Category: Beer Industry

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

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Hops of Invention

In a recent piece in the New York Times magazine, writer Chuck Klosterman went through a hypothetical exercise about which musician would be remembered and revered in the distant future. Nowhere was Frank Zappa mentioned but maybe that is because a hop breeding group is named after the artist and the hop, FZMR2 has already been bought up by Sierra Nevada and used already in one of their Beer Camp 2016 beers, Pat-Rye-Ot.
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Characterized as a mixture of “peppery citrus and melon”. It is a cross of two wild plants Neo-Mexicanus, Medusa and Rio. Zappa has been quoted about beer but it is unknown if this hop would have had him writing music about bitterness.

I do like more particular names in hops. Equinox and Mosaic are pretty words but don’t really convey much. They have that pharmaceutical name feeling to me. A Prince hop though, would really convey meaning.

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Brew City Documentary

There are probably quite a few documentaries that could be made about the past, present and future of craft beer in Portland. And I certainly will try to watch them all but the trailer for the upcoming
Yes, interviews with the people behind the beer, the beer writers and enthusiasts is all well and good, the 77 Portland Breweries crawl that producer John Lovegrove accomplished in one day (and filmed!) seems the much more fascinating facet of the film. I can’t imagine what he felt like halfway through the day let alone the next day, even if he drinks just one taster at each.

Oh and the logo and title needs to go.

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HVG

There are some great websites with hop information on them but recently Hopsteiner the large hop grower/distributor has refreshed its website and added a really helpful snapshot of hop data.

The Hopsteiner’s Hop Varieties Grid has brand new hops photography which helps to visually differentiate the hops, multiple sort levels including by Experimental or Aroma and a handy sheet of information that to this beer blogger was just right without getting too overboard in technical terms. You get an aroma graph, genetic origin, similar hops and other facts. It is easy to use and share which is key.
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I would have liked to see them add what blends are normally used with each hop so that you could gain a knowledge of what pairs well but that is a small quibble in what is an excellent website revamp.

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Positive Legal Steps

In case you missed this on Facebook last week (considering the weird Facebook-ian algorithms, that could be a lot of people), I just wanted to post this up as a reminder to stay involved in legislative activities, especially when it comes to beer.
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Eco Holders

That connective tissue that holds six cans together is getting an eco-upgrade. Now, I generally prefer the boxes for holding cans since it can be made of recycled material and can eventually compost away and not last forever like plastic.

But this solution born from a collaboration between Saltwater Brewery in Florida and We Believers—an advertising agency in New York might be even better. The pair have created rings using spent grain from the brewing process. Basically a bio-degradable ring that is also edible unless fish are gluten-intolerant. Cost and manufacturing might be an issue but since there is a ton of spent grain out there and only so many cows, this could be another avenue if a certain scale can be achieved.

Saltwater Brewery "Edible Six Pack Rings" from We Believers on Vimeo.

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A Bigger Yard

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Brooklyn Brewery has made brewing moves in foreign countries but is now looking in its own backyard for its next big project. They will be building a 50,000 barrel brewery at the Brooklyn Navy Yard by 2018. It will be the primary destination for beer fans with the new brewery, corporate offices and a rooftop beer garden that looks out onto the waterfront.

The plans for Navy Yard’s newly-renovated Building 77 will add to their presence since they barrel age in Building 269. The original location will stay in the fold as well plus there is development of a new production facility in State Island as well.

Maybe a precursor to L.A. getting some of their beers?

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The Rebel Alliance

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There seems to be a clustering effect when it comes to breweries in the Los Angeles area. Be it in Westlake Village or Torrance or Downtown L.A., breweries seem to set-up shop within walking distance of another.

Even closer and wide ranging is the The Bridgeworks Beverage Alliance in Pennsylvania. A trio of craft beverage manufacturers are right next to each other in a renovated Mack Truck Factory.

It is part of a manufacturing incubator program, and it includes three different types of alcoholic beverages Colony Meadery – County Seat Spirits – HiJinx Brewing Co..

Incubators seem to be on the downswing, at least, from a news perspective. There was a time, years back, when you would hear about one or the other in the tech world but maybe it is something that should be re-examined when it comes to beer. Because of equipment costs, rental costs and permits and dealing with the various cities, might encourage investor groups to pool money and knowledge.

I have heard brewers speak about how other brewers helped them out with a permit here or how-to deal with the city. So there always seemed to be an informal type of mentoring but there is a need for starter space. Somewhere to legally brew and sell your beer in that in-between space of home brewing to running your own brewery. That happened out in Riverside where Polymath Brewing, Delicious Science and Seven Brothers were working co-op style.

The hunt for the “just right” location could be undertaken at a less fevered pace if a brewer could be making and fine tuning beer and building a brand in the meantime. Maybe L.A. could have a sake house, next to a brewery, next to an artisanal food court?

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On Point

Target and craft beer aren’t usually mentioned in the same sentence often but since they pushed into the grocery aisle they have added beer, wine and spirits. To this point, I have not purchased craft beer at a Target since the selection seems just a tiny bit sku’d to the SABInBevMiller distribution side of life with only four or five bombers and some bigger often seen like Sierra Nevada Pale.
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But now, they seem to be changing things up. Starting with a location in Denver, Target has moved the beer to the front of the store and put it in a walk-in cooler. It is the first of possibly more “beer caves” as the Minnesota company calls them.
Other Target locations in Illinois seem to stock not only the widely available Goose Island but also Two Brothers and Revolution. How deep the stock is and who is doing the buying probably dictate what we see on shelves.

You probably won’t walk out with a rare beer but if they can start stocking local flagship beers it could be a great place to stock up for larger gatherings.

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This Land is Belgium

So this came about last week but I wanted to read the insta-responses before posting my own. But I recommend also reading THIS and THAT to get a rounded picture.

If you base your beer buying choice based on the word America and all the emotions that it evokes. Well then foreign owned Budweiser may have you covered. They have applied for and received special dispensation for a summer season label that swaps out the Budweiser and replaces it with America. As well as whatever other flag draped patriotic words they could find.
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And they are truly banking on people buying for that reason only. Maybe Americans will. It has been a weird and wild primary season and I suspect that many a political after-party will have buckets of “America” chilling on ice for the sheer easy-ness of the image that it will send. The flag lapel pin of beer, as it were.

I have my doubts though. Barring cans being emblazoned with first names or photos of Trump or Clinton, what percentage of consumer who already buys this type of beer is basing it on the label? Has there been a study done on it? My gut tells me that the average purchaser will pick on A) price or B) ingrained love/hatred of one brand over another. There might be a group of “undecideds” out there but of them, I again ask, what percentage will pass by reason A on the way to C) that label has America written on it.

I have grown accustomed to the avoidance of the beer inside the container but I also understand that mountains turning blue or a vortex neck might sway people for novelty in ways that a few word choices simply cannot. The cans will be made in far too great a quantity to be collectible though collecting is preferable to drinking them.

Or is this just some psychological experiment from the advertising world? The knowledge that they are a foreign owned company has probably seeped into their customer base and this may just be a way to stop the spread of the pernicious fact based rumor that they are run from Belgium/Brazil. What does it hurt them to slap a few patriotic words on a new label? Probably a drop in the marketing budget. All in exchange for forestalling their sales slide. Blatant misdirection has worked for the Tangerine Terror this political season (see Trump in his own version of 11 22 63). So, why not for America-wiser.

I fully expect to see a Point the Way USA IPA this summer in red, white and blue striped cans. Or perhaps a Patriot’s Peachy Pumpkin from Elysian.

I also fully expect craft brewers to answer this call with patriotic and hoppy puns combined.

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Hop Forecast

Hoppy, with a chance of bitterness. All kidding aside since you should not trust any LA based weather prediction, here is the news from the hop bines….
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The latest report from the Hop Growers of America points to a sunnier future for this IPA crazed drinking nation.

Hop inventories in the U.S. have increased by 10 percent in the last 12 months compared to last year. That doesn’t mean your local brewer will be able to brew up an exotic SMaSH beer because only a portion of that 10% will go to what is called the Spot Market (the not already pre-ordered part of the market). The rest will fulfill contracts that are purchased years in advance.

This year will mark the fourth year in a row that the acres of hop fields have grown here in the U.S.. In addition, it is the third year internationally with Germany expected to increase its acreage of hops by 10%.

Part of me sorta hoped that the supply would stay tighter as it would force brewers into different styles or be more creative with their personal hop supply. That is the same part of me that wishes that George Lucas always had to work on a shoestring budget for his Star Wars and not rely on the old green screen so much.

This will certainly help logistically for many breweries who had to really plan out their brewing schedules and will hopefully trickle down to the new brewers who don’t have the access to hops that the established brewers do.