Category: Beer in the news

Great articles that you should read.

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A Red Engine

You nevertheless know what bit of info you can glean from a beer label, I learned about a new brewery coming to Santa Clarita from one….

…Red Engine Brewing Company is slated to open in 2021. Here is the website copy, “Red Engine Brewing Company will be the newest brewery and taproom in Santa Clarita, California – a bedroom suburban community located in north Los Angeles County. We are currently conducting research to identify the best location, likely to be near a newly-developing area of Santa Clarita. We plan to open in the summer or fall of 2021.”

I think it is best to look long and hard when it comes to location and put 2020 way, way in the rear view mirror. Watch this space or their social media for further info.

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How Many?

At one point in my beer blogging career, the following might have impressed me…

…but now. Those beers probably should have been drunk by now. They are live things and should not be embalmed. A better idea would be to drink the beer, save the bottle and tuck the recipe inside.

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N/A Haze

The next round in the Non-Alcoholic beer game has begun with Boston Beer Co. adding a Hazy IPA to their roster but with no-low alcohol. The question remains, will this boost the category? Either because of limited distribution or bad taste, the niche hasn’t burst hard like seltzer’s. Personally the lows of N/A are bad while seltzer seems uniformly m’eh. Maybe tackling the style most popular will help. Just in case, they should do a non-alcohol pastry stout too.

I would recommend not getting a full sidereal until you have tried one.

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Norwegon

At this point in the pandemic, you have probably already watched everything good wanted to and stuff you are not proud of, but thanks to the Craft Beer Scribe for sharing there is some beer content created by the Ben brewery, The Ale Apothecary. Head HERE to watch the video. It is really cool. It will leave you wanting to learn more and to drink the beer.

Then please donate some kroner for their postponed festival.

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A New Steam

I am a harsh judge of brand design. I know what I like and only a few breweries win kudos from me on this front. When I heard that the venerable Anchor Steam was getting a make-over, I blanched. The old (current) design is great. Is it in-modern, yeah but it still stands out on shelves.

Now we get this yellow/gold look and the art is fine but the color scheme is both too much and too little. Garish brightness and lots of unused space. Maybe this will just be a summer look.

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Open Window

Creativity abounds even in dark times and Temescal Brewing has fused together the 1950s Food-a-Matic with the even older wine window to make a not so automatic beer delivery.

You scan a QR code, place your order electronically and when it is ready, a window opens and you get a beer. Of course it is humans behind those cubbyholes and not robots but it is a bit of whimsy much needed.

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8 Trillion

Crowns & Hops has recently announced the 8 Trill Pils Initiative, this is a fund that will financially assist Black brewers wanting into the craft brewing world.  

This is another great piece in building a pipeline so that more can enter this industry without extra barriers.

That number is based on economic figures posited by Ani Turner. That is the amount of money that could be boosted into the economy over the next 30 years if racial disparities would be stripped away from business decisions. 

The new fund starts with a $100,000 check from BrewDog.  The Scottish brewer also has invested in Crowns & Hops last year.

Now, the larger societal fixes need to be added to really make this work. We need to get every child speeding towards success. That means schools, healthcare and housing.  And specifically from the brewing perspective, we need a robust mentorship program in all aspects from hop farming to label design to brewing. 

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Breathing: Conversations

Finback Brewing has added their voice and platform to a new initiative that I hope will spread across the country, Breathing: Conversations.

Here is the gist of their idea, “We invite all breweries to participate in this conversation and we invite all people to join the dialogue by speaking to each other, telling us your stories and linking all our voices in a collective conversation by using the hashtag #BreathingConversations. The topic of race is a challenging one, potentially uncomfortable, awkward and vulnerable, but it is a conversation we must have. We must hear each other and listen to the voices of the oppressed, of people of color and create a more equitable future.”

Below is an example from Cascade Brewing…

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Can It Get Much Higher

Back in the day, there were some weird gimmicks / marketing / boundary pushing beers. And one of the weirder chapters in the craft beer history book was the high ABV battle between BrewDog and Shorschbrau. Scotland V Germany to create a beer higher in alcohol than some spirits.

There was Tactical Nuclear Penguin at 32%. Then the Germans countered with their Bock at 40%, BrewDog came back with Sink the Bismarck which tipped in at 41%. The Bock returned at 43% before The End of History arrived at an eye popping 55%.

All that is preamble to the fact that the two breweries have joined forces (via Zoom) to create a new beer. More news on what it will be is coming.

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Out in a Flash

When Alpine Beer Company became part of Green Flash, I thought it was a good fit. Fast forward and I was ever so wrong. You could probably say that the downfall of Green Flash kinda began with that acquisition. Fast forward again to 2020 and it looks like, if things break right, that the father and son duo Patrick and Shawn Mcilhenney might regain the ol’ system that that was Alpine’s home from 2002 to 2014.

The new company is Mcilhenney Brewing and they will start up again “after the current tenant vacates.”

The renter is of course Green Flash and once they move out, the new can begin.