Occasionally punctual, sometimes factual, almost never as funny as he thinks, 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.
It’s Monday and you know what that means: it’s time to stare into the vast abyss. The east coast has been blown by wind for weeks, the cold won’t let up, which means I could use a big, roasty stout to pass the time and keep warm.
Too bad we we only have NEIPA. We here at the Void joke about JOOOOOOOOOOCE almost weekly and it has many faults. But, it is a style and it is here to stay, in some form, or at least until hop prices go up. So it’s time it had a guide. And yes, a beer that rewrote a style having its own style means the rules will be broken regularly. But, if we’re to judge it, we have to know what it is. The insatiability quotient is through the roof now.
We won’t have anything but NEIPA once spring arrives either.
As always, snark brings out some decent takes. If you don’t want to click through, points made here include NEIPA being the alco-pop trend or the cronut trend for craft beer.
Now of course, maybe if hop prices go up, it can still be made.
We had a late addition to the Void, as just after publish, it was announced the Green Flash Brewing in Virginia was up for sale. That didn't last long.
Yard House in Chinatown is close to opening, which means you can wade through tourists describing beers as hoppy and Belgiany soon.
Stone Brewing’s Greg Koch says so long to a building he had hoped to save in Richmond but was always a bit of a longshot.
President Trump’s tariffs have already had a negative effect on one small business in the U.S.
That thing where your beer name and label are terrible is here again. But they got a link in this social media wrap, so they won I guess? I don’t know how online works.
Night Shift brewing has released a lite lager ostensibly to compete with the Big Beer equivalents, which is something I expected breweries to take on sooner. But be warned: cute branding can be a double-edged sword.
The South seemed to like Northern beer once upon a time.
The founder of New Belgium shares his thoughts on beer and retirement.
Finally, the Dilly Dilly king goes on a personal drinking quest. It’s a good gig, if you can get it. This is another example in a long line of gimmicks that have worked, such as the hooray beer guy from Red Stripe, the cartoon characters that said ‘brilliant’ for Guinness, the most interesting man in the world for Dos Equis, and the Budweiser frogs. Annoyed as you may be, this king is here to stay, though he may come in different iterations.
This has been another Void. There will not be another until April, because I’m going on vacation to drink some beer, but in the meantime, heed this advice in my absence: never make purchases you'll regret later.
