Don’t forget which of these two styles, pilsner and IPA, is older. And which is more popular.
Inspired by this from Ron Pattinson.
“The world has moved on. Beer styles come and go. And almost never return. I’ll just cherish the memories of a time that’s gone forever. Like a Porter drinker in the 1940s.
“The same fate, incidentally, awaits Pilsner and IPA. All styles have their day.”
* That Was The Beer Week That Was (TWTBWTW) will be on hiatus until May 16.
Feel free to compare and contrast.
NOVELTY & CREATIVITY
The Novelty Trap
What separates Blind Melon from Shania Twain?
My comment two weeks ago about Lew Bryson’s “Stop Drinking New Beers All The Time” post stands.
Outer Range Brewing makes beer about 60 miles west of ut. A lot of IPAs. They are very good at what they do, so there is no, “Hey, you should get better at this (or that)” first. A new IPA shows up, I might buy it. It will be interesting, something new, a little bit different. But it will still taste like an Outer Range beer. As humans we like what is familiar, but also what is different. Just not too different.
PLACE MATTERS
What do consumers deserve to be told?
A farm brewery grows in Brooklyn
Other Half Brewing and Threes Brewing deserve all the beer geek love they get, but if there is time for only one stop in Brooklyn you’ll find me at Strong Rope. Blame founder Jason Sahler.
“When I am giving tours I am the face of the beer,” he told me a few years ago. “But I tell them all of this is not possible without farmers. The farmers do all the work before (ingredients) touch our deck. It’s easier for me to explain that on a small scale. There’s something more tangible to me when it’s local.”
BECAUSE . . . EARTH DAY
Customers expect these initiatives
Where sustainability and technology meet
And this . . .
Can you own terpenes?
Asked because this press release mentions “proprietary terpenes.”
Also a bit amused that somebody named Action Bronson is Elysian’s “Director of Dank,” and he says “Dank is a lifestyle.”
Via the Oregon Hops & Brewing Archives (see below)
As always, here you will find a hodge podge of links to stories that recently struck my fancy, most often during the past week. To call it That Was The (Beer) Week That Was, as I did last week, suggests it might be a more complete roundup of beer news that it is. But because TWTBWTW kind of rolls of the tongue, or perhaps serves as a test to check just how much you’ve had too much to drink, I’m sticking with it.
THINGS ARE GREAT, UNLESS THEY AREN’T
Mostly sunny with a chance of occasional showers
“It’s time to break out your sunglasses beer folks.”
It’s going to be a ‘make-or-break’ year for struggling craft brewers
“It’s a good time to be super careful and super strategic because we’re facing rising prices in pretty much everything. We’re trying to think of where we want to be five years from now.”
Craft Beer Posts ‘Steepest’ Declines of Any Segment in the Off-Premise
Declines have accelerated to nearly -10% compared to the -6% decline in calendar year 2021, according to Bump Williams Consulting.
WHAT IF?
Micro-wineries
Napa Valley legislators recently gave final approval to the Micro-Winery Ordinance, which simplifies the permitting process for small producers who make up to 1,000 cases of wine per year. Operators of small breweries will read this story and immediately see parts of their own businesses.
It also got me thinking about micro and driving past liquor stores that advertise “microbrews” inside. Before there were craft breweries there were microbreweries. This wasn’t a legal designation. At the outset, and for record keeping purposes, the Institute of Brewing Studies (the predecessor of the Brewers Association) defined microbreweries as those that produce less than 10,000 barrels per year. That was raised to 15,000 barrels early on, where it remains today.
If you thought malt prices were high already . . .
Approximately 72% of U.S. barley production is within an area experiencing drought. From the U.S. Drought Monitor released Thursday.