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my occasional rants and raves about what is going on in the industry.
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.
The Modern Times fallout continues as Craft ‘Ohana, the parent company of Maui Brewing Co. is partnering up with San Diego based Wings & Arrow Beer Co. to kinda-sorta supervise Modern Times operations.
This is where it gets even more complicated though. Wings & Arrow is part of Great Frontier Holdings which is the overarching group for Ninkasi and Ecliptic Brewing amongst other seltzer holdings.
Got me to thinking about how one cqn have a manager, who has a manager, who has a manager. Eventually there is too much distance between the brew floor and who owns the business.
I have a feeling this will be ongoing.
It is safe to say that I enjoy a good entrepreneur story and if you don’t like the personalities of Shark Tank there is a different show that you can listen to as a podcast or on YouTube called The Pitch and recently they had a beer episode.
The founder of Hoplark which makes hop water and hop teas is branching out into brewing efficiency. ReCraft has engineered a way to get more utilization of hops and water that might save some money for a brewery.
Take a listen (or watch) HERE.
Anheuser-Busch announced a new $16 million investment in its Los Angeles ( Van Nuys ) brewery with the main takeaways being:
· Expansion of packaging capabilities for the company’s “beyond beer” brands like Cutwater and NUTRL, including variety packaging
· Increased production capacity for 25-ounce cans to meet increasing consumer demand
· Facility upgrades to enhance water conservation and reduce boiler emissions
Anheuser-Busch has been in the Valley since 1954 and is one of more than 120 facilities across the country.
I am down for the third item of water saving but am a bit confused by the first two. Are there not enough variety packs from Bud? Or its ethanol options? And 25 ounce cans? I thought the 19.2 ounce stovepipes were the package du jour.
I also noticed nothing about buying better hops or local malts or making better beer.
…National Black Brewers Day. I heartily suggest that you find a craft beer from a black owned business to celebrate this day whilst also realizing how few of these breweries there are and that there should be more come this time in 2025.
Most of us old-timey beer fans have a few big growlers either getting dust in a cabinet or garage. It was super trendy for a super tiny amount of time and always seemed to come with caveats to it.
16oz cans basically killed off growlers and bomber bottles in one fell swoop but Double Mountain Brewing in Oregon has been rallying behind refillable bottles for quite some time now.
Matt Swihart from the brewery talked to OPB (Oregon Public Broadcasting) about recycling which you can check out HERE.
At this point, I think the battle is over. Cans have the upper hand and also, there is no beer chasing FOMO or big recycling push at the moment from the younger generation so I do not see who would take the extra time to do this.
Like so much spent grain, Canadian cannabis company, Tilray is dumping a who’s who of Oregon brewing talent from 10 Barrel Brewing in Bend.
Gone is former Barley Brown’s brewmaster Shawn Kelso, former brewmaster Jimmy Seifrit, former Bend Brewing brewmaster Ian Larkin and most notably GABF medal machine, Tonya Cornett.
You can write a book (others have) about the malfeasance of SABInBev but at least they were not stupid enough to cut loose that murderers row of brewing know how. It would be the equivalent of the Kansas City Chiefs, waiving Mahomes, Kelce and Coach Reid in one fell swoop.
This is, unfortunately, typical corporate shortsightedness. Keeping talent happy and hoppy is not valued as much as profit. And what is thought of now as cost savings is going to end up losing them customers in the short term and will also introduce more competition in the long term as those brewers either start their own places or go to a brewery and bring their ‘rizz with them.
It takes a special attitude for a large corporation to grow a small company under its banner and most do not have the people skills or vision to accomplish it. Tilray has shown their true colors.
Jeff Alworth always posts interesting and thought provoking beer content at Beervana Blog and this piece HERE, is no exception. Using the premise of what other breweries could use a Chobani like savior to bring them back to life.
His picks are more centered in Europe and are much deeper cuts so I propose three additional choices….
One – Bert Grants – this was a Spokane, Washington based pioneer in the early craft beer movement. With the titular Scotsman as the branding lead. They made quite a few Americanized British Ales and were decidedly on the malty side of the spectrum.
Two – Thirsty Bear Brewing – this San Francisco based brewery and restaurant was on the organic bandwagon and Spanish tapas too. Maybe too niche to last too long but I would love to see a beer and serious food pairing space.
Three – Eagle Rock Brewery – this recently closed Los Angeles brewery led the way in L.A. but despite heroic efforts, could not find a winning combination of beers. Bigger bucks could bring back the opening year line-up and maybe find a better location as well.
With the rise of 4-packs came a rise in rings. Thankfully most breweries are not using the translucent ocean killers as in years past but I still have a major league stack of the plastic snap ons and only one brewery that I know of that takes them back.
But now comes the Craft-Pak Versa can carriers. They “use up to 50% less plastic than competitor carriers without compromising form or function. Plus, certified 100% biodegradable*, Craft-Pak Versa completely decomposes within months. This produces fewer emissions and creates less waste.”
I am hoping to see more of these on the market.
When a brewery in Los Angeles calls it a day, it is sad. But when a real path breaker does it, it is doubly sad. If not quadruply sad with it happening smack in the middle of L.A. Beer Week. Such is the case though as Eagle Rock Brewery has decided to end its run at the end of June.
Founded back in 2009 by two really great people, Ting and Jeremy. They have run government gauntlets, brewed many a Unity beer, were there at every early beer festival and so much more.
Who knew that a tiny little brewery in a weird corner side street off a freeway exit with a mild ale as a torch bearer would have such an outsized impact on the direction of craft beer in Los Angeles.
Now only Ladyface Ale Companie stands from the trio of early L.A. breweries. How this will affect The Landing in Burbank or Party Beer Co. who was using the facilities is unknown at this point but this is a real dent and one that I will be processing for a while.