By Joe Baur
Published May 2013, Volume 34, Number 2
Minnesota’s brewing economy is on the rise, and it’s only the beginning.
It’s been two years since Gov. Mark Dayton signed the so-called “Surly Bill,” allowing Minnesota breweries to serve their beer on site. The legislation was in response to a then-proposed $20 million brewery from Surly Brewing Co., but the microbreweries and their fans have been the biggest beneficiaries. Neighborhood breweries, like Fulton Beer in Minneapolis, have been able to welcome thirsty Minnesotans into their homes for a drink in their taprooms.
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Businesses That Brew Beer, Distill Spirits and Make Wine
By John Holl
Published March 2013, Volume 34, Number 1
On the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts, Cisco Brewers, Nantucket Vineyard and Triple Eight Distillery live in harmony and serve libations that can please any kind of drinker, any kind of taste.
Stand for just a moment with your back to the large white event tent and soak in the scene. Directly in front of you is the winery and its tasting room. To your left is the distillery, where aging barrels hold copper-colored liquid and other spirits. Across the stone plaza and to your right is the brewery itself and its pale ales, sour brews and one-off concoctions that delight the palate. All of this is in just one location on the island of Nantucket in Massachusetts, in what CEO Jay Harman calls “Boozney Land.”
It’s where Nantucket Vineyard, Triple Eight Distillery and Cisco Brewers live in harmony and serve libations that can please any kind of drinker, any kind of taste. It’s a triple threat, a hat trick, and becoming more common around the United States.
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By Joe Baur
Published March 2013, Volume 34, Number 1
Carillon Historical Park in Dayton, OH, is set to become the first museum in the United States that produces and sells its own beer using equipment and techniques from the mid-19th century. Costumed actors will demonstrate the historic process, producing wine, cider and cheese along with ample amounts of beer for patrons to enjoy.
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Is it the season or the style?
By Don Russell
Published January 2013, Volume 33, Number 6
Looking at the shelves this season, it occurs to me that Christmas beer must’ve been invented by atheists.
Only non-believers completely lacking in dogma could embrace this anything-goes style of beer, a style that not only irreligiously rejects the confines of formal classification but whose original purpose was nothing less than the blasphemous inebriation of partakers on the otherwise solemn occasion of Christ’s birth.
Just take a look at some of the bottles who take the Christmas name in vain.
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Are American drinkers finally growing up? Or just jumping aboard the next bandwagon?
By Alastair Bland
Published November 2012, Volume 33, Number 5
In 2006, bigness was in style. It was the height of the extreme beer revolution, and though pale ales, IPAs and other classics remained the backbone of the craft brewing industry, America was burning in the high heat of extreme beer fever. Dogfish Head was just assuming national celebrity status, “imperial” renditions of almost all styles were emerging, the battle to brew the strongest beer was gaining ferocity, and high-alcohol beers aged in booze barrels were becoming the next exciting trend. Internet beer rating forums were expanding, and the favorite brews among many of the most active members were, almost inevitably, the big ones.
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South African craft beer is fighting lager with lager
By Jim Clarke
Published November 2012, Volume 33, Number 5
Beer has deep roots in South Africa. That’s no surprise, since it was colonized in the 17th century by the Dutch and later by the English. In addition, some tribes such as the Zulu and Xhosa have a history of sorghum and maize-based brewing. The brewing industry there is younger, however, dating to the 1895 founding of Castle Brewery, which catered to the mining industry after gold and diamonds were discovered in the area around Johannesburg. A century of consolidation, aided by anti-apartheid embargoes that led foreign companies to withdraw from the market, and eventually South African Breweries (SAB) controlled 98 percent of the country’s market, selling a number of brands including Castle and Carling Black Label. Internationally, of course, SABMiller is the second-largest brewery in the world.
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