In one of only two states that still doesn’t allow breweries to sell directly to consumers, Georgia brewers rally together against restrictive policies.
There’s a growing wine-beer movement across the country, from the coasts of Oregon to Midwestern prairies and even Texas hill country. Brewhouses stacked high with barrels are increasingly looking and acting like wineries.
Do family-run breweries have a future in the current environment? With breweries proliferating at every turn, generational succession is a critical long-range consideration for some companies.
Brewers guilds must educate, protect and promote. It’s taken the craft brewing industry some 35 years to be able to produce 12 percent of the beer bought in America. No one accomplished that feat alone. There is strength in numbers.
In 1994, a new law allowed breweries to produce a minimum of 600 hectoliters per year. Microbrewing in Japan was born. Over 200 microbreweries sprang up in a few years. Today that number is half of what it was. Yet the beer culture in urban areas like Tokyo and Osaka is twice as strong.
Devon, Cornwall’s nearest English neighbor, has its legend of White Ale. Was there a similarly exotic indigenous beer style in Cornwall. Naturally, mentions of a mysterious brew known as “swanky” among lists of Cornish recipes online, generated considerable excitement.
In 2007, when BeerAdvocate became the country’s first monthly beer magazine, the combined output of 1,406 craft breweries represented less than four percent of the total market in the US.
No beer school program, no matter how rigorous, should be considered complete, in and of itself. One course, certificate or degree does not an expert make. They are but a starting point.
Of the 836 new breweries that opened between 2010 and 2013, approximately 350 will close by 2016. It’s a shocking number that makes sense after asking the people behind recently shuttered breweries about the challenges they faced.
Few contract brewers start out intending to sell the hapless beer drinker subpar suds. In fact, most contractors have the same dream as every other brewer: to build their brand, win over consumers and open facilities of their own.
As smaller, independent breweries have steadily chipped away at the market share held by larger national or multinational competition, they’ve also found ways to move into spaces formerly controlled by Big Beer—like Major League stadiums.
What is it about this family of beers that seems to be enchanting a generation? Could sours eclipse IPAs as the new face of American craft brewing? It’s a long shot, but people once asked similar questions about hoppy West Coast ales.
The shift to seeing a bottle of Lagunitas Pils in a John Mayer music video or Woody Allen movie (both of which have recently happened) is as organic a move as the industry’s growth itself.
As craft beer continues to gobble up Big Beer’s market share, small breweries are increasingly grappling with the question of whether to handle communications in-house or farm it out to an outside PR agency.
The ambition of international collaboration brewing is to bring together brewers—and their different approaches—in an environment where they can share and learn, and build something that is perhaps greater than the sum of its parts.
Plenty of beer advocates out there are grateful to the retail Robin Hoods who risk their businesses and gamble their licenses by selling rare beers to loyal customers, or offering illegal beer to attract new beer geeks. But who stands to lose?
Around the country, brewers are collaborating—not just with other brewers, but with artists of all mediums. Together, they are creating beers that aim to go beyond the five senses to convey emotions and feelings. Delving into music, television and theater, brewers are combining the craft of brewing with the performing arts.
It’s no mystery that craft beer sales, diversification of the market and enthusiasm for the industry are at an all-time high. As a result, already-established brewing programs continue to update their curriculums, and universities are adding new programs and degrees in fermentation science.
As the number of new breweries—and new beers—continues to surge, trademark disputes aren’t going away. They’re a part of doing business, even when the business is beer.
A good brewery is aware of the atmosphere it’s creating. They don’t just want you to stop in and check it off your list; they want you to hang around, ask questions, bring friends. In essence, it’s all about community-building.
Founded by several former Anheuser-Busch InBev executives, Brew Hub’s plans include opening five facilities throughout the United States, and with more than $100 million of venture capital being poured into the company, many beer advocates are questioning just how craft-oriented Brew Hub will be.
I didn’t need homebrewing and a love of craft beer to bring my son and me closer together, but because he suggested we make Wheaton’s Own Going To California Pale Ale, he ended up giving me the best Father’s Day gift of all time: something that brought me closer to my own dad.
For as long as Beeradvocate.com has published a list of the world’s top beers there have been those who attempt to sample everything on it. Why? Because, like a mountain, it’s there. And because you know you’re trying the best beer in the world, as determined by a broad consensus of beer advocates.
Beyond alcohol limits, many Southern states struggle with taxes, breweries operating off-site brewpubs, various antiquated distribution woes, prohibitive homebrewing regulations and much more. But thanks to the region’s proactive beer makers and consumers, many of those laws are beginning to change.
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