Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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SB 788

Mention government to me and it is like letting the air out of those balloony whirlygig things at used car lots.  But the Golden State has made a good stride in being brewery friendly with the new Senate Bill 788 that was signed into law by Governor Newsom.

The law states that breweries that produce less than 60,000 barrels of beer annually, in paperwork speak also known as Type 23 licensees will not habe to obtain (and pay for) a separate winegrower’s license to produce ciders. And Perrys too.

Per the press release from the California Craft Brewers Association, “Previously, only large brewers with a Type 01 license and annual production of over 60,00 barrels were permitted to manufacture beer, cider, and perry under the same roof.”

That is one of those pesky rules that bedevil state brewery guilds and was obviously written for either A) giving big donating, big industrial brewers a leg up and / or B) making life hard on smaller competition.

Kudos to the CCBA and board chair Laurie Porter from SoCal’s Smog City Brewing for making brewery business life a bit easier.

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Beer Science!

Science and beer are inextricably linked and two recent news stories really highlight that fact.

First up is Half Moon Bay Brewery and their NASA wastewater, HERE.

Salmon, do to our human meddling are having a hard time finding their way back upstream but trub from beer making might help guide them, HERE.

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Telco Down

Looks like there is a brewery casualty up in Santa Clarita.  Telco Brewing posted this to social media…

I had made one visit north to Telco.  The beers were fine but there was not much reach into L.A. so it was a case of out of sight, out of mind for me. From the outside it looked like they had a great name and brand, decent industrial space and a large enough market but sometimes you can do things right and still not make it.

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Pick Six for Tilray

The purge continues!  Not to say that I told you so but any brewery selling to SABInBev had to know that it was not a marriage of love but rather financial convenience.  And when the money flow trickled, well as ‘N Sync would say, “Bye, bye bye”.

And now Tilray Brands and their CBD, THC, Kush, weed money has peeled off six breweries and one cidery from SABInBev. Shock Top, Breckenridge, Blue Point (the first purchased brewery if I am not too mistaken), 10 Barrel, Redhook, Widmer and Square Mile Cider.  

They will join the power conference of SweetWater, Montauk, Green Flash, Alpine and the new Good Supply Lager which I did not even know existed.

Before rejoices are sung. I do not know if this is a good change or not. These breweries all have different strengths and weaknesses and need investment and most importantly patience. I am cautiously pessimistic because one company can’t have all the tools to help this disparate group.

But at least they are out from the thumb of Bud.

Maybe Tilray can buy the four remaining Pac- 12 schools next

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Alembic?

I do not have anything riding on emojis.  Do I sometimes use them?  Yes. But if they went away tomorrow, my life would go on as Celine says.  

So when I learned of the alembic emoji I thought it would be cool to use once or twice but in looking at the cartoon’d version of the ancient distilling tool, I was left scratching my head.  I would have guessed hookah or chemistry set before still, ancient or not.  Maybe they should stick with a column still.

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No – Will Cellaring Ever Return?

It is probably safe to say that the drink it fresh crowd have won the day.  All those Enjoy By IPAs have cracked the collective consciousness.  I do not see either a resale market or beers by the bottle at bars and those would be the two big drivers for cellaring to regain a foothold.

The members only breweries with small footprints have also taken the mind share market for the types of beers that would be cellared but are too tiny to really get mainstream so the cellaring trend will be ISO more people for now.

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Maybe – Will Kolsch Service Catch On?

In recent weeks, I have seen two Los Angeles craft beer spots offer Kolsch service.  In the stange, on the tray, coaster over glass when done.  The whole kit and kaboodle.  Whatever a kaboodle is.

I would like to see it return for sure because I have not experienced it in all its Teutonic glory and even a California facsimile would be fun.  But I think it would be better as a limited time type of offer.  Just in summer on Sundays or as is the case at Tony’s Darts Away in Burbank paired with Tarot Card readings

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All Consuming

It is not often that this here beer blog turns it eye to art but over in Pasadena, the Norton Simon Museum has a new exhibition, All Consuming: Art and the Essence of Food.

It “explores how artists responded to and shaped food cultures in Europe from 1500 to 1900, as shown in a group of 60 paintings, prints, photographs and sculptures from the Norton Simon’s collections. Three distinct themes—“Hunger,” “Excess” and “Sustenance”—examine a range of relationships with eating and drinking, both positive and negative, displayed across two galleries. Through images of charity, war and religious asceticism, “Hunger” addresses the many faces of food deprivation, whether as something to be remedied, feared or even admired. “Excess” delves into depictions of morally questionable consumption in raucous tavern scenes and images of exoticized decadence, which reinforced historically specific attitudes about gender, class and race. “Sustenance” looks at how agricultural landscapes and bountiful pantries evoke comfort and plenty and how they are associated, particularly in northern Europe, with labor and commerce.  

The third and final gallery brings the exhibition’s broader themes closer to home through Edward Weston’s and Manuel Alvarez Bravo’s photographs of California and Mexico in the 1930s. Weston’s sweeping views of ranches and vineyards offer a picturesque vision of food production in California, whereas Alvarez Bravo’s photographs of restaurants and drinking fountains capture casual, day-to-day encounters with food and drink. These works will be adjacent to a response space that invites viewers to contemplate art’s continued role in shaping our relationship with food, not just as a necessity for survival, but as an essential for cultural life.”

I know that may have been TLDR but I want to draw ones attention to the little dig at alcohol.  Which of the three terms does “tavern culture” fall under?  It ain’t sustenance.  Even in 2023, there is a kernel of alcohol = bad.

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Best IPA in Oregon (or elsewhere)

The State of Oregon and The Oregon Brewers Guild has gauntlet in hand for a new beer competition – “the Best of the West Coast IPA: National Throwdown.”

This is for West Coast IPA’s between 6 and 8% ABV ONLY.

“Registration for the competition is open through July 7th and is open to breweries from all 50 states. All beers entered must be produced on a fully licensed, commercial brewery with a TTB Brewer’s Notice on file. Breweries-in-planning and homebrewers are not eligible. All proceeds from the competition will go to supporting the Guild.”  It will be interesting to read about the turnout for this new competition and if indeed all 50 states will have an entry.

You can get additional information about the competition, HERE . 

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Breaking News – Anchor Brewing to Cease Operations

Bad news has come to pass as Anchor Brewing who was bought by Sapporo in 2017 will cease operations and the business will be liquidated.  According to news released, Sapporo had been attempting to sell the San Francisco heritage brewery for some time now and found no bids.  

A financial knight could ride in during the liquidation process and the Anchor Public Taps will remain open until the beer runs out.  One of the beers on tap is the 2023 Christmas Ale which was being ramped into production. Probably the biggest whale in the beer ticking world for some time.  

You can get the sad details from Dave Infante at Vinepair who should get a tip of the hat for the journalism he has done on this story.  But, to me, this development seems to come at a weird time.  A history of Anchor (which I reviewed on this blog) came out recently, Sapporo let Anchor buy the ingredients for Christmas Ale, Anchor came out with a new summer Mexican lager and the vitriol over the bland logo re-brand had faded.  Those moves don’t signal floundering to me.

If Sapporo thought that the money would come from brewing Sapporo in San Francisco, that seems misguided since Sapporo owned Stone seems much better suited to that task.

Fingers crossed that this is not the end, end but maybe, and this might be an idea too crazy, there should be a brewery who only does beers from defunct craft breweries.  A place that snaps up recipes like the steam beer and Christmas ale and Liberty Ale so that they are not completely lost.