Hop Talk

I heard a report this morning about ClimateCounts.org, a non-profit organization with the stated aim of bringing “consumers and companies together in the fight against global climate change.”

They’ve released their 2008 Scorecard, which summarizes 56 large companies’ self-reported efforts at environmental friendliness. Anheuser-Busch was one of the most improved companies, jumping 21 points from their 2007 score to 50 points (out of 100).

Scorecard Sectors: Beer

Of course, since ClimateCounts.org focuses on large—primarily American—companies, only  three companies are listed in that sector.

• Anheuser-Busch: 50/100 (+21)
• SAB Miller: 48/100 (0)
• MolsonCoors: 34/100 (+14)

Certainly, these are awfully modest numbers and there are smaller brewers who would score significantly higher on ClimateCounts.org’s criteria. Still, considering the absolute volume produced by these three corporations, and the positive direction of their scores, kudos are warranted. Not that there isn’t room for improvement, of course. As I say to my kids when report cards come out: “Great job! Now, keep it up.”

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This edition of The Session is sponsored by Chris O’Brien’s, The Beer Activist. (I just love his tag line, “Drink Beer. Save the World.”) Session #13 is titled Organic Beer

Here’s a bit of context to help inspire your observations on organic imbibing. “Organic beer” refers to beers that use ingredients, supplies, and production processes that have been certified as adhering to the rules of the National Organic Program administered by the US Department of Agriculture (and similar programs in other countries).

I was going to cheap out on this session and just refer to my review of Orlio beers by Magic Hat, but I thought it might be interesting to point out some stuff about Anheuser-Busch and how they are genetically engineering rice to be used in their beers. Now, I’m just guessing here, but I doubt GE rice is considered organic.

Greenpeace made this disgusting YouTube video to let you know. Disgusting, but that’s the point, and it is kind of funny…

All of the articles I have found are about why isn’t Anheuser-Busch pointing this out. I think it is pretty obvious… they don’t have to and it would wreck their advertising of “all-natural”. The question is, can they still advertise as all-natural?

Resources:
Anheuser Busch Using Genetically Engineered Rice in Beer: Greenpeace
Anheuser-Busch Pledges to Use Only Organic Hops In Organic Beer
Anheuser-Busch using experimental genetically-engineered (GE) rice to brew Budweiser
Greenpeace: Genetically altered rice in Budweiser
Budweiser Found to Contain Genetically Engineered Rice

Update: Session #13 Roundup

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You don’t need to have your finger on the pulse of the beer industry to have heard the continuing rumors of the two largest beer producers in the world (one by sales, the other by volume) in merger talks. Their recent mutual distribution agreement is widely seen as a precursor to a full-fledged merger. Profits for A-B were up in the 4th quarter of 2007, but the large jump on February 1 is attributed to these InBev merger rumors. (CNN Money: Anheuser-Busch Shares Up on InBev Report)

I’m no pundit, and certainly you can get more coverage from mainstream media sources (CNN, Bloomberg, Reuters, New York Times) and the beer blogosphere (Jay Brooks, and more), but I would be remiss if I didn’t bring it to your attention. Of course, around this time last year the same rumors were circulating, but they seem more strident this time.

There won’t be any in-depth analysis here, but I do wonder what will happen. Assuming the rumors are true, who benefits? The stockholders in the two companies, obviously. The workers at the companies? Generally not. Employees who hold company stock in their retirement plans count as stockholders, of course, but then there’s all the employees who will lose their jobs as the merged company gets rid of “redundancies”. Executives will do well, if only with golden parachutes.

Of course, that’s not the focus of this blog either. We’re about the beer, here. So what about it? I expect there will continue to be experimentation with products in the “craft” space. If only because craft beer is still, at least for the time being, growing at a double-digit rate. Really, though, I expect more of the same. I expect the companies to realize cost-savings by brewing far-away recipes closer to home. Why ship all that beer across the Atlantic when you can brew it at a regional A-B facility and slap the “exotic” label on it?

But, honestly, do I expect any new, interesting, good beers to be produced by this new company? No.

What really concerns me is the smaller brewers; the ones whose beers I love. Instead of dealing with a couple of industry giants and working to find their own niche (and distribution), they’ll now have to compete with a Ginormous Behemoth. Will any niches be left and will they be big enough to sustain the “real” craft brewers? I wonder if we’ll see a contraction in the craft beer space similar to what we saw after the go-go eighties.

I wish I knew what it all means. I can’t ignore it.

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If you read much of the beer “blogosphere” for any length of time, you might get the impression that the so-called American “megabrewers” Miller, Coors, and especially Anheuser-Busch, are considered the “Evil Empire”. I have this vision of a giant interstellar quarter barrel manned by beer-bellied storm troopers cruising the universe in order to indoctrinate innocent people into the bland beer hegemony.

I, on the other hand, am trying not to be evil. For one thing, I am also personally trying to reduce the impact I have on our environment. I use a manual mower on my lawn and only organic lawn treatments. I take mass transit to work. I recycle.

So it made me glad to find out that Anheuser-Busch has been doing quite a bit to re-use the waste products they create to generate energy, treat waste water, create bio-mass to sell to other companies and, overall, reduce their organic waste output by 80 percent. And they’ve been doing this for over 10 years.

In St. Louis, the process starts when wastewater runs in pipes from the brewery to the BERS (bio-energy recovery systems) facility, which is wedged into a complex next to an old locomotive repair shop near the Mississippi River.

Screens snag large solids such as pieces of spent grain. The filtered water is collected in 1.2-million-gallon equalizer tanks, where temperature and acidity are kept within acceptable ranges.

The wastewater is then sent to airtight reactor tanks. There, anaerobic bacteria — microscopic “bugs” that live without oxygen — swarm around the small organic particles still in the water. The bacteria munch on the organic materials, forming millions of flakes of sludge — or biomass — a few millimeters wide.

Here’s some statistics:

• Reduce energy costs by millions of dollars (up to $5 million a year in fuel savings at the St. Louis brewery alone)
• Reduces emissions of carbon dioxide by an estimated 400 million pounds a year
• Produces between 10 and 15 percent of the energy needs for each of the breweries in which it has been installed

Bravo!

St. Louis Post-Dispatch (via Treehugger)

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European and American stock markets were abuzz today about a possible merger between Anheuser Busch and InBev.

InBev is the world’s largest brewer by volume. Anheuser Busch is the largest by sales.

Their markets don’t overlap much, with InBev primarily outside of North America.

This is not one of the scenarios I imagined when I talked about their distribution agreement.

Is there anything to worry about? At least, from a craft beer fan’s perspective?

I don’t know. I’m not a big fan of giant consolidations like this. InBev, at least, has let the breweries they’ve brought under their umbrella stay true to their product. I have even enjoyed a few of their brands, such as Bass Ale.

Even as big as this company would be I think there’s still room for craft brewers. However, A-B has been for several years now trying to sneak into the craft beer space, by creating beers with different brand names and trying to hide their affiliation. Wild Hop Lager is the latest. (Ron’s review.) They’re not the only ones, of course. SABMiller and Molsen Coors do the same thing.

On the one hand, this isn’t a terrible thing. My wife is a fan of Coors’ Blue Moon Belgian White. I’ve had it and it’s not bad. Not generally what I drink but certainly different than say, Coors Light. I can even see where this might even be necessary. If they called it “Coors Belgian White” the people who think Coors is cheap beer will avoid it, and Coors fans would try it and probably not like. Either way, it’s a loss. People’s long-standing perceptions of a brand are hard to get over. The Japanese car makers understood this. That’s why when they wanted to start selling luxury cars in the U.S., they created Acura, Lexus, and Infiniti. They don’t hide the fact that each is owned by Honda, Toyota, and Nissan, but they don’t scream it from the hilltop either. And, it makes sense. People at that time had a perception of Toyota cars: reliable, fairly inexpensive, and good gas mileage. And there was no way any of them were going to pony up $70,000 for a Toyota. But a Lexus…

So, the big American brewers’ “craft” beers are in a similar situation. I just have two problems with this: They often go to great lengths to disguise who the actual brewer is. This is disingenuous at best, downright fraudulent at worst. Not everyone is savvy enough to figure out who is really behind a brand. Further, I want to support my small, local brewer. He (or she) is a normal person with a family and a passion for good beer. Sure, he’s making some money but he’s not filthy rich. He’s a part of the community. He’s not some faceless corporation looking only at the bottom line and Wall Street.

My fear is that a merger like this would allow the larger company to spend even more money fooling people looking to try something beyond the King of Beers, the Silver Bullet, and the High Life. And, yeah, they might put together a decent product. Maybe. And their pockets are so deep that they could sell it at a loss for years and force smaller brewers out of business. And there goes the wonderful variety we’ve come to appreciate.

I don’t really know what’s going to happen, but it’s a story I’m going to keep an eye on.

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