From: mdempsey@msus1.msus.edu
Newsgroups: alt.beer
Subject: Re: Pete's Wicked Ale
Date: 12 Dec 92 21:47:19 -0600
Organization: Minnesota State University System

In article <1992Dec11.190117.15783@news.nd.edu>, ulick@bernini.helios.nd.edu (Ulick Stafford) writes:
> If I buy Pete's around here, it is brewed under licence in Minnesota (I can't
> remember the brewer off hand).  It is an excellent beer, but is it identical
> to the original?  Can anyone with extensive experience of both versions
> comment?
> 
> (Normally underlicence beers are changed for local tastes, for instance
> Budweiser brewed in Ireland was commented on by an American to actually
> taste like a beer, and all lagers brewed in Britain have that 'special
> taste'.  I even had one recently - by accident.  I assumed John Courage
> would be a Pale Ale!).
> 
> 
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++ 
> + 'There was a  master come unto the earth, + Ulick Stafford, PP-ASEL       +
> +    born in the holy land of Indiana,      + Dept of Chemical Engineering, +
> + in the mystical hills east of Fort Wayne'.+ Notre Dame, IN 46556          +
> +      B'fhearr liom bheith ag eitilt.      +    ulick@bach.helios.nd.edu   +
> +++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
> 

Pete's is now brewed in Minnesota by the Minnesota Brewing Co. which bought the
old Schmidt Brewery in St. Paul (from Heilmann's I think). 

Pete's was originally brewed in a small brewery in Palo Alto, CA (or nearby -
I never knew the name of the brewery). Pete's then came to Minnesota in the 
mid-eighties before the brewpub/micro-brewery trend had really started. 
August Schell brewing in New Ulm brewed Pete's Wicked Ale under contract and
later added Gold Coast Lager and Pacific Dry. The brewery on the West Coast
closed shop and for a while only Schell's brewed Pete's. Unfortunately, it is
really hard to ship large quantities of beer out of Schell's - little warehouse
space and very difficult to access with a large semi-tractor. The location
looks beautiful just not practical... Well, after Schell's hired then fired
a brewmaster from the old Schmidt brewery, he took the Pete's contract back
to St. Paul. (He didn't know much about brewing beer, at least the that is 
what I was told...). The Minnesota brewing co. has a _much_ larger capacity
than Schell's and can load directly onto rail cars etc. 

I do not know where else Pete's is being brewed. They had a tough time finding
anybody to brew it a few years back but with so many smaller breweries opening
and reopening I am sure they have found a number of contract brewers. 

Where else is Pete's brewed, I'd like to know. Post it here. 

BTW, if anybody wants there own beer, if you can afford 100 or so barrels at a
time, Schell's might just do it for you. Also, they have often put different 
labels on their regular beer. The oddest one was something like 100 cases for
a wedding. John and Mary Jones Wedding beer. Kinda cute.. They used to brew
all kinds of strange stuff, mostly in cans but it is prohibitively expensive
to but just a few thousand cans now that they have pretty much quit making
a lot of those type of contract brews. Mostly keg stuff now.

Later,

Matt

mdempsey@mnsmc1.mnsmc.edu