Not too long ago I was at a bar in my neighborhood, a place not in my usual rotation but with an expansive tap list and many televisions, making it an ideal place to catch a game or three. Or to kill an hour while waiting for a friend to pop out of the train... View Article
“I’m stuffed,” we say when the broccoli makes one more trip around the table. But 10 minutes later we “always have room for dessert.” For me, beer works like that. I’ve got a whole separate compartment in my stomach for beer. Not so, of course; the separate compartment is in my mind, not my stomach.... View Article
I wasn’t out of my car for seven seconds when a guy approached me in the gravel parking lot of the Hill Farmstead Brewery in Greensboro Bend, Vermont. “You getting Damon?” he asked with a sense of urgency. No pleasantries, no greeting, just a blunt question. I replied honestly that I didn’t know, since I didn’t... View Article
Texans bought 9.5 percent of all the beer sold in the United States in 2015. That’s almost 20 million barrels, making it the second-largest U.S. market, after California. But California has something like 10 million more residents overall, and a legal drinking-age population that’s also bigger by about 10 million. So the average 21-plus Texan... View Article
HAVANA—We came to Cuba for beer. The locals thought us odd for that. Most Americans come here for the cigars, cars, the rum, to glimpse behind the curtain of our neighbor that has been shut off for so many years. But we arrived looking for cerveza. We found it, but left with a greater sense... View Article
Recently, my young friend Alyssa and I had a date for that now ubiquitous wonderful American tradition—Sunday brunch. Where to go? We considered and discarded a half-dozen places before deciding on Freetail Brewing Co., a pizza-centered brewpub and production brewery here in San Antonio. This was the choice even though my dining companion was on... View Article
During debate over a new bill in February, an Oklahoma state senator surprised another with a starkly different understanding of how the rest of the country deals with the issue at hand. Why, she asked, does the bill explicitly restrict alcohol manufacturers from operating wholesalers or retailers? During a quick Internet search the night before,... View Article
The date was not going well, at least not for the woman. That was the observation from my table at Cellar 3, the blending facility run by the Green Flash Brewing Co. in San Diego. With every new sip or sample, the man at the bar would check in the beer on his phone and... View Article
Like trademarks themselves, disputes over trademarks must be unique. They’re each highly dependent on the individual set of facts at hand. So unless significant marks for large brands are at stake, these stories can have little impact on anyone outside the companies involved. About a year ago, the federal suit Lagunitas filed against Sierra Nevada... View Article
