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 or email DCBeer. We don’t need Vine; we only need beer.
Greetings and salutations. Welcome to a special Halloween edition of The Void where we–
Wait…what’s that? This isn’t going to be special at all? Nothing spooky in the least? And not even any pictures of tweets?
What a shaft– I mean thanks for reading!
~IT’S JUST BUSINESS~
We’ve got a business-oriented Void today. Don’t get too excited.
All you folks out there left-of-center on the political spectrum that have Yuengling as your go-to beer at a random bar you walk into may want to reconsider that. That’s right: your favorite yeoman brewer is a Trump supporter. And that shouldn’t surprise anyone based on the company’s history, contained within that piece. They also stopped selling Black and Tan, a beer everyone seemed to like but apparently didn’t drink enough.
But I guess the only question that matters is: are you a Social Justice Beer Drinker™?
Also, just kidding. We have a late addition to the lineup. Here’s the only pic you need this week:
All is not lost, however, my Pennsylvania compatriots: you will soon be able to buy six packs for off-site consumption. Welcome to 1945.
Speaking of family-owned breweries with a conservative bent, here’s a piece on how Coors has been able to preserve their status as an American beer dynasty. In other news, Altria increased their ownership stake in AB-InBev after the SABMiller acquisition, which left Coors outside of the company.
Boston Beer’s shares are down 30 percent on the year and had another painful quarterly report, but Motley Fool says things aren’t all bad for the beer giant.
Recent job cuts in craft beer, which as an industry is still in the midst of a meteoric rise, have raised some eyebrows and, once again, opened up some talk of a beer bubble. Unfortunately, as that piece notes, it’s less of a bubble and more of a maturation process in a young industry. Which means we’re likely to see more of the same as time goes on, as Ryan Moses writes.
Stouts and Stilettos writes about the never-ending, boring gender stereotyping in the industry, which most of us would like to see retired already. Business would be wise to do so, as it is increasingly becoming good business sense to not alienate 50% of your potential customer base.
Speaking of women in beer, Christine Perich, we hardly knew ye.
Massachusetts’ own Night Shift brewery got tired of dealing with the state’s distributors, so they opened one of their own.
Are you still with me? All this business talk having your eyes glaze over? You seem like you need a music break.
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Wisconsin now allows parents to host parties with underage drinking. I figure Wisconsin was high on the list of states that would allow something like this. The view of this one particular beer writer is that 21 is an arbitrarily high age for legal drinking, but I could also see this being abused.
Jester King is hoping to advance the conversation on style-naming conventions. Respect the past while still moving forward.
There have been several articles written on the art of Stillwater Artisanal Ales, but you should read one more. This tells of the creative process behind what it takes to make a beer label that stands out.
Will Gordon implores brewers to step away from the flour, ha, and bring back good old bitterness. You might say he is bitter about the lack of bitterness. I don’t know.
Yeast is craft beer’s god particle, writes Jason Notte. Does this mean we get to build a Large Hydron Centrifuge? Because that sounds fun.
North Coast has released a beer to help raise money for marine mammal research, an especially important cause after last year's disastrous season for seals on the west coast.
Here is an excerpt from a book about beer cocktails, if you’re into that sort of thing.
Cleveland Indians lights-out reliever Andrew Miller was honored at a Cleveland-area pub with penny beers. Promotions like this have always had a positive impact on the Cleveland community.
Finally, a somber finish about holding a popular beer festival both as a distraction and a way of moving on for someone who had lost a loved one.
That’s the Void for Halloween weekend. Try not to drink too much and, please, don’t embarrass yourselves out there. It’s going to be a jungle.
