Miller Brewing's first organic beer

[johnnyd]

From Sustainable Food News.com, a subscription-only daily news service; re-posted in part, below, with permission from the editor:

America’s second largest brewery Miller Brewing Company introduced Monday its first organic beer, Henry Weinhard’s Organic Amber Premium Ale.

Described as a smooth, full-bodied beer, the new product is made with USDA-certified organic ingredients from the Pacific Northwest, the new beer is brewed using organic barley, two-row malt and Mt. Hood and Simcoe hops, grown without the use of pesticides and chemicals. It contains 5.25 percent alcohol by volume.

The new USDA-certified organic beer meets the standard of more than 95 percent of its ingredients are certified organic.

Anheuser-Busch launched its organic beers in March and April in several test markets nationwide.

The new Weinhard’s brew is available in six-packs of non-returnable 12-ounce bottles at retail outlets in Idaho, Oregon and Washington at a suggested retail price range from $7.49-$7.99. The beer is also sold in kegs for restaurants and bars.

“To tap into the growing interest in organic food and beverages, we have created a beer that features the natural purity of premium ingredients from the Pacific Northwest,” said Scott Ortega, brand director for Henry Weinhard’s.

The Henry Weinhard’s portfolio of premium brews includes the flagship Henry Weinhard’s Private Reserve, and all Weinhard’s beers are made in at Oregon’s Full Sail Brewery in Hood River

5.25% alcohol content from Miller? Anyone over there in PNW who tastes it / has tasted it, please post a review, thanks.

[Nathan]

this whole "organic' marketing gimmick thing is getting really annoying. there is no end to what people will pay for a status symbol.

[eje]

Does Miller own Full Sail, too?

Or do they just contract the brewing of the Weinhard beers to Full Sail?

---

Never mind, found an article:

Those 30,000 barrels combine with Full Sail's annual output of 65,000 barrels to put the brewery comfortably near full capacity, said co-owner Irene Firmat. It's Full Sail's first contract brewing deal, though it's turned down several previous requests. "We're very proud to be selected by Miller as the Northwest brewery to brew Henry's and we're committed to keeping the brand in Oregon," she said.

[...]

Full Sail brewer John Harris said consumers won't notice any changes. The beers will meet the same flavor profiles they always have, though brewed in smaller batches. He also made it clear that the deal does not affect Full Sail's own beers or its independence. "They don't own us or anything," he said. "We're just brewing Henry's for them."

Edited February 6, 2007 by eje (log)

[Malkavian]

I'd be interested in tasting it...with those hops it'll be pretty tasty, but the "organic" bit will up the pricetag for sure.

[jesskidden]

5.25% alcohol content from Miller? 

←

Well, Miller is the current owner/marketer/brewer of the Steel Reserve, Mickey's Big Mouth and Olde English 800 lines (the latter, a longtime product of Blitz-Weinhard*), so they got the alcohol part down <g>.

Altho', I thought Full Sail only make *some* of the Weinhard brands on a contract basis for SABMiller (perhaps so they can still use the "brewed in Pacific Northwest" tag line)? It's a real sin that the 3 old breweries in the PNW- B-W, Rainier and Olympia are gone after that late 90's round of mergermania, seems like a such a hotbed of brewing would have allowed some micro or collective of micros to purchase and maintain those old plants, even if it meant not running to capacity.

* Speaking Olde English 800 (which began, oddly enough, as Olde English 600- where'd the other 200 come from?), I was reading the first edition of MJ Pocket Guide to Beer the other day (1982) and OE800 was the strongest beer brewed in the US at the time, at 7.5% abv (altho', Ballantine India Pale Ale matched it). 7 and 1/2? Ain't that a "session beer" in this modern beer age?

Edited February 7, 2007 by jesskidden (log)

[jesskidden]

this whole "organic' marketing gimmick thing is getting really annoying.

Well, the mega breweries are always quick to jump on any gimmick in such a competitive industry where 1/10 of 1% of market share is worth fighting for. The "organic" thing seems to be at least aimed at an existing sub-segment of the market.

It's no more annoying than the "flavored beer", "malternative" "real draft", "light/lite", "dry", "bran", "low carb", "low alcohol", "red", "sorghum", "imitation Mexican" fads of the past few decades, several of which ("real draft" for one) have come and gone several times.

Heck, some of them have even attempted to brew good beer at one time or another (results and acceptance have varied).

[Chris Amirault]

What? No corn?

[Nathan]

I actually thought the Miller Red was pretty decent.

Still recommend Leinie's Red if you can find it.

[johnnyd]

It's no more annoying than the "flavored beer", "malternative" "real draft", "light/lite", "dry", "bran", "low carb", "low alcohol", "red", "sorghum", "imitation Mexican" fads of the past few decades, several of which ("real draft" for one) have come and gone several times.

I had a Molson "ice" the other day. ugh

[jesskidden]

It's no more annoying than the "flavored beer", "malternative" "real draft", "light/lite", "dry", "bran", "low carb", "low alcohol", "red", "sorghum", "imitation Mexican" fads of the past few decades, several of which ("real draft" for one) have come and gone several times.

I had a Molson "ice" the other day. ugh

←

"Ice!" I forgot the "Ice" fad. IIRC, it came from Canada (home of all frozen things <g>) and, well, it WAS based, however loosely, on the valid "Eisbock" technique of Germany. The part I liked about was when A-B came out with some, they added water BACK to the beers after the ice was removed, to bring the alcohol level back down. Huh?

I actually thought the Miller Red was pretty decent.

Still recommend Leinie's Red if you can find it.

←

Never had the Miller and don't get the Leinkugel in NJ (yet- but it's coming- I see their Lemon flavored stuff now.)

I'm not saying that all the "fad" styles were ONLY fads, with no redeeming value. One of my favorite fads (pre-micro era) was when Genesee Cream Ale took off in the Northeast and we started getting a number of out of the area Cream Ales (Blatz and Little Kings), some older ales were "reborn" -Utica Club, Red Cap, Neuweiler Cream Ale, Tiger Head Ale, McSorley's (Cream) Ale (which hadn't been bottled in many years at that point) and some other breweries dipped their feet into the hybrid waters (Falstaff had a Ballantine Cream Ale for a time, Schaefer came out with one, etc.). And the best part- many were a lot better than the inspiration (Genesee CA) at least for "ale" drinkers who wanted hops.

[aschbren]

It's no more annoying than the "flavored beer", "malternative" "real draft", "light/lite", "dry", "bran", "low carb", "low alcohol", "red", "sorghum", "imitation Mexican" fads of the past few decades, several of which ("real draft" for one) have come and gone several times.

I had a Molson "ice" the other day. ugh

←

"Ice!" I forgot the "Ice" fad. IIRC, it came from Canada (home of all frozen things <g>) and, well, it WAS based, however loosely, on the valid "Eisbock" technique of Germany. The part I liked about was when A-B came out with some, they added water BACK to the beers after the ice was removed, to bring the alcohol level back down. Huh?

I actually thought the Miller Red was pretty decent.

Still recommend Leinie's Red if you can find it.

←

Never had the Miller and don't get the Leinkugel in NJ (yet- but it's coming- I see their Lemon flavored stuff now.)

I'm not saying that all the "fad" styles were ONLY fads, with no redeeming value. One of my favorite fads (pre-micro era) was when Genesee Cream Ale took off in the Northeast and we started getting a number of out of the area Cream Ales (Blatz and Little Kings), some older ales were "reborn" -Utica Club, Red Cap, Neuweiler Cream Ale, Tiger Head Ale, McSorley's (Cream) Ale (which hadn't been bottled in many years at that point) and some other breweries dipped their feet into the hybrid waters (Falstaff had a Ballantine Cream Ale for a time, Schaefer came out with one, etc.). And the best part- many were a lot better than the inspiration (Genesee CA) at least for "ale" drinkers who wanted hops.

←

It was my understanding from reading The Brewmaster's Table that megabrewed "ice beers" were just a marketing gimmick...

Since macro ice beers don't have any more alcohol content than a normal macrobrew, I don't think they freeze the beer which is the critical step in making an eisbier.

[jesskidden]

I had a Molson "ice" the other day. ugh

←

"Ice!" I forgot the "Ice" fad. IIRC, it came from Canada (home of all frozen things <g>) and, well, it WAS based, however loosely, on the valid "Eisbock" technique of Germany. The part I liked about was when A-B came out with some, they added water BACK to the beers after the ice was removed, to bring the alcohol level back down. Huh?

←

←

It was my understanding from reading The Brewmaster's Table that megabrewed "ice beers" were just a marketing gimmick...

Since macro ice beers don't have any more alcohol content than a normal macrobrew, I don't think they freeze the beer which is the critical step in making an eisbier.

←

Well, one brewer's "gimmick" is another brewer's most successful new brand. <g>

I'd guess it can be both. Oliver doesn't imply that the macrobrewers that were selling Ice beers *weren't" really freezing and removing some ice, only that the resulting beers ("inspired" by eisbock, even according to the book) were in no way true to style nor did they taste much different than the "regular" beers from their breweries.

Here's Labatt's version of their Ice Beer:

"Labatt Ice, introduced in 1993, was the world’s first Ice Brewed™ beer and the most successful new brand introduction in Canadian brewing history. Labatt Ice is a fully fermented liquid, chilled to approximately -4°C until ice crystals are formed and removed." (And, in this case, the beer does have more alcohol- 5.6% vs. 5% for regular Labatt.)

A-B still markets Bud Ice, Bud Light Ice, Natural Ice and Busch Ice and that's the company I recall stating that they then added water BACK to the brew, to bring it back down to a more normal ABV, tho' they're still higher than the regular beer (5.5-5.9% vs. 4.6-5%- according to the Beer Advocate stats), quite a bit more in the case of the Busch beers but nothing like 12% of Aventinus or Kulmbacher's 9.2%.

I've never read anything to suggest that the macros aren't really freezing their ice beers and the Feds aren't always happy with misleading statements on beer labels and they're in the breweries and they check.

Edited February 11, 2007 by jesskidden (log)

[budrichard]

Miller has ruined more labels than I can count. Purchase a small label and then exploit it and tack on $4/case for advertising. Miller ruined Lowenbrau by having it made in Canada. Now that German Lowenbrau is again available in the US, I asked why no dark? Answer, it didn't sell. Well of course it didn't sell, it was crap brewed in Canada. If Miller has ANYTHING to do with it, I won't touch it.-Dick

[jesskidden]

Miller ruined Lowenbrau by having it made in Canada. Now that German Lowenbrau is again available in the US, I asked why no dark? Answer, it didn't sell. Well of course it didn't sell, it was crap brewed in Canada. If Miller has ANYTHING to do with it, I won't touch it.-Dick

←

Miller 'ruined' Lowenbrau by contract brewing it in Texas (and other Miller facilities), which began back in the 70's. The contract was voluntarily undertaken by the Lowenbrau Brewery (no reports of a gun to their heads or anything) and some say it was done because Lowenbrau wanted to brew an adjunct version of their beer for export but couldn't get the law changed in Germany. Altho' it was, even then, pretty much a standard "industrial light lager".

The short-lived Canadian Lowenbrau seemed to be an interim product and came AFTER the Miller contract ended a few years ago now(Both Labatt and Lowenbrau are InBev brands and are imported by Labatt USA, another Inbev company). IIRC, Lowenbrau's now owned by crosstown rival Spaten (in turn, owned by InBev) so Lowenbrau is now just another of the dozens of brands in the InBev portfolio and is not one of their "global brands" (Stella Atois and Becks are their main Euro-pils), so it's probably on the back burner. One would imagine, any decision on Lowenbrau Dark is made in their corporate offices, not by reviewing 20 year old sales data from Miller.

Not that I think Miller's product are good or am sticking up for them- just want to get the blame distributed correctly to all the guilty parties on this one <g>.

Edited February 13, 2007 by jesskidden (log)

[budrichard]

In 1962 Lowenbrau Light(not in the context of 'Light' today) and Dark were just about the only German beers available in Wisconsin. First had both at Paisan's in Madison Wisconsin as a Freshman. We could only have 3.2 beer in the dorms at the time and Lowenbrau was certainly a change. I really don't remember much of the 1960's and early '70's as i had my nose to the grindstone and 16 days were not uncommonin Graduate school doing research and studies. Then came the real world and for another 15 years I worked hellish hours engineering, building and managing Nuclear Power Plants. somewhere along the line Lowenbrau dissapeared and a Miller product appeared. It was junk. It really didn't make too much difference to me where it was brewed. I actually found Spaten and Haufbrau which have an excellent range of beers. When German Lownebrau appeared at my local MegaMarket I tried a 6 pack. It was not the product I knew. As for sales data, I can only report what was emailed back to me, 'The Dark didn't sell', so whatever data was used, the real problem is that data for a non-German version was used. Thanks for the detailed information but it really doesn't matter. Anything attached to the Miller name is verboten and so is Lowenbrau whereever it continues to be brewed! -Dick