Category: Beer in the news

Great articles that you should read.

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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.

Gold – Beachwood Brewing in the Scotch Ale category for Full Malted Jacket

Silver – Highland 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

Bronze – 14 Cannons for Prussian River Baltic Porter in the Baltic Porter category

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Ducks and Bears

Beer business news broke earlier this month that I thought I should make at least a brief comment on….

A little twist on the acquisition front as Drakes Beer is the new owner of the brands only of Bear Republic Brewing famous for their Racer 5 IPA.  (which I now need to find to compare one version to the upcoming new one)

Rich Norgrove the leader of Bear Republic will join the Drake’s organization which bodes well for continuity. How many recipes will make the trip is a question.

I guess that means that Drakes must be doing OK or have brewing capacity and secondly, that there is now a brewing space open for a new brewery. Which is why I am usually only momentarily sad when a brewery shuts down, because I feel it is an opportunity for a new owner to make new beers.

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New Look for Spring

Smog City Brewing along with Ryan Cochran, their label designer who brought to life the original labels and characters for Smog City IPA, Amarilla Gorilla IPA, Coffee Porter, and Sabre-Toothed Squirrel will be refreshing the art for 2023.  You can see a sneak of the IPA look below…

Amazing to realize that these beers were all originally released in 500ml bottles many moons ago.  I like the dominant blue look and the house style and whimsy is still there too.

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A Strange Bouquet

February 13 is a big day in the flower game. I know because I have been behind the scenes on that day since my Aunt Donna and Uncle Gene owned Milwaukie Floral. They even let me drive a really old hollowed out blue van to make deliveries.

So I was interested to see this development from FTD….

…but where is the beer. You can get roses and champagne, zinnias and bourbon, peonies and gin but no beer? Weird. A lambic would be a prime candidate.

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Another R.I.P. – Strand Brewing

December and now January have not been kind to Los Angeles breweries. Today comes word via Instagram that Strand Brewing in Torrance is now done for good.

If you were here for the heady early L.A. brewing days, the sight of Rich Marcello in his crisp white shirt talking about 24th Street Pale for a moment before he had to get behind the wheel again was a common one. The little brewery tucked into a tiny spot was must stop by one as Torrance beer blew up.

When they moved to the huge space close to Yorkshire Square, that magic was dimmed a bit. The space was huge and Strand could only fill so much of it even when they started distilling. For me, the brightness of the beers seemed to dim as well. The pale was still solid but the IPAs started to fall behind nearby Smog City.

Here is to someone or some group finding a way to make that location viable again maybe by having one or two co-tenants that could draw more crowds combined.

And here’s to Rich and all the others who made Strand Brewing great.

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Chosen Again

Shmaltz Brewing Company, the jokey and punny Jewish craft beer brand seemed to be done when founder Jeremy Cowan moved to other projects after 25 years.

He’Brew: The Chosen Beer  is now owned by Jesse Epstein, a 26-year-old Reform rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College.  Epstein started home brewing during the pandemic and saw an opportunity to reinvigorate religion which is struggling with attendance.

I saw a great quote from Epstein, “What about our Jewish values can be used to inform our food practices?” he asks. “How, through beer, can we embrace the values of welcoming in the stranger, freeing the captive, opening the eyes of the blind?”  A refreshing thought when religion seems quicker to divide and discriminate.

It will probably be a slow build but hopefully Epstein can accomplish it.