Robert Braidwood posed the question back in 1953: which came first, bread or beer? New evidence pushes the date of brewing back even further into antiquity, and beer’s case still looks very strong.
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It seems like breweries that are spark a trend or capture the zeitgeist of the moment are doing everything right. But history hasn’t been particularly kind to those breweries when fashions change.
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The results of my brewers compensation survey are in. Click through to find out how breweries are rewarding their hardworking brewers.
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This week, I’ll report the findings of my brewer compensation survey. Those numbers don't mean much, though, unless we ask: compared to what? If a brewery pays its shift workers $20 an hour, is that good or bad? Read on to find out how to assess wages and benefits.
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Happy Labor Day, everyone!
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The dregs of summer are here. And with them, a couple news stories to close out the season. BrewDog and the Brewers Association are back in the news, and perhaps not for the right reasons.
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When it was founded back in 1997, Ommegang was one of the most unusual breweries in America. In some ways, it is today even more unusual. In a hop-crazy country, Ommegang favors yeast character; in a time when hyper-local is hot, the brewery looks to Belgium. Let us consider its unusual ways.
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A recent study by The Lancet finds that the risks of drinking alcohol are far greater than previously reported. In fact, the study says, the only safe amount of alcohol is no alcohol. But if you look more closely at the study, the data don’t support that conclusion.
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Jürgen Knöller was born in Bavaria, trained there as a brewer, and began his career there before relocating to Missoula, Montana to become the master brewer at the newly-founded Bayern Brewing--a company he bought in 1991. I interviewed him in 2013.
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An update on the brewer compensation survey and an appeal for 180 more responses. The data are rich and interesting, and I think this will be something valuable to those of you who work in a brewery. Please fill out the survey if you havent.
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Two centuries ago, Americans drank all day long. Two generations ago, they toasted each other with three-martini lunches. Today the median drinker sips just a couple drinks a week. What happens if these trends continue?
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As workers, one of the strongest tools you have in bargaining is information, and knowing what your peers make is valuable info. In advance of Labor Day, I’m surveying brewers about what they earn—and I hope you will spend a few minutes helping me out.
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We do so much of our living online that we sometimes forget that our physical environment colors what we think and feel. It has been the hottest summer on record in Portland, and that has a whole city freaked out.
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Friends, Americans, countrymen, loan me your eyeballs. I come to bury Two Hats, not to condemn it. Actually, I do condemn it. But more, I observe how its tombstone stands as a sentinel of warning—and not just to big, industrial breweries.
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Over the weekend, I was visiting Brewery Ommegang for an annual event I found unusual and intriguing. On Saturday, I had a moment to sit down and reflect on what I was seeing.
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A few interesting things happening in and around my life. Well, I think they’re interesting. More travel, book updates, plus a new project.
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A troubling case in Iowa illustrates the power imbalance between owners and workers. Customers, though, have the final say.
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Duluth, Minnesota’s new breweries have been credited with helping spark a revival in this lovely town at the tip of Lake Superior. I discovered on a recent visit that this wasn’t the first time a brewery had helped the town get back on its feet.
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As the 31st Oregon Brewers Fest arrives this year, it is shadowed by an existential question. What is the role of the beer festival in a city with 75 breweries within a country that has 6,500? More pointedly, is the model of the beer fest itself obsolete?
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Dos Equis is planning to launch a Mexican-inflected pale ale in September. Mexican imports have been in a serious growth cycle for years, so this new beer allows us to test the market. Do people like anything that’s Mexican, or do they like lagers?
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