She’s smiling. She has a beer. She’s our new mascot, Maris Otter, and this is the story of how she came to be.
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American brewers invented cream ale as a way to cheaply combat the rise of pale lager. It was neither creamy nor especially ale-like, and it wasn’t until well after Prohibition that breweries found commercial success with the style, none more than Rochester’s Genesee.
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If a world beer hall of fame existed, which beers would you include? And, as interesting as that list might be, would the beers you chose be even more interesting for what they said about you than the list you created? Yes, it turns out.
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Portland is considering a tax that would shut down a local glass recycler. The lessons of this move touch on supply chains, pricing and availability of materials, and how laws can act as unforeseen variables that scramble business plans.
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Located in the West Flanders city of Roeselare, Rodenbach has been making dark ales for 200 years in a brewery that inspires the reverence of an old church. The brewery’s history, their process, and the beer’s quality make Grand Cru one of the most important beers in Belgium.
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The side-project of a Napa winery, Hanabi Lagers makes ultra high-end beer that sells for $90 a six-pack. Is it worth it?
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Achel is in danger of losing its designation as an authentic Trappist product. Why? Not because the monks have sold out to commercial interests or anything so crass. No, it’s because the monks are all gone.
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For decades, Americans have been warned of the dangers of the “tied houses” and the sterling virtues of a three-tiered system of production, distribution, and retail. But is this all hogwash? Craft breweries are testing the theory.
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The sense about craft beer right now, with assaults from a global pandemic and hard seltzer, is often morose. In purely financial terms, beer seems to be sputtering. But as a cultural force, it has never been stronger.
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On February 5, 2021, Portland Brewing will close its doors for the last time. The brewery’s closure marks the end of that scrappy, DIY era of craft brewing. And while it’s sad, a review of what Portland Brewing accomplished also reveals what a success its 35-year run was.
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At Schell’s Brewery, Jace Marti has revived not just authentic, mixed-fermentation Berliner weisse, but may be the only brewery using an old technique practiced by the last brewery to make authentic examples, Berlin’s Schultheiss.
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Today I welcome two new partners to the blog—but these aren’t ordinary advertisers. Together, pFriem, Reuben’s Brews and I plan to try a new model that strengthens rather than cheapens reader experience, and will result in a series of in-depth, interesting posts.
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A moment passing through a warm, cheery pub brought back vivid memories of cozy evenings I’ve missed the past nine months. As 2021 dawns, I kindle the hope we’ll be drinking together sometime this year.
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I don’t pretend the beer I’ve chosen for 2020 is the “best”—that kind of designation is a fool’s errand. But this year’s selection is a perfect example of where American brewing is at this moment, and it’s an amazing beer.
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Everyone is dying to leave 2020 behind, to forget its traumas and tragedies, and allow themselves to look forward with a glimmer of hope. Despite the pain, however, much about the year should be remembered. We may be too near events to extract their lessons, but the mere act of remembrance reminds us of what we’ve seen.
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Each year I do a wrap-up of the photos that characterized my year. In 2020, beer was less a focus than any year of my lifetime.
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In the big relief bill passed yesterday, Congress made a temporary beer tax cut permanent. It’s being hailed as a big win for little breweries, but guess who gets the bulk of the savings?
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Very little makes me want to sit outside in an icy drizzle drinking beer. At Portland’s Threshold Brewing, however, Jarek Szymanski is offering warm, sweet mugs of Polish grzaniec—and they miraculously make the experience a joy.
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Thanks to the pandemic, home delivery has become an important way people receive their beer. A new business built around home delivery suggests a new way of doing things that may last well after we’re back to “normal.”
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