21st Amendment has not only great beer, but also awesome graphic design on all of their beers. This beer is no exception.
One, it has a badass name and two, it doesn’t look like a beer label. All of their beers are canned so imagine seeing this newspaper print wrapped around the entire can.

5 new keg labels from Blue Mooon. It’s interesting that these approvals are for kegs. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Blue Moon seasonal on tap anywhere, but I could be wrong.

I’m not a fan of Blue Moon, but their seasonals are sometimes ok. Seeing this list though makes me wonder. It looks like they are throwing darts at a list of beer types in hopes at least one of them sticks. That tends to be the way their parent company, SAB-MillerCoors works. Miller is abandoning their MGD 64 Lemonade because it failed to appeal to a wide audience. I imagine the same thing will happen here.

Lemon Wheat Ale, Lime Wheat Ale and  Valencia Amber Ale all seem too similiar to make sense. Not to mention Blue Moon is usually served with either an orange or lemon slice in it. The flavor is probably made with an overhyped, artifical sweetner.

Peanut Butter Ale just sounds gross. I like peanut butter and honey, and I think they could make for unique ingrediants in a beer, but I don’t believe that Blue Moon will use real ingrediants or use them in a subtle, tasteful way.

I am curious to try the Farmhouse Ale though. Farmhouse is often an interchangable name with saison. However I think the craft brewers who use the name farmhouse will have a funky tartness going on in the beer as opposed to saisons, that aren’t usually sour. Blue Moon is not a craft brewer so this beer will likely not be similar to either style and will likely taste the same as their White Ale, maybe just a bit drier. Why can’t they make something different, rather than just variations of their White Ale?

Been wanting to try this for a while. I’m excited!

Hopsworks Galactic Imperial Red Ale

Last week I posted an article about Stone building a brewery in Europe and how Dogfish Head could benefit from building a second brewery on the west coast (here). Today it was announced that Sierra Nevada has been visiting various cities on the east coast to determine a location for them to build a second brewery. 

Their reasons for doing so are very similar to both the reasons Stone mentioned as to why they are building a brewery in Europe, and the reasons I suggested that Dogfish Head should build a second brewery on the west coast. They are at the point where in the next couple of years, their current brewery will be working at capacity. They also currently distribute to all 50 states and need to continue to do so. They want to grow as a company and also reduce the costs of shipping all over the country. They have not decided where they will build a brewery, when they will build it or if it even will happen. Chances are though, that this will happen as it likely makes the most sense from a business perspective. Sierra Nevada is currently the second largest craft brewery, right behind the Boston Beer Company, makers of Sam Adams. Sam Adams being the largest American brewery (remember, Budweiser, Miller, Coors etc are not American anymore), they own multiple breweries as well as contract other breweries to make their beer for them. To put things in perspective, Sierra Nevada will brew about 800,000 barrels (1 barrel = 31 gallons) of beer this year. Boston Beer Company on the other hand, brews over 2 million barrels of beer a year. It will be interesting to see what happens with Sierra Nevada’s expansion in the next few years. 

Another interesting aspect of this story is that Sierra Nevada also included as a factor in choosing a city: potential quality of life for its employees. Great to hear about breweries treating their employees well.

What a shameful, depressing, snobbish, bigoted, blinkered, rude, clueless, cruel, idiotic thing to say.

So. If beer is not good enough for the royal wedding, I suggest the royal wedding is not good enough for beer.
I urge brewers to rebadge their royal beers with republican designs.
I urge pubs not to show the royal wedding, and to advertise themselves as royal wedding-free zones.

Great post on how out of touch the royal family is to be banning beer from the wedding. Read it here.

I’ve always enjoyed the standard Newcastle Brown Ale. It’s not exactly what I would call a craft brew, after all it is produced in England and is available damn near every bar I go to. However, it is far more enjoyable than the macro brews made in the U.S.
Summer Ale has been available during the summer since 2009. The 3 other beers will be available in the other 3 seasons.

Some info about the new seasonals:

Newcastle Summer Ale: Refreshing and light, this golden beer offers a subtle citrus hop aroma and a clean, refreshing flavor with a dry finish

Newcastle Werewolf: Naturally blood red in color, this distinct tasting fall ale produces a combination of sweet berry overtones and a sudden bite of bitterness

Newcastle Winter IPA: Zesty in character and jam-packed with a creamy finish, the Newcastle Winter IPA is full-bodied and hoppy, delivering unique and authentic malt flavors for the cold season and snowy matchdays

Newcastle Founder’s Ale: A rich ode to the heritage and the work of five of the best brewers in the city coming together to show off their craft, Founder’s Ale offers a full-bodied ale with a sweet and dry finish