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.
The Void has returned from a beercation in scenic Asheville, North Carolina. Did you hear there is beer there? Well there is and you should drink it in the evenings after taking hours-long hikes if you can. It tastes so much better.
Time to take a look at what’s gone on since the last Void. Craft beer is a stable, growing fraternal profession, I’m sure nobody has gone and done something stupid–
Scroll through the whole thread. Stone Brewing has done little to endear themselves to those who pay attention and care about image over the past few years, as they’ve done everything they’ve can do be more like Big Beer in their business practices. Now they sue MillerCoors over the Stone branding and MillerCoors shoots back and says “if that’s true, your whole brand belongs to us.” Good work. This was obviously well throughout. No publicity is bad publicity, but having a brewery with more industrial clout and money threaten your entire brand is not good for your company.
DC Brau celebrated a big day on the 15th, the day when the beer returned. It has been seven years since Public Day, and DC Beer, in this writer’s opinion, has never been better.
Denizens Brewing is opening a new location in adjacent Prince George’s County, in Hyattsville.
Montgomery County’s beer scene is growing, though. True Respite opened on Friday in Derwood.
Right Proper Brewing’s beer is solar powered. Does that mean I can’t wear my stylist Kryptonite ring into the brewery? [ed note: Atlas' beer is, too!]
It WAS warm for, like, a day. Allegedly it will be again at some point, so if you didn't enjoy these beers, you MIGHT get another chance again, I don’t know. It’s hard to tell at this point. All is lost. Eat Arby’s.
This week, there was a lot of chatter surrounding the points made in this article about how, as this blog has said for sometime now, beer is poison. And it has used the marketing tactics that tobacco used for so long to help bolster its sales numbers. Of course, those numbers can come back to haunt the industry, particularly when Big Beer can use those tactics more easily and with more depth than craft beer can. I make some points in this twitter thread in that direction, along with some input from others (sorry, I’m forever locked, because we live in the worst timeline, so please follow if you want to read). Bryan Roth makes a point that beer has a whiskey problem. But whiskey may have a problem, too, one rooted in history. And all this will eventually come back to haunt the industry, I believe. The day of reckoning is coming, so they better get stuff like this in order, because craft beer will need all the friends they can get. Maybe if craft were more inclusive, some of those new ideas could help the industry re-ground itself and concentrate on making good beer for a wider audience instead of making political sausage to attempt world domination? I don’t know, I’m just a blogger. Of course, the demise of craft beer has been a conversation topic for sometime. But this area is one that hasn’t been touched yet in the same sort of depth.
Speaking of diversity:
Come on, folks.
New Belgium is collaborating on a hotel brewery in Denver, continuing an industry trend. Also in Colorado, beer in a box.
What's a beer garden? Does it have to have plants?
There is a space beer bottle going into space and somehow Sam Caligione has nothing to do with it.
Finally, maybe you want to know something about lagers. If that’s the case, DC Beer dot com's own Mike Stein will explore the issue along with Peter Jones at the end of April.
Finally, we have Maine’s own Carla Lauter with a fun fact about R. Lee Ermey, who died April 16th:
I hope you enjoyed this edition of the Void. Don’t let the weather get you down too much or develop a tick like me. Keep drinking your helles lager until it feels good to be outside.
