Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

Posted on

Sharpe at 7

Each year (when Portland has a first round pick), I take the opportunity to make tenuous beer connections and since the Blazers tanked semi-succesfully to pick #7, I definitely had to have an NBA draft post this year.

Since Shaedon Sharpe basically has a stop over at Kentucky, let’s instead head to the province of Ontario in Canada.

So let’s go to London and what I hope Rip City will become, a Powerhouse.

They have a smoked pineapple Gose that sounds great but since I am thinking about an NBA ‘ship, their Daydream Dunkels sounds even better this day.

Also, welcome to PDX, Jerami Grant!

Posted on

Buoy Beer Building

Scary images from Buoy Beer in Astoria, Oregon..

It makes me think about the sexy topic of infrastructure. I have been lucky enough to visit Buoy a couple of times and the combo of beer and river view is amazing but when the Columbia is surging it becomes scary.

And with a business that is capital intensive already, improvement checklist items for days, weeks and months can be pushed. This collapse is probably not due to that but it is a wake up call to make sure everything is, pun intended, ship shape.

Posted on

Skip the Cup

If I needed another reason to not follow this year’s World Cup past the egregious governance of FIFA, how hot it will be on the pitch and the human rights abuses of host Qatar, well here is the proverbial nail in the coffin…

I am 100% sure this commemoratively cloaked Bud will sell like hotcakes but maybe we should all think about Qatar and their whole alcohol issue where there is “zero tolerance for drinking in public and being drunk in public is a crime. Alcohol is available to buy for over 21-year-olds from licensed hotel restaurants and bars.”

Why would one associate with this country?

Posted on

Delayed R.I.P. – Cellador Ales

Most closures spool out over a month or two, but in the case of Cellador Ales, the end date is further on the horizon 12/31/22, but no less sad for the Los Angeles brewing scene.

This will allow everyone to trek out and have a final wild ale ir purchase tickets to their L.A. Beer Week festival.

What struck me about the announcement was this section..

But…something I can’t quite put my finger on has been rippling through the industry in 2022; It has unexpectedly been the toughest year since the pandemic started, for us, and apparently many other small breweries.

Makes one wonder when the other closure pennies are going to drop.

Posted on

Thoroughly Modern Maui?

The uncertainty swirling around Modern Times. Closing locations. Receivership sale rumors. All that caffeine from the roaster have led to this point where a potential buyer comes from the island.

Since this is a San Diego story, I direct you to SD Beer News for the full lowdown HERE. With any sale, you hope the new owner will be good stewards going forward. I get to see how that goes with my two favorite sports teams as Chelsea has just been sold and the Trailblazers are in the owner courting phase.

But Modern Times has hit the jackpot with Maui Brewing who are big in the industry and well respected. Now we wait again for news.

Posted on

and Chill

From the department of like us cause of causes and not our actual product comes…

Coors Light’s new ad campaign, “Chillboards”. Debuting in Miami it is a  rooftop billboard shown to decrease temperatures in Florida apartments. The “chillboard” is painted with a white roof coating that can reflect 85% of sunlight, but don’t talk to much science or DeSantis will outlaw it.

Is this cool, yes. Does it move the climate change needle, maybe a little. Is it just marketing? Certainly. Maybe they could team up with their family of breweries to paint the roofs of their brewing plants.

Posted on

No Trappists in America

Sad brewery closing news…

Business is hard. Business mixed with religious tradition is hard. Transplanting the Trappist model into the U.S. is really hard too. Adding to the sadness is thar their beer was good, maybe leaning to American, but good. Maybe the recipes can live on with some part of the revenue going to the Abbey.

Posted on

My Choice

…since, apparently white men can make all their own choices, is to be ready..

You can also help by donating to the Brigid Alliance.

We should be in a world where everyone can choose equally. Think of it this way, if you walked into your favorite brewery and they said that YOU because your YOU could not order three of the ten beers on tap. Would you like that? Now multiply that feeling by, well, a lot!

Posted on

Rue the Moonlight

Time for some inside the business of the beer talk, good news, I promise.

Patrick Rue, the founder and former owner of the Bruery and now in St. Helena with his Erosion Wine label along with his family, have acquired the 1/2 share of Moonlight held by Heineken through Lagunitas Brewing. Sounds like an NBA draft trade, right?

Moonlight founder, Brian Hunt, keeps his half of the brewery which has done a few more collaboration beers that we in SoCal have been lucky enough to get because his beer is stellar.

Hopefully, this will be a better strategic partnership.

Posted on

Label Insanity

Playing a bit of catch-up here, last month the North Carolina Craft Brewers Guild held their Label Insanity contest.

I think that each brewers guild or as many that want to, should do this so that there could be a giant countrywide competition. What makes this competition good is that they have niche’d it to “insane” instead of best. That choice could allow for a best Halloween or Christmas label as well.

Here is this years winner in North Carolina….