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Our Brewers Swimsuit Issue got its start as a gag or spoof of
the titillating annual Swimsuit Edition of Sports Illustrated.
Our thought was brewers in swimsuits and boots in the brewhouse,
just for fun.
Our first takers included the always-exuberant Fal Allen,
then at the Pike Brewery in Seattle. We had a shot of him
in the mash tun smoking a cigar, his swimsuit barely visible
above the grainy liquid. That batch must have tasted, well,
Fal-like. Teri Fahrendorf was our first lady brewer to take
the, er, plunge, along with her crew from Steelhead Brewing
Company at Burlingame Station, in the more liberal region
of the San Francisco Bay Area.
Brewers are an imaginative lot, and things really started
to get interesting in June 2002, when the swimsuit feature
hit the front page for the first time, featuring the gang
from Kelley Bros. Brewing in Manteca, Calif. Inside were additional
pictures of staff (one involving a rather large python) that
would drive most HR directors into fits of apoplexy. The brew
crew from Anderson Valley completely missed the point about
“Swimsuit Issue” and were pictured in the altogether
(except for boots!) with brewery schwag positioned in strategic
places (for the sake of the children).
The Kona brewers stepped up the next year with a cover shot
of themselves and a surfboard held to cover the essentials.
Brewer Michael Ferguson, then with Barley’s Casino in
Las Vegas, was pictured no-handedly holding up a keg by the
bung with… well, we’ll let you imagine with what.
That 2003 issue also included the introduction of our swimsuit-wearing
brewers from Yoho Brewing in Japan. Thanks, Toshi!
The June 2004 cover HAD to go to the gang from Stone Brewing
in San Diego, who converted the brewhouse into a beach by
spreading malt on the floor, creating an in-brewery beach
scene. Nice. That issue also contained a double-page spread
on coated stock with our biggest selection of embarrassing
photos yet: outtakes from the Stone shoot; pictures from the
swimsuit contest held at that year’s Craft Brewers Conference
in San Diego; more lack of swimsuits from the Anderson Valley
boys; the Yoho Brewing gang in what amounts to Japanese thongs;
and the Mad River gang from Blue Lake, Calif., wearing kegs
with the spigots located right where the guys could relieve
themselves with beer. Very tasteful.
Our June 2005 cover was a spoof of National Geographic.
The Kona kids were underwater with a keg, a sixer and a pint
glass filled with beer. Underwater! Additional photos included
the Beermann’s gang from Roseville, Calif.; the big
dog and staff from Big Dog’s Brewing in Las Vegas (nice
Harley); the Laurelwood boys from Portland with blacked-out
parts (for the sake of the children); the Fruit of the Loom
boys from Fox Barrel Cider Company in Colfax, Calif., with
strategically placed fruit; our by-now-infamous pictures of
the Walking Man Brewing boys from Stevenson, Wash., and one
girl not afraid to bare all for the beer world. We apologized
and promised to show no more retired porn stars. That issue
is a serious collector’s item.
| We apologized and promised to show no more retired porn
stars. That issue is a serious collector’s item. |
The June 2006 cover went to the city of Portland, with an
inset of the Half Moon Bay Brewing Company staff in bikinis
(brewer Alec Moss at least had his Hawaiian shirt open) plus
a shot of Fred Eckhardt (who had just turned 80!) in a Speedo.
The cover of our June 2007 issue again went to the Half Moon
Bay Brewing staff and brewers, with an awesome shot of them
in the brewhouse with the girls (all seven of them) in bikinis
and the guys in, ahem, malt bags. Brewer Alec Moss was resplendent
in swimsuit with mash paddle.
After that outstanding effort, we got nothing in 2008. We
posted a small note in the April 2009 issue to alert brewers
of the annual swimsuit opportunity and got two takers. On
our cover are the brewers and staff of Maui Brewing in Hawaii,
and the brewers from Spinnakers Gastro Brewpub in Victoria,
B.C.
We know the industry is busy with the real beer business
in uncertain economic times. We only hope that more brewers
will find a need to expose themselves to our annual Swimsuit
Issue next June. Encourage the folks at your favorite brewery
to get something entered by next spring, and they may be on
our cover too! OK, move along, stop staring, there's nothing
to see here…
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