This past Friday, Dave and Wyndee Forrest launched a Kickstarter campaign to open CraftHaus Brewery. While I met with them to discuss their plans, a donor had just pledged $400, putting CraftHaus over the $5,000 mark, or about 26% to their goal of $20,000, in only four days. (more…)
Lagunitas’ CEO and founder Tony Magee took to Twitter late Thursday night with some interesting data about craft beer’s percentage of the beer market, and what that looks like for future growth, both with existing breweries, and with new breweries. It’s an interesting bit perspective from the 6th largest craft brewery in America, and I’ve always enjoyed Magee’s perspective on his business. I edited his statement slightly, only to fix all the “Twitter grammar,” to make it easier to read:
Was looking at IRA data. I added ALL the craft-type sales, meaning the narrow Brewers Association definition of craft beer, as well as Shock Top, Blue Moon, Craft Brewer’s Alliance brands, Guinness, Newcastle, etc… It turns out that the things y’all drink when y’all want flavor represent a freakin’ 12% market share, not the 6% share that is reported.
Could say that the extra 6% share represents the ACTUAL shortage of capacity within authentic craft beer. Makes building another brewery seem like a stoopid safe bet. I see Blue Moon & Shock Top, and the other faux beers as mere spackling in the cracks. A sort of beer-bondo that we can easily chip back out when we’re ready to use that market crevice ourselves. Maybe that sounds pompous, and maybe it is. And when I write ‘we’ I’m referring to all of us new brewers. Bottoms up!
In a recent newspaper thing I said that I thought Lagunitas could be as big as Anheuser Busch or MillerCoors. WTF does ‘big’ mean? Big is the result of something else. No one ‘owns’ big. It’s an artifact of your decision making. Could Lagunitas be that big? Sure. But in the end it’ll be up to you. We’ll just try. But like every mountain climber knows first hand, there’s nothing up there on the top. The trip is the thing, & we’re sure trippin’ lately.
This past weekend, my wonderful wife decided to make brownies using a recipe she found on CraftBeer.com. The result was absolutely delicious, and I thought I’d share the results for you here.
She did deviate a little bit from that original recipe. We did not have any bourbon on hand to mix in, nor did we put any sort of nuts in the brownies. If nutty brownies are your thing, then have at it. Secondly, we decided to use a french press to essentially make stout coffee.
North Coast’s Old Rasputin was the beer used, as opposed to using a sweet stout mentioned in the recipe. Old Rasputin, to me, is the perfect blend of dark roasted flavors, but balanced with an adequate amount of residual sweetness from the unfermented sugars in the beer. The recipe requires 1/3 of a cup of beer, but I recommend just pouring half the bottle over about 2 tablespoons of ground coffee beans. After a few minutes you can measure out the amount needed for the recipe, and then drink the rest. The coffee and stout mixture is incredible decadent and rich. Almost makes the beer taste like it is a higher alcohol percentage than it actually is.
These don’t taste like any brownies I had ever eaten. I should clarify that it doesn’t really taste like Old Rasputin, or beer for that matter. As for the coffee, it imparts more so a coffee aroma, or flavor, as opposed to any coffee bitterness. These have the perfect balance of dark chocolate and sweetness. The coffee balances out the dark chocolate flavors, creating a smoothed out bitter, chocolate taste. The beer, along with both the white and brown sugar, create a very flavorful sweetness, without just tasting sugary.
This recipe is super easy to make, and definitely worth a try!
This past Friday, I had the opportunity to take part in a Lagunitas beer pairing dinner at Mandalay Bay’s Fleur. The event was organized by Certified Cicerone Sarah Johnson, Mandalay Bay’s director of food and beverage. The event was wonderfully executed, and featured not only great beer, but also very delicious food paired with it. Without further ado, let’s discuss the incredible dinner that took place!
Pils
Lagunitas’ pilsner was the first beer that we were given, to help whet our palates and prepare us for what was to come. This beer is extremely dry and crisp. It has the firm bitterness that pilsners should be known for, with a nice, grassy finish.
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It’s our way of helping to create an online community of craft beer drinkers sharing the beers that they love through their photography!
While I was visiting Washington last month, I finally got the chance to stop by Sound Brewery and try their beers. They are located just a couple miles down the road from where I grew up, and over the past year, I kept hearing about this brewery. Friends still living in the state would tell me about Sound, I’d see websites announce Sound as one of the best breweries of the Pacific Northwest, and I even started to see their beers for sale on Letspour. Needless to say, I had some high expectations, and was anxiously awaiting my chance to taste their beers. I scheduled an interview with one of Sound’s founders, Mark Hood, so I could learn a bit more about what has made Sound so successful, and to taste a few of their beers, of course. (more…)
Certified Cicerone Sarah Johnson, director of food and beverage for Mandalay Bay, is hosting a beer pairing dinner along with Lagunitas head brewer Jeremy Marshall.
In addition to the below pairings, dessert includes tastings of 2009 ,2010, and 2011 vintages of Brown Shugga!
First, read this great post from Kim Schimke at Brewpublic. In addition to the post, I like the response Stone Brewing Co. CEO Greg Koch added to the comments:
I don’t worry about what I say nearly as much as HOW I say it… I judge, sure. We ALL judge. We judge the way other people drive, the clothes they wear, their politics and the beers they drink. My judging doesn’t make me a snob, but the WAY I judge certainly could be. It’s human nature. I don’t feel the need to try and quell it. How about we celebrate our humanness! We judge. We’re flawed. We’re generally fun to drink beer with.
I would add my thoughts on the subject, but I think I explain myself pretty well here: All beer is good.
It is interesting to see craft beer grow into an industry as large as it has become. With this growth, invariably, comes matters of propositions, legislation, and taxes. Currently, Florida is trying to legalize the sale of 64oz growlers. Maryland just legalized on premise beer sales and consumption for breweries.
Taxes have a bit of a mixed reputation in this country, to put it lightly. With regards to the beer industry, this is no different. Currently, the Brewers Association is pushing to enact the Small BREW Act through congress. This act is seeking to amend the tax code to lower the rates of excise taxes brewers pay. Well, specifically the first 2 million barrels produced by a brewery making less than 6 million barrels of beer a year.
The craft beer industry is one of the fastest growing industries in America, and for the breweries making less than 60,000 barrels a year, the new proposition would cut their taxes in half. Considering the massive growth the industry has seen, and considering the continuation of this growth, these tax cuts would allow for continued growth, investment, and jobs being added to the economy. (more…)
After the trip to Washington state, I headed down to Colorado for a few days. I primarily spent my trip in Denver and got to visit a wide range of breweries and bars. If you make your way into the state, I highly recommend checking these places out! (more…)
