This week brings some super duper exciting news. Well, mainly one story in particular: Firestone Walker is coming out with cans just in time for sunny Spring days at the park! Other stories this week are more of the ‘feel-good’ nature: Stone Brewing donated a bunch of money to charity in 2014, there is yet again a new women’s beer mile record, and the CIDER Act is being reintroduced to Congress. Get the details of these headlines and more in this edition of the Weekly Growler Fill.

Rep. Blumenauer and Rep. Collins Reintroduce CIDER Act

“During the fermentation process, a variety of factors can lead to small changes in the composition of a cider’s alcohol content and carbonation. Because of the narrow way that hard cider is currently defined in the tax code, these small variations can lead to cider being taxed at a rate fifteen times higher than what the statute clearly intended. The Blumenauer-Collins bill would update the tax definitions to greatly reduce the chance that improper taxation could occur.  The bill would also broaden the definition to include both pear and apple ciders.

The changes proposed by Congressman Blumenauer and Collins will update the existing federal definition of cider to better reflect the industry and keep American cider competitive in the international marketplace. Production nationally has been robust, more than tripling from 9.4 million gallons in 2011 to 32 million gallons in 2013.Cider revenues in the U.S. have been just as impressive, tripling from $178 million in 2007 to $601 million in 2012.

Rep. Blumenauer will be addressing the 2015 Cider Convention on February 6th in Chicago.”

Stone Brewing Discontinues Levitation Amber Ale and Self-Righteous Black IPA

Just as the picture above shows, Levitation Amber Ale as well as Self-Righteous Black IPA will be floating off shelves in the following months. Stone Brewing Company made the choice to discontinue these two brews based on consumer buying patterns. Don’t worry though, you still have a good amount of time to imbibe on these tasty treats before they disappear forever. Levitation will be hanging around until May while Self-Righteous can be found until July. Although the departure of these beers means some fans will lose their favorite brew, it also means that there will be more room for new creations from Stone. At least there is a silver lining!

Firestone Beers Available in Cans for First Time

Hellz-to-the-yeah. Firestone Walker is coming out with cans! I’m pretty sure I’m not the only one who is way too excited about this. Starting mid-February, the Paso Robles-based brewery will be rolling out cans of Union Jack (IPA), Easy Jack (session IPA) and Pivo (hoppy pilsner). If you think they waited a long time to start canning, you’re correct! Co-founder, David Walker, wanted to wait until the time was right and with the improvements in canning technology as well as the boom in the canned beer market, he finally decided that the ‘right time’ was now. The brewery is now fully equipped with a canning line that can pump out 400 canned beers per minute. I only have one request: please start canning Wookey Jack!

Stone Brewing Co. Contributes More Than $490,000 to Charity in 2014

“Thanks to loyal fans, passionate volunteers, craft brewing compatriots and Stone employees, Stone Brewing Co. contributed more than $490,000 in cash and donated more than $230,000 worth of beer to various charities in 2014.”

Events that helped raised such large sums of money include Stone 18th Anniversary Celebration & Invitational Beer Festival, Brewery Tours, sales of Matt’s Burning Rosids Imperial Cherrywood-Smoked Saison, and much more. It’s heartwarming stories like these that make us even happier to support craft beer (by drinking lots of it). Keep up the good work, Stone!

Final Synek Design is Unveiled

The final designs for the so-called ‘beer Keurig’ have now been released. Check out the hilarious video below to see what’s coming.

New Women’s Beer Mile Record

It was just back in November that I reported a story about Chris Kimbrough smashing the women’s beer mile record. Well folks, it has been beaten again. This time the record was shattered by a 29 year old geology professor by the name of Elizabeth Herndon. Her beer of choice? Fat Tire by New Belgium Brewing Company. Elizabeth ran the mile in 6 minutes and 17.8 seconds, beating the old record by 10.84 seconds. Not only did she win the glory of being totally awesome, she also took home $5,000 in prize money.