Give Me Craft Beer of Give Me Death!

Them's fightin' words!

Okay, I admit it. That might not be exactly what Patrick Henry exclaimed to the Virginia House of Burgesses at St. John’s Church in Richmond, Virginia on March 23, 1775, but his spirit, when applied to the Great War of Beer Liberation, still applies. And where better to look for inspiration when rebelling against the tyranny of the mega brewers than to our own founding fathers?

This is a blog post about those founding fathers, and their relationship to our favorite malted-grain-based beverage, made the correct way of course. I recommend you open a second browser page or a second tab and dial up some patriotic music to grace your eardrums while reading this. Might I suggest the Battle Hymn of the Republic or the Stars and Stripes Forever? If nothing else, hum a tune in your head. Take a few moments to come up with one. I’ll wait. Okay, ready?

Believe it or not (and you probably should), colonial Americans drank beer - a lot of it. It was almost exclusively home-brewed and, although the basic principles of brewing were similar to what we use today, some of the ingredients they used would be downright weird today. Potato beer, for example, was quite popular, with recipes for this “excellent beverage” published in a number of sources from the day. Molasses, ginger, spruce, treacle, and even peas were also common to find in brewing recipes of the era.

George Washington's recipe for
his 11% ABV "small beer"

Like most land owners of their age, the Founding Fathers made beer at home (it was actually their wives, servants, and slaves that did most of the brewing) and given their fame (and tendency to keep good records), we are lucky enough to have their recipes. George Washington famously boycotted his beloved imported British porters just before war broke out and lent his support to a bill that called for the avoidance of British beer, tea and other cornerstones of daily life (the bill in question was crafted by one Samuel Adams). Today, Washington's personal formula for “small beer”—an everyday drink that might be consumed by children, servants and the infirm – can be found at the New York Public Library. If brewed strictly to his methods, this beer would clock in around the 11% ABV mark, with the addition of ample amounts of molasses as the main culprit.

Thomas Jefferson originally left the brewing to his wife, Martha. In the early 1770s, she was managing the production of 15 gallons of small beer every two weeks or so. Brewing at Monticello wasn’t on Jefferson's radar at first, but he seemed to enjoy a renewed interest in the early part of the new nineteenth century when he began purchasing books on brewing, and mentioned it more frequently in his letters. Things began to turn around at the outbreak of the War of 1812, when Jefferson employed Joseph Miller, an English brewer who was unable to return to his native country, to improve Monticello's beers. Miller taught Jefferson’s slaves his skills, and before long, Monticello was turning out some quality brews. It is perhaps somewhat surprising that Jefferson, a committed chronicler of just about everything else, did not leave a full recipe for Monticello's beers, but it is possible to extract his ingredients and methods through his papers (including the design of his state-of-the-art brew house).

Another Founding Father who had a hand in our early beer culture was James Madison, who proposed founding a national brewery and creating a Secretary of Beer. Congress, of course, did not support his grand plans, with one of the dissenting opinions coming from Benjamin Franklin, who felt that his fellow printers imbibed a little too freely:

One of the original gangsters of
politic'n and beer drinkin'

“every day a Pint before Breakfast, a Pint at Breakfast with his Bread and Cheese; a Pint between Breakfast and Dinner; a Pint at Dinner; a Pint in the afternoon about Six O'Clock, and another when he had done his Day's-Work. I thought it a detestable Custom. But it was necessary, he suppos'd, to drink strong Beer that he might be strong to Labour. I endeavour'd to convince him that the Bodily Strength afforded by Beer could only be in Proportion to the Grain or Flour of the Barley dissolved in the Water of which it was made.”

I might be crazy, but the last part of that quote sounds like Franklin is saying that a beer is only as good as the ingredients that went into it. I couldn’t agree more with Ben.

In spite of his aversions towards nationally endorsed drinking, Franklin kept a recipe around for making spruce beer. Like Washington's recipe, it called for large amounts of molasses or sugar. He used essence of spruce rather than fresh sprigs, though other contemporary recipes, mainly from New England, used the plant directly. Other brewers further differentiated between white spruce beer, made with sugar, and brown spruce beer, using molasses; it seems Franklin enjoyed both.

Modern day brewers brewing up historical beers - Yards Brewing Co in Philadelphia, PA

Today, historic beers are often recreated but are typically adjusted a bit for the modern palate, and for a population that is not accustomed to drinking alcohol all day, every day. Philadelphia’s Yards Brewing Company (Philly Shout Out!) makes a line of beers called the Ales of the Revolution series that includes George Washington's Tavern Porter, Poor Richard's Tavern Spruce Ale, and Thomas Jefferson's Tavern Ale. Each beer is based on thorough research, although there are certain refinements that ensure each one is pleasing to drinkers today. Brewer Tom Kehoe has noted the difficulty of using some of the historic ingredients on a commercial scale. Modern brewing techniques also ensure consistency from batch to batch, something early American drinkers could rarely hope to enjoy.

Tom Jefferson would be proud

Starr Hill has also used Monticello's records to create Monticello Reserve Ale, available on-site at Jefferson's home. Their brewer, Levi Duncan, intends to brew an entirely historically accurate (and, in all likelihood, quite sour) version for testing purposes at some point in the future, if he hasn’t already.

Another place to find colonial brews is the Historic Foodways program at Colonial Williamsburg, where visitors can watch the eighteenth century brewing process in person, and occasionally there is some sampling of the exact replica beers.

Happy Birthday America – go celebrate your independence and your beer drinking forefathers who fought against tyranny and oppression to ensure our liberty and freedom to drink great beer. Raise a pint to them, and raise a pint to the brewers today who make beer the correct way and are fighting to free us from the tyranny of industrial mega-breweries and their sub-standard brewing practices and ingredients (sorry… had to put one more plug in there).

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

Canned Craftiness

The original crafty can

Those of you who hang out with me on a semi-regular to regular basis, or read my illustrious blog from time to time, have heard (or read) me go on for hours about emerging trends in the craft brewing industry. One of those trends that I often discuss is canning. As far back as I can remember, the aluminum can has always been a sign of lower quality. For whatever reason, people see a can of beer and automatically associate it with industrial, corn-based, yellow, fizzy, swill beer, or if nothing else, hold it in lower esteem than it’s bottled brothers.

Now that we are in the second decade of the twenty first century, the stigma surrounding a can of beer is being cast aside and canning is becoming all the rage in the craft-brewing community. How did we get here you ask? Stand by to begin preaching in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1…

Canned Florida sunshine

The main reason, from the technical side of things, why brewers who care about quality have always rebuffed canning is the perception that cans will give the beer a metallic taste. The reality is that aluminum cans have a water-based polymer lining that eliminates any metallic contamination or flavors. Jim Koch, for example, founder of Boston Beer Co., was adamantly opposed to the idea of canned beers, believing that tiny tears in a can’s lining could absorb the hop flavor and infuse a metallic taste. While certainly a possibility, the evidence that this is a legitimate concern isn’t there, and even Koch has noted we will soon see the day when his Sam Adams is packaged in cans.

Then, of course, there is the view of savvy and unenlightened beer drinkers alike that cans equal crap. This idea has been perpetuated, mostly, due to the dozens of generic lawnmower lagers that dominate the US beer market. Quality beers have always been packaged in bottles, so the logical conclusion drawn by the consumer is that cans are bad; bottles are good. The reality is that bottles are heavier, breakable, and transparent. As we all know, sunlight breaks down the hop flavors in beer over time, resulting in a “skunky” aroma. Not to mention that bottle caps leach some oxygen into the bottle, causing a beer to taste like cardboard, again over time. Meanwhile, aluminum cans are lighter, harder to break, opaque, and better sealed. So from a quality standpoint, the odds are that canned beer stands a better chance of maintaining its quality over time than bottled beer does.

Who can argue with that?

Another advantage of cans over bottles is that most outdoor venues, like beaches and pools, restrict glass containers, making a can of crafty goodness the ideal (and only) choice. They also get cold quicker, making it easier to cool off in the sweltering summer heat.

Cans are also cheaper to purchase for the brewers and since they are lighter and require less packaging, they are cheaper to ship. Bonus!

Perhaps the most important advantage that cans have over bottles is that they are environmentally pretty cool. Cans are twelve times lighter than glass, which means it takes less energy to ship the same amount of beer. Plus, it’s very easy to recycle cans. A recycled aluminum can will be made into another can and back on the shelf in about sixty days. Recycling is an easy, efficient thing for can manufacturers to do, and today, as many as fifty percent of all cans are recycled, and that is expected to increase in the future.

Middle-America's
doing it too

The first craft brewery to put their beer into a can was the Oskar Blues Brewing Company in Colorado, makers of the always delicious Dale’s Pale Ale. Oskar first canned a batch of brew in 2002 and the positive response from their loyal local followers sealed the deal. Shaun O’Sullivan, the co-owner and brewer of the 21^st Amendment Brewing Company in San Francisco, California (another crafty canner) first released canned beer in 2006 and today, he says they have no intention of packaging anything but cans going forward. He also added that he fields calls every week from other brewers asking about their experience with canning.

Today, according to www.CraftCans.com, there are 544 different craft beers made by 200 craft breweries that are available to purchase in a can. Some of the more high profile offerings are by Sierra Nevada Brewing Company in Chico, California, Avery Brewing Company in Boulder, Colorado, Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland, Harpoon Brewery in Boston, Massachusetts, Spoetzl Brewery in Shiner, Texas, and Revolution Brewing Company in Chicago, Illinois. In other words, brewers all over the country are engaging in this canning revolution. Some brewers, such as DC Brau in Washington, DC, package their beer exclusively in cans.

Cans of capital craftiness

So the next time you’re on the prowl for your next great crafty brew, don’t be so quick to write off the cans. It might not be long before all beer comes that way, and the bottle becomes the endangered species of the beer world. For more information on canned craft beer, check out the complete database of canned beer at www.CraftCans.com.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

The Truth Behind Lagers

The homebrewer's solution to cold fermentation

The word “lager” is perhaps one of the most overused and misunderstood terms in the entire beer universe. It is simply defined as a type of beer that is fermented and conditioned at low temperatures. In truth, it is one of the two basic classifications of beer in existence; the other being ale. Unlike their ancient ale brethren, lagers have only been a thing since the mid-nineteenth century, though many have speculated that “lagering” may have been “discovered” as far back as the Dark Ages, when some European brewers may have stored their beer in ice caves for later consumption. What they found was that the beer that was stored and fermented cold had a much clearer and cleaner feel.

The main technical difference between ales and lagers is the yeast. All lagers are fermented using bottom or cold-fermenting Saccharomyces uvarum yeast which prefers cold temperatures and literally sinks to the bottom of the fermentation vessel. It was discovered in 1830 by the brewers at the Carlsberg Brewery. In addition to cold temperatures and bottom fermenting, lager yeast takes longer to do its work than its cousin Saccharomyces cervisiae (ale yeast) and needs to age before the process is complete. This longer, colder fermentation process inhibits the production of esters (which give beer a more fruity taste) and avoids other fermentation byproducts common in ales. The lager process creates beers with a generally cleaner, smoother, crisper, and mellower taste. Unlike ales, lagers should always be served cold.

The original clydesdale-drawn beer delivery wagon - take that Anheuser-Busch

The lager is the most popular style of beer in the world, with some stating that it accounts for 90% of all beers consumed, although a large portion of this is from the mass produced watered down lagers of the major US breweries. Lagers rose to prominence in the early twentieth century when the earliest refrigeration systems were introduced. Cheap electric refrigeration after the Second World War lead to pale lager styles dominating the continent of Europe. Meanwhile, the American climate necessitated the advent of refrigeration for the distribution of food over long distances during scorching summer months. This new method of keeping things cold allowed lagers to be made where lagers had never been made before, and facilitated the growing popularity of the style.

When most people think of lagers, they immediately think of Budweiser, Miller, Heineken, or any of the other mass-produced industrial beers out there that are more concerned with cutting cost than making a flavorful beer. It’s unfortunate, because these lagers are all what are called “pale lagers” and only represent one of the many different types of lager. The pale lager type is a generic spin-off of the pilsner style, which are a type of lager that originated in the Pilsen area of Bohemia in present day Czech Republic. Where pilsners are known for high carbonation, tangy hop notes from the native Czech saaz hops and a dense, white head, industrial pale lagers are known for light to medium hop impressions and very little malt character or flavor as a result of the prevalent use of non-malt additives such as rice and corn to reduce production costs.

Other types of lager include…

America's oldest

Amber Lagers: Amber lagers are a vaguely defined style of lager much favored by US lager brewers. They are darker in color, anywhere from amber to copper hued, and generally more fully flavored than a standard pale lager. Caramel malt flavors are typical and hopping levels vary considerably from one brewery to the next, though they are frequently hoppier than the true Vienna lager styles on which they are loosely based. Alcohol levels are generally a maximum of 5% ABV.

Black/Schwarz Beer: Originally brewed in Thuringia, a state in eastern Germany, these lager style brews were known to be darker in color than their Munich counterparts. Often relatively full-bodied, rarely under 5% ABV, these beers classically feature a bitter chocolate, roasted malt note and a rounded character, and hop accents are generally low. This obscure style was picked up by Japanese brewers and is made in small quantities by all of Japan’s major brewers. Schwarz beers are not often attempted by US craft brewers.

Bock: Bocks are a specific type of strong lager historically associated with Germany and specifically the town of Einbeck. These beers range in color from pale to deep amber tones, and feature a decided sweetness on the palate. Bock styles are an exposition of malty sweetness that is classically associated with the character and flavor of Bavarian malt. Alcohol levels are more potent, typically 5-6% ABV, and hop aromas are generally low though hop bitterness can serve as a balancing factor against the malt sweetness. Many of these beers’ names or labels feature some reference to a goat, which is a play on words in that the word bock also refers to a male goat in the German language. Many brewers choose to craft these beers for consumption in the spring (often called Maibock) or winter, when their warmth can be fully appreciated.

Dark Lager/Dunkel: Dunkel is the original style of lager, serving as the forerunner to the pale lagers of today. They originated in and around Bavaria, and are widely brewed both there and around the world. This is often what the average consumer is referring to when they think of dark beer. At their best these beers combine the dryish chocolate or licorice notes associated with the use of dark roasted malts and the roundness and crisp character of a lager. Examples brewed in and around Munich tend to be a little fuller-bodied and sometimes have a hint of bready sweetness to the palate, a characteristic of the typical Bavarian malts used.

Beautiful Salvator Dopplebocks

Doppelbock: This is a sub-category of the bock style. Doppelbocks are extra strong, rich and weighty lagers characterized by an intense malty sweetness with a note of hop bitterness to balance the sweetness. Color can vary from full amber to dark brown and alcohol levels are potently high for lagers, typically 7-8% ABV. Doppelbocks were first brewed by the Paulaner monks in Munich. At the time, it was intended to be consumed as "liquid bread" during Lent. Most Bavarian examples end in the suffix “ator,” in deference to the first commercial example which was named Salvator (savior) by the Paulaner brewers.

Dortmunder Export: Well balanced, smooth, and refreshing, Dortmunders tend to be stronger and fuller than other pale lagers or Munich Helles styles. They may also be a shade darker and a touch hoppier. The style originates from the city of Dortmund in northern Germany. Dortmunder Export came about during the industrial revolution, when Dortmund was the center of the coal and steel industries, and the swelling population needed a hearty and sustaining brew. The "export" appendage refers to the fact that Dortmunder beers were "exported" to surrounding regions. Today the term Dortmunder widely refers to stronger lagers brewed for export, though not necessarily from Dortmund.

Eisbock: This is the strongest type of bock. It is made by chilling a doppelbock until ice is formed. At this point, the ice is removed, leaving behind a brew with a higher concentration of alcohol. This also serves to concentrate the flavors, and the resultant beer is rich and powerful, with a pronounced malt sweetness and a warm alcoholic finish. Alcohol levels run to at least 8% ABV.

Billy Goat Gruff

Maibock/Pale Bock: Maibocks are medium to full-bodied lagers whose alcohol content can vary widely though is typically between 5-6% ABV. The color of pale bocks can vary from light bronze to deep amber and they are characterized by a sweet malty palate and subtle hop character. As its name would suggest this is a bock style that traditionally makes a spring appearance in May as a celebration of a new brewing season. In a Germanic brewers portfolio it should conventionally have a less assertive character than other bock offerings later in the year.

Munich Helles: Munich helles is a style of lager originating from Munich which is very soft and round on the palate with a pale to golden hue. These beers traditionally tend to be quite malt accented with subtle hop character. They are generally weightier than standard pale lagers though less substantial than Dortmunder Export styles. All the finest examples still come from the brewing center of Munich and are relatively easy to find in major US markets.

Vienna Style Lagers and Marzen/Fest Beers: The classic amber to red lager which was originally brewed in Austria in the 19th century has come to be known as the Vienna style. These are reddish-amber with a very malty toasted character and a hint of sweetness. This style of beer was adapted by the Munich brewers and in their hands has a noted malty sweetness and toasted flavor with a touch more richness. The use of the term Marzen, which is German for March, implies that the beer was brewed in March and lagered for many months. On a label, the words "fest marzen" or "Oktoberfest" generally imply the Vienna style. Oktoberfest beers have become popular as September seasonal brews among US craft brewers, though they are not always classic examples of the German or Austrian style.

Eins, zwei, zuffa!

As you can see, there is an entire universe of lagers out there that are not simple industrial, corn-based, yellow, fizzy swill beers. They literally range in color from very light to very dark, and offer a wide spectrum of flavors from sweet chocolate and licorice maltiness to bitter and zesty hop characters. You really do owe it to yourself to give these lesser-known but infinitely better variations of cold-fermented brew a try. You won’t be sorry.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

Social Drinking

Someone once said that beer drinking is a team sport. Okay, I admit that someone may have been me, but I can quote myself… I do it all the time. What I mean by “team sport” isn’t just an appeal to get others to go drinking with me so I don’t have to drink alone. It also refers to the joy of sharing beers and beer knowledge with others who are equally obsessed as you are.

His blog was written in iambic pentameter

It can also refer to today’s social media network and that applies to drinking beer. There are lots of different ways to use social media to enhance your craftiness, and here are a few that I routinely engage in:

1)      Read blogs (which is something you are obviously already doing). Beer brewers love to share their experiences and knowledge with anyone who will listen or read, so there are literally thousands of beer related blogs out there. Some, like this one, leave much to be desired while others are fascinating. I recommend going to any national brewery’s website and looking around a few minutes, and you’ll probably find a link to a blog with interesting stories about their brewing, publicity stunts and just about anything else you might want to read about.

2)      Write a blog. If you are knowledgeable, or if you’re just a talented writer with interesting stories to tell. The blogosphere needs you to help saturate things with more blogs about beer and fewer blogs about kittens. You can be as serious or not so much as you wish… there is something for everyone.

Join us, won't you?

3)      Join Untappd. Untappd is an online beer drinking management dashboard that allows you to keep track of what you’ve been drinking and share that information with your friends. You have the opportunity to learn more about your beers and earn badges for your efforts. Plus, I believe the brewers get statistics from Untappd which help them do a little market research and better deliver their products. Untappd is also available as an ap for your droid or iPhone, so you can check in your brews on the go.

4)      Post on Facebook/Twitter. Perhaps the simplest so far, simply write about the beers you’re drinking on your Facebook wall and tell all of your friends what you’re up to. Or tweet about the brews you’re drinking. You can give your critiques of the beers, do your best to describe what you’re experiencing, or just tell people what you’re drinking. You can even take pictures of your beers and post them on Facebook too.

A lineup of beers I posted on Facebook last Christmas

There are a lot of options here. Have fun with it and enjoy craft beer, and remember that we want to know what you’re drinking. So tell the world!

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

ABV vs IBUs, In Chart Form

Ever wonder where your favorite brews fall in comparison to other styles in terms of bitterness (IBUs) and alcohol-by-volume (ABV)? Luckily for all of us, there’s a graph for that.

A picture tells a thousand words, but a chart never shuts up.

What stands out here? How about the light lager that lives in loserville in both ABV and IBUs? Actually, that’s not surprising at all. Notice that the dark beers are scattered all over the place, indicating that the color of your beer has nothing to do with strength, or bitterness. Notice that the American Barleywine is more bitter than the American IPA (although it should be pointed out that the British Barleywine wouldn’t be, and if that American IPA was a double or imperial IPA, it would probably out-bitter the Barleywine). Also, look at those two Belgians that are low on the bitterness scale, but high on the alcohol scale… big mash equals lots of fermentables and sweeter flavor, but not necessarily a good bitter balance.

Then again, it might just be a cool-lookin chart.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

DC Brau... Right Now!!!

Here are a few words about one of the local breweries operating in my neck of the woods… DC Brau Brewing.

DC Brau Brewing was founded in 2011 in Washington, D.C. It is the first brewery to operate inside the District of Columbia since 1956, when the Heurich Brewery closed. The brewery is the brainchild of Brandon Skall, the brewery's business manager, and Jeff Hancock, its brew master.

Hancock has brewed at Grizzly Peak Brewing and Arbor Brewing, both in Ann Arbor, Michigan, and at Flying Dog Brewery in Frederick, Maryland.

DC Brau's inaugural beer is "The Public," an American pale ale style beer. The brewery has plans to release an India Pale Ale style called "The Corruption," and a Belgian-style pale ale called "The Citizen." All of its beers are packaged in aluminum cans, which as I’ve explained in prior blog posts, is one of the emerging trends in brewing.

The Regulars

Like any local environmentally-conscience company would do, all of the brewery's waste is delivered to a family-owned farm in Haymarket, Virginia, where it is converted into animal feed and composting material. The brewery also plans to have the farm plant a crop of hops that will be used to make a single batch limited annual release beer. How about those local brewers?

Cool lookin cans

So if you live in the DC area, go get some DC Brau and support your local brewers. If you don’t live in the DC area, support YOUR local brewers... whoever they may be.

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!

Our Enemy is Clever

Not quite getting it since 2008

Our enemy is not crafty, but they are certainly adept at finding devious ways to sneak their influence into our craft-brewed world. Consider this blog post a public service, informing all who read it of the truth behind the Craft Brew Alliance (or CBA).

What is the Craft Brew Alliance you ask? It was first formed as the Craft Brewers Alliance in 2008 when two of the Pacific Northwest-based crafty power-brewers merged into one super company. The two breweries were Widmer Brothers Brewing and Redhook Ale Brewery. They added Hawaii-based Kona Brewing Company to their alliance in 2010. By pulling their efforts and resources, the three breweries were able to cut costs and expand distribution across the entire Unites States and beyond. They grew into one of the largest beer brewing efforts in the world.

Be on the lookout for these would-be crafty brewers

So far, it sounds like an effective business model, and as long as the quality of the product doesn’t diminish, which many craft beer enthusiasts maintain it hasn’t, what exactly is the problem? The problem is Anheuser-Busch – those no-talent-purveyors of industrial, corn/rice-based, yellow, fizzy swill beer that have been ruining beer brewing’s good name for the past 150 years. Somewhere in CBA’s expansion phase, they entered into an agreement with AB in which CBA gets to use AB’s distribution network in exchange for AB owning 32.2% of the business. In other words, the Craft Brew Alliance sold out. Giants of our industry and well respected craft brewers since the beginning of our revolution, Widmer Brothers, Redhook and Kona are now no better than the big beer miscreants that pollute the palates of beer drinkers everywhere.

Besties since 2011

This whole mess also resulted in another casualty – Goose Island Brewery, which is located in the Chicago, Illinois area. During their colonization period, CBA acquired 42% of Goose Island to add to their galaxy of crafty beer. Goose Island, which has been brewing crafty beer since the late ‘80s, announced in 2011 that it was selling their remaining 58% stake to Anheuser-Busch. CBA then sold their 42% stake to AB, resulting in 100% ownership of Goose Island by AB. This was an arrangement that was probably agreed upon by all parties involved ahead of time, but it’s still very much NOT okay.

Please do not misunderstand me… I am not against Capitalism, branching out, expansion, growing the business, or any other effective business practices that helps the bottom-line. I am, however, against sacrificing principles and quality in order to get there. Craft breweries like Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Kona and Goose Island were some of the pioneers of craft brewing, and now they have all sold out in order to position themselves for mass production and mass distribution. I know that it’s primarily just distribution and not production that’s affected by this AB ownership nonsense, but Anheuser-Busch is not just a competitor – they are the enemy. Their corny brewing practices spit in the face of everything craft brewing is about. If you sell out to them, you are just as guilty as they are, in spite of what you’re brewing. Personally, I’ve had many of the beers made by these sell-outs and many of them are very good all things considered. I will even drink them if in the absence of better non-sell-out alternatives. But allegiances with the enemy cannot go overlooked.

So now you know. The next time you see a bottle of Widmer Brothers, Redhook, Kona or Goose Island, know that you’re actually looking at a bottle of Anheuser-Busch’s efforts to take over craft brewing, and that you have the Craft Brew Alliance to thank for that. In my opinion, if they take it over, what’s to stop them from eliminating it all together?

Here’s to craft-brewed happiness… Cheers!