The Nashua Telegraph in southern New Hampshire has some suggestions for pairing beer and food courtesy of Mike Labbe, the brewer at Pennichuck Brewing.

The newest Laurelwood Public House at 51st and Sandy in Portland. According to a recent newsletter, “We’ll let all of you know when we’re close to brewing and even more importantly, when the pub will be opening. Things have been moving along quickly in recent weeks and the long wait should be over soon.” There are new photos now posted to the Laurelwood Live Blog.

The Brewers Association Export Development Program (or EDP) announced that they will be facilitating the entry of 19 craft brewers into the the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA)

From the press release:

Held in Melbourne each year, the AIBA is Australia’s most prestigious beer event and has become firmly established on the international brewing calendar as a renowned and recognized barometer of excellence and diversity in beer brewing across the world. In 2006, the Australian International Beer Awards attracted 974 entries from 31 countries. AIBA uses the Brewers Association’s Beer Style Guidelines. The Brewers Association’s Export Development Program, in an effort to help promote the image of American craft beer as a world class beverage, pays for entry fees and transportation into select international beer shows for its program subscribers, such as the AIBA. “Assisting US craft breweries with participation in large international competitions like AIBA is a major focus of the EDP,” says Brewers Association vice president Bob Pease. “Our work for EDP subscribers allows us to allocate funds for their entry fees and cover the cost of a consolidated beer shipment to the competitions. US craft beers typically perform well on the international stage and the awards they receive bring attention to the brands and to the US industry as a whole.”

These are the brewers entering their beer in Australia:

1. 21st Amendment Brewery Café,­ San Francisco, California
2. Blue Point Brewing, Patchogue, New York
3. Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon
4. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Milton, Delaware
5. Eugene City Brewery, Eugene, Oregon
6. Flying Dog Brewery, Denver, Colorado
7. Full Sail Brewing,­ Hood River, Oregon
8. Great Divide Brewing, Denver Colorado
9. Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Dexter, Michigan
10. Kona Brewery, Kailua-Kona, Hawaii
11. Rogue Ales Issaquah Brewhouse, Issaquah, Washington
12. Left Hand Brewing, Denver, Colorado
13. Matt Brewing, Utica, New York
14. Odell Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado
15. Rogue Ales, Newport, Oregon
16. Shipyard Brewing, Portland, Maine
17. Sprecher Brewing, Glendale, Wisconsin
18. Stone Brewing, Escondido, California
19. Widmer Brothers Brewing, Portland, Oregon

Let’s wish all good luck. Winners will be announced April 19.

New Belgium Brewing will be releasing their spring seasonal, Springboard, a unique beer made with oats, Mt. Hood hops, Schisandra (an ancient Chinese herb), Gogi berries, and wormwood. Then it’s blended with a small amount of one of New Belgium’s other beers aged in wood.

According to the press release, “Springboard opens with fruity berry-like tones, has a spirited, tart threshold and ends with a dry, crisp finale. It’s partially filtered, resulting in a cloudy blonde appearance, and moderate body. Springboard was created to satisfy our desire to introduce new flavors and produce a spring seasonal that is innovative and inspiring,” said Brewmaster Peter Bouckaert. “Springboard maintains an equilibrium that keeps it balanced and easy to enjoy.”

Springboard will be available on draft and in bottles from the end of February into April.

My friend and fellow beer writer Lisa Morrison’s new kitchen remodel, along with its new built-in keg system was the subject of a piece in the local paper. There was no link to it, but luckily the Portland Beer Blog re-printed it under the title Liquid Assets. Her and husband Mark Campbell’s new kitchen will also be part of a feature article I did recently for an upcoming issue of Beer Advocate magazine.

Lisa with fellow Portland beer writer Fred Eckhardt.

Lisa and Mark’s built-in keg system. The kegs are housed in the basement.

The February edition of Playboy magazine includes an article called Brew Romance, in which a distinguished panel of fourteen chose their favorite bottled beers in several categories. The article then recounts the results. Here are their top ten choices:

1. Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
2. Victory Prima Pils
3. Ommegang Abbey Ale
4. Anderson Valley Boont Amber
5. Sierra Nevada Porter
6. Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout
7. Tröegs Tröegenator Double Bock
8. Samuel Adams Utopias
9. Alaskan Smoked Porter
10. Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale

And there were also a few honorable mentions:
 

• Samuel Adams Double Bock
• Rogue Shakespeare Stout
• Anchor Porter
• Anchor Steam
• Victory HopDevil
• Blue Point Toasted Lager

It’s a pretty good list, too. I can’t really quibble with any of the choices, they’re all great beers. Sure, I might have put some above others and there’s a few missing from the list I might have compiled — Russian River’s Pliny the Elder comes to mind. And it’s certainly great to see good beer in such a mainstream magazine as Playboy.

In a move reminiscent with all of Miller’s recent ad campaigns, they’ve decided to pull the plug of Man Laws, which debuted last spring. Miller announced last week while I was in London that their latest campaign will be on hiatus, perhaps until football season resumes once more in the fall.

The official reason stated is “that Miller is shifting its strategy to focus more on the qualities that make Miller Lite different from other reduced-calorie beers,” which is, of course, businessspeak for sales of Miller Lite continue to fall and the blame has been put on the advertising.

As AdAge (subscription) put it, “Man Law No. 1: Advertising Must Boost Sales.” This seems to be the way these things go nowadays, in a world that’s increasingly faster paced, where new television shows are cancelled within weeks, movies have very short runs, and nothing is really allowed to find its audience over time. If it doesn’t work immediately, then discard it and try something new, and fast. Was our appetite for the next quick fix created by marketing machines or are they merely playing into our natural tendencies using more sophisticated techniques? It’s worth asking, because I can’t believe an entire society with ADD was inevitable … or desirable.

But this seems to be Miller’s biggest problem with their ad campaigns over the past decade, perhaps longer. They had great success with the “tastes great, less filling” campaign of the 1980s but have never really found anything close to duplicating that success. Every couple of months, a new campaign (by a new agency, in many cases) is trotted out to great fanfare only to die in a fiery ball of collective yawns from their target audience. Either they’re poorly thought out (catfights, “Dick”) or they’re not given much of a chance (like the man laws). So then it’s on to the next one, with the predictably same result.

Anhesuer-Busch, on the other hand, has been far more successful in creating a series of memorable ads. Sales of their Bud Light, along with Coors Light, have seen recent single-digit sales increases.

But even if the Man Law ads haven’t translated directly into sales growth, the concept has been wildly popular, inspiring literally hundreds of thousands of proposed new man laws to the Manlawpedia at the Men of the Square Table website. They’ve obviously managed to capture something that appeals to a great many people, so it seems like a bad idea to abandon it before it has a chance to build more fully.

According to AdAge, the “new spots differentiate Miller Lite from its competitors by noting its spelling (”Lite” vs. the less distinctive but not misspelled “Light” used by A-B and Coors). They are expected to air until new work from Crispin, Porter & Bogusky — a return to the more comparative style of advertising Miller employed during Lite’s 2003-2004 renaissance — replaces them in April.”

Of course, in the end, what they really should do is make a beer with more flavor. Because Man Law #1 honestly should be “No one, man or woman, should ever drink a light — or lite — beer … ever.”

Well, maybe not exactly primetime, but the award ceremony is on YouTube, at least. So without further ado, here are the award announcements for the 2007 Great Alaska Beer & Barley Wine Fest Awards from YouTube:

The Associated Press is reporting that Wisconsin’s City Brewery, the new owners of the Latrobe Brewery, has been awarded state assistance to the tune of over $4.5 million. The Pennsylvania has been closed since early last summer. The grants and loans were announced by Governor Ed Rendell, who also said he believes 250 brewery employees should be back to work by June 1 of this year.

Our primary reason for the trip to London was to attend the 24th annual Old Ale Festival at the White Horse on Parson’s Green, which is located in southwest London. Landlord and cellerman Mark Dorber, who’s been at the pub for decades, is leaving this year and we wanted to visit him at the bar while we still could. He was, as always, a gracious host and we spent a fabulous full twelve hours there at the festival, from 11 a.m. until 11 p.m. Of the 47 beers listed for the festival, we tried all but eight, and that’s because those beers were not yet on tap while we were there.

The White Horse on Parson’s Green.

Pulling a pint behind the bar.

Our little corner of the world for the day.

Mark Dorber conducted a tour/tasting of the cellars.

Motor and Shaun O’Sullivan with a couple of Burgundian Babble Belt members at the festival.

Roger Protz and me toward the end of the evening.

For more photos of the day’s events, visit the photo gallery.

On Friday, we left England and took the Chunnel train under the English Channel to Brussels for a quick day trip.

The Eurostar train in Brussels.

Where you can get a Duvel to enjoy on board.

Downtown Brussels near the Midi train station.

Where even their beer trash is better.

That’s a discarded bottle of Westmalle Tripel.

First stop was a tour of Brasserie Cantillon, the last remaining brewery in Brussels.

For the full brewery tour, visit the photo gallery.

Cantillon owner Jean-Pierre Van Roy and me after our tour.

After our tour, we did some quick sightseeing. This, of course, is the famous Manneken-Pis.

Across the street from which was the Poechenellekelder, a bit touristy but with a decent beer selection.

The nearby Grand Place.

Including the Brewers Union building.

And, of course, the Delirium Cafe, also packed with tourists.

With a spiral staircase lined with Delirium Tremens bottles.

The Floris Absinthe bar across the alley was closed until eight, by the Delirium Cafe had one type of absinthe so I could try some with my beer.

Afterwards, we had a quick dinner at Bier Circus. Here Shaun shows off his steak and the ubiquitous plate of frittes.

And our beer selection with dinner.

Back at the train station to return to London there was an interesting selection of canned beer in the vending machines. All in all, the trip was too quick to do anything but scratch the surface of the city, but at least we had a chance to do that. I’m certainly looking forward to returning and spending a little more time there.

On Thursday, our second day in London, we had a nice private tour of Fuller’s Griffin Brewery in the Chiswick area of London.

The Griffin Brewery in Chiswick, London

The “Old Copper,” part of the old brewery.

After the tour we isited the Hock Cellar, where we sampled beer made at the brewery. Here brewers Shaun O’Sullivan from 21st Amendment Brewery and Christian Kazakoff from Triple Rock Brewery pose behind the bar with our tour guide Derek Prentice.

For the full brewery tour, visit the photo gallery.