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.
Hello and Happy St. Patrick’s Day weekend. Please be a professional poison drinker. You know how fast things can devolve on this, the weekend of amateurs.
What constitutes professional drinking, you ask? I’m happy to provide an adequate explanation. We here at The Void like to make sure our readers are prepared for the task at hand, able to drink in any situation. First, here is a Russian bear to provide you a perfect example of what not to do this weekend. Not only that, people are depositing their used oil barrels haphazardly in a UNESCO World Heritage site. Don’t drunkenly do that this weekend either. The Void is against littering in any form, but especially this form. Also, don't drink Guinness like Paul Ryan.
The description here by A Better Beer Blog of what St. Patrick’s Day really is is apt. It is indeed a spring festival, a time to let loose at a point in the year when winter seems to be dragging on forever. But I don’t think craft shuns this day. On the contrary, there are craft-related festivals abound. Even Belgian stalwarts get into the act and make cakes.
Yes, yes, I know, definition of craft and whatnot may exclude a place like Delirium. But here at The Void, we don’t prescribe to those types of norms…until we do.
Oh no. I mentioned the definition of craft. That means the mob of angry drinkers are coming with their pitchforks to talk about the annual list of the top 50 craft brewers in the US by volume. Is your favorite craft brewery on this list? Is it craft? I don’t know, I’m not a craft beer scholar, don’t look at me, I’m terrible at math. Good Beer Hunting reports on why that matters. Some breweries dropped off of the list because of acquisitions, but some stayed on despite sales and partnerships.
And those that have been acquired, made management changes, or have aged have gone onto their second acts. Craft beer, after all, doesn't have one future, but many.
While we’re on the subject of AB-InBev, one of the largest fines in the history of California's beverage control was sent their way for pay-to-play.
Here, have a pic of beer filling a coolship to relax the mind before moving on past that drama.
In local news, if anyone knows the whereabouts of this man and the batteries he stole from Jailbreak's property, that would be swell. Contact local police.
Heavy Seas has hired craft beer heavyweight Dan Kopman, former of St. Louis's Schlafly, as its new CEO.
Deschutes hired Caroline Macdonell as their east coast field marketing manager.
The good news is, this means they’re collaborating on a beer. The bad news is they had to rely on WMATA to make it happen.
But Meridian Pint is getting a new neighbor.
Looks like someone found a Void reader on metro!
In our ongoing quest to make craft beer as inclusive as possible, sometimes a brewer gets something right. “These images are part of our past … but the world has evolved, and so has Skol. This doesn’t represent us anymore.” You can’t get much clearer than that. But, we also have frequent reminders that even when some get it right, plenty of others jump right into the crap vacuum they left behind.
A beer truck crashed into Jack's Abby in Boston. If that sounds familiar, it’s because it happened last year, too.
Spuds Mackenzie, everyone’s favorite beer-drinking dog, is now the subject of a lawsuit.
The Oakland A’s “lowered” their stadium beer prices to $10. Yay?
This week, we not only celebrate St. Patrick’s Day, but another drinking holiday, 3:16.
Chances are, you've had Costco's alcohol offerings, which have seen sales rise 50% in the past year. In the opinion of this beer writer, their wine and liquor are good, but their beer is just OK. Don’t @ me.
In your long read of the week, Rwanda is getting a craft brewery. And it is woman-owned.
There was a discussion on the Internet about lager. It consists of many Twitter threads of varying states of apoplexy. But one tweet stands out as a solid synopsis of the conversation:
Stay fruity, my friends. Bryan also wrote this week about breweries going international.
Finally, take a trip to TRAPPIST-1 and see that the name was no coincidence.
Have a fun and safe St. Patrick’s Day weekend, everyone. The Void returns next Friday.
