The Firkin for January 2024

Seems like IP un-aithorization has roared back into use again. For a while, labels that I saw on the interwebs seemed to have actual thought out designs but lately, that whole piggyback on someone else’s work is back like a cold you can’t shake.

I know that punners gonna pun and that not all artistry will be to my particular liking. There are some breweries whose labels just do not speak to me but I am at the very least, on board with breweries who at least try to be original.

But there are soooo many lazy beer labels that look like children’s cereal boxes or sodas or candy bars that I have to believe that they sell enough to make a brewery take that step into outright identity theft. Me, I would looking over my shoulder for a Cease and Desist letter.

This, at a time, when you can probably find many artists to create a look for your new pastry stout or candy sour that actually tells the story of your brand and not a secondhand tale with missing pages that is more attached to the original IP than your beer.

Please No Chill

Well, the big industrial marketing brewers are at it again.  Spending time on advertising over ingredients.

Coors Light has had its iconic (?) Silver Bullet Train for as long as I can remember but now they are harnessing some Hollywood CGI so that lucky (?) fans can see their face in the ad during the Super Bowl.  They will also get $500 and swag.  

The downside is that the actual commercial during the game will be played at normal speed which means no one can see the faces.  You have to go to their website or god forbid the Coors YouTube channel to see a slow motion version where you might be able to catch your face if you don’t blink.

Cacao in the Yeast

There is always lots of beer chatter about a new hop varietal even when given an unappetizing name like Anchovy but less attention to yeast unless it is Thiol Boosted.

But premiere Yeast Lab, White Labs has found a new and rare yeast….

…strange to have a yeast from rare cacao. Hope to find a beer with it.

Cooking on Cook

When word came that famed Oregon brewer John Harris (Dechutes, Full Sail) was selling his brewery to Great Frontier Holdings, Ecliptic and that most of the beers would be brewed elsewhere, it was a blow as Ecliptic anchored the bottom of trendy Mississippi Avenue in North East Portland.

But news dropped earlier this month (about the same time that we learned that Bagby Beer Co was making way for Green Cheek) that…..

“…Von Ebert Brewing announced it is moving into the formerly Ecliptic Brewing facility on N. Cook Street in Portland, which allows the brewery to expand production and distribution from 4,000 barrels per year to as much as 20,000 barrels per year.”

And, “John Harris is a beer institution who helped put Oregon on the map. By taking over the N. Cook. Street space, Von Ebert will be able to continue the legacy of brewing Oregon’s world-class craft beer.”

The best part of the news comes from Harris, who says, “Von Ebert Brewing makes awesome beers and I look forward to working with them to continue to produce small batch Ecliptic beers on the same equipment.”

The transition to Von Ebert Brewing should have the N. Cook Street taproom reopened this spring.

Aware

Offering up an alternative to Dry January for those who feel the need to monitor their drinks intake is an upcoming smartphone app from researchers from Lausanne University Hospital and University of Lausanne in Switzerland.  The app is called Smaart.  It uses a game template to reward users for reaching moderation and non-drinking goals.

Since it is still being trialed and not available you can also peek at Drinkaware and Drink Control, two other apps that help keep account of drinking.

Better to keep track all year than binge in December and February.

A Dry Pushback

I am not a social media power user (still no Tikety Tokety for me) but I have noticed pushback on Dry January from various and sundry folks with half the month now past even in the face of the amount of N/A options increasing significantly. Lots of #PubJanuary hashtags out there.

Maybe instead, the moderation talk can be spread throughout the year instead of focusing on the slow times in January.

We know why taprooms are slow and less crowded, the reasons are twofold. Financial and seasonal. When the weather is crappy, people go out less and they certainly don’t sit out on a patio with a beer or two. Customers have also probably over celebrated during the holidays and take a breather for a bit. Whatever the reason, the brewery books do not look rosy because of it each January and into February.

So ironically, you end up promoting a month of drinking less in an already slow month which, in essence, is setting an easier goal for yourself. If you wanted to take a bigger swing, then pick a month in the high summer drinking time.

Before I go further, I am not against N/A options, in fact, I think all the options should be on the menu. Choice is great and needed. And if someone uses January to re-set themselves healthwise, again, all for it. But if you don’t go to breweries or bottle shops for a month, you cannot expect all to be there when you want to binge on February 1st.

The pendulum has swung in favor of the survival of breweries as we sit in non-growth times for craft beer. Dry January may have been a non-factor when growth was big but now that it isn’t it is most certainly seen.

What to do? Well, moderate your drinking through the year. instead of one lump sum. I advocate taking days off each week. I don’t drink alcohol two days of the week and I watch my intake to keep it at a certain level the rest of the days. I end up with three sober months that way. And local business’s get my money each month.

Option two is to buy craft N/A options at their taprooms. One can go out with friends without drinking. If more people did that, breweries, bottle shops and bars would notice and probably increase the N/A section of the menu.

You can support locally AND be healthful at the same time.

Bagby Beer to Green Cheek

In startling news, Bagby Beer Co. in Oceanside is transitioning into the southernmost Green Cheek location.

You can read the full adieu HERE but this is a big change. Oceanside is a well beer-ed city, Bagby has a large sprawling location which combined with a general craft beer downturn probably laid the groundwork for the change. A type of change that will be happening more often in 2024.

It is too bad as you will tell from today’s other post that I really liked their beers. Solid quality. On the good side of the ledger, Green Cheek is pretty solid too, can’t really quibble with them taking over.

New Address for the Party in 2024

Party Beer Co. is on the move and it is for typical reasons for an L.A. brewery. The landlord.

But do not fret. The beer will continue, brewed at Eagle Rock Brewery until they can find a new forever home. The beer will also be on tap at what will be a combo Eagle Rock – Party Beer taprrom.

It is a shame that West Adams is losing a spot for craft beer because the area is under beer-ed.

The Firkin for December 2023

One last kvetch for 2023 before the craft beer world moves into 2024.

Hours of Operation. Why do I have to be Sherlock Holmes or an investigative journalist to find them and once found, why am I wary that they don’t really reflect the actual open hours?

A little backtrack first. My father was an inveterate gambler when it came to going out to a restaurant. He barely checked the address, let alone if the darn place would be open. God forbid he call the establishment.

My genome carried some of that devil may care attitude but it has been slowly and surely burned out of me. In my last road trip, I read and re-read the hours of one spot that I wanted to visit. It seemed clear but it was clearly at odds with the sign on the closed door that said different.

Another brewery that I checked and re-checked was closed for a staff event. No where was that mentioned. Guess it was expected that people would find out when they drove their and saw a darkened taproom. Another brewery was lit up and an employee was inside but that employee was apparently the only one who showed up and so the brewery was staying locked.

If I had called the brewery with the staff event, would the message said that? If I had called the one employee brewery, would the phone have been answered. I suspect no in both instances.

Why can’t hours be easy and clear? Are they changing with such frequency that social media cannot be updated quickly enough? Does no one have that job?

The fix is simple. Check your hours on your website and social media pages. Then fix if needed. If hours for a certain week, like Christmas or New Year’s is different, then post that.

Of the three places where I traveled and met with no welcome, I did not go back to two of them. That should say something.

Bye, Bye Beer Paper

The November issue of Beer Paper featuring a German theme may prove to be the final issue of the monthly paper.

I have seen a few other newsletters call it quits as well and it seems to be not only due to financial considerations but also to time spent that could be spent elsewhere for better gain.

I think that another consideration is that the craft beer missionaries have decreased in number. Factor that in along with the steady change in how we get our news now favoring Tik Tok means that beer fans not only have to keep their enthusiasm up, they also have to keep changing technology.

It is tiring if you want to make a living at it. Or at least not bleed money.

Which gets us back to Beer Paper which has plugged along month to month covering a wide range of stories from around the Los Angeles area. They have allowed me to write about beer books which is doubly against the grain of the times.

It must be said that the news is not yet final but I would expect changes at the very least. Perhaps quarterly. Perhaps online only. Either way, it was a great run and I am glad to have been a small contributor to it.