Beer is becoming ingrained into many aspects of life. So it is no surprise to see it in the card realm too.
Beer Cards……
….is a new way to have a card game while learning about beer styles and how competitive your beer buddies are.
Beer Labels – Tip of the Hat
Earlier this month I wagged my finger Colbert style at a label from Smuttynose. Now I want to Tip my hat to this well designed label from Tool.
I like the alliteration of snow and saison. The images force you to look at them twice. The logo is clear and visible. It all comes together. It has a Jones Soda look to it. Retro but modern.
Beer Layering Spoon
It’s a little late for St. Patrick’s Day but who says you have to only mix craft beers then? Take a look at the specs HERE. Looks like a handy tool in the beer lovers arsenal.
Beer Labels – Wag of the Finger
I am, of course, blatantly using the Stephen Colbert phrase unfortunately not in the ironic way that he does though. First take a look at this Smuttynose label…..
Prudish, I am not. But this label weirds me out. In the walking in on your parents way. I can live with the sperm graphics. I can live with the label copy pregnancy puns. But combined with the creepy smiling faces on the sperm just pushes it over the line. And it also intimates that there is something not beer related in my glass.
It may still be an excellent beer and I would not turn it down but I would tear the label off first.
beer wallet
Eco-friendly and beer go hand in hand. And here is someone who takes the leftover packaging and turns it into a useful item that shows your craft beer street cred.
Check out the Etsy shop for some beer wallets and cuffs and six pack holders.
(Thanks to Beer O’Clock for highlighting this product)
Yeastside Brewing
Tomorrow you can check out my FoodGPS column on the Yeastside Brewers, but I thought I would tease you with some photos of the event today.
To the City of Los Angeles – Zoning Administration
On Saturday Night Live, there was a recurring segment called “Really?”. Whenever the writers hear of an issue that strikes them as outrageous or dumbfounding, they use this segment to give it the satirical roasting it deserves.
I wish I could hire the writers of that show to give me better words for this occasion, but I will have to settle for “Really?”
What is this occasion? Eagle Rock has to go in front of the Zoning Administration to defend itself as part of the Conditional User Permit it was granted. And if they pass this test, they get to do it again in 3 1/2 years. Before Eagle Rock is questioned tomorrow, here are my questions for the City of Los Angeles….
You are actually thinking about stopping a growing business that has actually hired people in this economy and possibly force them to move. Really?
You would rather a building sit empty than have people inside buying products that are taxed knowing that those dollars then go to the City of Los Angeles? Really?
You want to make the City of the Angels MORE unapealing to entrepreneurs who would like to be opening breweries? Do you know something that Portland, Oregon, Asheville, North Carolina, San Diego, California, Seattle, Washington and New York City, NY don’t know? Really?
You desire to antagonize the small but tight knit craft beer community? A community that has propelled economic growth in a down economy? Really?
Eagle Rock Brewing is an asset not only inside city limits but across the country because they not only employ and serve our local citizens, but also represent Los Angeles at national events – like when they brought home a gold medal from the Great American Beer Festival in Denver.
This is a law abiding, tax paying, community building small business who needs your support. Really.
Los Angeles Craft Beer timeline
Saw this on the Craft Beer Chronicles and thought it should get another audience after bouncing around Facebook and Twitter last week.
These two timelines really show how young we are as a craft beer community. I sometimes feel impatient with the growth of breweries and bottle shops here in LA but I have to stop comparing to Portland and Denver and see that that most of the places that I frequent aren’t even 5 years old. We have to walk before we can run. And here is what I think we will need in the future to really make LA a beer destination.
1. More breweries. We are on the path and if the City of Los Angeles would just get the hell out of the way we could have a bumper crop in a couple years. A community of brewers will only create higher standards and more experimentation.
2. A couple specialty beer bars. We need a real ale establishment or a sour beer house or heck even a bar that serves out of town beers to all the LA people who came from someplace else. Maybe a movie house with taps like the Alamo Drafthouse.
3. More media coverage. I’m looking at you LA Times and KCRW’s Good Food.
4. A lot more summer beers. LA gets hot if you didn’t notice over the 4th of July weekend. We can’t be drinking high ABV Triple IPA’s and Barrel aged stouts. We need light session beers and pilsners and we need more of them in cans so the active set can take them to where they want to go.
Silipint
I heard about the Silipint on Beer O’Clock and I thought. How many pint glasses have I broken that this would be such a need? I am clumsy at times but nothing has even chipped in the last two years.
But just because I don’t go to the beach or hike or other places where these would come in handy. Doesn’t mean others don’t.
If you have tried the Silipint, let me know your experience.
Purpose Energy
Using your beer to make energy for your next beer. That is the basic conceit behind Purpose Energy.
Check out their website and see what they did at Magic Hat. I can see some of the regional and super-regional breweries taking a good hard look at this idea.