Novel Strand Brewing Releasing ALL CAPS Tribute to MF DOOM

Shrouded in mystery even through his recent passing, the iconic hip hop artist Daniel Dumile, who performed as MF DOOM, had a profound impact on the genre as a whole, in addition to his rabid fanbase.

A long time hip hop fan, Novel Strand co-founder and head brewer Tamir Danon, wanted to pay homage to the iconoclast, who he felt influenced hip hop artists and helped get a lot of people into the genre dating back to the early ’90s. Understanding the delicate nature of wanting to pay tribute without exploiting the artist’s passing can be a difficult balance, Danon wanted to ensure that the focus of the brand remains on the artists’ lyrics and talents. On the back label, Danon worked with an artist to transcribe lyrics from DOOM’s track, ALL CAPS with emphasis on particular words to translate the way it should be sung.

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Mental Health Is Not a Competition | A Conversation With Hope for the Day

Message from the author: This story discusses suicide and other sensitive themes concerning mental health in an adult manner. While the intent of this reporting is to help destigmatize conversations about mental health, its content may be sensitive to some readers. In addition, it includes dialogue that contains explicit language, which has been left unedited out of respect for the authenticity of the interview that was conducted.

Please take this into consideration before reading.

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BREAKING | Great Divide Intends to Sell RiNo Location & Consolidate Operations

Great Divide Brewing announced today that it will be consolidating production operations by moving all packaging and canning back to its original Arapahoe Street location in Denver’s Ballpark Neighborhood.

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SweetWater Brewing Expands Distribution to Colorado

It’s been a monumental three months for SweetWater Brewing, which closed out the year in November by announcing that it had been acquired by Aphria Inc.(APHA), a leading global cannabis company based in Leamington, Ontario, Canada.

Now the Atlanta-based brewery is primed for rapid expansion and today announced that they are ready to launch throughout Colorado beginning February 1, 2021.

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Revolution Caps Off Deep Wood Series with Half Acre Collab

To wrap up their 2020-21 Deep Wood release, Revolution Brewing decided to go with two non-stouts, featuring an Imperial Rye Porter made in collaboration with Half Acre as well as a spin on their popular Ryewine Ale by putting it into Apple Brandy barrels.

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New Non-Alcoholic Brews for Dry January We’re Buzzing About

The non-alcoholic (NA) beverage and beer segment continues to eat up market share thanks to its ability to offer younger buying groups a palatable and fulfilling NA option that takes the place of the typical beer, hard seltzer or hard cider. For many, NA beverages have become an addition to their overall alcohol-consuming habits while others have used NA beers to stop drinking altogether. I, like many others in the U.S., fall somewhere in the middle. According to Lagunitas, 45% of American adults have now purchased an NA beer. Data from Nielsen shows that 47% of Americans are making an effort to “cut back or abstain from” alcohol altogether. 

While December is often filled with excess drinking, January is typically viewed through the lens of constriction, where you either consume less alcoholic drinks or participate in dry January, a month-long pledge to stop drinking alcoholic beverages entirely.  If you’re a beer drinker curious about new NA beer options available on the market or participating in dry January, below is a list of five options we’re excited about. 

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How Breweries Are Preparing for 2021 Beer Festivals

After a year that saw virtually no in-person beer festivals, there’s hope that with a vaccine people might once again be able to congregate and drink together in 2021. But early in the year, people are very cautious with any concrete timelines or plans.

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Craft Brewers Conference Announces Moves to Denver in September

In an attempt to salvage the ability to move forward with an in-person conference, the Brewers Association has announced this morning that they will be moving this year’s Craft Brewers Conference. This year’s conference was originally scheduled to take place in San Diego, March 29 through April 1, 2021, and will now move to September 9-12, 2021 in Denver, CO.

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The PorchCast Ep 73 | End of Year Recap & Boys Are From Märzen Podcast

In episode 73 of the PorchCast, we got the entire PorchCast gang back together to take a look back at some of the biggest craft beer news from 2020 as well as some of our favorite breweries, beers, and trends from the last year.

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New Legislation Extends Aid For Small Businesses Including Breweries

After months of political wrangling and a stressful weekend for many small businesses, President Trump finally signed a $900 billion aid package passed by both houses of congress last Monday. The bill extends many of the measures initiated in the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act last spring. This new legislation funds programs to help individuals and small businesses, including breweries. With many areas facing new government-mandated business restrictions due to rising numbers of COVID-19 cases, the aid comes at a critical time.

Since April, many breweries have invested heavily to maintain safety and economic viability. Changes include website upgrades for takeout orders, expanded indoor and outdoor spaces and delivery options. In addition to these costly changes, breweries have seen uneven customer traffic and revenue. Breweries hope that this new stimulus package will allow them stay afloat long enough for restrictions to ease and economic activity to pick up. Read More

More Inside Hershey’s Trademark Dispute with Side Lot Brewery

As reported by CBS Chicago’s (WBBM) Marie Saavedra, Side Lot Brewery in Wauconda, IL (Chicago’s Northwest Suburbs) must pay The Hershey Company $8,500 by January 4th because of its Sugar Series beer release this past Halloween comprised of Hershey’s candies and the associated labeling that mimicked Hershey products. We spoke to the parties involved about the trademark dispute.

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Brewery Vivant celebrates 10-year anniversary with release of J’aison Ale

Sunday, December 20, marks the 10-year anniversary for one of Grand Rapids, Michigan’s most celebrated breweries: Brewery Vivant. The brewery is the world’s first LEED certified commercial microbrewery and a Certified B Corporation. It is beloved among Michigan’s beer loving community for their Belgium-style brews, as well as their commitment to the local community. To celebrate 10 years, on December 17 the brewery released J’aison, a Petite Saison brewed with orange peel and Tellicherry black peppercorns. It is currently available on draft and in cans for sale at the brewpub.
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Shmaltz & Moustache Light Up the Holidays with ‘Golden Jelly Doughnut Pastry Ale’ & ‘She’brew #RBG IPA’

Shmaltz Brewing Company’s favorite beer-drinking season of the year is here: Hanukkah! Shmaltz Brewing officially turns 24 this Hanukkah and celebrates with the national release of a brand new Golden Jelly Doughnut Pastry Ale brewed with 600 pounds per batch of real purees of raspberry and cherry with a generous slathering of pure vanilla. This Hanukkah Beer, a glorious homage to the beloved Sufganiyot dessert, is all new for 2020 and is now available in 12-ounce can 4-Packs, limited draft through their East Coast wholesalers, and through Brew Pipeline nationally.

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Voodoo Brewery Sells Franchising Arm & Plans Denver & Las Vegas Locations

Pennsylvania’s Voodoo Brewery has, since its inception, followed a relatively non-traditional path. Despite growing in recent years to become one of the East Coast’s most buzz-worthy breweries, garnering attention for Good Vibes, their West Coast-style IPA, an assortment of Hazy IPAs, and one of the country’s most well-regarded barrel-aging programs, at one point early in their 15-year history, the Meadville, PA-based brewery nearly faced bankruptcy.

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3 Floyds Permanently Closes Munster, IN Brewpub

3 Floyds Brewing first announced an indefinite closing of their Munster, IN facility back in May, and it now seem as if that closure has become permanent. In a letter … Read More

Breweries to Create Missouri Brewers Guild’s First Collaboration Brew

Twenty-two members of the Missouri Brewers Guild teamed up this fall to brew the Guild’s first-ever collaboration brew, aptly named “Missouri Loves Company”. The breweries met via video conference to discuss logistics, ingredients, and unite during a time when social distancing rules tend to keep people apart.

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DC Brau Leads Collaboration Effort to Honor Ben Tolkan

One of the greatest things about the craft beer community is the community itself. Without a large group of like-minded individuals drinking it and bonding over it, craft beer would simply be a liquid with a curious chemical composition. And when tragedy strikes, breweries are often among the first to rally support, most often with a collaboration release.

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Previewing Revolution Brewing’s 4th Deep Wood Release

A drier, barrel-focused release is the theme in Revolution Brewing’s 4th Deep Wood release of 2020 with three different beer styles hitting cans this weekend.

With the last two releases featuring adjuncts like cherries, maple, and honey, the release of Mineshaft Gap, Ryeway to Heaven, and Double Barrel V.S.O.D. go quite a different direction in the December Deep Wood installment.

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CraftCellr Changes Name to Oznr, Helps Breweries Pivot During Pandemic

It’s been a busy year for the craft beer marketplace app Oznr. The app has changed names, been acquired and has seen a spike in usage with the pandemic shifting how breweries and bottle shops do their bottle releases.

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Begyle Brewing 2020 Barrel-Aged Imperial Pajamas Preview

The 2019 GABF Gold Medal for Chicago’s Begyle Brewing Barrel-Aged Imperial Pajamas gave credence to those who boasted of its excellence, and the award did wonders for its popularity. However, medals only go so far; Chicago’s beer crowd can be downright snobby about BBAs. The annual Imperial Pajamas release enjoys increasing fanfare because of its consistency, quality and a taproom party consisting of hour-by-hour variant tappings. Sadly, the global pandemic prevented Begyle from throwing its annual gathering. Nevertheless, the three packaged Pajamas stand as exemplary BBAs and evidence of why the program now hangs with the big boys and girls of the strong barrel-aging beer world.

This year’s three Imperial Pajamas release consists of the classic in Heaven Hill barrels, a vanilla variant and a special version aged in Booker Bourbon barrels. “We’ve had a lot of fun with release day variants, the way we handled those hourly releases allowed us to explore many different flavor combinations over the years. With our first foray into canning a barrel aged variant we chose vanilla as it is one of the most versatile ingredients we use in several of the variant combos we have done in the past. From the feedback we’ve gotten vanilla was always the most popular flavor, whether it was just vanilla, or vanilla combined with other ingredients,” said Kevin Cary, Begyle co-founder.

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