We already know that the price of barley has doubled over the least year, but according to a scientist from New Zealand, global warming may keep that situation from getting any better and will continue to hamper efforts to increase the supply of barley to be used in making beer.

From the AP story:

Jim Salinger, a climate scientist at New Zealand’s National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, said climate change likely will cause a decline in the production of malting barley in parts of New Zealand and Australia. Malting barley is a key ingredient of beer.

Speaking at the Institute of Brewing and Distilling ’s 30th Asia Pacific Section Convention, Salinger predicted “the price of beer is likely to rise in coming decades because climate change will hamper the production of a key grain needed for the brew — especially in Australia.”

Though Salinger was talking about only his native New Zealand and Australia, it’s not hard to extrapolate that the same climate changes will have similar effects in other parts of the world, too. He finished his talk on this cheery note. “[C]limate change could cause a drop in beer production within 30 years, especially in parts of Australia, as dry areas become drier and water shortages worsen.”

I’m not one to pimp beer commercials very often, but I found this one pretty clever. It’s simply the Melbourne Symphony Orchestra, on stage in their tuxedos, performing the theme song for Foster’s most popular beer in Australia, Victoria Bitter. But instead of their normal instruments, the song is played on beer bottles. Believe it or not, when I first started college my major was music theory/comp (composition) and I had aspirations to write classical music, so it was fun to see the inventive ways they found to make sounds from the beer bottles. Simple and with no catch phrases, animals or mud-wrestling. If only the beer was better.

Remember the television show Futurama? It was the Simpsons’ Matt Groening’s other animated series that ran on Fox for four seasons beginning in 1999.

There was a robot — or perhaps more accurately a “foul mouthed, cigar smoking, booze drinking, shiny metal arsed, bending robot” — in the show whose name was Bender. Besides his name and the character’s predilection for going on one, you may be asking yourself what that has to do with beer? Well, even though the show was canceled, like many such shows it has a pretty good cult following. There are fans, of course, and then there are fans. One such uber-fan, Simon Jansen, in New Zealand, if not an engineer by trade then one of the most impressive hobby engineers I’ve encountered. He’s also a sci-fi fan generally and it appears he started his website with the extremely impressive Star Wars Asciimation, which is the entire Star Wars movie done in Java using nothing but ASCII art. For those of you new to the web, ASCII art is pictures created using nothing but the characters that can be found on an ordinary keyboard, which were used in early e-mails before graphics became ubiquitous throughout the internet.

Those emoticons, like ;-) for example, are a simple, though enduring, form of ASCII art. But they can get extremely complicated and detailed, too. Check out the Great ASCII Art Library for hundreds, if not thousands of these.

Okay, so as usual I’m veering off on a tangent, back to the Bender. Last summer (his winter) Jansen was challenged by a friend to make an actual Bender robot. Jansen also took as inspiration a third season episode, The Route of All Evil, in which while the main plot was going on, there was a subplot involving the two characters, Fry and Leela, along with Bender himself where they undertook to “brew beer inside Bender, treating the robot like an expectant mother.” Jansen reasoned that “just having a Bender that doesn’t do anything would be a waste of time so mine shall be used for a practical purpose. One Bender himself would be proud of. I’ll use him to make beer!”

The Bender Brewer Project, as it’s known, took over six months to complete and yielded its first brew last week. The website includes four pages of detailed information showing every step of the way with copious photographs of the various stages along with diagrams and source code. But for my purposes, it gets really interesting in mid-December on page four when the brewhouse went online, so to speak. Basically, it’s only a rudimentary homebrewing kit but you have to admire the sheer amount of work and effort to take this project from drawing board to actual robot that produces beer. His initial specific gravity was 1.034. In early January, the beer was ready to bottle and he had his first taste f it, describing it like this. By the way I did have a little taste of the beer before I bottled it. It wasn’t totally unpleasant. It tastes very green but it had a fair amount of body. Yeasty with maybe just a hint of Mom’s Old-Fashioned Robot Oil! How odd and cool is that?

Bender with brewing system inside. Reminds me a bit of the Wizard of Oz’s Tinman, but this time he’s wishing for something different. “If I only had a beer!”

Bottled on January 2, the new robot-brewed Bendërbrau, with labels designed by Jen, one of Jansen’s friends.

SABMiller announced yesterday that they are purchasing Australia’s Bluetongue Brewery in a joint venture with Coca-Cola Amatil Limited to be known as Pacific Beverages Pty Limited. The purchase price was not revealed though it is estimated to be around $20 million USD. It has also been reported that they are considering building a greenfield brewery to brew additional brands for distribution by Pacific Beverages in region including Peroni Nastro Azzurro, Pilsner Urquell, Miller Genuine Draft and other Miller brands.

Bluetongue was founded in 2003 in Newcastle, New South Wales. They have an annual capacity of over 50,000 hectolitres and make five different beers: Bluetongue Premium Lager, Bluetongue Premium Light, Bluetongue Traditional Pilsner, Bluetongue Alcoholic Ginger Beer and Bondi Blonde (a low-carb beer). In their four-year history, Bluetongue has shown remarkable growth including 70% over the past year. Earlier this year they even hired Paris Hilton as a spokesperson for Bondi Beer. And Bluetongue is Whale Safe Beer.

According to the press release, here’s the story of the brewery’s name:

Bluetongue’s name originates from the blue-tongued lizard, one of Australia’s favourite native creatures. They are about 30cm long, have a large fierce looking head and are easily recognised by their bright blue tongue which they stick out to warn off predators. Blue-tongues are often found basking in the sun in the Australian bush and in backyards across suburban Australia.

Courtesy of the folks at Australia’s Brewtopia, in New South Wales, you can make your own beer labels online. Brewtopia sells private label wine beer and bottled water that you can put your customized label on either with your company’s logo or for a wedding, anniversary or other event. I’m sure there must be something similar in the U.S., but I’ve never seen one that offered so many choices and ways to fool around making your own labels.

For the beer labels, there are a dozen basic templates that you can add your own graphics to, change the text and colors and generally muck about with it until you’re satisfied with the results. You’ll need a screen capture program if you want to keep the results of your efforts, because the work can’t be saved unless you’re in Australia and ready to buy your own contract beer. But it’s a great deal of fine if you just want to play around with your own labels.

Here are some of the labels I made for the Bulletin:
 

You may recall that at the end of January, there was an announcement that 19 American craft brewers entered their beers in the the Australian International Beer Awards (AIBA )through the Brewers Association’s Export Development Program (or EDP). Yesterday the results were announced with several American breweries winning medals. Now the Australian awards are somewhat different than the GABF or World Cup medals. The beers are judged in a similar fashion and assigned points with a total possible of 20, but instead of choosing first, second and third, any and every beer that gets above 17 points receives a gold medal, 15.5-16.5 receives a silver and 14-15 for a bronze medal. There is a Grand Champion Trophy for the Highest Scoring Beer, and this year it is Weihenstephan Kristall from Germany’s Weihenstephan Brewery. There’s also about a dozen additional awards such as “Champion Ale” and the “Best Packaging Award.”

The biggest victory by an American brewery went to Deschutes Brewing of Bend, Oregon, who won the International Malting Company Trophy for Champion Large International Brewery. They also won the Veolia Environmental Services Trophy for
Champion Stout for their Obsidian Stout.
 

Here’s how the American brewers fared:
 

Gold Medals:

Blue Point Brewing: Winter Ale
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Brown Ale
Boston Beer Co.: Long Shot Old Ale
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Honey Porter
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Winter Lager
BridgePort Brewing: BridgePort India Pale Ale
Deschutes Brewery: Mirror Pond Pale Ale
Deschutes Brewery: Cinder Cone Red
Deschutes Brewery: Black Butte Porter
Deschutes Brewery: Obsidian Stout
Great Divide Brewing: Hercules Double India Pale Ale
Matt Brewing: Imperial IPA
Pelican Pub Brewery: Doryman’s Dark Ale
Pelican Pub Brewery: Kiwanda Cream Ale
Sprecher Brewing: Imperial Stout
Stone Brewing: Stone Imperial Russian Stout
Trumer Braurei: Trumer Pils
 

Silver Medals:

21st Amendment Brewery: 21A IPA
Blue Point Brewing: Hoptical Illusion
Boston Beer Co.: Long Shot Dortmunder
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Boston Lager
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Black Lager
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Light
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Pale Ale
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Boston Ale
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Cream Stout
Deschutes Brewery: Inversion IPA
Deschutes Brewery: Hop Henge IPA
Deschutes Brewery: Cascade Ale
Deschutes Brewery: Jubelale
Deschutes Brewery: Hop Trip
Deschutes Brewery: Bachelor ESB
Firestone Walker Brewing: Firestone Pale Ale
Firestone Walker Brewing: Firestone Bravo Brown
Flying Dog Ales: Doggie Style Classic Pale Ale
Great Divide Brewing: Titan India Pale Ale
Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales: Maracaibo Especial
Left Hand Brewing: Sawtooth Ale
Matt Brewing: Saranac Pale Ale
Odell Brewing: 90 Shilling
Odell Brewing: Cutthroat Porter
Odell Brewing: East Street Wheat
Pelican Pub Brewery: India Pelican Ale
Pelican Pub Brewery: Tsunami Stout
Pelican Pub Brewery: Saison du Pelican
Pelican Pub Brewery: Bridal Ale
Pelican Pub Brewery: Grand Cru de Pelican
Pelican Pub Brewery: Stormwatcher’s Winterfest
Pelican Pub Brewery: MacPelican’s Wee Heavy Strong Scotch Ale
Rogue Ales: Hazelnut Brown Nectar
Rogue Ales: American Amber
Rogue Ales: Mocha Porter
Sprecher Brewing: Dopple Bock
Widmer Brothers Brewing: Widmer W’07 Pale Ale
 

Bronze Medals:

Blue Point Brewing: Toasted Lager
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Octoberfest
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Double Bock
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Hefeweizen
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic
Boston Beer Co.: Samuel Adams Scotch Ale
BridgePort Brewing: Blue Heron
BridgePort Brewing: Beertown Brown
Deschutes Brewery: Abyss
Flying Dog Ales: Old Scratch Amber Lager
Flying Dog Ales: Gonzo Imperial Porter
Great Divide Brewing: Oak Aged Yeti Imperial Stout
Issaquah Brewhouse: Menage A Frog
Kona Brewing: Fire Rock Pale Ale
Left Hand Brewing: Black Jack Porter
Left Hand Brewing: Milk Stout
Odell Brewing: 5 Barrel Pale Ale
Pelican Pub Brewery: MacPelican’s Scottish Style Ale
Rogue Ales: Juniper Pale Ale
Rogue Ales: Shakespeare Stout
Rogue Ales: Smoke Ale
Shipyard Brewing: Shipyard Chamberlain Pale Ale
Shipyard Brewing: Brewers Choice Honey Porter
Shipyard Brewing: SeaDog Bluepaw Wildberry Wheat Ale
Sprecher Brewing: Piper’s Scotch Ale
Stone Brewing: Stone IPA
Widmer Brothers Brewing: Broken Halo IPA
Widmer Brothers Brewing: Drop Top Amber Ale
Widmer Brothers Brewing: Widmer Hefeweizen

Despite the questionable questioning question mark in the title, there’s a good, positive beer and chocolate story on tomorrow’s — damned international dateline — “The Age,” a Melbourne, Australia newspaper. When I saw the title, Beer and Chocolate?, and that damnable question mark, I confess that I flinched, expecting the worst. But happily, the author was merely toying with us and, after a short set up, comes clean that it’s “Belgian truffles and Chimay Grand Reserve or a slice of chocolate mud cake with a foaming mug of James Squire Porter or Coopers Stout” that will be the subject matter at hand. Yum.

New Zealand has picked up the challenge and today will be hosting their own Beer Drinker of the Year contest which will take place at the Cock & Bull in Te Rapa, Hamilton. Only announced less than three weeks ago by Bruce Holloway, beer and sports writer for the Waikato Times, the contest plans to widen the field for next year’s contest.

I confess I never really knew what exactly a wattle was, apart from some sort of Australian plant. But every time I hear the word — which admittedly doesn’t happen often — I think of the following declaration by the philosphy professors from the University of Woolamaloo in Australia. “This here’s the wattle — the emblem of our land. You can stick it in a bottle or you can hold it in yer hand.” All of their names are Bruce, of course, because the reference is from an episode of the brilliant British television show Monty Python’s Flying Circus.

But I saw recently that an Australian brewer, Barons Brewing, is using black wattle in their beer. So I figured it was time to figure out what the heck a wattle is, after all.

It turns out that a wattle is essentially the Australian word for an Acacia. Here’s what Wikipedia has to say about acacias: Acacia is a genus of shrubs and trees of Gondwanian origin belonging to the Subfamily Mimosoideae of the family Fabaceae, first described from Africa by Linnaeus in 1773. Acacias are also known as thorntrees or wattles, including the yellow-fever acacia and umbrella acacias. There are roughly 1300 species of Acacia worldwide, about 950 of them native to Australia, with the remainder spread around the dry tropical to warm-temperate regions of both hemispheres, including Africa, southern Asia, and the Americas. The genus Acacia however is apparently not monophyletic. This discovery has led to the breaking up of Acacia into five new genera as discussed in list of Acacia species. Black wattle, or Acacia mearnsii, is the variety being used by Barons Brewing. Black wattle is a fast-growing leguminous nitrogen fixing tree. Native to Australia, A. mearnsii is often used as a commercial source of tannin or a source of fire wood for local communities. It threatens native habitats by competing with indigenous vegetation, replacing grass communities, reducing native biodiversity and increasing water loss from riparian zones. They are similar to Acacia dealbata. The species is named after E. A. Mearns who collected the type from a cultivated specimen in East Africa.

I’ve always been a fan of gruits and other beers made with herbs and spices. The complexity and range of flavors available by adding just a hint of one or more ingredients is astounding. And shrubs and trees, too, can work a similar magic on brewing. Beer made with spruce, for example, was quite common in colonial America where hops was in short supply. So I’m dying to try some of Baron’s new Black Wattle Superior, a Wattle Seed Ale.

Here’s what their website has to say about it: In creating the Black Wattle range, we have used a combination of select malt and hops, brewed to traditional methods and standards. Black Wattle however, offers something special. All beers in the Black Wattle range feature a unique touch of Australia, incorporating native herbs and spices during the brewing process. The resulting beer delivers a wealth of flavours that have not been experienced in beer until today. The first beer released is the Wattle Seed Ale, which starts with a blend of Australian and European malts, creating a rich flavour base of caramel with a hint of chocolate. The smooth malt flavours are lightly hopped and then infused with roasted Wattle Seed, bringing a unique and authentic Australian flavour to this fine red ale. The result is an outstanding ale that boasts a smooth taste profile balancing its robust character, an ultimately rewarding yet distinctive beer. At 5.8% ABV and offering a long and lasting flavour, the Wattle Seed Ale is best enjoyed with or after a meal, complimenting a juicy steak, rack of lamb, or a prosciutto and rockmelon starter. Alternatively, this select ale will be enjoyed at almost any occasion by those who enjoy something special in a beer.

But I can’t bring up the Bruces from the Philosophy Department of the University of Woolamaloo without mentioning their “Philosophy Song.” I saw it performed live at the City Center in New York when my parents let me take my first unchaperoned trip to the Big Apple in 1976, when I was 17. It’s still one of my favorite Monty Python bits and I remain a huge fan of the show and much of the individual members’ later work, as well. Press the play button to hear the song and follow along with the lyrics reprinted below.

Bruces’ Philosophers Song

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant
Who was very rarely stable.

Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar
Who could think you under the table.

David Hume could out-consume
Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel, [later versions have ‘Schopenhauer and Hegel’]

And Wittgenstein was a beery swine
Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel.

There’s nothing Nietzsche couldn’t teach ya ’bout the raising of the wrist.
Socrates, himself, was permanently pissed.

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will,
On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill.

Plato, they say, could stick it away—
Half a crate of whisky every day.

Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle.
Hobbes was fond of his dram,

And René Descartes was a drunken fart.
‘I drink, therefore I am.’

Yes, Socrates, himself, is particularly missed,
A lovely little thinker, but a bugger when he’s pissed.

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.

Currently only Foster’s brews on the island of Fiji, but that’s about to change as Flour Mills of Fiji Limited (FMF) has announced it will be entering the beer market. Rumor has it that FMF is in talks with India’s United Breweries, which owns the Kingfisher brand. I mention that because FMF recently applied to register the following brand names: Ahista, FB or Fiji Beer, Iguana, Kingfisher, Kings Beer, Polar, BB or Bobs Beer and Thums Up.
 

I’m up for visiting this one. Who’s with me?

Back in June, Foster’s announced it was pulling out of its last remaining brewery in China. Now they’re also leaving India and Vietnam. Reportedly, Foster’s wants to concentrate on their domestic beer market and on selling wine.
 

Vietnam

The Vietnam operations are being sold to Asia Pacific Breweries. According to their press release, APB “will be purchasing the Vietnam assets of the Foster’s Group for $105 million. This transaction includes the rights to brew, market and distribute Foster’s Lager, Biere Larue, BGI, Flag and Song Han, in Vietnam.” This acquisition brings APB’s total ownershio to 29 breweries in ten countries.
 

India

Foster’s India is being sold to SABMiller for $120 million.

From the SABMiller press release:

Foster’s India currently operates one brewery based in Aurangabad in the state of Maharashtra with a licenced annual capacity of 350,000 hectolitres. The company produces, distributes and supports Foster’s Lager, Amberro Mild and Amberro Strong beer brands in the Indian market. In the year ended 30 June 2006, total beer sales were 236,000 hectolitres (2005: 209,000 hl) with Foster’s Lager representing 88% of total production and sales (2005: 85%).

India is the third largest market for the Foster’s brand globally and it has achieved a CAGR of 13% since operations commenced in 1998. It has a presence in 19 Indian states and has a substantial share of the mild beer segment in the strategic state of Maharashtra.

SABMiller India will look to extend Foster’s Lager nationally through its network of ten breweries and seek significant cost benefits from brewing and distributing the brand locally. The Aurangabad brewery will also provide additional capacity for SABMiller’s presence in Maharashtra as well as a platform for access to the Mumbai market.

SABMiller India is the subcontinent’s second largest brewer. Its brand portfolio includes Royal Challenge, Haywards 5000, Castle and the recently launched Haywards Black, India’s first stout beer.

The Foster’s Brand

First brewed in 1888 by the Foster brothers in Melbourne, Australia, Foster’s Lager is one of the world’s best beers. As one of only a handful of truly global beer brands, Foster’s in now available in over 150 countries. Foster’s is one of the fastest growing international premium beer brands in the world and has enjoyed international growth of 40% since 1997. Foster’s is brewed in 12 countries, at 17 locations with over 100 million cases of Foster’s sold annually.