Billion dollar Energy Drink company uses deep pockets to go after Vermont microbrewery.

A buzz around the American craft beer community has revealed an ugly truth stemming from the pits of corporate America. We heard about it on the social networking site Facebook where several friends and brewers have reacted.  Morrisville, Vermont’s Rock Art Brewery has been issued a cease and desist order from Monster Energy Drink. Monster, who would appear is living up to its name, is marketed and distributed by Hansen Natural Corporation, a NASDAQ listed company of Corona, California. Hansen Natural Corporation recently announced a distribution agreement with Anheuser-Busch in the United States. The letter from the corporate team at Monster claims there is confusion generated by the Rock Art’s seasonal barley wine named “Vermonster” created a couple years back to celebrate their tenth anniversary.

Rock Art began as a two person operation twelve years ago by husband and wife team Matt and Renee Nadeau. Today, the business remains a modest microbrewery operation that employs seven people and distributes to five states outside of Vermont. On the other hand, Hansen Natural who owns the Monster energy drink is a publicly traded company with a reported gross sales for the second quarter of 2009 of $345.8 million, up 6.7% from $324.1 million in the same period last year. According to reports, Monster sold a cool $1 billion worth of the energy drink last year.

New Glarus Brewing Company located in the Wisconsin town of the same name is a brewery whose reputation speaks for itself. Founded in 1993 by husband and wife team Dan and Deb Carey, the brewery has evolved from a makeshift dairy farm brewery into a world class operation that is a must visit for true lovers of hand crafted beer. Bolstered by a word of mouth reputation and an unbridled passion for what they do, New Glarus produce a spectrum of beer styles that have garnered the acclaim of the international brewing community. Perhaps most notable of New Glarus’ repertoire are the Belgian and Germanic beers that add to the rich European heritage of the area. The brewery’s Wisconsin Belgian Red is a tart and sweet kriekbier brewed with whole Montmorency cherries, Wisconsin wheat, and Belgian roasted barleys is a little slice of heaven tucked away in the rolling hills of the Dairyland.

The Careys followed their inner calling to produce beers unlike any in North America near the beginning of the most recent craft beer resurgence. Alongside several beer geek favorites, the brewery has found itself inevitably adhering to the Midwestern palate. The household standard known as Spotted Cow, a sessionable farmhouse ale brewed with flaked barley and Wisconsin malt. With a sweet, crisp flavor profile, this brew is today Wisconsin’s #2 most consumed draught beer behind Miller Lite. It is fit for the thirst of the blue collar public after a long day of hard work.

Last time we left off in our interview with Rob Widmer, we were talking about Widmer’s relationship to Craft Brewers Alliance and Anheuser-Busch (now owned by In-Bev). Here we continue and touch on the history behind Widmer’s relationship with the Oregon Brew Crew and their Collaborator series. We also get some insight to the latest trends in craft brewing.

Perhaps the problem many craft beer folks have with large breweries like A-B is the marketing of their products. Obviously, business is the bottom line, but on one hand they slight craft brewers for producing foofy, hoppy, fruity, fancy beers, crazy brews. On the other hand offering alternative brands like Belgian wits, fruit beers, and a “craft” line-up under alternative labels like Michelob amber etc…

Happy 25th Anniversary to the Widmer Brother! Today is the actual anniversary date, so raise a glass to Oregon beer history, and the brothers for keeping it real for a quarter century. Today they will be rolling back prices in the Gasthaus to circa 1984.  To celebrate its milestone, Widmer Brothers will be releasing a commemorative 25th Anniversary limited-edition brew, a double alt dubbed 84/09. Though inspired by the brothers’ very first offering, Widmer Alt, 84/09 will provide drinkers with a whole new beer experience at a whopping 9.8% ABV. The 25th Anniversary 22 oz bottle will be available in 12 select West Coast markets in May.Check it out!

Widmer Brothers is the largest brewery in Oregon, and the 11th largest brewery in the United States.  Here is the third installment of our interview with Rob Widmer. When we left off last, we were asking Rob about sustainable and organic beers.

What’s your take on certified organic beer? Is this as important than locally sustainable?

Just caught wind that Goose Island is now available in Oregon, California, and Arizona. According to Sally Murdoch, Goose Island’s PR person, the Bourbon County Stout will make its way into stores Mid-November. From what we at Brewpublic have heard, the disappearance and reappearance of Goose Island beers is connected to the breweries relationship with the Craft Brewers Alliance.  The Alliance was formed by Widmer and Redhook in 2007 and has a minority stake ownership by Anheuser-Busch (now owned by In-Bev of Belgium).  Here’s the press release from Goose Island:

Chicago, IL, November 5, 2008 . . . Goose Island Brewing Company has been celebrating the annual release of its Bourbon County Stout since it was first created 16 years ago by brewmaster Greg Hall to commemorate the 1000^th batch at the original Chicago brewpub. As 2008 comes to a close, Goose Island has yet another reason to celebrate; thanks to larger distribution capabilities, the brewer is able to make the massive imperial stout, the first of its kind, available to beer connoisseurs throughout Oregon, California and Arizona. The beer begins shipping today and is scheduled to hit shelves of better grocery stores and beer specialty shops in the three states by mid-November, 2008.

When Bourbon County Stout was first crafted, Hall brewed an imperial stout in four-year-old bourbon barrels, where it aged for one hundred days. The 2008 batch kicked things up a notch by aging for 10 months in 16-year-old barrels. This process allowed the liquid to pick up its charred oak, chocolate, vanilla, caramel and smoke flavors. With an alcohol by volume of 13% and a shelf life of five years, the finished product is clearly not for the inexperienced drinker; Hall developed Bourbon County Stout for seasoned craft beer drinkers and high end spirit connoisseurs who appreciate beers that come along once in a great while. Like a fine wine, the flavor of Bourbon County Stout evolves as it ages over five years, thereby lending a different flavor and experience for the drinker, no matter when he chooses to enjoy it.

“Until now, beer drinkers didn’t have access to massive imperial stouts in stores,” Hall said. “We set out to change that. This year, thanks to our commitment of increasing our barrel-aging capacity in our? brewhouse, we are proud to say that we can bring Bourbon County to more?beer enthusiasts than we ever imagined when we brewed the first small batch back in 1992. We think Bourbon County Stout will definitely make some memories and new fans this holiday season.”

Described by some as “a great cigar beer,” Bourbon County Stout is dark and dense. The flavor is so intense, Hall says, that only the most decadent chocolate dessert can stand up to it.

Last Week, Blitz Bar opened a second location in Southeast Portland in addition to the company’s Pearl District pub.  Similar to the Pearl bar, the Southeast spot at 2235 SE 11th Avenue (Between Hawthorne and Division at Sherman) offers a clean, open environment with foosball, billiards, several flat screen televisions, and a decent tap selection.  With several humdrum tap offerings sponsored by In-Bev/Anheuser-Busch taking up the coolers, there were still at least five to ten desirable craft beers on tap at last visit.  Trumer Pils, Rogue Dead Guy, Shock Top Wit, New Castle Nut Brown, New Belgium 2 below, and Lagunita’s IPA were the best they could offer, but the beer isn’t the real selling point here (too bad, because we’d go every day).  It’s the atmosphere.  Fresh particle-boarded walls and booths clad the brewpub-esque atmosphere.  Friendly staff and decent food make Blitz comfortable enough.  Sports coming out of every corner of the room (if you are annoyed by

Beer Menu @ Blitz East

televisions at a relatively high volume or a jock mentality, don’t go here). The beer selection was a little disheartening when attempting to drink through a full game, but the place offers a full bar with lots of liquor, if that’s your bag.  For the beer enthusiast, it wasn’t amazing, but for the sports fan who likes to go out and catch a game, Blitz is smokefree and immaculate.  A comfortable set of couches in the back side of the bar offer views of a projection mega-screen television.  Overall, we found Blitz nothing to write home about, but definitely worth checking out.