On Saturday 26 November 2011, the 24th edition of Simei, the International Exhibition of Machinery for Wine making and Bottling, and

The craft beer movement, pioneered by American microbrewers who have been making waves in the mainstream beer market with their unconventional beers for years, now has numerous followers in other parts of the world. In Mexico, a small but growing group of sixteen brewers are spearheading change there. Facing the seemingly all-powerful goliaths of the Mexican brewing industry, they have formed an organization named Asociación de Cerveceros Mexicanos. The primary goal of the craft brewers is to introduce Mexican consumers (annual per capita consumption: 60.56 liters or 16 gallons) to the diversity of beer as a global beverage, whether it is a wheat beer, altbier or ale aged in tequila barrels – and they have met with success. BRAUWELT International spoke with Rodolfo Andreu of Cervecería Primus, who, together with Jesús Briseño of Cervecería Minerva and Jaime Andreu, also of Cervecería Primus, operate a beer bar called el Depósito in the heart of Mexico City, where they offer approximately one hundred beers from all over the world including beers they have brewed themselves.

Producers of food and beverages expect their industrial floors to remain hygienic over many years despite chemical and mechanical influences. The German manufacturer Argelith Bodenkeramik H. Bitter GmbH has specialized in this market niche and has been meeting its requirements for decades.

Awarding contracts for the manufacture and installation of brewing systems through a public tendering process is common in the brewing industry. The structure for housing the equipment is equally as important, but is often either already in existence or in the planning phase along with the rest of the brewery. In this latter case, the architect is most often directly commissioned by the builder or the investors and works precisely according to their plans on the project. The client inevitably receives only one creative design solution for the planning budget, which can more or less be modified as required. For whatever reason, the possibility of inviting submissions for the building designs in the form of a competition is rarely considered.

In both area and population, Brazil is one of the largest countries in the world. With a total area of 8,547,404 km2 Brazil occupies almost half of the continent and shares a border with almost all of the other countries in South America: Argentina, Bolivia, Columbia, French Guyana, Guyana, Suriname, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay and Venezuela. The population was slightly under the 200 million mark in 2010 and is generally quite young. The average age is 27.4 years: 31.8 percent are children 14 years old and younger, 19.4 percent are between the ages of 15 and 24, while 43.2 percent are adults above the age of 25. Four out of five Brazilians live in cities, which have shown rapid growth and steady economic development. The consumers of tomorrow are growing up here, which makes Brazil an interesting market for the brewing industry, since the per capita consumption is open-ended and still harbors potential for growth. This bodes well for the Brazilian beer market in the years to come.

Many a brewer I have heard saying: “When I am thirsty I will have a beer. When I am feeling queasy, I will have a schnaps. But I’ve never felt so sick as to feel like having a glass of water.” If this is true, they cannot have contributed much to the spirits industry’s growth this past decade. In total spirits represent around 9 percent of total alcohol volume. Consumption has grown 1.8 percent per annum on average. This was slower than beer at some 3.4 percent but ahead of wine at 1.2 percent. Which just goes to show: brewers know how to move with the flow.

The seventh European Beer Star (EBS) held in 2010 was a great success: An expert panel consisting of 88 jury members from 21 countries assessed 955 beers from more than 34 countries and awarded gold, silver and bronze medals in 44 different categories – from German-style Kellerbier, Bohemian-style pilsner and various Hefeweizen specialties to English ale, stout and herb and spice beer. Apparently, there had never been so many participating breweries and so many different breweries from different countries that made it into the winner lists.

Contrary to popular belief, non-alcoholic beer is not always isotonic. This is the conclusion based on the research conducted by M. Krahl, W. Back and T. Becker of the Institute for Brewing and Beverage Technology, Technische Universität München, Center of Life and Food Sciences Weihenstephan. A beverage is only considered isotonic if it contains a certain quantity of carbohydrates, measured as residual extract. This residual extract can be obtained through numerous methods and does not result solely from an arrested fermentation process, but may also be achieved using a combination of methods. Even beers which fulfill the requirement of 0.0 % alcohol by volume can be isotonic.

The Brewers Association released its annual lists reporting the top 50 brewing companies in the country, based on 2010 beer sales volume. The two lists are the Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies, comprising small and independent craft brewers as defined by the BA (annual production of beer less than 6 million barrels, independent brewers, traditional brewing) and the Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies. Thirty-six of the top 50 brewing companies are small and independent craft brewing companies.

They don’t often build large scale modern breweries in Western Europe anymore. Nevertheless, the authors of this article, both teaching at The Scandinavian School of Brewing in Copenhagen, submitted this two-part article in collaboration with their Diploma Master Brewer Class 2010/2011. In this series they present their idea of how the next generation of breweries larger than 200 000 hl/month could look like. The first part introduces the subject, reviews the developments in brewing over the last 70 years and describes the core issues for the future brewing industry, focusing on raw materials, brewhouse, yeast and fermentation. The second part will cover the issues stabilisation, filtration, energy and environmental aspects, waste water, storage and packaging (BRAUWELT International No. 3, 2011, p. 135-138).