It was the right move.

The BA would not risk the health and safety of its members, staff, contractors, anyone. There would be more Craft Brewers Conferences and more World Beer Cups, just not this year. That was clear – one thing that was unclear? What to do with all the beer.

As the organization acted to halt the preeminent industry conference and community gathering, shipments of beer entries for the World Beer Cup had already begun to arrive at the BA’s consolidation warehouse. Staffers and volunteers had spent weeks preparing beer entries for judging in the World Beer Cup’s host city, San Antonio. At the time of the cancellation – late on March 12 – international consolidation points and individual breweries were in various stages of sending even more beer, but growing reports of a pandemic loomed over the future of many large events. Earlier that day, Dry Dock Brewing head brewer Alan Simons’ musing on Facebook about his entry preparations proved prophetic, “I have a feeling I’m sitting in a cooler bottling beer for nothing.”

While many of the beers collected at the international consolidation points never made it out of port, early entries that did arrive sat sorted and ready for a competition that would never happen. Organizers were left with approximately half of the beer entries slated for San Antonio. Calls to judge the beer remotely, ship the beer back or donate it to a good cause were met with logistical problems and red tape that proved too large to overcome.

“It was super depressing.” said Chris Williams, the Brewers Association’s Senior Event Manager, speaking on the prospects of having to destroy the entries.

“It made me want to cry.”

A Clear Solution

On a sunny Tuesday in April, tucked away in a mixed-use area of Boulder County, masked volunteers are busy dumping beer. Inside a warehouse, five tables flank a path to a trailer with large, industrial plastic totes. Adam Dulye banters with his team of volunteers like he would with his kitchen staff.

(Related: Agonizing Decisions, 2-Day Drives, and the Spectacle Behind America’s Largest Beer Competition)

Adam is the Brewers Association’s executive chef. Normally charged with developing the menu for the World Beer Cup Awards dinner, Dulye spends a lot of time working with Williams and the events department. Faced with such a grim fate for the thousands of bottles and cans, some – in very different circumstances – could have been awarded gold medals, it was Dulye who offered a path forward.

In the days since COVID-19 swept across the country, the need for disinfectant solutions has become a vital weapon for those on the frontline risking their personal safety to care for the ill. In the search for cleaning agents effective against the novel coronavirus, the Center for Disease Control guidelines suggest solutions that are at least 70% alcohol as being an effective disinfectant. The same alcohol locked up in bottles and cans in the BA’s warehouse – albeit in a diluted state.

“How do we not destroy the beer?” Explains Dulye, “I have a truck. I can pull a trailer. I think we can make this work.”

Dulye began calling around to local distilleries to see if they’d be interested in distilling the World Beer Cup entries, eventually connecting with Denver Distillery and Ballmer Peak Distillery.

(More: Nationwide List of To-Go Beer Options by Breweries)

Alcohol evaporates at a lower temperature than water. The distillation process utilizes this by heating wash to capture alcohol vapor, then cooling and condensing it back into a liquid. The resulting liquid is a more pure form of alcohol. The plan was set; convert all of the World Beer Cup beers into high-grade alcohol to be used as a sanitizer for frontline workers. One problem: get the beer out of the packaging to be distilled.

Adam’s Kitchen

True to form, chef Adam’s table was the cleanest in the warehouse. BA staffers, Mille Shamburger, Joe Damgaard, Stacey Wetzel and Emily Silver joined longtime GABF volunteers, Lindsey Barela, Jordan Cleppe and Heather Camerer to open each bottle of beer, dump them into 5-gallon buckets and eventually into 275-gallon totes. The totes will then be driven by Dulye to the distilleries via the chef’s truck. Despite the masks and social distancing, the atmosphere is light, with music playing. Barela, Cleppe, and Camerer all work in event planning. Without any events to plan, they are helping out in Adam’s kitchen, of sorts. The team has been working daily since the previous Thursday. They will eventually empty enough entries to produce between 400 – 500 gallons of high-grade alcoholic hand sanitizer.

“I doubt this was the fate that brewers expected when they tasted through their entries,” Dulye acknowledged, “but based on the options we had available, I hope they feel a sense of closure, maybe some relief.”

It was not the solution that most would have hoped for the beers. Brewers put their hearts and souls into brewing them for the World Beer Cup, but for those who had hopes of earning gold on an April night in San Antonio might find some solace in knowing that their effort did not go down the drain. And that, in hindsight, perhaps being a part of a solution is more meaningful than a medal. In this case, clarity came from chaos – and that clarity packs a 140 Proof – nasty virus killing – punch.

Most of the sanitizer distilled by Denver and Ballmer Distilleries will be donated to first responders. Customers at Denver Distillery will have a chance to get a bottle of sanitizer with the purchase of one of their other products. Ballmer Distillery is providing the community their sanitizer on Wednesday and Saturdays. Customers should bring a container.

The post What Happened to the Beer? World Beer Cup Entries Saved From Going Down the Drain appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

For the rest of us, it’s the ultimate Sunday Funday complete with our favorite beverages and lots of food. Just as the game itself is hyped to monumental proportions, so too should your game day snacks. Super Bowl Sunday is a time to step out of the normal tailgate fare!

Ensuring that your beer and food pairings are just as much of a spectacle as the half-time show is what we hope to accomplish with our CraftBeer.com Game Day Pairing Playbook. We choose dishes that represent the teams in Super Bowl LIV in Miami and matched them with regional craft beers that pair well with the dishes.

Kansas City Barbecue Burnt Ends

It’s been 50 years since the Kansas City Chiefs have made it to the big game. While KC has been absent from football’s biggest stage, the region is a perennial powerhouse in the barbecue world, known throughout the world for mastering a variety of dry-rubbed, low and slow smoked meats accompanied by a rich and smoky tomato-based sauce. Of all of the cuts that the area’s chefs have perfected, the razzle-dazzle of Kansas City barbecue has got to be brisket burnt ends.

(More: Hidden Symbols, Easter Eggs and the Dark World of Drekker’s Beer Art)

Aptly named, burnt ends are the fatty sides of beef brisket that slowly absorb layers of flavor over the course of the smoking process. Like so many animal parts this country discounts as refuse–like grouper cheeks, tuna collars or duck livers–burnt ends were realized to be a true delicacy for their intensely flavor and built-in scarcity that is often the first item off the menu in a barbecue shack if the pitmaster decides to share them with the public at all.

Like KC barbecue itself, pairing beer with burnt ends offers a lot of variety. A traditional complement American lager works to cut through beef fat and dense smoke and sauce, while the concentrated flavors can match bold, strong beer styles like a doppelbock or strong stout. Still, a beer with a good amount of acidity offers the opportunity for a truly exciting pairing experience akin to a double reverse or flea-flicker back to the quarterback for an 80-yard touchdown. We’ve even seen it paired with an experimental beer with cinnamon that would be the equivalent of an onside kick.

If you’re looking to enjoy some Kansas City-style barbecue brisket burnt ends, you better get an order in now. The beer options will be a little easier to find.

San Francisco Cioppino

The Bay area’s culinary style is known for making the most of the abundantly fresh ingredients from the surrounding areas, kind of like taking what the defense gives you and working it to a classic West Coast offensive advantage. It’s no secret that many of those ingredients come from the Pacific Ocean, and San Francisco embraces Cioppino, an Italian influenced fish stew. Cioppino offers beer pairing opportunities like a potent passing game looking for a big playoff of the catch of the day.

(More: Easy Tips for Beer and Pizza Style Pairings)

That big catch in San Francisco might include a combination of fish, squid, crab and a variety of shellfish (often, the shell is included in a savory broth). The use of delicate shellfish makes preparation a delicate balance of cooking to avoid making the flesh rubbery. While the dish is delicate, the stew’s flavor offers a variety of beer pairing, as well.

To start, clean and crisp and malt leaning beers, like a pilsner or Kolsch, match the buttery flavors of shellfish without overwhelming the subtle flavors. Other beers that might coax out the freshness of the sea include a bone-dry saison or even a roasty stout. There are plenty of beers that will find separation for a highlight-reel catch of the day, just don’t forget plenty of fresh sourdough bread for whatever is left over.

Check out our playbook for these super pairings complete with local favorite craft beers from the two teams’ home cities. Then keep scrolling for more details on how these pairings score high in our book.

Why These Super Game Day Beer Pairings Work

Kansas City Pick: Burnt Ends

If you’re visiting Kansas City, Nick Mader from Alma Mader Brewing gave us some insider tips on where to find the best burnt ends in KC.

“My favorite spot for burnt ends lately has to be Slap’s BBQ. They offer burnt ends every day, but when they’re out they’re out. Slap’s is part of a new wave of BBQ we’re experiencing here that isn’t too sauce heavy. I really recommend this spot for a no-frills, authentic Kansas City BBQ experience.”

“For the beer pairing, I’d go with Premiant, our Czech-style pilsner. It has a full-bodied malt character but finishes crisp with a noble hop bite that acts as a good palate cleanser. I’d rather have something that is bright and refreshing and reduces the odds of the inevitable ‘meat nap’ that hits most people.”

(More: Don’t Drink Another Beer Before Reading This)

Kansas City Craft Beers to Pair with Burnt Ends

Premiant | Alma Mader Brewing | Unfiltered Czech-style Pilsner

KC BBQ burnt ends are so intensely flavorful, sometimes the beer needs to come running in, screaming at your palate, TIME OUT!

Love Child | Boulevard Brewing Co. | Wood-Aged Sour

Burnt ends, meet sour beer; your new Mah-homey. This combination elevates savory nature that performs effortlessly on the center stage of your palate.

Winterbock | KC Bier Co. | Dark Doppelbock Lager

Complementary roasted flavors set up a zone-blocking scheme to create running lanes for the doppelbock to leap into the (burnt) endzone of rich meaty goodness. Who says defense wins championships? Y’all just got burnt…ends.

San Francisco Pick: Cioppino

We leaned on long-time San Francisco craft beer pioneer Shaun O’Sullivan at 21st Amendment Brewery to tell us about his favorite beer pairing with cioppino.

“Pairing cioppino, a seafood and fish stew which originated in San Francisco from Italian immigrants in the 1800s, is paired well with the 21st Amendment’s El Sully Lager. The crisp and refreshing flavor and aroma notes of El Sully Lager contrast and pair nicely with cioppino with its rich, tomato base and lush seafood and best accompanied by warm crusty sourdough bread.”

(More: Girl Scout Cookie Beer Pairing Guide)

San Francisco Craft Beers to Pair with Cioppino

Saison | Thirsty Bear Organic Brewery | Belgian-Style Farmhouse Ale

What time is it? Game time! Saisons bring out salinity and natural sweetness while cleansing the palate.

El Sully | 21st Amendment Brewery | Mexican-Style Lager

It’s Gooooood! Only 4 times has the Super Bowl been decided by a field goal attempt. A lager with seafood is always a safe bet, but every once in awhile, the beer shines when no other beer will do.

Oyster Stout | Henhouse Brewing Co. | Ale Brewed with Whole Oysters

You play to win the game! On paper, this food and beer pairing is a sure bet. Complementary and contrasting flavors highlight a potent offense with such a sessionable beer. Stout and shellfish offer a classic match-up that, win or lose, is sure to be a memorable Super Bowl…of cioppino.

From us here at CraftBeer.com, we hope you enjoy the big game, the commercials, and sipping beers from small and independent craft breweries as you watch the sports spectacle unfold.

The post Game Day Beer & Food Pairing Playbook appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Pure Project has long been known for reducing plastic waste through various on-site methods. Methods such as utilizing used grain bags for trash bags, giant rubber bands instead of plastic wrap, and asking patrons to bring in their own bags and coolers to transport beer as opposed to using plastic can holders.

Pure also recently received local and national press by becoming one of the first breweries in California to implement the ocean safe can holders from E6pr, the first biodegradable and compostable holder of its kind.

Learn more about the can holders here: https://www.instagram.com/p/B12CqjnC8gj/

Now, Pure Project has taken things a step further by partnering with Plastic Bank, a multinational organization whose mission is to “Stop ocean plastic by gathering a billion people together to monetize waste while improving lives.”

On December 17, 2019, Pure Project announced a partnership with Plastic Bank called “Pounds for Pints.”

“Pounds for Pints” is a simple concept: for every pint of Murklands Pale Ale produced for Pure Project’s taprooms, Plastic Bank will prevent 2 pounds of ocean-bound plastic. For 2020, Pure Project has committed to preventing over 67,000 pounds of ocean-bound plastic and fighting the root cause of plastic pollution by alleviating poverty.

“This is a really special collaboration for us,” said Pure Project co-founder Mat Robar. “In the beginning, when Pure Project was located in Costa Rica, my business partner, Jesse Pine, used to run an annual beach cleanup in Manuel Antonio that we called “Pounds For Pints”. We are humbled to now amplify the impact of that initial program by partnering with the inspirational organization, Plastic Bank, which has global reach and vision.”

Both organizations will use the hashtag #poundsforpints to help spread awareness for the initiative and encourage others to do so as well when enjoying a Murklands Pale Ale.  Stay tuned for Plastic Bank representatives at an event next year geared towards raising awareness and creating action around the project.

Robar says they hope this collaboration will spark other “Pounds For Pints” initiatives with Plastic Bank across the USA and the world.

About Pure Project:  Pure Project is a small batch, ingredient-centric craft brewery located in San Diego, California. Pure Project’s mission is to build community and a reverence for beer as an agricultural product by staying true to their ethos of quality ingredients, sustainability, and attention to detail. Pure Project currently has two taprooms operational in San Diego (Miramar and Bankers Hill), with another opening late spring 2019 in the coastal village of Carlsbad.

To learn more about the brewery and beers visit: www.PureBrewing.org and www.Instagram.com/purebrewing

About Plastic Bank:

Plastic Bank makes plastic and waste into a currency turning off the tap to fight ocean plastic and global poverty. Plastic Bank creates recycling ecosystems that ignite a Social Plastic® Revolution, uniting & enrolling humanity for local action that creates global impact.

Plastic Bank branches act as convenience stores for the ultra poor, where everything can be purchased using plastic as money. Members can save the value and safely cash out when needed redeeming it for necessities such as cash, food, cooking fuel, and solar powered cell phone charging etc. Their members can even unlock access to health insurance, education, career training and work placement programs for a life beyond recycling.

Plastic Bank’s recycling incentive programs are distributed and authenticated through the Plastic Bank app, which uses blockchain technology to provide the safest and most trusted means to deliver a globally scalable social impact. All plastic collected through the Social Plastic® ecosystem is sorted, recycled, and sold to companies for their manufacturing instead of using new plastics.

Plastic Bank operates in Haiti, the Philippines, Indonesia and Brazil and has recycled over 12 million pounds of ocean-bound plastic. With over 1 million pounds collected monthly as of September 2019 and upcoming expansions throughout Africa, Latin America and Asia, Plastic Bank is exponentially increasing the amount of ocean-bound plastic collected and the people impacted.

To learn more and join the Social Plastic®  Revolution visit: plasticbank.com/

Find them at facebook.com/PlasticBank/  and instagram.com/plasticbank/

The post Pure Project Announces Effort To Save The Oceans and Alleviate Poverty appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

If I had two wishes that I could make this holiday season, the first would be for all the children of the world to join hands and sing in a spirit of harmony and peace, and the second would be to revive what I remember true Christmas ales or winter warmers to be. That’s it.

Oh, and revenge against my enemies!

“Christmas ale” used to be an actual thing with an actual history. In Europe, brewers used to (and still) make special ales to be served around the holidays. We’re talking beers like Bush de Noel and Scaldis Noel (Dubuisson), St. Bernardus Christmas Ale or N’ice Chouffe (Brasserie D’Achouffe/Duvel). As I see it, these beers all share commonalities. Generally, they are dark, big (7%-plus ABV) and spiced and similar to Belgian-style grand crus or English-styles strong ales. Some examples include holiday spices, like cinnamon, ginger or cardamom, but carefully selected yeast and masterful fermentation often offers a spice complexity to the beers on their own.

(READ: 12 Beers of Christmas)

The goal of the holiday ale beer experience should be celebratory;  meant to be shared, and should have you asking yourself when drank, “Do I have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head?”

If it doesn’t, then I would be disappointed.

Do I have visions of sugar plums dancing in my head?

Do brewers still make these beers? Am I just blind to them? Perhaps the warmer winters have necessitated a change in the beer menu from malt- and yeast-driven beers to holiday IPAs. Or have these types of beers become memories of antiquity that signal I am becoming that grumpy elder millennial? Soon I’ll be reviewing whiskey and yelling at clouds.

(VOTE NOW: Great American Beer Bars 2020)

There’s nothing wrong with winter seasonal IPAs and holiday pastry stouts. Some of the most classic Christmas beers from craft breweries are exactly those styles. But there isn’t much difference between those tropical IPAs and coconut stouts from beers from the rest of the year. Beer, like many sensory pleasures, transports us back in time or to a place. If there is ever a time of year to embrace nostalgia, it’s this time of year. Yes, we as a culture have blown it with anything pumpkin spice, but cardamom isn’t “basic.” We can still enjoy that, right?

So really my wish is, if you’re reading this, reach out and let me know that craft brewers still are making holiday ales and Christmas beers, somewhere. I’d love to get my hands on one if you think it’s worthy of sharing over the holidays. That. Then all-encompassing power. Then, $30 million every month to me – tax-free, in a swiss bank account -, then revenge against all my enemies. And of course, for all the children of the world to join hands and sing together in the spirit of harmony and peace.

If that’s your wish too, here are some beers that include one or more of those elements for you to enjoy during this holiday season.

Some Combination of Dark, Strong and/or Spiced Beers from Small & Independent U.S. Craft Breweries

•  A Christmas Beer | Exile Brewing Co. | Des Moines, IA
• Belgian Christmas Ale | pFriem Family Brewers | Hood River, OR
• Ebenezer’s Heavy Metal Christmas Ale | 105 West Brewing Co. | Castle Rock, CO
• Three Ryes Men | Reuben’s Brews | Seattle
• Buche De Noel | Burns Family Artisan Ales | Denver
• Turtle Tinsel Christmas Ale | Salty Turtle Beer Co. | Surf City, NC
• Bourbon Barrel-aged Kringle | Braxton Labs | Bellevue, KY
• 2019 Father Christmas | Barrel of Monks | Boca Raton, FL
• Lebkuchen Christmas Ale |Atwater Brewery | Detroit, MI
• We Needed a Coffin | Mad Cap Brew Co. | Kent, OH
• Childhood Memories | Over Yonder Brewing Co. | Golden, CO
• Gingerbread Stout | Talisman Brewing Co. | Ogden, UT
• Kacey’s Kristmas Ale | Rohrbach Brewing Company | Rochester, NY
• Ghost of Christmas | Galaxy Brewing Co. | Binghamton, NY
• Yule Shoot Your Rye Out | Hamburg Brewing Company | Hamburg, NY
• Cold Mountain | Highland Brewing | Asheville, NC
• Figgy Pudding | Block 15 Brewing | Corvallis, OR
• AdAmAn Holiday Ale | Pikes Peak Brewing | Monument, CO

The post My Holiday Ale Wish for You appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

If you’re the big gift-giver type, skip our guide to affordable beer gifts and check out the extraordinary beer gifts guide below. Some of the gifts are from breweries, but the bulk of the guide is full of items that could bring the beer exploring experience to the next level.

Here are some splurge-worthy options for the truly deserving beer drinker on your list.

Fashionable Beer Gifts

Limited Edition Merrell X Dogfish Agility Synthesis X | $110

Performance shoemaker Merrell collaborated with Dogfish Head Craft Brewery to create a shoe inspired by the brewery’s popular SeaQuench Ale. The material comes from a variety of sustainable and recycled sources (the midsole is made from 10 percent algae; the laces are 100 percent recycled materials). The brands say they’ll be donating $10,000 to the Conservation Alliance as part of the brewery-shoe collaboration.

adidas München Oktoberfest Sneakers | $240

With these sweet kicks, beer will always be on your mind and feet. Inspired by the traditional Oktoberfest fashions, the adidas München Oktoberfest beer shoes come with high-quality leather and premium materials. Who knew adidas stood for “All day I dream about suds”?

(More: Musings on Utopias)

Extraordinary Beer Gifts for the Home

Kegmate 54 Qt. Jockey Box Cooler | $399

The ultimate outdoor party planner would love to have their very own jockey box for draft beer in the backyard. Trust me. Made out of stainless steel, this single faucet cooler is designed for ideal portability so you can ditch the bucket and keep the keg dry. The Kegmate comes complete with stainless steel 54-quart cooler, an interchangeable tap handle, coils and connections.

(More: Girls In Craft: Meet the Women Behind Female-Focused Beer Merchandise)

Champagne (Du Nord) Saber | $165.95

A few years ago, our good pals at the American Homebrewers Association showed us that sabering wasn’t just for wine bottles. Tis the season to drink your beer cellar and sabering all of those large format bottles is made way easier and far more festive with a sabering sword. Please, wear eye protection!

Waterford Crystal Decanting Carafe | $275

Surprise! Fancy schmancy decanters aren’t just for wine – beer drinkers can use them for wild and sour beers, and it makes a great splurge-worthy beer gift. At Denver’s Goed Zuur, John Fayman’s team ensures that when you order a wonderfully complex bottle of gueuze, no one gets stuck with a glass of dregs with your charcuterie board. “We always try to offer the most authentic beer experience possible and when dealing with sour and wild ales that means pouring the bottle for the customer to ensure a perfect, yeast-free pour,” John tells us. “It’s a great tool for allowing a slow pour and a impart a softer mouthfeel to the beer if it’s lively.”

Epicurean Mash Paddle | $108.90

This epicurean mash paddle is a great gift for the legit homebrewer who should probably just make her hobby a business.

High-end Can Art by Christina Massey | $150 to $850

Perhaps in your formative beer years, when you displayed what one could call “can art,” it was triangular. Today, beer art is more permanent and still spectacular. Take, for instance, artist Christina Massey, the sculptor who turns her favorite hazy IPA cans into vivid bursts of shape and color. Many of the cans she uses are sourced from her home base in NYC from craft brewers like Other Half and Sixpoint.

Rush Creek Reserve Cheese | $35 per wheel

We love whale beers, but what about whale cheeses? I’d call this one a game-changer cheese. Rush Creek Reserve lives up to the hype. This limited cheese from Upland Cheese is produced only in the fall, as the diet of Rush Creek’s cows begins to change from summer pasture to the winter’s dry hay. This rich milk is perfect for a cheese like Rush Creek Reserve. The cheese is soft and so decadent it’s often referred to as savory custard. Each Rush Creek Reserve is wrapped in spruce bark which gives shape to the cheese and imparts a subtle woodsy flavor.

I can personally vouch that this cheese is bonkers when you pair it with beer. John Mallett of Bell’s Brewery once served it with Bell’s Cherry Stout at an event. He wrapped each piece of cheese in foil and placed it in the oven until it was warm and gooey. At $35 a wheel, this is the least expensive beer gift on the list, but you’ll want to by at least three to share.

(More: Heroes of the Brewhouse: Here’s What Brewery Workers Actually Do)

Beer Travel Gift Ideas

BierGardeValise | $349

What do you give the beer lover who loves to go on beercations? Give them a way to safely transport their newfound beer stashes home safely. The BierGardeValise is built as luggage for beer travelers. The carrier helps keep those special releases and hard-to-find beers secure during travel. As a beer lover who travels, trust me: nothing says you care like alleviating anxiety at baggage claim.

Guided Fly Fishing at Blackberry Farms | $95 to $495

Is your beer nut also a trout bum? Instead of buying them bottles and tippet, why not share an experience with them? Famed Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee, is quite the experience and spending a day on the water is but one of the many experiences they provide. No matter what you choose, there’s always a farmhouse ale from Blackberry Farm Brewery to end the night.

Any beer fan would be lucky to get any one of these extraordinary beer gifts, but if you’re the type of person looking to splurge on a gift for someone, they’re pretty lucky already. We hope they appreciate you and your generosity and make time to open a few special bottles from their beer cellar this holiday season. Ultimately, the best gift of all for a beer lover is someone to share a bottle with. Happy holidays from CraftBeer.com.

Editor’s Note: We are not getting financial kickbacks from this list. We just thought these were really cool gifts for beer lovers.

The post Splurge-worthy Extraordinary Beer Gifts appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

News of the sale was confirmed in a letter on the brewery’s website. Kim Jordan, Co-Founder of New Belgium, addressed the acquisition and offered some clues for why they would join with this particular global brewer, “we’ve needed to balance the cash demands of our ESOP and selling shareholders, with the operational need for more capacity (hence the brewery in Asheville) and the need to grow…”

New Belgium had, pending these developments, been employee-owned and it was noted that the deal is dependent on employee approval. Jordan routinely cited the well-being of New Belgium employees as one of the reasons for the sale. “We will no longer be employee owned and it would be easy to see that as a drawback.  But here’s another way to look at it,” writes Jordan. “More than 300 employees are receiving over $100,000 of retirement money with some receiving significantly greater amounts.”

Lion Little World Beverages is the global alcohol beverage division of Australasian brewer, Lion, which is part of Kirin. Notable alcohol brands for Lion Little World Beverages include Australia’s once independent Little Creatures and New Zealand brand, Steinlager.

“Our owner, Kirin, has entrusted Lion with leading its global craft beer strategy and today’s announcement is a real milestone for us.” said Matt Tapper, Managing Director of Lion Little World Beverages in the joint release, “Over time, we see a great opportunity to work together with New Belgium Brewing to grow a wider portfolio of craft beverages in the U.S.”

New Belgium was founded in 1991 and over that time became a nationally distributed brewery known for their flagship amber ale, Fat Tire. New Belgium opened their east coast location in Asheville, North Carolina in 2016 and opened a Denver, Colorado brewery recently in 2018.

The post New Belgium Brewing Announces Planned Sale to Lion Little World Beverages appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

The trip marks a step forward in the partnership between the Bronx Brewery and Bastard Burgers, one of Sweden’s fastest-growing fast casual restaurants.

After launching the partnership earlier this year – which features Bronx Brewery beer at all Bastard Burgers locations – both teams embarked on a Summer Tour across four Swedish cities. That trip saw the debut of Big City Bastard, Bronx Brewery’s collaboration IPA, available only in Sweden.

“The minute we met the Bastard Burgers guys, we knew they were about the exact same things we are,” said Bronx Brewery president Damian Brown. “Their attention to quality, team culture and clear communication of values and purpose in everything they do. It’s been a perfect fit from the start, and we couldn’t be more excited about being able to work with them on literally getting our world-class beer around the world.”

This time around, The Bronx – the borough whose name derives from Swedish-born settler Jonas Bronck– takes center stage.

The newly named restaurant will be the first restaurant under the Bastard Burgers family to be called ‘Bronx Burgers.’ To celebrate the occasion, Bronx-based streetwear line Perico Limited, food innovator Empanology and rising-star rapper Denzil Porter will join the Brewery on the trip.

New York artist Demetrius Felder, who designed the label art for the Bronx Brewery’s Big City Bastard IPA – available only in Sweden – also hand-painted 10 custom pairs of Nike Air Force 1’s with a design that references both Sweden and The Bronx. The shoes will be given away to fans throughout the tour.

“What’s happening in The Bronx right now is unlike anywhere else in the world,” said Brandon Espinosa, GM of the Bronx Brewery Taproom & Backyard. “You can feel the energy everywhere. It’s a rising. I went for the first trip to Sweden, and you could see the love and appreciation for The BX. So this time, we’re thrilled to be able to bring even more of The Bronx to its fans.”

Felder joined the Brewery on the initial trip, where he live-painted the Big City Bastard label design at each opening event. He’s also part of the Bronx Brewery Up and Comer Series, which pairs up limited- release beers with rising-star artists.

The journey will be covered on @TheBronxBrewery social channels.

For more information, please contact Kevin Scheitrum, Sr. Director of Marketing at The Bronx Brewery at kev@thebronxbrewery.com.

The post Bronx Brewery to Celebrate New ‘Bronx Burger’ Opening in Sweden appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Touted as “a summer-centric hefeweizen,” In Tandem combines locally-grown barley and wheat with Delaware strawberries. Each brewer then put their own touch on the wheat: Revelation’s version of In Tandem contains vanilla and locally-harvested lavender, while Dogfish Head’s additions include nutmeg fruit to offer slightly sweet and nutty notes. The beers will be released on Independence Day.

(Related: Dogfish Head Makes a Statement with New 60 Minute IPA Packaging)

The focus on local goes beyond the locally-grown strawberries and barley. Proceeds from sales will help residents of their community resist the tyranny of motorized vehicles with a new bike path. The Rt. 9 Trailhead planned by the Sussex County Land Trust, an area that will mark the halfway point between Dogfish Head’s Milton brewery and Revelation’s Georgetown facility on the Delaware Rails-to-Trails bike path.

“There’s nothing I love more than collaborating with other independent craft brewers to create a delicious beer, or in this case, beers,” says Sam Calagione, founder of Dogfish Head. “A liquid tribute to all things independent – independent brewers and breweries, independent businesses, and coastal Delaware’s ability to be independent from motorized vehicles to visit the area’s many wonders.

(#SeekTheSeal: Independent Craft Brewer Seal)

In preparation for the collaboration, Calagione and Revelation founder Patrick Staggs hopped on a tandem bike and rode to Magee Farms in Lewes to pick the strawberries for the beer themselves.

“For small craft brewers, our independence is an important component of our interdependence on each other to stay successful in our path for growth,” says Staggs. “Just like pedaling on a tandem bike, if each of us individually gives the effort to fulfill our role, then together we will reach our destination quicker. And now with Revelation and Dogfish locations up and down the bike trail, there are plenty of great destinations for our guests … so get out there on two wheels!”

Often we think of independence as being the result of the efforts of an individual. But look further and you realize that success is very much a result of, as Patrick put it, an interdependent network. Whether it’s independent brewers or an independent nation, there is a lot of working in tandem to accomplish big ideas and serve the community at large.

The post Neighboring Delaware Breweries Work ‘In Tandem’ to Benefit Hyperlocal Cause appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Bottles, cans, crowlers, growlers or kegs, craft beer comes in a variety of containers for you to enjoy outside of the brewery taproom. While each beer vessel fulfills the same purpose, each requires some different approaches to storing.

When it comes to shelf life, beer is more like a loaf of bread than a bottle of wine or whiskey. Beer’s perishability means it’s best enjoyed soon after you take it home.

By all means, beer should go into a refrigerator of some sort; keeping beer cold is an important part of the equation. Here are some other considerations to keep beer tasting fresh.

How to Best Store Beer Bottles

Quite possibly the most recognizable symbol of beer is a brown or green glass bottle. For centuries the sturdy and beautiful beer bottle has held our favorite beers affixed with a stopper to keep the contents from spilling out–the modern version of which is the pry-off crown cap. Additionally, non-reactive glass can be reused and recycled and never imparts flavors into the beer.

While beer bottles are great containers for beer, their transparency offers a drawback by allowing light to react with the beer. For this, it is important to avoid light contact with glass beer bottles. Store them out of UV light to avoid acceleration of beer flavor degradation. In the best conditions you can expect beer bottles to hold up well, but you should drink bottled beer within three to six months.

(Related: When Craft Beer Goes Bad)

Beer Cans Keep Light Out

Aluminum beer cans are excellent containers for beer because they offer total light protection that brown or green bottles cannot. Additionally, you can take cans many places that glass can’t go, like parks and beaches.

While they protect beer from harmful UV light, cans won’t protect beer from excessive heat. If you can keep them cold, cans, like bottles, can be expected to last for months, but again that is very dependent on the beer itself, as well as the external factors like agitation.

(Related: Getting the Most Out of Your Growler)

What is a Growler?

Growlers are most often glass bottles with screw caps that most often hold 64 or 32 ounces of beer. While growlers have a long history, microbreweries that do not package their beer have made the growler a popular beer container.

Despite a growler essentially being a beer bottle, the guidance on how to best store differs quite a bit. Specifically, many glass growlers are not pressure rated and may potentially burst if over pressurized. As the beer warms, the pressure within the container increases presenting a very serious danger of the glass bursting. Keep growlers cold and never leave one in a hot car for an extended period.

Growler Safety (From the Draught Beer Quality Manual)

1. When buying a growler, ask if the glass growlers offered are pressure rated, or if there are any other growler offering specifically approved for carbonated beverages.
2. Avoid over filling. While a little more beer seems like a bonus, overfilling a growler can increase the chances of a glass growler failure. Ensure your server leaves at least 5 percent of head space in the growler.
3. Encourage the use of plastic screw caps over metal caps as it is believed a plastic cap will fail before the glass does, as opposed to the metal screw cap that may not.
4. Keep growlers in a cool, dark space.
5. When reusing growlers, do your part to clean the growler and inspect it for damage. Contamination may start a refermentation of beer in the growler.

Growlers represent a fun way to purchase and enjoy beer, but growlers are meant to be enjoyed shortly after you buy them. Drink growlers within a couple days of filling.

Crowlers Have Limited Shelf Life

Crowlers are an aluminum can substitute for glass growlers, and most often hold smaller quantities of beer, generally 32 ounces. With the popularity of cans and the mobility of cans, the crowler is a great choice for picking up a variety of craft beers.

But don’t confuse crowlers for beer cans. They aren’t necessarily packaged the same way, making the shelf life of a crowler limited like a growler. Be sure to keep crowlers cold and drink fresh within two or three days.

(Related: 5 Cardinal Sins of Craft Beer Service)

Kegs Require a Plan

Many consider draft beer the closest thing to beer from the brewery – at home. Stainless steel kegs, as part of a draft system, dispense beer in a far greater amount than any other beer container. While this is an obvious plus, especially for a party, drawbacks include the need for a dispense plan as well as more space and energy to keep the beer cold. The need for a plan to extract beer from the kegs is compounded by the need for a balanced draft system that dispenses a beer with the right amount of foam to each pour.

Kegs for a Home Party: You’re Doing it Wrong

In a pinch, a large bucket of ice and a party pump are perfectly acceptable ways to cool and dispense beer, especially for a party. That said, many party kegs end up being plagued with excess for most of the party. Here are some don’ts for party kegs.

1. Don’t pick up the keg the same day as your party. The jostling that’ll happen as you transport the keg from brewpub to the party will cause a lot of foam. The keg needs at least 24 hours to settle.
2. Don’t leave the keg warm. As beer warms the pressure increases and results in overly foamy beer.
3. Don’t over pump/pressurize the keg. Before pumping the keg tap, release some pressure to see if it might pour fine. Not everyone needs to pump the keg before pouring a beer.

All beer containers present benefits and challenges. Understanding how to treat each vessel best will go a long way in ensuring the beer you choose is enjoyed at peak quality and freshness. Light and temperature are the major threats to beer package quality, but you can defend against both. But no container can protect your beer from age, so it is important for beer to be enjoyed quickly and always responsibly.

The post How Long Is My Crowler Good? appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

“Love them! I am slightly obsessed! I check them every time I wake up at night. My husband grumbles, “Yep, she’s still sitting there.’”

That’s Carol Cochran of the Fort Collins, Colorado, craft brewery. The “she” Carol is referring to is “Millennium,” an American kestrel – a species of falcon — that has taken up residence in the nesting box which the brewery installed late last year. You can watch it live here.

“I started calling the mother Millennium because I’m a huge Star Wars fan, and she’s a falcon — North America’s smallest raptor,” Carol adds.

(Seek The Seal: Independent Craft Brewer Seal)

Springtime represents the return of brewery patio season here in the West, but the warmer weather is a cue for wildlife that share the region to start looking for food and places to nest too. It is not unheard of for wildlife to find their way around – and sometimes into — a brewery. I once greeted a brewery owner who asked if I minded following him out to where they stored bags of grain to investigate “a really big snake” that members of a tour had reported. In California, nesting birds have made a habit of finding their way into Agoura Hills’ Ladyface Alehouse, often selecting a nesting site that the brewers would have preferred they not — constructing a nest on top of sixtels has happened more than once.

Horse & Dragon Installs Nesting Box

Luckily, Millennium’s nest is far from disruption and keg sales. The box was provided by the Colorado Avian Research and Rehabilitation Institute (CARRI). CARRI is headed by Scott Rashid, whose organization’s missions include research and rehabilitation for area raptors.

Rashid learned about Horse & Dragon by way of an online dating misconnection. Carol tells it: “Scott was introduced to me by a friend who had a Match.com or Tinder date at one of the chick bandings a couple of years ago and met Scott and was introduced to CARRI. She didn’t continue dating the guy who took her to the banding, but she was interested in the work of CARRI and thought our location might work.”

Horse & Dragon is set up in an old airplane hangar facing an overgrown landing strip “which now provide okay hunting ground, apparently, for kestrels,” Carol says.

“The American Kestrel is North American’s smallest falcon. These diminutive raptors have been declining for the past several years, due to loss of habitat, predation and habitat loss,” says Rashid, “These tiny falcons are a secondary cavity nesting species, which means they need a cavity to nest in, but cannot make it themselves, and therefore rely upon manmade structures such as nest boxes to raise their families.”

Rashid dropped off a box CARRI had made with instructions on how high to hang it and Cochran mounted it to the back wall of the brewery last October.

“We had our electrician come out and run wiring to be able to rig up the nest camera…and ran a Wi-Fi booster back there so that folks can follow along online from anywhere they like” said Cochran. “During the winter a North American flicker spent every night in the box. But in April, a kestrel pair seemed to have asked her to move along, and they took it over.”

Rashid says that Kestrel habitat is any open spaces.  “Members of the CARRI have been building and placing nest boxes for these species for years with a goal of having 200 nest boxes placed from Arvada north to the Wyoming border,” says Rashid, “We have about 60 placed now.”

If your home or brewery is near an open space that might work, reach out to CARRI for consideration.

(Find: Breweries Near You)

‘Kestrel Run’ Beer in Honor of the Falcons

Since early May, Millennium and her partner have watched over five brown and speckled kestrel eggs. Once they hatch, any day now, the chicks will be banded for tracking and research purposes. On Sunday, June 2, the brewery will be having a special release party in honor of the family. Kestrel Run is an American Hoppy Wheat beer (not to mention another Star Wars nod: Han Solo ran the Kessel Run in 12 parsecs!) that will be tapped at noon at the brewery.

Horse & Dragon reached out to the Glendale Raptors, Denver’s Major League Rugby team, for help naming the chicks. The hope is that The Glendale Raptors might run a contest to help the brewery name the birds.

Which is all fine and well, I guess. Might be worth noting, though, that the American kestrel was commonly referred to as the “sparrow hawk” up until the 1960s. As a beer writer with the last name of Sparhawk, I’d point out that Andy is cool name for undersized, yet particularly stylish, birds of prey, too …

The post Colorado Brewery Eagerly Awaits Falcon Hatchlings appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Lager lovers are encouraged to head to The Georgia Chapter Room, the beer-centric speakeasy below Taco Mac in Sandy Springs, on Monday, May 13 to meet Atlanta’s own Mitch Steele, co-founder of New Realm Brewing. He’ll be on hand to introduce Rock’n Like Bock’n, winner of the silver medal at the US Open Beer Championship in 2018. A passionate brewmaster, Steele is the author of “IPA: Brewing Techniques, Recipes and the Evolution of India Pale Ale” and the Hoptripper blog. No need to despair if you’re too far from The Prado. Taco Mac outlets throughout metro Atlanta will be featuring a heady variety of lagers and pilsners such as Green Man lager and Creature Comforts Classic City lager.

“American Craft Beer Week is the perfect vehicle for us to do what we do best: share the finest beers available with our guests,” says Ryan Blevins, food and beverage director at Taco Mac. “If I were going to pick a personal favorite day, I would have to say it would be Thursday night when, instead of focusing on a style of beer, we’ll focus solely on Atlanta-based SweetWater Brewing Company. We’ll be tapping over 20 new beers and styles across the city from their Woodland and Hatchery series.”

The weeklong schedule also features:

• Tuesday – Sours that range in flavor from fruity and sweet to pucker-up tart, featuring a fruited sour flight with beers from  TrimTab Brewing Co.
• Wednesday – Pale ales that put the hop back where it belongs, including Taco Mac-exclusive Don’t Call It T. Mac from Monday Night Brewing
• Thursday – SweetWater Brewing Company
• Friday – Wheat beers that vary from light and bready to round and sweet, including Bell’s Oberon and Harpoon UFO White

• Saturday – Stouts that encompass an array of flavors from dry Irish to sweet breakfast-style pastry with flavors such as cinnamon and cake. Guests at the Mall of Georgia, Prado, Kennesaw, Newnan and Peachtree City restaurants will have the unique chance to enjoy the exclusive 2017 and 2018 Rogue Rolling Thunder Imperial Stout.
• Sunday – India pale ales that run the gamut from piney dry crisp hops to milkshake-sweet concoctions, including New Realm Hazy Like a Fox and Scofflaw Hooligan

About Taco Mac An Atlanta institution since 1979, Taco Mac offers over 100 beers on draft, the Southeast’s Original Buffalo wings and multiple HD TVs for enjoying all your favorite sporting events. Started by two friends from Buffalo, New York, Taco Mac now has 28 locations across Georgia, Tennessee, and North Carolina. Taco Mac has been named the best sports bar in Atlanta by the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Jezebel and Groupon and one of the five best sports bars in America by ESPN. Taco Mac is locally owned by managing partner Harold Martin, Jr. along with Michael Bodnar, John Michael Bodnar and Mike Tidwell of Fresh Hospitality. For more information, visit tacomac.com.

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The post Taco Mac Encourages Guest to Think Nationally and Drink Locally For ACBW appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

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Okay, so I’ll work on my origin story skills. Nevertheless, it was a passion for comic books that inspired Colorado craft brewers Odyssey Beerwerks, Cannonball Creek, and Odd 13 to join forces for a beer highlighting Free Comic Book Day which is Saturday, May 4. The supercharged pale ale will be available at their respective super brewer lairs (their breweries) while supplies last.

The limited-edition beer named 3 Superheroes Walk Into A Brewery is packed with Amarillo, Galaxy and Sabro hops, which Odd 13’s Ryan Scott says give the beer its super hop powers, the ZANG, WHAP and KA-POW of citrus character.

“Beer and comic books have a symbiotic relationship,” says Jason Stengl of Cannonball Creek Brewing, whose origin story includes working at Mile High Comics before getting bit by the radioactive beer bug years ago.

“Both are forms of art and expression, and both have a little something for everyone,” he says.

The Free Comic Book Day release should have something for everyone. In addition to the ultra-limited beer release, free comic books will be on hand as well as a commemorative shirt for the event.

(READ: The Asgardian and an IPA: How Craft Beer Got Marvel’s Attention)

Three Superheroes walk into a brewery, what do they talk about?

Comics, of course! We reached out to the beer’s collaborators to ask them about their dual passion of beer and comics, here’s what they had to say:

What’s your favorite comic?

Ryan Scott, Co-Founder of Odd13 Brewing, Lafayette, CO

“I like all of the X-Men family of comics: X-Force, Excalibur, New Mutants, etc.”

One need not try hard to see the comic beer connection at Odd 13, from design to beer names, the brewery is all about comics and hoppy beers.

Jason Stengl, Co-founder of Cannonball Creek Brewing, Golden, CO

Jason worked at Mile High Comics when he first moved to Colorado and has fond memories of his mother giving him a buck to buy comics (as in multiple)! He has a pretty impressive Spiderman tattoo that you can ask to see when go to the release.

Chris Hill, Co-owner of Odyssey Beerwerks, Arvada, CO

Chris’ favorite comic of all time is his Amazing Spider-Man #50.

“Spidey has a crisis of conscience about whether or not the world is a better place without him being a superhero,” explains Hill. “It’s also my favorite cover of all time, which probably has a lot to do with it.” He has a signed copy of it by the late Stan Lee.

The post Super Brewers Collaborate on Comic Book Inspired Beer for Free Comic Book Day appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

“To get a beautifully poured beer you have to have a beer clean glass,” says John Scholl, marketing manager for Cicerone. “Even though many establishments have suitable cleaning procedures and sanitized glassware, it doesn’t mean that it’s truly beer clean glassware. Guests are rewarded when they visit a business that puts in extra effort to their beer program.”

(Learn: CraftBeer.com’s Beer 101 Course)

What is Beer Clean

It may seem obvious to want a clean glass for your beverage. Beer requires an elevated level of clean. Simply put, it’s not clean until it’s beer clean.

The Brewers Association’s Draught Beer Quality Manual describes beer clean as, “free of visible soil and marks but also free of foam-degrading residues, like soap, grease or fat.”

Beer’s carbonation easily reveals residue on a non-beer clean glass by producing bubbles which cling to the dirty spots. A beer clean glass is free of bubbles clinging to the inside and produces a lasting cap of foam which will deposit lacing down the glass as the beer is enjoyed.

(Related: 5 Cardinal Sins of Craft Beer Service)

Celebrating a beautiful, beer clean glass and recognizing the beer-centric establishment that take pride doing it right is not a difficult ask. Cheers to beer clean glassware and a complete beer experience. To participate, tag #BeerCleanGlass in photos of beautifully poured beer across social media on April 27, 2019.

For more resources on beer service procedure, as well as, to download a free copy of the newly enhanced Draught Beer Quality Manual, visit DraughtQuality.org.

The post Raise a Glass for Beer Clean Glass Day appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

CraftBeer.com has always been a proponent of elevating your craft beer enjoyment by adding delicious food to the experience. We believe that the approach to beer and food pairing should be the same no matter if you’re enjoying a 42-day dry aged ribeye or a 4-week-old freezer-aged box of Thin Mints. A great pairing is when the combination improves the experience more so than the two elements apart.

We put together the below list of suggestions that we hope you will enjoy, no matter if you’re new to craft beer or the most ardent beer geek. Grab some beers, buddies and those iconic cookie boxes and work your way through CraftBeer.com’s Girl Scout Cookie Beer Pairing Guide.

Thin Mints + Dry Stout

In style, as in beer pairing, avoid being too “matchy-matchy.” However, the dark chocolatey wafer character shared in a stout and a Thin Mint cookie work so well to elevate the cooling of mint that it is a pairing taboo we’re willing to risk. It’s an all-black tux with a cool green pocket square.

Beer Suggestions

• Shooter McMunn’s | Lost Rhino Brewing Co. | Ashburn, VA
• It’s My Island | Pocock Brewing Co. | Santa Clarita, CA
• Shaft House Stout | Dostal Alley | Central City, CO

Caramel Delites/Samoas + German-Style Doppelbock

A cookie with so much going on for it, like the Caramel deLite’s toasted coconut, caramel and garnish of chocolate, needs a pairing to match the cookie’s intensity. Aim for a strong, malty doppelbock that lends complimentary flavors and a warming character that will help emulsify even the ooey-gooiest caramel.

Beer Suggestions

• Smooth Like Jazz | Revelry Brewing Co. | Charleston, SC
• St. Nigels’ Doppelbock | Front Range Brewing Co. | Lafayette, CO
• Delaminator Doppelbock | Rip Current Brewery | San Marcos, CA

Shortbread/Trefoils + English Pale Ale/ESB

Want the secret to dynamite beer pairings? It’s simplicity. Trefoils might not get all of the Thin Mint glory, and ESB isn’t commanding any lines of beer geeks, but when the two work off of their strengths they elevate each other so that the Trefoils box ends up in recycling long before the green box escapes the freezer.

Beer Suggestions

• Happy Amber | MadTree Brewing 2.0 | Cincinnati, OH
• ESB | Hillman Beer | Asheville, NC
• Bull Kelp ESB | San Juan Island Brewing Co. | Friday Harbor, WA

Peanut Butter Patties/Tagalongs + Belgian-style Quadrupel

All of that peanut butter will quickly coat your mouth. Instead of reaching for milk, pop the top on a Belgian-style quad, strong enough to cut through the nut butter and plenty of complex, fruity yeast notes to transform this into a fun play on peanut butter and jelly.

Beer Suggestions

• BJ’s Quad | BJ’s Restaurant & Brewery | Boulder, CO
• Kung Fu Smurf | Bastone Brewery | Royal Oak, MI
• Deduction | Taxman Brewing Co. | Bargersville, IN

Savannah Smiles + Berliner-style Weisse

The game plan of sweet and sour should not be difficult for anyone to understand. You’re hoping for the cookie and wheat to offer a solid backdrop for the lemon and bright acidity to shoot around on your palate like the lasers in your 1st-grade school picture.

Beer Suggestions

• Germophile | Rowley Farmhouse Ales | Santa Fe, NM
• Nevada Weisse | IMBIB Custom Brews | Reno, NV
• Athena | Creature Comforts Brewing Co. | Athens, GA

Peanut Butter Sandwich/Do-Si-Dos + American Brown Ale

Unassuming partners, but we all know once peanut butter and chocolate (malt) get together they know how to swing their partner round ‘n round then roll away to a half sashay. Now promenade!

Beer Suggestions

• Wallops Island | Rocket Frog Brewing Co. | Sterling, VA
• Groundswell Piloncillo Brown Ale | Groundswell Brewing Co. | Santee, CA
• Davy Brown Ale | Figueroa Mountain Brewing | Buellton, CA

The post Girl Scout Cookie Beer Pairing Guide appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

CraftBeer.com is the beer lover facing website for the Brewers Association with the goal of telling the stories of small and independent American craft brewers. CraftBeer.com will be conduction a series of pitch sessions on Wednesday, April 10 and Thursday, April 11 at Craft Brewers Conference in the Colorado Convention Center.

Current slots available for CraftBeer.com pitch sessions include:

• Wednesday, April 10 at 11:00 AM
• Wednesday, April 10 at 11:15 AM
• Thursday, April 11 at 12:00 PM
• Thursday, April 11 at 12:15 PM
• Thursday, April 11 at 12:30 PM
• Thursday, April 11 at 12:45 PM
• Thursday, April 11 at 1:00 PM
• Thursday, April 11 at 1:15 PM
• Thursday, April 11 at 1:30 PM

Interested brewery personnel can email andy@craftbeer.com to claim a spot.

The post Have a Story? Meet CraftBeer.com Editors and Pitch Us at CBC appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

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‘Breweries Should be Prepared’

Laura Dierks is the founder of Brooklyn’s Interboro Spirits and Ales. Dierks’s two and a half-year-old brewery employs 30 workers. The brewery expanded capacity in summer 2018 to keep up demand and start distributing beers out of state. Dierks needs federal label approval to sell beer across state lines, but the government agency that fulfills such request is closed. The result of the closure has created a backlog of Certificate of Label Approval (COLA) requests that will not be reviewed until after the government reopens. That puts the young brewery in a precarious position, in need of revenue to support the lives of those who work for Dierks, some of which were hired in anticipation of the growth, as well as the need to offset the expansion investment.

(More: Wilmington Breweries Worry About the Future After Hurricane Florence)

“We added capacity and hired new full-time positions to support the new volume of beer,” Dierks tells us. “Now, with interstate sales as part of our baseline revenue, we can’t leave New York because we can’t get COLAs.”

City Barrel Brewing Company hoped to hold its grand opening in Kansas City February 22, but most of the new beers they’d planned to sell haven’t been cleared yet.

“I have four beers that we were planning on releasing on opening day, and I only got one of them approved through the system before the shutdown,” co-founder James Stutsman told the Kansas City Star.

“Breweries should be prepared for the labeling and permit process to take longer than previously estimated,” according to Katie Marisic, federal affairs manager at the Brewers Association, publishers of CraftBeer.com. “Also, be aware that when the government is funded again there could be a backlog. Breweries should plan accordingly.”

Shutdown Impacts New Breweries

The shutdown isn’t just keeping new beers from reaching thirsty beer fans. Breweries need federal approval simply to run their business. The closure of the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau has created a similar abundance of requests for Brewer’s permits that go unprocessed. In Gloucester, Massachusetts, Jamie Klopotoski has been waiting for her brewery, Agape Beer Company LLC, to get approval since October.

“In December, my permit was marked as ‘Review in Process,’” says Klopotoski. “The initial estimate was 80 days for processing from the date of application, which actually would have been January 10. But with the government shutdown, that date is now delayed until who knows when!”

(Beer Near Me: US Brewery Map)

Klopotoski hopes that Agape Beer will still be able to open by their May goal, but she knows that the likelihood of opening on time is now in jeopardy as the shutdown drags on.

To add to the disruption, the shutdown has also closed the Small Business Administration. This means that some new entrants will have difficulty opening without the government’s federally assisted loan program. This affects the purchase of new equipment, ingredients, and everything else a new business may need to hit the ground running. Suppliers are also affected by the government’s closure. Opening a new business is wrought with uncertainty, but the shutdown has added even more pressure to main street businesses eager to open their doors.

(More: In Vinocervisia Veritas: The Rise of Wine Beers)

Breweries Run Promotions for Government Workers

Small brewers are eager for a resolution and recognize that furloughed workers need community support. Interboro’s Laura Dierks is among the craft breweries offering free pints to government workers who are working without pay or those who have been furloughed. Nebraska’s Zipline Brewing is offering Furloughed workers free growler fills. Washington, D.C. brewers recognize that their community has been particularly affected, so they’ve stepped up to support federal workers. The sooner the shutdown ends, the sooner all brewers can get back to work.

The post Government Shutdown Frustrates Craft Breweries appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

The success of small and independent brewers suggests that there are many takes on this question. No brewer has the same approach to brewing as another, nor do they necessarily approach each of their own beers in the same way. The result of the exponential approaches to making beer means you have a wide range of beers to choose from. This choice and variety of craft beers is a boon for the beer lover, but also presents apprehension for one brewer who believes the subtle nuances of each beer offering gets lost in a tradition that most beer fans expect at every craft brewery – the sample flight.

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“Five ounces is the smallest portion we will pour for a customer,” says Jeanne Kitayama, “as we know that it takes more than a sip to truly taste a beer.”

Jeanne has run Haines Brewing Company for the past 19 years along with co-owner Paul Wheeler. The brewery has a strict no sips policy and does not offer taster flights. They fear that the business of beer has negatively affected the enjoyment of craft beer: “Consumers want to compare beers and switch back and forth between brews within a flight, yet: 1) Flavors linger and mix on their palates; 2) Carbonation and character change at different rates; 3) Flavors change with temperature.”

(More: Couple Behind Silva Brewing Talks About Sharing a Business)

The brewery wants consumers to fight their FOMO (fear of missing out), not by ordering all of the beers on a flight, but to make a choice and appreciate each of their beers on their own merits. “We have put out a rack card called ‘It Takes More Than a Sip’ with three steps explaining aroma, appearance, and savoring the flavor.”

The brewery’s dedication to showcasing each beer’s quality is not limited to the flight paddle — they want to ensure the beer that goes out the door meets their expectation too. “We charge a deposit on our growlers, so customers have the option to return their growlers for their money back,” said Kitayama, “If they would like a refill, we switch their return bottle out with a growler we have cleaned (soaked with PBW cleaner overnight), rinsed, inspected through a halogen light, sanitized, and inspected again.”

“In this way we know that customers receive our beer in its best condition.”

For visitors, the stringency can be a shock.

“Customers complain about our policies which are based on producing and sharing quality brews,” explains Kitayama. “Our local customers know our policies, and know they are getting quality craft beer in their glasses and growlers. Additionally, deposits on growlers promote reusable glass and lighten carbon footprints.”

(Beer Biz: A Bond Built on Creativity at Marble Brewery)

Kitayama and Wheeler are not the only ones to speak out against flights. They cite Andy Crouch’s 2017 piece “Remembering How to Enjoy Beer” in which Crouch also laments that beer flights simply don’t give beer drinkers the full picture of how craft beer is meant to be enjoyed: “Unfortunately, samplers provide consumers with an inherently incomplete drinking experience. With their limited pour size and almost uniform inability to allow for proper head formation, carbonation, or aromatic development, they’re unable to offer even a reliable snapshot of a beer’s spirit.”

No great beer experience is the same, nor can such experiences be duplicated. Haines Brewing is taking a stand to do what they can to control their end of the bargain: offering beer of high-quality in the way they intended. For many beer enthusiasts, their policies may seem tough, but Haines Brewing insists that they are not negotiable and that the brewery will remain a no flight zone.

(Find: A US Brewery Near You)

Beer lovers have become consumed by the anxiety of missing out on the experience others are having. With so many choices, we have lost the ability to, well, choose, opting for a shotgun approach of all the options. Picking them all has become a normal decision in regard to flights, but by having them all, Haines believes the experience is diminished all together.

For me, I’m not against flights, but I won’t complain if a brewery like Haines challenges me to think critically about and make a choice on the beer that I order. It might be the best beer choice I ever make.

The post No Flights Zone: How One Brewery Is Taking a Stand Against Trying Them All appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Owners Jeanne Kitayama and Paul Wheeler shared some seasonal shots of the reindeer happily chowing down on the spent grain, which is left over from a recent brewday.

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What is spent grain? During the beer brewing process, malted grains are run through a mill and mixed with hot water to convert the exposed starches into fermentable sugars. The sugary liquid known as wort is then separated and transferred on to the boil kettle. The leftover grain solids, as well as proteins and small amounts of sugar, become the by-product of the brewing process.

Haines Brewing has developed relationships with locals eager to pick up the spent grain on brew day. “We have a very high demand for spent grain for local gardeners as it heats the composting process so quickly,” says Kitayama. “Today we’re brewing IPA, which we figure will be about six garbage cans worth. Three cans will go to gardeners.”

“Years ago there was a farm up the highway that would pick up our spent grain and dry it to feed their cows,” Kitayama tells us. “This is the first time Steve has used our grain for the reindeer.”

(READ: How to Host a Winter Beer and Cheese Pairing)

Steve is Steve Kroschel of the Wildlife Film Center who supplements the spent grain with other reindeer feed.

“I believe he said that the herd is larger this year,” says Kitayama, “and that he believes that it helps with their digestion.”

Craft brewers have long offered up their spent grain to farmers. Besides feed for animals and compost for gardeners, spent grain has been repurposed for a variety of products including soaps, baked good and even dog treats. The benefit doesn’t stop there. It also reduces the amount of waste that goes to the landfill.

“It’s great to offer the grain free of charge for our community!“

Kitayama and Wheeler are pleased that their grain has developed loyal fans, whether of the green thumb or hoofed ilk.

The post Reindeer Grains: Brewery Finds Use For Spent Grain appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Butte County includes the city of Chico, home to Sierra Nevada Brewing. While the brewery itself has not been damaged, the same cannot be said for the craft brewers’ family and staff, many of whom have lost homes to the Camp Fire.

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On Sunday night, Sierra Nevada posted on social media that they had chosen to close their pub in Chico in part to allow their employees to focus on their own well-being. “Many of our employees, friends and family-members have been severely affected by the Camp Fire. We have started the process of identifying and establishing long-term community support and look forward to rebuilding our beloved home. We are in this with you and will get through it together,” the brewery said on social media.

Elsewhere in Chico, Secret Trail Brewing has remained open as a beacon to support their community, closing briefly due to smoke on Friday. The brewery continues to offer words of support and compassion to their fellow residents despite the uncertainty that they likely have.

The Sierra Nevada pub reopened Monday night to offer free meals to first responders and displaced members of the community. They also offered the clothing in their tour lobby to those in need.

Through the terror and uncertainty, the Grossman family, founders of Sierra Nevada, addressed the outpouring of support, writing, “Even though we are all living moment to moment trying to figure out who is safe and if our homes have been spared, the beauty of the human spirit still shines through.”

The Family-owned brewery, famous for their iconic Sierra Nevada Pale Ale, has created a fund that they have seeded with $100,000 to help the victims of the fire and the eventual rebuilding of lives. To donate to the fund, you can go to the Sierra Nevada Camp Fire Relief, and select “Sierra Nevada Brewery.” Money donated will be redistributed to partner organizations that are dedicated to rebuilding and supporting the communities that have been affected, once the fire has been put out.

(More: Find a US Brewery Near You)

“We appreciate the tremendous amount of support and compassion shown from folks around the world,” write the Grossmans. “With the brave men and women risking their lives fighting this fire and the outpouring of support from communities near and far, we know we are on a path to healing and rebuilding.”

Our hearts go out to all of those affected by wildfires in California. So many people can use your support, please help however you can.

The post California Camp Fire Impacts Brewing Community appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

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The participating breweries crushed, rubbed and sniffed varieties of hops that made up this year’s version.

A few months later, during hop harvest, the same group of brewers met at Bale Breaker Brewing in Yakima, Washington, to brew a test batch of beer with that special hop blend.

This Veterans Day, look for brewers all over the country to be featuring beers that showcase the blend. Proceeds of the beers will go toward Veteran-centric charities.

The annual hop blend creation was led by hop supplier, Yakima Chief Hops (YCH), and proceeds from the sale of the blend will go to support the Semper Fi Fund. The Semper Fi Fund provides financial assistance and support to post-9/11 wounded, critically ill and catastrophically injured service members and their families. For every pound of hop blend sold, YCH will donate $3 to the fund.

(READ: Using Craft Beer as a Vehicle for Good)

“We had the honor of participating in the selection at CBC and the test batch brew day at Bale Breaker in August,” says Kevin Ryan, CEO of Service Brewing Co. in Savannah, Georgia, and former Commander in the US Army.

The brewers agreed upon a combination of five Pacific Northwest-grown hop varieties, including Ekuanot®, Cashmere, Simcoe®, Mosaic®, and Centennial.  The result is a hop blend that lends a mix of tropical, citrus and herbal hop qualities to beers.

“The Centennial is a perfect addition based on the fact that this is the 100-year anniversary of the end of WWI and the first Armistice Day, which eventually became Veterans Day,” says Ryan, who named the beer Service brewed Armistice IPA. Armistice IPA uses 5 pounds of the Veterans Hop Blend per barrel produced.

Service Brewing will combine their release of Armistice IPA with Veterans Day efforts. The brewery teamed up with other brewers to brew with the blend, as well.

“We collaborated with Orpheus, Two Tides, and Revelry to brew beers for the Moto show along with the Veterans Blend,” Ryan tells us. “We brewed an American Pilsner with white tropical tea with Two Tides, a brut IPA with Revelry, and a dark lager with Orpheus.”

(VISIT: Find a U.S. Brewery)

Service Brewing is currently supporting “Warrior Ride” out of Oak Island, North Carolina, and $0.25 of every pint sold will benefit Warrior Ride.  They are 100 percent volunteer-driven and build bikes to support disabled veterans being active and challenged to complete their bike rides. They will also be hosting the Victory Moto Show Saturday, Nov. 10. Two dozen vintage and custom motorcycles will be on display in the brewery, along with a photography exhibit and silent auction. All funds raised will go to Warrior Ride.

Veteran-Owned Breweries Behind the Hop Blend

• Service Brewing | Savannah, GA
• Red Leg Brewing Company | Colorado Springs, CO
• Pikes Peak Brewing | Monument, CO
• Varietal Beer Co. | Sunnyside, WA
• Beer Army Foundation | New Bern, NC
• Big Beach Brewing Company | Gulf Shores, AL
• Brew day hosted by Bale Breaker Brewing Co. | Yakima, WA

Veterans Day honors service members of all branches. As beer lovers, we can provide support too. Keep an eye out for other brewers releasing beers with the blend. As fans of craft beer, the least we can do to support our veterans is have a beer.

The post Veteran-Owned Breweries Create Hop Blend appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Eagle Rock Brewing was founded in 2009 by Jeremy Raub, wife Ting Su, and father Steven Raub. The family-owned microbrewery was one of the first breweries to operate in Los Angeles in 60 years. Their focus: brewing “high-quality beers, that are well-balanced and approachable.”

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Eagle Rock quickly garnered attention by winning gold in the 2010 Great American Beer Festival in the pro-am category. In addition to accolades and Eagle Rock’s community citizenship came the Women’s Beer Forum, a project Ting Su started to provide women with an opportunity to learn about craft beer in an open and safe place.

Sounds like a worthy project, right? We thought so, but Ting Su’s Forum was recently the target of a discrimination lawsuit.

(More: What is Craft Beer?)

An explanation from Ting Su on The Women’s Forum Go Fund Me:

“In November of 2017, we received an email from an individual who claims to be a men’s rights activist. He reported that he emailed our general email line and was informed by one of our staff that the upcoming Women’s Beer Forum was for ‘women only.’ He then proceeded to demand thousands of dollars from us, while also threatening a discrimination complaint through the government if we refused to pay. Since he had never purchased admission through our online sales portal, we were unaware about his request to attend the Women’s Beer Forum. We apologized about the miscommunication and offered him an opportunity to learn about the same flight of beers provided at the event for the same ticket price. He declined the educational opportunity and instead filed a claim through the Department of Fair Employment and Housing (DFEH). After 7 months of waiting for a response, DFEH notified us of their decision that there was reasonable cause to open a case. Our only options: Pay a settlement to him or defend ourselves in a potential lawsuit that they would file on his behalf.”

(MORE: Pride, Not Prejudice: Brewing Safe Spaces for the LGBTQ+ Community)

Eagle Rock was forced to defend the project or settle. They knew that to defend this investigation would be financially costly and would mean risking the brewery.

Ting Su and Eagle Rock chose to settle.

“It kills me,” writes Ting Su. “It’s something we had to do in order to protect the business (Eagle Rock Brewery), our home, the livelihoods of our team, and the investments made by friends and family who believe in us. At this point, we still have to come up with the funds for our legal fees and the settlement amount.”

Ting Su has set up a Go Fund Me campaign to ask supporters to help the brewery recoup the settlement money and to fight for justice.

“To prevent this from happening again in the future, we are also raising funds to build awareness throughout the beer and small business communities. Our goal is to work on getting legislators to amend the Unruh Act and eliminate the ongoing abuse of this law.”

(VISIT: Find a US Brewery Near You)

The fundraiser has received over $15,000 in pledges to support Eagle Rock and the defense of small business and women’s groups.

The issue of diversity comes up a lot in the craft beer world today. Amazingly, the simple idea that the craft beer world could be anything but exponentially enriched by finding ways to invite, introduce and welcome as much variety of demographic, experiential and cognitive diversity as possible is beyond me. And as I’ve expressed and time again, craft beer is and should be about having fun, enjoying great beer and including anyone who supports that. Ting Su’s story is a cautionary tale, but hopefully a success story, too.

The post Discrimination Lawsuit Targets California Brewery’s Women’s Beer Forum appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

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Five of Maine’s independent craft brewers have partnered with the 106-year-old L.L. Bean to pair small batch beers with small batch boots in what has to be the most epically-Maine collaboration ever. The five Bean Boots and Brews breweries – Fogtown Brewing, Mast Landing Brewing, Orono Brewing, Rising Tide Brewing and Threshers Brewing – brewed beers inspired by L.L. Beans Small Batch fall boot collection. The combination not only highlights the companies’ mutual small batch offerings, but the state of Maine and their commitment to quality and independence.

(MORE: Epic Fall Road Trip: New England Breweries Off the Beaten Path)

“As our brewers look to maintain independence in an increasingly competitive industry, L.L.Bean is a great example of how you can balance being independent and family-owned, while growing to become a global brand,” said Sean Sullivan of the Maine Brewers Guild. “When we started to think through the idea for this campaign, it was important to us that we honor the collaborative spirit of the Maine craft beer community along with the individual brewers,” said Sean Sullivan. “Each of our brewers bring something different to the table and draw from inspiration unique to their location.”

Small Batch Maine Beers

Fogtown Brewing Co. | Wonderland Acadian Pale Ale

Herbal Ale Infused with Sweet Fern & Bog Myrtle (5.5% ABV)

Like Maine itself, this pale ale is unique and wildly refreshing. Brewed with 100 percent Maine-grown ingredients including locally foraged sweet fern, bog myrtle and sea water from the coast of Mount Desert Island.

Rising Tide Brewing | Drift American Ale

Tart Ale with Local Sumac (4.2% ABV)

This is the beer you want waiting for you after a great day outdoors. Crisp, refreshing and crafted with the vibrant red sumac berries you’ll find along Maine’s forest paths.

Orono Brewing Co. | The Way Life Should Be IPA

Triple dry-hopped IPA with 100% Maine Grown Grain (6% ABV) Brewed with multiple rounds of hops for maximum flavor, each sip of this IPA reminds us there is no place in the world like Maine.

Threshers Brewing Co. | Knife’s Edge IPA

Malty IPA with a woodsy profile and hints of caramel (8% ABV)

The earthiness of this incredible IPA is reminiscent of fall mornings when you wake to the crisp, invigorating air with nothing to do but take it all in.

Mast Landing Brewing Company | 100 Mile Wilderness Stout

Trail Mix Stout with flavors of peanuts, chocolate and cranberries (5.4% ABV)

Savory and sweet without being too heavy. It’s like a handful of your favorite trail mix, in a beer.

You can sample the brewers’ creations at each brewery – and find some of them in limited local distribution – starting October 19. L.L. Bean’s Small batch boots are available now online.

At publish time, it was uncertain which beer paired best with which boot, but like all boot and beer combos the discussion of quality aspects of lacing fit perfectly.

The post Maine Craft Brewers Team Up with L.L. Bean for the Most ‘Maine’ Collaboration Possible appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

(MORE: Seek The Independent Seal on Instagram)

The campaign, called “That’s Independence You’re Tasting,” builds upon the independent craft brewer seal, a mark the BA unveiled nearly a year ago to identify beers brewed by independent craft brewers. The beer marketplace has become increasingly confusing as former craft beer brands have been acquired by Big Beer operate without providing ownership information on their packaging. “That’s Independence You’re Tasting” videos and social media posts paint a picture of the country’s craft brewers and highlight the entrepreneurial, innovative, collaborative, risk-taking nature that they have long been known for.

“Each of the over 6,600 U.S. craft breweries is a unique contributor to its community and should be celebrated,” says Bob Pease, president & CEO, Brewers Association. “As a national campaign, ‘That’s Independence You’re Tasting’ generates awareness beyond any one individual brewery or beer and touches the spirit of independence that is a core American value.”

To date, the Brewers Association’s independent craft brewers’ seal has been adopted by 3,700 U.S. brewers and counting.

(MAP: Find a Brewery Near Me)

While independence might not be a sensory taste in the way you perceive the bitterness and sweetness of a craft beer, there is an appetite for the taste of independence. According to recent data, over 90 percent of survey respondents showed interest in a certified mark and what it stood for. The BA hopes beer lovers will fine tune their taste for independent ownership and consider the importance of independence in their purchasing decisions at their favorite bars, restaurants or beer retailers.

For more information on the “That’s Independence You’re Tasting,” follow the campaigns on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.

The post BA Unveils ‘That’s Independence You’re Tasting’ Beer Campaign appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

In addition to sustaining volume growth pace, the Brewers Association also reports that 6,655 breweries are now operating in the country with as many as 3,000 breweries in some degree of planning. Bart Watson, chief economist, for the BA tempers this news with caution for existing breweries and those looking to come online soon.

(MORE: 50 Fastest Growing U.S. Craft Brewers)

“The data demonstrate that 2018 is on pace to have the highest number of brewery openings and closings to date. However, even as breweries close, openings continue to far outpace the number that shutter,” says Watson. “New players looking to enter the space should be aware of the constructs of the current landscape, work to differentiate themselves and will need to make quality beer to succeed.”

Read the Brewers Association’s full release, here.

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A mature, highly-competitive market is not the only challenges to small brewers. Independent craft brewers face a variety of threats as small business owners. Independent craft brewers struggle with access to ingredients and equipment, due to their scale, and despite demand by beer lovers, many have difficulties reaching customers for any number of reasons out of their control. One tool that has helped independent brewers differentiate themselves is the BA’s Independent Craft Brewer Seal.  Symbolicly representing how small, craft brewers have turned the beer world on its head, the Independent Craft Brewer Seal is an upside-down beer bottle which is meant to help consumers identify authentic and independent craft brewers. Look for the seal where ever beer is sold.

The post Brewers Association Numbers Reveal Snapshot for Craft Beer in 2018 appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

“We choose to work with brewers who support the values and ideals we hold dear — namely independence, local ownership, producing a craft or artisan product, staying small, and having above-board, upstanding business practices. Heineken is an international conglomerate, and they’re the second largest brewer in the world. The commoditization of beer is their business. We don’t think it’s unfair to assume that they view small, independent breweries as pests, which if they can’t eliminate, they can either subsume through purchase or at least suppress to manageable levels. They’re a major contributor toward the “illusion of choice” that plagues beer today.”

Read Stuffing’s entire post on the Jester King blog, here.

Stuffings was hesitant to address the Beavertown/Heineken deal citing Jester King’s previous position statement after the purchase of North Carolina brewery, Wicked Weed by Anheuser-Busch InBev. However, Jester King’s recent collaborations with Beavertown and inquiries from others spurred Stuffings — rightly so — to speak up. The attack on independent brewers is not just an issue domestically, it is a global battle, one that craft brewers will lose if brewers and beer lover alike don’t speak out.

(MORE: Jester King Welcomes Averie Swanson, Erik Kukla, Josh Cockrell & Matt Piper to Ownership)

We choose to work with brewers who support the values and ideals we hold dear — namely independence.

We all have a part in calling out the high jacking of Craft by Big Beer. As has been customary in these deals, rationalizations on both the brewer and beer lover-side erode awareness of the impact of consolidation. Should instances of another talented craft brewer being swallowed up by a giant and the prevarication that “nothing will change” be accepted without consideration to its impact? Have not some beer lovers’ values already been undermined to a point that they justify waving the white flag of “all that matters is taste.”

(MORE: Seek the Independent Craft Brewer Seal)

Thankfully, Jester King’s position has not wavered and Stuffings has the courage to speak up. It was easy to get up in arms when Elysian was bought, or Breckenridge, or Wicked Weed. Now beer fans must fight the urge to be  complacent. The impact of these deals has a direct effect on the variety and choices of beers we enjoy in the future. As beer lovers, we need to think about beer, not as a CPG (Consumer Packaged Good), but as a beverage that is representative of the values for which we want to live.

The post Jester King Founder Speaks Out on Beavertown/ Heineken Deal appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

(Discover: CraftBeer.com’s Brewery Finder)

“As brewers, the members of American Homebrewers Association can discern the subtle differences between a good beer and an outstanding beer.,” said Gary Glass, director, American Homebrewers Association.

(More: ‘Juicy or Hazy’ Ales Debut in BA Beer Style Guide)

The consecutive year selection of Two Hearted Ale, an American IPA, comes after Santa Rosa, California’s Russian River claimed the top spot for an unprecedented eight-year span with their Double IPA, Pliny the Elder. CraftBeer.com readers will remember that class acts Russian River Brewing congratulated their friends at Bell’s with a case of Pliny. The 2018 survey, once again placed Pliny close behind in second place.

(Learn: Beer & Food Course)

Bell’s had an additional beer place in the Top 5, the Michigan brewery’s double IPA, Hopslam came in at number 4 overall. The rest of the top 5 is rounded out by Stowe, Vermont brewery The Alchemist’s Heady Topper, and Chico, California’s Sierra Nevada’s classic American pale ale had a three-way tie with two beers from Founder’s Brewing from Grand Rapids, Michigan.

The American Homebrewers Association promotes and works to empowerin an estimated 1.2 million homebrewers in the United States to make the best beer they can. You can see all of the results of the Best Beers America survey on their website, homebrewersassociation.org.

The post Two Hearted Ale Repeats as Best Beer in America appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

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May I present “Exhibit A”: House Resolution 884. The congressional resolution marks the start of American Craft Beer Week and expresses appreciation for America’s independent craft brewers.

The resolution was submitted Monday by Representatives Peter Defazio (D-OR), Patrick Henry (R-NC), Richard Neal (D-MA) and Mike Kelly (R-PA), all members of the bi-partisan Small Brewer’s Caucus.

(READ: Here is a List of the Top 50 U.S. Craft Breweries in 2017)

“Our nation’s booming craft brewing industry is not only a vibrant affirmation of the entrepreneurial traditions of the United States, they are a testament to the strength and importance of small businesses,” the members say in a statement. “With small and independent brewers in all 50 states, craft brewers make up a diverse and influential economic engine that provides jobs and supports agriculture and manufacturing across the United States.”

So, what are you waiting for? Beeline it to your favorite independent craft brewer as if it were an act of Congress, which it is. Sort of.  Need some help? Jump on the CraftBeer.com Brewery Finder to find a brewer near you. Check out the events section of the American Craft Beer Week Facebook page too.

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While culture is always evolving, it is important that we recognize and honor the efforts of true craft brewers during American Craft Beer Week. Can you imagine if the choice and variety of beers we enjoy today was gone?

Today, independent American craft brewers have succeeded in saving beer from homogenization, reclaimed beer’s place at the dinner table and introduced more than one generation to an age-old beverage that goes beyond simple refreshment — beyond taste even — a beverage that offers flavors and experiences as diverse as those who choose to enjoy it. A beverage that has helped to build, grow and sustain communities.

(READ: 50 Fastest Growing Craft Breweries)

We salute the risk takers, the trailblazers and pioneers that pursued their dreams and worked tirelessly to spark this revolution.

Therefore, we celebrate American Craft Beer Week every May. We salute the risk takers, the trailblazers and pioneers that pursued their dreams and worked tirelessly to spark this revolution. We remember that many craft brewers were far ahead of their time and early missteps were lessons that those that followed were able to learn from. We recognize that not long-ago, access to the variety of craft beers we now enjoy was unfathomable. And we celebrate the beer culture we enjoy today. For all these reasons, we invite you to pledge to support independent craft brewers during American Craft Beer Week, May 14 to 20.

The success of American craft brewers has led to more than 6,000 breweries, local, regional and national craft options and the feeling that “Isn’t every week craft beer week?” It should be! In a world where few things seem genuine, independent craft brewers remain a bright and shiny beacon of authenticity.

Get a Button When You Pledge to Seek the Seal

Pledge to celebrate authentic, independent craft brewers this American Craft Beer Week. Despite all their successes, independent craft brewers remain outmatched by those who look to highjack that authenticity. How do you tell if the brewery you’re at is independent? Look for the independent craft brewer seal on their packaging, menus, t-shirts, or window pane. Take the pledge to recognize and visit true craft brewers by seeking the independent craft brewers seal. When you take the pledge, we’ll send you a snazzy button (while supplies last) to help you show off your independent craft brewer pride during American Craft Beer Week. You don’t have to wait ’til May 14 to take the pledge — sign it now.

(READ: Craftwashing is Happening in American Beer)

Since you’ll be on the hunt for authentic independent craft brewers during American Craft Beer Week, why not share your adventures on social media? Use #SeektheSeal and #ACBW to show your support for craft beer. It’s easy to see how craft beer and craft brewers have had an indelible mark on American culture. Pledge to seek the seal during American Craft Beer Week, May 14 to 20.

The post Pledge to Seek the Seal During American Craft Beer Week 2018 appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

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Every April, Bull City Burger celebrates Exotic Meat Month. The brewpub offers customers the opportunity to sample some not-so-traditional meats, from crickets and rabbits to camel and alligator and everything in between. The menu item that has received the most attention this year – yes, the tarantula burger — is so adventurous that you can’t even order it off the menu.

(READ: 7 Breweries Worth a Detour)

In order to get the chance to sink your teeth into Bull City’s tarantula burger, you have to enter the Tarantula Challenge and hope to win a raffle for the pleasure. That’s right, if you want the chance to eat a giant spider on a hamburger, you’re going to have to get really lucky.

Contestants in the challenge must inquire at the brewpub and provide their name and phone number to be contacted if they win. To date over 150 people have entered the Tarantula Challenge. If your raffle number is posted on the brewery’s social media channels, you have two days to claim the chance to dine on the North Carolina pasture-raised beef burger adorned with an oven roasted tarantula, spicy chili sauce and a side of fries for $30. 

If tarantulas aren’t your thing, the celebration of Exotic Meat Month has featured a menagerie of other non-traditional proteins, including turtle gumbo, cricket pickle chips, reindeer meatballs and python curry.

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“Exotic Meat Month (EMM) is a chance to experience tastes that other cultures enjoy every day. It is a chance to learn about new flavors and increase your cultural awareness,” explains Bull City Burger and Brewery’s website. “It’s also fun! EMM is a chance to step outside the box and experience ingredients that are daring, fresh and exciting.”

So what kind of craft beer does one pair with a tarantula burger?

“The spider’s exoskeleton is very shrimp shell-esque and our Pratt Pilsner is perfect with the shellfish flavor,” reports Bull City’s Seth Gross, who was quick to point out that while these ingredients might be “exotic” to us, they are commonplace throughout the world.

“I am fond of teaching people about the diversity of food and alternative foods enjoyed by other cultures. So whether it is a tarantula burger, a bug burger, or a camel burger, I am happy that people enjoy our food.”

If you’re interested in participating in the Tarantula Challenge, sign-up runs through April 29. If you miss out this year, you have to time consider which of Bull City’s beers would pair best with a tarantula burger next year.

The post This Brewery Will Serve You a Tarantula Burger (But Only If You’re Lucky) appeared first on CraftBeer.com.

Local Knowledge is Great Divide’s hyper-limited, hyper-local pilot series. These single-batch, pilot brews are exclusively available on draft and in 6-packs at the Great Divide Tap Room and Barrel Bar, and are designed to give you something new to take home each time you visit. Drink, discover, and share your #localknowledge.

About Great Divide Brewing

Great Divide is a production brewery and Tap Room located in downtown Denver, Colorado. While we do not serve food, we have food trucks at the brewery nearly 7 days a week. Join us, along with our 16 taps of seasonal and year-round beers, for a pour!

The new Great Dive Barrel Bar in the RiNo neighborhood features our full line-up of beers, including many seasonal, Barrel Aged, and limited release offerings.

The post Great Divide Brewing Releases April Local Knowledge Beer appeared first on CraftBeer.com.