News

Craft beer industry news.

Chicagoland Craft Beer Bar to Open On-Site Brewery

Tribes Alehouse, one of Chicagoland’s premiere craft beer bars with locations in Mokena and Tinley Park, is excited to announce the construction of its new on-site brewery, Tribes Beer Company. The 7-barrel, all steam system is being built adjacent to the Mokena location in a 2,000 square foot space, with an expected spring 2015 opening.

Ska and Stone Brewing to Collaborate

It’s official! Ska Brewing Company and Stone Brewing Co. will be brewing a beer together this Friday, January 30 at Stone Brewing World Bistro & Gardens – Liberty Station.

Oskar Blues Doubles Draft Lines at Tasty Weasel Taproom in North Carolina

Tap into this, y’all! Oskar Blues Brewery is doubling the number of draft taps at the Tasty Weasel Taproom. Starting on Thursday, January 29, there will be 16 taps of super-fresh craft beer pouring at all times. In addition to the brewery’s core line-up of year-round brews (listed below), the taproom will now offer at least five specialty brews on draft, including one-offs and many OB beers never quaffed before in North Carolina.

Ekos Software Partners with 150 Breweries in 8 Months

“Since launching Ekos Brewmaster in April 2014, we’ve seen an amazing response from the craft beer community,”said Greg Forehand, CEO of Ekos. “Over the past eight months we’ve partnered with more than 150 production breweries and are on track to top 400 breweries using the system by the end of 2015. Ekos Brewmaster was designed to suit craft breweries of all sizes, and we are now seeing that vision realized. With breweries ranging from nano-sized startups to well-established breweries with regional distribution, we are finding that the flexibility and affordability of the system gives every craft brewery an option to manage their day-to-day operations.”

Inside A-B InBev’s Acquisition of Elysian Brewing

Inside A-B InBev’s Acquisition of Elysian Brewing

Last Friday’s announcement that Anheuser-Busch InBev would acquire Seattle’s beloved Elysian Brewing caught many in the industry by surprise. How could a company that celebrated its independence with a beer carrying the tagline “corporate beer still sucks” — a name derived from as anti-as-they-come-band Nirvana — sell to the one company so many of its consumers refuse to support? That’s something that even its founder and brewer, Dick Cantwell, a stalwart member of the Brewers Association, is wondering.

Tapping Change

Tapping Change

For many small breweries, taprooms provide an imperative part of the business equation, inventing additional revenue streams while creating invaluable marketing opportunities. In fact, there has been an industry-wide recognition of that prospect, according to Bart Watson, chief economist of the Brewers Association, who argues that the manufacturer/taproom has even superseded the brewpub as a preferred business model.

Victory Brewing Makes Helles Lager Available Nationwide

In response to growing consumer demand and appreciation for a crisp-tasting lager beer, Victory Brewing Company (Victory) is excited to share their best-kept secret with full distribution of Victory Helles Lager to 35 states. Long held as an extremely popular favorite in the Philadelphia region because of the area’s longtime love affair with lagers, Victory Helles Lager is made in traditional German style creating a full-bodied golden brew with unsurpassed balanced flavors.

Wisconsin Brewing and the University of Wisconsin-Madison to Offer Class in Fermented Foods and Beverages

This spring semester, students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison will have a new opportunity – and given its uniqueness and subject matter, there’s a good chance it will fill up in record time! The University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences and Wisconsin Brewing Company are partnering to teach a Fermented Foods & Beverage laboratory class with real world applications.

Harrisburg Beer Week Launches in April

The first­ ever Harrisburg Beer Week will run April 24 through May 2, 2015 throughout the greater Harrisburg area. The event, the brainchild of local craft beer blogger Tierney Pomone of Stouts and Stilettos, is organized by four local women.

Temperance Beer Company to Release First Bottled Offering

Temperance Beer Company, Evanston’s original brewery, will release its first bottled beer on Saturday, January 31, at noon. After canning three beers beginning last year, including the award-winning Gatecrasher English-Style IPA, Temperance is bottling an extremely limited number of twenty-two-ounce bottles of Barrel-Aged Might Meets Right Imperial Stout.

Low Hop Yields in 2014 Lead to Record Acreage in 2015

Although U.S. growers planted an additional 3,600 acres of hops in 2014, the yields dropped by 4.79 percent. An unseasonably hot July in the Pacific Northwest resulted in lighter cones and yields in some varieties that were down as much as 40 percent, said Douglas MacKinnon, CEO of 47 Hops, an international hops brokerage firm in Yakima, Wash.

The Beer Can Celebrates 80 Years

As America celebrates the 80th anniversary of enjoying beer in a can – one of the country’s greatest advances, the Beer Institute, the trade association representing America’s brewers, beer importers and suppliers, and the Can Manufacturers Institute, the national trade association of the metal can manufacturing industry, celebrate with them. The first beer can was sold in Richmond, Virginia, on January 24, 1935.