Trivia

Beer…By the Numbers

May-14-2013 07:14 Filed in: Beer | Trivia

Days until Philly Beer Week opens: 17.

Number of events at this year’s Philly Beer Week: over 600.

Estimated number of Beer Weeks worldwide: over 100.

Beer’s share of total spending on alcoholic drinks: 47.7 percent.

Wine’s share of total spending: 39.7 percent.

Average cost of a beer at major league ballparks: $6.09 (down 1 cent from 2012).

Average cost of a beer at National Basketball Association arenas: $7.08.

Breweries within the Portland, Oregon, city limits: 52.

Breweries in the Portland metropolitan area: 69.

Breweries in all of Oregon: 124 (4th in the nation).

Federal beer tax on the first 60,000 barrels of annual production: $7 per barrel.

Federal beer tax on each barrel above 60,000: $18.

Years since the last beer tax increase: 22.

Price of one share of Boston Beer Company stock (ticker symbol SAM): $146.48.

Closing price of SAM on March 11, 2009: $18.33.

No comments

Beer…By the Numbers

April-15-2013 23:02 Filed in: Beer | Trivia

Estimated worth of the U.S. craft-brewing industry last year: $10.2 billion.

Increase over 2011: $1.5 billion (14.7 percent).

Increase in U.S. brewery count over that same period: 18 percent.

Millennial Generation’s share of total craft beer consumption: 33 percent (they’re 26 percent of the total adult population).

Baby Boomers’ share: 35 percent (they’re 37 percent of the total).

Annual economic impact of the U.S. brewing industry: $246.6 billion.

Wages and benefits paid annually to brewing industry workers: $79 billion.

Combined advertising spending on Natural Light, Busch Light, Busch, Miller High Life, and Keystone Light in 2012 : $6.9 million.

Anheuser-Busch InBev’s advertising spending on Bud Light Platinum: $32 million so far.

What a bottle of “premium” beer costs this season at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.: $9.75.

What it cost in 2008, the Nationals’ inaugural season: $6.50.

Hard cider’s share of the U.S. beer market in 2012: less than 1 percent.

Growth in hard cider sales from 2011 to 2012: 84.5 percent.

Average price of a case of hard cider: $35.

Average price of a case of craft beer: $33.

Beer…By the Numbers

March-26-2013 18:52 Filed in: Beer | Trivia

Market capitalization of China Resources, brewers of Snow Beer: 60 billion yuan ($9.6 billion).

Market capitalization of Tsingtao Brewing: 50 billion yuan ($8 billion).

Germany’s annual per capita beer consumption in 1976: 151 liters.

Its annual per capita beer consumption today: 106.6 liters.

Its present consumption compared to the U.S.: 33 percent higher.

Dollar value of U.S. craft beer exports last year: $49.1 million.

U.S. craft beer exports to Canada last year: 68,180 barrels (Canada is the number-one market).

U.S. craft beer exports to western Europe last year: 56,204 barrels (Sweden and the UK rank second and third).

Value-added tax on beer served in British pubs: 20 percent.

British pub closings per week: 18.

Attendance at this year’s Barcelona Beer Festival: 10,000 (twice the attendance at last year’s inaugural festival).

Number of beers poured at the festival: 300.

Beers from Catalonia poured at the festival: 55.

Green Flash Brewing Company’s investment in a second brewery in Virginia Beach: $20 million.

Projected annual capacity of the Virginia Beach facility: 100,000 barrels.

Beer…By the Numbers

February-28-2013 10:35 Filed in: Beer | Trivia

Days until Founders Brewing Company releases Kentucky Breakfast Stout at its tap room: 28.

What Founders charges for a 12-pack of KBS: $62 (includes the $5 charge for a release ticket).

Highest reported bid on eBay for a release ticket: over $500.

Beer brands owned by AB InBev and SABMiller: 210.

Countries in which those brands are headquartered: 42.

Number of monks at St. Sixtus Abbey in Vleteren, Belgium: 21.

St. Sixtus’s annual production of Westvleteren 12: about 4,200 barrels.

Price of a six-pack of Westvleteren at the abbey: $27 U.S.

Percent of Myanmar’s males who call themselves “drinkers”: 50.

Percent who say they have five or more drinks daily: 25.

Germany’s beer consumption last year: 82.3 million barrels.

Percent of that beer that was served with cola and juice: 4.5.

Estimated cost of the Michigan Brewers Guild’s Winter Beer Festival: $175,000.

Cost of the beer itself: $90,000.

The Guild’s profit margin on the festival: 30 percent.

Beer…By the Numbers

February-12-2013 02:25 Filed in: Beer | Trivia

Anheuser-Busch InBev U.S. market share: 39 percent.

Miller Coors U.S. market share: 26 percent.

Grupo Modelo (Corona et al.) U.S. market share: 7 percent.

Last year’s craft beer production: 13.7 million barrels.

Increase over 2011 production: 12 percent (1.5 million barrels).

Boston Beer Company’s 2012 production: 2.2 million barrels.

Its share of the U.S. craft beer market: 15.7 percent.

Breweries in Germany (population: 80 million): more than 1,300.

Brewery closures in Germany since 2000: 223.

German “Big Six” breweries owned by multinational corporations: 5.

Percent of college freshmen who said they drank beer in 2012: 33.4.

Percent who said they drank beer in 2007: 41.2.

Percent who said they drank beer in 1982: 75.1.

Attendance at the 2008 Craft Brewers Conference: 2,200.

Expected attendance at this year’s Craft Brewers Conference: over 5,000.

Beer…By the Numbers

January-29-2013 13:15 Filed in: Beer | Trivia

Cases of beer Americans will drink on Super Bowl Sunday: 50 million.

Cost of all that beer: $1.8 billion.

Trips to the bathroom necessitated by drinking all that beer: 1.4 billion.

Breweries in Denmark (population 5.6 million): 132.

Brewery openings in Denmark in 2012: 11.

Growth of China’s beer market from 2006 to 2011: 29 percent (just over 5 percent per year).

Estimated annual growth of India’s beer market: 15 percent.

U.S. beer sales in 2011: $98 billion.

Increase over 2010: 2 percent.

U.S. retail establishments that sell beer: 547,000.

Beer distributors in the U.S.: 3,300.

Alabama counties where beer can’t be sold: 1 (out of 67: Clay County).

Alabama’s beer tax: $1.05 (second highest in the nation).

Kentucky counties where beer can’t be sold: 39 (out of 120).

Kentucky’s beer tax: 8 cents per gallon (tied with 3 other states for 4th lowest).

Beer…By the Numbers

December-13-2012 10:37 Filed in: Beer | Trivia

High bid for two bottles of Hair of the Dog’s “Dave” at a recent auction: $4,526.

Cost per ounce for the high bidder: $187.

Ontario craft beer sales this past year: $22 million.

Increase over the previous year: 45 percent.

Increase over 2004: 1,000 percent.

Beer Stores operated by the province of Ontario: 440.

Years since Pabst Blue Ribbon beer debuted: 168.

Years since PBR won the blue ribbon at the Columbian Exhibition in Chicago: 119.

PBR’s average rating on RateBeer.com: 1.79 (out of 5).

Westvleteren 12’s average rating on RateBeer.com: 4.64.

Cost of a Westvleteren 12 gift set (six bottles, two glasses): at least $50.

Westvleteren 12’s alcohol by volume: 10.2 percent.

Days until the Michigan Brewers Guild’s Winter Beer Festival: 72 (tickets sold out in 13 hours).

Breweries represented at last year’s festival: 61.

Beers poured at last year’s festival: 452.

Beer…By the Numbers

November-20-2012 07:00 Filed in: Beer | Trivia

Pubs’ share of Ireland’s beer consumption: 67 percent.

Ireland’s annual beer consumption: 4.02 million barrels.

Beer’s share of Ireland’s alcohol consumption: 47 percent (wine is second, with 27 percent).

Economic impact of the Great American Beer Festival on Denver’s economy: $7 million.

GABF revenue from ticket sales: $2 million.

Alcoholic content of Armageddon, the world’s strongest beer: 65 percent.

Price of a single bottle of Armageddon: $52.

Price of a single bottle of Samuel Adams Utopias: $190.

Beer tax increase proposed by the French government: 160 percent.

Expected increase in the price of a beer after the tax hike: 20 percent.

Imports’ share of France’s beer market: 30 percent.

Calories in a pint of British session ale: 170.

Calories in a pint of orange juice: 256.

Homebrew shops in existence in the U.S. in 1929, when Prohibition was in force: 25,000.

Estimated U.S. homebrew production in 1929: 22.6 million barrels.

The Friday Mash (Pop Art Edition)

Today is the 75th birthday of Peter Max, the pop artist who’s famous for his use of psychedelic shapes and color palettes. Max has been the official artist for the World Cup, the Grammy Awards, and the Super Bowl…but, so far as we know, no beer festivals.

And now….The Mash!

We begin in Frederick, Maryland, where the Monocacy Brewing Company has released its first Civil War commemorative beer, an English session bitter called Antietam Ale.

Kendall Jones of the Washington Beer Blog describes a weekend beer getaway in Victoria, British Columbia. Final stop on the tour: Garrick’s Head Pub, which has been serving beer since 1867.

Congratulations to Brown Distributing Company, of West Palm Beach, Florida, which was honored as the Craft Beer Distributor of the Year by the National Beer Wholesalers Association.

According to the Beer Institute, New Hampshire ranks first in per-capita beer consumption. Rounding out the top five: North Dakota, Montana, South Dakota, and Nevada.

From the Department of Higher Zymurgical Education: Arizona State University offers a course called The Cultural and Chemical History of Beer. The course has been rated “challenging.”

A British microbrewery has developed a freeze-resistant beer for researchers working in in Antarctic cold. The beer, an India pale ale, is packaged in plastic, vacuum-sealed bottles for the journey to the Pole.

Finally, Scott, who blogs at The Brew Club, serves up 12 Things You Don’t Know About Your Beer. For instance, there are more calories in a pint of Budweiser than in a pint of Guinness.

Beer…By the Numbers

October-18-2012 07:37 Filed in: Beer | Trivia

Breweries represented at this year’s Great American Beer Festival: 578.

Increase over 2011: 110 (23 percent).

China’s Snow Beer production in 2011: 50.8 million barrels (number one in the world).

Budweiser production in 2011: 38.7 million barrels (number three in the world, behind Snow and Bud Light).

Taxes’ share of the cost of an American beer: 45 percent.

Annual U.S. tax revenue generated by beer consumption: $10.8 billion.

Economic output of the U.S. brewing industry: $223.8 billion.

Brewing industry’s share of U.S. gross domestic product: 1.5 percent.

People employed by the U.S. brewing industry: 1.8 million.

Economic impact of California’s craft brewing industry: $3 billion.

People employed by California craft breweries: 22,000.

Minutes an average American must work for a beer: 5 (cost of a beer: $1.80).

Minutes an average Canadian must work for a beer: 11 (cost of a beer: $3.20).

Breweries in the U.K.: more than 1,000.

U.K. breweries opening in the past year: 153.