Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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Needed or Not? – YuleLager

Looks like 2024 is when yule logs jumped the shark thanks to the  limited-edition Miller Lite YuleLager, described as “a digital, beer-pouring fireplace that offers fans a festive new way to savor the sights, sounds, and great tasting sips of the holiday season.”

With such “amazing” features like….

  • “A custom BeerBlaze LED screen, which creates the illusion of a frothy, beer-filled fire;
  • A custom audio track so fans can enjoy the sounds of the crackling, faux fire paired with the satisfying pop of a freshly opened Miller Lite;
  • Extra beer storage designed to keep Miller Lite at the perfect temperature;
  • Sturdy, built-in stocking hooks;
  • An insulated, fully removable chimney-inspired beer tower that allows fans to pour ice-cold Miller Lite straight from the beautifully crafted wooden base of the YuleLager, turning holiday time into Miller Time.

Not Needed – just buy good Christmas beers and get YouTube to play a crackling fire for you and yours.

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Ladyface Down

The last of the pioneering Los Angeles breweries and the second this year has called it quits.  Ladyface Ale Companie which changed over to Tavern Tomoko + Ladyface Brewery will be closing just before Christmas on 12/22.

Ladyface Ale Companie & Brasserie was established in late 2009 by Cyrena Nouzile.  That year brought us Strand Brewing and Eagle Rock Brewery as well.  Brewmaster Dave Griffiths was at the controls of award-winning Belgian, French and American style ales. La Blonde, La Grisette, Blind Ambition Abbey Ale, Trois Filles Tripel, and seasonal ales such as La Trappistine Belgian Dark Strong Ale, Blue-Belly Barleywine and Dérailleur Bière-de-Garde which was a favorite of mine.

Nouzile and Ladyface Ale Companie were proudly independently owned and operated and an active member of the Brewers Association, California Craft Brewers Association and especially the Los Angeles County Brewers Guild.

Pete Lee, turned from a Ladyface customer to owner when he bought the brewery and restaurant from Nouzile and channged the Brasserie to Tavern Tomoko while still keeping the beers under the Ladyface banner which I thought was a confusing choice.  

Later beers such as Animé, a Japanese pale ale brewed with jasmine rice and Sorachi hops and Atlas Shrugged, a barrel-aged dark strong anniversary ale did not get wide distribution and much like the other ’09ers, they could not re-create the buzz they had in early years.

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The Firkin for November 2024

A tariff is a tax imposed by one government on either imports or exports of goods (or both).  It is a revenue source for a government and import duties can also be a form of regulation of foreign trade that taxes foreign products to encourage or safeguard domestic industry. Protective tariffs are among the most widely used tools of protectionism along with import and export quotas.

Why did I just give a simplified definition of a tariff? Because many people who voted did not understand the meaning of that word and its ramifications on food and drinks. And in the coming years, this is going to really hurt the buying power of an American dollar.

American craft beer buyers already know the upward rise of cans or draft beer. My experience has been that $8.00 is probably as low as I can expect to see a price to be. Tariffs will push that up higher.

If your favorite brewery buys malt from Germany or wants a New Zealand hop varietal or wants to make an avocado ale using Mexican fruit, well, depending on the whim and senility of the dodo in charge, those ingredients may be more costly or far more costly.

And if you believe that this tariffs will bolster industry in America well, Mr X himself has the ear (as of today) of the dodo and thief and has proven to be very anti-union and anti-paying a fair wage and extremely anti-40 hour weeks. So you may not have enough money or time to enjoy a craft beer.

This country is heading for another depression and that is going to be another broadside to a beer industry already hit hard.

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Happy Thanksgiving

A great Thanksgiving for me is an unstressed Thanksgiving. No worries about cooking a turkey, no who to invite or not, no traveling through a packed airport.

Give me a turkey sandwich and a side and I am good.

And a few beers too.

However you best enjoy the day, enjoy it. Give thanks for the last 11 months and thanks for the next 11. We all need it.

Cheers!

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Wisco Expansion

In a sea of mostly negative news when breweries are concerned, here is a bit of positivity.  New Glarus Brewing will be adding space to their campus in Wisconsin.  It will take a few years for this expansion to be completed so plan your midwest brewery vacation accordingly.

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The Darkness

The aroma hop HS16660 now has a name, Erebus™ . Not the worst name around but I do not think that “the primordial deity of darkness in Greek mythology” would be into the aroma therapy of blueberry, citrus, candied fruit, and floral rose. But maybe Hopsteiner knows something about it that I do not.

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By Any Other Name

In a world where an Italian phrase Che Vuoi? has been used for multiple beers, may I suggest using some of the new slang, taken from the mouths of babes (aka Gen Z) like from below….

FYI – Delulu apparently stands for delusional which is probably what this idea is.

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New Chouffe, Who Dis

I should get punished for that headline but I just want to say that I think the Belgian design of modern art styled glassware and label design is just bright and fun in a way that American design seems to just lean into appropriating other brands IP.

This La Chouffe bottle would really look good on a Thanksgiving table.

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Celebrity Day – Welcome to Welsh Lager

Wrexham Lager has some new co-owners in Red Dragon Ventures.  News like that might strike craft beer fans as an “oh no” moment but RDV is actually Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney + the Allyn family — which very recently became a minority investor in Wrexham’s soccer teams. 

Wrexham Lager was founded in 1882 and now is on the verge ( as I previously posted about ) being sold in America as well as in countries across the world.

The Roberts family, which revived Wrexham Lager in 2011, eleven years after production had halted, will remain a co-owner of the brewery alongside Reynolds and McElhenney.  Both of whom have past experience in the drinks sector in spirits with gin and Irish whiskey.

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Celebrity Day – Spider Beer

Looks like another celebrity is entering the beer game but with an N/A twist.  Tom Holland is founding a company with the un-Marvel name of Bero and will have three non-alcoholic beers initially.  Kingston Golden Pils, Edge Hill Hazy IPA and Noon Wheat.  Nary a spider pun to be found but certainly some British influence.

It will be direct to consumer via their website with plans to launch in Target next year. Holland has discussed his sobriety which makes a venture into near beer a good call.