This week Doug and Tony talk homebrewing from recipes, distribution scandals, dismantling the Big Beer Behemoths in China and, if we have time, deal with the proliferation of home self-brewing machines.
Beer Podcast show notes:
People were pretty excited about this news last week. Brew Dog is a Scottish brewer in the American Craft Style that has become very popular. They have (or had) a television show and recently prepared to open a massive brewery in Ohio. They have decided to release all of their recipes, but there’s more to knowing the recipe that makes the beer than just having the basics.
Recipes are only the first step to making great beer. We’ll have to ask Doug about the other steps next week…
Posted by Beer with Strangers on Thursday, February 25, 2016
Pay to Play
We talked about this story when it broke, so this mostly is a followup. As craft beer expands its reach, it can be difficult to keep a handle on who is doing what and why. For example, Sam Calagione told a story about how, although he didn’t participate in something like this, he checked all the way down the line to make sure any of the distributors who worked for him or with Dogfish Head also weren’t doing that. It’s a lot of people to keep track of him.
Ouch! In addition to the fine, they lost their license for 90 days.
Posted by Beer with Strangers on Wednesday, March 2, 2016
This is going to take a little unpacking, but it is really interesting what happens when you come in, devalue a brand and then have to find a way to dump it. This is another of the concerns about brewers getting bought out.
Homebrewing machine:
I’ll be honest, I’m exhausted writing about these machines. I have a deep problem with the approach. If you want say this is beer you made, this isn’t the way to do it. If you want beer cheaper this isn’t the way to do it. I honestly can’t imagine the appeal of these machines, they feel a little vampiric to me. It feels as if this is a play on a fad. It does beg the question about weather fads are created or discovered, but that’s something for another time.
