Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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Brewnited

One of the event casualties of the virus was the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) which sucks for many reasons. It has been a reliable revenue stream for Denver area breweries, the Colorado economy and the Brewers Association (BA)  Due to the loss of their marquee event, the BA has had layoffs, most notably of the hard working and traveling Julia Herz who I have had the pleasure of hearing speak on a number of occasions.  

As that news hit, the GABF announced the 2020 version of their event which is a t-shirt and a passport. That passport “will have exclusive access to beery deals at participating festival breweries nationwide, and access to exclusive online content October 16-17. Online content will include Brewers Studio happy hours, tastings and interviews with brewers from around the country.”

I would love to see a behind the scenes of the judging. I know this year is not normal but I think it would be to get a peek at the process of one of the biggest aspects of the festival. I also think they should have a monthly countdown to next year’s event to keep GABF in people’s minds. 

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Fun Labels for a July 2020


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I am staying local for the July edition of fun beer labels, starting with Professional Human Being a Hazy IPA Double Dry Hopped with Nelson, Citra and Wai iti from Ambitious Ales in Long Beach.
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I like the simple color stripes and the brainiac / scientist and the name is fun and ironic considering how inhuman some people are acting like.

Nearby-ish, Burnin Daylight has a beer from somewhere else…

…which is appropriately hopped with Galaxy (and Simcoe). What I like is the Cosmos colors and mirrored names. It works really well and as a Sci-Fi nerd, anything about parallel universes is fun.
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Anti-Maskers

I am a relatively smart guy but this lockdown has made me feel like a goddam genius at least in comparison to some of the people in the US who I feel have a bag of hammers where their brains should be.

The main fuel for this rant / sermon are masks. I do not like wearing mine. I think the ear stretching caused by one led to a bout of vertigo. But you know what? I fucking wear it and am somehow able to go on with my life unimpeded.

Others, well, they get all “angry white person” when turned away from Wal-Mart, or when told they can’t have a family birthday party so they can infect grandma and grandpa or even visit a brewery. Or they descend upon a city council meeting and claim that masks are evil. Making all of the politicians wish they could crawl away.

I am going to lay this out quickly for you anti-maskers. Masks protect the rest of humanity from YOU. Not wearing a mask is basically telling everyone that you would not mind potentially killing someone. And not just one person but every person that person later meets. You may not have Covid19. Bully for you. But you might if enough people don’t wear masks.

So, put it on and then shut your hole about it. It could be a lot worse. You could be wearing a ventilator. Be a grown up. Don’t Share Your Air.

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The Firkin for June 2020

I have never been able to work a yo-yo but governors of states these days seem to be masters of it.

California Governor Gavin Newsom took away the bar opening rule practically minutes after giving it the OK. I will frame this by saying that I am totally down with the lockdown. We should totally be following the New Zealand model and we could be in stadiums watching sports by now. But we are in full yo-yo mode. Opening for Memorial Day, then reeling it back in after cases spike three weeks later.

I will also add that I am in no damn hurry to go back and sit in a bar or taproom but I do feel that I am being yanked around when I can go into a bottle shoppe for the first time in months and buy (after being temperature gunned) local beers. But the very next day, they had to shut.

If I, the customer felt yanked around, imagine the person who runs the store. They redesigned their store. Bought sanitizer. Stressed. Bought the damn temp guns to abide by the law. Now, they are shut again despite following all the rules. They spent time and money and it is now earning them nada.

Now, these places could just keep operating in the hope that enforcement is as up and down as the open and close orders, but why are we punishing the good actors, the ones who are serious about this process? Or I guess just go back into restaurant mode which is apparently A-OK because we all know forcing a food order makes the same space safer.

Here is what needs to happen. Pay people. Help people. We need masks on and social distancing but it can be done without destroying the entire economy or dicking small business owners. That means that the government has to not expect ANY taxes from all of the businesses that they are shutting down, then expecting to open after spending their own money, then shutting again.

We need clear rules and we need to hear sorry from the government for the screw ups. Otherwise, the dumb people are going to freak out. More on that in a day or two.

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Crushies – SoCal Winners

The Craft Beer Marketing Awards were held last week in a Zoom ceremony that was a little long and heavy on the word “congrats” and there’s was a little love for our extended area.

Third Window of a Santa Barbara won a runners-up “Gold” for Best Bottle Design in the 12oz, 12.7oz and 16.9oz category.

The Bruery also got Gold for their packaging design for the Hoarders Society.

Bigger winners, aka Platinum went to Calidad for website photography and video and El Segundo newcomer, Upshift Brewing also took top honors for their flight tray, that they dubbed the Moto Flight with the handlebar design.

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Stadium Brewed

Fun fact as the Premier League re-starts to empty seats is that Tottenham Hotspur have Beavertown Brewery actually brewing in their fancy stadium.

Currently, The Beavertown Tottenham Microbrewery and Taproom is closed but it shows that instead of just pouring a few doubly over priced local beers at sports venues, that you can actually integrate the innovators into the fabric of the space. And create possible opportunities for non event day business.

It will be interesting to see how the new SoFi Stadium utilizes Three Weavers into the American football landscape and if that encourages the Clippers with their building.

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Aftermath – Part 10

The NBA recently timelined their path to finishing the 2019/2020 season as well as draft and the 2020/2021 season. MLS is on the path back as well with the NFL still sitting with starting their season as planned.

But fans. They will be at home for some time. Either by the rules of the respective leagues or from fear. How is that gonna change the might combination of beer and sports? Well any company that has a significant percentage of business with sports stadiums is gonna lose that. That is mostly the big players. But they may be able to recoup part of that with branded packaged beer. KC Chiefs logo on Bud Light being one.

But the reduction in sales is going to extend to sports bars as well where seating capacity is now reduced and in L.A. food purchases are oddly required. Both of which will reduce beer sales. And that is before we even talk about unemployment.

Personally, I would have scratched the NBA, MLS and MLB seasons and waited until fall. The seasons were already compromised statistically and will be forever marked by asterisks. And without ticket sales, finances were going to suck anyway.

I do see a major concession surge though when the first fan filled games begin.

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3 Good Signs

Just wanted to pass on some good beer news…

  1. Enegren Brewing has installed new tanks
  2. Highland Park Brewing and Smog City are both hiring
  3. Taprooms are re-opening

May not seem like much but considering 2020, we should take these wins.

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No I in Beer

Though I am nowhere near a fan of country music and this Brad Paisley song is a little too on the nose….

…I do appreciate that the singer went all in to celebrate two friends who just want to have a beer together, by buying a stores worth of beer for them.

Some good news, indeed.