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ASBC Newsletter
VOLUME 59, NUMBER 3 - 1999

Our very successful 1999 meeting under the Arizona sun is now just a pleasant memory. For those of you who were able to join us in Phoenix (there were 281 registered delegates from 20 countries), we hope you had an enriching and rewarding experience. The venue and general arrangements, under the guidance of ASBC Meeting Manager Leslie Gibson, was world class, and (as President David Hysert noted) "everything else," under ASBC Director of Administration Amy Hope, flowed seamlessly. Poster presenters and exhibitors intermingled throughout the meeting, allowing a high degree of technical and social interaction. The oral presentations were, as usual, of the highest caliber, with great slides, great presenters, and excellent moderators. Four workshops complimented the program, a hops workshop chaired by Tim Kostelecky, a malt workshop chaired by Dave Thomas, a yeast workshop chaired by Dirk Bendiak, and a new analytical technology workshop chaired by Rob Maruyama. The various points arising from these workshops will be outlined in the Newsletter and on ASBCnet. All in all, a superb technical program from the Program Committee.

Of course, it was always a pleasure to see delegates who were attending the annual meeting for the first time and, in particular, student members from around the world. Attending this year's meeting were 10 students from Heriot-Watt University, Oregon State University, VTT Biotechnology and Food Research, University of Wisconsin, and Ball State University. As an added innovation, we had a "Past Presidents', First Timers' and Students' reception" to explain the "workings" of the ASBC and, in particular, the importance of our various committees. These include the Technical Committee and Technical Subcommittees--all of which had very well attended meetings this year.

For those of you unable to join us this year in Phoenix, there is exciting news! The ASBC is still growing, with 925 members worldwide (see our Millennium member promotion), we are financially healthy, and, as you will see in the Newsletter and on our website, we have a meaningful strategic plan to take us into the future. Nevertheless, and particularly due to a seemingly constant state of flux in the brewing industry (with global changes among brewers, maltsters, hop growers and suppliers, and the allied industries being reported almost weekly), we cannot allow complacency. The evolution that the ASBC is experiencing is a strategic imperative.

As we move forward during the next 12 months and beyond, you will see the Board of Directors put considerable detail into the strategic plan, to secure a healthy future for the ASBC. As David Hysert noted at this year's business meeting, the strategic plan was the most important event in the past 12 months. We all need to ensure that we are meeting the needs of a future global brewing industry as we execute its strategies into the next millennium. To ensure the highest quality, consistency, and safety of malt-based beverages and their ingredients, the ASBC must be a global authority for excellence in the field of brewing and related sciences and technology. The ASBC Board of Directors is motivated and charged; we know that the ASBC membership supports this initiative!

Our domestic and global relationships with other brewing organizations are particularly active and, in fact, at an all-time high. Discussions were held in Phoenix with officers from these organizations, i.e., the European Brewery Convention (EBC), Brewing Convention of Japan (BCOJ), Institute of Brewing (IOB), Master Brewers' Association of the Americas (MBAA), Asociacion Latinoamericana de Fabricantes de Cerveza (ALAFACE), Conselho Brasileiro dos Tecnologos em Cerveja e Malte (COBRACEM), American Malting Barley Association (AMBA), Hop Research Council (HRC), American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC), AOAC International, Brewing and Malting Barley Research Institute of Canada (BMBRI), and our latest liaison, the Institute for Brewing Studies (IBS). These liaisons, and support from these organizations, are imperative to the future well-being of the Society, as well as to the brewing industry as a whole. Next year, in Orlando, FL, the World Brewing Congress will emphasize the relationships among these organizations.

One hundred years ago, a series of events led to the eventual formation of the ASBC in 1934 (see the article in this issue). I am very proud to be part of the future evolution as we move into the year 2000 and plan the next 100 years! One thing is for sure--it really will be very exciting!!

--David Ryder

CONTENTS

• World Brewing Congress 2000
• Call for Nominations for ASBC Awards
• Board of Directors' Profile
• Highlights of the ASBC Board of Directors Meetings
• Highlights of the ASBC General Business Meeting
• 1999 Annual Meeting Committee Reports
• Declaration of Partnership Between IBS and ASBC
• Workshop Reports
• Welcome Reception
• President's Closing Remarks
• A Little History
• 1999 Winners of the Eric Kneen Award Announced
• Thanks from Student Members
• Local Section News
• Presidents' Addresses to the Board
• 65th ASBC Annual Meeting-An Unofficial Account
• Industry News
• New Active Members
• Corrections and Additions to Posters
• International News
• Active ASBC Corporate Members
• ASBC Past Presidents
• Upcoming Annual Meetings

World Brewing Congress 2000

Revised Dates

Please note that the dates of the Congress have been changed to July 29-August 2, 2000. The location, at Disney's Coronado Springs Resort in Orlando, has not changed.

Planning

Now that the ASBC Annual Meeting in Phoenix is completed and planning for the MBAA Convention nearly complete, all efforts will focus on planning a successful Congress. The Technical Program Committee, with representatives from ASBC, MBAA, BCOJ, EBC, and IOB, has begun planning the technical sessions. The Call for Papers appears in this issue of the Newsletter. Information about the table-top exhibition program is due shortly.

The Joint Planning Committee, the Technical Program Committee, and all those associated with the Congress are working hard to bring you a unique and memorable event, one that will bring technical experts together and energize all as we face future challenges.

Call for Nominations for ASBC Awards

The ASBC Awards Committee requests nominations from Society members for the following Society awards.

Award of Distinction

The criteria for this award is to acknowledge exceptional lifetime achievement, contribution, and service to brewing science and the brewing industry.

Honorary Life Membership

This award is reserved for retired members who have exhibited exceptional long-term service to the Society within elected or appointed positions. Past-presidents of the Society automatically qualify.

The Society wishes to acknowledge outstanding contributions by individual members and appreciates your consideration of this call for nominations. Your suggestions for the establishment of additional awards honors are welcome.

Please address your nominations and comments to one of the ASBC Awards Committee members:

Rob Maruyama, Chair
Bruce Sebree
Rob McCaig
Sherman Chan
Peter Gales
Dick Pyler
American Society of Brewing Chemists, Inc., 3340 Pilot Knob Road, St. Paul, MN 55121-2097, USA.

Past Recipients of Awards

Award of Distinction

K. J. Siebert (1999)
G. H. Palmer (1998)
W. J. Olsen (1988)
E. Kneen (1982)
D. B. West (1981)

Honorary Life Membership

Norman Kendall
Roger A. Carroll
Michael J. Lewis
William A. Hardwick, Jr.
Michael R. Sfat
James McDougall
Richard Berndt
G. Calvin Dyson
Robert I. Tenny
Vincent S. Bavisotto
Carroll A. Dayharsh
Earl L. Van Engel
Kurt Becker
Harold E. Weissler
George E. Bredt
N. Margaret Morrison
John B. Bockelmann
Sam Likens
Dwight B. West
Philip D. Israel
Harold H. Geller
Arthur J. Rehberger
Ronald A. Latimer
F. Lloyd Rigby
Philip E. Dakin
Alfred Haunold
J. Robert Piening

Board of Directors' Profile

David S. Ryder, new ASBC president, is vice-president, brewing, research, and quality assurance for the Miller Brewing Co. He has served in that position since August 1995.

Ryder began his brewing career in England at Associated British Maltsters. He then joined the South African Breweries Beer Division and was later named director of research and development for that group's brewing and malting concerns at the Delta Corp., Ltd. Ryder was subsequently international technical consultant with Artois Breweries in Belgium. He joined Miller Brewing Company as director of research in June 1992 and was named director of research and quality in February 1995. Prior to joining Miller Brewing Co., he was vice-president, technical services at J.E. Siebel Sons' Co., Inc., in Chicago. He was also director of education for the Siebel Institute of Technology.

Ryder acquired a PhD in biochemistry from the University of Cape Town via the University of Brussels, Belgium. He also holds academic qualifications from the Institute of Biology and the Royal Society in London. He is past chair of the Program Committee (1988-1992) and Publications Committee (1992-1994) of ASBC. He is a fellow of the Institute of Brewing and a member of the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (MBAA) and the Brewing Science Group of the European Brewery Convention (EBC). He currently chairs a subgroup of the EBC for studying emerging fermentation systems. Ryder has published widely in brewing literature, including the ASBC Journal, the MBAA Technical Quarterly, Brewers Digest, Bebidas, Beverages, and the Proceedings of the European Brewery Convention. In 1982, and again in 1994, he was coauthor of papers that won the MBAA Presidential Award in Brewing. In 1996, he was coauthor of the paper that won the ASBC Eric Kneen Memorial Award.

Nona Mundy the new president-elect, received a B.S. in chemistry from Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, IL, in 1967.

She began employment with Anheuser-Busch in July 1967 as a chemist in the analytical laboratory of the Technical Center. Until 1994, she remained in the same laboratory, assuming various duties and job descriptions, including supervisor, instrument section (1979); laboratory supervisor (1986); and manager, analytical services (1986). Since 1994, she has functioned as manager, technical program administration, for Brewing Technical Services. Since 1996, she has been involved as an instructor (brewmaster) for the Budweiser Mobile Beer School.

Mundy has served the ASBC on the local level as secretary through past president (1986-1990). Besides serving on technical subcommittees and publishing a paper in the Journal, she served as Newsletter Editor from 1990 through 1994 and as Program Committee Chairman from 1995 through 1997.

Rob Maruyama continues on the Board of Directors as vice-president, having served on the Board as Publications Committee Chairman for the past three years. He graduated from the University of Colorado in Boulder in 1979 with a BA degree in molecular, cellular developmental biology and received an MS degree in environmental science and engineering from the Colorado School of Mines in 1993. He joined Coors in 1980. During his tenure at Coors, Maruyama was responsible for analytical methods development using gas chromatography and high-performance liquid chromatography, development of laboratory automation applications, and analytical project management. In 1994, he was named laboratory supervisor, where he was responsible for the organic laboratory operations, which supported Environmental Control and Container Manufacturing. Maruyama was promoted to research and quality assurance laboratory manager in 1995, where he currently is responsible for managing the analytical laboratory that supports Brewing Research and Development and Corporate Quality Assurance.

Maruyama is a member of the ACS and has made presentations and posters to ASBC and AOAC International. He has served ASBC as an active subcommittee participant and chaired a number of technical subcommittees, including the Coordination of New and Alternate Methods of Analysis.

Incoming ASBC Board of Directors. From left, seated: Rob Maruyama, Nona Mundy, Dave Ryder, Suzanne Thompson (acting secretary). Standing: Steve Nyarady, Dave Hysert, Charlie Bamforth, Dirk Bendiak, and Steve Nelson.

Highlights of the ASBC Board of Directors Meetings

June 19, 1999

The ASBC Board of Directors met Saturday, June 19, 1999, in Phoenix, AZ. President David Hysert called the meeting to order at 8:00 a.m. After the previous meeting's minutes were read and approved, Hysert reported on his activities. He noted that the Declaration of Partnership with the Institute for Brewing Studies would be signed at the Recognition Luncheon. Discussions have been held concerning a cooperative agreement between the ASBC and COBRACEM. Hysert reported that the recent stability testing of ICE-2 has shown it to be stable and that a press release will be issued shortly.

President-elect David Ryder gave an update on the Local and Student Sections. Discussion then followed regarding the governance of the Student Section. It was agreed that the Student Section would benefit from guidance from university professors. The Board then approved the formation of a Student Section Advisory Committee to coordinate and promote student activities. University professors will be invited to participate on this committee.

Next, Treasurer Bob Jensen reported on the financial status of the Society. A pricing policy was proposed by the Finance Committee regarding products, services, and dues; it was subsequently approved by the Board.

Vice-president Nona Mundy presented her report, followed by the Awards Committee report. The Board unanimously agreed to present a Certificate of Recognition at the Recognition Luncheon to Dori Whitney for her outstanding service over the years. Mundy then presented Sherman Chan's report for the Training and Education Committee. The Hop Technology Short Course will be offered September 8-9, 1999, in Yakima, WA.

Dave Thomas gave reports for the office of past-president, Constitution and Bylaws Committee, and Nominating Committee. Rob Maruyama of Coors Brewing Company and Richard Dube of Boston Beer Company agreed to stand for nomination as vice-president and treasurer, respectively.

Sue Thompson presented the secretary's report in Holly Kuester's absence. Chairman Greg Casey then gave the Technical Committee report. Six collaborative studies were conducted during 1998-1999. As a result, two methods are recommended for approval by the Board for inclusion in Methods of Analysis. These are "Determination of IAA-, Alpha-Acids, and Beta-Acids in Hop and Isomerized Hop Extracts by HPLC" and "Difference-from-Control Sensory Test." Stefan Nyarady will serve the Society as the new chairman of the Technical Committee. Jean Miller completed her third and final year as chairman of the Coordination of New and Alternate Methods of Analysis Subcommittee, with John Engel replacing her. A Packaging Subcommittee will be formed under the Technical Committee to look at methods currently being used and determine what methods are needed for the industry.

Chairman Rob Maruyama gave the Publications Committee report. Charlie Bamforth was welcomed to the Board of Directors as the new Chairman of the Publications Committee. The 1999 Supplement to Methods of Analysis will be introduced and sold at the 1999 Annual Meeting. "Millennium reviews" will be published in volume 58 of the Journal; prospective authors have been contacted. Professor Palmer and Drs. Fulcher, Kendall, and Klump will be leaving the Editorial Board and were thanked for their contributions. A new look for ASBCnet went live on June 11, 1999. Following the Annual Meeting, selected posters from the 1999 Annual Meeting will be posted on ASBCnet. Two successful bulletin boards or chat rooms were initiated. The first was to assist in finalizing the Strategic Plan, and the second was to continue the yeast discussion from the 1998 Annual Meeting.

Chairman Dirk Bendiak reported on the Program Committee, followed by Barry Axcell with the International Board Member report. Jim Munroe joined the Board meeting to give an update on WBC2000. The date of WBC2000 has been changed to July 29 to August 2, 2000. Work on the Congress is moving forward as planned. Executive Officer Steve Nelson presented the staff report. The 1000th member promotion "member-get-a-member campaign" was implemented. The 1000th member and their sponsor will receive complimentary registration to WBC2000.

Thanks were given to Past-President Dave Thomas, Treasurer Bob Jensen, Technical Committee Chairman Greg Casey, and Publications Committee Chairman Rob Maruyama for their contributions to the Board. After several miscellaneous items, the meeting was adjourned at 4:20 p.m.

--Suzanne Y. Thompson
Acting Secretary

June 24, 1999

The Thursday, June 24, 1999, Board meeting was presided over by the incoming president, David Ryder, beginning at 8:00 a.m. The highlights of the June 19, 1999, Board meeting were reviewed by Acting Secretary Sue Thompson. David Ryder reported on the past-presidents' meeting, and then Vice-President Nona Mundy discussed the Local Section Officers' meeting. The Past Presidents', First Timers' and Students' Reception was deemed a great success and will continue at future meetings.

The next order of business was a critique of the 65th Annual Meeting. Steve Nelson reported that there were 245 attendees. The meeting was a success, with many excellent papers and posters and, of course, an outstanding venue. A few items were noted for improvement and will be addressed for future meetings. The Program Committee and Publications Committee meetings were reviewed by Dirk Bendiak and Rob Maruyama, respectively. Greg Casey reviewed the two methods recommended for inclusion in Methods of Analysis, "Determination of IAA-, Alpha-Acids, and Beta-Acids in Hop and Isomerized Hop Extracts by HPLC" and "Difference-from-Control Sensory Test." The Board approved the inclusion of the two methods.

Sites for the 2002 Annual Meeting were briefly discussed. The next Board meeting will be held in St. Paul on October 9-10, 1999, with Oct. 9 devoted to work on the Strategic Plan. The meeting was adjourned at 11:05 a.m.

--Suzanne Y. Thompson
Acting Secretary

Highlights of the ASBC General Business Meeting

June 20, 1999

The General Business Meeting was called to order by President David Hysert at 8:30 a.m. After welcoming everyone to the 65th Annual Meeting, he discussed the highlights of the year. The president presented a brief overview of the Strategic Plan, thanking the Board of Directors, the St. Paul staff, and the membership for all the hard work that was involved in putting it together. Hysert reported that a Declaration of Partnership between the ASBC and the Institute for Brewing Studies would be signed at the Recognition Luncheon. He noted that an International Board Member position was established, with Barry Axcell as its first incumbent. Hysert discussed the new look for the ASBCnet and the very successful on-line discussion, ASBCnet Yeast Workshop. Thanks were given to Margaret Morrison for a job well done on a new supplement for Methods of Analysis and to Program Committee Chairman Dirk Bendiak and the St. Paul staff for putting together an outstanding Annual Meeting. Also acknowledged for their contributions were Past-President Dave Thomas, Treasurer Bob Jensen, Technical Committee Chairman Greg Casey, and Publications Committee Chairman Rob Maruyama, who are completing their terms; and to Sue Thompson, who is acting secretary while Holly Kuester is on maternity leave.

President Dave Hysert presents a certificate to outgoing past president Dave Thomas to acknowledge his service on the ASBC Board.

The minutes of the 64th Annual Meeting were read and approved. Bob Jensen presented the treasurer's report. As of March 31, 1999, membership was 892, down from 938 reported on March 31, 1998. Membership has increased since then and is currently 925. A moment of silence was observed in memory of the following deceased members: Mary E. Williams, Carl J. Schreieck, Sturla Lie, and Erin O'Connor-Cox.

The various committee and liaison reports were presented. All reports were accepted as read.

David Hysert presented the proposed slate for Society officers as follows: Nona Mundy, president-elect, Rob Maruyama, vice-president, and Richard Dube, treasurer. Nominations were closed after no additional nominations were brought forth from the floor. The slate was unanimously approved by the membership.

President Dave Ryder accepts the gavel from outgoing president Dave Hysert.

After several announcements, the meeting was adjourned at 10:00 a.m.

--Suzanne Y. Thompson
Acting Secretary

1999 Annual Meeting Committee Reports

PRESIDENT'S OPENING REMARKS

The highlight of this year for me has been the Strategic Plan--developing, editing, massaging, and coaxing it into a document I know we'll be proud of: the blueprint for our Society going into the 21st century. Congratulations and thanks to the Board of Directors, the St. Paul staff, and the membership for all the hard work that was involved with putting it together. We should be particularly proud of the innovative way we did much of the work in finalizing the plan: on-line, using a discussion page within ASBCnet. The penultimate version of the Strategic Plan will be available for the Annual Meeting. We will prioritize the projects and present the plan for Board approval at the Annual Meeting.

I am pleased to provide a brief overview of the Strategic Plan. Highlights and further details of the plan are available at the back of the room. Additional copies are available at the registration desk and from the St. Paul office. Please review this document carefully and let me, any of the Board members, or the St. Paul staff know your comments.

As President, I had the opportunity to visit with a number of our sister organizations, including MBAA, COBRACEM, EBC, and IoB. We all have the common challenge of how to best serve our customers in a changing environment. One of the key goals of the Strategic Plan is to develop a flexible and responsive governance structure for our Society by developing alliances with both domestic and international sister brewing and industry-related organizations. In this vein, David Edgar, Director of the Institute for Brewing Studies, a primary organization of the U.S. craft brewing industry, and I will sign a Declaration of Partnership between the IBS and the ASBC at this Annual Meeting. We have begun discussions with COBRACEM to agree on a similar Declaration of Partnership with them. We have had an inquiry from the Chinese Brewing Association about becoming a corporate member. We established an international board member position this year and have enjoyed having Barry Axcell as its first incumbent.

The ASBCnet, ASBC's web page has a new look. It has been extensively revised, enlarged, and updated and is now available at the same address as previously, namely www.scisoc.org/asbc, thanks to the efforts of Internet Editor, Bob Jensen, his committee and the St. Paul staff. Speaking of ASBCnet, a very successful on-line discussion, the ASBCnet Yeast Workshop was conducted this year. I hope many of you participated in this discussion. Many key objectives of the Strategic Plan rely on the Internet. Internet Editor Bob Jensen and his committee have a very aggressive plan to move these objectives forward. Keep tuned to ASBCnet for coming developments.

A new supplement for Methods of Analysis has been completed and is on sale at the registration desk. We sincerely thank the Methods of Analysis Editor, Margaret Morrison, and the St. Paul staff for a job well done.

The ASBC conducted two well-received short courses in October 1998. Pasteurization was held Oct. 7-8 in Chicago. Barley Malt Quality Evaluation was presented jointly by the ASBC and Northern Crops Institute in Fargo, ND, on Oct. 26-29. The short course Hop Technology will be held Sept. 8-10, 1999, in Yakima, WA. Thanks to the many individuals who contributed to making these courses a success, including the course directors, the instructors, the ASBC staff, and the Training and Education Committee. Providing continuing education and professional development to our members is one of the key services to which the ASBC is committed.

ICE-2 was released Sept. 1, 1998, by the ASBC and EBC with much trepidation and consternation. Recent stability testing has shown to our considerable relief that ICE-2 is stable. A press release reporting the results of this first stability testing will be presented to the Board at this meeting.

In keeping with the hop theme, an International Committee on Hop Iso-alpha-Acids Standards was established and is making good progress on its assignment.

ASBC past-presidents and their spouses. From left, seated: Louise McCaig, Jim Munroe, and Amy Chan. Standing: Dick Pyler, Dave Thomas, Rob McCaig, Sherman Chan, and Pete Gales.

The program that Dirk Bendiak, his Program Committee, Leslie Gibson, and the rest of the St. Paul staff have put together for this Annual Meeting looks outstanding. I extend my thanks and congratulations to them, to the authors, to the Technical Committee and subcommittees, to the Board of Directors, and to all others who have contributed. I hope you will all take full advantage of this spectacular meeting they have prepared, with its many opportunities for knowledge, discussion, networking, professional and personal development, and enjoying yourself.

I extend a special thanks and farewell to Dave Thomas, Past-President; Bob Jensen, Treasurer; and Greg Casey, Technical Committee Chair, who will complete their terms on the Board of Directors at the end of this meeting. They have all done a superb job; we will miss them greatly.

I also extend thanks to Sue Thompson, who is acting secretary while Holly Kuester, our incumbent secretary, is on maternity leave.

Finally, I would like to offer my sincere thanks to the Board, the St. Paul staff, the committee and subcommittee chairs and members, and the membership for making my year as president enjoyable, satisfying, and easy.

--David Hysert

TREASURER'S REPORT

As of April 1st, 1999, the audited balance sheet for Q4 of FY 99 showed total assets of $461,584.43 and liabilities, less the operating reserve, of $158,837.61. The net operating loss for the year was ($19,574.65). Membership equity plus operating reserves ended the period at $302,746.82, an increase of $3,806.39.

The Annual Meeting in Boston showed a surplus of $16,106.

--Robert A. Jensen

PUBLICATIONS COMMITTEE REPORT

As always, I would like to thank M. Morrison, K. DeVries, P. Freeman, and B. Jensen for their excellent work, dedication, and commitment. Their technical expertise and mentoring made my tenure as Publications Committee Chairman a great learning experience. Thank you.

I would like to welcome Charles Bamforth to the Board of Directors as the new chairman of the Publications Committee. Charlie Bamforth was recently appointed the Anheuser-Busch Endowed Professor of Brewing Science at the University of California, Davis. Prior to this appointment, he was deputy director-general of Brewing Research International in England. He has over 20 years of experience in research and quality assurance in brewing, including a long period with Bass. He is visiting professor of brewing at the International Center for Brewing and Distilling at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, Scotland. He has published extensively on malting and brewing, including the recently acclaimed book Beer: Tap into the Art and Science of Brewing. He is a member of the editorial boards of both the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists and the Journal of the Institute of Brewing.

Methods of Analysis

The 1999 Supplement to the ASBC Methods of Analysis went to the printer in late April and should be ready for distribution at the Annual Meeting in Phoenix. The Supplement contains 30 methods:

• eight new methods in the new By-Products section. These were produced from the 1996 subcommittee report, which was presented in the form of tables. This type of final report should be discouraged and the subcommittee chairmen encouraged to write method(s) in the standard format.
• 14 new methods: five completely new topics and nine new procedures attached to existing methods. These came from 11 subcommittee reports from the years 1996, 1997, and 1998.
• five rewritten methods in the Bottles section of Packaging and Packaging Materials. The original 13 methods were reduced to five by incorporation and deletion. The Methods of Analysis editor was assisted in this project by Dirk Bendiak, Greg Casey, Rob Maruyama, Steve Nelson, David Ryder, and their co-workers.
• two new Bottle Closures methods from subcommittee reports from 1996 and 1997. These replaced previous methods.
• one new Cans method resulting from the combination of two previous methods. All other Cans methods are being withdrawn as obsolete. The production of current Cans methods should be referred to a subcommittee under the direction of the Technical Committee.

In addition to the new methods, there are five corrections to existing methods.

This supplement was produced with the assistance, direction, and editorial expertise of staff at the St. Paul office. Many thanks to them.

ASBC Newsletter

Since the last update to the Board of Directors, two Newsletter issues were published, Nos. 1 and 2. Without a doubt, the next issue is the most difficult to pull together. Information is due to Karen DeVries on July 2, 1999, just one week after we return from the Annual Meeting. She will be trying to gather some of the necessary information while at the meeting. Knowing who will be heading up subcommittees and who the new liaisons are at the time of the meeting would be a great help.

ASBC Journal

Issue 57(2) of ASBC Journal contained six papers. Issue 57(3) also contained six papers, along with reports of the BCOJ. A further 14 papers are at various stages of the review and revision process. Thanks to sustained encouragement from moderators, the Editorial Board, and the Program Committee, the percentage of papers from the Boston meeting submitted for publication in the Journal (41%) is higher than for Palm Springs (37%) and Chicago (33%). Turnaround time for publication of submitted manuscripts remains at an average of about three to three and a half months. Thanks are due to our reviewers, to the Editorial Board, and to Drs. Navarro and Sierra, who provide Spanish translations of abstracts. Their collective efforts have ensured a smooth and adequate flow of material for the Journal this year.

Members of the Publications Committee and Editorial Board. From left, seated: Alex Speers, Bob Jensen, Margaret Morrison, and Charlie Bamforth. Standing: Dave Hysert, Tony Cutaia, Karl Siebert, Rob Maruyama, Alfonso Navarro, Dirk Bendiak, Karen DeVries, Terry Dowhanick, and Peter Freeman.

Prospective authors have been contacted with requests for "millennium reviews" to be published in Vol. 58 of the Journal. Authors who have agreed to contribute include D. Taylor (Water), M. Moir (Hops), and G. Stewart and I. Russell (Yeast). A. W. MacGregor and G. Palmer are potential collaborators for the review on Barley and Malt. Other suggested authors and topics will be discussed at the Editorial Board meeting during the Phoenix convention.

Eric Kneen Award

A total of 18 papers from Vol. 56 were eligible for the Eric Kneen Award.

Editorial Board

G. H. Palmer reaches the end of his (second) term on the Editorial Board in 1999. In addition, Drs. Fulcher, Kendall, and Klump have indicated their desire to withdraw from the Editorial Board. The contributions of the departing members during their terms of office are greatly appreciated. Five Editorial Board members (Drs. Bamforth, Ono, Siebert, Smart, and Speers) complete their first terms in 1999 and are eligible for appointment for a second term (to 2002). Two new members (Drs. Moir and Torline) were welcomed to the Editorial Board in 1999.

Internet Editor

At the February 1999 meeting of the Board of Directors, several Internet projects were funded for fiscal year 2000. We are ahead of schedule and below budget in completing them. The status of these projects is as follows:

The face-lift for the site has been completed and made available for Board review. The new look and format is more eye appealing and easier to navigate. We will go live with the update on June 11, 1999. This will provide an excellent base upon which to build new features.

Preparations have been made to publish selected posters on-line immediately following the Annual Meeting. Specifications for presenters have been developed and are being reviewed by the program chairman.

Two bulletin boards or chat rooms were initiated with moderate success. The first was to assist in finalizing the wording of the strategic plan and the second was to continue the yeast discussion from last year's annual meeting and generate interest going into this year's meeting. Participation in the discussion has been modest. Additional chat rooms can be quickly started once a topic and moderator have been identified.

The addition of pictures and a general face-lift for the on-line Newsletter was completed along with the general update of the site. Electronic submission and posting of abstracts will be available for the 2000 presentations. Additionally, we are preparing a full text, on-line Journal article for demonstration purposes.

The other ideas (ASBC Journal Online, Methods of Analysis, the Craft Brewers book, training and education offerings, etc.) are still in the discussion stage.

Working with Margaret, Karen, Peter, and Bob has been a pleasure. Individually and collectively, they have assured that the Society's publications continue to maintain their technical excellence. Thank you.

--Rob Maruyama

NOMINATING COMMITTEE REPORT

The committee for this year was represented by David Thomas, Chair; Robert McCaig; James Munroe; and Bruce Sebree. Nominees for the 1999-2000 Board of Directors of the ASBC are: Nona Mundy, president-elect; Robert Maruyama, vice-president; and Richard Dube, treasurer.

--David Thomas

CONSTITUTION AND BY-LAWS COMMITTEE REPORT

The committee for this year was represented by David Thomas, Chair; Sherman Chan; Robert McCaig; and Bruce Sebree. No changes to the constitution and by-laws were recommended.

--David Thomas

TECHNICAL COMMITTEE REPORT

The technical Committee and the subcommittee chairmen conducted six collaborative studies during 1998-1999. As a result, two methods are recommended for approval by the Board for inclusion in Methods of Analysis. These are: Determination of IAA-, Alpha-Acids, and Beta-Acids in Hop and Isomerized Hop Extracts by HPLC (committee chaired by Joan Raumschuh) and Difference-from-Control Sensory Test (committee chaired by Sue Thompson).

Other collaborative programs will be continuing for another year. These include Selective Measurement of Acetohydroxy Acid Precursors of Vicinal Diketones (chaired by David Maradyn), Surface Hygiene Testing by ATP Bioluminescence (chaired by Lisa Andersen), Beer Color Using Tristimulus Analysis (chaired by Paul Schwarz), and Headspace Solid-Phase Microextraction for Determination of Hop Essential Oils (chaired by Tim Kosteleky).

One subcommittee, Alpha-Amylase in Malt by AFA, was carried over from 1997 for further review to address concerns and suggestions raised at the 1998 meeting in Boston.

Members of the Technical Committee and Subcommittee chairs. From left, seated: Claes Johansson, Sue Thompson, Steve Nyarady, and Dirk Bendiak. Standing: Koichi Harayama, Shuso Sakuma, Etsuji Tawada, Jean Miller, Jim Murphey, and Cindy-Lou Dull.

The St. Paul office completed its second year of full responsibility for the Check Service duties. Special appreciation is extended to the managers of these services, including John Barr (Malt Analysis and Barley Analysis) and Steve Kenny (Hop Analysis). The St. Paul offices manages the Beer Analysis Check Service.

The three standing committees are Coordination of New and Alternate Methods of Analysis, International Methods, and Soluble Starch. Jean Miller completes her third and final year as chairman of the Subcommittee for the Coordination of New and Alternate Methods of Analysis. Sincere appreciation is extended to Jeannie for her outstanding handling of the responsibility over the past three years, along with a warm welcome for her replacement, John Engel. John Grigsby completes his second year as chair of International Methods, while Tom Clark completes his first year as chair of Soluble Starch. Both John and Tom are warmly thanked for their respective labors.

Last, but certainly not least, heartfelt appreciation is extended to the members of the Technical Committee for their significant efforts over the past year. They include Dirk Bendiak, Jim Murphey, Steve Nyarady, and the two newest members, Cindy-Lou Dull and Paul Schwarz, who have just completed their first year of tenure. The 1998-1999 program also marks the completion of Greg Casey's tenure as Technical Committee Chair (aside from serving as the Technical Committee ex officio through WBC2000), with Stefan Nyarady agreeing to service as the new chair. Stefan has already served three years as a member of the Technical Committee and, given his competence over this period, will undoubtedly serve the Society well in his capacity as chair.

--Greg Casey

Program Committee. From left, seated: Bob Smith, Dirk Bendiak, Michael Joyce, and Dave Thomas. Standing: John Engel, Robert Stewart, Karen DeVries, and Ann Fahy.

AACC LIAISON REPORT

The American Association of Cereal Chemists (AACC) remains a strong scientific society in a quickly changing business and research environment. With a strategic plan firmly in place, AACC is committed to preparing the membership, as far as possible, for these changes. One interesting way of addressing this is through the formation of a "Scientific Advisory Panel." The panel's charge will be to anticipate and evaluate new issues and develop appropriate responses. The association is also implementing steps to improve professional development service and increase the voice of student members in the direction of the organization.

One of the major activities of most scientific societies is the staging of an annual meeting. The 1998 AACC meeting took place in Minneapolis in September. Approximately 1,800 individuals attended this conference, which had a theme of "Healthy Living Through Cereals." The increasing interest in nutraceutical and functional foods prompted this theme. Berne Jones chaired a symposium focusing on the problems caused by Fusarium head blight and its impact on the baking and brewing industries. Bernie Jones, Brian Steffenson, Lynn Dahleen, and myself covered various aspects of the disease's impact on malting barley.

Another interesting symposium dealt with the impact of biotechnology on cereal utilization. Improvements in end-use properties of grains was discussed, as was the consumer acceptance of genetically modified crops. Another commitment prevented me from being present at a symposium on the food uses of barley, but I understand it was well received and attended.

The coordination of a check sample service and the approval of new laboratory methods are other areas of great importance to society members. One interesting development in this area is a proposal forwarded to AOAC International to form a partnership with AACC in proficiency-testing programs. AACC has also joined the American Association for Laboratory Accreditation to keep abreast of possible accreditation of these programs.

--Scott E. Heisel

ALAFACE LIAISON REPORT

The XXVII Annual Meeting of the Board and the XX Convention was held in Guadalajara, Mexico, on Nov. 2-6, 1998. The annual meeting was focused on the topic "United in Brewing Excellence," with the following subtopics: Industrial Development, Macrotendencies in the Brewing Industry, Promotion of Knowledge and Job Education, Multiple Alliances, and The Long Road to Integration.

The Second Technical Congress of ALAFACE took place in Quito, Ecuador, on Apr. 15-16, 1999, with speakers from 12 countries and over 100 participants from all countries of America and some countries from Europe, showing it to be the most important technical event of the Latin American industry. Among the most interesting topics were those dealing with optimizations made in the brewhouse, beer filtration and water treatment, the implementation of new analyses (such as ATP measurements to improve the microbiological status of fillers), and topics related to the implementation of ISO 14000 or HACCP.

The principal task of the Technical Committee is the exchange of experience and knowledge and the actualization of both. Brauwelt in Spanish is a big step toward the unification of knowledge; the development of benchmarking for the Latin American Brewing Industry is another one.

The translated second book of MEBAK, dealing specially with the methods of analysis for wort and beer, originally edited in German in Center Europe, was baptized at the Congress in the presence of outstanding personalities, such as the editor of Brauwelt, Dr. Bühler, and the vice-president of MEBAK, Prof. Geiger from the University of Munich/Weihenstephan.

The next Annual Meeting of the Board will be held in San Jose, Costa Rica, on Nov. 1999.

--Rainer Haag

Karl Siebert accepts the 1999 Award of Distinction.

AMBA LIAISON REPORT

Fusarium head blight, or scab, has negatively impacted the barley crop in the Dakotas and Minnesota since 1993. The development of scab-resistant varieties continues as a top priority for the American Malting Barley Association, Inc. (AMBA), with AMBA continuing its leadership role in the coordinated efforts of the malting and brewing industry, growers, universities, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to develop scab-resistant varieties. AMBA worked with a coalition of wheat and barley interests to secure a substantial increase in federal funding for scab research this year. Congress increased funding for the USDA National Wheat and Barley Scab Initiative from $500,000 to $3.5 million per year. This funding supports wheat and barley scab research programs throughout the United States.

Due to rapid advancements in biotechnology along with associated intellectual property and other considerations, AMBA has formed a Biotechnology and Intellectual Property (IP) Subcommittee, chaired by William Ladish, to help AMBA develop strategies and policies in this area. Barley biotechnology and IP considerations are the subject of my presentation on Tuesday.

AMBA is moving closer to its goal of developing six-row varieties that are agronomically competitive with or superior to Stander and have quality profiles more suitable to AMBA members needs. Three candidates that are targeted for Midwest production are in the AMBA plant-scale evaluation program--ND15477 from North Dakota State University, M98 from the University of Minnesota, and B2978 from Busch Agricultural Resources, Inc. (BARI).

For western production, efforts continue to develop improved two-row varieties to replace Harrington, which was released in 1981 and is no longer agronomically competitive with other crops and newer high-yielding feed barley varieties, such as Baronesse. The two-row variety, Merit, developed by BARI, has completed AMBA plant-scale evaluation and has been added to our recommended list of malting barley varieties. Technologies developed by the North American Barley Genome Mapping Project are now being utilized via marker-assisted selection (MAS) to more rapidly develop improved malting barley varieties. MTLB 5, a line developed by Thomas Blake at Montana State University via MAS from a cross of Baronesse and Lewis, was rated satisfactory in its first year of pilot-scale evaluation.

A de facto North American malting barley industry is emerging. This is a result of the integration of U.S. and Canadian malting companies, along with some integration and contract brewing agreements between the U.S., Canadian, and Mexican brewing companies, in conjunction with a convergence of the malting barley supply and variety development. Varieties developed in the United States are now grown extensively in Canada, and varieties developed in Canada are grown in the United States. Both Canadian and U.S. malting companies are major suppliers of malt to Mexican brewers. With these developments in mind, AMBA and the Brewing and Malting Barley Research Institute have effected a formal policy of cooperation. AMBA is also interested in exploring the possibility of the creation of a North American malting and brewing industry trade association of Canadian, Mexican, and U.S. companies. AMBA welcomes the membership of companies that currently are not members and wish to play a part in helping develop and maintain a supply of economically available high-quality malting barley that meets each member company's needs.

--Michael P. Davis

AOAC INTERNATIONAL LIAISON REPORT

No new ASBC collaboratives were submitted to AOAC International during the past year.

ASBC Method Beer-4,F, Enzymatic Method for Low Alcohol Concentrations, was not adopted last year, after review by the Official Methods Board because of concerns regarding method performance and the proprietary nature of the method. No progress was made this year regarding attempts to obtain a proprietary agreement with Boehringer Mannheim for disclosure of the reagent compositions.

--Steve Nyarady

BCOJ LIAISON REPORT

Shuso Sakuma completes his last year as Analysis Committee chairman of the BCOJ in 1999, with Koichi Harayama assuming the responsibility from 2000 to 2003. Mr. Sakuma's dedication and professionalism in serving as the ASBC/BCOJ liaison officer during his tenure is recognized and appreciated.

In 1998-1999 the BCOJ collaboratively testing two analysis methods. The first was Determination of VDK in Beer by Headspace Capillary Gas Chromatography. The subcommittee of six laboratories carried out the collaborative study on a modified IoB method using a capillary column. While acceptable repeatability coefficients of variation were found, reproducibility was unacceptable. As a result, the collaborative will be repeated with a larger number of collaborators in 1999-2000.

The second method was Determination of High Molecular Weight Beta-Glucan in Wort and Malt by Post Column Calcofluor Flow Injection Analysis. The collaborative study was carried out to evaluate the post-column Calcofluor flow injection analysis method for the determination of beta-glucan in wort and malt with 15 collaborators. Repeatability coefficients of variations and reproducibility coefficients of variation were acceptable for wort. This method was approved for publication in Methods of Analysis of BCOJ as follows: 7.14 High Molecular Weight beta-Glucan Content in Wort-Post-Column (Calcofluor Flow Injection Analysis). The reproducibility coefficients of variation for malt analysis were unacceptable, and the collaborative work for malt analysis will be repeated in 1999-2000.

In addition to the collaborative programs, the BCOJ Analysis Committee revised Methods of Analysis of BCOJ, with the second edition being published by the Brewing Society of Japan in 1999. In addition the Microbiology Methods section of Methods of Analysis of BCOJ has been completed and will be published shortly.

--Greg Casey

Dori Whitney receives a Certificate of Recognition from outgoing president Dave Hysert at the Recognition Luncheon.

BMBRI LIAISON REPORT

BMBRI continues to adapt to changing times. Norm Kendall retired in 1998, and Bob Kenyon (retired from Dominion Malting) took on the position of interim managing director. Bob, in turn, retired in March 1999. Peter Freeman (Canada Malting) has now taken on the role of interim managing director on a part-time basis and has been charged with the task of implementing a new strategy and business plan for the organization.

During 1998, as a result of their review of BMBRI's mandate and membership base, the Board explored the possibility of joining with the Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) and other new stakeholders in the formation of a new organization, to be called the Canadian Malting and Brewing Research Institute (CMBRI). However, it emerged that the objectives of BMBRI members and those of other stakeholders, while parallel, were not identical and the proposed reorganization did not occur. Following a review of the organization's objectives and management structure, BMBRI members have reaffirmed their long-standing commitment to support malting barley development in Canada. The success of Canada's malting barley breeding and research efforts is today adding an increasing number of varieties to the supply chain. BMBRI has an important role in providing broad-based industry evaluation of new varieties and advice on end-use quality requirements to producers and other stakeholders. In emphasizing this role, the Board of Directors has put in place a new Mission Statement for BMBRI: Through representative industry membership, the BMBRI will critically evaluate and effectively support the continuing development of world-class, added-value malting barley varieties in Canada.

In supporting its mission, the BMBRI will appoint a president and chief executive officer, accountable to the Board of Directors for the effective management of the organization. A committee of board members has been established, under the chairmanship of J. Venn to identify suitable candidates for the new post. Peter Freeman will continue as interim managing director of BMBRI until the position of president/CEO is filled.

BMBRI, in developing its new strategy and business plan, will continue to focus on the evaluation of new malting barley varieties and supporting research into end-use quality traits. BMBRI will also work closely with the Malting Barley Industry Group in the development of a recommended list of malting barley varieties, so that growers are made aware of the industry's preferences. Improved information flow between BMBRI and the American Malting Barley Association (AMBA) in the United States has also been formalized at the technical committee level.

The barley variety scene in Canada is changing fast, particularly in the case of two-row varieties, where the long-dominant Harrington is finally becoming outclassed in terms of yield, disease resistance, and malting quality. Several "interim" varieties (such as Manley, Stein, and AC Oxbow) have in recent years generated a significant market shift away from Harrington. This trend will continue with newer varieties such as AC Metcalfe, CDC Kendall (named for Norm Kendall, who gave many years of service to the industry as managing director of BMBRI), and CDC Stratus, which are just beginning to be grown in commercial quantities. Thus, in contrast to the long dominance of Harrington, it is likely that a "portfolio" of several varieties will share the two-row markets in future years, each showing slightly different agronomic and quality profiles, with the portfolio turning over relatively rapidly as new varieties are introduced. On the six-row side, new varieties are not quite so plentiful, although CDC Sisler (named for another former BMBRI managing director) is showing promise. Meanwhile U.S. white aleurone varieties such as B1602, Excel, and Foster dominate six-row acreages, with blue aleurone six-rows becoming rare.

--Peter Freeman

COBRACEM LIAISON REPORT

First of all, COBRACEM's President, Walter Harada, has asked me to inform you that at the May 22 board meeting the motion to sign the "Declaration of Partnership between COBRACEM and ASBC" was passed. President Harada will get in touch with ASBC shortly.

In February, COBRACEM's statutes were altered to allow people with no formal brewing training to join as members. This was done to make it possible for everyone interested in this field to have access to this association, which in the past had been limited to a very small number of people. To achieve this, among other things, the name was changed from "Conselho Brasileiro dos Tecnológos em Cerveja e Malte" to "Assosiação Brasileira dos Profissionais em Cerveja e Malte."

The Seventh Brasilian Congress on Brewing Science and Technology and the Fifth International Fair on Beverages Technology were held in March. These two events happen simultaneously every two years. This year they took place at the Rafain Palace Hotel in Foz de Iguaçu, Paraná. Foz de Iguaçu is located at the meeting point of the Brasilian, Argentinian, and Paraguayan frontiers and is famous for its really impressive waterfalls.

Although there were fewer visitors than at the last Brasil Brau in Salvador, the guests were much more related to our industry. The same applies to the number of lectures and workshops. Their number was less than in 1997, but they were much more focused on the brewing industry. In spite of the numbers, it was obvious that from a brewer's view that this Congress was much more profitable in terms of information and insights than the one before.

On Aug. 8, elections will be held, and the new Board of Directors will take over for the next two years. Next March, the Region III Technical Symposium will be held in Vassouras, State of Rio de Janeiro, and the Region IV Technical Symposium will be held in August in Nova Petrópolis, Rio Grande do Sul.

--Axel Rosinger

EBC LIAISON REPORT

Harry White continued in his fourth year as EBC Analysis Committee chairman. We look forward to continuing the relationship between the two organizations and cooperative harmonization of international methods.

The EBC was actively involved in the EBC/ASBC Joint Committee on ICE-1 stability testing and evaluation of ICE-2 to replace ICE-l in collaboration with the AHA and Dr. Pfenninger. A press release concerning the launch of ICE-2 was distributed to the brewing press by the EBC Secretariat, with ICE-2 being the valid standard since Sept. 1, 1998. The AHA will monitor the stability of ICE-2, with the comparison of samples stored at -20°C and +40°C to be conducted in the spring of 1999.

The EBC Analysis Committee continues to be very active in intercollaborative testing programs. Methodologies investigated during the past year include: 1) Foam by NIBEM, 2) Hop Determination by HPLC/HSI, 3) beta-glucan in Barley, Malt, Wort, and Beer by FIA, 4) Boiled Wort Color, 5) SO(2) by DTNB, 6) Iso-Alpha-Acids in Iso-Extracts/Wort and Beer by HPLC, 7) NDMA, and 8) Standard Beer Analysis--Statistics. In addition to these efforts, the EBC also participated in the Joint EBC/ASBC Hop Standard Subcommittee and the International Subcommittee for Isomerized Hop Iso-Alpha Acids Standards.

Participation by EBC members in ASBC collaborative subcommittees continues to increase and strengthen.

--Greg Casey

Exhibits attracted lots of attention. A buffet was held in the exhibit hall.

HOP RESEARCH COUNCIL LIAISON REPORT

The mission of the Hop Research Council (HRC) continues to be to solicit and provide funds for scientific investigation and research related to the agricultural production and quality of hops in the United States. The current HRC membership comprises five brewers, seven hop dealers, and three hop commissions representing the hop growers in each of the hop-growing states, Washington, Oregon and Idaho. This HRC membership is down significantly from last year due to consolidation in the brewing and hops industries, and further losses are threatened. Efforts are being made to attract new members, particularly major users of U.S. hops in the international brewing community.

The HRC's on-going research program comprises: breeding, including cultivar development, genetics, and physiology; hop chemistry, including analytical services and the chemistry of hop constituents that influence the flavor and physical properties of beer; virus and fungal diseases; aphid, mite, and other insect control; and plant protection, including coordination of data for registration of pesticides. Many projects in 1998 emphasized the control of hop powdery mildew (HPM), a major new threat to hop growing in the United States, which first appeared in commercial fields in 1997.

Sterling, a new Saazer-type aroma hop variety, will be released in 1999. Crosses were made in 1998 to produce varieties with super high alpha- and beta-acid contents, high yields, and resistance to downy mildew and powdery mildew. All commercial hop varieties and many experimental varieties were screened for resistance to HPM.

The fate of hop flavonoids during brewing was studied. The work reported last year on the chemo-preventive properties of hop flavonoids was continued, particularly the mechanisms of action.

Because of the reduced membership mentioned above, 1999 funds for most researchers were reduced by about 5%.

The current HRC officers are: President Darrell Smith, Busch Agricultural Resources, Inc.; Vice-President Leen Verhagen, Heineken NV; Treasurer Helga Braman, Horst Co.; Secretary Gerard Lemmens, Yakima Chief, Inc.

The 1999 winter meeting of the HRC was held Jan. 25-27 in Denver, CO. The next meeting will be held Aug. 12 and 13, 1999, in Wilsonville, OR.

--David Hysert

IOB LIAISON REPORT

Peter Chandley completed his second year as international liaison for the Institute of Brewing (IoB). The Flavor Subcommittee contacted the ASBC in the spring of 1998 to request its assistance in the progression of methodology for the sensory analysis of beer by critiquing the use within the ASBC of 40 flavor terms and standards believed to cover the majority of flavor notes of interest to the brewing industry.

On behalf of the ASBC, Suzanne Thompson polled members of the ASBC involved with sensory analysis. In total, seven companies in the United States and Canada were asked to review the list of 40 terms and standards. Input was given on whether the terms and standards were used and if there were any additional terms and standards they used to cover key flavor notes.

Seven IoB terms/standards were found not to be widely used (i.e., were employed by two or fewer companies). These included smoky, nutty, rubbery, cooked vegetable, catty, resinous, and watery. Five additional terms were found to be utilized by a majority of respondents, including phenolic/medicinal, isovaleric/old cheesy hops, solvent, body, and aftertaste/afterbitter. The term body (thin/thick) was used in place of the term watery. The recommendation was made that these terms should be considered for inclusion. In addition to a review of flavor terms and standards, several members expressed the need for the flavor wheel to be revised, and one indicated a need for translating the flavor wheel into other languages (Japanese, Chinese, Spanish, etc.).

IoB involvement in ASBC collaboratives continues to increase, which is of great benefit to both societies.

--Greg Casey

Dave Hysert receives the Honorary Hop Head Award from Dave Ryder at the President's Banquet.

MBAA LIAISON REPORT

The duties of the ASBC's MBAA Liaison Officer are to explore areas of mutual interest to the Society and the MBAA and to transmit information of general interest to the Society for publication in the ASBC Newsletter. Highlights of MBAA activities since my last report follow.

The MBAA Board of Governors Meeting was held on April 10, 1999. The MBAA is beginning to implement the 0perations Committee Report that was developed in 1998. Since there were so many changes in that report relative to the way the MBAA will be structured and run, considerable time was devoted at this meeting to a complete revision of the MBAA by-laws. This revision was considered necessary since, over the years, the MBAA by-laws have become encumbered with references to job titles, job descriptions, inconsistent language, and a redundant constitution. The revised by-laws were unanimously approved after considerable discussion and clarification. The membership will have to vote to approve the elimination of the constitution since it had been incorporated within the by-laws. This vote should be a mere formality.

One of the first changes to occur after the implementation of the Operations Committee plan last November was the resignation of the MBAA's senior administrator soon after the Board mandated that responsibility for managing the association be given to the Executive Committee. Additionally, MBAA Technical Director Jack McCabe has elected to retire effective at the 1999 MBAA convention. There was no discussion at this Board meeting relative to the replacement strategy for either of these positions.

The MBAA is pleased to announce that the new edition of the Practical Brewer is now available for sale. The MBAA Board approved a sales price of $80 to MBAA members and $130 to nonmembers. A 30% discount off the nonmember price will be available to resellers. This new edition of the Practical Brewer will be available in Spanish as soon as the translation arrangements can be made. The MBAA's technical director and the MBAA Editorial Board have started work on a new edition of Beer Packaging.

The MBAA Membership Committee reports that total membership has declined slightly from last year. The MBAA currently has 3,660 members.

Nominations for the office of MBAA second vice president were accepted for election at the Board meeting scheduled for Sept. 12 at Keystone. The nominees are Kathy Kinton from Miller Brewing Company in Milwaukee and Larry Sidor from S. S. Steiner in Yakima.

The MBAA's Long Range Planning Committee is in the process of developing the MBAA Strategic Plan along the guidelines laid down in the Operations Committee Report. This will be discussed in depth at the Sept. 12 Board meeting.

The 1999 MBAA convention will be held at the Keystone Resort in Keystone, CO, on Sept. 12-14. The MBAA Technical Committee recommended that the usual Wednesday morning technical session be eliminated due to poor attendance caused by early departures. The MBAA Board agreed, provided that the same number of papers and posters be presented. The Technical Committee will schedule concurrent sessions on Monday and Tuesday to assure this. The 1999 MBAA Award of Merit lecture will be given by William K. Coors. The WBC2000 meeting will replace the MBAA's annual convention in 2000. Early planning is underway for the 2001 MBAA convention to be held in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico.

--Ray Klimovitz

Participants in the Guest Program prepare chocolate tacos.

LOCAL SECTIONS REPORT

As highlighted in the previous issue of the Newsletter (see "Local Section News" and "Local Section Millennium Moves") there is great enthusiasm among the local sections, with a considerable number of activities occurring in the larger local sections. It should be noted that all local sections are financially healthy. During the 1999 ASBC Meeting in Phoenix, President-Elect David Ryder and Vice President Nona Mundy chaired a meeting with local section officers to discuss best practices for the local sections for the future. The following bullets reflect some of the points noted.

• In some cases (though not all), liaison with the local MBAA sections offers critical mass to ensure meaningful and regularly scheduled meetings.
• Where there is a program of events planned for the future, this program would benefit from some advertising. The Newsletter is one vehicle for disseminating this information, but other publications would also help to increase awareness of local section activities.
• It is advantageous to the local sections to have members of the Board of Directors attend local section meetings. Obviously, when a board member resides in a local section area, this should occur regularly. However, board members also need to contact local section officers when they are planning to travel to other areas in order that they might plan their events to coincide with local section events.
• There appears to be considerable merit in gaining the support of craft brewers in a local section area. Some local sections are already actively contacting craft brewers accordingly.
• In support of craft brewer participation at local section meetings, effort needs to be put to increasing awareness of how the ASBC can help the craft brewer. One idea is for the local section to disseminate pertinent technical information via the net to the local craft brewer so that the craft brewer can appreciate the range of subjects that he/she can tap into. For example, information from the various workshops can be useful; in addition, electronic forums to discuss technical issues can offer a two-way relationship between the ASBC and craft brewers. Items of specific interest to craft brewers such as the meaningfulness of malt specifications, yeast management and fermentation, sensory training, and QC/QA methodologies, can offer further interest. In any case, the more the craft brewer realizes the usefulness of the ASBC, the more likely the craft brewer is to join a local section. One local section, Section 8--the Wild West Section--is already very active (and very successful) with craft brewers as a result of several collaborative activities at the local section level.
• A strategic imperative is to issue several copies of each edition of the Newsletter for local section use. The St. Paul office will take the necessary action.

Section 1--New York. The section's membership is small; nevertheless, there is great enthusiasm from Dennis Lenahan (chair) and the other officers. Joint local section ASBC/MBAA meetings will help secure meaningful meetings, and the points noted above for craft brewer participation will be pursued, as well as visits to local microbreweries.

Section 2--St. Louis. Section 2 is a particularly active section, with Al Kazelis as the current chair. To date (July) this year, six meetings have been held; in January discussions centered on "A Rapid and Economical Test for Determining Beer Stability" by Jamie Schultz at the AB Theater; in February, George Nelson was in full form at Bevo Mill with "CO(2)--It's a Gas"; in March, Rao Palomand gave a presentation titled "From Grain to Glass, the Handcrafted Way" at the Old 66 Brewery; in April, John Witte discussed the "State of Microbrewing" at a joint meeting with the MBAA; in May a meeting was held in the Brewhouse Courtyard on an ancient ASBC subject, "Golf: How to Improve Your Game"; and July sees the summer outing at the Morgan Street Brewery.

Section 3--North Central. Section 3 membership is stable (Willis Swenson, chair), with a number of events having occurred in the past 12 months. This year, a holiday party was held in January at the Sheridan Metrodome Hotel in Minneapolis, and there was a joint meeting with the MBAA in May at the James Page Brewery in Minneapolis.

Section 4--Milwaukee/Chicago. This section, which is currently growing (Mary-Jane Maurice, chair) has meetings over a wide geographic area at very stimulating venues. This year has already seen three meetings: a guest night in February at Milwaukee's Bradley Center to witness the Milwaukee Admirals hockey team annihilate the Orlando Solar Bears, a joint meeting with the MBAA at the Siebel Institute of Technology in Chicago in March, and a meeting in April at the Miller Inn in Milwaukee, where Chris Mulder discussed "World Class Manufacturing." July sees Marge and Tom Volke hosting a summer picnic for the local ASBC/MBAA sections at their lovely home in Mequon, WI, with a number of craft brews to savor and discuss. In September, this section travels to Chilton, WI, to visit Briess Maltings.

Charlie Bamforth and attendees from the Brewing Convention of Japan enjoying lunch.

Section 6--Canada. Steve Wright is the chair for Section 6. Activities are limited, but there is a high degree of interest from the Canadian brewers to stimulate this section for the future. We can expect lots of enthusiasm.

Section 7--Northwest. Section 7, with Tim Kostelecky as the local section chair, will, in future, have two joint meetings each year with the MBAA (they had one joint meeting in past years)--the idea is to present the benefits of ASBC local and national membership to a larger group of people. Much of the MBAA local section is comprised of microbrewers, and this might present some opportunities for membership. In addition, this section plans to convene a workshop (possibly free for members and a small fee for nonmembers) with Oregon State University in the Spring of 2000. A questionnaire will be sent out to members to determine topics. This section is requesting posters from the national meeting to present at the local meetings, so, authors, please send your posters to Tim!

Section 8--Wild West. Section 8 had a great year under the guidance of Katie Kunz (chair), who also runs the local section website at http://www.brewingscience.com/asbc, which is a MUST to check out! The current chair is Patrick Dobolek, and this section is offering some exciting activities for the next year. Their February meeting was, for the second year, at the Rocky Mountain Microbrewing Symposium, which was a huge success. Among the speakers were Paul Schwarz talking about "Molds, Mycotoxins and Beer Gushing" and Greg Casey, who gave an excellent presentation on yeast. This section had a workshop on sensory in March titled "Learning to Detect and Prevent Common Off-flavors in Your Beer" by Phil Fleming, which was also a success. The section will be looking at running more workshops in the future. In May, when the slate of new officers was chosen, Dana Johnson gave a presentation on more effective ways of acid-washing yeast. Section 8's November meeting will probably be a joint meeting with the MBAA, similar to last year. The section's microbrewers have expressed interest in collaboration studies, which appears to be area of opportunity for the future.

Student Section. The Student Section, under a very able acting-chair, Laurie Brown (Oregon State University), has some of the most enthusiastic people on the planet! Laurie is just finishing her PhD on the "Chemical Composition of Brazilian Rum." In fact, it was Laurie and the past-chair, Karen Churchill, who suggested the informal get-together for the students at the annual meeting. After discussion via the Board of Directors, this resulted in this year's Past Presidents', First Timers', and Students' Reception in Phoenix! Because the very nature of the student section is global, they have to communicate by e-mail. Therefore, to compliment their activities, Shane Patelakis of Dalhousie University created a website for the student section directly linked in to the national site. We obviously regard the Student Section as a vital part of the future of our industry. Assistance is provided to students by the ASBC to offset travel to and registration at the annual meetings, and we appreciate members' and corporations' financial contributions to help run this vital program.

--Dave Ryder

Student attendees and first-timers.

Declaration of Partnership Between IBS and ASBC

This declaration of partnership is a cooperative agreement between the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) and the Institute for Brewing Studies (IBS).

Objectives

To achieve the best results through events like annual meetings, conventions, symposia, and workshops mutually planned from the beginning in the joint interest of the partners and their members.

To combine the knowledge of both organizations to achieve mutual benefits.

To be able to react simultaneously and possibly in the same way to new challenges in the industry.

To identify the needs of the malting, brewing, hops, and allied industries for analytical methods of relevance to craft brewers.

In order to fulfill these objectives:

1. The ASBC President and IBS Director will meet during annual meetings/conferences and when the need arises.
2. The ASBC President and IBS Director will exchange complimentary invitations to attend the other's annual meetings/conferences. Should the President and/or Director not be able to attend, a duly appointed representative of the Organization will assume the complimentary invitation.
3. Highlights of Board meetings will be exchanged.
4. The IBS Director will act as the Liaison Officer for the ASBC/IBS. The duties of the Liaison Officer are outlined in the ASBC's Procedure Manual.
5. Information on dates and places of annual meetings and/or conventions is to be exchanged to avoid any conflicts.
6. Publications of both organizations will be exchanged annually.
7. Exchange of information will take place as soon as new knowledge becomes available on items/issues/processes of interest to the malting, brewing, hops, and allied industries.

The Institute for Brewing Studies (IBS) and the American Society of Brewing Chemists (ASBC) have accepted this declaration and have signed it in Phoenix, Arizona, on June 21, 1999.

On behalf of the IBS	On behalf of the ASBC
David Edgar	David Hysert
Director of the IBS	President of the ASBC

Remarks by IBS Director David Edgar
After Signing the Partnership

IBS is an association primarily for brewpubs, microbreweries and regional breweries and is a division of the Association of Brewers. Since our inception in 1983, Association founder Charlie Papazian has helped members of IBS gain better technical brewing information by developing relationships with members of ASBC and attending ASBC annual meetings.

Over the years, the quality of information presented in both The New Brewer magazine and the IBS National Craft Brewers Conference has benefited from the contributions of ASBC members.

ASBC acknowledged the craft brewers' unique informational needs with the recent publication of the Methods of Analysis for Craft Brewers. IBS looks forward to working with ASBC in continuing the process of helping to meet the analytical needs of smaller brewers that have limited resources.

The boom in craft brewing accelerated in the mid-1990s. Two hundred brewpubs or brewery-restaurants plus 100 microbreweries opened in the United States in 1995 alone. In 1996 and again in 1997, 200 new brewpubs and 100 microbreweries opened. In 1998, the openings slowed and the closings accelerated. However, in just those three years between 1995 and 1997, 600 brewpubs and 300 microbreweries, or a combined total of 900 small craft brewers and brewery restaurants, opened in the United States.

The average craft brewer today has been in business for less than five years. Fortunately, today the craft brewing industry is maturing. All of this competition among craft brewers has the net result of forcing every brewery that is truly serious about staying in business to reemphasize its attention to quality control and achieving the goal of giving the consumer a clean and consistent beer.

The longer that microbreweries are in business and the larger they grow, the greater the amount of respect and appreciation they inevitably develop for the larger brewers--who have been around a few years longer and are experienced in brewing still larger amounts of beer and, without fail, delivering a clean, consistent, and shelf-stable product to the consumer.

We look forward to working together with ASBC now and in the future, as brewpubs, microbreweries, and regional specialty breweries continue to develop their role as an important part of the fabric of local and regional brewing culture, and as consumers continue to seek out new and different beers.

Signing the Declaration of Partnership between ASBC and the Institute for Brewing Studies: David Edgar and Dave Hysert.

Special thanks to ASBC Past President Dave Thomas (of Coors) and current ASBC President David Hysert (of John I. Haas) for helping make this agreement possible. I look forward to meeting many of you and seeing you at other future industry events, including the MBAA convention in Keystone, CO, the IBS National Craft Brewers Conference in Milwaukee next April, and the World Brewing Congress in Orlando next summer.

--David S. Edgar, Director
Institute for Brewing Studies

Workshop Reports

Yeast Workshop

The yeast workshop was attended by about 40 people. Notes from Cindy-Lou Dull (AB) and Dave Patrick (Coors) were helpful in preparation of the following summary.

The workshop/facilitator objectives were to: review items raised by the workshop from last year, initiate an open discussion for new items or benchmarking some items, possibly expand this discussion to the ASBC Internet chat site, try to reach consensus for best ideals, possibly develop actionable items for the ASBC, and identify other areas or criteria for research workers to pursue for further yeast understanding and potential application to brewing.

The topics from last years session were posted and discussed individually. The first was viability testing. Much discussion revolved around definitions of "viable," "nonviable," and "vital cell." It was decided that an ASBC subcommittee would be established this year to determine dye stains' abilities to predict the viability measure and correlate this to budding index or slide culture testing. Care will be taken in the design of this ASBC subcommittee to include all dyes (methylene blue, methylene violet, MgANS, eosin Y), slide culture, budding index in wort, and capacitance if possible.

Another topic was vitality testing versus prediction of fermentation performance. The consensus was that there is no clear test for the measurement of vitality to predict brewing performance. Budding index at 6 hr in a multibrew fermenter may be a tool for correction of pitching rates if needed on a later brew into the same fermenter. One needs to understand the complete history and experience of the yeast and storage conditions to be able to predict the vitality and performance in the fermenter.

On the subject of yeast propagation, it was asked whether the objective is to "grow" yeast or "ferment" yeast. The general consensus was that the objective is to grow yeast by maintaining it in log phase. All the parameters, i.e., wort addition, transfer timing, temperature, oxygenation, aeration timing, pressure, and nutrients (synthetic wort), must be optimized by the operation. It was felt that this was a good topic for ASBCnet, for bench marking, and possibly for an ASBC yeast management training workshop.

Discussion of storage of cultures led to the consensus that the best storage is in liquid nitrogen or at -70 to -80°C in glycerol. Recovery didn't seem to be an issue. Cultures were considered to be very stable for many years.

The topic of respiratory-deficient mutants was identified as an area requiring more active research to enable understanding of the nuances of the respiratory mutants and their effects on brewing.

To handle multiple yeast stains in a brewery, purity checks are important. These can be traditional tests or the new PCR-type confirmational tests. PCR is a great forensic tool that can find cross-contamination at some level of detection in a mixed culture. The possibility of a collaborative on PCR for beer spoilage lactobacilli was mentioned. Terry Dowhanick will check for interest and capability.

Several topics were identified as being good for on-line discussion or chat groups. These included oxygenation/ aeration in yeast versus wort, including timing, and flocculation. A yeast chat room has been established on ASBCnet. So far, it has had only moderate activity, but now it can be used by all participants.

Some participants expressed a desire to obtain ASBC standard brewing yeast strains for testing (e.g., R&D, flocculation), bacterial cultures, and fungal strains. Alex Speers will review the topic and summarize it for posting on the Internet, in about a month.

A final topic was the capacitance probe. It should be considered for testing as part of a viability or vitality study.

A quick brainstorming session to identify other areas of concern was done. New research items identified in the brainstorming included: flavor stability, yeast long-term stability in brewing, multibrew tanks (yeast pitching and handling strategy), problems associated with international brewing, specific flavor variables and how to control the genes for flavor and for fermentation performance, and genetically modified organisms.

From a facilitator's perspective, a large amount of information was covered in a short time. Some actions will be forthcoming, and I did appreciate the candid and open responses to the topics covered. This session generated very useful discussion and many ideas for focusing of research topics of interest to the brewing industry. We should continue to challenge brewing ideas, to ask why we do various things.

Only a few topics should be selected for discussion at the next workshop. This will facilitate a clear focus and in-depth discussion and could lead to well-defined action items. The website could be used as a focal point for the discussions during the year and can help with the selection of topics before the next workshop.

I wish to thank K. Smart for her initial version of this workshop last year; I merely continued on her excellent start. I wish to thank all participants for their time and effort. Just a note to facilitators: It is extremely difficult to stay out of the topic if there is a passion for the topic.

A more extensive summary of this workshop is on ASBCnet at www.scisoc.org/asbc/Newsletter.

--Dirk Bendiak

Hops Workshop

This second ASBC Hops Workshop was held in Phoenix on June 21, 1999. The informal workshop, facilitated by Tim Kostelecky, was conducted to encourage open discussion on hop issues and to determine what the ASBC can or should do for the hops and brewing industries. The two-hour workshop was well attended by representatives from the brewing and hops industries.

The topics of the workshop were primarily continuations of those from the 1998 ASBC Hops Workshop in Boston. The topics included: 1) standards and methods for modified hop extracts; 2) status of ICE-2; 3) NIRS analysis of hops and hop products; and 4) ASBC spectrophotometric methods for hops alpha- and beta-acids.

The majority of this year's session focused on the first topic--standards and methods for modified hop extracts. Last year, as a result of the ASBC Hops Workshop, an international subcommittee (International Subcommittee for Isomerized Hop alpha-Acids Standards) was established through the agreement of the ASBC, EBC, IOB, and BCOJ to establish an international forum for producing and promoting the use of international standards for modified hop extracts, with reference to work by Dr. John Paul Maye, presented at the 1998 ASBC meeting ("Preparation of Isomerized Hop Acid Standards for the HPLC Analysis of Iso-alpha-Acids, Rho-Iso-alpha-Acids, Tetrahydro-Iso-alpha-Acids, and Hexahydro-Iso-alpha-Acids") and published in the ASBC Journal (J. Am. Soc. Brew. Chem. 57(2):55-59, 1999).

The subcommittee, chaired by Richard Wilson, has been validating the preparation of standards by the methods of John Paul Maye (loc. cit.) for the past year. The progress of this study was presented to attending members of the subcommittee at the EBC meeting in Cannes, France, in May 1999. It was agreed that the synthesis of the standards would be completed by the end of August 1999, at which time the samples will be divided and sent to members of the subcommittee for final analysis. Further meetings of the subcommittee will be held to discuss whether the standards are suitable, and, if all goes well, the endorsement and introduction of the standards for modified hop extracts by the ASBC, EBC, IOB, and BCOJ will be made by the WBC2000 meeting in July 2000. More details on the work of this subcommittee are given in a press release "Third Meeting of the International Subcommittee for Isomerized Hop alpha-Acids Standards" in this copy of the ASBC Newsletter.

During the Hops Workshop, concern was expressed that no standard HPLC method has been specified for the analysis of modified hop extracts using the newly created standards. Although different laboratories currently utilize various HPLC and spectrophotometric methods for these analyses, it was agreed that standard HPLC and spectrophotometric methods for modified hop extracts and the corresponding compounds in beer need to be established. A review of published methods will be made by Jim Murphey and presented to the ASBC New and Alternate Methods of Analysis subcommittee for evaluation. Concurrently, this subcommittee will be asked to poll potential users of the methodology for their input on what specifically would be beneficial for the method design. An ambitious timeline has been set for completion of this phase of the project by mid-September 1999.

Also discussed during this session was the status of the second formulation of the International Calibration Extract for alpha-acids and beta-acids in hops (ICE-2). This new ICE-2 standard was developed due to concerns over the stability of the previous formulation, ICE-1, and was released in September 1998. David Hysert provided a summary of the status of ICE-2. Recent stability testing was conducted under the direction of the EBC/ASBC Joint Hop Standard Subcommittee. David expressed his delight in the findings of the subcommittee that ICE-2 is stable. The tests were conducted on ICE-2 stored at the recommended -20°C and also at +40°C, indicating that ICE-2, when stored properly, is expected to be stable for many years. This issue of the ASBC Newsletter has more details regarding the results of the study (see the press release titled "ICE-2 is Stable").

Dr. Scott Garden briefly discussed his work for his ASBC presentation titled, "Application of Near-Infrared Spectroscopy to Analysis of Hops and Hop Products." Due to unfortunate timing, Scott was scheduled to give this presentation at the Technical Session the following day, but he was gracious enough to give us a sneak preview during the workshop. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) utilizes the technology of light reflectance to provide a secondary quantification analysis based on a primary method of analysis, such as UV spectroscopy or HPLC. The advantages of NIRS are that there is no need for extensive sample preparation nor for extraction. This saves considerable time and no organic solvents are required. Scott's work with NIRS on hops, hop pellets, and hop extract shows promise for its use for the analysis of alpha-acids and beta-acids.

The final discussion of the Hops Workshop was a follow-up from a previous year's question regarding the ruggedness of the equations used in the ASBC spectrophotometric method for the determination of alpha-acids, beta-acids, and HSI. These equations were developed more than 40 years ago using data from hops that differ significantly from varieties in use today. Jim Munroe took on the task of collecting data from the HPLC analysis of a wide range of current hop varieties and comparing them to spectrophotometric data utilizing the questioned ASBC equations. Jim presented his results, which were quite favorable. With an expectation that significant differences were probable when comparing the data, it was found that the equations continue to provide reliable estimates for alpha-acids and beta-acids, including newer hop varieties with a wide range of hop-acids values. There was a question, however, on the basis of the factor for the "background" correction in the equations. Irrespective of this unknown, this limited study gives us needed assurance that the ASBC spectrophotometric method for hop-acids continues to be reliable.

This brought an end to another successful Hops Workshop. I would like to thank everyone who contributed to this success, including the members of the International Subcommittee on Isomerized Hop alpha-Acids Standards, Jim Munroe for his efforts with the analysis of data, and the participants of the workshop in 1999. The Hops Workshop will continue to be a valuable part of the ASBC Annual Meeting.

--Tim Kostelecky

Malt Workshop

A large contingent of maltsters and brewers met on Monday afternoon to continue the discussion from the Palm Springs and Boston workshops on the importance of malt modification and analysis to brewing and beer quality.

The topics of malt uniformity and consistency and statistical/chemometric analysis of malt data generated the most interest as possible central topics for future annual meeting workshops.

With regard to uniformity of malt, the consensus was that kernel to kernel, as well as batch to batch uniformity for beta-glucan content, friability, germination vigor, protein modification, color, moisture, extract, kernel size, and malt and extract flavor are important to be uniformly delivered without malt blending. Free-amino nitrogen, enzyme activity, and malt and extract color are examples of malt parameters where consistency is a higher-order quality expectation, and therefore malt blending may be acceptable.

The group desired a set of 10-12 critical parameters that may or may not be currently on a typical malt analysis yet are better predictors of malt performance than the current malt analysis paradigm. These few critical parameters would represent malt data with respect to performance and efficiency. Other, noncritical parameters, e.g., alpha-amylase activity, that never seem to represent a brewing technology problem could, theoretically, be eliminated from the critical malt analysis data sheet.

The development of a malt value logarithm or other mathematical model, into which data from the critical malt analysis could be entered, and out of which would come predictors of brew house performance, extract efficiency, extract and beer filtration, etc., would be the next logical step. The ideal model could therefore help in the more practical aspects of brewing, i.e., budgeting, inventory management, labor management, statistical process control, gauge capability, etc.

Research and presentations that are directed toward the above paradigm shift and "doing the right things in malt analysis" are encouraged for future ASBC meetings and malt workshops.

--Dave Thomas and Tony Vieira

New Analytical Technology Workshop

The workshop discussion focused on four areas: reviewing the action items from last year's meeting, how ASBC should approach instrument evaluations, in-line instrumentation, and issues for future workshops.

Follow-up on last year's action items:

1. Tighter "bands" for calibration of SCABA and Distillation methods are needed. The use of "ring" testing among users could help establish a better feel for SCABA accuracy. ASBC Beer Check Service data represents this type of testing. Current alcohol data are collected by the specific method used, but the data aren't reported by method.

Action: Contact Beer Check Service Manager and request changes in reporting format. Follow-up: Unresolved. Rob Maruyama will follow up.

2. What matrix should be used for calibration of SCABA units? Ethanol/water standards? Internal/external beer samples like the Beer Check Service samples? Should ASBC provide ethanol standards for use in SCABA calibrations?

Action: Membership should be polled to determine if this type of calibration standard for the Society is value added. Follow-up: The members present didn't feel that ASBC needed to supply ethanol/water standards but did feel that identifying a source for pure ethanol was valuable. Rob Maruyama and Mark Cerwinka will provide names of suitable vendors.

3. Sample preparation (degassing, number of samples analyzed storage temperatures, sample handling, sample procurement, water quality: distilled, DI, RO etc.) differences among companies as well as within companies.

Action: A subcommittee should be tasked to evaluate/develop consistent sample handling techniques for alcohol analyses. Follow-up: Rob Maruyama will request the Technical Committee to evaluate this idea.

4. The ASBC Technical Committee approved a method for degassing that should be employed as an industry standard.

Action: The approved method should be published in the MOA as soon as possible. Follow-up: The rotary method of decarbonation was included in the new ASBC MOA Supplement, which is now available. The ASBC Board of Directors will discuss publishing MOA supplements on an annual basis.

5. Should ASBC set/establish guidelines for use/implementation of in-line instrumentation? YES! ASBC shouldn't validate different instruments, like a UL or BRI facility. The Society should help its members by providing guidelines: performance specifications, instrument capabilities, success criteria etc.

Action: A subcommittee should be formed using experts, to develop the type of criteria that are important in the evaluation/use of in-line instrumentation. Follow-up: Discussion of this issue was briefly discussed at the 1999 meeting.

6. SCABA limitations are known for the analysis of low-alcohol samples because of sensor technology. If proper conditioning isn't followed, inaccurate data can be generated. Alcohol control is very important to the BATF and our Society members.

Action: Polling should be completed to identify the level of interest for methods of analyzing low-alcohol/nonalcohol samples using SCABA instrumentation. Follow-up: Members present didn't feel that this type of collaborative was necessary.

7. Instrument evaluations should address issues like these:

Can the University of California, Davis help evaluate instruments? Would vendors provide ASBC or its designated agents with "loaner" instruments for evaluations? What does the BRI use as performance criteria? A list of vendors who provide brewing and/or brewing related instrumentation. Procedure or user manuals that are simple to use and understand. Gage capability results for short and long term performance. Process durability assessments. Vendor support: technical and maintenance. ROI implications. Estimates of dollar costs for instruments. Identify any additional costs for: spare parts, consumables, manpower, manuals etc. Delivery time. Compatibility with existing instruments and data acquisition systems. Site preparation: electrical, storage requirements etc. Duration of "trial use" period. Training requirements. Where would this information be available: Intranet, newsletter?

Action: Peter Gales and Rob Maruyama will develop a recommendation for next steps.

7. In-Line evaluations should include: Gage capability. What are the alternatives? How to calibrate: in-line, at-line or off-line. What do you want to measure? Connect in-line and lab technologies.

Action: A subcommittee should be formed, using experts, to develop the type of criteria that are important in the evaluation/use of in-line instrumentation.

8. Issues for future workshops: What's new? Faster/easier?

Action: Rob Maruyama will work with the chairman of the Coordination of New and Alternate Subcommittee to conduct polling in order to identify new technologies that are important to the membership. After those issues are identified and prioritized, the next New Technology Workshop will use a panel discussion format. Specific vendors will be invited to discuss the technical aspects of the issue and associated instrumentation. An agenda for the next New Technology session will be included in the ASBC Newsletter.

Taste Training Session

For the third consecutive year, a Taste Training Session was held at the ASBC Annual Meeting in Phoenix. Sue Thompson and Tom Wolf, both from Miller Brewing Company, conducted the session. The session was again full to capacity, with 35 people experiencing flavor notes commonly found in beer. Participants in the session included novice beer tasters to experienced beer tasters refining their taste buds. The main emphasis of the session was to familiarize individuals with some common beer flavors along with discussing the origin of each flavor. Eighteen flavor characteristics were presented in the form of flavor-enhanced beer samples and commercial beer samples. At the end of the session, a "blind" taste test was given to participants to test their taste skills. Flavors in the "blind" tasting were less intense, proving to be a challenge for many, but no match for the more experienced tasters.

Welcome Reception

Music and outstanding food marked the Sunday night
Welcome Reception, held poolside at the Wigwam Resort in Phoenix.
Members and their guests beat the heat by downing lots of beverages,
and a couple of members took a dip in the pool to cool off.
The casual atmosphere provided a good chance to
mingle at the start of the 65th ASBC Annual Meeting.

President's Closing Remarks

I've now completed my year as your president, and I look back on it with great satisfaction. It's been interesting, enjoyable, challenging, and rewarding. I knew coming in that this is a society of volunteers; I appreciate that fact even more now. I would like to thank again all those who made my tenure so enjoyable, rewarding, and easy, including the Board of Directors, the committee and subcommittee chairmen, the subcommittee members, the presenters, the moderators, and all of you. I would like to extend a special thanks to the St. Paul staff--Steve Nelson, Leslie Gibson, Amy Hope, Larry Hartman, and all of those "holding the fort" back at St. Paul. Those of you not on the Board may not fully appreciate the inestimable value of the St. Paul staff to our Society, how much we rely on them, how much an integral part of our Society they are, and how much work they do behind the scenes. This year reinforced those facts for me, and I sincerely thank the them for everything they did and continue to do.

I said in my opening speech that I thought the highlight of my year as president was the Strategic Plan. I still feel that it is a highlight, but having completed our Annual Meeting, I now think an even greater highlight has been this meeting. The Annual Meeting is always the culmination of our efforts during the year. For me, this Annual Meeting has been the zenith even more than usual. I found it to be extremely valuable, well run, enjoyable in all respects, outstanding in every way, and I can't imagine a better venue for our Annual Meeting than the Wigwam. I extend my sincere thanks to all those who made it so.

Speaking of the Wigwam, I would like to thank Jim Tolbert, director of catering/conference services, David Grant, beverage manager, and their entire hotel staff for the superb job they did for us. It was in no small part due to their efforts that the meeting ran so smoothly and was so enjoyable.

I would like to thank my company, John I. Haas, Inc., for allowing me to be your president and for their unswerving support throughout. Like all ASBC volunteers, I would not have been able to serve without my company's support and commitment. For this I gratefully thank them.

Finally, I'd like to extend a special thank you and acknowledgment to my wife, Sharon, for her major part in making the partners' program such a success and even more for her unfailing support during this past year. Thank you, Sharon.

I wish David Ryder, our incoming president, and his Board of Directors, the greatest success in his presidential year. Our Society is in sure and steady hands; it is financially sound; its membership is growing; it has an exciting and challenging Strategic Plan. The American Society of Brewing Chemists can justifiably look forward to the 21st century with eagerness and optimism.

--David Hysert

A Little History

In 1901, the need to exchange scientific findings within the brewing community was recognized and led to the founding of the American Brewing Institute by the alumni of the National Brewers Academy. This organization held meetings to read and discuss technical papers of interest to brewers. Although there was a need to standardize analytical methods, it was not until 1906, when the AOAC submitted two beer samples to eight of its members and to five brewing scientific stations, that attempts in this area were pursued. This activity led to the formation, in 1907, of the Analysis Committee by the U.S. Brewers Association. The primary goal of the committee was to establish uniform methods of analysis and standards for brewing materials and products.

Over the next four years, a variety of brewing technology associations were active. In 1910, the Society of Brewing Technology (comprising alumni of the Siebel Institute of Technology, the U.S. Brewers Academy, and the Wahl Henius Institute) merged with the American Brewing Institute and formed the American Society of Brewing Technology. This was an important development, as this society had very eminent members, including not only the major American brewers of the day, but also members from overseas such as Horace Brown from England, Professor Belbrueck from Germany, and Professor Alfred Jorgensen from Denmark.

The American Society of Brewing Technology functioned until the beginning of prohibition. During the prohibition era, the society's records and publications fell by the wayside and its charter was lost.

When the American breweries started to produce beer again in 1933, it became evident that there was again a need for standardization of analytical methods within the industry, and this need eventually gave way to a newly formed organization, the American Society of Brewing Chemists, in 1934.

In case you have wondered why there are six stars on the ASBC emblem, this denotes the number of companies from each brewing category that founded the Society--six brewers, six maltsters, six scientific stations, and four corn processors plus two hop suppliers.

We have come a long way this century.

--Dave Ryder

1999 Winners of the Eric Kneen Award Announced

Karl J. Siebert and Penelope Y. Lynn are the 1999 winners of the Eric Kneen Memorial Award for their article "Comparison of Polyphenol Interactions with Polyvinylpolypyrrolidone and Haze-Active Protein" published in the Journal of the American Society of Brewing Chemists, Vol. 56(1):24-31.

Siebert and Lynn are repeat winners of the award, having won it last year for their article "Mechanisms of Beer Colloidal Stabilization." This article was inadvertently misidentified in last year's No. 3 issue of the Newsletter, and a correction was printed in the No. 2 issue for 1999.

Karl Siebert received a PhD in biochemistry from Penn State in 1970. He joined the Stroh Brewery Company in Detroit, where he spent 18 years in research and development, and held positions from research associate to director of research. During this time, he supervised a team of chemists, microbiologists, and engineers engaged in product and process R&D. In January 1990, Siebert joined Cornell University as professor of biochemistry in the Cornell Department of Food Science and Technology at the Agricultural Experiment Station in Geneva, NY. He served five years as department chairman and associate director of the Cornell Institute of Food Science. He was a member of the board of the Cornell Research Foundation for six years. Although he now has a 100% research commitment and is major professor for a number of graduate students, he periodically teaches a graduate course, "Chemometric Methods in Food Science." He is also active as a consultant in the beverage industry. Siebert has been a member of ASBC for 28 years and was a member of and chairman of the Technical Committee.

He is currently serving his second stint as a member of the Journal editorial board. He is also course director for the ASBC short course "On-line Sensors for the Beverage Industry". Siebert has twice received Presidential Awards from the Master Brewers Association of the Americas (1986 and 1990) and in 1996 he was made an honorary professor of the Moscow (Russia) State Academy of Food Processing. Siebert's current research interests involve interactions of proteins and small molecules in beverages, particularly those related to foam and haze; the application of multivariate methods and chemometrics in food science; and theoretical and predictive microbiology.

Penelope Lynn is a research technician for Karl Siebert in the Food Science and Technology Department at the NYS Agricultural Experiment Station (Cornell University) in Geneva, NY. She received her associate degree in science from the University of New York State Regents External Degree Program. Currently, she is involved in the study of haze in beer, wine, and fruit juices. Before working with Siebert, Lynn worked for the New York State regulatory animal feed program, analyzing the drugs and antibiotics in feeds and she was involved in collaborative studies to improve official AOAC methods. Prior to that, in the Food Research analytical laboratory she analyzed wines, fruits, and vegetables, many of which were experimental varieties. She is a member of AOAC International and has served as secretary-treasurer of the Northeast Regional Section of the AOAC International.

Winners of the Eric Kneen Memorial Award

Thanks from Student Members

As the acting chair for the student section of ASBC, I would like to extend my sincere thanks to the Board. They were kind enough to consider a long list of student member concerns at their last board meeting held in British Columbia. A special thanks to Dave Ryder, who represented the students at the meeting. One of the biggest concerns was the inability of undergraduate students to attend the annual conferences due to the expenses. One of the other concerns was that it was difficult for student members to get together and interact with one another. Well, the Board came through for us. This year ASBC is offering students the opportunity to reduce costs by sharing hotel rooms during the conference and paying a reduced registration fee. Travel scholarships are available to students who present posters. At this year's conference in Phoenix, a time has been set aside for students and other new members to meet. I encourage all student members to attend this little get together. It may be one of the few times to meet other ASBC student members in person.

The students at Oregon State University have recently organized a Fermentation Science Club. The club is selling T-shirts and pint beer glasses as fundraisers to help send students to conferences. In addition, Dr. Mark Daeschel, Endowed Professor of Fermentation Sciences, has offered to match those up to $250.00 to help send interested OSU students to conferences. As most of us all know, attending conferences is an important way to meet and network with other professionals in our field of interest. This is a great opportunity for students who intend to become professionals in the brewing science industry, and so I ask that you all consider the potential that students have to offer to the field and support and encourage them in their endeavors. This year, up to 10 OSU students have voiced an interest in attending either the ASBC Annual Meeting in Phoenix or the local Northwest Section combined MBAA/ASBC meeting in Portland in May. Local chapter meetings are usually much more feasible for students, allowing them to interact with other ASBC members. I encourage the local chapters to invite students in your region to attend the local meetings.

On a personal note: Congratulations to Karen Churchill, past chair of the student section. Karen defended her Ph.D. at the University of Minnesota and is now fulfilling an internship in Australia. Karen did an amazing job orchestrating student member activities and trying to inspire enthusiasm and interest. We thank you, Karen, and wish you great success.

I will probably not be able to attend the annual conference in Phoenix due to my impending defense at Oregon State University. I will, however, be attending the ASBC/MBAA meeting in Portland next week. I hope that I will get to see some of you at that conference.

I encourage all the student members to take the initiative to get together at the Phoenix conference and take the time to thank the Board for their support.

If any of you have questions or concerns regarding the student members of ASBC, please feel free to contact me: brownla@bcc.orst.edu / (541) 737-2285.

--Laurie Brown
Graduate Student
Oregon State University

Local Section News

Local Section 1--New York

The section has been planning how to expand its membership. A-B Newark is the last of the "big" brewers in the New York area. I know the local MBAA chapter is getting smaller, too. Section members are planning to go to some of the local MBAA meetings and see if they can get some of the microbrewers interested. The college administrations in the area are very antialcohol right now due to some bad press with college drinking, so they are not going to start looking in that area for the moment. If anyone has any suggestions for or good experiences with increasing membership, the section would like to hear from you.

--Dennis P. Lenahan

Local Section 2--St. Louis

In March, Local Section 2 held its meeting at the Old Route 66 Brewery and Restaurant. The proprietor, Dr. Rao Palamand, gave a brief history of the establishment and a tour of his microbrewery. The meeting was sponsored by Perkin Elmer.

An ASBC/MBAA joint meeting was held in April at the St. Louis Brewery and Tap Room. The speakers were Dr. John Witte and Tom Schafly from the Trailhead Brewery.

The membership met in the Brewhouse Courtyard at Anheuser-Busch for the May meeting. The weather was perfect and the shrimp and salmon, excellent. The speaker for the evening was radio personality and golf pro, Dan Polites. Summer Events Committee Chairman, Jim Kron, discussed the top choices for a summer event based on a membership vote. (The summer event will be a trivia night held at Morgan Street Brewery in historic Laclede's Landing.) The gavel was passed from Chairman Greg Kreder, who has served his local section above and beyond the normal call of duty, to Al Kazelis.

--Joan Raumschuh

Local Section 4--Milwaukee/Chicago

--Brad Rush

Local Section 7--Northwest

The section will hold its next meeting with the Master Brewers in Seattle the third weekend in October. At the last meeting, it was decided that the vice chair was to be the technical liaison to the MBAA. Dan Christopher, a member of both the MBAA and ASBC, was elected to be the MBAA tech committee liaison.

--Dan Christopher

Presidents' Addresses to the Board

MBAA President's Address

I bring you greetings and best wishes from the Master Brewers Association of the Americas. Yesterday, you had the opportunity to hear MBAA Past President and ASBC Liaison Ray Klimovitz's report on the current state of the MBAA. As you well know, based on Ray's report, our Association is going through dynamic changes to adapt to the future needs of our members and the brewing community. Some of the changes are difficult. However, the Board of Governors and the Executive Committee are convinced that our Association is better in tune with our members and the industry. In future years, our members will be better trained and more willing to address the objectives of each master brewer member--that is, to ensure that the next generation of brewers is adequately trained and to be of service to the industry.

During the past months, I have had the opportunity to visit joint MBAA/ASBC meetings and to attend a number of international technical conferences. Because of my discussions with members and fellow brewers, I can state that, to the individual, they are concerned about the viability of the industry and, more so, of professional brewing associations. To those concerns, I say, become involved! If our professional organizations are to be vital and viable, we need the participation of the membership. We are democratic societies. Active member involvement ensures that we will survive and provide a service to the industry.

While I was in Portland, OR, at a joint meeting of the MBAA/ASBC, a question posed by