Category: Opinion

my humble and correct opinion

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Malt Boots

File this under, why didn’t I think of it.  Country Malt Group, with Canada Malting Co. and Great Western Malting have introduced the new Pink Boots Malt.

It is “In celebration of International Women’s Day and in support of women’s craft beer advocacy organization Pink Boots Society,  Similar to the annually released Pink Boots Society Hop Blend by Yakima Chief Hops, the Pink Boots product is a seasonal craft base malt that supports the Pink Boots Society scholarship fund for women.”

Here is more info about it, “Each year, the Pink Boots Malt will highlight a different barley variety and growing region, with characteristics that are versatile enough for every beer or whiskey style, but unique enough to inspire a new Pink Boots beverage each year. This year, the Pink Boots Malt is a well-balanced, low color, Pilsen-style malt, featuring the Odyssey barley variety grown throughout the Pacific Northwest. Crafted with both brewers and distillers in mind, it is also a high extract, low-GN malt product.”

Alright yeast retailers, your turn.

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San Diego Spider

Tarantula Hill Brewing is making a big leap to the San Diego area, San Marcos specifically as the Thousand Oaks based brewery will utilize the space once used by the Draft Republic restaurant.  This news was first broken by Brandon Hernandez at SD Beer News.

Will an outer rim of L.A. brewery fly in San Diego County?

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SB 969

The pandemic caused a lot of hidebound rules and regulations to be looked at with a more critical eye and even now in 2024, laws are being questioned.  

One such piece of legislation, is Senate Bill 969, which would allow municipalities and counties, starting in 2025, to designate  “entertainment zones” where drinking “alcoholic beverages on public streets, sidewalks, or public rights of way” would be legalized.  This is similar to when outdoor – streets and sidewalk seating was greenlit.

It means of you and a brewery are in “the zone” that you can buy a beer and take it outside and drink it on the street.  The bill was proposed by state Sen. Scott Wiener (D-San Francisco) who is quoted saying, “We have these very strict alcohol laws in California that sometimes need to be made more flexible.”

I am all for flexible.  There are far too many rules for any business, let alone a business that sells alcohol.  But I am not seeing how wandering around with a plastic cup of beer is all that great.  And where are the boundaries of this zone?  Can you get a beer and wander into a bookstore? Or cross a busy street?  Creating an outdoor seating oasis on a street near restaurants and bars (and breweries) seems a better idea for a bigger group of people to me.

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The Firkin for February 2024

I usually do not venture into the comments in social media because my opinion of humanity is already low enough as it is but when I saw noted home brewing authority Denny Conn posted this in the middle of this month….

….I delved into what people had to say and boy was it an eye opening. There is a lot of bruised feelings and ill will to how the Brewers Association (BA) is handling the American Homebrewers Association (AHA) and not just from rank and file homebrewers but from influential beer people whom I know from their writing and speaking. There is also a lot of low opinions of the marquee festival as well.

It is dispiriting to say the least because the BA and AHA really need each other in the way that a Major League Baseball team needs the minor leagues. And GABF needs to get its mojo back as well.

But despite the low ebb, the tide can turn. I would strongly suggest that the AHA be given autonomy on how it runs events so that the leadership of that group can brainstorm how to make HomeBrewCon and other gatherings more attractive to members. Folding a sliver of the event into GABF seems a small gesture at best. Perhaps smaller regional events are the way to go. But the AHA members should be charting the way not dictated at by Denver.

As for GABF, I have been twice (ages ago) and, yes, it is not for the faint of crowds or cup drop culture. But it is also a fantastic way to sample beers that you otherwise would have to take a year off of work and travel the country to taste. Again, maybe regional events would be a solution with a smaller, focused affair in Denver for those that win judging regionally. Sort of a March Madness model.

First off, there needs to be some fence mending and that means people getting together to talk about craft beer and how pros and amateurs can work in concert.

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The Return of Contract Brews

Back in the day, craft beer had brands that were contract brewed. Breweries, especially ones in expensive real estate markets (like Los Angeles) or without the capital for buying mash tuns and fermenters would either provide a recipe or brew alongside workers at a brewery usually far away from their physical location.

Now, those breweries were looked down upon a bit (even by younger, less knowledgable me) as having less skin in the game but as is seen in the bourbon world, contract brands are not seen as less than currently and maybe that might translate into craft beer.

Now there are always pros and cons as is demonstrated in this Vinepair piece about contract distilling. The biggest one for me is the lack of disclosure. You can contract brew an excellent beer but many are just middle of the road. And it is only fair to a consumer that they can easily see that a beer is contract brewed. That way I can find out that Contract Brewery A is only average while Contract Brewery Q is quite good.

And I think that if there were more contract brewing facilities that made it easier to actually have the brewer make the beer on essentially rented equipment close to where they sell to lessen shipping and environmental costs, it could increase quality.

Incubators would be a good model or co-branded taprooms and bars. San Diego has had some luck with the former and Los Angeles has seen shared taprooms in the past and currently with Eagle Rock and Party Beer. They can be effective ways to begin a brewery within financial constraints.

All roads that can lead to a successful brewery should be explored.

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Capital of Craft

I have not seen a Brewers Guild with a podcast but The San Diego guild has just started The Capital of Craft.  It is “a podcast that focuses solely on the San Diego beer industry.”

According to the podcast description it is “Curated for industry professionals, we will cover topics specific to our city and provide relevant conversations with guests from all walks.”

I have listened to episode 1 about distribution and though it may be a bit deep in the weeds but craft beer fans should be aware of what happens to get local beer to you. Learning about shipping rates alone is an interesting facet of the beer business.

I will be following to see what guests and topics come next.

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Best Label?

Hop Culture, the allied beer writing arm of Untappd, came out with their best beer labels of 2023, which you can check out right HERE.

With a few exceptions, I was not in agreement with picks because there was a certain gothic swirly tattoo darkness to a lot of labels plus Humble Sea whose labels for sure stand out but are not for me.

But enough of my side eye, I want to point out that two of my favorites from SoCal were on the list. Brouwerij West and Everywhere Beer Co. A tip of the hat to them.

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No More Drizzle

I am not a deliver me my stuff person.  Especially when you hear all sorts of stories about gig workers being exploited and the companies like Amazon and Uber making money hand over fist but it doesn’t seem to trickle down.

Which leads me to the Uber which announced that they were shitcanning Drizly, techincally labeled as an “alcohol e-commerce deliver platform.  Uber bought them three years ago and is just now deciding that all orders should just come through their app.

Will this affect craft beer?  A bit.  Your bigger players like New Belgium and Sierra Nevada might lose some trade but those who are ordering booze online will migrate to Uber and do it there.  And you weren’t really finding local beer on it so it will be the same as before for them.

What it probably means longer term is that alcohol delivery, which should be a higher margin business, looks to be another delivery business casualty because it doesn’t make sense financially when you factor in infrastructure and potentially slows down in-store sales.

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Frigid

When the EVs won’t charge and mom won’t leave the house because that ice is ready to bring you to the ground, plus it is Dry January, it means snowbound breweries could use some help.

I mentioned that January is already a historically slow craft beer month and a week of closures in many parts of the country brought on by snow and freezing rain and just don’t want to get out from under the bed covers weather were just the cherry on top of the economic woes sundae.

So, use that extra leap day this month to help. How, you ask?

If where you are at has beer available from breweries in the Pacific NW or Upper East Coast, buy those. If they have inventory that their locals could not buy, help out. It will also help your local bottle / can shoppe as well as distributor. You can also but merch for yourself or for gifts throughout the year.

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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.