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Senator Carona Issues Statement on Beer Bills

Senator John Carona, chairman of the Senate Business & Commerce Committee (where Senator Eltife’s craft beer bills have been referred) issued the following statement yesterday:

“The outlook is bright for legislation to create new opportunities for craft brewers and brewpubs in Texas.  For months we have worked to get to this point — several important pieces of legislation have been filed and placed before the public for discussion and debate.  I applaud Senator Eltife, Senator Van de Putte, and the others who have brought these ideas forward.

“My support of craft beer is well known.  Pro-craft beer legislation has passed out of my committee before and will again.  I have insisted on bringing stakeholders to the table, created the framework for it, and was one of the first few legislators to respond to the Open the Taps survey.  The bill I filed is a step along the path to passage of comprehensive legislation.  We are remiss if we do not take the long and wide view on these important provisions.  Provisions such as reach back pricing, the alteration of a price by a manufacturer based on the price a distributor charges a retailer.  This practice borders on price-fixing and must be addressed.  But comprehensive legislation also includes a “tap room” provision, which will allow brewers to serve customers beer at their brewery, as well as legislation that will allow brewpubs to use a distributor to get their product into stores and in front of more customers.

“As with any issue, there are many stakeholders with varying interests — this is the very reason I created working groups during the interim to begin to address these important issues.  We will continue to work together, and in the end I am confident that this Session we can pass legislation beneficial to craft brewers and brewpubs.”

I’d like to say that we (speaking on behalf of the Texas Craft Brewers Guild) don’t think Chairman Carona is the enemy here and we have the utmost respect for him. He has always been a fair and impartial Chairman, and has historically always given Pro-Craft Beer legislation a fair shot in his committee. It was him who called for a working group to study alcohol issues, including craft beer, in the interim and that working group is where SB 515-18 emerged from. We are appreciative of the Chairman for having SB 639 filed as a standalone issue to be evaluated on its own merits, rather than lumped in to the Pro-Craft Beer legislation where the Guild would have been forced to cut off our noses in spite of our faces.

I would advise anyone with an opinion to feel free to share those opinions with their elected officials in a civil, respective manner. The accusations (that I’ve seen around the web) of impropriety on the Chairman’s behalf are counterproductive and completely off-base. We Craft Brewers are thankful to have Senator Carona as Chair of Business & Commerce because of his reputation for being fair and even-handed. While there may be a tendency to vilify him based on the appearances of what has happened recently, I can assure everyone that we are in constant contact with his office and have a fantastic relationship with the Chairman and his staff.

February 23, 2013 | Categories: #TXBeer4TX, Beer Industry, Beer Laws, Craft Beer, SB 515, SB 516 and 517, SB 518 | 3 Comments »

Senator Van de Putte files Bulk Transfer Bill, Supports Free Markets

Lost in the shuffle of everything else beer related happening at the Capitol, Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) has filed SB 652, which would allow breweries and wineries to sell their products, in bulk, to distillers to further process into spirits. [Edit: wineries would still be forbidden from selling their wine to distillers because Federal Law precludes it. But if Federal Law changed, Texas wineries would be allowed this activity.]

You may recall, Senator Van de Putte led the Alcohol Working Group in the interim to look at the Alcoholic Beverage Code and recommend changes to the legislature. This bill was one of the items requested by the state’s small craft distillers. Kudos to the working group and Senator Van de Putte for taking this step in making Texas a viable place for craft producers to make unique products within our states borders without unnecessary government restriction. I can imagine a Whiskey distilled from Saint Arnold Amber, for example, being popular.

You’ll notice most of the results of the working group – be it this bill, Senator Eltife’s SB 515-18 (of which Senator Van de Putte is a Joint Author), or any of the others that may follow – are all in the vein of free-market principles and fostering economic development. It’s legislation like these bills (and legislators like Senators Van de Putte and Eltife) that make Texas one of the best places to do business. A huge thank you to them for extending the free-market philosophies that our state is built on to our states manufacturers of beer, wine and spirits.

Contrast this to the anti-competitive SB 639 (which now has a House Companion in HB 1538, filed by Rep. Geren) which was never discussed in Senator Van de Putte’s working group, and it’s clear to see why the competition and free-market encouraging bills are picking up momentum (up to 12 Authors on SB 515-18) and why the self-serving, protectionist, profiteering WBDT bills are drawing ire in the court of public opinion.

This is Texas after all, and Free Markets are one of our core beliefs.

February 21, 2013 | Categories: #TXBeer4TX, Beer Industry, Beer Laws, Craft Beer, SB 515, SB 516 and 517, SB 518, SB 652 | Leave A Comment »

WBDT-Supported Bill Immediately Slammed by Fellow Distributors

As Senate Bills 515, 516, 517 and 518 progress forward (we’ve added a handful of Senate Co-Authors, bringing the total up to 12 as of the writing of this blog), The Wholesale Beer Distributors of Texas have introduced their own legislation, which has been met by immediate backlash by other industry stakeholders, including some fellow distributors. Ronnie Crocker with The Houston Chronicle first reported these bills on his blog and followed up with a story in the business section today.

SB 639, filed Monday by Senator John Carona, has three primary components:

  1. Adds severability language to the code which could take self-distribution rights away from small brewers. Currently, there exists a potential commerce clause issue with the allowance of self-distribution for the state’s brewers, because it specifically excludes out-of-state brewers. Our bills (specifically SB 516 and 517), corrects this issue. The WBDT opposes fixing the issue by eliminating the discrimination, rather they prefer to leave the discrimination in place and then add language to the code that would take self-distribution away from in-state brewers should a court find that the discrimination was unconstitutional.
  2. Mandates Uniform FOB Pricing from the Manufacturer to the Distributor. If this bill passed, it would make illegal any kind of price differentials between different markets, including any price differential reflecting actual transportation costs. Note that this bill does not mandate a uniform price for which the beer must be sold from the distributor to the retailer.
  3. Makes illegal for a Brewer/Manufacturer to receive compensation a distribution agreement. Basically, the law would mandate that your distribution rights are worth nothing when signing up with a distributor. The proposed law doesn’t restrict a distributor from selling a brewer’s distribution rights to another distributor, but only from the brewer from receiving any value.

It has not gone without notice that the proponents of this bill don’t have an interest in restricting themselves from raising prices in different markets, or from selling brands rights, but that they are only concerned about what they have to pay. In essence, this bill is one step short of the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Code having Mandated Profits for the middle tier. This is self-serving protectionism at its most blatant.

Ronnie Crock reported the response from The Beer Alliance (The larger of the state’s two wholesaler groups, who have been in favor of positive statutory reform for the state’s craft brewers):

“It’s probably the most anti-competitive piece of legislation I’ve ever seen,” Donley said. Change the topic from beer to hydrocarbons or other consumer goods, he said, and the proponents would “be laughed out of the Capitol.”

Pretty strong words, but I agree with him 100%.

The Texas Craft Brewers Guild support legislation that embody free-market principles. As Senator Eltife said, “Government shouldn’t be involved in picking winners and losers in private industry.”

This Legislation amounts to nothing more than a blatant money-grab by the Wholesale Beer Distributors. It distorts the free market by protecting wholesalers from paying the cost of doing business. Ironically, no one has ever forced any distributor to pay for the distribution rights of a brewer. These are voluntary private-party transactions that occur because craft beer distribution rights are actually valuable and distributors are eager to out-bid their rivals for those rights. If you don’t want to pay, then don’t.

Luckily, this proposal is likely to go nowhere at the Capitol. My contacts up there have told me the Legislature is highly unlikely to move on Legislation that most of the industry hates, benefits only certain players, and goes against free-market principles.

Lastly, I’m thankful to Chairman Carona for filing this legislation. The WBDT was trying to amend Senator Eltife’s craft beer bills with this anti-competetive, self-serving language, and were promptly told no. But I suppose everyone deserves a chance, and I’m looking forward to hearing the WBDT try to explain any shred of public interest that might exist for this money grab.

Now to focus on one of the initial charge of Senator Van de Putte’s Alcohol Working Group from last summer: stimulating economic growth in the Texas Craft Brewing Industry.

 

February 20, 2013 | Categories: #TXBeer4TX, Beer Industry, Beer Laws, Craft Beer, SB 515, SB 516 and 517, SB 518, Texas Breweries | Leave A Comment »

Press Round-Up for Feb 11-15

Just a quick round up of Press Reports on Craft Beer Legislation for the week.

Ronnie Crocker broke the news of the beer bills on his Beer, TX Blog with this post. A more extensive story on the legislation ran the next day in the Houston Chronicle and San Antonio Express-News. (They are the same story, the Chronicle story handsomely features my colleague Brock Wagner of Saint Arnold, while the Express-News print story has a photo of me, guaranteed to scare away any unwanted strangers).

KXAN in Austin reported the filing of the bills as well.

Charles Kuffner at Off the Kuff had a blog post on the bills.

Ivy Le at the Austin Chronicle had a breaking news story about the bill.

Lauren Daniels at The Dallas Observer has a story.

For the first time that I’ve had an opportunity to link to these guys… the Texarkana Gazette had a blurb on the bills.

The Bitch Beer Blog (which proclaims “Because Real Bitches Know Beer”) had a write up.

EDIT: Brewbound published this story late Friday afternoon.

That’s all I saw this time around.

In the meantime, follow me on Twitter if you don’t already @beermonkey – and I urge you to show your support for this legislation by using the hashtag #TXBeer4TX

Thanks!

February 15, 2013 | Categories: #TXBeer4TX, Beer Industry, Beer Laws, Craft Beer, SB 515, SB 516 and 517, SB 518, TABC, Texas Breweries | Leave A Comment »

2013 TX Craft Beer Bills Introduced

Today, Senator Kevin Eltife (R-District 1) introduced bi-partisan legislation along with Co-Authors, Senators Brian Birdwell (R-District 22), John Carona (R-District 16), Eddie Lucio (D-District 27), Leticia Van de Putte (D-District 26), Kirk Watson (D-District 14), and John Whitmire (D-District 15) to modernize the state’s alcohol regulatory system to make more competitive Texas’s small, craft brewers.

Senate Bills 515, 516, 517 and 518 expand the rights of the state’s craft breweries and brewpubs to provide parity versus what brewers in other states are allowed to do.

From a Press Release put out by Senator Eltife’s office:

“Government shouldn’t be involved in picking winners and losers in private industry.  Texans believe consumers make the best choices about products in the free market,” said Senator Eltife.  “These four bills will level the playing field for the small business segment of Texas brewing industry.”

“Legislators should encourage entrepreneurial spirit by creating a climate for small business development opportunities that leads to capital investment and job creation in our state,” added Senator Eltife.  “This legislation will provide the proper regulatory framework for these businesses to operate and grow.”

What the Bills Do

SB 515

  • Increases the production limit for a brewpub from 5,000 to 12,500 barrels annually
  • Authorizes a brewpub to sell their products to the wholesale tier for re-sale
  • Authorizes a brewpub to self-distribute up to 1,000 barrels annual to the retail tier for re-sale

SB 518

  • Authorizes a production brewery under 225,000 barrels of annual production to sell up to 5,000 barrels annually of beer produced by the brewery to ultimate consumers for consumption on the premise of the brewery

SB 516 & 517

  • Authorizes a production brewery under 125,000 barrels of annual production to self-distribute up to 40,000 barrels annual of beer, ale and malt-liquor to retailers. (Note: this right currently exists but is being adjusted. Currently, a brewery under 75,000 barrels of annual production may self-distribute up to 75,000 barrels. These bills increase the size of a brewery that may self-distribute while reducing the amount they may self-distribute. There are two bills because it affects both the “Manufacturer” license - Ch. 62 of the code – and the “Brewer” permit – Ch. 12 of the code.)
  • Eliminates discrimination against out-of-state suppliers.

What Happens Next

Next, the bills will be referred to the appropriate Senate committee, where they will be heard and voted on whether they should go before the full senate.

This is very exciting, and as I’ve said before I’m very thankful for the hardwork of our Legislators but also the open-mindedness and willingness to find common ground by distributors and large brewers. Without them, we wouldn’t be in the position we are in now to make positive reform for the craft beer industry in Texas.

Cheers,

Scott

February 12, 2013 | Categories: Beer Industry, Beer Laws, Craft Beer, SB 515, SB 516 and 517, SB 518, TABC, Texas Beer Freedom | 4 Comments »

Buckle Up.

 

Great news everyone! Craft beer laws have passed! You can now purchase Freetail Brewing Co. beer at your favorite bar or restaurant! Let’s talk about this Saturday at Saint Arnold over some pints!

Just kidding (unfortunately). No Craft Beer bills have been filed yet, but you may recall what I posted here exactly one-month ago today:

In the coming weeks, Craft Beer Legislation will be introduced that will represent the most meaningful and comprehensive updating to the 3-tier system in decades. Through numerous discussions with and careful consideration of other industry stakeholders (including large brewers and wholesalers), the legislation will provide a pathway for growth for small breweries to eventually become big breweries. Wholesalers will have a renewed commitment to the 3-tier system. Distributors and retailers will benefit from an increased number of local product offerings. And most importantly, consumers will benefit from finally having access to the Texas breweries they love. I’m very proud of the work we have done while the Legislature has been in off-session, to come to consensus with distributors, large brewers and retailers, in order to make sure Texas is a good place for small breweries to do business. When it is all said and done, I believe the passage of legislation this session will be looked at by other states as a model for alcoholic beverage code modernization that fosters economic development while keeping intact the viability of independent wholesalers.

Every word (and every typo) of that paragraph was true when I wrote it, and it’s still true today. In the last month, we’ve continued our open and transparent discussions with industry stakeholders to ensure that the proposed legislation is equitable and in the state’s best interest. Some new points have been raised, considered, and incorporated where necessary. We are extremely lucky to have a fair, open-minded group of Legislator taking this on, and we tip our hats and offer thanks to the state’s beer wholesalers and large brewers for being an active party in the crafting of this legislation. Our goal at the Texas Craft Brewers Guild has always been to work with the industry’s other stakeholders, not against, and the cooperation of those stakeholders has been invaluable.

Stay tuned and, in the meantime, enjoy a Texas made beer!

February 7, 2013 | Categories: Beer Industry, Beer Laws, Craft Beer, TABC, Texas Beer Freedom, Texas Breweries | Leave A Comment »

Alcohol Work Groups a Model of Transparency and Good Government

A lot gets said, written and flat out complained about regarding the transparency of Government, be it on the local, state or federal levels. We all know I’ve been guilty of it myself. With that said, I thought I’d share my experience in working on beer issues at the Legislature in the interim both as an inside looking into the process of “making the sausage” and to point out how impressed I was with this method of governing. I’d go so far as to say that the Alcohol Working Groups hosted by Senators Carona and Van de Putte in the interim should be viewed as a model of Government working to serve the best interests of the state and its citizens.

In a bold step, Senator John Carona (R-Dallas) appointed Senator Leticia Van de Putte (D-San Antonio) to head working groups to look into any modernization that may need to be made to the Alcoholic Beverage Code in order to foster economic growth in Texas and to eliminate unconstitutional segments of the code which puts the state at risk of litigation.

I have to admit, I was a little skeptical at first, especially when the first invitations to the working group came out and it was scheduled during the Craft Brewers Conference and World Beer Cup when the majority of the state’s craft brewers would be in another state. So spun the conspiracy theory wheels that reside in the back of my mind at all times. Luckily my friend and colleague Brock Wagner of Saint Arnold Brewing Company was able to stay behind and represent craft brewers at the meeting, which turned out to mostly be administrative in nature.

With everyone back from the conference, things really kicked into gear. The Working Group at large split into industry segments (Wine, Distilled Spirits and Beer). I don’t know how things went with the other two industry segment groups, but our beer group quickly switched gears from administrative to very substantive. Stakeholders from throughout the beer industry (brewers large and small, distributors large and small, retailer groups, and consumer groups like Open The Taps) were all in attendance debating the merits or changing or preserving the system as it exists today.

Although a lot of the industry work and interact with each other on a daily basis, these working groups provided the first real opportunity for everyone to come together and discuss issues from a philosophical, big picture perspective. What emerged was a better understanding by all of the perspective and positions of other industry tiers. Speaking for myself only, I know I left the numerous discussions and negotiations with a better appreciation of the needs of the large brewers and distributors we can sometimes find ourselves at odds with. At the same time, I feel that with the help of some of my colleagues, we did a tremendous job of explaining to these same large brewers and distributors what our needs are. The result has been an extremely positive step towards drafting a regulatory system that is advantageous to all stakeholders and fosters economic growth for the state. At the same time, having Legislative staff in the room for all these meetings helped keep everyone honest, but more importantly it thrust them right into a position where they got an intensive boot camp on the subject and are now fluent on the issues facing the state. One of the biggest challenges in the past has been that our elected officials really didn’t understand our complex alcoholic beverage code (nor should they be expected to be experts on every part of Texas’s statutes). Today, we have Capitol staff who understand the issues and guide the state towards the best outcome.

This  transparent framework for governance that invited, encouraged and fostered stakeholder participation should be viewed as a positive development by Texas citizens. We had input from a wide arrange of positions and everyone was invited. No one can stand before the Legislature with any shred of integrity and say they never had a chance to have input on the direction our alcohol regulatory environment is headed, and that is a good thing.

I’m looking forward to this session, and I’m looking forward to seeing the work we have done in the interim develop into bills filed by the Senate and the House and then eventually become law. Years from now we will look back at the economic impact this legislation will have had and tip our hats to all the participants of this working group who made it happen.

January 9, 2013 | Categories: Beer Laws, Craft Beer, TABC, Texas Beer Freedom | Leave A Comment »

Beer & The 83rd Texas Lege

Tomorrow begins the 83rd Session of the Texas Legislature, and you can be assured that craft beer will once again be on the agenda.

For practical reasons, my updates won’t be as frequent or detailed as they were in 2011, but I will do my best to keep you abreast of what’s happening with beer inside of The Pink Dome.

I can update you now that there have been a number of very productive discussions between us craft brewers, the legislature, and industry stakeholders. Many thanks are due to Senators John Carona and Leticia Van de Putte for organizing and hosting working group meetings of the entire alcoholic beverage industry to discuss the issues facing our state.

For craft beer and all involved with it, the main issue is ensuring a competitive environment for our state’s brewers while maintaining a viable and healthy 3-tier system that protects the independent of wholesalers. While brewers like myself often find myself at odds with the wholesale tier, there is no debate that the independence of wholesalers has been and will continue to be vital to the growth of small, independent craft brewers.

In the coming weeks, Craft Beer Legislation will be introduced that will represent the most meaningful and comprehensive updating to the 3-tier system in decades. Through numerous discussions with and careful consideration of other industry stakeholders (including large brewers and wholesalers), the legislation will provide a pathway for growth for small breweries to eventually become big breweries. Wholesalers will have a renewed commitment to the 3-tier system. Distributors and retailers will benefit from an increased number of local product offerings. And most importantly, consumers will benefit from finally having access to the Texas breweries they love. I’m very proud of the work we have done while the Legislature has been in off-session, to come to consensus with distributors, large brewers and retailers, in order to make sure Texas is a good place for small breweries to do business. When it is all said and done, I believe the passage of legislation this session will be looked at by other states as a model for alcoholic beverage code modernization that fosters economic development while keeping intact the viability of independent wholesalers.

Stay tuned this session, it should be exciting.

Scott

January 7, 2013 | Categories: Beer Industry, Beer Laws, Craft Beer, TABC, Texas Beer Freedom | Leave A Comment »

Dia de La Muerta (And General Bottle Release) FAQs

With Dia de La Muerta on Saturday, we’re getting flooded with various questions about the release, so I figured a FAQ was in order. Here is everything you need to know about Dia de La Muerta, a lot of which pertains to bottle releases in general.

Wait, I thought you couldn’t couldn’t bottle your beer?

In Texas, we are prohibited from selling our beer for resale (so we can’t sell to distributors, restaurants, bars, grocery stores, etc.). However, our brewpub license explicitly gives us the right to manufacture, brew, bottle, can, package, and label malt liquor, ale, and beer. We’re happy to take the state up on this right and we’ve been bottling and releasing beers since right after we opened. We’re also one of the few on-premise only brewpubs in the world (maybe the only one?) with a bottling line. Hopefully one day the law will change and we’ll be able to distribute beers that come off of it.

Okay, so what is Dia de La Muerta?

Dia de La Muerta is the annual bottle release for our imperial stout. La Muerta is released on draft every year on November 1, with the bottle release always on the first Saturday of November (this year, November 3, 2012).

How early do I need to show up to get in line?

In years past, La Muerta has sold out quickly and generally required you get here early to get your “ticket” (basically your place in line) and get your allocation of bottles. Last year we sold approximately 750 bottles and essentially were instantly sold out (it took two hours, but everyone was in line when we opened). This year we have upped production to somewhere between 1500-1700 bottles (we’ll find out tomorrow when we bottle), so we don’t anticipate an “instant sell-out”. However, we cannot make any promises, and recommend coming early.

What time to they actually go on sale?

Bottles go on sale when we open at 11am.

What the hell do I do while I’m waiting for bottles to go on sale?

Through the years, a really cool event has evolved for many of our bottle releases. Freetail fans from around the state show up early and have a bottle share while waiting for us to open. Many rare and amazing beers (WARNING: DO NOT DRINK THE GHOST SCORPION PEPPER BEER!!! IT HAS GHOST SCORPION PEPPERS IN IT!!!) are opened at these bottle shares and are attended by a lot of really cool people. You can come, drink epic beers, and mingle with beer-loving friends old and new. We do not organize this event and take no responsibility other than making sure everyone is comfortable and has access to water and restrooms and we monitor to make sure no one over-consumes. This is a fun event and we’d like to keep it that way by making sure it never gets rowdy or out of hand.

Okay, so how much do these bottles cost?

For 2012, bottles will be $10/each.

That’s it, can I buy a pallet load?!?

Well, maybe not a pallet. We reserve the right to place a limit on the number of bottles a person can purchase. Our goal is to make sure everyone who is here when we open has a chance to buy bottles. This year, because of the increased production, we do not anticipate the need to have a bottle limit, but we still reserve that right.

What about on draft? How much does it cost? Will there be anything else on tap?

2012 La Muerta costs $7 for an 11oz pour. In addition to what we have on tap, we’ll also have La Muerta 2011 on tap in addition to a few other surprises (both from us and from our friends around the state of Texas).

November 1, 2012 | Categories: Freetail, La Muerta | Leave A Comment »

For La Muerta V, A Brief History (To Date)

The fifth iteration of La Muerta day looms, and I thought it was a good time to reflect on and share how this all came to be.

When Freetail was still in its planning phases, we knew (like pretty much any brewery that opened since 2004 or so) we wanted to brew an imperial stout. A perfectly healthy admiration for skulls & Dia de los Muertos coupled with half of my DNA rooted in Mexican-American culture led me to a name for our imp-y before we had a recipe: La Muerta. I had grand ideas for a line of similarly named brews. Maybe El Muerto could be a supercharged version, a Double Imperial Stout, if you will. Muertito could be a smaller version, meant for more casual sipping by a winter fire. While these other ideas have not yet (and may never) come to fruition, La Muerta was a concept with legs.

Back then, head brewer Jason Davis and I used to have regular brainstorming sessions. What did we want to brew? What ideas toed the proverbial crazy line? Could we pull all that off or did we need more tanks? How the hell would yeast management work? While not every idea from those early meetings ever came into being (or are even stuck in our memories anywhere), they did go on to help mold the general direction of our brewing and how the brewery needed to be set up to supply such ambitions. It was in one of these meetings that I told Jason about La Muerta.

Jason, the evil brewing genius he is, decided to venture slightly from what we were seeing on the national scene where imp-ys tended to be on the sweeter side, with alcohol content going up but apparent attenuation seemingly going down. Pulling ideas from a previous homebrew test batch, we would leave some sweetness, but focus more on the chocolate characteristics along with another that would be specific to our imperial stout–the addition of rauch malt which now makes up almost 20% of the grain bill. Over the years, my occasional glance at review websites reveals comments like “surprisingly smokey”. Well, I can say that it should no longer come as a surprise to anyone… there’s a whole lot of smoked malt in there!

Here is a brief history of La Muerta, both in pictures and narrative, including slight recipe changes over the years. I’m honored that this beer has become appreciated by so many, but also that Dia de La Muerta has become (in my completely biased opinion) one of the best regular beer events in the state of Texas. All of you, and the epic bottle share you have developed over the years, are responsible for this. The laws here in Texas are a little quirky  so we can’t really have things like Dark Lord Day, but I think Dia de La Muerta is the closest thing we have because of all you guys and gals who wake up early, drive across the state, and come hang out on the patio at 8am waiting to buy some bottles. Y’all are awesome!

La Muerta I. 10.2% ABV 50 IBU, 5.9 barrels produced. Brewed January 2, 2009, released on draft January 26, 2009. Approximately 100 bottles released on February 14, 2009. Most bottles had black wax. Bottles sold out in approximately 6 days. Original recipe was 11.4% rauch malt in grain bill.

Unused label concept for La Muerta, produced by The Mad House.

 

Unused label art concept for La Muerta, produced by The Mad House

 

Hand bottling first batch of La Muerta, circa Feb 2009

Wax dipping the first bottles of La Muerta, circa Feb 2009

La Muerta II. 11.2% ABV 50 IBU, 6.3 barrels produced. Brewed October 1, 2009. Released on draft November 1, 2009. Bottles released November 7, 2009. Some bottles black wax, some bottles gold wax. Approximately 250 bottles sold. Bottles sold out approximately 10pm on November 7. Recipe still unchanged from original.

La Muerta moves to its eventual normal release date of November 1 for draft, first Saturday of November for bottles (what we now call Dia de La Muerta).

Promotional photo for La Muerta

Bourbon Barrel La Muerta. La Muerta II aged in a Four Roses distillery barrel. Released on Draft January 6, 2010. Bottles release February 13, 2010. Red wax. 95 bottles sold, initial limit was 1/customer, “coupon” emailed out via newsletter on January 1, 2010. Sold out within 4 hours.

This was a very successful release that provided a very delicious beer, for some people. Some other people ended up with a sour, infected imperial stout that I personally despised. This constituted the end of bourbon barrel projects (with the exception of occasional 5 gallon bourbon barrels we get for draft only releases). After this, all barrel aging was done for our Wild Ale program.

Terribly Photoshopped “coupon” emailed out. Required to get a bottle.

Bourbon Barrel La Muerta labels. Maybe the best part of this beer.

La Muerta III. 10.3% ABV 55 IBU, 10.0 barrels produced. Brewed September 30 and October 1, 2010. Released November 1, 2010 on draft, bottles November 6, 2010. Red wax. Approximately 450 bottles produced. Sold out in approximately 2 hours. Slight bump in the rauch malt to 12%, increase in IBUs to 55.

We significantly upped the production, “double-batching” La Muerta.

Dia de La Muerta 2010 t-shirts.

La Muerta IV. 9.3% ABV 50 IBU, 11.9 barrels produced. Brewed October 5 & 6, 2011. Release November 1, 2011 on draft, bottles November 5. Gold wax White wax [Edited on 10/31]. Approximately 800 bottles produced. Sold out in approximately 1.5 hours. Recipe increases rauch mault to 18%, IBUs back down to 50.

Labels switch from vinyl “logo only” to wrap-around pressure sensitive labels with brew info (and Government Warning).

Promotional photo for La Muerta

La Muerta V. 9.1% ABV 50 IBU, 18.5 barrels produced. Brewed October 3 and 4, 2012. Draft release November 1, 2012. Bottles release November 3, 2012. No wax. 1500-1700 bottles to be produced. 2012 recipe 11.8% rauch malt and 7% oak smoked wheat malt.

Our first ever “triple batch” in order to try to keep up with demand. Also the first time La Muerta will not be bottled by hand, as we’ve had our bottling line operating since January 2012.

Labeling La Muerta V.

I hope you enjoy this brief recap of La Muerta history.

On behalf of myself, Jason and everyone involved in Freetail, thanks again for making this such a cool annual event. I’m looking forward to the next 5, 10, 15, 20 years of this and beyond…

Cheers,

Scott

October 30, 2012 | Categories: Craft Beer, Freetail, La Muerta | 2 Comments »

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