Upcoming Events/Industry Review
We just sent out our press release on the Tour De Brew. This year we are going to be taking the bicycle trails to North Liberty and skipping that ugly hill on Dubuque street. We are expecting a stellar turnout, every year the ride seems to get bigger. This year we are going to have two excellent ‘refreshment stops’ on the way. Its also the week before RAGBRAI, so its a great chance to get warmed up for that big ride if your doing that!
On next monday, we will be providing beer for the Old Chicago Golf Outing in Coralville. The will be doing nine holes of golf, with a beer for each hole. We are providing John’s Generations White ale, and a Wheat Radler. A Radler is beer Lemonade mixture, that if very popular in europe because it is very refreshing! I don’t have any more info, so you had better call Old Chicago to find out more about the outing.
The 2005 industry review is out. Craft beer grew 9% this year! Hooray! Big Boring beer companies were down 1-2%.. things are definately changing! This rapid growth in the Craft segment has been apparent to us in other ways.. it has been hard to get our raw materials because our suppliers are pretty maxed out (for example most craft breweries are calling the same bottle suppliers).
Anyway, I thought I would show you all the Iowa barrelage numbers for your entertainment. I pulled these out of the lastest issue of the New Brewer.
Brewery 2004 2005
Firehouse Brewery, Red Oak 60 23
Lost Duck Brewing, Fort Madison 75 60
Upper Mississippi Brewing, Clinton 225 225
Cedar Brewing, Cedar Rapids 575 326
Front Street, Davenport 282 340
Court Ave, Des Moines 527 488
Old Capitol, Iowa City 140 500
Old Main Brewing, Ames 320 513
Granite City, Clive 747 651
Granite City, Cedar Rapids 801 692
Racoon River, Des Moines 674 699
Granite City, Davenport 819 701
Rock Bottom, Des Moines 1,149 1,019
Millstream Brewing, Amana 1,220 1,602
Total 7479 7756
Just over the border:
Bent River, Moline 500 900
After doing the math, Iowa is showing a 4% growth over last year, not bad! Some breweries do not report.. missing from this list is Becks Sports Bar, Waterloo, The Depot Deli and Lounge, Shenandoah, and Bricktown Brewing, Dubuque, but I do not think their barrelage amounts to much. Its good to see some strong growth as in Old Capitol’s numbers. I know Cedar Brewing changed hands last year and that explains their drop.. however I hear that this year things are doing much better.
Someone told me a while ago that Upper Mississippi Brewing in Clinton is closed, can anyone confirm this?
I heard that the brewer at Bent River in Illinois just finished Brew School, and that explains their sudden growth. They have been around a long time, its good to see they are doing well (though they do not bottle their beer anymore).
June 21st, 2006 at 1:48 pm
Yes, Rich at Bent river has gone to brewing school in Chicago then took an internship in Germany. Now he nos back and making very good beer.
June 22nd, 2006 at 2:53 pm
Congrats on the recent awards!
Was at Millstream on a warm, sunny day, recently. I was “only gonna be there for a few minutes” as I told my wife. I tried a tap-fresh Warsh Pail and was hooked. I ended up having 3 of them while sitting on the picnic table by the front door watching a few other partys enjoy their beers and feeling the cool breeze brush over my fresh sunburn. Couldn’t have been a more enjoyable experience. I must say I really am a Hop Head and I thoroughly enjoyed the more aggressive hoppiness of this year’s version of the Warsh!!! PLEASE, don’t ever change the new recipe.
Also, at the hotel the family and I were staying at, I had a chance to educate a brand new bartender about a frosted glass versus a room temperature glass. When I finally got my room temp glass, I enjoyed a few Schild Braus out of it, as I did the following night. I’m glad to see more bars in Eastern Iowa carrying it on tap or in the bottle.
About the above numbers, I’m glad to see some of my favorite breweries increasing their output. I’m from the Quad Cities and Front Street and Bent River continue to put out some very fine stuff. I called UMBC in Clinton on 6-21 and got a “number out of service” announcement. This could upset me cause if they are closed, it’s the loss of an attractive bar and another unfortunate demise of a pretty fair craft brew conduit to the masses (or, at least, the poulation of Clinton and surrounding areas).
In the Illinois output, was there anything listed about the Elmwood Brewing Company? You were pretty close to them in the tent at last year’s WQPT Brew-Ha-Ha in the Quad Cities. They make a pretty adequate Amber Ale and have a nice brewpub in Elmwood (20 minutes west of Peoria). Recently, they started packing their beers in boxed 4 packs as opposed to their previos open 6 packs. Interesting. It makes the beer LOOK more important.
Anyhoo, I get off the surfboard, here, often. Love to catch up on what you guys are doing. Have ALWAYS loved Schild Brau, and really LOVE the new, more hoppy, Warsh Pail. Is the new version what’s on tap and in bottles, now. I can’t remember if you have a born on date which would really help in my search for the ‘06 Warsh.
Keep up the wonderful work!!!
June 22nd, 2006 at 8:50 pm
I keep hearing that Upper Mississippi is closed, also (or at least no longer brewing), but I have not been to Clinton to confirm.
So, from those numbers it looks like Millstream, Old Cap, Front Street, and Raccoon are powering the growth. I hope Lost Duck keeps it up (nice place to visit, but how often does one get down to Fort Madison.
Hey, Cedar Rapids, how about joining the party? Brew (and drink) some good beer for a change. Put down your Busch Light–it won’t kill you!
June 23rd, 2006 at 10:20 am
Well I guess UMBC are done then. Not really a surprise, they have not had a ‘full time’ brewer in years.. I think that Steve from FrontStreet has been brewing for them.
As for Elmwood, their numbers were down in 2005. They are a brewpub as I understand, and I thought it seemed a little strange for them to be packaging their beer and selling it in Iowa. Doesn’t anyone want it in Illinois?
I’m looking forward to the Iowa Festival of Beers to be held here on September 3rd and chatting with all local brewers again.
June 26th, 2006 at 11:25 am
You got some press in the Monday 6/26 Gazette. The Ramblin’ Guy did a story about the new brewer at Cedar Brew.