Three decades ago, Reinhard and Trudy Schulte, a flush couple from Bavaria, had an idea: open a small, more traditional brewery in Montana. The idea was born of the necessity of finding decent beer not only in an America awash in watery light lagers, but in one of the nation’s most sparsely populated states. In... View Article
As the results of the recent presidential election reverberate through living rooms and tap rooms across the country, statements and stops from candidates visiting breweries are having real consequences on shelves and tap handles. Leading up to the Nov. 8 election, Eric Trump, son of then Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump, visited D.G. Yuengling... View Article
Donald and Mary Thompson met in Tangiers, Morocco, in 1972. They were young Americans—Donald a Florida native and Mary a Texan—traveling abroad with their respective college roommates. The quartet hit it off. In particular, Mary and her friend liked Donald’s friend; and Donald and his friend liked Mary’s friend. That left Donald and Mary somewhat... View Article
The word “innovation” is hugely overused in the beer world, but a recent news story points to some agriculture that really earns the title. Patagonia Provisions (owned by the outdoor clothing company) and Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, Oregon, have brewed a beer called Long Root Ale with a novel ingredient: Kernza, a proprietary strain... View Article
Greg Schirf’s mother dropped him at the side of the highway in Milwaukee so that he could hitchhike to Utah. It was 1974, and the recently minted Marquette University graduate, hair down to his waist, was unsure of what he wanted to do with his life. His older brother had gone to school out west,... View Article
On Sunday evening, Oct. 13, 1996, the sonorously calm voice of Stone Phillips, a host of NBC’s Dateline, eased into around eight million American households: “When it comes to beer, you’ve never had more choices on tap.” The words were all too true, given the decade’s growth in the number of American breweries, brewpubs and brands... View Article
Today, America’s winemaking industry and culture will mark a significant milestone: 50 years since the formal dedication and first grape crush at the Robert Mondavi Winery in Napa Valley’s Oakville. A little background: The Robert Mondavi Winery was the first major ground-up winery in the U.S. since the end of Prohibition in 1933 and the... View Article
In a recent post on “The Drinking Classes,” Jon Urch made the provocative case that IPAs are “doomed.” The most insightful part of his case was this: The modern IPA is so loaded with delicate hop oils it can barely go a few weeks without losing its complex, dank, citrusy aroma – maybe less if it’s... View Article
[Full Disclosure. The following post came as a result of a visit I made to Dublin to the Guinness brewery. The folks at Diageo, Guinness’ parent company, paid for the trip and put me up while I was in Dublin. Guinness is also a sponsor of my personal blog, Beervana.] In the 1970s and ‘80s,... View Article
