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The Demand for Microbrews in a Competitive Market

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Many are amazed at the head of steam the trend of good, quality beer has built up in recent years.  For many home brew entrepreneurs, the increasing demand for microbrews and quality beers has made their dreams come true.  The market seems to show little sign of slowing down.  More and more breweries are opening every year at the craft and microbrew level, and even the big companies are trying to compete and keep their formidable chunk of the beer market.  Well, there will always be those who want the cheapest of schwill.  But more and more people want something more out of their beer: nutrition, flavor, and real tradition.

New Belgium

Let’s start with some definitions.  Microbreweries are considered those breweries that produce less than 15,000 barrels a year.  Microbrews also tend to focus on producing the highest quality beer, and in the U.S., this also qualifies most of them as craft breweries.  Unlike bigger breweries, the eye towards quality means that beer is actually made with real barley, hops, and yeast.  The addition of rice and corn found in the cheapest schwill are not found in microbrews.  Although this means an increased cost of up to 60% that of mainstream beers, microbrews manage to do quite well in a consistently shrinking beer market.  Microbrew sales consistently have risen 40% in recent years, with new breweries popping up with regionally-based fans all over the country.  In order to study the methods of the micro breweries success, lets look at one of the biggest success stories.

One beer manufacturer that has risen above the qualifier for microbrews while still maintaining its craft brewery status is New Belgium.  With its very popular flagship beer, Fat Tire, New Belgium has continued in the tradition of craft brewing excellence, even while exponentially increasing its production.  For those interested in the business of beer, New Belgium is a great company to study.  With well-studied brewing expertise they have managed time and time again to upgrade their brewery production without sacrificing quality.

One undeniable aspect of New Belgium’s success is ingenuity and green production techniques.  With a commitment to sustainable production methods, New Belgium has merged ideology with efficiency and some crackin’ good outside the box thinking.  Since 1999, the New Belgium brewery has been powered from 100% renewable energy sources.  30% of the energy that is used to manufacture is harvested from the biodegradation of their own spent grains, and the rest comes from wind power, bought off the grid of the power company with specific earmarking for wind farms.  With other companies scrambling to attain the reputation of being “green”, New Belgium is an example of authentic green thinking and how well green marketing can work if it isn’t just all talk.

Perhaps one reason why New Belgium has been able to achieve such success is that the company is, in a large part, owned by its operators.  After only one year working for New Belgium, employees are given part ownership of the company and a brand new shiny red bicycle.  One aspect of their business which struck me as phenomenal, was their transparent finances policy.  According to their website:

“And, like all responsible business owners, it’s important to know your bottom line, barrels, and books. Meet New Belgium’s practice of open-book management: a policy of fiscal transparency throughout the company that encourages a community of trust and mutual responsibility.”

It seems that finally, there is a precedent for honesty, ingenuity, and integrity in successful business.

In an ever expanding market, it only makes sense that microbreweries are a good investment choice, even in the troubling times of today’s economy.  Even in the toughest of times, people of all economic strata seldom give up the solace of a fine beer.  But more than that, craft brewing is part of a culture that honors fair dealing, hard work, and cultural tradition.  All of this is evident in the policies of one of the most successful craft breweries of the last 20 years – and it can happen again, maybe for you.

Related article: Kegerators.com’s Top 5 Names in Domestic Beer

Beer of Fire: When Barley and Peppers Mix

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With the advent of the golden age of microbrews, we are constantly seeing new and inventive beers. One of these beer combinations is the mixture of beer with peppers, especially Chipotle chilis. Rogue brewery’s Mexicali or Chipotle beer, and Cave Creek’s Chili Beer are two examples of commercially produced “beers of fire”. Looking online, you can see that home brewers have been eager to take up the challenge of brewing with Chipotle and other peppers, peppering discussion forums with chat and recipes for beer of fire. Here is a new frontier for beer brewers around the world.

Beer of Fire

The best of the new chili beers that is commercially available, in my opinion, is Rogue brewery’s concoction. A delightful spiciness is added onto an already solid beer. This is the perfect example of a well crafted beer of fire. The beer was originally called Mexicali, but now the name is the more descriptive Chipotle Beer. The base of the beer is Rogue’s Amber Ale. The Amber Ale comes out a rich amber color with a medium amount of carbonation. The flavor normally has a nice maltiness to it, somewhat sweet, but in the Chipotle beer, the malt and hop flavors seem subdued. The result is your ability to really taste the Chipotle as the smoky flavor of the pepper mixes with the flavors of the malt.

Rogue’s Chipotle beer was inspired and remains dedicated to Spanish author Juan de la Cueva. La Cueva wrote in 1575 of a Mexican dish that combined seedless chipotles with beer. Rogue recommends a tasty combination on their website: blend the Chipotle beer with Rogue Chocolate Stout to create a Mole black and tan!

Cave Creek’s Chili Beer is a far lighter offering from the state of Arizona. This beer is the invention of “Crazy Ed” who claims his inspiration comes from being annoyed by yuppies. According to Cave Creek’s website:

“…in 1989, he started brewing his own beer. The town was suspicious. And became even more so when an entire brewery arrived in crates at the foot of Black Mountain, along with a German named Arnold. But after the first batch the people began to come around. The beer was good, damn good, So good in fact, the yuppies started driving in from all over to try it.  Something had to be done, So , whenever one of them whined for a "wedge of lime" Ed started putting a hot Serrano chili pepper into the beer instead. Amazingly, about 2 out of ten actually liked the stuff.”

Cave Creek’s Chili Beer is made in the small town of Tecate, Mexico, where it seems that Crazy Ed and his pals drop a jalapeno into a beer bottle and then fill it with “a fine Mexican lager beer”. The way the wording is displayed, I wonder if it is the same beer that Crazy Ed used to make….

One place where beer with chilis is not new is Mexico. For a long time, beer fans in Mexico have enjoyed a beer cocktail called the michelada. This is another way to enjoy the mix of barley and peppers. Lime juice and chili powder are added to a regular beer of your choosing to make the michelada. If you have been wondering about micheladas, and the new beers coming out with lime juice or chili and lime, now you know! Although brewing with chilis has been a successful prospect so far, I hazard to state that fresh lime juice must surpass any manufactured lime juice substitute that may be coming out in beers like Miller’s Lime and Salt beer and Anheiser-Busch’s Lime flavored beer.

BREW YOUR OWN

  1. For the home brewer interested in experimenting with Chipotle beer, I recommend first brewing a fine chocolate stout.
  2. After racking, take the stout and fill three one gallon jars halfway with your stout.!
  3. Now, prepare your chipotles. You should put them into a strainer, be sure to remove the seeds (the spiciest part), and pour boiling water over them to soften them up and sanitize them a little. Add one, two, and three chipotles to the three separate bottles.!
  4. After two weeks, strain out the peppers, bottle, and label.!
  5. You now have one, two, and three pepper rating Chipotle Chocolate Stout! See how much spice you can handle!

Kegerators.com's Top 5 Names in Domestic Beer

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The U.S. beer industry is in a constant state of flux. New ideas and innovations are changing the face of beer every year, especially in the micro brew market. As the primary field of growth in the brewing industry, kegerators.com will name the top ten names in domestic craft beer production. These are names to look out for. These are brewers associated with quality, ingenuity, tradition, social responsibility, and most of all, good tasting beer. For these qualities, we name New Belgium Brewing Company (Fort Collins, Colorado), Dogfish Head Brewing Company (Rehoboth Beach, Delaware), Spoetzl Brewery (Shiner, Texas), Rogue Ales (Newport, Oregon) and St. Arnolds Brewery (Houston, Texas).

New Belgium Brewery New Belgium Brewery of Fort Collin, Colorado, is here honored for the company’s integrity, ingenuity, and the amazing quality of its high production level brewery. A forward thinking, 100% green company which shares its profits with its workers, New Belgium has consistently contributed innovative brewery techniques, while at the same time maintaining ancient and venerated beer traditions, such as its 1554 Enlightened Black Ale. Kudos to the first beer company to recycle its waste grain and harvest methane from it! This full circle renewable energy source now contributes 30% of the energy required to produce over 450,000 barrels of beer annually.

Dogfish Head Brewing Company Dogfish Head Brewing Company, a smaller brewer located in Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, is here honored for ingenuity and fearless experimentation in the realm of brewing. These brewers have gone where few dare to go, preparing beers of up to 18% A.P.V.! Using admixtures such as raspberries, raisins, blueberries, chicory, and coffee, Dogfish Head has prepared some mighty interesting and mighty tasty concoctions. Brewers of the Midas Touch, Dogfish Head has even created a facsimile of a brew scientists discovered only traces of on urns in King Midas’ tomb. A true blend of tradition and experimentation. But you’ll have to go to Delaware to sample some of their latest innovations: small scale craft spirits!

Spoetzl Brewery, of Shiner Spoetzl Brewery, of Shiner, Texas, is a middle-sized brewery (much bigger than a microbrewery at 300,000+ barrels per year) that has, just in recent years, ventured into the craft beer market. Spoetzl is here honored for returning to the craft beer traditions from the precipice of the homogenized U.S. beer fad. For many years, the Spoetzl Brewery kept mainly their Shiner beer going, but now has distribution for many craft beers, in addition to their rather main-stream tasting Shiner and Shiner light. All of this is, in part, to Shiner’s centennial beer program, which started in 2005. The centennial program began producing one special edition beer in small batches at the end of each quarter. With this foray into the realm of experimentation, the brewers at the Spoetzl Brewery found flavors that were received quite favorably. Spoetzl’s Shiner 96 Märzen Ale, Shiner 97 Bohemian Black Lager, Shiner 98 Bavarian Style Amber, and Shiner 99 Munich Style Helles Lager, are all high quality craft beers worthy of recognition along-side the best microbrews of the day.

Rogue Ales Rogue Ales, of Newport, Oregon is a brewery which has maintained an exacting level of perfection with its recipes while keeping an open mind toward new innovations in brewing. With brews as diverse as Soba, Hazelnut Brown Nectar, and the Juniper Pale Ale, Rogue has demonstrated it’s willingness to live up to its namesake. Yet still, for all this invention, Rogue beers are remarkably reliable – one bottle will always taste like the next, even with such extreme different flavors. Here’s another great thing about Rogue Ales: they are all without preservatives or pasteurization.

Saint Arnold Brewing Company Saint Arnold Brewing Company, of Houston, Texas, is here honored for their dedication to serving their community with traditional, well made craft beers. You may not have heard of St. Arnolds unless you have visited central or east Texas. This is because St. Arnolds is more devoted to serving their immediate community than they are in expanding their distribution. St. Arnolds certainly stands a part from the other breweries in this list, being a straight-forward craft brewery with an honorable dedication to traditional beer styles. St. Arnolds has had quite a time dealing with the destruction of Hurricane Ike, but they are moving into a new location and will surely be up and running again soon.

These have been Kegerators.com‘s five most distinguished domestic brewers of 2008.