Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
my occasional rants and raves about what is going on in the industry.
Colorado State University plans to open one of nation’s first campus breweries.
C.S.U. has begun the process to build a brewery in the Lory Student Center which is already scheduled to be renovated this summer. Read more at the Coloradoan HERE
Thank god, there wasn’t one of these operating at Linfield when I was in college or my GPA might have been far below where it ended up.
Sly Fox has flipped canning 180 degrees with its 360 Lid. Instead of a tab to a small opening, the 360 Lid let’s you remove the top of the can completely, magically creating an aluminum cup for your Helles. (and later their Pikeland Pils!)
Now how will the foreign owned industrial water lager producers respond?
When people talk about beer school, they primarily focus in on the brewing aspect but Portland State University now has a course to address the business side of the equation.
I have pulled some bits from the article on the Oregonian newspaper website that I think will pique your interest if you are pondering running a craft beer company.
“..Professor Mellie Pullman, who leads the new program for PSU’s Professional Development Center. “We’re focusing on the business skills that will make your brewery or pub more efficient and profitable. If you’re not already in the business, the classes will give you what you need to create a viable business plan for a startup.”
-many people don’t realize that craft beer is as much a business as any artistic endeavor. And a well-written plan is a guide map to being successful.
“And even if you don’t live here in Beervana, the courses are available online and can be accessed by anyone anywhere in the world.”
-so you can learn without packing up your bags and heading north.
Being in Portland means Pullman has access to a wide variety of industry partners. “We’ve already filmed a segment at Widmer Brothers Brewing and two at Hopworks Urban Brewery,” she said. The growing list of future partners includes Rogue Ales, a stalwart PSU supporter; Bull Run Distilling; suppliers such as Great Western Malting; equipment builders such as JV Northwest and Metalcraft Fabrication; and smaller breweries and brewpubs, including Captured by Porches and Migration Brewing Co.
-brewery tours alone will not cut it. You need to visit and talk with all types of vendors.
the class consists of four segments: Basic Business for Craft Breweries; Craft Beverage Business Management; Strategic Craft Beverage Marketing; and Finance and Accounting for the Craft Brewery; plus an optional immersion weekend spent touring breweries and suppliers.
-I, so, would have taken this class back in my college days
While most breweries seem to be shying away from sending their beer in the mail due to legal hassles on a state and Federal level. It looks like a brewery from Kent, Washington is bucking that trend!
Airways Brewing is shipping bottles and eventually cans of their beers including an anniversary ale (as I type this). Now you can get their stuff online via Let’s Pour too but maybe this will make other breweries think about selling via the interwebs.
SO another Left Coast brewery is headed east. Green Flash Brewing Co. will open a new brewery in Virginia Beach. In short time, the Silva led operation has moved to a bigger facility in San Diego and now will create a sister site in Virginia.
The Virginia Beach operation should be brewing in the first part of 2015 though brewery openings are usually harder to pin down
This means fresh Palate Wrecker for the East Coast and maybe a collaborative brew as well!
Living in a “catching up to the craft beer leaders” city like L.A. gives me empathy for other locales that are now ratcheting up their own beer community. So a shout out to the south today for a beerier 2013.
Southern Prohibition Brewery will be brewing (hopefully by spring) in a former furniture warehouse to house a 20-barrel brewing system capable of producing up to 3,000 barrels of beer a year.
Gordon Creek Brewery is mere blocks from Southern Prohibition and they will be brewing on a small 5 barrel system near the creek that provided the name of their business starting in (again hopefully) February.
Both are in Hattieburg, Mississippi.
Tomorrow night is the premiere of part 2 of the Doctor Who season!
Yes, not only am I a beer geek but I am also a bit of a Sci-Fi geek as well. I haven’t fallen as far down the rabbit hole as some folk who dress up in costumes at Comic-Con but when I saw this TARDIS item, (and yes I know what TARDIS stands for) I wished I had added it to my birthday list earlier this year so I could raise a glass while watching the Doctor battle Cybermen and pilot submarines.
The only question that I have is, “Is it bigger on the inside?”
Count me as a fan of the Brewer’s Association. And add this to my list of reasons why, now they are helping return kegs back to their proper homes via this website.
Here is what the plan is, “KegReturn.com was established to help make sure lost kegs are more easily returned to their brewery owners.
By using this database to search for key markings and symbols on a lost keg, we hope to help reunite kegs with their rightful owners.
Kegs are expensive—your efforts will help decrease the cost of great beer.”
A few days ago, I received this e-mail.
” Two days ago it was brought to my attention via Twitter and The Patch Carlsbad that 38 Degrees Ale House & Grill was opening in Carlsbad Village at the former “The Catch” location. This is in no way affiliated with my company. I had “The Patch” change this info as soon as I was aware. I am very concerned with the unauthorized use of my brand 38 Degrees as I have put all my passion, blood, sweat and tears into developing what I believe as one of Southern California’s top craft beer bars and New American restaurants. The owner Mayur Pavagadhi has built the façade with an almost identical logo using Orange color as I and Tan/Brown signs stating Craft Beer & American food. My brand 38 Degrees has symbolized and represents an enormous amount of good will in craft beer culture and our community since 2009. Confusion of the proposed Carlsbad location and mine is inevitable as folks were already mislead and commenting on “our arrival” into Carlsbad Village on internet sites. We have made personal contact with Mayur Pavagadhi and he was not accommodating in wishes for him to change name and look in Carlsbad and in fact stated he would seek legal action to up hold his rights to open as a craft beer focused restaurant using 38 Degrees Carlsbad as the DBA. I am writing all of you to consider helping me persuade Mr. Pavagadhi to dis continue this route of business. I do not have an e mail address yet for him but the 38 Degrees website now under “The Catch” Carlsbad will soon be live. If anyone personally knows this person, I strongly urge you to reach out ASAP. I will reach out to many of you via phone as I am very concerned. Let me know if you can have comments or disagree with me in any way.”
I know and repect Clay Harding who wrote this and I totally agree. It appears the whole “name” and “brand” issue is rearing it’s ugly head again. Coronado sues for the name Idiot IPA, not cool. The name Shift is being grabbed and re-used, not cool. Anyone with a grasp of recent craft beer history knows that the bandwagoners fall by the wayside when the boom and growth falter. LIFO in accounting terms. Last in, First out.
Here is the deal. If you are in the same market or same state. Don’t re-use names. If you do and it is an accident, apologize and then collaborate with the person who you wronged (that is called good PR). If you are a nano in California and won’t compete with a similarly named project in Georgia or Mississippi, then ask first (again, good PR, sense a trend?). Maybe it won’t matter and again, you should collaborate. There are many, many, many beer terms that you can use to name your bar, brewery or gastropub. Check out the Oxford Companion to Beer and you can probably find a cool brewery name or two. Due some diligence and don’t be a Mayur.
Not to be outdone by the Black Crown and “Taste Makes and Entrance” from Budweiser, Beck’s is now going the night club design route with their Sapphire.
As the website describes it, “…our new pilsner brewed with rare German Sapphire (Saphir) hops for a distinctively smooth taste and brewed to 6 percent ABV. Beck’s Sapphire represents a new standard for beer.
To serve this uniquely smooth pilsner, our engineers spent over two years developing an exclusive, sleek black glass bottle. This bottle not only protects our beer from light better than common brown bottles, it also provides a distinguishing image for Beck’s Sapphire.
As with all Beck’s beers, Beck’s Sapphire is brewed according to the German Purity Law of 1516 and uses only four natural ingredients.”
I, for one, hope it tastes better but I am curious that they are just now reading up on which glass color protects beer more when they have been green bottled for a large chunk of their existence. Maybe the marketing folks didn’t read up on the other Beck’s products.