Shmaltz Brewing Company

Shmaltz Brewing Company is an American Craft brewing company located in Clifton Park, New York, US, and produces "HE'BREW" Beers and formerly Coney Island Beer before its acquisition by Boston Beer Company in 2013. Ranked in 2013 as one of the "Top 100 Brewers in the World" by RateBeer.com, Shmaltz won 9 Gold and 5 Silver Medals in the World Beer Championships in 2012. A recipient of the "Distinguished Business Award" by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce, Shmaltz was also included in the "Top 50 Fastest Growing Bay Area Companies" by San Francisco Business Times.

Shmaltz Brewing Company
IndustryAlcoholic beverage
Founded1996
FounderJeremy Cowan
Headquarters
Clifton Park, New York
,
US
ProductsBeer
Production output
6,000 US beer barrels (7,000 hl)
OwnerJeremy Cowan
Number of employees
30
Websiteshmaltzbrewing.com

Founder and owner Jeremy Cowan established the company in San Francisco in 1996. He'brew now sells across 37 states, through 40 wholesalers and nearly 5,000 retailers. In 2007, Shmaltz released a new line of craft brewed lagers under the Coney Island banner.

The company's name refers to shmaltz, a type of cooking fat that is frequently associated with Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine; all He'Brew Beers are certified kosher.

He'Brew Beer
He'brew Death of a Contract Brewer Black IPA

He'Brew Beer began as a Chanukah experiment in 1996 when founder and proprietor Jeremy Cowan and friends squeezed pomegranates to produce juice for the first HE'BREW beer.[1] Early distribution for this beer was done by Cowan himself out of the trunk of his grandmother's car in the San Francisco Bay Area. In 1997, Anderson Valley Brewing Company began brewing He'Brew and its distribution expanded to small craft beer wholesalers in California, Chicago and New York.[2] In 2003, Shmaltz began packaging selling Genesis Ale and Messiah Nut Brown Ale in six-packs and moved production to Mendocino Brewing Company's facility in Saratoga Springs, NY.

Marketing

He'Brew Beers generally have names alluding to Jewish history and culture.[3] Each label of He'Brew Beer lists facts and quotations related to the beer's inspiration and its ingredients. He'Brew's marketing incorporates Jewish religious references into the beers' names and slogans. Genesis Ale was the first He'Brew creation, and the company described its "Messiah Nut Brown Ale" as "the beer you've been waiting for", a reference to Jewish beliefs regarding the Messiah.[4]:14,138 The Hop Manna IPA refers to manna, a Biblical food eaten by the Israelites during the exodus from Egypt.

Series

In 2006 He'Brew debuted Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A., a rye double IPA dedicated to the late Jewish comedian Lenny Bruce.[5][4]:236–238 The barrel-aged version of Bittersweet Lenny's R.I.P.A., R.I.P.A. on Rye, took home the Silver Medal in the Wood- and Barrel-Aged Strong Beer category at the 2010 Great American Beer Festival.[6]

Shmaltz offers the "Rejewvenator" and "Jewbelation" series as limited seasonal releases; the Beverage Testing Institute awarded both Rejewvenator 2009 and Rejewvenator 2010 a gold medal at their 2010 and 2011 World Beer Championships, respectively.[7][8]

Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah

In September 2010 owner Jeremy Cowan published a small business memoir, Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah, that chronicles Cowan's upbringing in the Northern California suburbs and describes how HE'BREW Beer evolved from an inside joke with high school friends to a nationally distributed craft beer brand under Shmaltz Brewing Company. The book was launched at Great American Beer Festival in Denver, Colorado, and a second edition was released in December 2010.[9] "Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah" was written with help from friend and journalist James Sullivan and is published by Malt Shop Publishing.

Coney Island Craft Lagers

Summer 2008 marked the official launch of Shmaltz's Coney Island Craft Lagers line. This brand was released in partnership with the arts organization Coney Island USA, a 501(c)3 Non-Profit, and a portion of the proceeds from Coney Island Craft Lagers directly benefited Coney Island USA. The line includes the flagship Coney Island Lager, which was first released in June 2007, and five experimental lagers: Sword Swallower, Albino Python, Mermaid Pilsner, Human Blockhead (Winter), and Freaktoberfest (Fall). In 2010 the brand was awarded "Best Craft Brewer" and "Best in Show" at industry publication Beverage World Magazine's BevStar Awards for product quality, brand marketing, and overall creativity in "pushing the limits of lager."[10]

Coney Island Brewing Company

In May 2010 Shmaltz launched its first brewing location in Brooklyn, New York. At 1 US gallon (3.8 l) per batch, Coney Island Brewing Company was officially the smallest commercial brewery by volume in the world.[11] In August 2011, Coney Island Brewing Company registered as a fully licensed brewery with the state of New York, and within its 175-square-foot (16.3 m2) brewery, staff began bottling its nano-batches of beer for sale to the public, including a Pumpernickel Bagel Porter and a Cotton Candy Wit Ale.[12]

Marketing

The artwork for Coney Island Lagers was the creation of Shmaltz's art director Matt Polacheck and Brooklyn-based tattoo artist Dave C. Wallin, whose original illustrations spotlight Heather Holliday (Sword Swallower) and the MC of the sideshow, Donny Vomit (Human Blockhead). The logo for the brand and for Coney Island Lager is based on the iconic "Tillie" face that graced the entrance of George Tilyou's Steeplechase Park in Coney Island.[13]

Boston Beer Co. Acquires Coney Island

On August 26, 2013, a subsidiary of Boston Beer Company bought the Coney Island brand from Shmaltz Brewing Company, as well as some brewery equipment and other assets related to the Coney Island brand for $2.9 million.[14] In connection with the acquisition, A&S entered into a two-year brewing services agreement with Shmaltz for Shmaltz to brew all of the Coney Island Beers.

Shmaltz Brewery
Shmaltz Brewing Company

After the sale of the Coney Island Brewing, Cowan used the proceeds and bank loans to finance the construction of a $3.25 million, 20,000 square feet (1,900 m2) brewery in Clifton Park, New York, with an annual capacity of 30,000 US beer barrels (35,000 hl).[15][16] The new brewery packages 12 and 22 ounce bottles and kegs and offers on-site tours and tastings. In 2018, the facility was sold to SingleCut Beersmiths.[17]

Shmaltz opened up a tasting room in a 4,000-square-foot (370 m2) basement space in the former Newberry Music Hall in Saratoga Springs, New York. Shmaltz still owns "Shmaltz Shop" and "518 Craft", a bottle shop and bar in downtown Troy, New York.[18]

  • Coney Island Brewing Company, established in 2010 on the corner of W 12th Street and Surf Avenue, in Coney Island, New York.
  • On August 10, 2011 Coney Island Brewing Company was certified as the "World's Smallest Commercial Brewery" by the World Records Academy. Average brew batch size is one gallon.
  • HE'BREW Beer and Coney Island Craft Lagers merchandise at Coney Island Brewing Company.
  • Shmaltz Brewing Company employees break into an impromptu air guitar solo on the Mermaid Parade route.

See also

References
  1. "He'Brew". Shmaltz Brewing Company. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  2. Brand, William (2005). "He'brew - The Chosen Beer: How It All Began". Northwest Brewing News. Retrieved September 21, 2009.
  3. Hawthorne, Marc. "Food Feature: Shmaltz Brewing Company". The Onion. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  4. Cowan, Jeremy (2010). Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah. New York, NY: Malt Shop Publishing. pp. 14, 138.
  5. Kitsock, Greg (September 30, 2009). "Rye Observations". Washington Post. Washington Post. Retrieved September 30, 2009.
  6. Brewers Association. "2010 Great American Beer Festival Winners List". Brewers Association. Retrieved July 23, 2020.
  7. Beverage Testing Institute. "Shmaltz Brewing Company 2009 He'Brew Rejewvenator Ale". Beverage Testing Institute. Retrieved May 7, 2010.
  8. Beverage Testing Institute. "Shmaltz Brewing Company 2010 He'Brew Rejewvenator Ale". Beverage Testing Institute. Retrieved May 17, 2011.
  9. Holl, John (December 10, 2010). "Shmaltz for the Holidays". Ale Street News – via beerbriefing.wordpress.com.
  10. Cioletti, Jeff (July 15, 2010). "A Trio of Freaks". Beverage World Magazine.
  11. World Records Academy. "Smallest Commercial Brewery: Coney Island Brewing Company Set World Record". Retrieved August 12, 2011.
  12. Kitsock, Greg (December 6, 2010). "Beer: Barley, Hops, and Shtick". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 15, 2020.
  13. Miliard, Mike (August 13, 2008). "Shmaltz Coney Island Lagers: Freaking Delicious". The Boston Phoenix.
  14. "Boston Beer Co. (SAM) Acquires Coney Island Brand". Street Insider. Retrieved April 5, 2016.
  15. "Shmaltz Brewing Company Serves Up Kosher Beer With a Sense of Humor at New N.Y. Brewery". November 27, 2013. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  16. "Clifton Park brewery aims to 'shtick' in area". Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  17. Fox, Deanna (May 21, 2018). "Shmaltz Brewing sells facility to SingleCut Beersmiths". Times Union.
  18. Barnes, Steve (November 29, 2018). "Shmaltz opening tasting room, event space in Saratoga". Times Union.

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