Uncle Beersaid:
Sorry,Unc, but the law in 1516 only mentions water, hops, and malt. Yeast wasn’t isolated until the 19th century(by Pasteur, IIRC).
Also, it may be interesting to note that the Reinheitsgebot was repealed in 1987 by the EC. Anyone brewing by it now, does so by choice.
A claim I read in one of my books on home brewing said that a major brewery’s costs divide up at approximately 1/3 for packaging, 1/3 for distribution and 1/3 for advertising. Less than 1 percent of the cost goes to ingredients.
Where 'ya going to be? I’m in Texas myself(D/FW).
That story about the marketer and the price doubling doesn’t surprise me. A variant on it is that Corona is the cheapest beer in Mexico- made for poor laborers, and somebody here in the States has managed to make it what people think of when they think of Mexican beer. Which is sad, because Mexico has some truly good beers, such as Negra Modelo, Bohemia, and Dos Equis to name a few.
If I recall correctly, the Spoetzl(Shiner) brewery got bought by Heileman’s or some other large brewing corporation several years back. That could account for the greater distribution in the past decade or so as well.
Huh. Whaddaya know? Thanks, man.
Sofa King, you have a source on the Sam Adams claim? I’ve never ever heard of them being made locally as a virtual brew-pub product. I don’t think that they’ve changed the basic recipe, either.
Bucky
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There’s the original Budweiser, which is actually named “Budweiser Budvar”, which is made in the town of Budveis in the Czech Republic. It’s a Czech pilsner much like Pilsner Urquell.
Your friend is right- it’s excellent beer. It’s just very tough to find on this side of the Atlantic. I tried it while in the UK one time. (Let’s hear it for Oddbins!)
I believe that Anheuser Busch bought the right to use the Budweiser brand name from the Budvar brewery sometime late in the last century, but I don’t have any sources.
Sorry, I’ll be in Austin and Junction. I actually can get Negro Modela at a few of the faux Mexican food places around here. I always have to drink two because I forget I have to tell the yankees not to put a lime in it the first time. Limes go in Corona and Tecate. Does not go in GOOD beer. It is sad that someone working in a Mexican food restaurant can’t figure this out themselves through a little trial and error.
Spoetzl (thanks, I forgot the name) did get bought out a few years back, I never figured out by whom. But their distribution was on the rise before that – I know when i went to college in '91 Shiner was already a class act beer. Not sure how far out of Texas you can get it.
Sorry we can’t get together!
I didn’t realize that in '91 it had already been on the rise- that’s when I started college, and noticed that the Shiner Bock distribution seemed to get larger outside of College Station as time went on, so I figured it must have been because of the buy-out.