Pick your tipple wisely

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.

Micro-brewing in Italy: A success story

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.

The physiological and nutritional properties of non-alcoholic beer

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.

2020: The future brewery – Part 1

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).

Beer is a fashion statement

If only building a global beer brand was a “3v” affair, Budweiser would be the King of Beers. “Veni vidi vici”, or marketing according to Julius Caesar, is like a military campaign. You go in, pick a fight, biff the local king about the chops and the territory is yours. Perhaps Anheuser-Busch thought they could conquer the world Roman-style: one battle at a time. But since taking Budweiser global decades ago, their success was mixed and in the end they failed to steer clear of a Brutus. Maybe that’s taking the analogy a bit far. Yet this goes to show that building a global beer brand is more like a “3c” thing: it’s complicated, cumbersome and costly. Especially if you do it from scratch as SABMiller has done with its Italian Peroni brand.

In what is becoming a true success story, American craft beer exports grew again in 2010. The Brewers Association (BA) reports estimated international sales by independent craft brewers up 28 percent by volume for 2010, with some regions seeing export increases of more than 90 percent.

According to latest figures released by beer market specialists Plato Logic, the World Beer market grew by 1.4 percent in 2010 (provisional). Ian Pressnell, Director of Plato Logic, commented: “Overall the ‘top-line figure’ for 2010 (provisional) does confirm another challenging year for the global beer industry, but represents an improvement on the 0.3 percent growth recorded in 2009.”

Sundale Research has published the fifth edition of its report about craft beer in the US. A sixteen pages analysis includes for example information on trends in craft beer sales, the number and composition of craft beer breweries as well as demographic trends and export markets. Nineteen statistical tables and three graphs show detailed information on the craft beer market.

Optical O<small>^2</small> measurement in commercial installations

In the context of modernisation measures carried out in recent years at C. & A. Veltins GmbH & Co. KG brewery in Meschede-Grevenstein, Centec GmbH delivered sensors, operating on the basis of optical O² measurement, that were installed in the filtration and filling process areas. Membrane-free, very accurate and especially low-maintenance technology is at the centre of innovative features of the instruments. At the beginning of 2010, a hand-held version, Oxytrans M, became available as a portable laboratory instrument; this operates on the same measurement principle. The compact instrument is impressive in terms of speed, high accuracy and ease of operation in a plant environment. This contribution describes the measurement principle, uses and advantages of the new systems.