Five years ago I spent an afternoon with Dave McLean of Magnolia Brewery. Since then, the beer industry, San Francisco, and Magnolia—later purchased by New Belgium, which was itself purchased by Kirin—have all gone through major changes.
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Great Notion is a polarizing brewery, but for an unusual and—for some—unsettling reason. Both fans and critics of the brewery agree they make beers that taste uncannily like a blueberry muffin, stack of pancakes, or scoop of sherbet. Where they disagree: whether the beer should taste like those things.
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As I was preparing to leave for a month in Europe, Portland passed an important anniversary that may hold lessons both about the city’s current condition and also the state of the beer market. On September 1, 1999, the Blitz-Weinhard brewery turned off the lights for the last time.
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Lithuania has one of the most interesting and unusual brewing traditions in the world, and should be on your short list for foreign travel. Here’s a primer.
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Few countries have extant brewing traditions as old as Austria’s, or contain the fixtures of historic brewing countries. It’s also one of only three countries where the standard mass market lager is equivalent in quality and flavor to so-called craft beers elsewhere.
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The state of cask is not good—and hasn’t been for decades. Craft brewing was originally seen as the latest threat, but does it offer the means to salvation?
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What causes us to like certain beers, certain styles? What force guides your hand to one product at the store and not another? We think we are the masters of these choices, but something deeper is at play.
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At first glance, Michael Kora’s vision to make his brewery the mainstay of an outer eastside neighborhood doesn’t seem very ambitious. A second look tells a different story.
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This morning, London’s last Victorian-era cask brewery announced it had sold its beer business to Asahi. That news should alarm anyone interested in the health of cask beer in Great Britain.
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All About Beer magazine was founded in 1979 and documented the entire history of craft brewing in America. Sadly, it looks like it will never reach its 40th anniversary.
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It seems like breweries that are spark a trend or capture the zeitgeist of the moment are doing everything right. But history hasn’t been particularly kind to those breweries when fashions change.
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Two centuries ago, Americans drank all day long. Two generations ago, they toasted each other with three-martini lunches. Today the median drinker sips just a couple drinks a week. What happens if these trends continue?
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Over the weekend, I was visiting Brewery Ommegang for an annual event I found unusual and intriguing. On Saturday, I had a moment to sit down and reflect on what I was seeing.
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Homebrew Con is upon us! The annual conference of the American Homebrewers Association begins towmorrow in Portland. Today, in the final installment of my profiles of local brewers, we get to know Tracy Hensley.
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The annual national homebrewers conference, Homebrew Con, happens next month in Portland. To gear up, I have been speaking to local homebrewers about their approach and philosophy. Today we have one of the most decorated brewers in America, Rodney Kibzey.
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In the final installment of this ongoing series, some forward-looking advice on what we can do to hasten the change toward more equal workplaces.
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In part three of this ongoing series, brewer Allison Higi reflects on her experiences at a ten-year veteran of the brewing industry and offers advice on making things better.
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In part two of this ongoing series, women from all corners of the beer industry--brewing, distribution, retail, administration, and journalism--share their experiences. They 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.
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The recent cases of harassment by powerful men have given people the opportunity to subject the beer industry to a good, hard look. What the #MeToo movement offers is a moment to reflect on that hidden consciousness we've constructed and how it might change if we include the voices and presence of women.
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