Weyerbacher coming to Georgia and South Carolina! (5/01/08)

Meetings are set up for next week with wholesalers in each state.  As long as things go well, and registration with the state doesn't take forever (see next story), we expect to be shipping Weyerbacher in to both of these states in early June.  You can start the ball rolling by asking your favorite craft brew store to order some in as soon as its available, and you'll know that by checking back right here for an update.

Florida Registration Delayed Slightly (4/30/08)

I phoned Florida last week to see how our brand registration paperwork was coming along as it had been a month since we sent it in,  I spoke with the key person who handles this job.  She informed me that we were in the pile, but it would be approximately ANOTHER 4 to 5 weeks until they get to our form!  That'll make more than a 2 month wait to get registered in Florida.  Of the 11 other states we are in the longest time period is 2 or 3 weeks. Regardless, hopefully you'll see Weyerbacher in June in the Sunshine State.

Earth Day Green Team Formed at Weyerbacher (4/22/08)

We've been working on putting this together over the last month or two and have finally formalized our efforts. We've created a green team within the brewery to seek out and enact a constantly more environmentally friendly, energy conserving, and sustainable business here at Weyerbacher. We've decided our first major project will be solar hot water heating for at least 50% of our brewing needs by the end of the summer. As we progress we'll post pix and more info on this site. We'll also be examining ways to create less waste in all areas such as trash, recycling, energy use in general, and most importantly, wasted beer! These efforts will be ongoing and we'll be reporting the results right here. We also expect by years end to power some of our lighting in the brewery with solar energy panels. The time has come for all businesses to step up and adopt sustainable business practices and Weyerbacher is now on that path.

Open House Huge Success! (3/31/08)

If you were at the brewery Saturday you know how crazy it was! We had over 600 people attend our annual open house blowout. A sneak preview taste of our Thirteenth anniversary brew was in the house as well. Thirteen is a Super Imperial Stout clocking in at 13.4% ABV, and will be available in July to all areas. We just want to say thanks to everyone who came in on Saturday to show their support for Weyerbacher. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you, the fans of great beer. Cheers!

New Bottling Line Up and Running! (2/28/08)

After the past 2 weeks of great, and fast bottling runs, Production Manager Chris Lampe has pronounced our Krones bottling line "fit for duty"! Runs of 180 cases an hour regularly right now are 2.5 times faster than our old bottling line, and 300 cases per hour is the max-out on this line. Shelf-life and quality of the beer due to lower oxygen pick-up during bottling are also some of the benefits with this line. Today Packager Dave Lorenzo was video-taping the line in action. As soon as Dave has a chance to edit the piece we will post a link here. This bottling line makes the entire process immensely easier for all of our staff, as well as positioning us to be able to grow to meet demand, without the headaches of our old system. Stop by some Saturday and check it out!


Weyerbacher Will Soon Be Distributed in Florida (2/25/08)

We've signed our wholesaler up, Micro Man Distributing in Oldsmar (near Tampa). They cover the entire state except the Keys. We're now working on registration with the state and as soon as that is complete we'll be shipping a big load of our brew down South. Expect to see Weyerbacher out in the stores either by late March or earlyApril most likely. Check back here as we will post it as soon as it happens!

Weyerbacher and Hunterdon Return from Belgium 02/20/08

Some of the folks from Hunterdon Brewing (our NJ wholesaler) and Weyerbacher Brewing's Visitors Center just returned from a week in Belgium where we toured De Dolle Brewers, Westvleteren and Chimay Trappist brewers as well as Cantillon Brewers. Fantastic meals and Belgian brews were experienced in countless pubs and restaurants throughout Brugge, Belgium and in the cities of Chimay, Brussels, Antwerpen and Gent. Pictures will be posted in the near future. Special mention of a great watering hole in Brugge called "Cafe De Republiek" is in order - the owner Partick Annys gave each of us a numbered bottle of Rodenbach 2004 "VIN de CEREALE 132", a European release of a special oak aged Flemish sour ale weighing in at 10% - a superb treat! His pub features great Belgian style fries and fantastic brews. Thanks Patrick! Cheers!


Barrelage up 34% in 2007! (1/30/08)

This past year we brewed over 5300 barrels of beer, up from 4002 in 2006! We've be amazed and excited by all of the attention in the press that our beers have been receiving recently. We continue to upgrade our equipment, add fermenters, and improve our skills to make you the best beer possible.
We have a few new brews scheduled for this year as well. Slam Dunkel ale will debut in June in bottles and draft. This double dunkel-weizen brew weighs in at 7%, and was one of our one-off draft offerings last year. Reaction was so good we decided to make it our June seasonal. In July we'll release our 13th anniversary brew ( style to be determined), and the biggest news is we'll have a very limited bottling of our first Brett beer (wild ale, lambic type brew) sometime this year when it reaches maturity. Its been aging since early 2007. This first year will only see about 100 cases of this brew, likely going to be sold at brewery on Saturdays, but we'll be getting more going for next year! More on this later.

Bob Fauteaux Joins Weyerbacher as Sales Manager (1/30/08)

Formerly sales manager at Kunda Beverage for the 5 county Philadelphia area, Bob brings a depth of knowledge and experience in both beer and sales management to Weyerbacher. Bob will be working with our wholesalers to encourage better distribution of Weyerbacher in all existing territories as well as a few new ones (to be announced later). Welcome aboard Bob!



Double Simcoe IPA recognized by NY Times (1/28/08)

In the January 9th edition, Eric Asimov writes of a blind tasting of 25 Double IPAs completed recently by him and a few fellow food writers as well as Garret Oliver of Brooklyn Brewery. Double Simcoe was the number 2 pick with comments like "Killer! Killer Hops, Killer fruit!" We're thrilled for the notice and now just hope we can locate some more Simcoe hops to take us through the whole brewing year. At the current rate of sales we may run out in late summer to early fall, and wouldn't see the new crop until December. Keep your fingers crossed!


Raspberry Imperial Stout Coming Back in Pennsylvania (11/29/07)

Yes, its in the tanks now. That lucsious black elixir with the touch of tart raspberries will be out in stores in PA only the week of December 10th. Brought back to an incredible clamor for its return, we'll be releasing only about 1,000 cases this year. Tentative plans are to bring this one back in December of 2008 to all markets. Currently we have no 6-pack carriers left, only case boxes, hence the PA only release. New packaging design is due for this beer as well, so it didn't make sense to print a 3 year supply of 6-pack carriers. Available in bottles, 1/6 kegs, and 1/2 kegs after December 10th .



A Treatise and an Appeal or How I Stopped Worrying and Learned to Love Craft Brew, At Any Price (posted 11/12/07)

OK, here it is, your inside the industry explanation of the ridiculus price increases in Craft Brew that you are going to see very soon. I’ll explain what’s happened to the price of Malt and Hops and why, what can be done about it, and why you are going to see prices jump likely between 15 and 25% on the retail end for Craft brews in a matter of weeks. I’ll then finish with an appeal to all craft brew fans for continued support. We need it now more than ever to get through this rough period and not lose any more quality craft breweries, which could likely happen to some you might not expect.
I own and operate Weyerbacher Brewing Co. (with partners) in Easton, PA, so you’re getting info straight from the brewery. In late September I was told by another brewery that malt was going up about 40% and hops 30 to 40%. I started calling suppliers and they confirmed this was true, and also that they have no prices locked in yet. Additionally, I was informed that many farmers are not honoring their contracts to the fullest extent (don’t blame the farmers please) due to the crazy price situation that’s evolving in crop farming, with corn being twice the price it was last year.
What does corn have to do with it? Our supplier tells us that with Uncle Sam’s push for and financial support for ethanol the price for corn has doubled and many farmers grew corn instead of barley this year. In the UK, where the EU has also required ethanol production, rape seed is the crop of choice and again, a lot more profitable than growing barley and wheat. Couple this with bad weather and growing conditions this year and in Europe and you have a crisis in barley supply. We were told this was coming in early summer, but we assumed our malt company might have meant a 10 to 15% increase in price, not this. When we finally got nailed down pricing last week, one malt price was up 45% and the other up 56%. Plus, we were told to be happy that we’re able to get the supply (with growth) that we’ve asked for. Some brewers will not be so lucky
Now for Hops. A glut of hops on the market in the mid-90s, caused a 10 year decline in hops acreage and hops farmers throughout the world. Each year more acreage dwindled and it didn’t matter as there was still an oversupply of hops. Beginning perhaps 2 to 4 years ago, the astounding success and strength of the craft brew industry put a big dent in the overage, but prices stayed essentially the same and farmers didn’t have incentive to plant more. Throw in the runaway success of Double IPAs (and bigger) and we’ve jumped up the demand again for those fragrant cones. Sooner or later something had to give. And its happened last month. Rather than going up 30 or 40% as expected, US and European hops have gone up 400%!! That’s not a typo, 400%. There is not enough to go around. Weyerbacher has our supply lined up, but some recipes may require a few substitutions in hops due to lack of supply of some varieties. In a recent Wall Street Journal article on this problem, Larry Bell of Kalamazoo brewing and Jim Koch of Sam Adams were also quoted as saying they would probably have to alter a few recipes.
There simply is no choice for some breweries.
Some Craft breweries have locked in contracts for several years for supply, but they’re still going to see the price increase sooner or later. Many farmers are not honoring contracts.
So where does this bring us? These price increases for Malt and Hops alone amount to a minimum price increase from Weyerbacher to wholesaler of 12 to 14% and it gets worse on the beers that use a lot of hops. Many of our beers will increase about $2.50 per case. Our ingredient cost for Hops Infusion IPA has risen $3.94, so we will raise the price $4.00 per case. Its typical for a business to markup a certained fixed amount from cost, so typically this $4.00 would result in a higher markup to keep our margins this same, but you can see why we can’t do that. When you reach for that 4 pack of Double Simcoe IPA in the New Year, don’t be surprised if its $2.00 to $2.50 higher. Our ingredient cost on this hop bomb went up $8.14 per case. You can see where this is going. Many BIG beers not heavy on the hops will go up perhaps 3 or 4 dollars due to the malt increase.
It gets better. A price increase at the brewery of 10 to 15%, just to cover costs, no gouging whatsoever, will result in a price increase at retail of 20 to 25%.
So that’s it in a nutshell. The Associated Press and The Wall Street Journal have both written separate articles on this subject in the past 3 weeks.
While not officially speaking for the industry, I hope other breweries will join Weyerbacher in an appeal to beer geeks everywhere for their continued support of our industry. We need you now more than ever if we are to continue making great beer. When hops are short and the big 3 industrial brewers will pay anything (almost) to get their hands on them, we need you the consumer to come to a full understanding of what’s going on in our industry.
Many craft breweries just get by, with employees typically working 50 to 60 hour weeks, most of whom would not feel they are overpaid. Fuel goes up, glass goes up, cardboard goes up every year, and somehow we have to deal with it. We’ll be OK here, but some breweries may not. We simply ask for your understanding about why the prices have gone up. Thanks for your fantastic support in the past and your (hopefully) continued support in the future. Cheers!

Dan Weirback, President
Weyerbacher Brewing Co., Inc