Category: Beer Industry

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

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Improve Your Lupulin Vocabulary

If you are subscribed to the Hop Queries newsletter, well then what kind of beer rabbit hole geek are you?

At the recent Brewing Summit 2018, hop aromas were broken down into these groups and I think it is quite useful to have handy the next time you try an IPA that is new to you to see where it lands……
 
Fruity – Citrus
Grapefruit, Orange, Lemon, Lime, Tangerine, Mandarin
 
Fruity – Tropical
Mango, Pineapple, Papaya, Banana, Lychee, Guava, Passion Fruit, Coconut
 
Fruity – Berry
Raspberry, Strawberry, Blueberry, Blackberry, Concord Grape, White Grape, Gooseberry, Black Currant/Catty, Red Currant, White Wine
 
Fruity – Stone Fruit
Peach, Apricot, Nectarine, Cherry, Plum
 
Fruity – Melon
Cantaloupe, Honeydew, Cucumber, Watermelon
 
Fruity – Pomme
Apple, Pear
 
Floral
Geranium, Rose, Lavender, Jasmine, Elderflower, Potpourri
 
Woody
Pine, Resinous, Cedar, Tobacco, Sandalwood
 
Herbaceous
Black Tea, Green Tea, Mint, Rosemary, Bergamot, Dill, Thyme, Basil, Sage, Cannabis, Skunk, Menthol
 
Grassy
Fresh Cut Grass, Lemongrass, Green Leaves, Hay
 
Spicy
Black Pepper, Clove, Licorice/Anise, Ginger, Coriander, Cardamom
 
Sweet Aromatic
Caramel, Chocolate, Vanilla, Bubblegum
 
Medicinal
Plastic, Rubber, Burnt Rubber, Smoke, Petroleum, Diesel
 
Dairy
Cheese, Cream, Waxy
 
Earthy
Musty, Soil, Marsh, Moss
 
Vegetal
Onion, Green Onion, Garlic, Green Bell Pepper, Celery, Asparagus, Cabbage

This is very useful to see where your favorite hoppy beers are so that you can pursue ones with similar aroma profiles and really hone in on your preferred IPA.

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Suffer & Sierra

Sierra Nevada has expanded.  They have acquired the Sufferfest Beer Company of nearby San Francisco. (During SF Beer Week no less.)

 Started in 2016, Sufferfest makes gluten-removed beers such as a Kolsch and a Pale Ale. They are geared towards runners specifically and the health aware in general.  The brewery has its origins at UC Davis in 2012.

I can see the fit meshing from multiple viewpoints.  Company culture seems to be in the same ballpark.  Sufferfest is in a market that Sierra is not.  They are geographically close.  But for some nagging reason, I don’t know how this will benefit Sierra much. 

Sufferfest will be able to be brewed (once the recipes are dialed in over in Mills River) on the East Coast which will open a market and the probably longer arm of Sierra distribution.  But they could have entered into a brewing partnership without buying.  And it is still unclear how big, either the gluten-reduced or athlete market is going to fare long term.It’s sort of like trading for a player who has three-year contract vs. a similar player who has an expiring contract.  If the three point shooting goes south, you can walk away under the second scenario.

Maybe the numbers look really good for Sufferfest and that is what this deal is based on but I will be watching this one.

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New Distribution Model

#2 in a semi-regular series, this month, and maybe further, I am going to attempt to think outside the box a bit. Where does craft beer and the world intersect and how can they build together. I want to put some fun, maybe totally un-workable ideas out there. The U.S. has gotten so stuck but maybe one idea can spark another and then we can find one that does make life truly greater.

Distribution of beer was born out of the traumatic ashes of prohibition and worked fine if all you wanted was one type of beer from three companies.  But now, there are rules in every one of the fifty states, rules on the Federal level and laws set that simply do not work for the current landscape of beer.

The main problems, as I see them, are:

  1. SABInBev has too much clout and power – they basically have a firm grip on nationwide delivery and probably would open (or buy) Bud taprooms if they were allowed to obliterate the 3-Tier System.
  2. Distributors have too much leverage over breweries – there are too many laws that restrict brewery movement or profit.
  3. Can Sales – those few breweries that can sell out from their dock is stressing bars and bottle shops.

I think that the new model for distribution is repeal & replace. Send the 3-Tier System to Puppy Lake and remember the good times and replace it with…..

(1)Federal Law.  That’s right.  Even in a time of Drumpf, I think one consistently enforced set of rules on the federal level would make life easier.  It would also promote opening a brewery in any state.

CAPS are the key to my plan.  We can start by separating breweries into tiers of production and with each “level up” there is more scrutiny on payola, tap line buying and exclusive agreements. A cap should be placed on distributors owned and establishments operated based on the tiers without stifling growth by scaring a business away from a tier jump. 

Second, starting a distribution company should be incentivized though as the distributor gets bigger, the “vig” they can take gets capped.  Doing away with franchise laws that tie a brewery to a distributor need to be abolished in favor of signing shorter term deals for three months, half year or a year.  This way the churn will be higher and the distributor will need to be on their toes and can’t just hide a beer in the back without consequence. 

Lastly, a brewery that holds a certain amount special release sales at their taproom can’t make demands that a non-special release beer be carried by a store.  I understand this is an issue for breweries who have clients who just want the rare beer and nothing else but if you are doing a large chunk of business out your door then that trade-off is losing this privilege.

I am sure there are holes in my plan as with all of these new models that I propose but we do need to start discussing the problems and finding simple, easily applied rules.

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Granted

One of the geekier, deep cuts for #independent beer world  is the annual release heralding the recipients of Brewers Association 2019 Research and Service Grants Program.  For 2019, 17 grants totaling $509,058 were awarded to researchers and organizations across the country to scientifically advance the key ingredients in beer.

I went through the list and the items that caught my eye in the world of barley and hops were the following:

Evaluating a Multi-State Breeding Project to Produce Local Malting Barley for the Craft Brewing Industry at the University of Minnesota seems the most important of the group since hyper local is such a key part of craft beer.

Then there are two barley projects that share the same term that I had to Google to understand: The Continuing Quest for Flavor: From the Oregon Promise to the Romp of Otters at Oregon State University and Metabolomics and Genomics Analysis of the ‘Romp of Otters’ Barley Flavor Project at Colorado State University.  I now know what a two or more otters are called and I wish more groups were called Romps.

On the hop front, Development of Thiols and Thiol Precursors in Different Hop Varieties During Hop Harvest and their Impact on Beer Flavour conducted by Nyseos, Barth-Haas Group could yield new insights on flavors in the next big IPA style.

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New Mall Model

This month, and maybe further, I am going to attempt to think outside the box a bit.  Where does craft beer and the world intersect and how can they build together.  I want to put some fun, maybe totally un-workable ideas out there.  The U.S. has gotten so stuck but maybe one idea can spark another and then we can find one that does make life truly greater.

I live in Glendale, CA and for SoCal old-timers that may conjure up trips to the Glendale Galleria and for those new, the more Caruso owned Americana. Both malls are up-to-date with a seemingly always rotating set of stores sprinkled amidst anchors such as Target in the Galleria and Nordstroms at the Americana.

But on the other edge of Glendale sits the Eagle Rock Plaza. A hulking expanse of 2 level parking with a few stores tucked behind the cars and a weird little mini-mall in front. It is not pretty, it is mostly grey and it has not kept up with the times.

from the L.A. Times article about how the Eagle Rock Plaza was surpassed by the Glendale Galleria.

Now, I would tear it down and plunk as much affordable housing as I could cram into the space but I doubt that would happen what with NIMBYs shouting louder than MAGAs these days.

What could happen though, is a gradual re-imagining of a mall in 2019 and one of those aspects could be, you guessed it, beer. Craft beer has been known to be a lead gentrifier before and that could be used to make a space that is more local and nimble and fun.

To make my point, read THIS. Now that you are back, I think that a brewery/brewpub could bring the Eagle Rock Plaza alive again. Of course a lot of landscaping would need to be done and a lot of the parking spots would need to be turned into actual green spaces or at least Lyft zones but imagine what a powerhouse the mall would be with two current (popular) tenants in Target and Jollibee (A Fillipino family friendly restaurant). Get a hip sneaker company or go full art and become a hub for musicians or artists or skateboarders. Pick a niche.

Better yet, add housing and encourage co-living situations, green the place up and add a brewery incubator and heck, think about a podcast company based there. It’s time to take these spaces and really think outside the box. A mall with two anchors at either end is not enough. 2019, needs a mix of housing, shopping and eating.

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Update – Craft Chasers

I have written about Craft Chasers previously HERE. But they have passed along some updates to me, mainly that their delivery zone has expanded. So you should check it out to see if you fall in the range. I would suggest Yorkshire Square beers if you do order.

They are also dipping their toes into corporate / event parties as well in case you have need of such for New Year’s.

Lastly, they will be adding videos that will give more information about the breweries and beers on offer.

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The Big Cities

There was a minor and mostly non-sarcasm fueled give & take regarding the above tweet numbers. This is a simple straight up tally of breweries.  (no telling, of course, if the same boundaries were used in both counts)

It shouldn’t be surprising though.  Chicago was an early-ish adopter and in the big tier of US cities.  Denver and Seattle are large regional hubs from the west with brewing history longer than others.  San Diego was a big mover and a large area and L.A., my L.A. is just plain large. (though 146 seems a reach of a number)

Portland, despite steady growth was always going to fall by the number wayside because of this group it is the smallest.  And yes, per capita would be a more interesting number but it is a statistic that should be re-visited every 3-5 years just to see where that indicator is moving. 

And for questions that it begs.  Will the NE of the country gain an entrant?  Which of the top five have capped out? Or have none reached max capacity?

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Chase Car

It is a delivery to your door world in 2018 and it may be coming to craft beer too.

CraftChaser is a new company dipping their toe into delivering local beer from tap room to your door.

Currently, the delivery area stretches in the South Bay area del Rey to Santa Monica and they have (4) brewery partners headlined by Yorkshire Square with Scholb Brewing being my second choice.

I will discuss this in more detail on Food GPS in a week or so but just wanted to let you know that they are open and you can test out the service and see if it works for you.

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Most Checked In of 2018


Granted this isn’t a perfect vote counting system but at least the Republicans hasn’t attempted to disenfranchise Hazy beer lovers so the plain total of check-ins on the Untappd app does have some good stats to follow and keep tabs on.

Trillium at # 9 is a bit of a shocker considering that it is primarily East Coast and traders that have access. Same for Tree House but more so at # 4.  I am a promiscuous drinker but I have had nothing (0) from either so the casual beer fan outside of New England probably hasn’t either.  Maybe checking-in is skewed East Coast?

Otherwise the only supposition that I have is that Sam Adams will probably rise a bit with the Red Sox World Series beer but that may be dampened by the Trump ties that Koch has.

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Learn to Home Brew Day


Regular readers will know that I prefer to shine light on corners that may not see it. That leads to wondering why IPA Day needs to be around. It also leads to me publicizing Learn to Homebrew Day.

In a couple days on November 3, the American Homebrewers Association®(AHA) is promoting their 20th annual Learn to Homebrew Day. This is the time to check out your local homebrew club. Yeastside Brewers. Maltose Falcons. Or head online (HomebrewersAssocation.org) or to an actual book (How To Brew by John Palmer) to pick up the hobby.

You can also brew on November 4th if you want to.