Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).
Something caught my eye on Craft Brewing Business this week; ALeco’s new ‘Evolution’ aluminum bottles, designed for craft beverage producers. Evolution bottles will initially be offered in 12oz short- and long-neck sizes, along with a 16-ounce “pint” bottle, with the potential for more versions down the line (750 mL, 330 mL, 22 oz, and 40 oz).
Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).
It hasn’t been a slow news week in the beer world. In fact, I’m starting to believe that we’re not going to have slow news weeks in beer anymore. We’re going to get into some stuff outside of the headlines week, but there are some news stories worth reading up on:
Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).
For all of the annoyances of Virginia ABC laws — and there are many — there is one way the Commonwealth has managed to not mess with beer lovers. Virginia doesn’t “cap” the amount of alcohol a beer can have either by volume (ABV) or weight (ABW), unlike many other states.
Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).
Hot off the heels of last week’s fun with Hill Farmstead, here’s this: Cigar City Brewing of Tampa Bay, Fla., held their annual Hunahpu’s Day event this past weekend, celebrating the release of the once-per-year Hunahpu’s Imperial Stout (this week’s column is pretty much Christmas for “nom de guerre” — enjoy, sir or ma’am). Much like similar events put on by Three Floyd’s Brewing in Indiana (Dark Lord Day) and Founders in Grand Rapids, Michigan (for the release of KBS/CBS/any other kind of BS), crowds were expected to be big and demand was assumed to well outstrip supply — as it does pretty much every year.
Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).
“It’s not that easy to find people who know what you need done. But that’s what we’re doing, moving in a direction that will allow us to increase production if we wanted to. And I don’t actually want to. I don’t want to be a larger brewer. I just sort of want to build a playground…”
Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).
Well everyone, we’re getting surprise snowstorms followed by not-so surprise snowstorms and polar vortices — let the spring beer releases commence! I’m not one prone to griping about “seasonal creep,” but even I can’t help but chuckle about some of the stuff that’s coming out right now. It’s ok, though: I’m always happy to see more great options when it comes to craft beer, and this week brings a couple that I’m particularly interested in.
Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).
The crew at Virginia Eagle Distributors packed a bunch of us beer buyers onto buses this past Monday and very kindly drove us out to visit a couple of the Virginia craft breweries they represent. The point of our trip was to visit Devils Backbone in Lexington, which I’d never visited but had been wanting to for some time.
Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway).
The government shutdown that began Tuesday morning is big topic of the week nationally, but especially in our area. Thousands of government employees are currently off the job, waiting to see if congress can reach an agreement that will reopen the ‘non-essential’ departments and parks that are either closed or largely empty right now. With the last government shutdown occurring 17 years ago when I was in high school, I hadn’t even considered how the beer business might be affected by the shutdown, but sure enough, it is.
Editor’s Note: This sponsored column is written by Nick Anderson, beermonger at Arrowine (4508 Lee Highway)
As mentioned in the comments section of last week’s column, the biggest news story in the beer industry involved the U.S. Justice Department filing suit to stop the purchase of Grupo Modelo (makers of Corona, among other brands) by AB InBev (Budweiser, Stella Artois), the biggest of the big beer companies. It’s funny which stories have ‘legs’ where others don’t; I remember the InBev purchase of Anheuser-Busch gaining quite a bit of attention, but I never got any phone calls from reporters then — and I did this week when the big guys got told “no”.
