The Marketing Magic Behind New Belgium’s Voodoo Ranger IPA Series

Chances are, if you’ve perused a liquor store in the past few years you’ve passed a suspiciously sublime skeleton emblazoned on bright cardboard. Much like the aggressive hop bill inside, New Belgium Brewing Company brewed its Voodoo Ranger series to stand out both in flavor and branding. Launched in 2017, the Voodoo Ranger IPA series has quickly become a foundational pillar of the New Belgium portfolio. We asked New Belgium’s Director of Brand Marketing, Kyle Bradshaw, about the growth of the brand, how it has been able to connect so effectively with consumers and what comes next. 

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Resident Culture Brewing Co. | Iconic Anonymity Hazy Double IPA

Resident Culture is arguably Charlotte’s best brewery. They were just ranked in the Top 10 North Carolina Breweries on Untappd for 2019 and they were named the 2018 10th Best New Brewery in the World from RateBeer, just to name a few of their many accolades.

Located in the Plaza Midwood neighborhood, Resident Culture opened their doors two years ago. Their motto, “Stay Funky,” is encapsulated in their beers, can artwork, swag and in the taproom itself. Read More

Grand Armory Brewing | Wheezin’ The Juice IPA

In the midst of the busyness and stress that comes with being an adult, the moments when you can let loose and feel like a kid again are truly precious. I enjoyed one of those experiences with my husband a few years ago when we made the spontaneous decision to participate in the “Sleepwalker Run” in Grand Haven, MI at the end of January. The Sleepwalker Run, which takes place this year on Friday, January 24, consists of either a .62 mile sprint or a 2.62 mile run in your pajamas through downtown Grand Haven. It’s a part of the town’s annual Winterfest, which occurs Jan. 23-26, 2020.

A few years ago, my husband and I decided to check out the Winterfest events on a whim. We felt like little kids as we ran through downtown in our long john underwear and roasted s’mores on a giant parking lot bonfire. Afterward, we went to Grand Armory Brewing Company to indulge in some of our favorite food and beer.

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A Year Without Hazy IPAs

At the end of last year, I wrote a piece on how in 2019 I was going to stop drinking hazy IPAs. Many people didn’t read past the headline and assumed it was just a purely negative piece on hazy IPAs; however, that couldn’t have been further from the truth.

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Recapping Five Trends from a Crazy 2019 In the Craft Beer Industry

What a decade it has been for beer drinkers. In 10 years, craft beer went from a bundle of small upstarts to a booming and cutthroat industry that has solidified itself as an important part of social culture. 2019 was a fitting conclusion to a wild decade of beer as the past 12 tumultuous months offered readers and drinkers alike a bevy of perplexing headlines, new beers, exciting new initiatives and cautious optimism for what is to come in 2020. The year offered too many topics, trends and social media flareups to count, but I thought it would be helpful to recap five of the most notable trends I observed this year. 

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Parish Brewing | Pure Tropics

You’re looking to impress if you include the word “pure” in the name of a beer. Pure Tropics from Parish Brewing is one of the newer IPA offerings out of Broussard, LA and further proves this brewery’s superiority of the style.

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Best of Hands Barrelhouse & Matchless Brewing | Family Influence Hazy IPA

I’ve written before about Seattle’s best bottle shop, The Beer Junction, and how lucky I am to live in the same neighborhood so I can access their brilliantly curated selection and knowledgeable staff as frequently as I want. But earlier this year, The Beer Junction gave me and fellow West Seattle residents a new reason to appreciate their craft beer expertise in the form of Best of Hands Barrelhouse.

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Oskar Blues | One-y IPA

I love IPAs. I also can’t stomach several in one drinking session anymore. The intensity of the flavors and hop-bill typically restricts me to a small pour or one sole can at a time. It’s a common occurrence for many beer drinkers today. Craft brewers continue to push the limits on flavor in IPAs, ramping up the ABV and ingredient list while lowering the drinkability in the process. Every IPA has a place, but I’ve increasingly found that Session IPAs continue to gain more space in my beer fridge than their hoppier counterparts. One new addition that I’m dedicating shelf space to is Oskar Blues’ One-y hazy session IPA. 

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Southern Prohibition | Altered Beast IPA

The beast has awoken, and this time it has emerged in the form of Southern Prohibition‘s newest core IPA offering. Teenagers of the 1980s, you’ll recognize the name and label art as a Grecian-based beat ’em up arcade game produced by Sega in 1988. Game on!

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Perrin Brewing Co. Releases New IPA Inspired by Now-Canceled “Storm Area 51”

Brewing new beers to celebrate a local event or festival is not unusual in the craft brewing community. Michigan-based Perrin Brewing Company took that idea and flipped it on its head with their latest IPA: Storming The Gates Area 51 Experimental New England style IPA. Brewed in celebration of their 7th anniversary party, the new NE-style IPA is brewed to celebrate (or mourn) the now-canceled Storm Area 51 event that was supposed to take place on September 20, 2019. While that viral event is now no-more due to a myriad of practical and human safety issues, the IPA remains and has had many Michigan beer fans storming the gates of the brewpub this past week. 

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WeldWerks Brewing Co. | Citra Extra Extra Juicy Bits

Ah, Juicy Bits: The beer that launched a thousand hazy IPAs. WeldWerks Brewing Co.’s Juicy Bits may not have been the original New England IPA (the whole “New England” part should have given that away), but it’s consistently at the top of the list in terms of popularity and praise. Its tropical juicy hops character and creamy mouthfeel, along with its relatively wide distribution in Colorado, make it the perfect go-to for both hardcore and new-to-the-scene craft beer drinkers.

Because of the immense success of Juicy Bits, WeldWerks has had a lot of fun experimenting with that base, seeing how far they can push the limit on hops, flavor and ABV. This beer showcase highlights their most recent invention: Citra Extra Extra Juicy Bits.

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Karl Strauss Brewing Company | Boat Shoes Hazy IPA

In the late 60’s and early 70’s, the music of the West Coast had a distinct sound. This sound was ringing down from Laurel Canyon in the Hollywood Hills. This music was complex and challenging, bringing the flavors of folk, bluegrass, country, funk, Latin, rock and roll, and the blues and blended them all together into something big. This stuff was smooth, it was easy to listen to, but it still had some soul and some groove. The era of Yacht Rock was here.

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Chicago Quick Sips | June 10 Chicago Beer News & Events

Quick Sips is our way of highlighting beer events, tap takeovers and other notable beer news around the city of Chicago. If you’d like to submit something to be included in the next Quick Sips, please email us at [email protected].

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Minnesota’s Lupulin Brewing Company Acquires Hydra Beer Company

Lupulin Brewing Company out of Big Lake, Minnesota announced on Thursday the acquisition of Hydra Beer Company in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The move will create a second Lupulin taproom in the former Hydra space in Sioux Falls, right across the Minnesota border.

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WestFax Brewing Company | Urban Lumberjack Hazy IPA

The hazy wave is still driving craft beer lovers crazy and Colorado is no exception. Most breweries now have a hazy IPA on tap due to the growing popularity of the style. In this showcase, we’re highlighting one of Denver’s most under-the-radar and tastiest hazy IPAs, Urban Lumberjack. Read More

Revolution Brewing Finds Sustained Success, Growth in Their Hero IPA Series

Sometimes you take the best things in life for granted. Chicago’s craft beer foundation is built on excellent ales like Anti-Hero and Daisy Cutter, but they no longer generate the lines and Untappd check-ins of past years. It’s not their fault—Chicago drinkers have so many great craft beer options at their disposal that it often becomes overwhelming. So how do you consistently churn out excellent flagships while appealing to the “newness” decree of today’s craft beer drinker?

One valid option is Revolution Brewing’s Hero series. With taproom-only releases, unique 6-pack offerings and comic-inspired variety packs, the Hero line has helped the city’s largest independent brewer stand out from the fray and consistently provide something new to the masses. Each new offering allows Head Brewer Jim Cibak a chance to flex his brewing muscles in new and exciting ways. His latest notable creation is Cryo-Hero. I spoke to Jim and the Revolution team about the new Hero variant, the complexities of that brewing process and what other exciting beers they have planned for the coming months.

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Be Easy Brewing | Dosayusa IPA

On the northern tip of the Japanese Honshu Island, there is a region where a notoriously distinct Tsugaru dialect is spoken. Be Easy Brewing is located in the Tsugaru region of Aomori Prefecture, and the brewery is as captivating as the beauty of Aomori.

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Omnipollo | Quadruple Dry-Hopped Fatamorgana

Omnipollo is a based out of Sweden, and references itself not as a brewery, but as a creative camp. The name originates from the words omnipotence and the Spanish word for chicken, pollo. The definition of omnipotence is the quality of having unlimited, or great power. When combined with the awkward and uncoordinated “pollo,” you get the creative and chaotic (yet powerful) product that is Omnipollo.

Omnipollo was founded by brewer Henok Fentie and artist Karl Grandin in 2011 with the hope of changing the known perception of beer and what it could be. Anybody who is familiar with Omnipollo knows how crazy some of their beers are, both the recipe and the artwork. In addition, the beers that Omnipollo releases are always collaborative efforts with breweries all over the world. This keeps a constantly curious and tuned-in approach to everything they do.

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TrimTab Brewing | Helix Rising

Yet another highly anticipated IPA release from TrimTab Brewing‘s Light Visions Series has just hit limited Southern markets. As a result, hop heads couldn’t be more excited. The name given is Helix Rising, a double dry-hopped hazy double IPA. TrimTab continues to do exciting things in the Southern IPA game, and this DIPA brewed with Chinook, Zythos, Simcoe and Simcoe Lupulin powder is a truly unique and welcomed addition to their increasingly successful repertoire.

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Hazy Inspiration from Different Sources: How Bell’s and Surly Created Their New Hazy IPAs

The Hazy IPA beer-style is primed for a big 2019. Amidst GABF category recognition and consumer demand, every brewer aimed at appealing to today’s beer consumer has made the creation of a Hazy IPA or some variety of it a mandate on their brew list. The trend has become an unavoidable one for old and new brewers alike, from almost every region. What started as a brewing style that was strictly New England-style in nature has bounced from coast and coast and is now getting a unique Midwesterner spin from two of the Midwest’s best IPA creators: Bell’s Brewery and Surly Brewing Co. Both have built their business on a flagship IPA that centers around bitter hops and a strong malt bill (Two Hearted and Furious, respectively). Now, both are using their IPA experience and some unique forms of inspiration in the creation of their new, nationally-distributed hazy IPAs: Bell’s Official and Surly One Man Mosh Pit. Here are the details. Read More