Category: Beer Industry

my occasional rants and raves about what is going on in the industry.

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Discounts for Raised Elbows

With on-off-kinda on tariffs and weird travel rules that discourage foreign travel, breweries in America cannot catch a break. 

But in Seattle, this is happening….

…. and maybe Los Angeles and San Diego breweries can form an alliance and pitch discounts for visitors? Or perhaps piggyback on Governor Newsom’s campaign for getting tourists to make the risky move of getting through US Customs without being detained.

Canadian tourism may bot be discussed much but when reports of people cancelling vacations at a financial loss and 90% downturn in travel here is not to be taken lightly. It will get ugly. And any incentives will help.

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Hop Day – MJF and Haas

I am all for hop blends with a purpose and with hop seller, Haas teaming up with the Michael James Jackson Foundation on “a new hop blend in support of the MJF’s mission to fund scholarship awards for Black, Indigenous, and People of Color in brewing and distilling….” is a great idea because the money raised is going to create the future of craft beer makers.

Per the press release, “MJF board members evaluated 16 hop varieties and created several blends for consideration. The winning blend includes Elani®, El Dorado®, Citra® and Citra LupoMAX®. After sensory analysis and test brews at the Haas Innovations Brewery, the final hop blend was processed and is now available for purchase. The new MJF blend is perfect for hop-forward styles like pale ales and IPAs.”

Here’s hoping that we will all see some great IPAs with this blend.

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Hop Day – Irish History

Considering the legacy of hops from England, nearby Ireland doesn’t seem to have a history of hops. I find that quite odd which is why the Irish hop history listed HERE is great to read. Makes me hope that I can find an Irish craft beer with local hops.

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Merging

It is not surprising that in 2025, that craft beer is stuck in major turbulence. Customer choices have led to craft beer and other spirits being considered of the past. Not trendy to put it bluntly.

Economics and American business theory roar into play for both good and bad. So now you have Fort Point and HenHouse merging forces.

Is that good or an ominous sign? Will there be more?

Well, capitalism does not reward business that do things right all the time and often rewards those who are a net negative to the world. There is not an economic system that is neutral. But if two companies can co-exist while not losing their uniqueness then it can be a smart move and can always be unspun when situations improve.

With the brewing community be tight knit and collaborative, I would not doubt that more dual operations do come into being to ride out the storm of the last four years and the next as things get more grim in the world.

So, it is hopeless right? That would be easy. In this year, in our shitty U.S., I veer that way. But, what if we true beer fans buy from true beer people? What happens?

I think that the dollar ( as devalued as it is now) will speak. Maybe sotte vocce but still.

If you feel devalued. If you feel unheard. Buy Fort Point. Buy HenHouse. But from your local. I am one but craft beer, well as Musk might put it, is legion.

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World Beer Cup!

courtesy of the Brewers Association

Getting the bad news out of the way first. Ireland did not medal in this year’s World Beer Cup. But closer to home the State of California brought home a total of 76 medals from Indianapolis and the Craft Brewers Conference.

Narrowing down to the large Los Angeles area breweries, here are the beers you should be looking for to see if you agree with the judges…

GOLD

San Fernando Brewing – Dr. Sleep Barrel-Age Beer

Arts District Brewing – Through the Roof International Pale Ale

Claremont Craft Ales – Pepper and Peaches Experimental IPA

SILVER

ISM Brewing – Hamburghini Italian Pilsner

Angel City Brewing – Big Trouble in Little Tokyo Experimental

ISM Brewing – Plough and Harrow Saison

Beachwood Brewing – Party Crush IPA

818 Brewing – Matador Red Ale

BRONZE

Far Field Krispy Kiwi Hoppy Lager

Santa Monica Brew Works – Basil Lemongrass Gose

Beachwood Raven’s Revenge British Imperial Stout

Beachwood Funk Yeah! and Funk Yeah! Peach Belgian Sour

Absolution Brewing Rector 2025 Belgian-Style Blonde

14 Cannons Home Run Jack American Lager

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Plan Ahead Day – CA Craft Beer Summit

Here is your super early notification that the 2025 California Craft Beer Summit will be held, not in Sacramento this year but in Irvine from November 10-12, 2025.  The theme is “Crafting Momentum—helping craft beer professionals drive progress, adapt to industry shifts, and fuel innovation within their breweries to sustain their momentum in California’s ever-evolving craft beer landscape.”

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Dirty Flowers

For those of you who love everything about hops and cannot get enough information about the mighty bittering agent of IPAs, now there is a new podcast to dive real deep into the topic.

“No Dirt No Flowers takes a fun look behind the scenes of the hop and agriculture world through the lens of Roy Farms, a 5th generation farm in Moxee, Washington. We cover topics like market conditions, the joys and pains of farming, social issues, brewing relationships, and so much more. The show is co-hosted by Mike Roy and Drew Gaskell from Roy Farms.”

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With or Without ABV

Sustainable Beverage Technologies from Colorado debuted some new tech last month about their draft system that “removes” alcohol from beer.  Yup, you scan the full beer list and say, I want the El Segundo Power Plant but without that 10+% ABV.

I have got to believe that this process also removes flavor compounds as well as other important things from the finished beer.  It would be like cooking a meal and then removing the salt.  How can you just target that without at the very least making all the other components of the beer loom larger?

I would in line to try a test for sure but until better tasters and beer judges than me give it a thumbs up, I will be giving it the side eye.

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Peel the Label – Extra Inclusion

In this time of major uncertainty, thoughts run to how to get people to the taproom. For a brewery, a pint over the bar is the best profit margin you can get especially with looming aluminum price increases.

There are trivia nights, painting nights, comedy nights, food trucks and all manner of events to get people into breweries.

But there are other deeper cuts that could be tried as well. I am not a fan of babies / toddlers / young’ins but I am probably in a minority so what can you do to bring parents in and create an environment that they want to return to. Perhaps a new parents meet-up where you cut the price on N/A drinks so when parent can imbibe. Or how about creating a quiet night for parents with autistic children who may feel that a taproom is too loud for an outing.

You can have nights for local sports teams but how about going deeper and having a women’s March Madness day to bring in a crowd that is truly growing. How about a book exchange to see if you can get introverts, like me, down to get even more reading material.

Or you can just program what every other brewery is doing.

Peel the Label is an infrequent series with no photos or links. Just opinion.

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Your Own Personal Tariff

Even though the initial round of tariffs have been postponed (with aluminum on the way) maybe in part because Canada banned American made spirits from their state-run liquor stores, I wanted to send out a blanket message to anyone who works in distilleries in Indiana, Kentucky and Tennessee who voted Elon for President that they nearly voted themselves out of a job.

Tariffs, as I have mentioned a few hundred times before work best as a protective layer for a young and growing homegrown industry that may be more expensive to start but could grow and become competitive and then not need the tariff protection. It is pretty basic economics. Unfortunately pretty basic economics seem beyond the grasp of too large a group of Americans.

The point of this post is not to say I Told You So. This post is for us few nice Americans who are siding with our neighbors to thr north and south. How do we push the needle to sanity? Below are some small actions you can take to help….

  • Buy Local + – the plus sign is the important part. Make sure that the local you are buying from is not a pro tariff, anti DEI, money above people brewery and if they pass that simple niceness test, then buy from them as directly as possible.
  • Do not buy – craft beer from places like Target who backed away loudly from DEI measures. liquor from big multi-nationals especially if they are from a state that Nazi Musk won. Basically be a mini-Canada.
  • Start buying from progressive or minority run business – use this time to discover new breweries, distilleries, cider spots. I have a whiskey from a female run distillery named Home Base and gin from another female run distillery, Freeland Spirits.
  • Buy from Canada and Mexico – no better middle finger than spending your money on goods from those two countries who are being shat on for no good reason.