The Friday Mash (Westward Expansion Edition)
On this day in 1804, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark began their historic expedition through the vast Louisiana Purchase. Their journey has nothing to do with beer festivals, except that Ludwig’s come up with the crazy idea of paying for his next pint with Sacagawea dollar coins.
And now…The Mash!
Jay Brooks at the Brookston Beer Bulletin comments on Miller Lite’s new Vortex Bottle (complete with a how-it-works video). He also wonders about ideas that are so silly that even beer marketing people give them the thumbs-down.
Charlie Papazian explains how the Protestant Reformation affected the beer you drink today. Seriously.
Don Russell, a/k/a Joe Sixpack, worries about Anchor Brewing’s future now that Fritz Maytag has sold it. He points out that Pete’s Wicked Ale Brewery failed after Pete Slosberg sold it, and Bert Grant’s brewery disappeared after his death.
Some in the beer community pooh-poohed the idea of craft beer in cans, but more than 70 craft breweries now can their beer, and that total is steadily growing.
Brookston Beer Bulletin’s 40th edition of The Session will be, appropriately enough, a discussion of session beers. The host will be Erik Lars Myers from Top Fermented, and you’re welcome to join in .
May is National Tavern Month, and a couple of articles crossed Ludwig’s desk. Thursday’s Guardian had an article about the best-ever bar fights in movie history. On a more serene note, the editors of Draft magazine describe their favorite watering holes.
Finally, an item from The Mash’s Retro Want Ads Department. London’s Old Spitalfields Market is looking to hire an ale taster.
Anchor Brewing Acquired by California Investment Firm
After 45 years at the helm at Anchor Brewing Company, Fritz Maytag announced today that he has sold the company. The buyer is The Griffin Group, an investment company based in the Bay Area. It is led by beverage-industry veterans Keith Greggor and Tony Foglio, who built the Skyy Vodka brand.
Here is a link to Anchor’s press release announcing the sale to Griffin (hat tip: Todd Alstrom at BeerAdvocate.com.)
Maryanne and Paul discovered this news upon returning home from a local grocery store where, ironically, they bought several bottles of Sierra Nevada’s Fritz & Ken’s Ale. This weekend, they plan to open one and toast Fritz Maytag and his remarkable career. By the way, he’ll stay on at the brewery in the capacity of chairman emeritus.
Common Knowledge
Jay Brooks, of Brookston Beer Bulletin fame, has a column in the San Jose Mercury News about the history of steam beer.
But unless you’re the Anchor Brewing Company, don’t dare call this style “steam,” or the dreaded Trademark Police will come looking for you. Jay explains why:
As no one else in the world was brewing steam beer, Anchor shrewdly trademarked the name in 1981. By the time the craft beer scene caught up and breweries wanted to make their own versions of Steam Beer, a generic term had to be coined, and so “California Common” was born.
And now you know the proverbial “rest of the story.”