It is my great honor to announce the next step for the future of Passion Beer. Over the past year, we’ve worked hard at developing a brand based upon our love for the craft beer industry. Through this, we’ve been able to work through growing pains and have effectively established our name through social media outlets. In light of this, new and exciting changes are coming.

Effective today, we have been purchased by Anheuser-Busch. Through our partnership with A-B, we will be able to grow at a pace that we simply otherwise could not keep up with on our own. Within the next few years, we plan on launching our homebrews as commerical products and with the help of A-B, we can turn this dream into a reality.

If you remember correctly, last year we posted some stellar reviews of the “big” three Light beers in the United States: Coors Light, Miller Lite and Bud Light. A-B took notice and contacted us earlier this year. Through months of negotiations, we eventually decided to sell while being able to function as we normally do. A-B will provide the financial support and big business resources we need to grow at our current pace.

I wanted to personally thank everyone for their support over the past year and hope you’ll continue on with us in the journey that lay before us. We have never been more excited about an opportunity to grow as we are now. We will still remain focused on craft beer and the craft beer industry, though our endorsement for A-B will go far beyond what it has been for the past year.

Thank you all.

Shane Holland
Editor-in-Chief, Passion Beer

There have been a few great opportunities we’ve received since starting Passion Beer, starting with our first “mass” exposure, only 8 days after we launched. On February 19, 2010 I conducted a radio interview with Mary from WC Dish on WCHE1520 to discuss the website, what we’re about and what we’re looking to do. With being so new on the craft beer scene, it was a honor and privilege to be invited on her show. So, first and foremost, thanks Mary!

Since then, we started running some awesome giveaway contests, like a $50 Victory Brewing Company gift card and even collaborated with Jill from Dogfish Head to give away some awesome apparel. In total, we’ve run five different give away contests over the course of the year and I hope to keep that momentum going throughout 2011.

In April of 2010, we posted our very first video review which, admittedly was our worst, though I’d like to think they get better the more we film. In November, we had a brand new introduction created for us from Danya over at Philly Design which transformed the videos, giving them more of a polished feel. Since, we’ve been trying to film an episode a month at minimum, again something of which we aim to continue throughout the upcoming year.

In addition to our video reviews, we’ve surpassed 200 written reviews on the site within the past year. Combined with our other articles that include news, events, announcements and more, we’ve totaled 269 articles at the time of this post — more than I could have ever imagined we’d be doing in our first year. So thanks to Mike and Nick for helping make this a reality.

Our growth on Twitter has been strong, garnishing over 1100 followers in our first year and continually growing. We’ve also expanded out into Facebook and also have a page over at Vimeo who professionally hosts all of our videos in HD quality. Also, as of the end of October all of our newly polished videos made their way onto iTunes which you can subscribe to for free!

All in all, we’ve seen a tremendous amount of growth and support in our first year and couldn’t have done it without the help of our readers, followers, friends and family. So from all of us here at Passion Beer, we thank you for your support and hope you’ll continue to grow with us through 2011 and beyond.

Title photo from: Flickr

Although Lallemand claims they’ve tested the yeast and found no problems, they are recalling the yeast for good customer relations on the claim of poor or slow performance. The recall applies only to one lot: #1080961099V, expires 12/2011, Nottingham Dry Sachet. If you have any packets matching this lot, contact your supplier for a replacement.

Source: Weak Knee Home Brew Supply

Title photo from: Flickr

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For more information on Craft Ale House, go to: http://www.craftalehouse.com/