Author: Professor Good Ales

Lazy Magnolia’s amber-colored Timber Beast IPA is one of the first craft beers produced in Mississippi since the state loosened its liquor laws.

For a century, Mississippi and other Southern states had Prohibition-era laws on the books that kept alcohol-by-volume (ABV) levels so low that many craft breweries were prevented from setting up shop.

When Mark Henderson and his wife Leslie founded Lazy Magnolia in 2003, it was the first brewery to open in Mississippi since 1907. And it was the state’s only brewery until the laws changed nine years later.

“We got started and it was all very challenging,” said Henderson, who could only make and distribute beer below 6% ABV. This meant no gourmet Belgian ales, IPAs, or barrel-aged beers, which are all made with more alcohol (and are often how a brewery is judged by connoisseurs).

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ALESBURG — A revolution is brewing within America’s beverage industry — the revolutionary being craft beer.

At least that’s the claim of local beer enthusiasts, some of whom call the rise in craft beer “mind-blowing.”

“Even in the last year, the growth has been insane,” said Galesburg home brewer Sam Fisk. “I don’t buy beer a lot because I brew my own, but when I do, I don’t even know what to buy because there’s always so much new stuff on the shelves.”

It seems Fisk and other locals who have noticed craft beer’s climb are not far off, based on recent numbers from the Brewers Association, the country’s largest organization of brewers.

In 2013, the association released data indicating an 18 percent growth in craft brewer volume, with craft beers representing 7.8 percent of the United States’ total beer market.

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South Carolina is on the verge of passing the most progressive craft beer production laws in the country, industry advocates say — a prospect that just three weeks ago was virtually unthinkable.

The “Stone Bill” — an effort to loosen Prohibition-era beer laws to attract San Diego-based Stone Brewing Co.’s $31 million eastward expansion — has already been approved by the state House of Representatives.

On Thursday, the state Senate assigned the bill to a six-member conference committee that is expected to meet as early as next week to iron out details.

Half of the committee’s House and Senate members sponsored the bill, said Wesley Donehue, a political consultant for the South Carolina Brewers Association.

“We made magic happen,” Donehue told The Greenville News on Thursday. “To pass a bill this fast in South Carolina is something I’ve not seen, especially when it comes to alcohol. It’s pretty insane.”

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(San Diego County, CA) – There is a developing situation in San Diego County in which temperatures have topped 100 degrees and multiple wildfires sparked starting on Tuesday, a couple in the vicinity of breweries in the region.

California’s governor has declared a state of emergency for the county in which thousands of acres have burned, millions of dollars of damage have been caused and thousands have been displaced from homes.

The origin of the fires are being investigated for suspicious activity.

Here is the latest as it pertains to those breweries…

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There was once a time when it was easy to throw around the term “craft beer” and know exactly what you were talking about. For decades, craft was the way to differentiate small, independently owned breweries – and the beer they make – from the brewing giants like Coors, Budweiser and Pabst Blue Ribbon.

But the line separating craft brewers from large multinational companies is growing blurrier. Small breweries are transforming into big ones, while big breweries are masquerading as small brands, selling “crafty” knockoff beers in an attempt to lure customers from the craft beer market.

Part of the confusion over what craft beer means has come from within the craft beer community itself. The , a Colorado industry group that serves as a voice for craft brewers, has changed its definition multiple times.

In February, the organization eliminated a long-standing requirement that a craft brewery must make at least half of its product, as well as its “flagship” beer, from only barley malt — not sugar from rice or corn, which large breweries commonly rely on to make thinly flavored lagers.

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Profiled by Maria Devan for PGA

Thank you Nathan Warman

Pours brick orange with a soft golden hue and a thin head of khaki foam that fell quickly and left a bit of a ring and some slippery lace as it drank.

Nose is a blast of dank herbal, tropical mango and sexy caramel. There’s some sweet earth underneath it all and some citric tartness on top. There’s even a moment of peppery spice before you discover the earthy Christmas tree pine.

Taste is intense. Firm malt lays down deliberately and fully on the palate creating a sweet canvas for an eminent ripe mango with a splash of grapefruit. The herbal is pungent and leafy and the pine is earthy and steadfast. All these flavors roil and roll, reaching their individual peaks while the malt stands firm and unmoving. In fact it creeps forward with a bit more earth to remind you that Armageddon is coming. Then it strikes! The bitter. It’s a stronger hop bitter than it actually seems because of the staunch malt and it lasts well into the finish with some stickiness and a bit of resin to coat the throat and leave a lingering caramel in the aftertaste. The fruit has been removed from you and this is the end of time.

This beer is not what I was expecting. It is the definition of intense. For an DIPA it is truly complex and that is rare. Layered, lasting, urgent, forceful. This is no shy beer. I love it!

4.5

Welcome to the PGA beer rating system: one beer “Don’t bother.” Two: Eh, if someone gives it to you, drink. Three: very good, go ahead and seek it out, but be aware there is at least one problem. Four: seek it out. Five: pretty much “perfecto.”

___________________________________________Beer HERE

Maria Devan lives in Ithaca, NY and is frequent reviewer of beer and a beer lover deluxe.

 

We happen to be right in the middle of American Craft Beer Week, which celebrates those smaller, independent breweries that make beer so much more pleasurable to drink than the usual suspects. If you’re missing Las Vegas this week, fear not, the rest of the year is a great time to drink good beers here as well. Check out these five spots to sip some small batch brews in town.

Barley’s Casino & Brewing Company

Make your way off-Strip to the area’s oldest brew pub, which even has its own brewmaster, Jeff “Bubba” Amas, on hand to make recommendations or talk beer with you. The bar has a selection of its own recipes on tap named for familiar Las Vegas local landmarks, such as Blue Diamond Beer and Red Rock Oktoberfest Lager, but don’t let the quaintness of the names fool you: these are serious beers that have earned Barley’s and Bubba several awards. On June 2, celebrate National Bubba Day here with the beer maker himself, as he taps his namesake Hopped Up Lager at 5 p.m., you’ll score yourself a free beer just for showing up. 4500 E. Sunset Rd., 702-458-2739, wildfire.sclv.com

Five50 Pizza Bar

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The craft beer business is booming, but one of the nation’s biggest alcoholic beverage companies has no plans to get in on the action.

Rob Sands, chief executive of beer and wine distributor Constellation Brands (STZ), is not interested in buying up any of the nearly 2,500 craft breweries that have sprung up across the nation in recent years.

“People expect one of the big guys to get in and roll up the craft business,” Sands said in a recent interview. “But it’s not clear that’s a good strategy.”

For fans of locally made beer, that may come as a bit of a relief. But it’s also a bit surprising considering the explosive growth craft beers have experienced in recent years.

Related: Small craft breweries hit it big

Craft beers made up nearly 8% of the overall beer market by volume in 2013, up from 3.7% in 2007, according to the Brewers Association. The group estimates that craft brews had a retail value of $14.3 billion last year.

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