For decades, Yorkshire’s Samuel Smith Brewery managed to do things their own, very weird way, seemingly flouting the rules of business, if not physics. But a three-year pandemic may have changed the calculus.
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For obvious reasons, accomplished brewers don’t love people constantly focusing on their gender. Any brewer who manages to work their way up from keg washer to celebrated brewery owner deserves attention and respect, and yet it’s something of a watershed moment for Portland to see a woman do this.
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A holiday is almost upon us, and winter is coming. How do you plan to celebrate?
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If you build a city around the “presence” model—transportation systems for rush hours, buildings with office space, restaurants and taverns to feed and water all those daily migrants—what happens when they stop showing up? What happens if they just don’t leave their homes?
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Qatar had 12 years to settle on its World Cup alcohol policy, but decided at the last minute—yesterday—to move Budweiser’s very expensive promotional beer tents outside the venues. This is not the first time a religious city has had to decide what to do with marauding, beer-drinking heathens.
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Forty percent of America’s breweries are small neighborhood affairs that, prior to 2020, were fun and rewarding little businesses. With Covid, inflation, supply-chain issues, and difficulties getting to market, how many still are? In Portland, one of them just called it quits.
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Just spitballing here, but how do you feel about velvet ale? Or maybe satin or velveteen ale, for the slightly mysterious touch? Kansas prairie ale? Caramel macchiato? Someone out there may have a great name, and who knows—it might launch the next hot style!
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In the latest Sightglass post, I look at the modern era of American brewing, born around 2012, as hoppy ales became the ascendant craft style in America. What do a selection of breweries founded that year tell us about where we were and how far we've come?
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After an inexplicable two-year hiatus, Brewer Vignettes are back. Today we feature Guinness’ Stephen Kilcullen, who was cagey about an unexpected part of the process: fermentation and maturation.
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