Each week, Tony Budny pens SCREAMING INTO THE VOID and looks at the best in writing and social media conversation around the biggest issues in beer. If you feel something should be included, have a tip, or just want to sound off, feel free to look him up on Twitter @DrinksTheThings, email DCBeer, or Pokemon Go to his DMs.
Hello and welcome to Void Two: The Void Returns. I’m your host Tony Budny, and I’m here to tell you that Scotland is good. I drank beer there. Did you also know they have whisky there? I had some. It was also good. I also had good beer and cider in England. This concludes my detailed and scintillating review of my trip with my wife to the British Isles.
I will offer a couple of pointers, though. When in Edinburgh and thirsty, particularly if you can’t decide if you want beer or Scotch or if you want both, go here. If you want beer, though, go here. If you want a quick and dirty tour of the London brewing scene and you’re there on a Saturday, do this. There are even more breweries and a farmers' market nearby as well. And if you like cider and find yourself in Bristol, here's a good place to start.
Now that that’s out of the way, let’s get down to business. How’s your fantasy NFL team doing? Good? Bad? Don’t care? Well don’t worry, no matter your opinion or your ability, you can always enjoy a beer at the ballpark!
OK maybe not. I guess there’s always a “but” when public financing isn't the primary funding for the cost of the monstrosity. But at least you might be able to get it with an app soon?
Maybe you should get your beer elsewhere. Good thing Snallygaster is this weekend. We at DCBeer heard they have beer there, and we decided to rank all of them and add in snarky comments that may or may not be related to the beer. Because when you’re ranking 350 beers and #350 is still a DCBeer staff pick, describing the actual beers becomes of secondary concern. We assure you (mostly) that none of the beers will taste like this.
Maybe (definitely) more useful than our rankings is this dataviz made by the lovely and talented Twitter user @robbtuftshockey.
We all know about the exploits of the alcohol laws in Montgomery County, Maryland so it's always a big deal when a brewery opens there, as the failures to launch happen a bit more often there. So True Respite taking its chances will make waves, particularly when there’s a spooooooooky mystery brewer signed on. Keep an eye out.
Eater interviewed former host of Double Dare and current Food Network host Marc Summers on all sorts of things, but he also dropped this gem:
“Marc: I’m in Philadelphia a lot, so people come up and talk about being in the audience— ’cause we started in Philly, moved to New York, back to Philly, then to Orlando. And the best part is, they do Beer Week in Philly, and for the last five years, we’ve done Dunkle Dare. Drunk Double Dare. And it’ll happen the 8th and 9th of June. Nothing better than alcohol and physical challenges. People who grew up on the show can’t wait to get slimed and liquored up. It’s fantastic.”
Drunk Double Dare. It’s like a nerdy fraternity scheduled a beer week event.
So I know that it's September and technically we’re already past pumpkin beer season, since they were all shipped in early July or something. But we need to talk about the hate. Breathe deep and smell the nutmeg for a second and wonder, as Stouts and Stilettos does, just why you hate that beer so much. As always, this writer says drink what you like when you’d like it. You’ve often seen me outside in DC in July drinking an imperial stout. It happens.
Here's a spreadsheet that keeps track of breweries that are craft or not if you’re into that sort of thing.
*extremely sad voice* My brand.
What happens when a brewery spikes a beer that, generally, used to be popular but has had its sales crash such that it gets eliminated from that brewery’s lineup?
CHAOS AND CONFUSION WITHIN THE ONE PERSON THAT STILL BUYS THE BEER.
TFW someone is angry you stopped making a beer.
Yeast is the reason we can drink beer. Rachel Feltman talks about the differences between yeast in beer and wine.
As always we must remember, beer is poison, and as such there comes a time where one must take a step back, occasionally, and re-center life. Erica Karnes did just that and learned something.
Former Stone brewer Mitch Steele announced he's opening a brewpub in Atlanta. This comes as a bit of a surprise because, much like the aforementioned MoCo MD, Georgia has very restrictive laws governing beer. Perhaps his strong presence will help fuel the change the industry is looking for there.
Here’s a breakdown of the lawsuit Snoop Dogg has levied against Pabst Brewing from Jason Notte. Snoop Dogg claims when Pabst was sold to a private equity firm it triggered a clause in his deal with the company that entitled him to a 10% ownership stake in the Colt 45 brand. Not surprisingly, the company disagreed, and a court fight has ensued. But Notte says this brings up bigger issues in the beer industry.
The Battle of Bristol this past weekend between the football teams of the University of Tennessee and Virginia Tech allegedly required lots of beer. More beer than even Snallygaster could muster. No word on whether it was all consumed or whether some was used to water plants afterward.
Speaking of bad beer, we know you wanted another beer ranking, so here you go. I know at least one editor of DCBeer that stood up and clapped at the beer that received top billing here.
In case you missed it, AB-InBev acquired Brouwerij Bosteels, an over 200 year-old Belgian family brewery. Jeff Alworth has thoughts.
That’s a wrap for this week. Hope you all survive Snally. It might actually be dry for once.
