Today breweries with many locations have the ability to create consistent beer brands and taste. A-B has 12 locations in the United States and Budweiser has 50 breweries located around the world. Red Hook Ale opened two breweries one in Seattle Washington in 1981 and later in Portsmouth New Hampshire. All these breweries have consistent taste in their brands.
Many companies open more than one brewery because of customer demand and the ability to ship ale more economically. Many municipalities offer significant financial incentives to attract breweries. Karl Ockert, director of brewing operations at Deschutes Brewery, says that as craft brewers it all about flavor.
A company will develop a recipe for a beer and when they open in another location give the recipe to the new staff. Some owners will let the staff make the brew their way or on the other extreme supervise them and make sure it is exactly the same. Green Flash Brewing Company has duplicated its San Diego location in Virginia. It has the same layout, brew house, and production tanks.
Some breweries have batches of beer brewed at one location than shipped to the new one. They owner wants to know how the batch tastes. Many breweries use the same supplier for base malts, specialty malts, and hop lot blends for their brands. Sensory and analytic programs in breweries leads to brew consistency in multiple locations.
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David Nutt, a neuro-scientist from Great Britain, is introducing alcosynth, a synthetic beverage which he says is 100 times safer than alcohol. His product promises to give users the experience of drinking beer without having to suffer the negative effects the morning after. Alcosynth is currently undergoing testing for public consumption, and its long-term effects are not yet known.
Because alcosynth is free from a compound called acetaldehyde, Nutt explains that it will not produce a hangover after a night of drinking. Acetaldehyde is a toxin produced by the body while drinking that causes hangovers and that can accumulate in the body faster than it can be gotten rid of. The unpleasant side effects of nausea, headache, and dry mouth can be then exacerbated by dehydration.
Alcosynth has a calming on the body in a similar way to alcohol without hurting organs like the liver and kidneys. David Nutt has expressed caution over interfering overly much with the neurotransmitter GABA that is responsible for lowering anxiety in people. He states that products like his affect the system which is responsible for pleasure, and that when taken in excess, it can have unintended consequences. Moderation, even with synthetic beer, is key.
Nutt is also concerned with reducing the problems related to alcohol abuse, such as missed work and lowered job performance. Cited as a concern, is also the fact that users will often drink again in order to alleviate the symptoms of a hangover. Alcosynth has been found to be virtually calorie-free, however it is not yet known whether it is habit-forming or if a person can overdose. More testing is needed.
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The first pumpkin ale is believed to have been created in the eighteenth century when the hardy and innovative pioneers used local ingredients, such as pumpkins, to brew ales. Back then, pumpkins were readily available, and their fermentable sugars filled in for the malt required to make beer.
As conventional beer ingredients such as barley became more accessible in the nineteenth century, the reserves of beers made from pumpkins dwindled to extinction. In the mid-1800s, pumpkin ale made a partial-comeback in the form of beers flavored with pumpkin rather than made directly from it.
It was not until the 1980s when the brew made a proper comeback in the form of a flavorful variation. A brewpub owner in California created a beer with pumpkin and added some pie spices for flavor. This combination was later known as “pumpkin zombies.”
In Canada, the interest in Pumpkin beers re-emerged in 2004 when the Windsor Pumpkin Festival requested Halifax’s Propeller Brewing Company to create a beer showcasing the giant gourd – from the huge Jabba-the-Hutt-like pumpkin variety grown by Danny Dill in Windsor, N.S. The drink has been brewed since.
There are tens of varieties of pumpkins, with some giant ones referred to as the Jabba-the-Hutt-like variety, weighing as much as 2,009 pounds. But this variety is not as sweet as pie pumpkins. So, brewers prefer to use light, bready pale malts to create the golden ale that allows the notes of fresh pumpkin pulp and spicy clove to shine.
36,000 pints of the pumpkin zombie can be brewed from around 1,000 giant pumpkins, but the demand for the drink exceeds the supply. The season for pumpkin beers starts around August, but the stock is usually depleted by Halloween.
There are now many varieties of Pumpkin beer, most of which use a combination of pie spices: allspice, nutmeg, cloves, ginger, and cinnamon. One particularly interesting variety has a hefty caramel and graham-cracker base that evokes pumpkin-pie in a pint.
Most pumpkin beers sell-through very fast during the Halloween season owing to the increased number of parties around that time. The alcohol content in pumpkin beer is sometimes higher than standard beers, like the Pumpkin Abbey ale at 9.5 percent, but it is still a favorite among locals, especially in the weeks leading up to Halloween.
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Modern beer drinkers want variety. They want tasty, quality beers. They are not as committed to beer brands as their parents and are willing to explore new breweries and fresh flavors. Their thirst and discerning palates led to the craft beer revolution and ongoing evolution.
The recent past has been great. In 2016, we can expect more breweries to enter the market. Here are few expected trends for the industry locally and abroad.
Craft Beer Will Get Better
Craft brewers owe their market share to discerning consumers. With so many breweries in the same region, community goodwill is no longer enough. Quality beer is the only competitive edge for those who want to stay afloat. As a beer drinker, 2016 will be an exciting year loaded with tasty quality brews.
Session Beer will Rule
In 2015, Session became the new way to qualify beer. In 2016, Session will continue to rise and dominate. Almost every beer style will bear “Session” labels.
More Limited Release Beers
Release days for limited release bottles have caused a frenzy in the past. In 2016, demand for rare or unique versions will peak. Consequently, you can expect more bottle frenzies.
Return to Lagers
Lagers are hard to produce. They require long fermentation time and more capital. Additionally, craft brewers sensed a “lager-fatigue” in Canadian beer fans. For the mentioned reasons, craft brewers have been ignoring lagers.
However, things have changed. Consumers are demanding crisp, clean light-bodied lagers. And there are new lager yeasts that promise more variety. You can expect more experimental lagers in 2016.
Buyouts and Mergers
Microbrewers have made considerable inroads. The big brands can be expected to fight for their dwindling market share. 2016 will witness more aggressive marketing and perhaps buyouts, mergers and Big Beer’s control of distribution networks.
More Import Craft Beer Locally
Craft beer consumer base in Canada is thriving. More dealers will look to export their craft brands to Canada. Notably, you can expect more American craft beer in local liquor stores.
Single-Malt Beers
Industry observers predict that specialty malts will become as important as hops. Brewers will use the same base malt but a single specialty malt for their ales.
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Canadians love their beer. In 2014, they consumed over 22 million hectoliters of beer, 84% of which was Canadian. It’s also worth a mention that 56% of beer-drinking Canadians prefer lagers and 34% prefer ales. Here are some other facts that distinguish the brewing industry in Canada.
High-Quality Barley Is Canadian Breweries’ Competitive Edge.
Barley is an important ingredient in beer-making. Fortunately for Canadian brewers, barley is one of Canada’s most important grain crops.
Since 1948, the “Brewing and Malting Barley Research Institute” has supported the development and evaluation of new malting barley varieties. The country has, as a result, maintained a leadership role in barley research and production over the years.
Breweries in other countries appreciate Canadian barley’s level of quality and availability. Consequently, Canada-based breweries have been able to obtain licensing agreements with leading U.S. and offshore breweries to manufacture the foreign companies’ brands in the country.
Canada Is a Country of a Few Brewing Giants and Hundreds of Microbrewers.
In 2014, 520 licensed breweries were operating in the country. Interestingly, over half of these breweries operate in Ontario and Québec.
Two of all the breweries, Labatt Breweries of Canada and Molson Breweries, target the whole country. Then there are six regional breweries located in different territories and hundreds of microbreweries targeting local markets.
The Canadian Brewery Industry Is Highly Innovative.
The Canadian brewing industry is vibrant and advanced. Significant developments from Canada have included new yeast strains that are more alcohol-tolerant and others that produce low-calorie beer. New products have included seasonal beers, low-carbohydrate beers, and low-alcohol beer.
Canadian companies also pioneered the brilliant brewing techniques of continuous malting and continuous brewing. There also have been trials on new package formats and efforts to enhance the preservation properties of plastic to match those of glass bottles. Other notable contributions are the innovations around temperature-sensitive thermochromatic ink and high-tech insulator to help monitor beer temperatures.
The Canadian Brewing Industry Is a Pioneer Advocate for Responsible Consumption of Alcohol.
Canadian breweries were among the first brewers to address the issue of responsible drinking. The companies initiated and continued to fund programs that fight misuse.
The Canadian Beer Industry Holds an Impressive Environmental Record.
Canadian brewers have over the years utilized environmental-friendly policies in their brewing plant operations and control of packaging. Amazingly, an average 99% of Canadian beer bottles are returned. Other breweries such as Steam Whistle Brewing Company have very elaborate green initiatives.
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The earliest alcoholic drink in history is a 9,000 years old Neolithic grog brewed in China’s Yellow River Valley. However, barley beer seems to have been born in the Middle East. The Sumerians in Mesopotamia were the earliest brewers. The evidence that support this assumption includes a 4,000-year-old hymn to the Sumerian beer goddess and a 3100-3000 BC beer recipe on a clay tablet.
Beer brewing also flourished in ancient Egypt. According to Smithsonian magazine, Egyptian pyramid builders were partly paid with beer. Interestingly, according to The Atlantic, the beer in Ancient Egypt was brewed by women.
Monks and nuns also played a great role in the evolution of beer. The practice of monastic brewing appears to have started in medieval times. Some monks began brewing and selling beer to live according to The Rule of Saint Benedict. The rule requires monks and nuns to live by their sweat and not accept charity.
Still, during the Medieval Times, water was usually contaminated. The beer was safer to drink than water. Monks were encouraged to brew and drink beer rather than drink germs-carrying water.
We can also trace the development of modern breweries to monks. Archeologists found the oldest drawings of a modern brewery in the Swiss monastery of Saint Gall. The drawings date back to AD 820. They show three breweries each producing beer for different groups of people. There was a brewery for monks, monastery guests, and pilgrims and the poor.
In 1200 AD, beer brewing monks discovered that adding hops can give beer its distinctive bitter edge. Hops are today referred to as “the spice of beer”.
In 1685, France’s La Trappe monastery set the Cistercian Order of the Strict Observance. Beers that are brewed per the order are called Trappist beers.
In the 17th Century, The Paulaner monks of Bavaria started producing a Lent beer called Doppelbock. The “liquid bread” was excellent for fasting monks.
Monks and artisans continued experimenting with beer, and this led to modern beer flavors. The first beer bottle in history was sold in 1850. Today, beer is wildly popular. There are thousands of breweries across the world and numerous beer flavors and brands.
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