Last Call: Texas Judge Rules on Crowlers; BA Addresses Diversity in Brewing

Texas Judge: “There is no material difference between growlers and crowlers”

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A little more than a year ago, the Texas Alcoholic Beverage Commission (TABC) raided Austin-based Cuvee Coffee Bar and seized its Crowler machine. At the time, the state’s alcohol control board had banned the use of the 32 oz. sealed cans of to-go beer, arguing that bars offering them were acting as manufacturers. Regulators had threatened to pull the sales licenses of bars that used the machine, yet the state still permitted glass growlers to be filled.

Last week, Texas administrative judge John Beeler struck a blow to the state’s case providing a decision that refuted the state’s arguments, according to the San Antonio Current.

“There is no material difference between growlers and crowlers,” Beeler wrote in his decision.

Beeler went on to dissect the state’s claims that crowlers “jeopardizes the general welfare, health and safety of the people” because “beer in crowlers is not properly oxidized, organisms can get into the product.”

“It appears disingenuous for (TABC) Staff to assert crowlers are dangerous to the public, unless they are sold at brewpubs,” Beeler wrote.

Beeler’s decision that Cuvee wasn’t in violation of the law was limited to just the case at hand, Cuvee’s attorney Angel Tomasino told the Current.

“As of now, TABC has not changed their stance on crowlers, so they could still take action against other retailers — including Cuvee — if they find them using the crowler machine,” Tomasino told the Current in an email. “That said, Judge Beeler’s opinion was fairly broad.”

The Brewers Association Addresses Diversity in Beer

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In her latest column, Julia Herz, the BA’s craft beer program director, tackled the difficult topic of diversity in craft beer.

Herz admitted that craft beer industry members have a lot of work to do to improve inclusiveness and pointed to the annual Craft Brewers Conference, where the attendees are predominantly white males, as evidence.

“It’s fair to want beer to represent our diverse population in an equal manner,” she wrote. “We need to do a better job of attracting a diverse group of consumers, community employees, and owners. Always.”

So how is the BA planning to address it?

The trade organization will look to discuss diversity more and survey its members to gain a better understanding of the industry’s makeup. Also on tap:

“Continue to work with on- and off-premises data companies to quantify the craft beer market regarding women, people of various ethnic backgrounds, income groups, and use of technology,” Herz wrote. “Operate with the belief that there have been significant increases in women starting, owning, and working in breweries and enjoying craft beer with continued opportunity ahead. As well, we will further our belief that there is significant opportunity to make progress with entrepreneurs, employees, and customers of all racial and ethnic backgrounds, who can by the strength of their diversity benefit the craft brewing community for decades to come.”

It’s not all negative. Herz pointed to a 2014 Stanford University survey of more than 2,500 breweries that showed 21 percent of breweries had at least one woman in a leadership role.

“Compared to similar industries, that number is actually relatively high,” Herz wrote.

GABF Winners Analyzed

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The more you play, the better the chances of winning. That’s the takeaway from Brewers Association chief economist Bart Watson, who analyzed this year’s winners from the Great American Beer Fest in which California “cleaned up.”

The Golden State won 68 medals from 1,312 entries; California was expected to win 49.86 medals, so the actual rate of return was 5.2 percent, besting the 3.8 percent projection.

How did California breweries do it?

“Not only did they enter harder categories than average (average expected rate is 3.9 percent), but they won at a rate more than a full point above expectation,” Watson wrote. “Other states managed similar feats (see Virginia), but it’s hard to overstate how hard that is, given the massive number of entries from California. If we use the last three years of data, California has now won 5.2 percent of its entries (3,473 entries over three years) versus an expected 4.2 percent. With a sample size that large, there’s less than a five percent chance that would happen randomly, and suggests there are other factors that California is rising to the top – most likely its highly competitive marketplace.”

Virginia claimed 14 medals on 200 entries. The expected rate of return was 3.9 percent.

“Over the last three years, 30 states have entered 200 or more entries, and no one had ever won even six percent of those entries until Virginia’s performance this year,” Watson wrote.

GABF also saw a rise in the number of sour beers entered into the competition,

“American-Style Sour Ale saw the largest percentage jump of any category, from 1.28 percent of entries in 2015 to 1.93 percent of entries in 2016 – a total jump of 56 entries,” Watson wrote. “

Meanwhile, there was a drop in the number of entrants in the Session IPA and American-Style IPA categories. Does this forecast the end of IPAs dominance on the American market?

“Sales data begs to differ,” Watson wrote. “This leads me to a gamer theoretic conclusion: brewers are entering more strategically, and steering away from categories they think they have a low chance of winning.”

More analysis is available on the BA website.

Navy Clamps Down on Fun at Young Veterans Brewing Company

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Young Veterans Brewing Company has run into issues with the U.S. Navy, which is enforcing strict guidelines in a restrictive use easement, according to Southside Daily.

Young Veterans Brewing Company owners and Army veterans Thomas Wilder and Neil McCanon have invested $1.5 million into their brewery, but the Navy is clamping down on what’s allowed at the brewery. So that means no games, live music, food trucks or TVs.

“They were concerned that we had music playing at all,” Wilder told Southside Daily. “Having Pandora playing in the background was a concern for them.”

Break those rules, and the brewery’s owners will reportedly find themselves in federal court due to a restrictive use easement that the United States purchased for $900 million in 1983 that allows the government to restrict activities on 219 acres of land near Naval Air Station Oceana.

Wilder is reportedly arguing that the Navy is broadly interpreting the easement to the detriment of his business.

“The Navy wants to prevent us from doing anything that is fun or entertaining to prevent people from hanging out in our taproom in an event that a jet crashes and kills everybody,” Wilder told the paper.

The current solution for Young Veterans: Follow the rules, but allow people to bring their own food and games into the brewery.

Northwest Peaks Brewery Buys Spinnaker Bay Brewing Assets

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Seattle’s Northwest Peaks Brewery has acquired the assets of Spinnaker Bay Brewing, including its brewery and taproom, in a deal that goes into effect December 1, according to a press release.

Northwest Peaks, which started as a nanobrewery in 2010, lost its lease in 2014 and had been searching for a space for its brewing operations ever since. However, the brewery did operate a taproom in Ballard called the Bergschrund by NW Peaks.

Meanwhile, Spinnaker Bay was a microbrewery and taproom found by Janet Spindler and Elissa Pryor in 2012 that didn’t work out.

The deal will enable Northwest Peaks to restart its brewing operations to make small-batch beer in a turnkey operation that can be expanded for more production and a larger brewhouse.

“As we have hit a roadblock with the city of Edmonds to build out a replacement ‘nanobrewery,’ this is a perfect intermediary solution,” Northwest Peaks founder Kevin Klein said in a statement. “Lastly, we will absolutely keep our presence in Ballard, but this will add to our exposure and attract more patrons from a different area of Seattle”

Avery Brewing Discontinues Long-Time Favorites

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Colorado’s Avery Brewing Co. is putting down seven of its loved and often cellared Demons and Dictators beers.

Avery is the latest brewery to kill off some of its long-time beers, joining a list that includes Boulevard, Firestone Walker and Stone Brewing, among others. Even Anheuser-Busch InBev has culled its lineup.

Avery’s Demons of Ale series will be eliminated, meaning The Beast grand cru, Samael’s Ale English-style barleywine and Mephistopheles stout have been exorcised. Avery has also killed off The Kaiser Oktoberfest and The Czar Russian imperial stout in its Dictator Series. Also headed for retirement: Salvation Belgian strong pale ale and DuganA IPA.

However, each of the beers may be resurrected in Avery’s tap room or used in a future barrel-aging project, the company said.

Avery has pardoned The Maharaja Imperial IPA, which survives in year-round four-packs of 12 oz. cans.

“The Demons and Dictators series were ahead of their time when they first came out, but that was over a decade ago” Avery co-founder and CEO Adam Avery said in a press release. “These beers led the way for everything we do today to push the boundaries of our beer. Now we are taking all that courage, expertise, and quality control we gained and amplifying it in a much bigger way in our barrel program. We are not only focused on making our barrel program the biggest out there with annual production of multiple different styles of barrel-aged beer, but more importantly we are committed to making it the best and highest quality. This is challenging us more than we’ve ever challenged ourselves before – and that’s a good thing. It’s hard to say goodbye, but I couldn’t be more excited to see the reaction of our fans when these barrel-aged beers get in their hands.”

Night Shift Ends Growler Program

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Say goodbye to growler fills at Night Shift Brewing. The Everett, Massachusetts-based brewery announced Tuesday in an email to customers that it had phased out growler fills. Why?

“As we’ve grown, our capacity to can and bottle our beer has greatly increased,” Night Shift noted in the emails. “Growlers are convenient, but our QA team’s tests confirmed that cans and bottles preserve freshness best. In our endless quest to serve a world class product, we decided to focus on the best take-home formats.”

If you’re bummed out, maybe find solace in Night Shift’s promise to offer “a variety of one-off cans and even more bottled sours” to-go in the coming months.

Night Shift is also offering to return deposits to customers who return their growlers.

Beer Wish List: Deep Ellum’s Fascinating Bellman

Deep Ellum Brewing Company took its smoked imperial Irish brown ale and aged it in Jameson whiskey barrels. The result — Fascinating Bellman (7.8 percent ABV, 24 IBUs) — out now in 22 oz. bottles and on draft at its Dallas brewery.

The description screams, “buy me now.”

“An aroma of bittersweet bakers chocolate and warm vanilla welcome a flavor of toasted chestnut. The smoke character shows a history not to be forgotten as it fades right before returning with warmth. The resulting ale is fit for members only.”

Where do we join?