I was vigilantly checking my credit card statement when I saw a strange name on a purchase. I looked at my calendar and saw that I was at the Eagle Rock branch of Craft Beer Cellar that night and not at some place called Talon. I dug a little more and found out that the Talon is now the new name of the bottle shop.
The only news that I can find was on Facebook saying that Tom & Nicki have taken over. Leads me to think that the franchising through Craft Beer Cellar is having problems over on the West Coast too or maybe some other answer is at the root of the sign change.
I made a quick stop and did not see any of the regular staff on hand but the shelves were stocked so let’s hope that the beer choices stay strong.
What you see is an old fire truck transformed into a second life as beer delivery system. Not only does it make you wonder what other cool vehicles could become taps but I also wonder if something like this could be combined with Jose Andres and his food for disaster victims (World Central Kitchen) to create a charitable beer truck. Maybe for the California fire fighters working in super hazardous conditions as celebration when a fire is contained.
Read the back story on this rolling Ohio tap truck right HERE.
This Tweet came across my view (via the Appelation Beer Blog) and it is part of why I wanted to review Saison Dupont and compare/contrast to current US examples…
Follow the link to see the replies. Amazingly courteous for Twitter and will make you want to buy some classic beers or make travel plans.
Until we get to the full (and safe) self-driving car, safety technology in cars will be big sells, in my opinion and one of the biggies is stopping those impaired by alcohol / marijuana from operating a vehicle.
Currently the tech is pushed from the state from the courts. You get a drunk driving ticket and you will have your car set to test you and pass before the engine comes on. But if the tech can actually and passively collect and analyze the breath correctly, then it could be phased into cars.
Right now though, we are not there yet as this NPR article points out. I do think the time will come when it is standard and when that time comes, I also hope that having a bajillion devices lit up in the drivers view will also have a fix. The other DD (distracted driving) is a big problem too.
In late October, the news broke that Lagunitas (or was it Heineken) had closed a Community Room charitable space in Portland. It was PR claimed that it was a hard decision to make but I am pretty sure that the big brewery could have stopped taking reservations and then easily found the spare change in the marketing department couch to keep the place afloat through all the booked events or called it quits on January 2nd.
This led me back to a conversation I had recently where the massive Lagunitas complex off the 210 freeway was brought up and how it had completely fallen off the map in the Los Angeles beer universe. Back in time when I was invited there on media day and saw all the space for trucks to be loaded with easy access to move out onto the freeway to send Lagunitas beer to the large SoCal market and presumably to Mexico. Space for brewing and taprooms and food. But years have passed and no rooftop garden bar as spoken of. Nothing but a temporary taproom that had the look of thrown together over a weekend which I don’t even know is open or not anymore. And there ha been nary an update about the whole project since.
If two states are affected, in two widely disparate areas like Portland and SoCal, there is something afoot. This feels like a re-trenchment from above and not something guided by Petaluma HQ. I expected this to happen to one of the “High End” breweries or Constellation with the inflated Ballast Point sale but maybe Heineken hit a financial wall first. A self-imposed wall to be sure.
I have come to realize that I will never catch up on all the reading that I want (need) to accomplish which is why I like smaller chunks of reading like the short story and novella.
The same goes with beer which is why I am a booster of the stubbie bottle, of flights and sharing. And I am also a fan of smaller packaging….
…I don’t know a thing about Workhorse Brewing but I love the 8oz packaging and the branding as “Flights”.
For those heading to DC, the Smithsonian is going to show a little more of a beer side, ” “FOOD: Transforming the American Table” is an existing, permanent exhibition that explores the history of food and eating in the United States since 1950. The exhibition’s fall update will highlight new stories about changes in food itself and how Americans produce, prepare and consume food and drink. One of four major new sections is “Brewing a Revolution.”“
Per the Brewers Association press release, “Visitors will see artifacts, archival materials and photographs that originated in the homebrewing and microbrewing movements of California and Colorado in the 1960s through 1980s—the beginning of the craft beer “revolution.” “
The comedian Michael Che was on a talk show this month and he made the remark that “Twitter is like, if everybody you hated had your phone number.”
Now I didn’t get hatred directed at me. Not being confrontational and not being on Twitter a heckuva lot saved me from that fate, but even so, I ran across all levels of anger and I mostly just followed breweries and beer people. Why did my “feed” contain all this anger and outrage? It wasn’t like I was following anything deeply divided along fault lines.
So I have stepped back from Twitter. Haven’t visited for months and only post beers being consumed via Untappd. I figure that ticking isn’t adding any negativity to the platform.
Now this isn’t some, my life is so much better for leaving social media, post. I still check Facebook and Instagram on a daily basis. But I don’t close the tab or app feeling scuzzy or like a looky-loo scoping out a highway accident the way that I do when done with Twitter. And to be honest, I do not know why Twitter has become so cringe inducing to me. Perhaps I am still de-unsensitized to it. Maybe if I patrolled other sites like Reddit where even more vitriol is apparently seen then I wouldn’t feel this way about Twitter.
Part of what really pushed me out the Twitter door was how outrage was being cheapened on a daily basis and how a savvy social media manager would be better served to not engage and let one of these mini-controversies (real or imagined) pass from view and be replaced by the next. No actual debate was happening just a bit of shouting until someone else shouted louder.
Leaving has not left a Twitter sized hole in my life, and may even make me happier at the end of the day since I don’t hear about the weird and the rude side of the beer world. And perhaps I will dip my toe back into the conflict filled waters one day.
It’s a sign of what may be seen more and more in coming years but the very neighborhoods that have been gentrified are going to become too costly to stay in and issues with landlords are going to start to arise.
Case in point is Bear Republic. One of their (3) locations was in Healdsburg but with wine tourism spiking and building maintenance costs not being covered, they have decided to close that location and focus on their brewpub in Rohnert Park, and its production brewery in Cloverdale. The custom 15-barrel brewhouse from that was stationed in Healdsburg will move to Cloverdale.
As sales have slowed, margins tighten and any unexpected cost especially one from a landlord who can charge higher rents to newer occupants will cause re-trenchment and more big trucks with fermenters being driven from one spot to another.
The first ever Craft Beer Marketing Awards will be held next year. The CBMA awards (aka The Crushies) will honor achivements in 30 categories starting with breweries and extending out to designers, marketing and Social media.
Here are some of the categories that will be judged:
Best Can, Best Tap Handle Design, Best Original Video, Best Merchandise Design, Best Use of Social Media and Best Website Design.
It will be interesting to see which L.A. breweries can garner awards.
