The State of the Beer

Crooked Letter Brewing Co. in Ocean Springs, Miss., recently struck an exclusivity deal with the local casino-resort. The craft brew revolution has relied, to some extent, on the brewpub for sustainability. This makes sense, beer and food go together naturally. When done correctly, well, and efficiently, the profit margins are significant, but never sufficient unto themselves. Brewing often is a grow or die business, and to stay afloat, breweries have to secure tap handles at other facilities as well. Since tastes can be fickle--distributors can change their emphasis, a new bartender might push one beer over another-- selling beer to other restaurateurs almost is a full time job in itself. Breweries have "tap takeovers" where they get to showcase their beer (often in exchange for profits in the form of discounts).

There are few, if any, industries outside of brewing where a large company will protect a potential competitor's trademark, return it to them for free and encourage them to take advantage of the resurgent market and get back to work. That's what happened with Samuel Adams and New Albion Brewery a few years ago (New Albion is back in production after being closed 30 years). Founded as a craft brewery in 1976, New Albion helped kick-start the craft brew revolution, but couldn't grow and closed just five years later. Sam Adams' owner, Jim Koch, dug the beer so much he bought the brand and the recipe and did his own spinoff with former New Albion owner Jack McAuliffe. When the beer was a success at the 2012 American Beer Festival, Koch did what any business person would do, he returned the brand to the founder and said, "Get back in the game." Seriously. If a movie ended like that it would be trite. If you're not familiar with the New Albion Ale story, thi...

I do a weekly podcast about homebrewing. It's my hobby. I'm not on anyone's payroll, but, because people are looking for gifts this season, we did a show about getting people started in homebrewing that I thought was worth promoting. So I apologize in advance if I sound a little pitchy. I blog a bit about the brewing industry, but think about the brewing culture way more often. Brewing is one of those endeavors where, once you get hooked, you just wanna brew beer and help people who aren't brewing cultivate the interest. I love talking to homebrewers about what they do and (believe me) they love talking about it. This week's guest didn't show, so instead, Doug at Xtreme Brewing  and I talked about what it took to get someone into beer. Sometimes, taking a class helps. Doug gives free brewing classes occasionally and lots of people go to a couple before making the plunge. But, more often than not, a person will come in, pick up a starter kit, and get to brewin...

For those of us who run in craft beer circles,  it's easy to forget that, proportionately, almost no one drinks craft beer. As with any culture, immersion can give you a false sense of superiority in numbers as well as in beliefs. But of course, the former isn't true. The good news is, a staggering number of people, because of all the craft beer noise, are about to start drinking craft beer more regularly. According to  this story  from the San Diego Union-Tribune, craft beer sales may double next year.  On the Delmarva Peninsula, home to  +Dogfish Head Craft Brewery , we have added six or so breweries in the last five years. While we may add more, as a regular patron of many of the local breweries, the trend seems to be plateauing. The novelty has begun to wear off and, in some instances, novelty was all there was to begin with. It is this notion about novelty that made a quote by Dogfish Head Founder Sam Calagione in the linked story stand out.  To su...