A provocative piece in this month’s Atlantic argues that “America has a drinking problem.” But does it? The evidence paints a fuller, more prosaic picture: things have been very stable for a decade now.
Read More
As an echo to Martin Luther’s famous 95 Theses, nailed to a church wall 500 years ago, I offer 9.5 theses on the essence of beer.
Read More
In the last two weeks we have learned about the crisis of sexism in beer. Today I repost one of four pieces on the subject from 2014. The stories are at turns illuminating, painful, and harrowing, and with each story reveal what it's like to be a woman working in the beer industry.
Read More
Historian and archaeologist Alexander Langlands has a new book called Cræft, the purpose of which is to reclaim the meaning of "craft" as it existed before it became a marketing slogan or an expensive item available at boutiques. How might this apply to beer?
Read More
This year’s Oregon Beer Award winners, plus some analysis and comments about the judging.
Read More
A brave woman in Massachusetts exposed an enormous amount of sexual misconduct in the industry last week, including accusations of a high profile OR/WA brewery. That plus a personal note.
Read More
If we think of normal as the way we lived in February 2020, we have a long way to go. And yet last week something changed. For the first time in 15 months, many of us can safely sit together in a pub drinking beer.
Read More
Pay close attention to what pours from the cask engines of English pubs, and you’ll notice the beer has gotten juicer and more daring. Even old-school breweries have tuned up their ales. This change owes a lot to today’s classic, Thornbridge Jaipur IPA.
Read More
Seltzers, canned cocktails, hard teas, flavored malt beverages: these represent a complex regulatory stew of products but may in many cases be called “beer.” Once a small enough market it didn’t matter, they are now such big business they may destabilize the entire alcohol industry.
Read More
I went on a secret mission at Sean Burke’s new brewery, ForeLand, in McMinnville yesterday. Since I wasn’t there for a proper tour and full story on the brewery, I will save that for another time. I did snap a few pictures, however, and they constitute a decent nickel tour. Have a look.
Read More
One of the country's best breweries continues to turn out incredible beer in relative obscurity. Taste Midnight Reflection, however, and you'll see why Portland's Upright really is that good.
Read More
After revolutions in hop breeding and product development and micromalting, yeast is getting its moment in the sun. A proliferating number of yeast labs offer organic and genetically-modified strains that do things like ferment without diacetyl or finish in half the time.
Read More
Celebrating the breweries owned and operated by underrepresented groups in no way diminishes the accomplishment of White, male brewers. Our celebration of Tonya Cornett does not come at Ken Grossman’s expense.
Read More
The past year has been so tough because it forced us into bubbles of stasis. We are creative, social beings who crave the way new experiences rewire our brains. We hunger to mix our minds with others. Few places are as good as breweries in delivering that charge of electricity we need to live.
Read More
Introducing the embryonic version of a resource for finding breweries owned or led by underrepresented groups. (Please help it grow!)
Read More
Hazy IPAs are the style that launched a thousand breweries. Yet their fusty old predecessors haven’t been banished entirely, and Fremont’s new release, Ollie, shows why.
Read More
Breweries managed to survive the pandemic far more ably than anyone expected a year ago. They did it by retrenching and focusing on core fans rather than chasing those tantalizing customer just beyond reach. The “fan service” approach may be Covid’s greatest legacy.
Read More
A chance encounter with Fort George co-founder Chris Nemlowill at the pub led to a tour of their new production space. It’s quite a thing, and here’s a photographic tour.
Read More
What can we learn from Hopworks’ new beer, Beestly? It’s a porter, it’s organic, and it’s made with honey in an effort to help save the bees. In all ways, it seems like a project out of step with current trends—or maybe that makes it ahead of its time? Plus, look how Germans are appealing to the Yanks.
Read More
A new documentary looks at craft brewing through a familiar lens—scrappy, unorthodox risk-takers setting out to make their mark. The movie brings in founding figures and places their story in a familiar narrative. It’s a fun movie and well-told. But what if the story is all wrong?
Read More