While connoisseurs have long traveled to countries like Belgium to try monastic brews and farmhouse ales, the phenomenon of beer tourism in the United States is still relatively new.
Jack Joyce, co-founder of Rogue Ales and Spirits, passed away on May 27 at the age of 71. Joyce worked as a litigation attorney and an executive at Nike before venturing out to co-found Rogue in 1988.
For craft brewery employees, passion often comes at a cost, as the industry strives to create competitive jobs. Enthusiastic homebrewers and beer connoisseurs trade pay, benefits, and comfort on the job for the chance to work in a fast-growing industry.
Distilling isn’t a huge leap from brewing. Today, out of the roughly 235 craft distilleries in America, 18 are operated by craft breweries, and that number is expected to rise as these once-mutually exclusive industries slowly recognize just how much they have in common.
AB-InBev and MillerCoors want a piece of the apple cider pie; CAMRA Vancouver FUSS-ing over standardized pours; Belgium celebrates Trappist breweries; Oglala Sioux tribe suing brewers, wholesalers, retailers; and Virginia, Mississippi attempting to pass brew-friendly laws.
Craft beer drinkers, like brewers, want to be challenged. From Chipotle Ale to peanut butter and jelly beer, we never know what will pleasantly surprise us, and the true craft beer drinker will try anything once.
In addition to their bittering, flavor, and aroma properties, hops help stabilize beer foam, kill unwanted bacteria, and, according to some studies, impart body-boosting antioxidants. Future breeds might bring an entire revolution to the brewing industry.
Across the country and across the ocean, several specialty cheesemakers and world-class breweries have teamed up to use beer as an ingredient in their finished fromage.
Drummond Brewing returns to Alberta; Cigar City Brewing shares brewing concepts; Budweiser vs. Budějovický; Rogue saves the Dragon; All-cask brewery opens in Oregon.
In the mad scramble to secure hops, some enterprising brewers have begun looking at their supply chains and wondering if things can be done differently.
There are really only two ways to blow the mind of an experienced, worldly beer drinker: Make a classic style to absolute perfection or make a beer that is unlike anything brewed before.
