Category: Beer in the news

Great articles that you should read.

Posted on

World Beer Cup 2024

CBC, the Craft Brewers Conference was in Las Vegas aka Land of the Sphere and that is where the World Beer Cup awards were announced yesterday.

Screenshot

Here is my Los Angeles centric take on who won…

  • 9,300 beers entered into the competition from 50 countries
  • took 8 categories before California announced itself by sweeping the Coffee beer category
  • Orange County picked up a brace of medals in Strong Porter and Hoppy Pilsner
  • Bend, Oregon was the big city winner
  • Speaking of Bend, 10 Barrel swept the German Style Sour Category, winning all three medals
  • weird fact that German-Style Pilsner was the 3rd biggest category
  • Good to see that Ian McCall and ISM Brewing came up big with multiple medals
  • Got to see Bianca, Jace and Guillermo streaming!
  • Also happy to see L.A. based winners Paperback repping Glendale with Silver, Ogopogo and Far Field with Gold and Cellador with Silver, Bravery with Bronze
  • La Fin du Monde from Unibroue won Gold and I have that in my fridge!
  • Great beer names: Cactus Makes Perfect, Hell Yes Helles, Irish Pre-Nup

You can see the full list of winners HERE

Posted on

More Small Print

There is the potential that beer labels will have to squeeze in a lot more information onto them in the future.  More specifically, allergens and nutrition information.  Which is not good for those, like me, who need major magnification just to read what hops are in the beer.  And though I like the idea of a QR code that leads you to more detailed information, what percentage of people are going to use that and then what percentage of those will understand the governmental gobbledygook that passes for information?

You can read more HERE from the Brewers Association. 

Posted on

May the Brew Be With You

I am not a homebrewer but I know the vital importance of having them around to push the recipe envelope without having to sell their beers and to be a minor league from which new breweries can spring with new ideas.

And a cool new idea for the Big Brew 2024 on May 4th is to have a theme.  That theme? Homebrew recipes inspired by Star Wars.

The recipes are Degobah Dunkel, Jabba Juice Hazy IPA, A New Hope Pale Ale, Empire Strikes Back Dark Ale and rounding out the OG trilogy Return of the Jedi Pale Ale.  All OK names but I hope to see some deeper cuts like Ahsoka Amber or Order 66 Betr-Ale.

Posted on

Celebrate Saison

I am giving you ample opportunity to stock up for April 27th. What am I stocking up on, you might ask? Saisons of course. Throwing no shade on IPA Day or Stout day but other styles need the push more and Allagash has picked the 27th for Saison.

Start looking now, you don’t have to just drink them on one day.

Posted on

Beer-odrama

Haven’t been on Netflix for awhile.  Too busy catching up on shows on other streamers but they have recently announced an interesting beer series helmed by “Peaky Blinders” writer Steven Knight. Called House of Guinness (for now) it will tell the story of The Guinness Family. Yes, that one.

It “will be set in the 19th-century in both Dublin and New York, and will focus on the aftermath of the death of Benjamin Guinness, who is frequently credited with the brewery’s long-standing fame and success. The plot will follow Benjamin’s children Arthur, Edward, Anne, and Ben as they navigate the challenges of the business in the wake of their father’s passing.”

Posted on

Name That Beer

I do enjoy when a brewery crowdsources a beer name. I know it might be a headache to go through the weeding out process but I think it can yield an out of the box name.

And for their 30 Year Anniversary celebration this year, Beer of the Month Club is joining up with “The Lost Abbey and Offshoot Beer Co., to craft four exclusive beers that will be made available only to members of The Rare Beer Club® and The Microbrewed Beer of the Month Club™.”

More info: “Members and non-members alike will be invited to enter the contest beginning on March 21st with an entry deadline of Friday March 29th. Participants will be able to submit up to three names for each of the four beers to be named in the contest and the winners will be awarded a $150 MonthlyClubs.com Gift Card.”

Click HERE to enter.

Posted on

Malt Boots

File this under, why didn’t I think of it.  Country Malt Group, with Canada Malting Co. and Great Western Malting have introduced the new Pink Boots Malt.

It is “In celebration of International Women’s Day and in support of women’s craft beer advocacy organization Pink Boots Society,  Similar to the annually released Pink Boots Society Hop Blend by Yakima Chief Hops, the Pink Boots product is a seasonal craft base malt that supports the Pink Boots Society scholarship fund for women.”

Here is more info about it, “Each year, the Pink Boots Malt will highlight a different barley variety and growing region, with characteristics that are versatile enough for every beer or whiskey style, but unique enough to inspire a new Pink Boots beverage each year. This year, the Pink Boots Malt is a well-balanced, low color, Pilsen-style malt, featuring the Odyssey barley variety grown throughout the Pacific Northwest. Crafted with both brewers and distillers in mind, it is also a high extract, low-GN malt product.”

Alright yeast retailers, your turn.

Posted on

Cooking on Cook

When word came that famed Oregon brewer John Harris (Dechutes, Full Sail) was selling his brewery to Great Frontier Holdings, Ecliptic and that most of the beers would be brewed elsewhere, it was a blow as Ecliptic anchored the bottom of trendy Mississippi Avenue in North East Portland.

But news dropped earlier this month (about the same time that we learned that Bagby Beer Co was making way for Green Cheek) that…..

“…Von Ebert Brewing announced it is moving into the formerly Ecliptic Brewing facility on N. Cook Street in Portland, which allows the brewery to expand production and distribution from 4,000 barrels per year to as much as 20,000 barrels per year.”

And, “John Harris is a beer institution who helped put Oregon on the map. By taking over the N. Cook. Street space, Von Ebert will be able to continue the legacy of brewing Oregon’s world-class craft beer.”

The best part of the news comes from Harris, who says, “Von Ebert Brewing makes awesome beers and I look forward to working with them to continue to produce small batch Ecliptic beers on the same equipment.”

The transition to Von Ebert Brewing should have the N. Cook Street taproom reopened this spring.

Posted on

Aware

Offering up an alternative to Dry January for those who feel the need to monitor their drinks intake is an upcoming smartphone app from researchers from Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne in Switzerland.  The app is called Smaart.  It uses a game template to reward users for reaching moderation and non-drinking goals.

Since it is still being trialed and not available you can also peek at Drinkaware and Drink Control, two other apps that help keep account of drinking.

Better to keep track all year than binge in December and February.

Posted on

Bagby Beer to Green Cheek

In startling news, Bagby Beer Co. in Oceanside is transitioning into the southernmost Green Cheek location.

You can read the full adieu HERE but this is a big change. Oceanside is a well beer-ed city, Bagby has a large sprawling location which combined with a general craft beer downturn probably laid the groundwork for the change. A type of change that will be happening more often in 2024.

It is too bad as you will tell from today’s other post that I really liked their beers. Solid quality. On the good side of the ledger, Green Cheek is pretty solid too, can’t really quibble with them taking over.