Are you Stout enough to survive the winter? BWS 77

Of course you are.

This week, Doug and Tony will talk Stouts and Porters as well as the looming Beer Conglomerate which is only a challenge to big market fighting. Also, we’ll dig a bit on Sam and Dogfish Head for making ignoring everyone else something of an art in his new video series.

First up, Congratulations EVO

Evolution Craft Brewery’s Rise Up Stout was listed #8 in Paste Magazine’s blind taste test naming the best stouts. Even cooler is that it uses locally-roasted beans, which is kind of a big deal for the Eastern Shore.

Blind-tasting and ranking 51 of the best American stouts #craftbeer @JimVorel https://t.co/rJM4hg06e2 pic.twitter.com/FnBpPvfqy2

— Paste Magazine (@PasteMagazine) November 3, 2015

It’s the cans, stupid!

Leave it to Forbes to see the clearer picture. Craft beer drinkers have been moving toward cans for the better part of the century. Mostly, it was to service the pack it in, pack it our sensibilities of the West Coast, but it came to the beach and people from Carton to RaR to Burley have gone big into the canning mode. This, Forbes argues with some convincingness, is the real reason for the merger. Shelf space.

Trouble Brewing For Craft Beer As Can Supply Tightens – Forbes https://t.co/5sVaTeUakt pic.twitter.com/omwsRaoGLK — BeerAnyone (@beerforums) November 4, 2015

But the NYT says it’s regulation. I think they might be wrong in the Shore’s case and in the case of a lot of smaller markets. There is no politician on the Shore (or really in the region) who is going to abandon the local movement for Big Beer. To be fair, though, it’s important that is stays that way.

Beer: A Threat to Craft Beers https://t.co/rZRsT0V4oH — NYT Food & Drink (@nytfoodfeed) November 3, 2015

We’re bringing back the Talk and Taste

Gee, if only someone would sponsor more beer tastings… Just kidding! Stay tuned for an announcement for the next ShoreCraftBeer.com Talk and Taste featurein a beer pairing we forgot people didn’t take seriously,

Craft beer finally breaks bread with the culinary world https://t.co/84s86ZhyfO –@notteham #beer #craftbeer #cuisine pic.twitter.com/qVTY44NZZl — Brew Studs ♥ Beer (@BrewStuds) November 4, 2015

Dogfish Head of the pack

And then there’s Sam, who only pays attention to beer which only has worked to his advantage for the last two decades, so we’ll reserve judgement. I don’t wanna gush, but it only is fair to say he (and Al Stewart to an even more extreme extent) who has set the tone for Beer on the Delmarva Peninsula. Make whatever you want. Someone’s going to drink it.