Barley Whispers Newsletter
Monthly Contest Beer Styles
Monthly Contest Results/ Points
FCB Club Membership Info
FCB Club Bylaws
FCB Club Event Photos
Bulletin Board
FCB Homebrew Recipes
FCB Favorite Links
Fun Beer Fact
The average salary of working men in the U.S. who drink alcohol is $27,646, 10% higher than those who don't drink. The average salary of working women in the U.S. who drink alcohol is $14,304, 14% higher than those who abstain.
Homebrewing demonstrations every Saturday morning at Brew & Grow on South Alpine hosted by Chuck Nolan. The brewing starts at 10am. Contact the Forest City Brewers for more information....................... Thinking about brewing soon? Check out or brewing forecast below if you brew outside. ***ContactThe FCB***
Forest City Brewers Official Meeting Info

Shooter's Bar and Grill @ Don Carter Lanes

4007 E. State St, Rockford, IL

May 21st, 2008 7:00PM

Club meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month. We host monthly homebrew contests at each meeting that are sampled and judged by those attending. See our Monthly Contest Beer Styles section for detailed featured beer style info.

"Tasters Guild" Meeting Info

Der Rathskeller - Directions

1132 Auburn St., Rockford, IL

May 7th, 2007, 7:00PM

Taster's Guild meets the first Wednesday of each month. No minutes, no rules of order, and sorry...no homebrew sampling. Just brewers enjoying good times and some commercially available beers. Please feel free to bring your spouses, friends or significant others, but please no pets. Dinner is part of the festivities so plan accordingly.

Your Brewing Forecast

Rockford, Illinois, weather forecast


Forest City Brewers News and Headlines

Spring Brewfest 2008

The Stateline Brewing Society is holding their annual Spring Brewfest. This year's event will be Friday May 23rd from 4:30 - 8:00. Go to http://www.statelinebrewingsociety.com/ for more information.

Rockford business owners and customers talk about the rising cost of beer.
Click the link below to read about it.

http://www.rrstar.com/communities/x1041580385

Upcoming Chilton trip !!!!
Bad news everyone. Tickets sold out before we could get ours. We will not be going to Chilton this year.




A sad anouncement was made today from the Goose Island Company. They are being forced to close their Clyborn Pub after 20 years there. 

Click on the link for the full story ------>LINK

Notice from Sam Adams:

See also http://www.samadams.com/cidefault.htm

As a loyal supporter and fan of our beer, we wanted to
get in touch with you about an announcement that we made yesterday. We
have announced a cautious, voluntary product recall of some bottles of
Samuel Adams. While there is no problem with our beer, we believe a
small proportion of bottles from our outside glass supplier could
contain some small bits of glass.

The bottles we've identified as being possibly
affected are from one glass plant of the five that we get our bottles
from. The issue affects less than 25% of our bottled beer and of that
amount, we believe far less tha n 1% of the bottles we're recalling are
actually affected. We have no reports of any injury from our drinkers
related to this issue. But because the safety of our drinkers is of
paramount concern to us, we are being cautious and issuing the recall
for all bottles from this glass plant.

But not to worry, this doesn't mean that you have to
stop drinking Samuel Adams! All draft beer is perfectly fine and most of
our bottled beer is not in these possibly affected bottles. It's easy to
spot the bottles we're recalling: they are all embossed to say "N35" at
the base of the bottle below the label (see photo on web site).
We are
working with our wholesalers and retailers to ensure that the affected
bottles are removed from stores quickly.

We wanted to be sure that our loyal Sam fans are aware
of the problem and know that we are doing everything we can to address
this situation quickly. We are disappointed that because of these
bottles supplied to us, we didn't live up to your expectations as a
loyal Sam Adams drinker. We believe that we are taking all the right
steps to ensure that the bottled Samuel Adams beer out there meets our
quality standards and your expectations. If you have any questions about
the recall, we created a special web site and a toll-free number
1-888-674-5159 to answer your questions.

As always, we appreciate your support.

Cheers,
Andrew & Bert

Brewers Association Releases Top 50 Breweries List

Boulder, Colo. April 7, 2008 The Brewers Association, which tabulates industry growth data, announced its annual list of the top fifty brewing companies. Released are both a Top 50 Craft Brewing list and a list of the Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies. Statistics are based on sales in 2007.

"The majority of breweries in the U.S. are independent craft brewers who continue to push the envelope in flavor and diversity and who continue to set the pace for the beer category," states Paul Gatza, Director of the Brewers Association. "In 2007, 1,406 of the 1,449 breweries were small, independent and traditional brewers."

Twenty-one states are represented in the top 50 brewing companies list, according to the Brewers Association. California hosts eight top breweries. Colorado and Oregon each host five, and Pennsylvania hosts four top producers. The remainder of the top 50 operate from Minnesota (3), New York (3), Wisconsin (3), Illinois (2), Massachusetts (2), Missouri (2), Vermont (2), and Washington (2). Alaska , Delaware , Georgia , Hawaii , Louisiana , Maine , Michigan , Ohio , and Texas each host one.

The following are complete listings of the Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies and the Top 50 Overall Brewing companies.

Top 50 Craft Brewing Companies by Beer Sales Volume
(Based on 2007 sales)

Rank

Business Name

City

State

1

Boston Beer Co.

Boston

MA

2

Sierra Nevada Brewing Co.

Chico

CA

3

New Belgium Brewing Co. Inc.

Fort Collins

CO

4

Spoetzl Brewery

Shiner

TX

5

Pyramid Breweries Inc.

Seattle

WA

Top 50 Overall Brewing Companies by Beer Sales Volume
(2007 sales)

Rank

Business Name

City

State

1

Anheuser-Busch Inc.

St. Louis

MO

2

Miller Brewing Co.

Milwaukee

WI

3

Coors Brewing Co.

Golden

CO

4

Pabst Brewing Co.

Woodridge

IL

5

Boston Beer Co.

Boston

MA



For the complete list visit www.beertown.org

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