was it straight to VHS?). Here is a link to a Youtube channel with all the videos. The first episode is embedded below.

Lots of interesting stuff in this one . . .

[9/1 Update: Here's Part II]

Thanks to @Hoptopia for alerting me to this video featuring Victory Brewing President/Brewmaster, Bill Covaleski. I’m still in the process of watching this but I’ve already picked up two interesting tidbits. First, Covaleski mentions Missouri and Arizona as two states that have been identified as ready for their beers. This would suggest that there is a possibility that, with the most recent brewery expansion, Victory beers could make their way to shelves in those two states.

Secondly, at the 16:30…tipping point talk! I alluded to the fast rise and downfall of craft beer in the mid-late 90s but failed to go into why that happened. 1996 was the “high water mark” for brewery openings in the U.S. since prohibition, according to Covaleski, and 1997 was the highest year for brewery closures. Breweries expanded too fast and lost sight of quality control. Others that had no business making beer on a production scale got into the business without the necessary skills.

This also marks Gary Vaynerchuk’s second beer video in the past month. With nearly 5,000 views and 300+ comments on the last beer video, it’s interesting to see the wine/tech guru giving craft beer more play airtime and great exposure with the wine-drinking crowd. Vaynerchuk sells beer at his family’s store, Wine Library, in New Jersey.

(Paso Robles, CA) – In the video above, Firestone Walker Brewmaster, Matt Brynildson, talks Velvet Merlin.

Earlier this summer, the brewery hoped for a Velvet Merlin launch on September 1st but Brynildson mentions that it has been pushed back to October 1st.

The brewery has formally adopted a “new seasonal program” in which Velvet Merlin is positioned as the fall/winter seasonal and Solace as the spring/summer seasonal. According to Marketing Manager, Jamie Smith, these will be the only two seasonals.

More on Velvet Merlin including the label shot here. The brewery also recently announced that it is planning for expansion of its portfolio to the East Coast market.

Digging a bit deeper into the sale and the companies that North American Breweries just purchased . . .

North American Breweries, part of the KPS Capital Fund group, announced that it acquired Independent Brewers United yesterday for an undisclosed amount. With the acquisition of Pyramid Breweries costing IBU $25.7 million back in 2008 (Rochester Biz Journal), this deal, with the addition of Magic Hat, very well may have toppled the $50 million mark.

In a statement sent to industry colleagues this afternoon, Magic Hat Co-Founder and President, Alan Newman, said the following:

“I presume most of you know by now that our financial partner, Basso Capital, has sold their majority share of Magic Hat/IBU to North American Brewers/KPS – and with that transaction, I have stepped down from the organization to pursue other activities.

While I suspect this will bring continued change to our past business, and the beer business in general . . . I remind you all that change is hardly a new concept for us. We have built our business on constant evolution.”

News first surfaced with a Beer Business Daily report two weeks ago. [Ed. note: Check out my own analysis at the time here.] After news of the sale leaked, Newman confirmed with a local Vermont TV station that Basso was considering giving up its stake in the company. Basso signed on with Magic Hat in early 2006.

A source close to IBU said that when the first reports came out that IBU was selling to NAB, he was not surprised. “IBU was purported to be seeking capital and NAB was purportedly seeking additional volume to better utlilize their Rochester Brewery capacity, a national sales organization and West Coast brewing capability/capacity.”

As Newman alluded, change has been an undercurrent that has driven IBU since its formation. North American Breweries CEO, Rich Lozyniak, says of Newman, “I made a pledge to him we’d try to keep the culture intact.” The sentiment online in forums such as Beer Advocate, however, reveals that core beer drinkers feel that the Magic Hat and Pyramid brands have lost their culture and identity. Beer Advocate Co-Founder, Jason Alström, asks, “How many great beers have been axed to bring forth middle of the road drinkable ales?”

Pyramid Breweries went from 30% year-to-year growth in 2005 to an 8% decline this past year (New Brewer May/June). To be fair, the Pyramid brand, in 2005, was coming off of some weaker trends earlier in the decade and made some good marketing moves in 2004. Some of the recent dropoff is being driven by double-digit sales declines in its flagship brand, Pyramid Haywire Hefeweizen in certain channels.

IRI grocery sales figures reveal an 18% drop in case sales year-to year for much of Q1 2010. A former employee says, “The philosophy that the marketing dept had in regard to always changing and reinventing the line-up was a mistake in my eyes. It caused confusion at retail. A prime example is what happened with Pyramid Hefeweizen. Changing its name to Haywire was its undoing. Sometimes they just tried to be too clever.” Pyramid introduced new branding around its products in 2009.

Magic Hat has been faring better than its sister company over the past few years. The brewery has gone from 29% growth in 2006 to 21% this past year, paced by growth in its flagship, Magic Hat #9. Growth was at 16% at the supermarket level for much of Q1 according to IRI data. However, this declining growth comes at a time when the company has entered several new markets: Wisconsin, Illinois, Georgia, Minnesota, Florida, Texas and California.

Some former employees blame the underperforming growth to a lack of leadership: “The biggest change was that Mike Brown moved from Sales Manager of Magic Hat to President of Pyramid. Mike was the guiding force that kept the boat steering in the right direction. He gave a great sales perspective to the marketing and art department. Once he left, they went crazy with changes.”

The deal certainly marks the end of an era for Magic Hat and Pyramid. Harry Schuhmacher, who originally reported the rumored deal, reported yesterday that in addition to Newman, Magic Hat CEO, Martin Kelly, is also out as part of the acquisition. Newman, who went by the title of Conductor of Cosmic Symphonies (even in official gov’t documents), co-founded Magic Hat in 1994. Kelly, meanwhile has served as the President, Chief Executive Officer and Director of Magic Hat since 2004. Kelly was previously an executive for Pyramid from 1999-2004.

Much thanks to @Hoptopia for bringing this to my attention. As of this posting, this episode, #899, isn’t even uploaded to the Wine Library TV website yet. Gary Vaynerchuk has featured craft beer a couple times on his popular internet wine show and each one is entertaining. This one, however, is extra special because it features one of our craft beer-loving Twitter comrades, @SchneiderMike. In this episode, the pair taste Great Divide and beer from a nanobrewer, White Birch Brewing!

(Woodridge, IL) – The Pabst Brewing deal finally closed last week. Greek businessman, Dean Metropoulos is now owner of third largest brewery in the U.S. More from various media reports below . . .

From Reuters who broke the news on Friday:

“Investor C. Dean Metropoulos closed a deal to buy Pabst Brewing Co on Friday for an undisclosed sum from the California-based charitable organization that owned it, said Lou Giraudo, who was chairman of the board of Pabst prior to the sale.

Giraudo declined to discuss price other than to say that previously published figures of about $250 million were incorrect. Metropoulos was not immediately available for comment.”

From the New York Times:

“The company said it has more than $500 million in annual sales.

Mr. Metropoulos is a consumer-products veteran whose previous jobs have included running International Home Foods, which sells Chef Boyardee and Bumble Bee canned tuna, and Pinnacle Foods, which sells Swanson frozen dinners and Vlasic pickles.”

From Bloomberg:

“The deal was contingent on renegotiating a long-term agreement with MillerCoors LLC, the U.S. joint venture between Molson Coors Brewing Co. and SABMiller Plc, Metropoulos said. Pabst contracts production of its beer to MillerCoors, and the existing accord was set to expire in 2014, according to regulatory filings.”

More, of course, in the video interview above.

(Monterey, CA) – Last week, the Monterey Beer Fest put on the first-ever short film festival on the subject of beer, aptly called the Short Pour Film Fest. The winner and runner-up were recently. Above is the winning video, Swagger Stagger, filmed in San Francisco. Below is the runner-up from the Beer Nation folks.

(Harrisburg, PA) – Troegs Brewing has posted a couple interesting blog updates over the last week.

First, what’s going on this week? The brewery is releasing Scratch 31 for Philly Beer Week. Here is the beer description: “#31 is a classic IPA recipe with generous amounts of Apollo, Cascade, and Citra hops. New to us on this go are the Citra hops which are known for their intense grapefruit aroma and flavor. I think you’ll agree that they definitely do the job on giving that classic American IPA citrus aroma. Look for it on tap or on the bar at Philly Beer Week, June 4-12.”

As far as hops go, Citra is coming up more and more in beer descriptions.

In the video above is a beer that will be coming down the road: Troegs Splinter Blue. John Trogner describes the brew as having a wheat beer base with cherries aged in oak barrels. Brettanomyces, lactobacillus and pediococcus add a funky character to it.

The Splinter Series beers come in limited-release large-format bottles. Bottle-conditioning on these could take a couple months according to Trogner. No release date has been announced. The brewery also received approval for Splinter Black a while ago.

Bell’s Brewery has big plans in its future. Larry Bell mentions toward the later part of the video above that he is currently discussing a new brand concept with his staff for one. The bigger story . . . Bell reveals that the brewery will undergo a $12-14 million expansion in the fall complete with the installation of a new 200-barrel brewhouse.

Kalamabrew reported on a $2.5 million expansion of the Cafe section in March.

Note: the above video comes courtesy of Belmont Party Supply.

Saison du BUFF begins hitting stores today. It’s hellaciously herbaceous.

[4/30 Update: AleSmith reported that they will be shut down on Saturday. From Facebook, "Sad news for our AleSmith fans... we will be closed tomorrow due to the Health Dept! Please be patient as we work to comply with the regulations they are requesting of us! Thanks for your patience and support of AleSmith Brewing Company!"]

Lots to cover today. In this edition: Dark Lord, Anchor, Lost Abbey and Duvel . . .

One last ode to Dark Lord Day 2010 . . . here are the Youtube videos uploaded over the course of the week. Not a ton there but you might see yourself in one of them.

The big news item of the week was the sale of Anchor Brewing to the Griffin Group. Fritz Maytag and new Co-Owner Keith Greggor made a radio appearance in which they discussed the sale and the history of the brewery. Ownership won’t actually fully change hands for many months. Hat tip to Jay Brooks for the link. [You'll need Javascript enabled to play the audio below.]

Port Brewing/The Lost Abbey was paid a surprise inspection after an anonymous complaint that the brewery was offering samples without a food prep license. Since that is against the liquor code in California the brewery must now halt draft tastings as it undergoes an even more renovation of its somewhat-recently renovated tasting room. Tough break and there are several other local breweries that could be possible targets as well. I’m actually unclear as to whether any other breweries had similar visits yet but hopefully the inspections don’t spread. Patrons are still allowed to buy bottles at the brewery and drink them there.

Finally, Duvel Moorgat announced that it is bringing back Duvel Triple Hop. The reason? The brewery said that they would make it again if its Facebook page amassed 10,000 fans and it did. Here’s a link to the English translation of the article.

Note: you may need to enable flash or javascript to play the video above.

It’s funny that right after CBS featured craft beers on its morning show, NBC did the same exact thing. Above is a craft beer segment recently featured on the Today Show. Jay Brooks always has some interesting commentary when it comes to these segments though, as long they don’t butcher the terminology too badly, I’m in overwhelming favor of craft beer coverage in the mainstream.

Note: you may need to enable flash or javascript to view the video above.

GQ Magazine recently selected 50 beers to try before you die. CBS invited the magazine’s editor to bring some of the picks onto its morning show for a taste. The video and article both went online on Friday. Allagash White and Oskar Blues Dale’s Pale Ale were a couple of the selections that were featured as part of the segment.

(Milton, DE) – ‘Robot Brewery Tour,’ a short film starring Dogfish Head‘s Sam Calagione and actor/musician Will Oldham premiered at the 2010 Off-Centered Film Fest at the Alamo Drafthouse in Austin, Texas on Saturday, April 17th.

This film stars the musician and actor Will Oldham as a reporter and brewery founder Sam Calagione as a robot. It’s a brewery tour film wrapped around a dystopian vision of a near future in which robots have taken over Dogfish Head and reduced our diverse and colorful American craft brewing landscape to a monochromatic world of a single commoditized generic beer. Scary stuff!

This story almost came to life here in the U.S. during the 1970s until small, independent craft breweries, like Dogfish Head and so many others, revitalized the domestic beer scene.

Will Oldham is a Kentucky-based singer, musician and actor who has performed under a few variations of the Palace name, including Palace Brothers, Palace Songs, Palace Music, and simply Palace. He is currently touring under the Bonnie Prince Billy moniker and has performed at Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats at least twice in the past decade – most recently in April of 2010 when ‘Robot Brewery Tour’ was shot on location at Dogfish’s Milton, Delaware brewery. Want to read more about Will? Check out this article from The New Yorker.

(Lovell, ME) – It’s been nearly 18 months since the first video of the Ebenezers’ Pub Cellar surfaced (from the great folks at Here for the Beer). Chris Lively, who runs this little gem in rural Maine, has procured what appears to be a mostly Belgian beer collection. An impressive cellar it is with all the antique/decades-old bottles and it is just getting better and better . . .

Brewpublic shot the video. I’ve attached Part II because it’s much longer and more stuff is showcased. Here’s Part I which runs for 2 minutes.

You may remember that I just posted another cellar video recently, a collection of much more modern bottles and American-brewed stuff that you’ve read about here.

A commenter linked to this 40 min. interview with Mikkel from Mikkeller. This is one of the more candid interviews I’ve seen with a brewer because it doesn’t revolve around tasting beers during the interview.

He reveals that he’s a part-time school teacher and says he exports 85% of his beer. There are also some candid remarks about his “hate-love” relationship with RateBeer beginning at the 21 minute mark. Lots of interesting stuff.

From left: Bill Covalevski, Sam Calagione, Greg Koch (jnpstudiosblog.com)

(Orange County, CA) – Remember the buzz surrounding the “I am a Craft Brewer” video? There is another video coming and this one will be MUCH BIGGER.

[4/8 Update: According to Redtail Media, this will be a "high end coffee table book with a feature length DVD, documentary of all the interviews and behind the scenes of the photoshoots."]

This has floated under the radar for two months; there is only one mention of the project by name online and it is from early February. According to Jeffrey Neal, a photographer working on the project:

“Last Wednesday I headed up to San Francisco to start shooting this project with Redtail Media called the American Craft Brewer. I can not give all the details of this project yet but trust me you will be hearing a lot about this. The basic idea is to put together a photo essay and video that tells the story of the craft brewers in America.”

Take a peak at Neal’s website. The portraits he is taking of those in the industry look excellent so far (if not, dare I say, “stunning”): Link 1, Link 2, Link 3, Link 4.

Neal started shooting in Northern California, taking shots of the folks at Russian River Brewing, Lagunitas Brewing, Sierra Nevada Brewing, 21st Amendment, Magnolia and Bear Republic. Since his initial post, Neal’s Twitter feed reveals that he’s visited The Bruery, Stone Brewing (while Sam and Bill were there making Saison du BUFF), Alesmith, Pizza Port and Ballast Point.

Sounds like more of a California craft beer video than a craft beer video, right? Well, hopefully that will change since Redtail Media was soliciting brewers for the project at the Brewers Conference today. That pic also indicates that this is going to be a multi-volume project.

The IAACB video was a huge step because it was probably the most polished video we had ever seen featuring many craft brewers. That said, the video consisted largely of scripted one-liners and short phrases. It sounds like this video is going to do a lot more storytelling. Will it turn into a full-length feature? Not necessarily but I wouldn’t be surprised if this turned into a mini-documentary. Redtail has produced a number of videos for the CraftBeer.com site and Stone Brewing. They and JNP Studios are funding the project.

Below, Peter Zien of AleSmith Brewing smashes a perfectly good bottle of AleSmith Speedway Stout for the upcoming video. The second one features Jeff Bagby(?) spraying a bottle of beer at Pizza Port Carlsbad.

Oh, what the hell . . . this blog is to inform and entertain, right? Here is another beer video. This time, BA GCurlow, shows off his cellar and what a collection it is!

(Chicago, IL) – Fantastic video featuring the making of next week’s official Craft Brewers Conference 2010 beer, Heartwood Symposium Ale, from the Hopcast gang. I hope this gets played at the conference.

Stone Brewing‘s fourth and final part of the Nogne O/BrewDog documentary is up. You can head over to Vimeo to see the whole version in widescreen now.