issues . please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . learn how and when to remove these template messages a major contributor to this article appears to have a close connection with its subject . it may require cleanup to comply with wikipedia s content policies particularly neutral point of view . please discuss further on the talk page . may 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message this article contains content that is written like an advertisement . please help improve it by removing promotional content and inappropriate external links and by adding encyclopedic content written from a neutral point of view . may 2015 learn how and when to remove this template message learn how and when to remove this template message shmaltz brewing company industry alcoholic beverage founded 1996 founder jeremy cowan headquarters clifton park new york usa products beer production output 20 000 barrels owner jeremy cowan number of employees 30 website shmaltzbrewing.com shmaltz brewing company is an american craft brewing company located in clifton park new york usa and produces the award winning line of he brew beers and formerly coney island beer before its acquisition by boston beer co in 2013 . ranked in 2013 as one of the top 100 brewers in the world by ratebeer.com shmaltz won 9 gold and 5 silver medals in the world beer championships in 2012 . a recipient of the distinguished business award by the brooklyn chamber of commerce shmaltz was also included in the top 50 fastest growing bay area companies by san francisco business times . founder and owner jeremy cowan established the company in san francisco in 1996 with the first 100 cases of he brew beer hand bottled and delivered throughout the bay area in his grandmother s volvo . he brew now sells across 37 states through 40 wholesalers and nearly 5 000 retailers . in 2007 shmaltz released a new line of craft brewed lagers under the coney island banner . the coney island brand was recently acquired by alchemy and science a craft beer incubator owned by boston beer sam adams . after 17 years of being an outspoken cheerleader for contract brewing shmaltz broke with tradition and opened its own new york state production brewery in clifton park ny 10 minutes north of albany s capital district . shmaltz s new home boasts a 50 barrel brewhouse with 30 000 barrels of annual capacity . the new brewery packages 12 and 22 ounce bottles and kegs of their diverse core and seasonal favorites and hosts fans and beer tourists in their new tasting room for tours barrel aged previews and special releases . contents 1 shmaltz brewery 2 he brew beer 2.1 marketing 2.2 series 3 barrel aging projects 4 collaboration projects 5 list of beers brewed 6 craft beer bar mitzvah 7 coney island craft lagers 8 marketing 9 coney island brewing company 9.1 boston beer co. acquires coney island 10 see also 11 references 12 external links shmaltz brewery edit after 17 years of contract brewing shmaltz decided to break with tradition in 2013 by opening their own 20 000 square foot brewery in clifton park new york . 1 the new brewery boasts a 50 barrel brewhouse with 30 000 barrels of annual capacity . within a year the brewery has already added additional equipment to boost capacity from 20 000 barrels to 35 000 barrels . 2 shmaltz brewing company the new brewery packages 12 and 22 ounce bottles and kegs of their diverse core and seasonal favorites . several new releases and collaborations are on tap for 2016 and shmaltz will continue their acclaimed exploration of barrel aging with a current inventory of more than 300 bourbon rye whiskey and tequila barrels . the 1 700 square foot tasting room is a place where visitors can sample a variety of fresh shmaltz beers tour the facility and learn about the beer making process . they also can witness shmaltz s signature borscht belt humor in the tasting room there s a beer menorah display featuring empty bottles from the gift pack and t shirts with the slogan don t pass out pass over hanging on the wall . 3 he brew beer edit he brew death of a contract brewer black ipa he brew beer began as a chanukah experiment in 1996 when founder and proprietor jeremy cowan and friends squeezed pomegranates to produce juice for the first he brew beer . 4 early distribution for this beer was done by cowan himself out of the trunk of his grandmother s car in the san francisco bay area . in 1997 anderson valley brewing company began brewing he brew beer and its distribution expanded to small craft beer wholesalers in california chicago and new york . 5 2003 marked the year shmaltz began packaging genesis ale and messiah nut brown ale in six packs and moved production to mendocino brewing company s facility in saratoga springs ny . four beers currently make up the he brew beer year round line slingshot american craft lager hop manna ipa bittersweet lenny s r.i.p.a. and messiah nut brown ale . all he brew beers are certified kosher by the kosher supervision of america . the company s name refers to shmaltz a type of cooking fat that is frequently associated with ashkenazi jewish cuisine . marketing edit he brew beer is widely recognized for its playful yet earnest study of jewish world and pop cultural histories . 6 each label of he brew beer lists facts and quotations related to the beer s inspiration and its ingredients . for example origin an imperial amber pomegranate ale pays tribute to the original 1996 he brew beer made with pomegranates and its label contains facts ancient mythology and pop cultural references to pomegranates . another component of he brew s marketing is its shtick which incorporates jewish religious references into the beers names and slogans . genesis ale is aptly named because it was the first he brew creation and the tagline to messiah nut brown ale is the beer you ve been waiting for which alludes to the jewish belief that the promised savior of the world has yet to come . 7 series edit in 2006 he brew debuted bittersweet lenny s r.i.p.a. a rye double ipa dedicated to the late jewish comedian lenny bruce . 8 this beer is brewed with an obscene amount of malt and hops including three kinds of rye malt and seven different hop varieties . bittersweet lenny s r.i.p.a. is the first in a series of tributes to jewish stars and is available year round . following the release of bittersweet lenny s r.i.p.a. shmaltz sponsored an homage to lenny bruce & free speech a fundraising event that featured sarah silverman and lewis black . 9 the barrel aged version of bittersweet lenny s r.i.p.a. r.i.p.a. on rye took home the silver medal in the wood and barrel aged strong beer category at the 2010 great american beer festival . 10 shmaltz offers the rejewvenator and jewbelation series as limited seasonal releases . rejewvenator is a half doppelbock half belgian style dubbel that takes inspiration from the german custom of brewing strong dark lagers bocks for springtime consumption and adding the suffix ator to the beer s name . rejewvenator s spring to fall availability coincides with the barley harvest in the spring and the hop harvest in the fall as well as with the spring and fall new years in jewish tradition . the beer itself is a lager ale hybrid fermented by both a lager yeast and trappist and abbey ale yeasts and each year a different sacred species fruit is added to the fermenting wort . the 2008 rejewvenator for example featured fig juice while the 2009 rejewvenator was made with california date juice and 2010 rejewvenator with concord grapes . the beverage testing institute awarded both rejewvenator 2009 and rejewvenator 2010 a gold medal at their 2010 and 2011 world beer championships respectively . 11 12 inaugurated as an eighth anniversary ale called jewbelation 8 shmaltz commemorates their anniversary with each subsequent edition of jewbelation by using the same number of malts hops and alcohol by volume value as the number of years they have been brewing . numerology is integral to the hebrew alphabet and judaism and in recognition of this aspect of its jewish heritage shmaltz features religious scientific and cultural facts and quotations involving the special anniversary number on the jewbelation label . 13 this extreme beer is released in the fall and chanukah 2011 marked the 15th anniversary of shmaltz and the release of jewbelation 15 . in keeping with the jewbelation tradition this beer contained 15 malts 15 hops and 15 % abv . in the fall 2011 shmaltz also released genesis 15 15 a barrel aged harvest barleywine brewed with pomegranates figs dates and concord grapes to commemorate its anniversary . the series is on its 18th iteration as of 2014 . in february 2012 shmaltz released hop manna ipa the first ipa in the he brew line . the name refers to manna the sacred food that fell from the sky to the desert to feed the israelites following their exodus from egypt . hop manna was slated to be released in 2011 needs update only on draft with a full national launch of bottles and draft in 2012 . 14 he brew messiah bold the hop manna premiered at sf beer week in february 2012 . the brew went on to take the gold medal at the 2012 world beer championships and maintains a 95 rating on ratebeer.com . hop manna features six hops warrior cascade citra amarillo crystal centennial three dry hops centennial cascade and citra and is balanced out with five malts specialty 2 row wheat munich vienna caramunich 40 . at 65 ibus and 6.8 % abv hop manna became nationally available in 22 oz . bottles and a limited amount of draft at select bars . in 2014 the brand became available in 4 pack 12 oz . bottles as well . to commemorate the transformation from 17 years as a contract brewer to their new life as their own brewery shmaltz released a new year round offering death of a contract brewer black ipa . death of a contract brewer is brewed with 7 malts specialty 2 row munich wheat crystal rye chocolate pale chocolate kiln coffee and 7 hops cascade citra summit crystal amarillo ahtanum chinook and comes in at 7 % abv . 15 after 18 years in november 2014 shmaltz decided to release their first ever hanukkah beer hanukkah chanakuh pass the beer . isn t it fitting that on our 18th anniversary shmaltz brewing would finally come out with our very first chanukah beer says jeremy cowan founder of shmaltz brewing company . no matter how you spell the festival of lights shmaltz brewing was proud to debut its first ever limited edition release specifically celebrating all the miracles of the 8 crazy nights hanukkah chanukah pass the beer . 8 is a miraculous number in jewish life . its cultural religious significance runs the gambit with several holidays spanning 8 days chanukah passover sukkot a bris circumcision taking place on the newborn s 8th day and seinfeld running for 8 years for more deep shtick see the 4 pack label listed below . the official chosen beer of this holiday season hanukkah chanukah pass the beer is a dark ale brewed with 8 malts 8 hops and heats up at 8 % abv . 16 in connection with each chanukah season shmaltz hosts an annual beer challenge chanukah vs. christmas the battle royale of beers in national markets including nyc san francisco seattle portland washington dc philadelphia atlanta baltimore and others . 17 shmaltz handpicks several chosen bars from the east