Herman Joseph Is Alive!

Coors tries again with H. Joseph

By Dick Kreck
Special to The Denver Post

POSTED:   08/13/2008 12:30:00 AM MDTADD A COMMENT

UPDATED:   08/13/2008 09:43:16 AM MDT

Herman Joseph is alive! Not Adolph Herman Joseph Coors, co-founder of the Golden brewery. He died in 1929 and is still dead, but Herman Joseph, the beer, has risen from the brewing graveyard.

Coors last month launched a third attempt to make a success of the Herman Joseph brand, now called Herman Joseph's Private Reserve. Long a favorite inside the Coors family, HJ made its first appearance in 1980 as Herman Joseph 1868, died in 1989, was reborn in 1994 and succumbed again in 1999.

This HJ is different, says Glenn Knippenberg, president of AC Golden Brewing Co., the year-old specialty brewing arm of MillerCoors. The original HJ was an ale, but Private Reserve is a German-style lager, lighter than its predecessor but still full of flavor. "It's absolutely delicious," said Knippenberg, whose associates call him "Knip." "It's not a sipping beer. It's got a whole bunch of malt, then the hops. It has real balance. It's made for today's beer- drinking palate, which is significantly different from 10 or 20 years ago."

Embossed on the bottom of the bottle is the exact latitude and longitude of the AC Golden brewery where HJ is made. Just because.

The major growth in the American beer business is in craft brews — full-flavored, often highly hopped beers from small local brewers. Coors has been slow to respond to the trend but believes the new Herman Joseph's will prove as successful as its other low-profile brand, Blue Moon White Belgian Ale.

AC Golden is starting small with HJ's Private Reserve, using a 30-barrel kettle and hand packaging it in Coors' former pilot brewery. Knippenberg declined to give production figures but, so far, the beer is available in 12-ounce bottles only in 20 high-end area restaurants, selling for between $4.50 and $7 a bottle. "Our mission for AC Golden is to be a brand incubator for what is now MillerCoors."

Knippenberg said AC Golden plans to produce at least two more limited-edition brews but declined to name them. A list of restaurants carrying HJPR is at www.hermanjosephs.com.

http://www.denverpost.com/mrbeer/ci_10169516