Category: Beer Industry

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

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Beer-Con

This just flew into my beer radar. And I thought I would pass the pertinent info on about it. Has a good panel and you can’t beat San Diego for a beer location. Would be interested if anybody is planning on going and why?

“San Diego’s first craft beer conference that caters to industry players and fans alike will take place on August 27th 2011, promising exclusive access to the top names in the industry, and their expert presentations plus panel discussions on all things relevant to the American craft beer movement. Between informative discussions, giveaways, and an extensive beer garden officially dubbed “Tap Haven,” if you’re an aspiring craft beer guru, you won’t want to miss Beer-Con.

Beer-Con’s impressive line-up of participants includes industry pros like Anat Baron, Director of Beer Wars, Patrick Rue, Founder of The Bruery, Greg Koch, CEO and Co-Founder of Stone Brewing Co, and Bill Sysak, Beverage Supervisor at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens, to name a few. Presentations are scheduled such as Beer Tasting 101 to Transitioning your Bar/Opening a Brewery, Beer and Social Media, and many more. Check out the official Beer-Con site for a full list of speakers and sponsors. Or visit Beer-Con.com.

Beer-Con is slated to sell out quickly, so be sure to reserve your space today! You can reach us by simply leaving a comment on the Beer-Con website. Beer-Con is a huge step in forwarding the craft beer movement, and we’re excited to meet you at the Handlery Hotel in San Diego on August 27th.”

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Stone Media Day – The analysis

Now that the BIG Stone Brewing news is out in the open air. I want to take a step back and really look at what this means for Stone, San Diego and craft beer in general.

Stone is now putting a lot of projects onto a hopefully large plate. Can they keep up the quality on so many fronts? I believe that they can. They have broad support from the city and community. They have common cause with local brewers some of whom they distribute and I think they have the hard headed gumption to reach 2013. They will need a deep bench of talent to do it. In the following key areas: Hotel management. This can be tricky. They plan to go into this with a company that has expertise. Which is probably the best route. But they will have to monitor and be ready to step in if the Stone ethos doesn’t stay on course. Sour and barrel beers. I am hoping that they have a brewer and staff ready to charge into this field. Could be very exciting but the bar is incredibly high. Cascade, New Belgium and Russian River are high benchmarks.

For San Diego, it is a win-win. More Stone tourist draws spread out to decrease some traffic. And hey, any business opening now is a plus. This also really burnishes the craft beer reputation. Portland and Denver have proven that more can be merrier and this will draw more beer to the region.

For craft beer, I wish I knew. I have a feeling that a Stone backlash will be in the offing. Sam Adams and Sierra Nevada both get “too big” attached to their names occasionally for usually no good reason. I am sure that Stone will get tagged with it as well. But I believe we need all levels of business size to truly compete for the hearts and minds of the beer consumer. A rare beer that only a few can get will not make people put down the bad beer. We need more good beer in more places.

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Stone Media Day – the photos

Part two of the Stone blitz is purely photos. Enjoy!

Steve and Greg before the day got started.

1st, a new store in San Diego
Pointing out the sights at the Liberty Station location.
Beer at the farm!
two thirds of the brewing team behind the upcoming Green Tea IPA
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Stone Media Day – quick recap

The Stone Brewing that you know now will be so much bigger and cooler in 2013 than 2011. As you may have seen in the Twitter-sphere and on Facebook, Stone is expanding and in typical Stone fashion, boldly.

I was among the lucky people that got to experience the news in one day straight from the source, Greg Koch and Steve Wagner. We traveled from the Stone World Bistro in Escondido, to Liberty Station near the San Diego airport to a lovely little farm in North San Diego county. And it was jam packed with news. So here goes…..

1. A new Stone store will be opening in the South Park area of San Diego. Similar to the store at the World Bistro. You can get a growler fill, buy a bottle and get a shirt. It will be tremendous for those in San Diego who now don’t have to trek north to get their beer.

2. A new World Bistro will open at Liberty Station. In the old Navy mess hall! And you can play bocce! (OK, I have never played bocce, so I don’t know why I put the exclamation point there) And their will be a brewery on site that might make some interesting one-off beers.

3. And they bought a farm! Yes, a real working farm that supplies part of the food for the restaurant. It may end up hosting educational events that reinforces the Stone locavore ethos and might be the site for beer dinners. It already has an outdoor oven and a great little lake. Combine that with the great San Diego weather and you have a winner.

4. The headquarters is expanding and not by a little. This will be HUGE! A new production facility about the size of what they currently have right next door. An expanded kitchen, more parking, electric vehicle charging spots near the front door. Then across the parkway will be a 50 seat boutique hotel, a barrel aged and sour beer facility and another garden.

5. There will be a lottery for the Barrel aged Macadamia collaboration porter in the new fancy caged and corked bottles because they will not hit the regular distribution chain. Why? There are only 672 of them.

6. Today is the brew day for the charity Green Tea IPA collaboration. A big 9% beer with loads of tea and literally a world of hops in it.

7. The Belgo Anise Imperial Stout is excellent. Big anise and coffee aromas. Not heavy and viscous at all. It is lively and fun to drink. Unless you do not like black licorice. It will be available along with the regular Imperial Stout in a couple of weeks.

Oh and there is something about a brewery in Europe too.

In a couple days, I will talk about what I believe the future holds for these Stone ventures.

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Home brew – Brooklyn style

While gaping slack-jawed at the beer choices at my Whole Foods in Glendale, I noticed to the side this….

Home brew kits, straight out of Brooklyn. So I investigated the boxes. Cool label. Ingredients can be bought in stores and online. Just need a kettle to cook the wort, everything else seemed to be in the box. I figured it would $60. Lo and behold it is $41. Great price for a gift or to try if I hadn’t spent my money on BrewDog beer.

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Beer, book and God

If someone works at UC Davis and writes about beer. You might want to pay attention. I am certainly going to order this one to read with my next beer.

“Legendary beer expert Charlie Bamforth presents the most compelling social history of beer ever written: where it’s come from, and where it’s headed. From centuries-old cultural values to radical new approaches, craft brewing to globalization, it’s an amazing story. Bamforth tells it all–with humor, behind-the-scenes insight, and sheer joy!”

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Don’t put your tongue on it

Now that I have either intrigued you or disgusted you with that title. Here is worse news (especially for your palate).

Just read the website copy, “What is a Beer Froster? A beer froster is a specially-designed refrigerator (well, technically a freezer) that holds beer at 24 degrees… the absolute coldest temperature a beer can get without freezing! Not to be confused with any other appliance, the beer froster gets beer cold and holds it there at that exact, perfect magic temperature!

There are wine refrigerators for wine, and now beer frosters for beer. If you like chilled beer, and you like your beer at its coldest and most refreshing, a beer froster is your newest favorite appliance! For beer as it was meant to be!”

I like “perfect magic temperature” but the last line is the best “as it was meant to be”. Nope and nope. That line of copy is as brazenly wrong as the triple hopped whopper we’ve been served in too many commercials.

Just get a regular ‘fridge.

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Innovate everywhere but on the product

photo from CNN Money website

The continuing attempts to improve the bottle while not fixing what is inside continues at Budweiser, home of the industrial water lager.

You can use a coin or a key or heck even your fingernail to write your name or something unfunny on a bottle.

Now if they would just combine all the wonderful technologies together in a vortex, wide mouth etchable bottle.