Fort Wayne Brewery Closing

It was announced today that local brewing company, Warbird Brewing Company, is ceasing operations. Here is a link to the announcement:
http://www.wane.com/dpp/news/local_wane_fw_warbird_closing_200910021745



Here is the a press release:

Fort Wayne, IN, October 2, 2009: Warbird Brewing Company has announced that it will cease operations as of October 1, 2009. Company founder, owner, president and brewer Dave Holmes made the announcement regretfully. “This has been a great 5 years for us. The Warbird brand reached out to those who loved airplanes, those who have served in our military and their family and friends. As a company, our mission has been to serve others by providing the best beer in the most attractive packaging under the most respectful and patriotic brand name in the beer business. We made beer we were proud of, and we have served many people in the community in many ways. It has been a privilege for me to lead this effort. Unfortunately, we simply did not sell enough beer profitably to meet our financial obligations. We have no choice but to face the reality that we did our best but we did not achieve financial success. The beer business is a very tough business. I learned a lot. I’m sorry to say it. It is game over for Warbird,” said Holmes. Holmes plans to work with the company’s customers and creditors to achieve the best possible outcome. He states, “Obviously, we are in discussions with our creditors and our advisors to address the realities of the situation. I am personally contacting people to explain the circumstance and discuss what we can do to work things out.” Warbird produced several regional and internationally recognized award winning beers, including the “Shanty Irish” which won the Gold Medal at the Indiana Brewer’s Festival in 2008 and recently was awarded the Silver Medal at the Australian International Beer Awards 2009. “Unfortunately,” said Holmes, “awards don’t matter unless they help you sell more beer, and ours did not.” Warbird Brewing Company sold beer in 6 states: Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kansas, Georgia, and Texas. The company started operations in October 2004 but never achieved profitability.

Dave emails:

Tell everyone we did our best but making it with a pure production brewery in Fort Wayne is tough.  We now join a long line of distinguished breweries in Fort Wayne that have failed (financially).

Fortunately, we succeeded in many of our other efforts to serve others and to be good examples to our children, which is really what this is all about anyhow.

Take care.
Cheers,
Dave

Misc News

Elysa Neely has the hobby of making beer caps into fridge magnets. It's a laborious process that involves two separate glue-ups and, of course, drinking the beer first. She has a secret one-of-a-kind bottle opener that doesn't harm the cap at all. To buy some, contact her at sccr11e@yahoo.com.

June 10th is a Bloomington Brewing Tapping of Hop Heaven IPA. 5pm. Made with Nugget, Mt. Hood, Germand Select, and Cascade hops. It will be both on tap and on the hand pull. 5pm.

At a Secret Meeting of the (Expanded) Knights of the Beer Roundtable they review Wittekerke, Duval, Hennepin, and the new Ommegang Rouge "(check prices before you order)".

Thank Heaven for Beer looks at Double (Arrogant) Bastard by Stone. and have finished their 5-part series about getting started in Beer Trading.

Warbird reports that Shanty Irish Ale is now more than 50% of their production. They are now distributetd in OH, MI, GA, and the San Antonio, TX area.

New Albanian expects to be distributed in Louisville this July.

Kentucky Ale was at Flanagan's with their Light - a good creamy Kölsch that won Bronze at the 2005 GABF; Kentucky Ale - more of an amber; and Kentucky Bourbon Barrel Ale - mildly aged for 6 weeks for a restrained vanilla oak whisky that won Silver at the 2007 GABF. It's also the official beer of the 2010 World Equestrian Games - in fact their parent company is the title sponsor.

New Holland Golden Cap Saison is a 7% wonder of bright, earthy, pepper spicy, grassy, mixes with a high bright finish. A+

Mike Hess of Barley Island is convinced better beer comes from barrels that have aged older whiskys. They are now having trouble getting the 20-yo Buffalo Trace barrels like Jerry has at the Rock Bottom.

We hear Southampton Publik House is coming to Indiana in July. Probably with their IPA, Alt, and the very very good Double White - a 6.6% orangey big Wit that is on the fringe.

Headline from the Brewers Association: Proposed Increase of Federal Excise Tax a Serious Threat to Small Brewers and Your Beer Choice. This is on SupportYourLocalBrewery.org, a BA site that is aimed at "activists".

And Michigan is now getting into the tax-raise act. The Lansing State Journal says: Increased beer tax would harm Michigan jobs.

86 the Warsteiner Radlers. These 2.5% Premium Verums with lemon and lime juice additions are said to be the same that are bottled and sold in Germany but they sure weren't suited to our 'Mercun tastes.

From our mailbox: "Across the 27 EU countries, the highest beer excise duty rates are imposed by Finland and Ireland (61.74 and 51.99 pence per pint respectively). UK (45.89 pence per pint) is ranked third, the British Beer and Pub Association announced on June, 1.

The top ten nations with the highest excise duty on beer are as follows: Finland, Ireland, UK, Sweden (43.15 pence per pint), Denmark (19.42), Slovenia (17.95), Netherlands (17.08), Italy (14.76), Estonia (12.88), and Austria (12.56).

Belgium is ranked 13th (10.74 pence per pint). The lowest excise duty on beer in the EU is paid by the Romanians (4.15 pence per pint)."

Don't bogart that beer.