Category: Beer Industry

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

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Irwindale

Barring a massive upsurge in PBR consumption, (Remember when it was the hard seltzer of a couple years back?) the large facility off of the 210 Freeway will probably go dark much later this year. Molson Coors already closed one facility in North Carolina as it restructures and sheds jobs and now Irwindale is on the chopping block.

Personally, I think the location should be re-purposed for housing. I don’t think that even an incubator of smaller breweries could make economic sense and at this point the beer ju-ju is probably so industrial that trying to make something creative there would be like putting on the Brady Tiki Amulet.

If nothing else, maybe some lovely street art can go up on the towers and make that stretch of traffic more bearable.

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Popular in 2019

Each time that Bud and Miller Lite hit the Untappd Top 10, I wonder if there is an intern somewhere with multiple fake accounts, making sure that the brands stay relevant in this corner of the beer universe. Who else would tick these beers and to this degree.

Diatribe aside, there is little that would make one go “Wow” from this list. The fact that Guinness blew away all other comers by a healthy margin despite having multiple variants is a healthy sign. How Lagunitas is #3 is a thinker but maybe that is due to a nationwide footprint and possibly global and nothing to do with the shuttering of locations. But landing #2 and # 3 has to take that sting out a bit.

I was hoping to see more craft represented. Really only (3) on the list with BrewDog, Bell’s and Sierra Nevada and all of them are on the larger side.

I am looking more forward to the deeper statistical dives that Untappd will release.

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New Kirin Belgium

Well this was some news to find in the local paper. I was in a Wi-Fi “un”-enabled spot and did not see this come across the ticker. The employee owners of New Belgium followed a path that Full Sail broke ground on in selling to Kirin – Lion – Little World. I have the feeling that more of this will happen in the future as older and bigger and not hip breweries look for a parachute out. Whether this works will be seen. Full Sail has not regained momentum but Anchor sold not once but twice and seems to be stable but then on the third hand, Lagunitas has been slimming down even with Heineken behind them. Or maybe this will mean a foedre sake blend in the future.

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An Excise Christmas

If you were worried about the looming Christmas deadline imagine what small brewers are feeling.  December 31st is the end of the CBMTRA (Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act).  That act of Congress (one of the few that the do-nothing’s in DC have done) reduced the excise tax basically in ½ per barrel.  Instead of $7.00, the charge went to $3.50 instead.

But it was a temporary relief bill and if it is not re-authorized the cost of being in the beer business will go back up.  Thankfully, most states see the benefits of this and it is hard to find many politicians that are against bringing it back but with impeachment sucking the air out of the room, it could easily be forgotten.

I think we all need to send a little Thanksgiving reminder to our representatives to remind them of how beer can grow without an Excise tax headwind.

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Novellas

I have come to realize that I will never catch up on all the reading that I want (need) to accomplish which is why I like smaller chunks of reading like the short story and novella.

The same goes with beer which is why I am a booster of the stubbie bottle, of flights and sharing. And I am also a fan of smaller packaging….

…I don’t know a thing about Workhorse Brewing but I love the 8oz packaging and the branding as “Flights”.

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FOOD: Transforming the American Table

For those heading to DC, the Smithsonian is going to show a little more of a beer side, ” “FOOD: Transforming the American Table” is an existing, permanent exhibition that explores the history of food and eating in the United States since 1950. The exhibition’s fall update will highlight new stories about changes in food itself and how Americans produce, prepare and consume food and drink. One of four major new sections is “Brewing a Revolution.”“

Per the Brewers Association press release, “Visitors will see artifacts, archival materials and photographs that originated in the homebrewing and microbrewing movements of California and Colorado in the 1960s through 1980s—the beginning of the craft beer “revolution.” “

Check out more about this exhibit HERE.

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One Less Bear

It’s a sign of what may be seen more and more in coming years but the very neighborhoods that have been gentrified are going to become too costly to stay in and issues with landlords are going to start to arise.

Case in point is Bear Republic. One of their (3) locations was in Healdsburg but with wine tourism spiking and building maintenance costs not being covered, they have decided to close that location and focus on their brewpub in Rohnert Park, and its production brewery in Cloverdale. The custom 15-barrel brewhouse from that was stationed in Healdsburg will move to Cloverdale.

As sales have slowed, margins tighten and any unexpected cost especially one from a landlord who can charge higher rents to newer occupants will cause re-trenchment and more big trucks with fermenters being driven from one spot to another.

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The Crushies

The first ever Craft Beer Marketing Awards will be held next year. The CBMA awards (aka The Crushies) will honor achivements in 30 categories starting with breweries and extending out to designers, marketing and Social media.

Here are some of the categories that will be judged:

Best Can, Best Tap Handle Design, Best Original Video, Best Merchandise Design, Best Use of Social Media and Best Website Design.

It will be interesting to see which L.A. breweries can garner awards.

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Future Legacy

Back when SABInBev started buying up craft breweries, it became evident that they were pursuing a geographic fit first followed by style categories. Now there is a new player from the craft sector, Legacy.

I don’t mean to paint Legacy and by extension Ninkasi Brewing of Eugene, Oregon out as a global villain. An acquisition strategy written down is often different from what plays out so it will be interesting if any California breweries are on the list of future possibilities since Legacy has now bought one brewery each in Oregon and Colorado.

I will keep the blog updated if anything happens in SoCal.

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The Next Trend in Packaging

You are looking at one of the two prototypes that the Carlsberg Group has created towards their goal of the world’s first “paper beer bottle”. The bottles are “made from sustainably-sourced wood fibres that is both 100% bio-based and fully recyclable.”

The difference is the polymer inside the bottle. Since these are tests, I (and probably they) may not know how the beer responds to heat, they are obviously shielded from light. Maybe we will all be drinking straight from fibre.