Lately, there’s been a shift in the beer conversation. Or, more accurately, the volume has been turned up. If a brewery is not striving for quality, defect-free and clean beer for each and every batch, it should either correct this problem immediately or pack up and move on. There are many fronts in the fight... View Article
This year at the Craft Brewers Conference (CBC), we learned that craft beer, as defined by the Brewers Association (BA), has 11 percent market share of U.S. beer volume, up from just 6.5% in 2012. That’s spectacular growth. The annual conference was held in Portland, Oregon, where the craft share is closer to 60 percent.... View Article
Here at the magazine we’ve been thinking a lot about numbers and how they relate to what we drink. Walk the aisles of a liquor store and you’ll see tags hanging from shelves, advertising numerical scores for corresponding bottles. While more prominent in the wine section, it’s becoming increasingly more commonplace with beer. But what causes... View Article
More than 43,000 new and re-released beers were produced and imported professionally last year in the United States. OK, I made that up, but think it’s within range of the actual number. With more than 3,200 breweries operating across the country and more than double that number interested in exporting here (and with each releasing... View Article
Twenty-two years ago, I tasted the Karl Strauss amber lager for the first time while sitting at the brewery. It was the first American example of the great German style I had ever tried, and it was where a good friend and I wondered: Can we do this in North Carolina? We launched Carolina Brewery... View Article
Nearly 35 years ago this magazine began its journey chronicling the activity of the beer community. It began with a focus on imports, the first wave, then added the second wave, the brewing renaissance that encompassed the burgeoning craft movement, domestic and international. Now, in addition to those two powerful influences on beer culture, All... View Article
The perfect weather in the mountains outside Asheville, NC, matched the conditions inside the grounds of the new Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. facility that opened to great fanfare with a festival celebrating its Beer Camp Across America collaborations. The beers were refreshingly cold against the hot summer sun, the food trucks dished out a variety... View Article
For all the intensity and seriousness of the brewing industry, there has always been the odd merry prankster. From David Bruce of English brewing fame, who once donned a goose costume to promote his beers, to Sam Calagione and his off-centered beers. While some may have decried these unusual promotions or beers, none can, in... View Article
For decades, the new breweries of the past 30 years have been driving industry growth and reviving the classic image of beer as a local product anchored in the identity of the owner. As such entities, the breweries have been sensitive to the desires of their patrons. Hundreds of breweries have opened up and millions... View Article
