| Begging For Beer Bottles The 138-year-old, family-owned Straub Brewery (100 miles northeast of Pittsburgh)is begging customers — mostly in Pennsylvania, but also some in Ohio, New York and Virginia — to return thousands of empty bottles. If enough customers do, Straub will keep selling cases of 12- and 16-ounce returnable bottles past year’s end. “It’s not that we’re totally into ‘green,’ but we think it’s the right thing to do,” said Dan Straub, great-grandson of company founder Peter Straub. One other brewer — the nation’s oldest, D.G. Yuengling & Son of Pottsville, Pa. — still sells and gathers returnables. But it expects to phase them out by summer's end, leaving Straub as the last holdout. Returnable bottles need to be cleaned, requiring extra energy. They are heavier so they won’t break and must be shipped both ways, meaning fuel use and costs are significant for all but the smallest regional breweries. The larger breweries — Anheuser-Busch, Miller and Coors — gave up on returnables years ago because their costs became prohibitive. Straub customers pay a $1.50 deposit for each 24-bottle case and can get it back upon returning the bottles. |
| Lobbying Congress The Beer Institute spent $250,000 in the second quarter of the year to lobby the federal government on food labeling, taxes and other issues. That's more than double the $110,000 that the group spent in the first quarter of 2010, and up from the $200,000 it spent in the year- ago period.The trade group — whose members include Anheuser-Busch InBev, Heineken USA Inc. and MillerCoors — also lobbied on state beverage laws and regulations, advertising and other issues. Besides Congress, the Beer Institute lobbied the Federal Trade Commission, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism, Department of Health and Human Services and other agencies. Also group spending big bucks was the National Beer Wholesalers Association. They backed a bill introduced in the House aimed at limiting direct sales of beer, wine and other alcohol, which the trade group (but not consumers) views as a mortal threat to its industry. Over two weeks after the bill's introduction the group contributed more than $45,000 to the campaign accounts of Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), chairman of the committee considering the bill and the guest of honor at a fundraiser during the association's annual Washington meeting this spring. The group hired as an outside consultant Conyers' former chief of staff, who met with members of the chairman's staff. In addition, the group has donated nearly $300,000 this year to more than one hundred House members who agreed to co-sponsor the legislation, often within days of securing these lawmakers' formal support, according to Federal Election Commission records. |
Feature News from beernexus.com
| How To Pour A Beer Contest Did you know that there's an official nine-step "pouring ritual" to get the perfect Stella Artois out of a keg? Although this news inspires some of us to pop the top on a can of Dale's Pale (so much simpler!), some of you may rise to the challenge and hope to perfect the technique. Since 1997, Stella has been holding a "World Draught Master" contest complete with expert judges and cheering fans. Winners of eight regional beer-pouring contests will compete in Boston on September 17 for the U.S. finals; from there, contestants will head to London for the world championship on October 28. Last week, regional contests were held in Tampa and Orlando. If you missed them, you can still win one of the 16 USA slots by playing an online beer-pouring game at DraughtMasterUSA.com and winning the wild card. ----------------------------------- Bud Boycott Over Immigration Law A Hispanic group opposed to Arizona’s Senate Bill 1070 immigration measure has launched a boycott of Budweiser beer and the Phoenix-based Anheuser-Busch distributorship headed by Cindy Hensley McCain. Public opinion polls show roughly two-thirds of Arizonans support 1070, while opposition mainly comes from Hispanic groups and liberal areas around the country. Budweiser response said it deeply disappointed with those who believe attacking a company known for its commitment to the community This call "is an obvious cheap political stunt motivated solely by self promotion and is counter productive to what is in the best interest of our state and citizens." |
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Edited by Jim Attacap
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