Six-Pack of News, Volume 13

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Welcome to the latest Six-Pack of News, the 3rd news article in 8 days here at PRB. I've rounded up some news and a bit of handy beer knowledge that's worth checking out. Let's start with the big boys of beer, shall we?

Fresh off their assimilation of SABMiller, official World's Largest Beer Company A-B InBev's venture capital arm, ZX Ventures, acquired Northern Brewer Homebrew Supply and its sister company, Midwest Supplies. Northern, the country's largest homebrewing supplier, explained that "[n]othing will fundamentally change in as the result of this deal--in fact, things will only get better." As always, time will tell on such "partnerings".

A couple of higher-ups are leaving Dogfish Head and Surly Brewing.

Vinepair likes their lists, and their latest is a rundown of their favorite Anniversary craft beers. This list includes some widely-distributed brewers (Stone, Great Divide), some of the industry's heaviest hitters (Firestone Walker), and a few smaller releases that might not necessarily make it to your particular area.

Vinepair also tries to be hip while explaining the drastic downturn in pumpkin beer sales in the last two years. As a note, I disagree with one the finale premises of the article, stating that early August is a "seasonally appropriate time" to release pumpkin beers. Week before Labor Day, people! No sooner!

New Delhi, India-based microbrewer Bira 91 used viral marketing to attain a level of success, and now a major venture capital firm has noticed.

Finally, not so much of a piece of news, but some good advice for fans of food pairings. We always see analyses of wines to pair with certain foods. And some breweries have started doing this on their bottles and/or websites recently. But craftbeer.com has made it easy for everyone by making this Beer and Food Pairing Chart. The chart is also available for download.

 

Video Review: Brooklyn Defender IPA

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I'll be honest. The blog is named "Pourly Reviewed Beer", with emphasis on the first two words, for a reason. I don't pretend to be an expert at this stuff, and sometimes, even when the palate isn't cooperating, you feel the need to push out some content. Especially when you haven't done a video review in 5 days. This is The Brooklyn Brewery's Defender IPA. I don't tell you much about, but it truly is a delicious beer. If you should find it, give it a try. I'll try to get back on track for Thursday's review.

Beers in Review: Still working the backlog

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I have some more beers here from the Craft and Draft Octoberfest, so let's get right into it.

First up is an Orange-Infused Golden/Blonde Ale from Cooper River Brewing Company. The name of the beer brings you just about everything you need to know about this beer. It pours a nice gold-orange color, and brings orange and orange rind flavor notes, along with maybe just a hint of funkiness. It's not too sweet, which is good, and has a fairly clean finish, though a bit of a grainy or corny note in the ending.

Next is B.W. BeerWorks, which is operating under the name RavenBeer, and their Annabel Lee white ale. This was a fairly basic, but well executed, wheat beer: hazy, straw yellow with a refreshing lemony tartness, along with some other citrus notes, a very mild sweetness, and some spice notes, such as clove and coriander. The Annabel Lee also brought a clean finish. Again, nothing ground-breaking in this beer, but a fine illustration of style.

Next up was a bit of right turn at the festival, as I dove into Flemish sour style with Oude Bae from Stillwater Artisanal Ales (sorry about that website--it's a bit of a thing). A nice brownish, reddish copper color with lots of sour fruit and a bit of a red wine note. This really isn't surprising, as Oude Bae is billed as a sour ale brewed with Pinot Noir grapes. It's fairly two-note (sour, assorted fruits), but it is a tasty sour ale.

I closed out the straight fruity section of my tasting experiences with a Wild Ale from Crooked Stave Artisan Beer Project called Petit Sour Cassis. It poured the color of grapefruit fruit/flesh and initially had a very slight sour note. The flavor profile was led by mild citrus, almost to the effect of something like unsweetened lemon-lime soda or similarly-flavored seltzer water. There was also perhaps a winey quality in this beer, as well, though I got white wine in this one.That slight sour note also grew as the beer warmed a bit. A really enjoyable drinking experience, and one that I've rarely had.

Layoffs are coming fast and furious from the beer production world.

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I could wait until the next Six-Pack of News to report this, but given the pattern, it feels like it needs its own article.

Draft Magazine and others are reporting that Stone Brewing Company is laying off at least 75 workers, including many long-time Stone employees. Stone cited an "unforeseen slowdown in...growth" among the reasons for the layoffs. The full Stone public comment is included in the Draft article. The layoff is quite surprising, given Stone's ongoing ambitious expansion plans.

Stone is not alone in recent layoffs. The Craft Brew Alliance, who makes Redhook, Widmer, and Kona, among others, recently laid off 12-20 workers in its Woodinville, WA production facility, again noting a decline in production of Redhook beers and lack of demand from a Pabst Brewing offshoot for which the Woodinville facility was making beer.

Finally, MillerCoors closed a plant in Eden, North Carolina last month, impacting over 500 people. This followed layoffs at that same plant that had previously taken place over the summer.

Six-Pack of News, Volume 12

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After a couple of weeks, the Six-Pack is back, and there's plenty to get into, including the recently-completed Great American Beer Festival.

GABF handed out 286 medals to 254 different breweries at this weekend's festival. As a South Carolinian, I'd like to congratulate Revelry Brewing Company and Swamp Rabbit Brewery and Taproom for earning Silver Medals in the Scotch Ale and Bock categories, respectively. You can see the entire list of winners, including Champion Breweries and Pro-Am winners, right here.

Vinepair likes their lists, and in the last few weeks have given their thoughts on the best Fall beers and their favorite beers for tailgating. Some surprises on the latter list--I never expected it to be so Pale Ale/IPA-heavy.

In a follow-up to the last Six-Pack, Cape May Brewing Company was named Start-up/Young Manufacturer of the Year by the New Jersey Manufacturing Extension Program. Congrats, guys!

In what seems to be good news for craft beer drinkers, but really isn't, researchers from Friedrich Schller University Jena in Germany determined that IPAs are less harmful to the liver than other forms of alcohol, per a study performed on rats. Now, the key words are "LESS HARMFUL", as in, "still harmful" to the liver.

In what seemed to be the day's big beer news, Japan's Kirin Brewery purchased a roughly 24.5% stake in Brooklyn Brewery. The transaction, which was valued at "several billion yen" (placing it in the $40-80 million range, roughly) also includes a new joint venture which will be 40% owned by Brooklyn, as well as product development for the Japan market, restaurant development, and an expansion of Brooklyn products into Brazil. It is worth noting that by limiting Kirin's stake to under 25%, Brooklyn can maintain its independent craft brewery designation with the Brewers Association.

Finally, I seem to frequently drop in a story of local/South Carolina interest, and this Six-Pack is no different. The City of Columbia's Board of Zoning Appeals approved a microbrewery that will takeover an abandoned warehouse in the Innovista district in the western part of Columbia. The Columbia Craft Brewing Company has investors and a professional brewer ready to begin operations, as soon as the warehouse is renovated and prepped for operations.

Video Review: Video Number 50! Sculpin-mania!

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This is my 50th video for PRB. I'll be honest--I wasn't sure I'd get past 5 videos. But a weekly video series quickly turned into 2 to 3 videos nearly every week, resulting in 50 videos in less than 8 months. My thanks to all of my readers and viewers for their support.

For this 50th video, I present a very special tasting, centered around Ballast Point Brewing Company's terrific Sculpin IPA. Here it is:

Beers in Review: Notables from Craft & Draft Octoberfest

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Greetings from PRB Northern Command!

 

.....

 

It's my parents' house.

And no, I did not run away from the hurricane (though I hope anyone reading this that was in its path is safe and secure), but traveled up here for personal reasons. But travelling won't stop me from writing about beer! I still have to write about quite a few beers from the Craft and Draft Octoberfest event, and this intro is already overly long, so let's get started!

First up is a seasonal lager from Hi-Wire Brewing. The charmingly-titled Zirkusfest pours a nice deep copper color, and opens up with a slightly sweet malt backbone. Also among the flavors is a semi-sweet caramel note, along with some other burnt sugars. This all leads to a crisp and fairly clean finish. I found this to be a pretty solid Marzen overall, though it was perhaps a bit overshadowed by some of the other offerings at this event.

Next is another fall seasonal, Thicket Autumn IPA by Natty Greene's Brewing Company. Also pouring a copper color, a standard of most fall beers, I was quite impressed by the hop/malt balance. The nice, spicy malts blend well with dank and piney hop notes. I found little-to-no sweetness in this beer, though it should be noted I had this immediately after the Zirkfusfest, which DID have a bit of sweetness to it. Such can be the hazards of reviewing at such an event. I found this to be a really nice beer, though. The balance of flavors was very pleasing to me. I probably need to try to track this down and try it solo, away from all other beers. Perhaps as a video review?

We now switch gears into more fruity selections, beginning with a fruited Berliner-Weiss from Southern Barrel Brewing Company. Wild Bramble pours a pretty fruity reddish-pink color with a considerable amount of haze. The flavors are pretty straight forward; the Berliner-Weiss is made with raspberries and blackberries, and so those tart berry flavors come through in a strong way. This beer is light, crisp, refreshing, and pretty tasty--everything you would want out of a Berliner-Weiss.

Today's final entry comes from Good Times Brewing. Not Your Grandma's Peach Cobbler is a Bourbon barrel-aged Brown Ale. The color follows suit to the style: a somewhat cloudy brown color. While there were some malt hints detectable in this beer, a few other flavors overtook those malts. Peach and peach skin are quite present, along with a little bit of a brown sugar note. There is also perhaps a hint of booze. Even so, a nice tasty beer that brings some differing elements from your standard Brown.

 

Beers in Review: Playing catch-up

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After Sunday's little party, I have whole bunch of beers about which to write, but I'm still playing catch-up from the previous week! We'll see if I'm feeling frisky and want to write about a couple beers more than usual. Let's get started.

Leading off is Picture of Nectar Double IPA from Southbound Brewing Company. It pours a yellow-gold color, and features peach and peach skin flavors, along with some floral aromatic notes and piney hops. I got a mild bitterness on the back end of the drinking experience, as well as some earthiness towards the end. It wasn't too sweet, and also not really boozy, which was a slight surprise for 9.3% ABV. A very drinkable DIPA.

It seems like I've covered a lot of Bell's Brewery lately--the Octoberfest series has aided that perception--and the latest in a series of very good beers from Bell's is their Special Double Cream Stout. As expected, it pours a near-black color, and offers notes of coffee as well as some cocoa and perhaps even a hint of smokiness. It's very tasty overall, with a fairly smooth mouthfeel (again, as expected from a DOUBLE cream beer).

Third up is the highly-regarded Narwhal Imperial Stout from Sierra Nevada Brewing Company. This beer is pretty much pitch black, with some quite tasty flavor notes, including dark fruit, raisins, plums, sweet chocolate and vanilla, and sweet maltiness. It has an incredibly complex flavor profile, with a moderate amount of booziness. This my first tasting of Narwhal, and it lives up to its reputation.

Finally, let's jump into one beer from Octoberfest on Sunday. This Brewdy Peach/Habanero IPA was brewed by Low Tide Brewing Company for The Fat Hen, a French Low Country restaurant just outside Charleston, SC. Pouring a cloudy orange color, this IPA brings plenty of pepper. The Habanero kick is evident from the outset, as a just-uncomfortable-enough spiciness invades the throat upon the first sip and persists even after swallowing. A black pepper note joins it early on, before being joined by the peach and maybe a funk note, as well. The hops come through in the back half of the drinking experience, an experience which includes a bit of a creamy mouthfeel. This is an impressive beer, and the first I had at Octoberfest. It was a hell of a lead-off hitter.

Event Recap: Craft and Draft Octoberfest Celebration at Music Farm

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Hello, friends. If you were expecting the next installment in the Octoberfest video review series, I have a bit of a curveball for you. This will formally mark the first in a new occasionally occurring series called "Event Recaps". Any beer festivals, special tastings, or other beer events I attend, I will do my best to provide either a written or video recap of the event.

The event in question is last Sunday's Octoberfest celebration curated and run by local bottle bar Craft and Draft and held at the Music Farm concert venue in Columbia. Check out my video recap:

 

I also have a few pictures from the event:

 

As an aside, I promise my video editing skills will improve.

The next video in the Octoberfest beer video series will be posted tomorrow. In that video, I will discuss the release order for the next few videos. See you then. Cheers!

Beers in Review: Been awhile

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It's been awhile since I've done one of these. Admittedly, the start of football season has skewed my bar-visiting habits quite a bit, so I'm going to the beer bars less frequently right now. Regardless, I have a bunch of beers to write about now, so let's get to it!

Starting off our group of beers is one of the few Octoberfests I'll actually be writing about; rest assured, you will be able to check out plenty of Octoberfest beer reviews on the YouTube channel in the coming weeks!

Samuel Adams' Octoberfest had a nice copper color and brought a pretty strong malt backbone to play with other assorted relatively sweet notes. Most obvious were some mild fall spice notes--mostly cinnamon and I think nutmeg (they all kind of blend together for me)--and some very nice darker fruit notes. I picked up plum and hints of raisin and cherry as well. A slight caramel note also came out of the malt backbone. Overall, despite the potential for a sugar bomb, I found this beer to be fairly balanced. The sweetness was moderate and thankfully not overpowering.

Next up is a collaboration between New Belgium Brewing Company and Avery Brewing Company. Officially under the "Fat Tire and Friends" banner, Fat Wild is an American Wild Ale, and it shows, as the drinking experience leads off with a funky tropical fruit introduction. While other flavors came and went throughout the drinking experience, the funkiness was a constant companion that intensified as I reached the end of my glass of the ale. Other notes included a mild, caramel-sweet maltiness, as well some mild berry notes. I also noted the relatively unique mouthfeel of the Fat Wild as I drank it. I found it to be highly carbonated, and almost frothy, almost as if it were a cream ale or under nitrogen. It was an unexpected, though not unwelcome, feeling.

Our final beer of the day is a local White IPA from Swamp Cabbage Brewing Company. It pours a pale yellow color, similar to a light white wine, and the beer plays very much like a wheat beer to open, and an IPA to close. Some cloves and other spices, along with perhaps some mild graininess, before giving way to a mild piney hit and a decent amount of bitterness that carries through the back end of the drinking experience and lingers well after drinking. I felt this was a decent attempt at a somewhat difficult style.

Video Review: Victory Brewing Anniversary 20

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As promised, the latest video review, featuring a beer in celebration of Victory Brewing Company's 20th Anniversary!

In addition to the upcoming videos I mentioned in the review, I also may have some stuff from an Oktoberfest festival I will be attending this weekend. Expect some written reviews, if nothing else.

Six-Pack of News, Volume 11

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Hello, everyone! I have some programming notes for later on in this post, but let's get to the news!

In Volume 10 of this news series, I threw some love towards the first and only brewery in the country of Jordan, Carakale Brewing Company. Now, thanks, in part, to fellow beer reviewer Rod Jones, here are a couple of articles about Carakale. This Vice article is a couple years old, but the Fox News article is from earlier this month and also includes interviews from other Arab brewers.

After roughly two years of success from their "Not Your Father's" alcoholic soda series, Small Town Brewery is adding Mom to the mix. The line-up will begin with Not Your Mom's Iced Tea, which will be released shortly.

A new beer-filling system designed to create the perfect head inside a beer growler, bottle, or can was featured on the hit ABC reality show Shark Tank, with seemingly positive reviews from the investors on the show. The system, named Fizzic, is available from Amazon and Brookstone.

In some news of personal interest, Cape May Brewing Company, about whom I wrote an in-depth review here, is a finalist for Manufacturer of the Year at the 2016 New Jersey Manufacturing Awards. The winner will be announced on October 7th--watch this space.

Finally, the Wall Street Journal published an article today about the supply-and-demand difficulties surrounding some specialty hops. Mostly focusing on supply shortages, article author Tripp Mickle talks to multiple small brewers about these supply issues, and how they have affected breweries' bottom lines.

One last thing: some programming announcements for the video review part of this site. There will be a review of Victory's anniversary beer tomorrow, then the month of October will soon be upon us. And what better way to start the month than with an Octoberfest series! Three videos, six different beers, beginning Saturday, October 1st, with the 2nd and 3rd parts coming the first half of next week. The Octoberfest videos will be videos 47-49, which means I will be making my 50th video in the next couple of weeks. To celebrate the milestone, I have a special side-by-side planned for that video, which will be released the week of October 10th. You can check all of those videos out, along with the 45 I've already made, right here!

Video Review: Queens Blvd Session IPA

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Check out PRB's latest video review, the Queens Blvd Session IPA from Queens Brewery.

 

Also, as I mentioned in the last video review, I have started creating playlists of video reviewed beers, sorted by style. So, you can check out all of the IPAs I've reviewed in one list, or all the Hefeweizens. At this point, most playlists have 4-6 entries, though this will obviously grow. As the video reviews grow, these playlists can also help to track down old reviews by limiting the number of reviews through which to search. Playlists have also been created for Pale Ales and Dark Beers/Porters/Stouts.

Beers in Review: Here We Gose

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Frankly, I spent all my brainpower coming up with a witty title. That up there, that's what you got. We'll get to the gose in a bit.

But we'll start with another offering from Rogue Ales. Charlie 1981 is an American Strong Ale (and it shows, sporting an ABV of 9.1%) that pours a reddish-brown mud color. I found this beer to be quite tasty. Vanilla notes, specifically vanilla bean ice cream, lead the flavor profile, giving way to lots of cherries, some plum, and other fruits. There was a slight note of straight-up alcohol that affected the flavor profile a bit, but otherwise I found this beer to be delicious.

Next is Prairie Flare Gose from Prairie Artisan Ales. As I poured it, it had a massive amount of head (at least 2 fingers in an 8 oz. glass). With a fair amount of bubbles rushing up through the glass, and the color, it very much reminded me of sparkling wine, though it was maybe a tad more yellow than most sparklings I've seen. This gose has a nice flavor balance of sweet and salty. The winey look carries into the flavor a bit, and the mentioned coriander is evident in the finish, while the orange/citrus note floats over the entire tasting experience. Fairly tasty, with no overpowering flavor note.

Finally, Elysian Brewing Company's Blood Orange Pale Ale. A hazy orange-gold color, the Blood Orange Pale is bright and citrusy with a very mild hop bite. There is also a hint of pine hoppiness, with a juiciness that opens up as it warms up a bit. There is also a citrusy sweetness that opens up later, as well. A decent pale ale, overall.