Shmaltz Brewing Celebrates 15th Anniversary With 3 Outrageous Offerings

New York, San Francisco, Beyond! – America’s smallest, largest, and most award-winning Jewish (and now Sideshow Freak) Beer Company, Shmaltz Brewing celebrates its 15th year of brewing with three Limited-Edition Extreme Holiday Offerings, including Genesis 15:15® (currently on shelves, 13.4% ABV), the HE’BREW Holiday Gift Pack® (available October – December 2011) that will feature eight prized Shmaltz creations, and Jewbelation 15® (available November – February 2011, 15 malts, 15 hops, 15% ABV).

Shmaltz proprietor Jeremy Cowan’s debut small business memoir, Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah, is also now available at bookstores nationwide through boutique distributor Small Press United. Please find more information about Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah below and read Chapter One at www.craftbeerbarmitzvah.com.

Classic Shmaltz holiday events like “Chanukah vs. Christmas: The Battle Royale of Beers,” this year’s 150 Chosen Bars hand-picked from Shmaltz’s top accounts across the country, and the 2nd Annual Beer Menorah Photo Contest will be announced in the coming weeks. Detailed descriptions of the new HE’BREW® holiday offerings listed below:

Genesis 15:15®: A bold and decadent 13.4% ABV Harvest Barleywine aged 9 months in Sazerac 6-Year Rye Whiskey Barrels, Genesis 15:15® is the 5th release in Shmaltz’s Limited-Edition Barrel Aged series. Genesis 15:15® incorporates fruit juices from the Sacred Species listed in the Torah: figs, dates, grapes, and pomegranates. Harkening back to HE’BREW’s® original Genesis Ale® – a beer brewed with pomegranates that were hand-squeezed in Shmaltz owner Jeremy Cowan’s San Francisco apartment – Genesis 15:15® symbolizes the evolution of Shmaltz Brewing Company from a humble, self-distributed start-up to one of the most creative and respected craft brewing companies in America. Genesis 15:15® was also inspired by Genesis 10:10®, a 10th anniversary, 10% ABV pomegranate strong ale whose popularity led to the subsequent commissioning of Origin®, a year-round Imperial Amber Pomegranate Ale.

From the Label of Genesis 15:15® – 15 Years and the bombastic beers blossom bolder than ever. The shtick ages so beautifully as well – some favorites from the Shmaltz vault: FIGS: “And their eyes were opened, and they knew that they were naked; they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves aprons.” -Genesis 3:7. POMEGRANATES: In Medieval images of a unicorn hunt, the captured beast bleeds from wounds of pomegranate seeds dripping blood red juices on his milk white body. Wild and uncontrollable by nature, unicorns could be tamed only by virgins. Once tamed, the unicorn was chained to a pomegranate tree. DATES: Song of Solomon 7:6: “How beautiful and delightful you are, my Love, with all your charms! Your stature is like a date palm tree, and your breasts like its clusters. I will climb the tree and take hold of its fruit stalks.” Psalm 92:12: “The righteous shall flourish like the Date palm.” Arab proverb: It is good to know the truth, but it is better to speak of palm trees. GRAPES: “Oh, when I was a kid in show business I was poor. I used to go to orgies to eat the grapes.” -Rodney Dangerfield. Genesis Chapter 15 promises many battles but also sacred covenants. Verse 15: “You, Abraham shall be gathered into the arms of your people and pass at a ripe old age.” To the torrents and the trials, the punchlines and the pleasures. To 15 Years of Shmaltz Life – and beyond – L’Chaim! Jeremy Cowan, proprietor

HE’BREW Holiday Gift Pack®: In anticipation of Chanukah 2011, Shmaltz is updating the HE’BREW Holiday Gift Pack® with eight different 12 oz bottles of beer: Genesis Ale®, Messiah Bold®, Origin®, Jewbelation 15®, Reunion Ale ’11®, Bittersweet Lenny’s RIPA®, Hop Manna® (brand new IPA, hitting shelves in early 2012), and a surprise bottle of Jewbelation® (one vintage selection from Jewbelations 8 – 14). To help beer fans get further into the holiday spirit, the Gift Pack® also includes a custom HE’BREW glass, Chanukah candles, and instructions on How To Build Your Own Beer Menorah. Shmaltz will be accepting submissions for its 2nd Annual Beer Menorah Photo Contest, whose winner will be chosen by their peers online and rewarded handsomely with special Shmaltz prizes. More details on the Photo Contest will be announced shortly through Facebook and a national call for submissions.

Jewbelation 15®: Brewed with 15 malts, 15 hops, and careening to 15% ABV, Jewbelation 15® marks Shmaltz’s most extreme anniversary ale to date. Since its inception in 2004, Shmaltz’s Jewbelation® series has astonished critics and received top accolades from numerous publications, including “5 Stars” from Celebrator Beer News, “Best Holiday Beer” from Pacific Brew News, and “Best Winter Brews” from Playboy Magazine. The only Chanukah Beer entry in Northern California’s SF Weekly’s holiday beer blind tasting, Jewbelation 14® was declared the “Best Christmas Beer” by a stunned panel of judges. Imbibe Magazine also listed Jewbelation 14® as one of the “Top 50 Beers in the World.”

From the Label of Jewbelation 15® – In Jewish tradition, 15 marks major commemorations: Passover (the Exodus), Sukkot (40 years of wandering), and Tu Bishvat (the New Year for Mother Nature) all start on the 15th day of the Hebrew month. 15 suggests a certain wisdom from experience: “Old is always 15 years from now.” – Bill Cosby. “We are always more anxious to be distinguished for one talent we do not possess than 15 we do.” – Mark Twain. After Andy Warhol, does 15 forever sound profound or frivolous? “In the future, everyone will be world famous for 15 minutes.” “Fame is the thirst of youth.” – Lord Byron. “The fact that my 15 minutes of fame has been extended is somewhat surprising to me and completely baffling to my wife.” – Barack Obama. For Matt EP: Hall of Famer Bart Starr rocked #15 as MVP in the Packers’ first two Super Bowl victories. “South Park” evolved from “Jesus vs. Santa” and is now entering its 15th season. “We’re rehabbed and ready for our 15 minutes of shame.” – Marilyn Manson. Lyrics from Barry Manilow’s 2011 album, 15 Minutes, released on QVC Network: “Make me a deal, I’ll sell my guts for glory.” “Fame and power are the objects of all men. Even their partial fruition is gained by very few, and that at the expense of social pleasure, health, conscience, life.” – Benjamin Disraeli. After 1,972,350 sets of 15 minutes of Shmaltz Brewing, I’ll hoist my Jewbelation Quinceañera and sing 15 rounds of ¡Viva la Evolución de He’brew! L’Chaim! Jeremy Cowan, proprietor

Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: Earlier this fall proprietor Jeremy Cowan and Malt Shop Publishing teamed up with Small Press United, a subsidiary of Independent Publishers Group (IPG), to begin national distribution of Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah: How It Took 13 Years, Extreme Jewish Brewing, and Circus Sideshow Freaks to Make Shmaltz Brewing Company an International Success this month. Small Press United provides book distribution for small press publishers to chain and independent bookstores, wholesalers, libraries, the gift and specialty markets, and online retailers; IPG is the second largest independent press distributor in the United States.

Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah is now available at bookstores across the country, as well as at major digital retail outlets like Amazon.com. Detailed information on Craft Beer Bar Mitzvah, including a free sampling of Chapter One and suggested beer pairings, can be viewed at www.craftbeerbarmitzvah.com.

About Shmaltz Brewing Company
Shmaltz Brewing Company was recently named “Best American Craft Brewer” and won the “Best In Show 2010” title by Beverage World Magazine, after being named “Breakout Brand” for 2009. Shmaltz was also included in the “Top 50 Fastest Growing Bay Area Companies” by San Francisco Business Times, and is a recipient of the “Distinguished Business Award” by the Brooklyn Chamber of Commerce.

Established in San Francisco in 1996 with the first batch of 100 cases of HE’BREW Beer® bottled, labeled, and delivered by hand, Shmaltz has sold more than ten million bottles of beer to date. Along with their acclaimed line of HE’BREW Beers®, Shmaltz introduced its new line of sideshow-inspired Coney Island Craft Lagers®. Proceeds help Coney Island USA, a 501(c)(3) Non-Profit fulfill its mission to defend the honor of lost forms of American popular culture in Brooklyn’s historic Coney Island neighborhood.

Shmaltz offerings are available in more than 25 states through 30 wholesalers at more than 3,000 retail specialty shops across the U.S., including Beverages & More, Whole Foods, Total Wine, select Krogers and Cost Plus.

Shmaltz Brewing beers have appeared in such distinguished media outlets as The New York Times, CNN Headline News, The Onion, Beer Advocate Magazine, Celebrator Beer News, Ale Street News, NPR’s “Weekend Edition,” New York Magazine, Newsweek, Men’s Health, BUST, Playboy, Associated Press, Reuters, MSNBC, San Francisco Magazine, The Jerusalem Report, New York Jewish Week, Washington Post, MAXIM, Forbes.com, Smartmoney.com, Entrepreneur.com and Epicurious.com.

For more information, please visit: www.shmaltzbrewing.com