Blog Archives
Madrid: City of cañas, cask-aged lagers and culinary adventures
How could I have forgotten about the caña?
The first time I visited Spain, way back in 2004 (on my honeymoon), my wife and I would always make an early-evening beeline to the bars serving tapas along with the house selection of beers, wines and spirits. The evening typically would begin with una cerveza, frequently costing little more than a euro or two. But the bars really weren’t losing money on the pours, as they were served in these small, 20-cl (roughly 6.7-ounce) glasses, which, I later learned, were called cañas (they hold a volume similar to that of the Kölsch stange glass, just a different shape). If you saw anything even remotely like those in U.S. bars and restaurants, they’d be filled with orange juice. And that’s a real shame because it truly is the perfect-size glass, especially for happy hours and bar crawls. (As anyone who’s had a beer with me will tell you, I’m notorious for leaving unfinished pints). Read the rest of this entry
Virginia Distillery Co. to release 1st batch of whiskey from craft beer collaboration
Virginia Distillery Company plans to release the first batch of its Brewers Batch Virginia-Highland Whisky this week. Batch #1 was done in collaboration with Three Notch’d Brewing Company, a Central Virginia brewery. Release parties at both the distillery’s Visitors Center as well as the brewery will take place on February 10, 2018.
Three Notch’d Brewing created a Wee Heavy style beer especially for batch #1 called “Stage Road”. The brewery used Virginia Distillery Company’s whisky casks to age the beer for a number of months and Virginia Distillery Company took the barrels back for finishing this inaugural release of Brewers Batch. The whisky finished in these casks for 12 months. Read the rest of this entry
Craft beer pioneer Charlie Papazian to leave Brewers Association next year
Exactly one year from today will mark the end of an era for American craft beer and home brewing. Charlie’s a true pioneer. Read the release that just dropped from the Brewers Association.
The Brewers Association (BA) today announced that founder and past president Charlie 
Papazian will exit the Brewers Association on Jan. 23, 2019, marking his 70th birthday and 40 years building the craft brewing community and inspiring brewers and beer lovers around the world.
“We are all here today because of Charlie Papazian,” says Bob Pease, president and CEO, Brewers Association. “His influence on the homebrewing and craft brewing community is immeasurable. Who could have predicted that a simple wooden spoon, ingenuity and passion would spawn a community of more than one million homebrewers and 6,000 small and independent U.S. craft breweries.” Read the rest of this entry
Craft Beverage Modernization Act now has 50 co-sponsors in Senate
S. 236, the Craft Beverage Modernization and Tax Reform Act, re-introduced earlier this year by Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) and Sen. Roy Blunt (R-MN), has reached a landmark 50 co-sponsors in the Senate, with 28 Democrats, 21 Republicans and one Independent, representing a clear, bipartisan groundswell of support for tax parity. H.R. 747, the companion bill introduced by Rep. Erik Paulsen (R-MN) and Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI) in the U.S. House of Representatives, which reached a majority back in June, continues to rally support as well, with 278 co-sponsors as of today, which includes three new co-sponsors gained this week alone.
Brewers Association Unveils Seal to Signify Independent Beers
As mega-multinationals continue to acquire American craft breweries, the Brewers 
Association (BA) has created a seal designating which beers are still produced by independents.
The seal features the silhouette of a beer bottle turned upside down, which, the BA says, “captures the spirit with which craft brewers have upended beer,” and the words “Brewers Association Certified Independent Craft.”
The seal is available for use free of charge by any of the more than 5,300 small and independent American craft brewers that have a valid TTB Brewer’s Notice, meet the BA’s craft brewer definition, and sign a license agreement. It is available to both member and non-member breweries of the BA.
Breweries can find more information about the independent craft brewer seal at BrewersAssociation.org/seal and consumers can learn more at CraftBeer.com/seal.
Bon Beer Voyage scores major award from World Food Travel Association
My friend, Ruth Berman, just sent me this press release about her company Bon Beer Voyage. Major congratulations on winning a FoodTrekking Award from the World Food Travel Association!
