Please Explain This Brewing Practice

Yup. The contracted brewery might have more capacity than the new brewery.

Because breweries are expensive and the name of the game in beer has been marketing for many years now. Sam Adams got their start the same way.

Many craft breweries only keg beer, sincfe bottling lines are very expensive. If those without bottling lines want to offer bottled beer, they will contract to have their beer brewed and bottled at a brewery with bottling facilities. Happens all the time. It's the taste that's important, in my opinion....

It seems disingenuous to imply in their advertising that the suds are being brewed in the hometown.

Jack

Could it be that they are using the SAME brewmeister to supervise the operations at the new brewery as the one that is employed by the other one?

It is disingenuous, but it's also fairly common. It's called contract brewing. XYZ owns the brand name and may even (doubtfully) have developed the recipe. For the most part, though, it's a marketing scam because most people don't read the label carefully and assume they're getting something special -- a locally-brewed beer. It's a strategy that worked brilliantly for Koch developing the Sam Adams line of beers.

OTOH, the beer might be fine, and it will succeed or fail based largely on the quality of the beer -- or, at any rate, its appeal to drinkers.

--Jeff Frane

: Brewed and bottled at ABC Beverages, Nowhere, Virginia under : supervision of XYZ Brewing co., Hometown, Maryland.

: Why would a new brewery contract out to another brewery? Is this : typical?

Others have mentioned the bottling line issue that can result in this. Another reason is shipping costs. For example, here in Canada, Foster's lager from Australia is really not from Australia. The fine print on the can says "brewed under license in Canada by Molson".

-- Greg Beaulieu snipped-for-privacy@chebucto.ns.ca Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada

Fosters (Australia) and Harp (Ireland) are both brewed in Canada and then imported into the US. Cuts down on shipping costs and still allows them to claim "imported", I suppose...

snipped-for-privacy@sbcglobal.net (Curtis CCR) wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@posting.google.com:

Budweiser is a highly regarded beer in the U.S., and I suspect Foster's is the same in Australia for the same reason. Most people like that crap. Doesn't mean that Foster's is a snot better than the crap brewed by Molson.

People also say the Guinness brewed in Ireland tastes better than the Guinness you can get in the U.S., but it's the exact same beer. I suspect the Aussies are just rooting for the proverbial home team.

'tis true. On a not so recent trip down under, Fosters was regarded as something similar to Budweiser in the US. Generic, mass market carbonated beer. XXXX (four X) was a bit better.

Cracks me up to see British television shows where the characters are drinking Budweiser in the local pub...

A big difference is finding a Bud in a local bar here is quite common. In Oz one would have to put some effort into locating a Fosters. The most popular beer is Victoria Bitter (VB) but it is certanly far from the best.

Right. That's the key. Many "Japanese" beers are brewed in Los Angeles at the Budweiser plant in the valley, and can't say "imported" on the label. Shipping beer, however, turns out to be a lot more expensive than just sending some company reps and a brewmaster overseas to "oversee" the operation. All I know, is that the actual Japanese beers (brewed in Japan) are not bad at all, while the ones brewed in LA have a cardboard aftertaste...not pleasant.

All I know, is that the actual Japanese beers (brewed in Japan) are not bad at all, while the ones brewed in LA have a cardboard aftertaste...not pleasant.(snip)

You know, that brings up an issue...why are American beers so awful? When I was in Germany, the beer there was wonderful, had an aftertaste like a bowl of Cheerios. In America, all the beer I've tried, even the "imported" beers, including Beck's, have that rotten cardboard aftertaste. There were only two exceptions: Coors when I was on the brewery tour in Golden, CO,(not everywhere else I have ever been, bottled or tap, It's as bad as all the others), and Tuborg beer on tap, at the San Diego sports arena about 25 years ago. Is it that we are willing to settle for a lot of crap? Believe me, I am a patriot, I don't want to start a flame war, I think we can make good beer, this is all in the interest of constructive criticism. I've even considered getting a home brewing kit and learning how to make it myself. Opinions?-Jitney

Twoey's New was highly recommended. My cousin's wife misses it terribly and said she couldn't find it anywhere in the US. I got a bottle of it in one of those "Beer o' the World" gift packs that someone gave me last Christmas. We shared it... It wasn't bad. Better than Foster's. But not the best beer of all time....

American mass-market beer is Gawdawful because the majority have been conditioned to accept it that way. And imported beer is frequently stale by the time it's been handled and stored repeatedly, often by businesses which have no clue how to do so.

There are excellent beers brewed in the US, too many even to begin listing, especially in California. Home brewing is a pleasurable alternative, especially if ales and stouts are to your taste.

As with most foods, beer is an acquired taste.

Germany has very strict laws regarding the ingredients used to brew beer. Don't recall exactly what they are limited to using - something like hops, yeast and something else. In the US, brewers can use anything they like. IIRC, major ingredient in Budweiser is rice.

Many truely imported beers use different formulas for their export product and their domestic product, even though they have the same name.

Boy does that bring back fond memories from years back. I agree, beer from the tap at a brewery is nectar.

I understand that Anchor Steam Beer is brewed with vaginal yeast and filtered with pubic hair shorn from nubile young Negresses.

Geoff

Well, there are many more American beers that are good, than that are bad. But this is in terms of variety, not quantity produced. If you're drinking mass produced beer all the time, then you are missing out, my friend. I'm constantly finding a new offering that is absolutely wonderful. Sometimes they come and go in the good beer shops. For instance, I found a stout that blew everything away, called "Black Hart" made at Fort Bragg BrewCo, and it unfortunately disappeared very quickly. I hear some Trader Joes still have it, but they are usually sold out.

You make one good point, in that the best mass-produced beers are always obtained at the breweries. This always astounded me. I took the Miller tour in Milwaukee, and the samplers there were orders of magnitude better than the stuff you buy at the store. Same with a brewery tour at Sam Adams in S. Boston area, an Anheuser-Busch tour in St. Louis, Anchor tour in San Fran, etc..

Cheers! John