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Suspicious Fire at New Belgium’s Asheville Property (Asheville, NC) – Fire damaged two separate buildings on New Belgium’s Craven Street construction site in Asheville after a blaze broke out around 11:00 pm on Friday, April 5th. No injuries were reported and Asheville Fire Department had the blaze fully contained by 4:00 am. The Penland Auction House and a hay barn were heavily damaged. Investigators are calling the fire intentional. New Belgium Asheville General Manager, Jay Richardson, is flying in to meet with community leaders and fire officials.Anyone with information regarding the fire is asked to contact the Buncombe County Crimestoppers: Lt. Randy Smart – 828-778-0011.
Beer Names as Scarce Resources (Cleveland, OH) – One subject that came up consistently at this year’s CBC was craft beer’s enormous growth and whether that might lead to resource scarcities going forward. Many suggested that hops and grain shortages could become a reality in the future…And beer names are already becoming their own kind of “scarce resource.” Increasingly, we’re seeing naming and trademark conflicts between breweries. For example, Great Lake’s blog is now saying that they will be changing the name of their popular Alchemy Hour Double IPA in 2014, to avoid a conflict with Widmer Brothers Alchemy Ale.
Sierra Nevada May Pass One Million Barrels This Year (Chico, CA) – In a recent interview with Inc.com, Sierra Nevada’s Ken Grossman indicated that the company is poised to produce over one million barrels of beer this year. Congratulations Ken…That’s a lot of beer!
Saccharomyces Cerevisiae May Get Its Props in Oregon (Salem, Oregon) – Portlandia will just have to step aside if Oregon is successful in officially designating the nation’s first state microbe! If Rep. Mark Johnson, R-Hood River, has his way, Saccharomyces Cerevisiae (brewer’s yeast) may soon be joining the beaver, western meadowlark, and thunderegg in the official pantheon of state symbols. But as obvious a choice as brewer’s yeast might seem in a beer mecca like Oregon, its canonization is by no means a given. OregonLive, who detailed this story, reminds us that 2009’s efforts to “anoint the Marionberry went splat,” and suggests that even in a state as progressive as Oregon, an official state microbe might in fact be pushing it.
Craft Beer-Only Liquor License Tweaked In the Windy City (Chicago, IL) – A controversial craft beer-only liquor license that was recently proposed for a North Side Chicago market was tweaked to allow for domestics like Budweiser after Anheuser-Busch started voicing complaints. According to DNAinfo.com, the “original no-domestics provision in the proposed liquor license was designed to address the fears of some residents in East Village that allowing booze sales by Garden Gourmet Market… could spark trouble in the neighborhood.” But the proposal was tweaked to allow for mass-market domestics when Anheuser-Busch expressed concerns that its brand was being singled out.
