Beer Industry – Page 39 – Beer Search Party

February 20, 2015August 31, 2018

Where the Wild Grain Goes

Spent grain from homebrewing
Even though the thought of happy farm animals munching on spent grains is a happy thought and makes bacon all the tastier, with the ever expanding craft beer universe more avenues for the spent grain need to be found.

And a California brewery is going down one of those avenues by using an anaerobic digestion system. Sounds kinda disgusting but it converts the grains into bio-gas which then can be used to power the brewery.

Devil’s Canyon in San Carlos has teamed with the Pure Energy Group to create a system that does just that. And the plan is to expand to other breweries in San Francisco in the future.

Maybe this tech will move down south to LA and become a viable option for breweries here.

You can read the science-y stuff HERE.

February 8, 2015August 31, 2018

Actual Shares

Some people are constant Kickstarter backers and others lie on the opposite side of the spectrum firm in the belief that if your idea is good, you should be able to “sell” it to a bank or investor.

I am in the middle of the debate. I think that some Kickstarter projects are cynical cash grabs or marketing ploys whereas others are truly needed investment to boost a company to another level. Which is why I am choosy about which ones I post about here and why I put cold hard cash into even fewer.

But I read about what looks to be a better way (or at least different) to acquire funding from the New School Beer Blog.

With the recently passed “2015 Oregon Community Capital Initiative” the state has joined 12 other and created a program that lets Oregonians invest in Oregon companies. Sort of like a minor league stock market. Agrarian Ales of Eugene has jumped into the pool and valued their shares at $100 each. And these stocks are worth something more than a t-shirt or branded pint glass. Every other year you get a dividend in brewpub credit of 5%.

So you are saying that is like buying into a mug club or society but the difference is that you buy that stock ONCE! And if the brewery grows, the value of your stock grows. There is a no-selling period of nine months but once that passes you can sell to another Oregonian for the new price. Your $100 could become more or less depending on how much beer they sell.

That is local investing and I hope it can catch on.

December 30, 2014September 5, 2018

Stop

Most of us in SoCal probably don’t know about the voluntary “Three beer Limit” in New Mexico which was started by La Cumbre Brewery.

The main thesis behind it is encapsulated in this quote from founder and brewer Jeff Erway, ” We don’t want people pounding our beers,” Instead, the goal is to have people savor the beer.

Personally, I like the idea. It is so much easier to cut off at three instead of figuring out if someone is drunk. You don’t have to argue because 1+1+1 = done. Two, it makes the brewery seem more responsible in the eyes of both police and the community. Plus it encourages repeat visits to sample the beers that were missed the last visit.

Those are just off the top of my head thoughts. But there are longer term effects of this idea. An impetus to create “high margin” beers might force breweries to only brew what makes bigger bucks. And what if a new brewery opens near you that does not abide by the self-imposed limit?

On the other side of the ledger, if a city wide (or county) initiative was in place, would that make opening a new brewery easier? I would rather see a limit and more breweries then none and less.

Much like restaurants that pay fair wages instead of forcing servers to rely on tips, I think the limit idea is one poised to break through in the long term.

November 22, 2014September 5, 2018

A New Way to Shop for Beer

Tavour. Doesn’t scream craft beer on the interwebs. But here it is. Seems easy as long as your inbox isn’t already filled to the brim with beer related emails already.

Screen Shot 2014-11-14 at 10.32.27 AM

More to follow if I try it or hear more news.

November 20, 2014September 5, 2018

WilCastle

Once in a while, the bigger players in the beer industry make a good commercial. Just Google Anna Kendrick + Beer for one such example. Usually though, it is for bad beer. Maybe both boxes can be ticked off in this example though.

Newcastle is starting a collaboration series across Europe. They are starting with Caledonian for a Scotch Ale and have noted beer geek and home brewer and Stone fan, Wil Wheaton to pitch the beer.

…and….

November 19, 2014September 5, 2018

Bring the Pub to You

Have you ever been at a party and wished you were in the pub instead? In England, you can do both with Pubs on Wheels.

PoW “can deliver a seamless bar operation, whatever the weather, whatever the terrain and wherever the location. We are all about the Great British Outdoors.”

How great would this be in SoCal. It might even make me re-think camping if one of these big trucks pulled up. The only question is what beers are on tap?

November 6, 2014September 5, 2018

More than 10 Barrels Now

Yesterday the interwebs exploded with righteous anger and fury with the knee-jerk reaction to 10 Barrel Brewing being bought by Lex Luthor.

Wait, they were bought by ABInBev. Craft beer fans might cheer LexCorp more at this point though. Because, we love to hate the big business beers.

We have been on this merry-go-round before. First with Goose Island, then with Blue Point of New York. The now predictable Tweets and Talking Points about being disappointed, selling-out, drinking local all reared their heads.

Here is where I stand (as of today, because I am willing to listen to rational and reasoned arguments):
You can be sad/angry/pick an emoticon about the sale. And you can have legitimate reasons why, but remember that if you were a passionate fan of their beer and loved the brew team then you have to at the least listen to why the owners sold. 10 Barrel made a video explaining why. Watch it.

Never, and I mean never, boycott a beer just because that brewery was sold. That is cutting off your nose to spite your face. And you will be doing a LOT of boycotting because ownership changes are going to happen. We went and are still going through a phase of small and local growth everywhere. Eventually, breweries will become bigger. Some may no longer be owned by the founders. Judge the beer and brewery on its merits. If neither measure up to what you want in a brewery, then move on.

Local does not equal great. And what is local? If the people who work at the 10 Barrel locations live in the community and the beer is brewed in the community and the ingredients are sourced as usual, you are going to tell me that it is not local? A brewery could be next door but bought their equipment in Germany, hired a brewer from outside the state and get all their ingredients from thousands of miles away and be considered local? Oh and they can brew crappy beer but that’s A-OK as long as they don’t mention Bud-Miller-Coors?

I have a sneaking suspicion that people are less angry at the breweries who sell then fearful of not knowing why ABInBev is buying. Are their reasons nefarious or is it strictly business. And that uncertainty fuels anger.

All I ask is for people to make a reasoned decision and not think that ABInBev is forcing us into an Age of Ultron.

October 24, 2014September 5, 2018

Let’s Do the Numbers

After the multitude of helpful GABF statistics started being posted online, it got me to thinking about a personal pet peeve of mine. Why pilsners aren’t loved more.
images
Using BeerAdvocate as a test case (that I will explore further, at a later date), German Pilseners 1-50 range from 4.04 out of 5.0 to 3.7
Czech Pilsener from 4.18 to 3.55

That’s a range of of .34 and .63 respectively.

Now look at these two, more loved styles:
American IPA 4.53 to 4.22 for the top 50
Double / Imperial Stouts 4.67 to 4.28

That’s a range of .31 and .39

Obviously IPAs and big stouts seem to be starting with an advantage because their higher ranking beers score higher than their Pilsner counterparts. But what strikes me is that the 50th best IPA and 50th best Imperial Stout are considered that much better than the absolute best Pilsener, from whatever country.

Now, I don’t expect a Pilsener to score 5 out of 5. But I can’t believe that the Top 10 in any category don’t track at the same levels.

October 5, 2014September 5, 2018

GABF – 90 Categories

festmedals
Charlie Papazian, the head man at the Brewers Association must have a sore hand from all the fist bumps and be partially blind from the camera flashes due to a staggering 90 categories in competition at this year’s Great American Beer Festival.

From 20 entrants in the Gluten Free and Dopplebock styles to a mind (and palate blowing) 279 in the American IPA category, there is plenty of data to mine. With special attention to my home state of Oregon and my current state of California.

Here are my take-aways from the medalists:

California racked up double-digit tallys in each medal class and swept the Session and barleywine categories. But in the hoppy arena, lost the premier category of American IPA.

Speaking of, it is so cool to have Breakside win. They are literally down the street from my Mom’s house. It was strange and great to hear your hometown (Milwaukie, OR.) get called out.

Staying hoppy, will Hop 15 from Port become more sought after now that it edged out Pliny the Elder in the re-configured Imperial IPA category. Or will Russian River be considered a pils house with their Silver in the German Pilsener style? Kudos to Firestone Walker for the win with Pivo.

Congratulations also to Gabe and Julian at Beachwood for the gold, silver and more importantly Large Brewpub and Brewer of the year. They are cementing an already sterling reputation while previous GABF darling, Jeff Bagby also snared a medal for his just opened eponymous brewery in Oceanside.

No big LA wins this year since Beachwood is Long Beach and Pabst, is well, Pabst. Though, if I see their gold medal cream ale, Primo, I might give it a whirl.

The other surprise was the strong showing of New Mexico. If my count is correct, the turquoise state nabbed 5 Gold Medals and Marble Brewing of Albuquerque won Small Brewer of the year. Another SW state, Texas also did quite well.

Other strong California statements came from High Water, Figueroa Mountain and Bootlegger’s who all bagged two medals each. With Port Brewing picking up what has almost become a routine amount of medals from their various locations.

Let me finish by saying, that like a list, a competition in craft beer is more important for non-judges as a way to choose where next to go. Taste is subjective and the best Ordinary Bitter may not be to your fancy but if you find yourself in Austin, a Salt Lake City or Green Bay, you now know of three breweries that have wowed judges in that category and that they probably make some other fine beers that you should try.