Category: Beer Industry

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

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From 1900 to Today

This video made the interwebs rounds in early February. Watch now and I will comment below.

Methinks that this information (be it selective, or not) has got to scare the BMC and their water lager brewing brethren. The sheer numerical growth in such a relative short time span does not bode well. 7.6% of total sales might not seem like much that number just keeps creeping up.

The other take away for me is the home brewing sticking power. Did it start in the Prohibition years? Was it there before and get a boost from the legal side? Either way, that DIY ethos has been around for awhile in the craft beer world and that is a great base to build on.

I like the video though. Punchy and visually captivating. Maybe we shall see more delving into more arcane beer topics.

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Beer Can Design Contest

One of the side benefits of traveling in this world of great craft beer is the artwork that you come across. I am usually a fan of minimalist design with colors that are outside the normal palette. Which is why I really liked the design that won for the Threadless IPA.

Finch’s beer got 171 design submissions to grace the can of their IPA. It is a fascinating look at what people think of and can draw to fit on a can of beer. And I like how the design called back to the other cans but wasn’t bound to it. The font for the name is well done too. It has a sewing look to it but it can be read and easily too.

All I can say is, “Put a bird on it”.

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New to cans

Coming soon (depending on your market’s thirst for beer), you might be seeing some beers you are used to seeing in bottles in canned versions.

1) “Kona Brewing Company has announced plans to offer its flagship Longboard Island Lager in 12-ounce cans, which are scheduled to hit shelves mid-March 2012. All Kona markets will receive Longboard cans, including the newest markets of Pennsylvania, Delaware and southern New Jersey.”

2) Sierra Nevada has been Facebooking it’s pale ale progress towards cans too.

3) Evil Twin Brewing will release its first beer in cans in 2012. Hipster Ale and Bikini Beer will be first up. Brewing will happen in South Carolina (North Carolina is probably too busy) It will be part of the Twelve Percent Import line.

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Auto Growler Fill

I saw this mechanical wonder in an article by John Holl on Craft Beer.com.

You are seeing the auto growler!

“The traditional way to fill a growler is still directly from the taps; often with the assistance of an extender hose so the jug can fill from the bottom. But there are some breweries that are putting technology to work when it comes to preparing beer to-go.

At Pennsylvania’s Victory Brewing Company they use an Austria-made growler filler. Purchased in 2008, the mechanical wonder pours 20 different beers. After being inserted into the filler, the growler is placed on a pedestal; the machine purges the glass from carbon dioxide and then fills the growler with the beer of choice.

“It’s much more exciting than watching a bartender hook a hose up to a bar tap,” said Victory’s Whitney Thompson, Quality Services Executive Manager.

The brewery said it allows them to send draft beer home with customers while preserving quality. Additionally, beer loss has been reduced by at least 90 percent, they said, which saves considerable cost.”

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Magnetic Beer Bottle Opener

Courtesy of the The Opener.com

Unless you only drink your craft beer from cans or large cage and corked bottles, you need a bottle opener. I myself have at least 6 or 7 floating around including one on my keys. But even with that plenty, I coveted this magnetized cap remover.

It’s clever and has that “how does it work?” cool factor. Plus if there are enough caps on it, it has the appearance of art. Plus it doesn’t scream frat house chic. Looks like something the beer geek would use unlike an opener that has Three Stooges yelling at you.

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Vinnibag

above photo by Gary Friedman of the Los Angeles Times

As is evidenced by my post on traveling with beer, the VinniBag might be a help to the traveler with a special, rare beer that must get home safe. The cost is $28.00 and it appears to only hold one bottle so this isn’t the tool to get vast quantities home. But if you have a beer that MUST get home then this will probably do the trick.

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Blue Palms Situation has Me Blue


The craft beer scene in Los Angeles had an eventful weekend. First, the news that Angel City was now owned by Alchemy and Science and then following that the distressing news that Blue Palms Brewhouse might be forced out of their location through no fault of theirs.

Thankfully, the beer community has rallied to the aid of one of our favorite beer spots and the new landlord has given a three day extension to work things out after seeing the outpouring of support. The hope is that they won’t have to close down and find a new location after building such a loyal clientele in the Hollywood community.

I was there last night because, if it was the last day, I wanted to occupy Blue Palms one more time. I ordered up a Sierra Nevada Beer Camp beer called The Dude. A cherry accented brown ale. Quite nice and fitting since the first Beer Camp beer that I ever had was at this spot. It was good to see a large crowd there including the Steeler fans who were not having a good day.

To stay in a celebratory mood, I cracked open an expensive wish list beer. Almanac 2011 Plum Ale. It was good and lived up to the price and my high expectations. I have now added their Blackberry beer to my wants/needs list.

If you haven’t paid your respects, I strongly suggest heading over on one of these three nights to show the powers that be that a new agreement would be beneficial to everyone.

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Angel City + Alchemy & Science =

Big news for the Los Angeles beer world, Alchemy & Science which is a new division (?) of Boston Beer Company has purchased Angel City Brewing which had recently moved to downtown LA last year.

Before I opine on the matter, here are the posts from the great BeerNews.org that detail what happened. # 1. # 2. # 3.

This seems to be uncharted territory as far as I know in the beer world. There is the Craft Brewers Alliance and the Magic Hat group where there is a pooling of resources but those are different from what appears is going on here with Angel City and A&S. The first question that I have is, and should always be the first question in any analysis of a business deal, will the beer quality improve? If Michael Bowe is allowed to just brew and someone else does the marketing and distribution, will that be a change for the better? Only time will tell, but my initial gut instinct is that it will.

Angel City, in recent years, had been eclipsed by Eagle Rock, Strand and El Segundo in buzz and number of tap handles. And Craftsman beers were always more highly regarded especially from a keeping the craft beer flame lit in Los Angeles perspective. Will the big business and dollars behind the new Angel City be a turn off to the craft beer crowd? I think it might.

One good thing is that the craft beer spotlight is now shining on Los Angeles for a bit. Can we as consumers and bloggers and lovers of craft beer keep that focus on LA?

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State by State


I saw this handy graphic on the Brookston Bulletin and it really shows where the breweries are no matter the methodology in getting there. There are some empty holes on the map that need to fixed! (Especially if I want to ever finish my quest to have a beer from each of the 50 states) Thanks to Brooklyn Growler for putting this together.

P.S. Click on the graphic to enlarge it.