Anheuser-Busch to buy Goose Island for $38.8 million

Chicago’s Goose Island Brewing Co. will sell its 58 percent of the business to Anheuser-Busch, makers of Budweiser and a slew of other brands. The remaining 42 percent, also being sold to Anheuser-Busch, has thus far been owned by Craft Brewers Alliance LLC, a fancy name for a collaborative merger between Widmer Brothers Brewery in Portland, Oregon, and Redhook Ale Brewery in Portsmouth, New Hampshire.

Both companies agree they will be able to expand the Chicago facility, maintain the current lineup of beers and add styles that have been sidelined over the years. Anheuser-Busch has been distributing Goose Island beer for the past five years, and the relationship seems mutually beneficial thus far. Many craft beer purists, who have most likely alienated Goose Island to a degree of ‘selling out to the man,’ may consider this the last straw and avoid buying the brand.

 

Samuel Adams 2011 Beer Lover’s Choice beers revealed

For fans of competitions like the home brewer’s competition, Boston Beer Co. has developed two new beers to compete for your vote. One will end up in a six-pack or, more likely, a 12-bottle sampler pack sometime soon. One choice is simply called ‘Oaked Ale,’ and the other is called ‘Maple Wood Porter,’ with a description that reads: ‘Malt beverage brewed with maple syrup and aged with oak staves.’ The winner will be determined after several tastings during the summer.

 

Stella Artois introduces new chalice can

Stella Artois is the best selling Belgian beer in the world, and as of April 1 it will be available in 440-milliliter (14.9-ounce) aluminum cans. It will be packaged in four- or 10-packs, the 10-pack being called ‘Pour le Fridge’ for its easy fridge storability. The silver can features the specialized glassware called the Stella chalice, and Stella says it will be great for occasions when proper glassware or a glass bottle are not permitted or available.

 

Sierra Nevada and Russian River to collaborate

For our West Coast beer drinkers, Russian River may be the equivalent to gold. The brewery out of Sonoma County does not distribute outside the West Coast area for the most part — until now. This will be the second collaboration following last year’s regional release of a sour brown ale.

For this year’s joint venture, 750-milliliter bottles will be used, and nationwide distribution will follow suit. The beer will be a ‘Belgian-style pale ale finished with Brettanomyces,’ (a yeast strain that adds a pleasantly tart and sour flavor to beer). The release likely will not occur until 2012, but more news about the collaboration will be released in the coming weeks.

Source: beernews.org

— Compiled by Lucas Sacks, staff writer, ldsacks@syr.edu

Published on March 30, 2011 at 12:00 pm