Category: Beer Industry

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

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Is it the Recipe?

The same beer being produced at multiple locations was once only the purview of Big Beer. But distribution and breaking into a market is becoming harder and harder. The first due to a non-level playing field in regards to smaller distributors and the latter due to the sheer number of breweries out there.

And the way to break into a highly populated locale like California or a brewery heavy area like Portland or Denver might be extending beyond just collaborating with a brewery in either of those cities.
Cigar City Brewing and Perrin Brewing Company are both under the umbrella Corp with Oskar Blues leading to a functional way to see how to lightly broach a market. Perrin will be brewing Jai Alai IPA from Cigar City of Florida. In Michigan.

Obviously, some connection would be needed. A local L.A. brewery isn’t going to send a recipe and a brewer to Ohio, for example, and hope for the best. But as breweries form around a stable nucleus, the recipe becomes less sacrosanct and in both terms of creativity and replication.

I can imagine a time where Boulevard beers are on tap at Firestone and not because kegs drove all the way to Paso Robles from St. Louis.

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Malty

Infrastructure isn’t the most sexy of topics but when it comes to craft beer, (as in highway potholes) it is very important. Which is why the upcoming opening of Admiral Maltings in the Bay Area is so noteworthy.

It is California’s first modern floor-malting facility and Admiral Maltings “will produce premium malt at their new facility for select craft breweries and distilleries with 100% sustainably grown barley procured from California family farms.”

You can check out their IndieGoGo campaign HERE which will also help them establish a pub onsite much in the same manner that White Labs has brewing at their yeast facilities.

Now we just need a hop farm with pub like Bale Breaker.

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A New Price

Brewer movement is now an accepted fact of life in craft beer world but even with that foreknowledge, some departures still hold the element of surprise.

Evan Price leaving Noble Ale Works behind is one such move. Price and his staff displayed such an outward fun dynamic and created such goofy beer names that to my eye, it would take something huge to separate.

That huge event is Price going for his own brewery. Kudos to him for taking that plunge and kudos to Noble for being gracious about it.

Because of the crew that Price built up including new head man Brad Kominek, I doubt Noble will skip a beat as it expands into cans with their new logo and it will be great to see what comes next for Price (whatever and wherever that may be)….

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Baja Rebrand


The Donkey is taking center stage as Baja Brewing (friends of the blog) have done the ten year refresh of their label design. Now the donkey will be walking after a beer on all the labels and not just the Cabotella.

Looks good, and I do hope to see more of their beers (with reservations about the raspberry) around L.A.

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Top Hops 2016

For all of the Citra this and Mosaic that, the classic “C” hops are the ones with a stranglehold on the Top 3 in production according to the latest 2016 figures from the Brewers Association (the 2015 rank is in parentheses). Despite the rise of wild hops and hip new ones like Idaho 7, there is only one newbie to the list and I was happy to see that Hallertauer the Noble was still up there (even though it is the biggest dropper of the year)

1. Cascade [1]
2. Centennial [2]
3. Chinook [3]
4. Simcoe [4]
5. Citra [5]
6. Amarillo [7]
7. Mosaic [not ranked]
8. Crystal [8]
9. Hallertauer Mittelfruh [6]
10. CTZ [10]

What will 2017 bring in the hop fields?

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Once it Leaves the Brewery

When a keg leaves a brewery and is loaded onto a delivery truck, it cannot be pampered like it was when it was inside the building. And since craft beer is based, in large part, on being crafted and crafted well, what happens once the truck starts rumbling away from the brewery cold box is very important.

Unfortunately, the brewery is probably too small or too busy to keep track of each keg, can and bottle and can’t ensure that a keg is connected to a clean line or that product doesn’t sit on a shelf (lookin’ at you BevMo!).

Which is why I am heartened to see that that a business like Craft Quality Solutions is starting. Helmed by Neil Witte a nearly 20 year veteran of Boulevard Brewing they plan to audit and service all three tiers of the distribution.

You can read more about it on the ever excellent Good Beer Hunting and remember to tell beer sellers if they have beer on the shelf that shouldn’t be there. Enlightened customers are the best defense until more people like Witte are up and running across the country.

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You Can Only Use…

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http://simplyhops.co.uk/news/the-underdog-project/?SID=jdvvjtoqsrabvlhlr9rpurs6d0
What would a brewer do if they were restricted from using the most popular hop varietal when designing the recipe for an IPA?
That is the question asked by the Underdog Project from Simply Hops. First, what if there isn’t enough of the “cool” hops and it becomes an agricultural imperative since a bad crop in a hyper-used hop could create a ripple effect.

Now the second year of the contest is upon us. Last year’s winner, Ben Howe, from Danish brewery Ebeltoft Gårdbryggeri with his winning beer “Straight Outta Boston”

Here are the (abridged) rules for the competition (sorry, US brewers, this is limited to: breweries in UK, Ireland, European mainland, Scandinavia and South Africa.

• The beer must be brewed to a recognisable IPA style including “American”, “Belgian”, “English”, “Session”,
“White”, “Red”, “Black”, “Imperial”, “Double” and ”Triple”.

• The Summit variety of hop must make up a minimum of 50% of the total hop addition used when brewing
the beer.

• Amarillo, US Cascade, Centennial, US Chinook, Citra, Galaxy, Mosaic or Simcoe varieties of hops cannot be
used to brew the beer.

• Natural adjuncts may be used as part of the brewing process but remember the tasting is blind.

• The beer will be judged purely on the flavour, aroma. The appearance of the beer (colour and clarity) will
not be a judging criteria.

• All entries will be judged by a panel of independent judges using the blind tasting method during January
2017.

• Winners will be announced on or before the 30th January 2017.

This might be a good task for our L.A. Brewers group to attempt.

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Fill the C.U.P.

macleodales
Beer fans in L.A. have become all too familiar with the acronym C.U.P. But having to really support your local brewery by attending a hearing or writing your support also connects you to the beer.

So, you can help MacLeod Ale’s stay open longer, add an outdoor spot and get a live entertainment license by writing a letter of support.

Either click this LINK or write to the CCU at the address below:

CCU
Attn: Jose Elias
Re: [ZA-2016-3245-CUB]
201 N. Figueroa Street, 5th Floor
Los Angeles, CA 90012

Eventually the city might come to understand the power of craft beer.

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1n0C0Z5uzEq1ITA9jkxg3z6ysZ3cxgCqP3rqmy9F7pws/prefill

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Storied Financing

storied-craft-breweries-300x297
As breweries are sold (or partially sold), to whom they are sold becomes a big topic of discussion. Some prefer EOPs (employee owned), some venture capital, or some favor combining craft with craft.

Each has its upsides and downsides and the size and future growth plans of each individual brewery will dictate which fit is right. Now a new variant is entering approximately the same area that Greg Koch’s True Craft occupies.

Storied Craft Breweries in the Chicago area will be pursuing investments in breweries that need growth capital, in both terms of money and operating knowledge. How many breweries they will team with, what size they are targeting or geography they prefer is not known now.

Will this form of financing be amenable to craft fans? We will see when the first brewery signs up.