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my humble and correct opinion
In a move that might have great potential especially with crowlers, Augusta Label + Packaging now has a patented resealable lid for canned beverages.
It is both leak and tamper proof and can be used with any can line or manual seamer. They are on their second generation lid now. Cost and shelf life extension will be my big questions butI certainly hope it is something that can be perfected, especially if 16oz cans are going to be the dominant craft beer package, even for high ABV beers.
Speak for 11 seconds otherwise Skynet will know that you are inebriated. Confused? Read THIS, then come back.
Now, my first inclination is to think that the creators of this speech recognition software are tooting their horn a little bit too much. I am thinking of early lie detector tests where foolproof claims were made that just could not be backed up. Primarily because body reactions may not be about what you are being asked but what someone is afraid will be learned.
A person could have just gotten a yes to a date proposal, for example, and be really giddy. Maybe as giddy as I get when tipsy. Or they could have been told no and start mumbling. Would that trigger as an alcohol caused speech pattern.
And going back to my happier mood, how does the AI know my baseline? And what if I am particularly happy because my birthday month starts tomorrow? How does that factor in?
As with the lie detector, this inebriation sensor might be good as part of an overall set of proofs, not as a sole one.
If you liked that preview then head HERE to check out their Kickstarter page.
Los Angeles has had a bit of brewery loss at the end of 2022. But does a brewery closure mean a good beer is gone? Should it be?
Of course L.A. is not the only one lamenting brewery closures but I would really like to see beers from Indie, King Harbor, Strand and Mumford back for at least a limited time on draft. Perhaps if these brewers end up in another local brewery, they can add it into the brew schedule as an homage.
Or, on a grander scale, would it be possible for a beer festival to have an “in memoriam” booth where you can taste beers that are no longer in production.
If Stone Brewing can bring back beers based on customer voting, I don’t see why a beer recipe can’t just be brewed anew.
The California Craft Beer Summit will be back at full strength in Sacramento this March.
After temping in Long Beach for one year and then postponing for more, the Summit is back at the state capital.
And I will be too! You will be getting plenty coverage in March on this blog but you might consider joining us because there will probably be some special brewery events around town.
Predictions tend to either clump into educated guesses or a pundit re-wording the same thing they said the year before, and the year before that.
With that latter spirit in mind, let’s trot out some antiques and I will comment…
Pilsners will really be a thing this year – This is the biggest craft beer chestnut. The thing is, most places have a really good pils or a lager on tap. Highland Park Brewery here in Los Angeles has all kinds on tap. We can stop with this prediction because it is low key already proven.
Seltzers will lose steam – This has been the pandemic question each year. I never found one that struck me as anywhere near a beer replacement and have wondered how people thought they were drinkable. I think the category will lose additional steam this year. People will continue to buy them but they are not the song of the summer anymore.
Non-Alcoholic will gain momentum – This is pretty much a gimme as predictions go. More people are entering the market chasing that sweet deal that Athletic got from Keurig / Dr. Pepper. The beers themselves are still near beer in name only but the sober curious will buy them despite flavor flaws.
Mergers and Acquisitions – The era of big deals is on pause. This year, it will be the snatching up of closed breweries by those who need more production room. Perhaps in a different part of town or state to cut down on delivery costs.
December and now January have not been kind to Los Angeles breweries. Today comes word via Instagram that Strand Brewing in Torrance is now done for good.
If you were here for the heady early L.A. brewing days, the sight of Rich Marcello in his crisp white shirt talking about 24th Street Pale for a moment before he had to get behind the wheel again was a common one. The little brewery tucked into a tiny spot was must stop by one as Torrance beer blew up.
When they moved to the huge space close to Yorkshire Square, that magic was dimmed a bit. The space was huge and Strand could only fill so much of it even when they started distilling. For me, the brightness of the beers seemed to dim as well. The pale was still solid but the IPAs started to fall behind nearby Smog City.
Here is to someone or some group finding a way to make that location viable again maybe by having one or two co-tenants that could draw more crowds combined.
And here’s to Rich and all the others who made Strand Brewing great.
Publicizing a secret menu is a bit of a strange thing to type but when I saw a recent Instagram post from New Belgium Brewing, I wondered how many other places have beers that are a mixed concoction of two or three other beers.
And the follow up question, how best to talk it up? Just for serious regulars? For club members? Just on Wednesdays? For whomever asks?
I wish I was more in the know on this fun idea.
Before I dive into my quick thoughts for the end of the month, I would like to give a quick R.I.P. to Mumford Brewing in DTLA as they close after 7+ years. I visited when they first opened and thought the beers were only OK, but then a subsequent visit showed a fast growth. It taught me that some places need time to gel. From there on out Mumford was a solid winner especially with their hazy IPAs. Buy those few cans out in the wild still if you can.
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Bourbon Pursuit and Breaking Bourbon have noticed that bourbon and spirits tend to run the opposite of craft beer. Big brands dominate. Making it hard for craft distilleries to get air where in beer bigger seems to default to worse or boooring.
As we head to a new year, both good beer and good bourbon will need to learn from the other. Heritage breweries will need to figure out how ubiquitous brands like Jim Beam or Maker’s Mark can remain popular even though they are much larger than little distilleries.
Craft distilleries need to ponder how chasing new trends works for small breweries and how they harness that energy to stay on the tips of tongues and front of minds.
And what I think might be more important is how do bourbon and beer combine past the simple fill a bourbon barrel with an imperial stout.
Shmaltz Brewing Company, the jokey and punny Jewish craft beer brand seemed to be done when founder Jeremy Cowan moved to other projects after 25 years.
He’Brew: The Chosen Beer is now owned by Jesse Epstein, a 26-year-old Reform rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College. Epstein started home brewing during the pandemic and saw an opportunity to reinvigorate religion which is struggling with attendance.
I saw a great quote from Epstein, “What about our Jewish values can be used to inform our food practices?” he asks. “How, through beer, can we embrace the values of welcoming in the stranger, freeing the captive, opening the eyes of the blind?” A refreshing thought when religion seems quicker to divide and discriminate.
It will probably be a slow build but hopefully Epstein can accomplish it.