A Place to Gather and Talk
PGA: For our western NY readers…
Fort Erie is one step closer to having its very own local beer.
Local politicians addressed an official plan and zoning by-law amendment for informational purposes at Monday’s council-in-committee meeting, to allow the Sanctuary Centre for the Arts in Ridgeway to include a ‘nano-brewery’ on site.
Continue reading “Sanctuary Centre for the Arts Hopes to Add Nano-brewery”
An American craft brewer is defined as small and independent. Their annual production is 6 million barrels of beer or less and no more than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled by an alcoholic beverage industry member who is not themselves a craft brewer.
The community of small and independent craft brewers has grown as beer enthusiasts embrace new, diverse beers brewed by their neighbors and friends who are invested in their local communities. Beer drinkers are voting with their palates and dollars to support these entrepreneurs and their small and independent businesses.
In 2011, small and independent craft brewers saw their industry grow 13 percent by volume; in the first half of 2012, volume grew by an additional 12 percent. Meanwhile, the overall beer industry was down 1.3 percent by volume and domestic non-craft was down 5 million barrels in 2011.
Witnessing both the tremendous success and growth of craft brewers and the fact that many beer lovers are turning away from mass-produced light lagers, the large brewers have been seeking entry into the craft beer marketplace. Many started producing their own craft-imitating beers, while some purchased (or are attempting to purchase) large or full stakes in small and independent breweries.
Continue reading “Craft Beer vs. Crafty”
Picture credit: mfajardo
(Fort Collins, CO) – New Belgium Brewing is excited to announce that the company’s Employee Stock Ownership Program (ESOP) has purchased the balance of company shares, making it 100% employee-owned. New Belgium, brewer of a wide variety of award-winning beers including Fat Tire Amber Ale, has been a partial ESOP since 2000 with a controlling interest held by co-founder Kim Jordan and her family. This transition will put the company on a path to control their destiny into the foreseeable future.
Continue reading “New Belgium Brewing becomes a 100% employee-owned company”
I hope everyone’s New Year is going awesome so far. It seems like things have gotten busier for me after the holidays, but wow is it a good and fun type of busy. In November I wrote about the Embrace The Funk Series by Yazoo. The project is coming along nicely with the beers Linus and I started progressing as I would expect at this point. (Side note- even on days when I’m topping off a barrel or cleaning a barrel I still can’t believe what a cool opportunity I’ve been afforded!)
So….with things fairly under control and something to talk about… I thought an update on the Yazoo front and my home brewing front was in order.
Continue reading “Some Yazoo Notes and The Dark Passenger Rises”
As craft beer has exploded, so has the number of incredible places that serve it. This list celebrates those special haunts with less than three locations and one passionate focus: beer. There might be darts and a jukebox or candlelight and a turntable; there might be five beers or 500. But in every spot on our list, you’ll find an excellent brew in your glass and people—staff, owners, barflies—who care about that as much as you do. (Read last year’s list here.)
APEX | Portland, Ore.
Continue reading “America’s 100 Best Beer Bars: 2013”
Said to be at least 9,000 years old, mead is considered our most ancient intentionally fermented beverage. The uninitiated assume that today’s mead is heavy and cloyingly sweet, a surprisingly prevalent misconception. To be sure, mead can be made sweet, but honey as a medium allows for a vast number of interpretations, the majority of which would destroy any preconceived notion of its character. Home meadmakers know this well, and the variety that this writer has run across is mind-numbing, in more ways than one. Varietal honey alone offers dozens of choices and even brings with it a distinctly regional flair. With that in mind, and since this is a column dedicated to beer brewing, a natural path worthy of exploration is the melding of mead and beer: braggot.
Honey varieties are as distinctive as any malt or hop, and should be chosen carefully to meld with other additions, be they spice, fruit, grape or in our case, malt-based recipes.
Braggot (variously called bracket, bragot, brakkatt or brackett) is often associated historically with medieval Britain. Consumed widely in the Middle Ages, it was either ale wort fermented with honey, ale blended with fully fermented mead, or an ale laced with honey and spices. Often it was blended by the publican on the spot in one way or another. As hops gained acceptance in the British Isles, they too found a home in braggot.
State-owned Czech brewery Budejovicky Budvar NP says a British court has rejected for good Anheuser-Busch’s request to have Budvar’s Budweiser trademark declared invalid in the country, the latest ruling in a long legal battle over the brand name.
NOTE: In case you don’t know this brewery started the brand, essentially. AB has, long before InBev, been repaying them for the inspiration by claiming only they can use anything with a similar name. It’s kind of like trying to declare your father no longer has a right to use your last name. =PGA
Homebrewed beers may be allowed to be poured at festivals, competitions and charity events under a bill introduced this week in the Missouri Legislature.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, R-Glendale, is the sponsor of Senate Bill 114, which seeks to amend a state statute that says homebrew can only be made for “personal or family use.”
Under Schmitt’s bill, homebrewers still would not be allowed to sell their beer, but they could take it out of their homes and pour it at certain “organized affairs, exhibitions or competitions, such as homebrewer contests, tastings or judging.”
Such events would include beer festivals that have obtained temporary retail licenses as well as at licensed charity events.
The proposed legislation comes after homebrewed beer was unexpectedly banned from last year’s St. Louis Brewers Heritage Festival downtown.
Continue reading “Beer Bill Brews in Missouri Legislature”
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