Among all the hazy New England IPAs, trendy sours, and special releases out there, one year-round beer has captured the hearts and minds of beer lovers: Heady Topper from The Alchemist. This is a unicorn beer with limited distribution, and it’s on nearly every craft beer drinker’s bucket list. Here’s what you need to know […]
This summer, the Brewers Association, the largest representative body for craft beer, unveiled its “Certified Independent Craft” seal. Created to adorn labels, cans, and taproom doors, the moniker tells consumers which breweries qualify as independent and craft according to Brewers Association guidelines. Now the first labeled cans are on beer shelves, and the logo has […]
The number of individual beer items at U.S. retailers is declining for the first time in five years, according to a MillerCoors blog post cited in the Mark Brown industry newsletter. A research group found that beer options decreased 3.4 percent from the end of 2016 to August 2017. Most of that is coming from […]
The current craft brewing craze is fueled by IPAs and flash-in-the-pan trends. But for 22 years, Allagash White, a Belgian White beer, has been defining a segment of the industry and proving that there’s more to American beer than hops and high alcohol. The first beer produced at Allagash Brewing Company in Portland, Maine in […]
On September 7, AB InBev’s “The High End” division — infamous among craft beer fans for buying up beloved independent breweries — announced it had laid off 90 percent of its sales force. The news quickly spawned stories with opinionated quotes and sarcastic Twitter posts about the 380 or so people now out of work.
Pumpkin beer is divisive. Mocked by many but purchased by millions, the category perplexes retailers, brewers, and consumers alternatively delighted and overwhelmed by all-pumpkin everything. In the spirit of giving the people what they do (and do not) want, we gathered 28 pumpkin beers and ciders to create the one and only ranking you need.
The fight for independence in beer is raging stronger than ever in certain circles, but craft breweries may have hit an impasse. UBS, a wealth management firm, recently released a study on U.S. alcohol consumers that found that 45 percent of drinkers don’t care if the beer they drink is from an independent brewery. The […]
In 2010, Sierra Nevada Brewing Company received a call from the management team of legendary jam band Phish. The group famous for seven-hour sets wanted the brewery to make a special beer for a festival the following year. The result was Sierra Nevada’s Foam Pilsner, a 5.6 percent alcohol by volume beer designed to be […]
Making great beer doesn’t always start with a degree in brewing science. Garrett Oliver, the brewmaster at Brooklyn Brewery, was a rock band manager in England before he was putting Brooklyn beer on the global map. Jim Koch got an MBA from Harvard and worked at the prestigious Boston Consulting Group for six years before […]
