Patrick and I are about to embark on our last day in Seattle. I'll post a follow-up to this one tomorrow. Thus far, we've stopped in at five breweries, with three on tap for today. A longer discussion will follow, but our first impressions are these.
Read MoreYesterday, the Brewers Association released some rosy numbers about the craft beer segment. The organization highlighted the continued rapid growth in the number of US breweries, which hit six thousand this year. But did these numbers provide the complete picture?
Read MoreCompanies occasionally send out press releases with an "embargo" attached--that is, a stipulation that the reporter not post the information until a designated date and time. What are the ethics of embargoes, especially in the case of commercial/promotional information?
Read MoreLast week, I asked hive mind to tell me which breweries, if respondents were forced to choose only three, to visit in Seattle. I kept seeing a lot of the same names, and it made me wonder--would I get more diversity if I asked hive mind the same question for Portland?
Read MoreThe beer world is a largely masculine one, populated by a majority of men, operating under the rules of men. Sexual harassment is an issue that has touched nearly every workplace in the country, so it seems unlikely the beer world is exempt.
Read MoreThe book is a ramble through the recent adventures of Pete Brown, probably the most entertaining beer writer working today. In each chapter, he's off to the Žatec hop fields, or getting trapped in a cellar in Munich during a shooting, or standing in a field where the seeds for Maris Otter barley come from.
Read MoreButch Heilshorn is a co-founder of Earth Eagle in Portsmouth, NH, a brewery just a hair over five years old. The brewery specializes in foraged, herbal, historical, and just plain weird beers. Heilshorn has collected his experiences into a slim volume called, provocatively, Against All Hops.
Read MorePeople who follow beer closely are paying ever more attention to the business side of things; which company bought which brewery, which legacy brewery is down 6% in a quarter. But that gives us only one narrow data point. It's not wrong. But it may not be exactly right, either.
Read MoreI hope people make some room on their bookshelf for Em Sauter's incredibly engaging and winsome new book. Just starting to flip through the pages was enough to thoroughly hook me. I sat down and read it cover-to-cover in one (short) sitting.
Read Moreon November 11th, volunteers and monks of Mt Angel Abbey helped erect a timber frame building that will house the new monastic brewery. Monks have overseen this project, led the development of the beers, and will be the ones brewing the beer when the brewhouse goes online in early 2018.
Read MoreI guess we have to talk about Dilly Dilly. It's the catch phrase in the latest ad campaign launched by Bud Light, one that has achieved rare virality on social media. No matter how you slice it, it's become a national meme. But has it been good for Bud Light?
Read MoreA month ago, I posted an article that got a fair amount wrong about the Oregon Brewers Festival. I sat down with Art Larrance and Chris Crabb so I could correct the record--and in the process discovered many fascinating details of which I've been heretofore ignorant.
Read MoreThree news items for your Monday morning. We begin with an update on the Old Town Brewing trademark dispute, move to some new research about barley flavor, and finish up with a note about my (possibly) sole book signing this holiday season.
Read MoreFor a writer--well, for me, anyway--the worst outcome is not that people will hate a book (though that's certainly not a good result), but that they won't read it at all. The death of a writer comes not at the hands of an angry public, but an indifferent one.
Read MoreIn two days time, most Americans will settle down before a giant feast. Turkey, football, Grandpa Joe--a tradition as old as the country. You can enhance the day immeasuruably with thoughtful libation selection. My vote: Traquair House Ale.
Read MoreAnother busy week in podcasting. Patrick and I offer you the latest Beervana Podcast, wherein we discuss canning with Hopworks' Trever Bass, and I appear on Experimental Brewing with Drew Beechum and OPB's The Four Top.
Read MorePeople don't trust their own judgment. Given an object stripped of all information and context, they rarely know what its value is. They instinctively look for clues, hoping to suss out some extrinsic guide to its intrinsic value.
Read MoreI visited Belhaven in Dunbar, Scotland in 2011, at the tail end of George Howell's career there. Like all of the old-school British brewers, he was well-dressed and courtly. He had been head brewer--what the Brits call their brewmasters--for a decade and a half at that point.
Read MoreFive years ago, Adam Milne established Old Town Brewing's leaping stag as a legal trademark. But for the past two years, he's been locked in a legal battle with the City of Portland, which wants to use that logo so it can license products by AB InBev. Here's the whole maddening story.
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