Category: Beer Industry

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

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Fined, Not Dandy

Cheating is usually not spectacular. It is usually nicked at the edges. Slowly rolling through a stop sign in a quiet neighborhood and not speeding through a red light on a busy boulevard.

But you can get dinged by the authorities for either. Especially if you keep going back to the well. Which is what happened here in SoCal recently as Anheuser-Busch, LLC wholesalers settled a case for $400K (plus all the lawyering they had to pay for). In addition, Straub Distributing Company who distributes AB products in Orange County settled for $10K

They and numerous retailers were flagged for “Unfair Business Practices”. The distributors for paying for items and the retailers for accepting said items for either no cost or only partial cost.

The investigation started back in 2015 by the ABC’s Trade Enforcement Unit and resulted in one of the “largest penalty fines imposed in the history of ABC…” They will also have to install training programs for employees and anyone who has been to one of those, know what a time suck they can be as well as costly.

An additional fun fact is that, “In exchange for suspension of $200,000 of the fine, Anheuser-Busch, LLC agreed to extend the conditions of discipline to all Anheuser-Busch, LLC wholesalers in the state.” Why AB would want the $200K and make the disciplinary action statewide? Pre-empting further legal action? They need whatever amount of that $200K to pay the lawyers?

All I know is that this company is better at skirting rules and avoiding punishment. Much better than beer making for sure.

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Developing Beer

It is still dreadfully hard to find just the right space for a brewery. Enough space, decent rent costs and not in a neighborhood that is too scary or off the Waze grid.

But there are developers out there who are searching for tenants of the craft beer variety. Case in point, this possibility off the Gold Line in Monrovia…

The original home of Monrovia Lumber and Hardware is in the planning stage of “building into an artisan food, wine, and beer village known as, “The Lumberyard at Myrtle Avenue.” Most neighborhoods and cities in Los Angeles have sprouted condos left and right and Monrovia is no different with 1000+ units that would be in walking distance.

There will be “27,000 square feet of entitled brewery, wine, and food space.” This will also include courtyard space as well. And it has the backing of the city who have re-zoned the area around the Metro stop.

Check out more HERE.

…or this proposed bay side concession in Long Beach…

Down in craft beer mecca, Long Beach the Mayor is proposing revamping beach concession stands that could also include craft beer. Smog City has already been lured to Bixby Knolls. Would another brewery want to open a satellite taproom near the waves?

Now if Glendale could set-up some beer establishments in the 900 (slightly exaggerated) condos in Downtown Glendale.

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PDXit

My faith in politics and politicians was never that strong. And with the last election, my faith in the American electorate sunk to historic lows as well so I have been avoiding as much Trump talk as I can because it seems futile to not only struggle against Washington DC but the 306 Electoral College votes as well.

Throwing craft beer into the mix seems like a plan that could turn out bad. Seems too partisan for actual nuanced discussion.

But others are taking a different tack and not surprisingly Keep Portland Weird has taken a stand with….

The stated mission of Beer Party PDX is to “Organize members of the PDX beer community to effectively protect and promote basic civil rights, including voter access, freedom of speech, and equal rights.”

Members of the craft beer community have already stood up against one of the many questionable cabinet secretary choices (Scott Pruitt for the EPA) so this may be the start of more organizations that have both beer and what I would call common decency in common.

I think breweries do need to stand for agenda items like clean water and small business help and local issues like potholes on the road outside your establishment. Protecting people who are your customers seem like a smart play to me as well. Whether people will agree or boycott when you take a stand on action items that don’t have direct links to beer or the beer business is another thing though. Along with the attacks on journalism there is an even stronger, “stay in your lane” brew beer not dissent camp in the U.S. now.

But with Trump approval ratings cratering fast, going Anti sooner, rather than later, could be the smart business now (if you are located in liberal country) and later (when more disturbing leaks are revealed).

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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.