Here’s a short little piece on Women & Homebrewing from MPR:

Homebrewing — it’s a girl thing,  Ashley Halbach

In celebration of Minnesota Craft Beer Week, we are having a home-brewed beer contest to showcase American styles of beer. Entries will be accepted between April 18 – May 7 at both Northern Brewer and Midwest Supplies. Each entry is $7/two bottles (one entry per style). This contest is open to non-professional home brewers and Minnesota residents.

The contest is limited to styles:

1A – Lite American Lager
1B – Standard American Lager
1C – Premium American Lager
2C – Classic American Pilsner
4A – Dark American Lager
6A – Cream Ale
6B – Blonde Ale
6D – American Wheat or Rye
7B – California Commons
10A – American Pale Ale
10B – American Amber Ale
10C – American Brown Ale
13E – American Stout
14B – American IPA
14C – Imperial IPA
19C – American Barley Wine

There will be many prizes awarded with Best of Show being the opportunity to brew with Mike Hoops at Town Hall Brewery. Please visit our website for more information and to sign up your entry: www.mncraftbeerweekcontest.com

This event is registered with the AHA/BJCP and will be judged on Saturday, May 14th with the location to be determined. If you are interested in judging or assisting with the contest, please sign up on the website until May 7th. We strongly encourage judges of all experience levels to help out. (Those interested in helping who have little to no experience will be paired with experienced BJCP judges.)

If you have any questions, please email me at: gera_latour@hotmail.com. Thanks!

Gera Exire LaTour
Contest Organizer

P.S. Please pass this on to those who might be interested.

So … we just received a letter from an attorney representing one of our favorite craft breweries; this letter informed us that we need to change the name of our Three Hearted Ale kit in a hurry. We’d love to hear your suggestions!

Yup. Bell’s Brewery sent our friends at Northern Brewer a cease and desist letter regarding the their Three Hearted Ale kit, a recipe kit styled after Bell’s Two Hearted Ale.

Bell’s owns the trademark for Two Hearted Ale and as such is charged with protecting that mark from others that might dilute or tarnish that name. Most of the time, trademark issues aren’t purely black and white, as is the case with the Three Hearted Ale kit. Bell’s (or rather their lawyer(s)) decide what they see as a threat to the mark and what they see as something that they can let slide. As The Gambler once said, “You’ve got to know when to hold ’em, [and]] know when to fold ’em…”

In Bell’s case, they may have been better off just folding. Though Northern Brewer’s Facebook post was extremely kind, others comments haven’t been so kind, with some even suggesting a boycott of Bell’s beer. I understand Bell’s position, but not without a dose of skepticism. On the PR side, it looks just plain ugly watching a large and well-regarded brewery go after perhaps the best homebrew retailer in the country. It make me wonder if they weighed the negative publicity before sending the letter.

On the upside, our friend’s at Northern Brewer will no doubt receive plenty of free press on the issue and no doubt a little business as well. Bell’s, on the other hand, might want to take a breather and re-read Hemmingway’s “Big Two-Hearted River” again.

“Nick slipped off his pack and lay down in the shade. He lay on his back and looked up into the pine trees. His neck and back and the small of his back rested as he stretched. The earth felt good against his back. He looked up at the sky, through the branches, and then shut his eyes. He opened them and looked up again. There was a wind high up in the branches. He shut his eyes again and went to sleep.”

Update: Here’s a link to Bell’s position on the issue (Thanks Ben). It’s certainly kind, though it somewhat reads like it was written by a lawyer, go figure.