beervana

The tariffs are on; the tariffs are off. The tariffs are—it’s exhausting. Last night a federal court ruled they’re off again. But beer fans take note, not all of them, including two biggies. 

The Brewers Association has their official end-of-2024 report out, and along with it their list of the largest US breweries. One thing you can’t help but notice: it’s a lot easier to survive as a larger brewery with a little help from your friends.

Remember that brown-label, gray-market “Corona Mega” I discovered at a Mexican restaurant in Tillamook, Oregon a year ago? Lawyers have gotten involved. (Plus a brief, unrelated comment on the tariffs.)

Or, how Britain got the Honorable Order of Bass Drinkers while Americans got the milkshake IPA.

Founder Alex Ganum is one of a handful of the most gifted brewers I’ve encountered in my travels around the world, and on a number of occasions, tasting his beer left me startled by its originality and accomplishment. With its singular vision and personality, Upright was an irreplaceable brewery.

For reasons no one can quite identify, a disproportionate number of brewers have decamped from Detroit to Portland, where they founded some pretty impressive breweries. For Montavilla Brew Works’ 10th anniversary, they’re doing a cool collaboration.

Trying to describe fresh hop beers is hard because rather than just reaching for another adjective, we grope toward different realms of experience. Drinking a very good one is to experience synesthesia and encounter the taste of iridescent green.

Three years ago, I wrote about a hop making its way through advanced trials, and a couple weeks ago, it made it to the promised land. In today’s post I speak with breeders and researchers about newly-minted Dolcita and what makes her special.

The Hop Quality Group and USDA breeder John Henning are close to naming their new public hop, HQG-4, which should happen this year. It’s an exciting project, and could usher in a new era in public hops.

The internet put all human knowledge at our fingertips, transforming the way we understood the world. A recent technological “innovation” may give us answers even faster, but take a wrecking ball to our basic information. 

Sierra Nevada recently won the World Beer Cup gold medal … for ESBs. Violating Betteridge’s law of headlines, I explain why they got it right, including in my analysis a different rule, beer’s One Iron Law.

On this week of the Craft Brewers Conference, when much of the news is a little dour, let’s consider a little context. More and more people are drinking so-called craft beer each year, and it is becoming part of our cultural furniture. There’s a lot of upside to that.

Last week, VinePair published an article about the birthplaces of famous beer styles. It included some hinky information—offering me the opportunity to explore an important topic: the “romantic fact.” That is, a story shot through with fascinating, possibly nostalgic details that turn out to be hogwash.

Today we travel to a time where cars sail overhead and money has lost all meaning as we luxuriate in worlds of leisure. And beer? The year is 2050, and if you want to know what beer looks like, click on through.