Recent events have been a bit of a downer for us craft beer geeks. There’s been legal wrangling, banned beers, big boy buyouts and allegations of macrobeer media bullying. That’s enough conflict and negativity for a year, much less a couple of weeks. In an effort to cleanse our mental palates, I thought I’d do […]
From the Cellar
Big Beer Shuts Down the Beer and Whiskey Brothers!
WE’VE BEEN SERVED! It happened to us! I guess all the saber rattling over the last few days has spooked big beer, and we got a Cease and Desist letter from the attorneys at Dewey, Chetham, & Howe, Big Beer’s go to attorneys for squashing little guys like us. I can’t share all the particulars […]
March: Going Out Like A Lion In The Beer World
This is going to be a long post for me, so fair warning. It will be a little bit of a rant, and I am going to throw in some family history to boot, but this is important for me to say and I feel like the events that have unfolded this week in the […]
Was Brewmasters Killed by “Big Beer”?
If you recall, we were the ones who said definitively that the Discovery show Brewmasters was dead. There were a lot of folks who said we were wrong, but we had it on good authority that the show was done. Now we have it on even better authority.
Beer Is Food
I don’t usually drink beer with my meal. I tend to have water with my dinner. Clear, refreshing, and no off flavors to mix in with whatever I am eating. But I was reminded last night that beer is food, not just a liquid refreshment, and as such should be integrated into mealtime just like […]
The Beers of Eataly
I’m at Eataly in NYC, and can’t bring myself to care about Italian beer. How come “Italy” and “beer” don’t go together in my head?
Costco Making Bourbon? Well, Sort of…
Well, it looks the part. Nice golden hues and has all the right statements on the label. Aged 7 years, Small Batch, 103 proof, Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey, so you would think this is pretty good stuff just from the look. But as we all know it is getting increasingly difficult to judge a book […]
Goose Stepping Into the Future
There’s an old business adage: if you can’t beat ’em, buy ’em, and that’s what Anheuser-Busch is doing, buying out Goose Island Brewery for somewhere between $22.5 million (according to MarketWatch) and $38.8 million (according to the Chicago Tribune). When I first saw this I thought it was an elaborate April Fool’s Day joke, but […]
Video: World’s Greatest Beer Fetching Dog!
You can keep your beer firing robots and your shoot-a-brew – there’s a reason the dog is considered man’s best friend! Happy Friday everybody – now go get a beer!! . .
Bell’s vs. Northern Brewer: Here Come the Lawyers
We keep talking about how our beloved craft beer is growing up, and here’s another good example of the industry’s rapid evolution. Bell’s Brewery (one of my favorite brewers) has sent a cease and desist letter to Northern Brewer (my favorite home brew supplier). Bell’s is trying to protect their trademark for Two Hearted Ale […]
50 Top Breweries by Volume
Some Observations: California is a Mecca for Craft Beer. Idaho is not. But apparently neither is New Jersey, But Jim gets a lot more choice than me. New Mexico and Arizona, WTF? Denver Rocks! Abita Rules the Gulf Coast. Thank God for Alaska and Hawaii. New Glarus doesn’t ship far, but they make a lot. […]
Record Growth in Craft Beer in 2010: Is This Good, Or Is The Bubble About to Burst?
Growth, growth, growth, growth, growthity growth! So much growth already. Craft beer is looking like the Dot Coms of the late 90’s early 2000’s. Oooh…That can’t be good. Or is it? Truth is we just don’t know. The craft beer industry continued its blistering pace of growth in 2010, during a down economy blah, blah, […]
The Brothers
Beer & Whiskey Brothers 