Latest news with #Bell'sBrewery
USA Today
08-03-2025
- Business
- USA Today
Best Brewery Tour (2025) - USA TODAY 10Best Readers' Choice Awards
Photo courtesy of Mat Trogner C/O Allagash Brewing Co. No. 10: Allagash Brewing Company - Portland, Maine Allagash Brewing Company offers an excellent selection of brewery tours, starting with Taste of Allagash, a 30-minute tour and barrel room exploration that includes two samples of featured releases. The 1-hour Signature Beer & Barrels Experience checks out the wild and sour barrels aging cellar and includes sampling five seasonal specialties. Allagash also offers private brewery tours for 10 guests at a time, for those who want a more personalized experience. Photo courtesy of Bell's Brewery No. 9: Bell's Brewery - Comstock, Michigan Bell's Brewery, one of the oldest craft breweries east of Colorado, started out with a 15-gallon soup pot in 1985. Today, visitors can tour their state-of-the-art facilities in Comstock, Michigan, and at their flagship location in Kalamazoo, Michigan, to learn more about Bell's brewing processes, fermentation, and packaging. Tours include complimentary samples. Photo courtesy of Deschutes Brewery No. 8: Deschutes Brewery - Bend, Oregon Bend's first microbrewery and one of the largest craft breweries in the country, Deschutes is renowned as a leader in beer hops and hop development. Their 45-minute tours are inexpensive and super informative, getting you up to date on Deschutes' history and brewing process. Not to mention, you get a free koozie as well complimentary beer as part of the tour. Photo courtesy of Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. No. 7: Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. - Chico, California and Mills River, North Carolina Sierra Nevada beer fans have the opportunity to tour brewing facilities in either North Carolina or California. During each 45- to 60-minute interactive tour, visitors trace the process from grain to bottle. Smell whole-cone hops, sample sugary wort, and finish with a guided tasting of Sierra Nevada beers. Beer Geek, Beyond the Pale, and other tours go further in depth. Photo courtesy of Knorth Studios No. 6: Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. - Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin Visitors to this Chippewa Falls brewery have a few options when it comes to tours. The hour-long Legacy Tour covers more than 150 years of Jacob Leinenkugel Brewing Co. history, including a stroll through the modern facilities and a visit to Leinie Lodge. Alternatively, spend 90 minutes on a tour with the master brewer, 30 minutes exploring the Leinie Lodge Pilot Brewery, or 90 minutes learning about the history of the brewery and Chippewa Falls. Photo courtesy of Phil Cassella - Burial Beer Co. No. 5: Burial Beer Co. Forestry Camp - Asheville, North Carolina Burial Beer Co. offers guests a peek into their production facility and taproom in Asheville, North Carolina. Designated drivers can take the tour for free, and though they won't get to partake in the tastings, they'll still get the lowdown on the Asheville brewing scene and the history of Burial during this 1-hour experience. Photo courtesy of LP Creative Studio No. 4: Anheuser-Busch Brewery Experiences - St. Louis, Missouri At Anheuser-Busch Brewery Experiences, visitors can choose from an array of tours. The Day Fresh tour takes you through the Clydesdale stables, the Brewhouse, and throughout the St. Louis campus, while the Finisher Tour goes straight to the fermentation cellars, giving guests a complimentary branded hat and commemorative glass to go with their beer samples. For their biggest fans, the Beermaster Tour is 2 hours long, visits exclusive locations, and offers fresh beer straight from the finishing tank, as well as a bevy of souvenirs. Photo courtesy of SweetWater Brewing No. 3: SweetWater Brewing Company - Atlanta, Georgia Visit SweetWater Brewery in Atlanta for a guided tour of the brewing facilities. Standard 30-minute tours highlight the brewing process, while High Gravity tours — available on weekends — go behind the scenes and last 90 minutes. Both tours include beer samples. Photo courtesy of Spoetzl Brewery No. 2: Spoetzl Brewery - Shiner, Texas Spoetzl Brewery, the pride of Shiner, Texas, dates back to the early 1900s. Those who take the 45-minute brewery tour will be introduced to the history of Spoetzl, learn about the impact of its success on the town of Shiner, and witness the brewing process up close. Tour packages start at $30 per person over 21 years old and include complimentary pours of Shiner beer.
Yahoo
07-03-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Bell's Brewery is introducing a new beer on Oberon Day. What's on the way in Michigan
Oberon fans can get their taste buds ready for a lighter version of the Michigan-produced beer ahead of Bell's Brewery's annual springtime release party. Bell's Brewery announced it will unveil Oberon Light as part of its Oberon Day celebrations, which will take place March 24 in Kalamazoo. Oberon Light comes in at only 99 calories while the original has 187, but company officials say it won't sacrifice from the flavor fans of Oberon Ale have come to expect: citrusy, easy drinking and refreshing. As a lighter version beer, Oberon Light will have a lower alcohol by volume (ABV) than traditional Oberon. The lighter version will have 4% ABV and, starting March 24, will be available in 6- and 12-packs of cans. Bell's Brewery describes the flavor profile of Oberon Ale as bright and citrusy with a spicy hop character. 'Oberon Ale is sunshine in a glass,' Bell's Brewery says on its website. 'Get into a summer state of mind and #ReachForTheSun.' Oberon is a wheat ale brewed with wheat, malt, hops, water and Bell's "signature" house ale yeast; it's among the brewery's seasonal selections — available from late March to September. More: Bell's Brewery to open new bar, restaurant at Little Caesars Arena Alcohol by volume is a standard unit of measurement used to show the percentage of alcohol in an alcoholic beverage. The number represents the total volume of liquid in an alcoholic beverage that is made up of pure alcohol. The higher the ABV, the more alcohol in the drink. ABV is an important listing on alcoholic beverages as it helps consumers understand the alcohol content of a beverage so they can make informed decisions about consumption. Oberon Light's total volume of pure alcohol is 4%. Original Oberon Ale has an ABV of 5.8%. Oberon Day in many ways serves as an unofficial start to the summer season, even though spring starts on March 20 — four days before Oberon Day. It has become an annual event to celebrate the approach of warmer weather and the start of the baseball season. More: Bell's Brewery sets Oberon Day 2025 for March 24: What to know With free admission to those who are of legal drinking age, Oberon Day starts at 11 a.m. March 24 in Kalamazoo at Bell's Eccentric Café, 355 E. Kalamazoo Ave. 'You know the drill! Reach for the sun with the first glass of Oberon on Oberon Day,' Bell's website says. Oberon Day pub hours are 11 a.m. to 10 p.m., and the Oberon Day general store hours will be 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. A musical lineup for the celebratory day includes DJ Sarah Riegler, Kait Rose & The Thorns with Special Guests, DJ Tribewalker, The Insiders and Saxsquatch & The Varmints. — Contact reporter Brad Heineman at bheineman@ or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @LenaweeHeineman. This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Bell's Brewery to celebrate Oberon Day with new Oberon Light
Associated Press
20-02-2025
- Business
- Associated Press
BIER Member Spotlight: Justin Merrell
Name: Justin Merrell | Group Sustainability Director Welcome to our series aimed at spotlighting the individual leaders within BIER member companies and stakeholder organizations. Learn how these practitioners and their companies are addressing pressing challenges around water, energy, agriculture, and climate change, and what inspires each of them to advance environmental sustainability in the beverage sector and collectively, overall. Briefly describe your role and responsibilities and how long you have worked with your company. My current role is Group Sustainability Director for LION. LION operates primarily in Australia, but we are also the largest brewer in New Zealand. In addition, we have a significant craft beer presence in the United States, including New Belgium Brewery and Bell's Brewery. Our US craft beer network spans four operational sites: Bell's Brewery in Michigan; New Belgium's breweries in Fort Collins, Colorado; Asheville, North Carolina; and our newest site in Daleville, Virginia. Beyond brewing, we also operate wineries on the west coast and New Zealand. I've been with LION for around six and a half years. I initially joined as Environment Director, and after three years, I transitioned into the Sustainability Director role. My responsibilities now focus on leading LION's overall sustainability strategy, which we divide into three pillars—Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG)—to maintain clarity and focus. My role is to set the strategy across these pillars and ensure its successful implementation. Before joining LION, I worked across a range of carbon intensive industries, including aviation, chemicals, steel, and aluminum. This diverse background has been invaluable in bringing a fresh perspective to challenges such as decarbonization, water stewardship, and advancing the circular economy within the brewing industry. I'm a chemical engineer by background, and the first half of my career was centered on engineering and management roles. My first dedicated sustainability role was at Qantas, where I worked for six years before joining LION. How has the company's sustainability program evolved over the years, and what are your specific priorities for 2025? When I first joined, our sustainability strategy was organized into distinct areas of focus. On the environmental side, it centered around four key pillars: carbon, water, packaging (within the broader circular economy), and environmental risk management. Socially, our priorities included responsible consumption—our most material issue as an alcohol producer—along with community investment and reconciliation work with Australia's First Nations people. We've also focused on broader human rights initiatives, which naturally tie into responsible sourcing. Governance underpins all of this, with a growing emphasis on climate reporting, risk management, and policy development, particularly as new disclosure requirements emerge globally. Most recently, we've made significant progress. For example, on carbon, we have science-based targets cascaded from our parent company, Kirin, in Japan. In Australia, we've already exceeded our 2030 Scope 1 and 2 targets, achieving a 70% reduction against our 2019 baseline. This success is largely due to investments in renewable electricity, including agreements to supply 100% renewable power to our Australian operations. In New Zealand, we have a credible pathway to meet our 2030 target of a 55% reduction, but the U.S. presents more challenges. Access to renewable energy agreements there is more complex, so identifying opportunities to secure wind and solar power for our U.S. breweries will be a major focus over the next few years. On water stewardship, we're on track to achieve a 2.4L/L water efficiency target at our large breweries in water-stressed regions—Brisbane, Sydney, and Launceston—by next year. This has been enabled by the installation of a new reverse osmosis water recycling plant at Tooheys in Sydney that matches our water recycling operations at XXXX Brewery in Brisbane. For packaging, we're making strong progress in increasing recycled content. On average, our packaging contained over 70% recycled material last year. Some of our glass bottles have exceeded 80% recycled content, and aluminum cans exceed 50%. Working closely with our suppliers, we're continuing to reduce demand for virgin materials and the carbon intensity of packaging. For instance, using recycled glass reduces energy consumption in glass furnaces, especially when combined with innovations like oxygen injection and cullet pre-heating, which has the potential halve furnace energy use. Looking ahead to 2025, we're shifting focus from discrete efforts on carbon, water, and circular economy to integrated projects that deliver impact across multiple pillars simultaneously. To truly accelerate progress, we need to move beyond individual efforts and start collaborating more deeply across the value chain. Our suppliers make up roughly 80% of a beer's carbon footprint, so working collectively with them is essential. A great example is the Australian Climate Leaders Coalition's Scope 3 Roadmap project, where we brought key players together—packaging suppliers, maltsters, logistics providers, and customers. Instead of relying on generic database figures, we gathered real carbon emissions data directly from our partners. It wasn't easy—there is a natural reluctance to share sensitive data—but we addressed concerns by aggregating where needed and building trust. With accurate data, we could have meaningful discussions about emissions reductions—whether that's increasing recycled content in packaging, using electric trucks, or working with farmers on regenerative agriculture. This project demonstrated the power of collaboration and the need to take the blinkers off. Too often, companies pursue the same targets independently, missing opportunities to work together. In 2025, we'll focus on fostering more of these 'pre-competitive' collaborations, where competitors and partners align on shared challenges. There's precedent for this—like the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil —where companies worked together to address deforestation. We're out of time, and we can't afford to tackle these issues alone. Guardrails are needed to ensure compliance with competition laws, but these non-competitive conversations are critical to accelerating change. A great example of this approach is the work we're exploring to support the resilience of the Great Barrier Reef. Projects like this demonstrate how we can simultaneously address nature conservation and sustainability challenges across the value chain. Ultimately, I find this deeply exciting. There's so much potential when we work together. The limits of going it alone are now clear, but when we take collective action, we can make a much bigger impact on the climate, circularity, and beyond.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Climate
- Yahoo
Bell's Brewery sets Oberon Day 2025 for March 24: What to know
Snow is still on the ground, but warm weather is already calling for Bell's Brewery. The Comstock-based beer giant announced Monday its annual Oberon Day is scheduled for March 24 this year. Oberon Ale's release every spring is a celebration in Michigan, for many marking the unofficial start of spring and warming temperatures. The seasonal wheat ale will hit store shelves and beer taps that week across Michigan and the rest of the nation. Bell's beer is available in all 50 states. 'Oberon is the #1 selling seasonal in Michigan and the Great Lakes," said Bell's Executive Vice President Carrie K. Yunker in a news release. "For the short time it's available, it embodies the best of summer and everything we love about craft beer. "We can't wait to raise a pint with you in March.' Bell's will mark the occasion with an all-day party at its Eccentric Cafe in downtown Kalamazoo, where Oberon and several variants will be on tap. Festivities will include live music from local bands and DJs, as well as crafts, food and Oberon merchandise. Other participating venues around Kalamazoo and Michigan will hold events and special beers on tap for the occasion. Oberon Ale is brewed with wheat malt, hops and spices and fermented with Bell's signature house yeast and comes in at 5.8% alcohol by volume. The ale, which debuted in 1992 under the name Solsun, is available from March through mid-September each year, except in Florida and Arizona, where it's available year-round. Monday, March 24, 2025 Free admission for those 21 years old and above Eccentric Cafe address: 355 E Kalamazoo Ave., Kalamazoo, Mich. 49007 Oberon Day Pub hours: 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. The Oberon flag will be raised at 11 a.m. Oberon Day General Store hours: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Follow the Detroit Free Press on Instagram (@detroitfreepress), TikTok (@detroitfreepress), YouTube (@DetroitFreePress), Twitter/X (@freep), and LinkedIn, and like us on Facebook (@detroitfreepress). Contact Amy Huschka: ahuschka@ or follow her on Twitter/X (@aetmanshuschka). Stay connected and stay informed. Become a subscriber. This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Oberon Day 2025: Bell's Brewery circles March 24
