Showcasing almost 800 beers from 100 breweries, the MBCC invites us to mash, sparge, boil and ferment its wealth of statistics to see what flavour comes out the other side.
USA
On Bond Yields and Brewery Deals
Fuller's acquisition of Dark Star last week led to another round of speculation about beer-industry acquisitions to come. But do current trends in bond yields suggest that consolidation may already have peaked?
The Fruits of Our Labour
The focus on a single ingredient - American hops - is the top of a slippery slope. It encourages an ever-narrowing focus on certain elements of that ingredient, which sends us sliding towards a place where fizzy, alcoholic fruit juice can be mistaken for beer.
Brew Day!… “Pacific Northwest”
With a couple of friends to lend a helping hand, brew day can be a hospitable time of aimless conversation, mutual admiration of shiny brewing equipment, and shameless indulgence in good beer, cheese and ham.
A Beer by Any Other Name
International mega-brewers acquiring craft breweries poses a substantial challenge to the concerned consumer that arguably needs to be addressed by the US Brewers' Association. With their “independent craft brewer” definition, however, and especially with their new seal, they have only compounded that challenge.
Brew Day! … “A1 Nut Job”
I called the beer “A1 Nut Job”. It’s got peanut butter in it. It originated in an encounter that made me think of Sigmund Freud and his musings on Doppelgӓngers and the “unheimlich”. I like to imagine Jack Nicholson saying it in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest.
Beer Without Borders
Whereas Belgian beer embodies the togetherness-in-diversity of the national football team, German beers assert their regionalism with all the heat and aggression of a local derby.
