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The newest trend among young drinkers is something called “icy beer”—lager on the rocks, if you will. Is this the end of civilization, or a tasty summer treat? I consider the question.
The art of brewing has been constantly evolving for thousands of years. Technologies like heated stones, elbow thermometers, and fish bladder finings may have run their course, but others transformed beer. Which were the most significant? The answers lie herein!
Some exciting new research is happening as I write this, and will examine why fresh hops taste different than dried ones. Four breweries are participating, and Oregon State University will be analyzing them. Here are the details.
Three years ago, I wrote about a hop making its way through advanced trials, and a couple weeks ago, it made it to the promised land. In today’s post I speak with breeders and researchers about newly-minted Dolcita and what makes her special.
When Canadians cleansed their shelves of American products following the Trump tariffs, they didn’t stay empty. Canada may have dropped its embargo of American goods this week, but getting that shelf space back isn’t guaranteed.
In the 2022 edition of its annual poll, Gallup found that 67% of Americans drank alcohol. Last week, the firm reported just 54% of Americans still did. The number of American drinkers may have declined 19% in three years—or this partly a result of statistical “noise?”
Three months ago, I wrote about Zoiglhaus’ two-week lagers. Can they really be as good as lagers conditioned for a month? We put them to a (triangle) test to find out.
What are the landmark beers that define the modern era of American brewing? The newly-created Craft Beer Hall of Fame takes a crack at it, but I have questions.
Ten years isn’t that long, not really. But the last ten years? In so many ways, it seems like a century.
Or, how Britain got the Honorable Order of Bass Drinkers while Americans got the milkshake IPA.
For centuries, people have repeated myths or “romantic facts” about beer, misinforming the public about its history and science. But which of these are the biggest whoppers? Our crack team of researchers has put together the definitive list.
As a follow-up to my Craft Beer & Brewing column on “clean” saisons, here’s a fuller discussion of the style, along with a lot more description and advice from Upright’s Alex Ganum than I was able to fit into the print column
The Hop Quality Group and USDA breeder John Henning are close to naming their new public hop, HQG-4, which should happen this year. It’s an exciting project, and could usher in a new era in public hops.
Jack McAuliffe has died. The brewer who co-founded New Albion Brewing in 1977 (or was it ‘76?—accounts vary) was the first of the small-time breweries to start up in the late 1970s. He died this week at 80. A brief remembrance.
A beer can only has so much real estate. On it breweries must place text and graphics that will both entice and inform its customers. The trend is a minimalist, less-is-more approach to the “informing” piece—but has it gone too far?
Last week, VinePair published an article about the birthplaces of famous beer styles. It included some hinky information—offering me the opportunity to explore an important topic: the “romantic fact.” That is, a story shot through with fascinating, possibly nostalgic details that turn out to be hogwash.
For reasons no one can quite identify, a disproportionate number of brewers have decamped from Detroit to Portland, where they founded some pretty impressive breweries. For Montavilla Brew Works’ 10th anniversary, they’re doing a cool collaboration.
In an annual tradition, today we salute all those independent breweries out there toiling to make the best beer they can in an increasingly difficult environment.
Are GMO yeasts that eliminate diacetyl production a good thing? There’s no “right” answer to this question, but listening to brewers from different generations wrestle with the question turns out to be enlightening in other ways.
One of the more interesting Oregon festivals is expanding. This July, Portland will host the MXPDX (Mexico to PDX) fest. In this post, I offer a rich discussion I had with the organizers, one that got me very excited for the fest.
Yeast—the final frontier. This microscopic galaxy contains uncountable strains of wild yeast, many of them Saccharomyces. Here’s the story of two breweries who collected their own strains and now use them in their regular beers.
Life has intruded on my blogging—damn life!—but here are some deliciously-curated links to other stories that might interest you.
Tilray acknowledged it was closing Redhook’s Brewlab, ending the company’s 44-year run as a Seattle brewery. The brand will still be brewed in Portland, but with the closure Redhook will lose its last physical location.
How many is too many styles? In a year of exuberance, the Brewers Association has added seven new styles to the OED-sized compendium kept under glass in a corner of Bart Watson’s office. Plus one temporary style. I have thoughts.
Hamdi Ulukaya bought the Anchor Brewery a year ago. When he did, he purchased both a beer and (sort of), a style. But it might be that the two can’t both survive—one must pass for the other to live.
The wonderful brewing historian Martyn Cornell died suddenly yesterday at 72. He was a wonderful man, kind and gentle, and his writing transformed the way we understand beer and the people who made it.
The internet put all human knowledge at our fingertips, transforming the way we understood the world. A recent technological “innovation” may give us answers even faster, but take a wrecking ball to our basic information.
The tariffs are on; the tariffs are off. The tariffs are—it’s exhausting. Last night a federal court ruled they’re off again. But beer fans take note, not all of them, including two biggies.
Travel Oregon, the state’s quasi-independent, tax-funded travel commission. was in the news last week, and I want to clarify my role in the reporting.
A small program at a neighborhood brewery isn’t the kind of thing to make big news—except that breweries across the country do these kinds of things every day. Taken together, they’re important elements of healthy local communities.