Narratives, whether true or false, can be powerful. Many American cities have been painted with a broad brush of “unsafe” or “uncool” even if the day to day is not much different.
Portland, my hometown neighbor to the north, has endured a bit of bad press you could say but during both of my visits this year, it has seemed just as filled with beer, good food and frustrating parking as any city one lives in or visits.
So I am glad to see Old Town Brewing go to bat and stand up for the City of Roses with their recently launched Believe in Portland IPA. Which you can read more about HERE.
A few beer writers got the chance for an update on the National Black Brewers Association (NB2A) thanks to our guild and it was heartening to see that for an organization that was put together just in December of 2022 has made such strides. Kevin Asato from the NB2A and Beny Ashburn from Crowns & Hops were on hand to break it down for us.
Here are some of the positives for what is still a nascent trade group:
there are around 86 black owned breweries in the U.S.
over the last two years, 70% of black breweries have been outpacing breweries overall
National Black Brewers Day is part of the agenda of the Congressional Black Caucus and House Bill 1297 is in the works to make it official on a federal level
there has been numerous brewing equipment donations that help one of the biggest hurdles in opening a brewery, the cost of equipment
and a real biggie, before she took up the presidential mantle, VP Kamala Harris had made contact with the group to work together with the White House!
Now, the picture is not all rosy. It is still a small organization staffing wise and the current craft beer malaise makes the overall job more of an uphill one but that climb will be easier once black owned breweries are seen as less DEI and more integral to craft beer success and vitality.
I have never understood either purposeful exclusion or almost worse, not even trying to appeal to a broad swath of customers and I wholeheartedly agree with Ashburn that it is critical for sustained success to reach out to anyone who shows interest in craft beer. Everyone in this country should have the access and encouragement to either enjoy craft beer or make it.
I have a sore spot when it comes to new products that use a K when it should be a C or vowels being left out. The new Haas hop only breaks the first rule as HBC 586 is now Krush.
The hop grower describes the flavors as “mango, guava, citrus and resin character.” Sounds up the alley for a tropical IPA. I am now on the clock to see how ling before I see that K on a beer label.
Jeff Alworth always posts interesting and thought provoking beer content at Beervana Blog and this piece HERE, is no exception. Using the premise of what other breweries could use a Chobani like savior to bring them back to life.
His picks are more centered in Europe and are much deeper cuts so I propose three additional choices….
One – Bert Grants – this was a Spokane, Washington based pioneer in the early craft beer movement. With the titular Scotsman as the branding lead. They made quite a few Americanized British Ales and were decidedly on the malty side of the spectrum.
Two – Thirsty Bear Brewing – this San Francisco based brewery and restaurant was on the organic bandwagon and Spanish tapas too. Maybe too niche to last too long but I would love to see a beer and serious food pairing space.
Three – Eagle Rock Brewery – this recently closed Los Angeles brewery led the way in L.A. but despite heroic efforts, could not find a winning combination of beers. Bigger bucks could bring back the opening year line-up and maybe find a better location as well.
Bar.on is a new technology from a Belgian start-up that is basically a countertop brewer. Imagine the equivalent to one of the ubiquitous coffee pod machines.
Let me backtrack, first you should read THIS fair and balanced (really) piece by Evan Rail about it.
Since the tech has not made it to Los Angeles, I cannot give my opinion on the taste of the beer but the red flag that I see waving is that of oversimplification. I do not think that I will be able to tap on a touchscreen that I want a Hazy DIPA with all New Zealand hops. The following but wait for the next generation left me feeling even more strongly that way.
“But greater complexity might be forthcoming. While the current OneTap prototype has just six flavor cartridges and one container of malt mixture, Standaert says the next-generation OneTap Pro — slated for 2025 — should have at least 14 flavor cartridges and three malt-mix containers, which will allow it to reproduce a much larger variety of styles.”
Beer has four main inputs, it is true, but the combinations are endless just within malt, let alone hops, water and yeast. The device might be able to copy a specific beer but will it ever go further than just a flat two dimensional simulacrum? Could this make a Cold IPA? Or a Pastry Stout?
Six episodes of Beer TV is coming. United Crafts of America is a series “that celebrates the craft beer revolution sweeping across the United States.”
Starting in the first episode that feature NYC and Interboro Spirits of Brooklyn before heading around the U.S. to Portland, Asheville, Boston, Great Falls and San Diego.
Count me a fan of Em Sauter and her colorful take on beer. She also prods conversation with pieces like this….
Makes me wonder what beer style names I think need a glow up. I would start with ESB, and in general, the British Bitters. They need something that matches their flavor profile when compared to an actual bitter beer. I would call them English Vintage or English Heritage Ales. Brown Ale needs something better too. Perhaps swarthy ale or mahogany ale, something more exciting.
There is a really good series of articles over at Hop Culture about Czech beer and brewing. This link sends you to an article about tapsters but there is a really cool fresh hop Budvar piece and a piece about the Kazbek hop too.
I read THIS article about a pop-up by reservation only cocktail bar and was intrigued. If I had a spare $100 on me, I would certainly be tempted to try this and not only for cocktails but for beer or cider too because I think it is a great way to create buzz and have a literal reason to tell a story as well. And in a town such as Los Angeles, there must be good stories and tellers of stories to make this happen. And club only brewers can do well so why not reservation only.
Here is another BSP, read THIS first, then come back to what my humble opinion is….
….OK, now that you are armed with the latest on cask ales, I would like to add my two cents (depending upon inflation) on the matter.
First, I am a fan of cask ale and I think it is is important that it does not become a museum piece. But in 2024, looking back, even when craft beer was roaring, it was an oddity, much in the way I think side pour faucets are. At least, here in the states, brewers are not welded to moldy cellars and no aspirators and can present a product that is consistent at whatever quality level it is at.
The U.S. problem is simply that the styles most suited or traditional in that dispense are just not best sellers and most American breweries would probably make more money buying a slushie machine or Micehelada mix instead.
The British have the extra problem of staying in traditional boundaries of CAMRA whilst also absorbing the extra cost in people power and spoilt beer.
Not an enviable position to be in.
We can wait for the next generation of drinkers to throw off more drinking shackles of their parents and grandparents and then rediscover cask as a minor rebellion or lean into gimmicky beers in cask or get more casks into taprooms and beer bars so that they are at the very least seen as part of the beer scene.
This will need to be driven from the brewery side though because I do not see a cask ale groundswell coming.
