The news was revealed in the "Craft Beer in Philadelphia" column by George Hummel in the just released February/March issue of Mid-Atlantic Brewing News. The move has been the subject of much discussion among industry insiders in recent weeks and appeared as a rumor on phillyblog.com on January 21 in a thread about Tavern on Green closing.

"We don't have the liquor license yet," Peters said tonight. "As soon as we get that transferred, it's a done deal. The financing is in place and the architects are finish up the plans." The Hummel story noted that March was the target date for opening, but Peters clarified that "we can open within 30 days of getting the license transferred and I don't know when that's happening. March would be ideal, though."

Monk's on Green will be a neighborhood-friendly mirror image of its big brother, Peters said. "Lots of good beers--I think we worked out how we can facilitate handling just as many of them over there with the new design--a menu which is similar, but with smaller portion plates and some additional items to make it easy for local residents to come in on a daily basis. Nothing over $20, in other words."

The original Monk's, at 16 & Spruce Streets, will remain "the beer temple," Peters stressed, the place where Monk's yearly series of beer dinners will still be held and where new beers will be introduced. A third Belgian-brewed Monk's beer, Monk's Cafe´ Cantillon Kriek, will soon join Monk's Cafe´ Flemish Sour Ale and Monk's Cafe´ Cantillon Gueuze on the beer list.--JACK CURTIN

Victory Prima Pils was second and Troegs Tröegenator seventh among the Top Ten American Beers as selected by a panel of brewers, beer writers and other industry folk in the current issue.

Victory's HopDevil IPA also was one of five beers given an Honorable Mention.

Said the magazine of Prima Pils:

Anyone enamored of the clean taste of a watered-down, mass-produced domestic beer needs to break a few man laws and get a six-pack of Prima Pils. Brewed with Saaz hops by German-trained brewmasters, this exemplar of the Czech-born Plzen style of beer is slightly spicy with a refreshing finish. Brews like this are the reason pilsner is the most consumed type of beer in the world. That, and fraternity parties.

This heady brew delivers the heftiness its Teutonic-sounding, heavy metal name suggests. Hand-crafted by two brothers, the strong lager won a bronze medal at the 2006 World Beer Cup. Supposedly, the double bock style was often brewed by monks, who subsisted on the rich drink during prolonged fasts. Drink enough of this stuff, and surely some fantastic visions aren't far behind.

Awarded Honorable Mention in addition to HopDevil were Samuel Adams Double Bock, Rogue Shakespeare Stout, Anchor Porter, Anchor Steam and Blue Point Toasted Lager.

The selecting panel included William Brand (Oakland Tribune), Lew Bryson (ubiquitous) Sam Calagione (Dogfish Head), Lauren Clark (beer writer), Tom Dalldorf (Celebrator Beer News), Alan Dikty (beer and spirits archivist and specialist at the Beverage Tasting Institute and Vice President of Applied Beverage Technologies), Tony Forder (Ale Street News), Gregg Glaser (Yankee Brewing News), Randy Mosher (beer writer), Garrett Oliver (Brooklyn Brewing), Peter Reid (Modern Brewery Age), Mike Roper (bar owner, Hopleaf, Chicago), Don Russell ("Joe Sixpack"), and Rob Tod (Allagash Brewing).

Here's how the winning beers were selected, per the Playboy website:

A panel of 14 beer experts sent us their top picks in a variety of different categories. The only stipulation was that each beer must be available in bottles (i.e. not just on tap at a brewpub) somewhere in the United States. The results of this open-ended vote were tallied and the brews that received the most votes were included in our top ten list. No favoritism was given to any of the brewers on our panel.

The entrants from across the US will participate as members of the The Brewers Association Export Development Program (EDP),which pays for entry fees and transportation into select international beer shows for its program subscribers in an effort to promote the image of American craft beer.

The AIBA is held in Melbourne every year and ISAustralia’s most prestigious beer event. In 2006, the competition attracted 974 entries from 31 countries. Participating US breweries for 2007 are:

21st Amendment Brewery Café, California; Blue Point Brewing, NY; Deschutes Brewery, Bend, Oregon; Dogfish Head Craft Brewery, Delaware; Eugene City Brewery, Oregon; Flying Dog Brewery, Colorado; Full Sail Brewing, Oregon; Great Divide Brewing, Colorado; Jolly Pumpkin Artisan Ales, Michigan; Kona Brewery , Hawaii; Rogue Ales Issaquah Brewhouse, Washington; Left Hand Brewing, Colorado; Matt Brewing, NY; Odell Brewing, Colorado; Rogue Ales, Oregon; Shipyard Brewing, Maine; Sprecher Brewing, Wisconsin; Stone Brewing, California, and Widmer Brothers Brewing, Oregon.

"Assisting US craft breweries with participation in large international competitions like AIBA is a major focus of the EDP," said Brewers Association vice president Bob Pease. "US craft beers typically perform well on the international stage and the awards they receive bring attention to the brands and to the US industry as a whole."--JACK CURTIN

The increase was driven by the release of 12 new packaged products and expansion into new markets in Western Pennsylvania, New York and New Jersey, the brewery said. The total barrelage packaged was 3,600, with all but 343 barrels of that produced in the Royersford plant and the remainder at its Phoenixville brewpub.

"I have to believe that the production levels we hit, and especially the number and variety of packaged beers we brought to market, set some sort of record," said brewmaster Brian O'Reilly. "We released five beers in caged, corked 750ml bottles; four beers in 22oz `dinner' bottles and three beers in 12oz cans. I think it was an astonishing achievement."

A pleased managing partner John Giannopoulos said that the brewery would aim for slower, more managed progress in 2007. "We don't expect to see anything close to that growth this year--nor do we want to grow at that sort of rate," said Giannopoulos. "Our attention in 2007 will be focused on our existing markets, especially our home market, making sure we expand our taps and sales at a manageable rate and that we maintain and even improve quality control."

"Only one new packaged product is currently in our plans, a canned version of Royal Weisse, which is scheduled for this spring," said O'Reilly. "Our big new project for 2007 will be the creation of a true, British-style cask ale for the Phoenixville pub, where we've already installed three handpumps."

You can read the complete news release here.--JACK CURTIN

The agreement gives Czechvar, currently sold in 30 states, access to Anheuser-Busch's distribution network and gives A-B another European import as part of its aggressive push into high-end beer categories. Distribution alliances have been made over the past year or so with Grolsch, Tiger, Kirin and, most recently InBev, which added Stella Artois, Beck's, Bass Pale Ale and other beers to its import portfolio.

Czechvar will continue to be brewed at the BBNP brewery in Ceske Budejovice, Czech Republic, said the Czech brewery's CEO, Jiri Bocek. "Experience of many brewers' generations, who have brewed beer in our town for more than 700 years, lies behind our premium lager," he noted.

The agreement, which became effective today, does not impact existing litigation or trademark disputes between the two brewers in other countries, where they have clashed for decades over the right to use the name "Budweiser." They have agreed the partnership cannot be used to support either side in any of those trademark cases.

In an unrelated development, Pacific Northwest craft breweries Widmer Brothers Brewing Company and Redhook Ale Brewery are reportedly in the first stages of discussing a merger. They already have a marketing and sales joint venture which in turn has a distribution agreement with A-B and the Busch Investment Corporation has a 39.5 percent equity interest in Widmer and an 33.6 percent interest in Redhook.

A-B is reportedly not involved in the talks at this point, nor a driving force behind them. Widmer and Redhook rank sixth and seventh among U.S. craft breweries. Redhook complained recently has that their alliance was not doing a good job of selling its brand in the west.

All this comes on the tail of A-B's report last Friday that the company's U.S. shipments to wholesalers grew by 1.2 percent to 102.3 million barrels in 2006 and wholesaler shipments to retailers grew 1.1 percent. "Anheuser-Busch achieved increased shipments in 2006 due to the success of its initiatives to grow core brands, led by Bud Light, and by expanding its portfolio of products including the addition of Rolling Rock brands, and imports Grolsch and Tiger," A-B CEO August Busch IV said in a company news release.--JACK CURTIN

In December, Coors Brewing Company filed a certificate of label approval application with with the Treasury Department’s Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau for a new brew, Blue Moon Spring Ale. According to the label application, the beer is an "amber wheat ale with kieffer lime leaves and lime peel."

Coor's Blue Moon Belgian White Ale showed double-digit sales growth last year, riding on the wave of similar growth for all craft beer during the period. An initial spin-off, Blue Moon Winter Ale, is already on the seasonal market.

The brands have received little traditional marketing support from the brewery which has been wary of letting the public know of its affiliation. The magazine Brandweek wrote several months back that Coors "is walking the thin line between over-commercializing a niche brand that has credence among craft and micro beer fans and raising [public] awareness in order to boost sales" by making it part of the corporate advertising program.--JACK CURTIN

Still definitely gonna happen, just not quite as soon as planned.

Director of brewing operations Jay Misson checked in with The Beer Yard late last night with this update:

We have adjusted our dates and things are looking towards a mid March, rather than February opening. Too many construction issues...

We have not yet been able to brew as we await construction details and approval from all the various powers that be. We are trying to get brewing within a week or two...We will not open until we have six weeks of beer brewed, fermenting and aging. By all accounts its a big project, and we only received our chiller condenser for the roof on Saturday, so we are pluggin' away every day to move things along...

Craft brands "continue to grow at a rapid clip," tbe report said, noting that the growth is not just int he supermarket sector, as "96 percent of all markets recorded share growth in [the four-week period which ended December 23]."

Much of the reason for the decline in import sales was attributed to a weak performance by Corona, the leading brand in the category, which suffered its largest drop-off since February of 2005. While a 5.5% price increase this past fall was cited as a cause for Corona's downslide, Brew Blog went on to note that Heineken, Amstel Light and Tecate also dropped more than 20,000 cases each in the four-week period.

This was the first overall volume decline for the import segment since April 2005.--JACK CURTIN

Clipper City's Hugh Sisson, in his monthly newsletter, says that the Maryland brewery "is diligently working on two new releases for our Heavy Seas brand. The first will be a Belgian Abbey style and the second will be a weizen dopplebock! Stay tuned for details but we hope to release the first one in early March."

The Heavy Seas line, originally instituted to celebrate Clipper City's 10th anniversary in 2005, has become an ongoing series of bottle-conditioned limited release seasonals: Peg Leg Stout, Winter Storm Ale, Red Sky at Night (Saison), Small Craft Warning Uber Pils, Loose Cannon (imperial IPA) and Below Decks (barleywine). Loose Cannon and Small Craft Warning are now available year round.--JACK CURTIN