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Sports & A Beer – NIL

Name, image and likeness.  To universities and coaches, it is a bit of a curse word.  To the NCAA as a whole?  A lot more swear words.  But how will college sports really be changed by this?  Probably won’t know until a few years and college classes have gone through but I have a guess and it involves a power switch.

That switch was from coach to player.  It is on full display here in Los Angeles with LeBron James and Anthony Davis as much in charge of head coach as the front office.  It is seen in the transfer portal where athletes head out of town if they don’t play or get to play in the style they want.

This will expand, in my opinion, to those college athletes who will find that they have levers of power to pull and will start to pull them.  Who will stand in the way of a 19 year old combo guard who is making local commercials really well and whose draft stock is rising?

Not the college who has a marquee name to use as a draw. Not a coach who is on the hot seat. Not a NCAA administrator who needs to keep both happy.  Of course keeping the worker down is endemic in the US so all will keep trying to push the athlete down but they might soon find that they cannot.

Pivoting to beer, the closest analog to a NIL is IP and how breweries skirt lawsuits with beer names and labels.  Who will gain the upper hand there?  So go find a beer with a movie reference or a product reference on it.  How does name and likeness translate in the realm of beer labels?

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NAGBW – Malt Night

A couple nights ago, lucky members of the North American Guild of Beer Writers talked malt with Admiral Maltings, Headlands Brewing and Crisp Maltings,

Here are my takeaways from the night and a review of the Headlands beer too!

Hops get the headlines, yeast gets some spotlight along with malt whilst water is left out altogether. But new malts like from Haná barley could bring some more shine.

Haná is a heritage barley, the second from Crisp after Chevalier. It was a key component of pilsner way back and a landrace un-heavily modified barley. It hasn’t been malted in the UK for 100 some odd years before Crisp re-started it. And the reason Admiral Maltings was involved is that they had a relationship with Crisp and because Haná has been and now is again, grown here.

Let’s jump to the end of the chain first and describe the Headlands Brewing Munich Helles. It pours a light straw yellow color. Nice bubbly look to it. Normally for me, a Helles would have a minimal aroma. But this one was bright and reminded me of spring. It had a great balance of lightness but also very full flavored. A mix of cracker and bread dough.

Back to the malt. There are precious little malt collaboration beers and even less that count two maltsters collaborating so the fact that two maltsers from two different countries floor malted this same heritage barley is a big deal. And an even bigger deal was being able to get your hands on some of this malt. A brewery had to jump at the chance when offered.

And you may see some if you are near Russian River, Firestone Walker, Alaro, Sierra Nevada or Almanac (which is next door to Admiral). Those breweries got small allotments for R&D. Or you can head to the Bay on June 29th for the It’s the Malt a craft Malt Festival that celebrates local agriculture and craft malt.

Chevalier and Haná are first steps into reviving a host of barleys that bring with them different flavors as well as making brewers adjust how they brew to maximize them. We have seen how different hops require new ways of brewing and it is exciting to see that come into play with malts. Because that will create whole new playing fields and maybe, new beer styles.

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The Ditch

The Torrance Beermuda Triangle is gaining another tenant as HopSaint Brewing Company will be expanding to a location HopSaint @ The Ditch.  I would probably ditch that moniker to match up better with the delicious beers that HopSaint puts out.

I will follow up with news about when and where when opening is closer.

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Books in the Alley

It is no secret that I love books. Already read 32 so far this year. So an event like Authors Alley, is well, right up my alley.

Check out the info at the Radiant Beer Co. event RSVP.

It is also no secret that I have no interest in crochet.

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Needed or Not? – Blue Moon Ice Cream

Nothing says ice cream more to me than a mega brewer and a baseball equipment company teaming up.  Blue Moon Home Run Twist is the name of the ice cream and thankfully there is an ice creamery involved, Hardscoop an alcohol-infused ice cream maker.

“Blue Moon is partnering with Rawlings to introduce Blue Moon Home Run Twist, the boozy ice cream that clocks in at two percent ABV and combines the bright and citrusy flavor of Blue Moon’s iconic Valencia Orange peel with a deliciously rich Madagascar Vanilla.”

Now it does not sound bad in theory and if I see it, I might just try it so I guess a light needed is the answer.

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Salt, Straw and Beer

Each month, my wife and I will walk by Salt & Straw here in Glendale and look at their limited release flavors.  Usually our noses turn up at what weird combinations that they choose (especially at Thanksgiving) But for June at Salt & Straw locations across the country the theme is beer!

The collaborating breweries include Métier Brewing Company in Seattle, WA; Breakside Brewery in Portland, OR; Russian River Brewing in Santa Rosa, CA; Cerveceria La Tropical in Miami, FL. Salt & Straw AND Monkish Brewing Co. from right here in Torrance.  

You can check out all the flavors HERE but let’s focus in on…. Monkish Brewing’s Space Cookies Hazy IPA.  The beer is a vanilla wafer riff on an IPA.  And the ice cream will be a mix of a hoppy simple syrup, grapefruit zest and vanilla cookie butter.

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Review – Wheater Melon from Los Angeles Ale Works

Even though one can buy watermelon practically all year round, it still remains, stubbornly, a summertime fruit to me and with summer just a few June Gloom days away, it was time to taste Wheater Melon from Los Angeles Ale Works.

Right off the bat, back in childhood with a watermelon Jolly Rancher. The beer is light orange in color. That candy blast comes in strong and then leaves just as strongly, leaving a watery and light finish. Was hoping for a bit of wheat backbone here. Would be quite enjoyable on a hot day by the pool but I fear it would clash or be drowned out by most summer BBQ foods.

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Selected Daisies

Hard to believe that Daisy Cutter from Half Acre Beer is 15 but time does fly.  In honor of that anniversary comes DC Select Double IPA, a collaboration with Sierra Nevada Brewing.

“For Daisy Cutter Select Double IPA, both teams hand-selected special lots of freshly harvested Centennial from CLS Farms, a fifth-generation family hop grower in the Yakima Valley. All agreed on a selection that presented punchy notes of sweet, bright citrus, with a touch of background earth. We used it to build a recipe that echoes the ages – Classic IPA.”