Need Beer Faster

Here is another patented BSP, read THIS, then come back here post.

Thanks for tapping the back button.

Here is the thing about sped up beverage technology, same goes with AI in all applications, the depth of texture will be lost. Sure you might get close to a generic adjunct big business lager but how do you re-create a pastry stout or Phantasm and its tropical thiols or the slight bit of extra something from a double decoction? Answer, you don’t.

Bourbon has had techies try to create fast barrel aged and most, if not all, get reviews that range from it tasted weird to it tasted bad. Because you just can’t replicate time.

Two more additional points: I very much enjoyed how they glossed over the water part. Your test tube beer will taste different depending on the soft water of one city compared to the ultra hard water where I am at in Glendale. And point three, how much does this cost? Even $24 4-packs will be cheap in comparison.

So, I am not worried.

Corporations are Bad People Day – Grinch

Two weeks ago, the news started to leak that the owner of Anchor Brewing, Sapporo was re-trenching the distribution of the beer back to California.

An understandable move and one that might have blipped into a news feed and then been pushed aside by a politician saying something stupid or the latest Tik Tok craze.

But that was not all that was announced. There will be no Christmas Ale in 2023. After 48 years, there will not be a beautifully drawn tree on a label during the holidays.

Did I expect that there would always be an Anchor Christmas Ale, yes. Was that realistic? No. But you think that Sapporo would have given the beer an epic send-off. Or brewed it for two more years to reach the 50 year mark. Are there no marketers left?

Economics is not just demand, it is supply and demand. You could bring back Christmas Ale and say it is the last year for it and you will probably sell it all and probably sell it at a higher mark-up. I will not believe that Sapporo doesn’t have enough loose change in the couch cushions to do a final bottling run. Even a small one for magnums only.

If I was a smaller brewer, I would start working on a replacement Christmas beer. I can imagine some pointed names for the beer would practically write themselves.

Buyback

Last month Appalachian Mountain Brewing bought their company back from the SABInBev Craft Brew Alliance and I my first wonder was if more would follow that lead.

It is one possible benefit of the slowness of the craft beer industry is that breweries who had sold out to the big beer barons, might see that their treatment at the hands of their overlords wasn’t great and the price is now right to get their company back into their hands.

My second wonder was that maybe the people that sold already moved on? But then Funky Buddha and Four Corners were reverted back to their OG owners from Constellation who bet ever so wrong on craft beer.

I think more will follow.

Platonic

Now Apple is not one of my current streamers so I can’t vouch for the show but hey, in the trailer for Platonic, we learn that Seth Rogen’s character is a brewer! Maybe that is referenced just the once and the only actual scenes are behind a bar pouring a beer but a rare brewer in a movie is a progress.

Last 4 Monks

With another Trappist brewery closing, this time Stift Engelszell in Austria, it may be that craft beer fans will see both the high and low water marks of the protected trademark associated with brewing in a monastery.

At Stift Engelszell, the last four monks made the move to another monastery.  It is probably both a victim of changing tastes in not only beer but also in religion.  Second sons are not forced into a career path in theology as in the ye’ olde days and even the term primogeniture isn’t used outside of the odd coronation, here or there.  It is actually surprising that monasticism has lasted as long as it has.

Hopefully the Trappist organization can find a way to save these recipes and maybe revive the brands under a less stringent set of productions.

In the Bin

Most recycling pitches are based on guilt trips so it is refreshing to see one that leavens the mood with humor.  Take a watch right HERE.

Now we just need to get a better, national recycling plan in place where ALL of the glass gets made into new bottles and one doesn’t need to consult multiple sources to find out if a can label needs to be peeled off beforehand.

World Beer Cup 2023

The World Beer Cup presented their awards last night…

…and here is the SoCal medal count. Seven all told for my defined LA.

GoldBeachwood Brewing in the Scotch Ale category for Full Malted Jacket

SilverHighland Park Brewing for High 9 DIPA in the Juicy / Hazy Imperial IPA category, Arts District Brewing for Elevated in the Australian-Style Pale Ale category, Boomtown Brewing for Party Pils in the American-Style Pilsner category, HiDef Brewing for Bass Clef in the Wood Aged Strong Beer category and Angel City Brewery for Apple Pomace Puncheon in the Experimental Wood Aged category

Bronze14 Cannons for Prussian River Baltic Porter in the Baltic Porter category

ABInBev TV?

Just when you thought we had reached peak saturation in entertainment choices, along comes ABInBev to glue our eyes to screens since it is better than drinking their beer.

The megacorp (which doesn’t have much money for their purchased craft breweries) is creating an entertainment division, called DraftLine Entertainment which will create films, television and podcasts.

Who knows if Netflix or Spotify will want Bud sponsored content on their streamers but I can imagine a Bud Light RomCom or a true crime podcast about theft of small boutique distributors.

More Summit News -Part 1

I have posted (many moons ago) about the three HBC hops 586, 630 and 638 but the latest literature from Yakima Chief Hops states that all three are now in the Elite Trials stage of the breeding program. One step closer to getting named and maybe becoming the next “It” hop varietal. Of them, 586 is my leading contender due to sweet aromatic and a bigger punch of citrus and tropical flavors.

Up top though is ID 158, from the Magnum hop lineage which seems to have a very pointed citrus dry hop aroma but is also all over the aroma map.  This one is still a few years off though.

Maryland Hops

I came across a cool tidbit of hop information on YouTube about the re-discovery of a brand new wild hop named Monocacy found in Maryland.

Don’t know if it is hardy enough to be bigger than just a novelty or if it has flavors that brewers can truly use but it is great to see hops waiting to be found.