Anderson Valley is being sold

According to the North Bay Business Journal, Anderson Valley Brewing Company is being sold to an "industry verteran".

Anderson Valley Brewing Co., maker of craft beers Boont Amber Ale and Hop Ottin’ IPA, today announced it reached a definitive purchase agreement with HMB Holdings LLC, new company led by a former beer marketing company executive.

Anderson Valley was started by Ken Allen, who build the brewery from the ground up to what it has become today.  I love some of their offerings, even giving Brother Jacob Dubbel a spot in this years Beer Bracket.  Hop Ottin' IPA is also considered a favorite by many IPA fans.

About HMB Holdings LLC: (From DraftMag.com)

HMB Holdings LLC is owned and managed by Trey White, a fifteen year veteran of the alcoholic beverage industry. Through his role as executive vice-president at United States Beverage, Mr. White worked with a variety of fast growing successful American craft beers including Goose Island, Rogue, Ipswich and SLO as well as selected imports including Grolsch from Holland. HMB will retain the current brewing and production facilities at Anderson Valley Brewery while expanding the sales and marketing capabilities.

Best of luck to both Ken Allen and HMB Holdings LLC!

Baltimore Sun coming in with some news

Somethings that we can actually care about from the Baltimore Sun:

Dining@Large, which is a restaurant blog, tells us about a Grilled Cheese, Beer and Wine Festival happening up in Carroll County.  That just SCREAMS awesomeness.  Place that on your calendar.

The man behind Stillwater Artesian Ales, Brian Stumke, is introduced to Baltimore by Rob Kasper, who had the Kasper on Tap blog in the Sun, which was discontinued but continues on here.  I was lucky enough to get some of the Stillwater Stateside Saison at Max's Belgian Beer Festival this past weekend, and it was one of the highlights for me.  The beer is absolutely delicious, and I cannot wait to see what this talented brewer can come up with next.  (This article also appeared in the Wednesday, February 17 print edition.)

in the news

It is always nice to see Growlers getting their due. The New York Times ran a piece on the trend of growlers in the city scene.

“In the beginning we tried to figure out, ‘Who’s going to be our market?’ ” said Ben Granger, 32, an owner of Bierkraft, which began filling growlers in spring 2006. “We thought, mullet-heads and beer-bellied dudes. But the first run was ladies with strollers. They will tell you they’re buying them for their husbands. Three weeks later, they’ve got two. One’s his and one’s hers. The next one that caught me by surprise was dads coming in with their kids. Then there’s the beer crowd who’ll rush in to get on this or that before it’s gone. There’s no age limit.”

All beer geeks know what they are and the benefits of growlers.  For others like me (I do not consider myself a beer geek, but a beer lover), the growler is an untapped resource.  I was lucky enough to have an older brother that loved beer much more than me.  He has an extensive growler collection, grabbing them from most brewpubs that sell them.  The growler was also our biggest asset when we went to the now defunct DuClaws in Fells Point.  We would take our growler in and get it refilled a couple of time (it was $7 for a refill, couldn't beat those prices). 

If you don't have a growler, you need to get one.  Many bars will fill them, and it is the best way to drink at home (unless you have a tap at home).  My place to refill has been Baltimore Taphouse (formerly known as Growlers).  They have a great selection of brews, and it is cheaper than buying the bottles.

Up next in the news was word on the Founders Nemesis series.  Beernews.org was where I was able to get the details on the first release.

Description: The 2009 release of Nemesis is best described as a Maple Bourbon barrel aged wheat wine holding 12% abv and 70 ibu’s. The barrels have been resting deep in the mines of Grand Rapids for nearly 9 months and have been most effective in developing a great product.

Sounds promising.  I am losing my contact for Michigan beers (my brother was promoted to the big city of Chicago), but am looking forward to the new horizons in Illinois.  Hopefully, I can get my hands on some Nemesis before he goes.

Off the web...

From FlyingDogJT's twitter stream comes a DCBeer.com 2009 beer list.  I couldn't agree with this list more.  Even more surprising for me is that I have had many of the beers.

Also, a news story on how to not bring up your children.

The Sacramento Kings hosted a dollar beer night.  Amazingly enough, it wasn't a sellout; but very close. (The Kings are one of the lowest in attendance this year.)

And apparently LaBatt Blue wanted people to set out beer for Santa instead of milk.  This didn't go over well with some.  Even though it was for their non-alcoholic beer.

No beer at a St. Patrick's Day parade?  That sounds sacrilegious.

And that is all I got.

Taps at the table?

The Baltimore Sun's Midnight Sun blog (by Sam Sessa) reported that Mother's in Federal Hill is getting taps placed in table, a self-serve style tap system. It charges by the ounce. Sounds like a good idea.

This has already been tried in Atlanta, GA. Last I heard, the system was working well.

"It turns out the law supports it. It's the same as putting a pitcher of beer at the table, and it actually increases monitoring," says Jeff Libby, the 26-year-old who patented the system.

BeerinBaltimore also blogged about it, stating the downfall as only having Miller Lite and Blue Moon as the beers available. I would agree that wouldn't be the best, but I feel there could be options.

If it was possible, I think the best idea would be for patrons to rent out, or reserve the table for the night. That way you would be able to get choice of beer on tap. If I was given 2 beers on tap for the night, with a group of my friends, I think it would be a hard choice. Some year round choices would be DogfishHead 90 minute, Victory Prima Pils, Troegs Hop Back, Ommegang Abbey and Guinness.

What would your choices be?