It’s not all about our hops. Though it may seem that way at times. There is the old country to consider.
You should check out the variety tab on the website for the British Hop Association where you can get a quick view and more in depth looks at the hops they are growing.
How Many Cannons?
14 to be exact.
In what is new to my knowledge, 14 Cannons will be both a brewery in the crowded Westlake Village market, that already has two big players in Figueroa Mountain and The Dudes as well as Westlake Brewing and Five Threads, and a showroom for future breweries to Ikea shop for a brewhouse design.
From the website, “The showroom is a working operational teaching facility for brewers and novices alike. It features top of the line equipment from Premier Stainless, Microbrew Water, ProBrew, Blome Tile, Airgas, Pro Chiller, Keg Credit, and GF Piping System.”
Infrastructure like this has been slow in coming but could really help those building a brewery now.
Going Up
Whenever I see a graph with sliders (sliders disengaged on above), I just seem to move them back and forth.
In this instance, going granular with the data isn’t really needed. There is that nearly upright line moving upward starting from 2009-10. And that is the one to focus on.
At this point even a good sized downward spike will still keep us above the all-time historical number and if/when the downshift occurs, my gut is telling me that others will use that equipment to build up their current brewery or start a new one.
The question that is most burning for me is, “Can 6K be far reached?”
B-Dubs at Your Door
I have pooh-poohed beer delivery in the past. The folks with the logistic capability don’t have the beer that people want delivered and those that do, have harder roads to cover. What I did not think of is food delivery. There is some infrastructure there and if they buy decent beer, it could possibly work.
Granted the photo above shows one horrible beer and one that I would probably order from Summit.
Wings and beer delivery from the B-Dubs is starting in Ohio and if it succeeds without cannibalizing their sit-down restaurants than you might see more “B-Dubs Express” in your town.
Karl is Distributing
Karl Strauss has decided to add another wrinkle to their company. Distributing. They are starting slow with two San Diego breweries, Benchmark and Black Plague for now though if it works they might add a brewery that starts with the letter C.
You can read more about it over at the West Coaster SD.
Wheelin’ & Dealin’
Activity comes in bunches it seems. After a few quiet weeks, acquisitions came roaring back into the beer world.
Those who don’t believe in coincidence might think that the news was timed to hide under all the Make America Sick Again healthcare debate.
Lets recap:
1. Brooklyn Brewery enters into a sales “platform” with Funkwerks and 21st Amendment
2. Shorts Brewing sells 19.99% to Lagunitas
3. Coronado acquires fellow San Diegan, Monkey Paw Brewing.
4. An un-named SoCal brewery put itself up for sale
Call this a response to having the highest number of breweries in operation ever. For events 1 & 2, it also shows the creative ways that people are staying Brewers Association street legal while growing bigger.
Thanks to a soft Twitter ban and some judicious unfollowing of the Debbie Downers that seem to populate the Tweet-isphere, I haven’t seen much vitriol towards the these moves. Mostly because they avoid the Scarlet A of Anheuser-Busch. Which shows me that some people see what a stain that is on a company and are opting to avoid it.
But if I can get a supply, even limited of Short’s beers in L.A., it is a development that I welcome.
Clone Club
Now here is a clever idea. 50 beer recipes, one from each state, from independent breweries. Naturally, my eye started checking out what beers were picked for Oregon and California
Russian River Brewing Co. – Pliny the Elder
Deschutes Brewery – Black Butte Porter
Great choices. Both are iconic for their respective state. This will probably be a much used link.
Faucet Video
We here in the U.S. should probably be forced to watch “how to pour” videos. OK, I mean mostly me. Either way, it is still instructional.
Label Review – Fun Light from Noble Ale Works
Not much Noble Ale Works beer makes its way north to Glendale, more canning resources shifted over to the 16oz IPA’s. Though, I must admit that the names are as funny as every.
Speaking of fun, the new can design for their new cream ale is quite good, ditching the hop face creepiness of their hop bombs and instead going for a 1/2 regal and 1/2 Industrial lager look to them. I would have added a little royal purple to the shadow of the word fun to break up the gold but I like the flow of the lines from back to front of the can.
Signs Ahead
With SABInBev and it’s “High End” and ZX disrupters trying to muddy the water of the craft beer scene, a counter tactic has been unveiled on both a city and national level.
First off, the San Diego Brewers Guild will be issuing window clings, flags and even tap danglers for use in tasting rooms and at events. You can read more about it HERE.
The Brewers Association has created a new seal to promote independent craft brewers. Dogfish Head is the first to promote that their packaging will sport the upside down bottle logo. (A design that I think is fine though the interwebs seem to have an issue with it)
Bringing this down to earth, I think window clings and seals on premise are of little use out in the real world because the point of contact with a beer is the key purchasing decision point not a sticker on the front door. Because the main purpose (in my mind) for these seals is for those who are “casually” into beer. That will look for an IPA but don’t want to deep dive into the business side.
Bombers and six-packs with either seal of approval will be stocked without any problem since the bottle shops and stores aren’t put out by extra work or expense and will be the most effective in my mind because people can easily see that one has the seal and another doesn’t. And the aforementioned “casuals” will see it and be cued to look for it again. Especially if they see it on more and more brands. You can bet that BA member breweries are already designing their labels to fit the new seal. Some will complain that they are forced into adding it, lest they be left out, but they also have to put SKUs and other labeling onto a bottle and can be creative about it.
But that leads to a nitpicky query on my part, which bar or bottle shop will willingly go along with demarcating their keg merchandise.
A brewery taproom can splash #independent everywhere and if they have guest taps are probably already choosing fellow like-minded breweries so there is no battle to be won. Getting a consumer there was the win. A tap dangler ain’t gonna help.
It is in the bottle shops and bars and restaurants that a tap dangler or other means of communicating “not Bud” could make someone stop and think. Say you go to the fancy Spire 73 at the newly opened Wilshire Grand building here in DTLA. They have Boomtown Brewing, Angel City Brewing and Golden Road on tap. A fully independent brewery, a brewery owned by Sam Adams and the faux Bud craft option. It would be great to see the Seal next to the first two and nothing next to the third on both the paper menus and online.
But would the bar they play along? What’s in it for them?