Ah, summer. Hot days and muggy nights. Crabs and beer. And juicy garden fresh tomatoes. For me, my garden is pumping out tomatoes faster than we can eat them. We are planning a crab feast for visiting relatives in a few weeks. This week, I have finally started moving on the Maryland Brewery Challenge, visiting number 20 last Sunday and planning number 21 (Falling Branch) this weekend. It is good to have beer loving friends to help me along with this project. Life is good.
So, on this beautiful weekend, find a quiet moment to savor a beer and ponder over these articles about your favorite beverage. Continue reading Weekend Reads→
I encourage you to stay out of the rain this weekend and take it easy. Here are a few articles I have discovered to occupy your time while indoors.
Episode 035 of the Uncapped Podcast interviews Flying Dog’s CEO Jim Caruso, talking about his company’s decision to withdraw from the Brewer’s Association due to BA’s new policies.
For you loyal readers of this blog, (and I know all 6 of you) you know I have challenged myself to visit the 57 Maryland breweries that were members of the Brewers Association of Maryland on January 1st, 2017. I have been sorely remiss in pursuit of my duties in the Maryland Brewery Challenge. So, I called my brother and we headed out to 2 breweries in Montgomery County: Denizens and 7 Locks. Continue reading Denizens Brewing Co.→
I walked into Jailbreak just a few minutes before 3:00 PM and sat at the bar. I was early for the 4th Reform on Tap Task Force, so I thought I’d order a beer. My taste buds were craving my favorite Jailbreak and Howard County beer – VanDammit. Columbia Pint Night member, Z, mentioned he had one on Friday, so this limited release beer was available, or so I thought. The bartender gave me the bad news, “They ran out of VanDammit yesterday.” Errrg! I order a Miami Vice, instead. I really like this kettle-soured Berliner Weisse; the key lime puree gives it a nice fruity sweetness. (but it’s no VanDammit)
The Reform on Tap Task Force kicked off with a few opening words by the Maryland Comptroller, Peter Franchot. Then our host and owner of Jailbreak, Justin Bonner, welcomed us and told us a little about Jailbreak. They just celebrated their third year of business and have 36 employees. Then Justin bought a round for everyone attending the event – nice!
Peter Franchot kicks off Reform on Tap
At this point, let me just say, I’m just a guy who likes to drink good craft beer. In fact, I enjoy it so much, I write this blog about craft beer and I’ve even made a few batches of my own homebrew. For me, finding the next new delicious craft beer is what I live for. On the other hand, the complex Maryland beer laws are an amazing labyrinth of legislation that this easily distracted beer drinker finds tiresome.
Reform on Tap Task Force #4 at Jailbreak
Apparently, the last reform on tap session got a little contested. Some questions from the previous meeting were still unresolved, so they were revisited at the meeting. The Task Force spent nearly an hour talking about the law requiring an 180-day notice to terminate an existing relationship with a wholesaler. 180 days (almost 6 months) seems to me to be a very long time to have to remain in a sour business relationship.
The “buy back” clause was brought up again. Let me get on my soap box about this, one more time. It is good that HB1283 has increased the taproom beer limit to 2000 barrels. It is ludicrous that a brewery can serve an additional 1000 barrels, but only if it is sold to the distributor, touched down at the warehouse and returned to the brewery. In this time of global warming, it is shameful for a governing body to legislate this wasteful, ludicrous practice. If taproom limitations are the goal, just pay a fee to the distributor for the additional barrels.
The beer industry has changed a great deal over the past few decades. In earlier times, there were just a few large brewers and many small distributors. Today, that scenario has been turned on its head, with nearly 70 Maryland brewers and fewer distributors due to consolidation. The laws from the 70’s to protect the small distributor from mighty breweries don’t always apply anymore. Comments from each tier were that they need the other tiers and actually have excellent relationships with them. I believe the tension in the room or the “violent agreement” (my term) is about all these small, new breweries wanting to adjust the rules to protect their interestand give them a chance to compete fairly.
I think Chuck Ferrar of Bay Ridge Wine & Spirits of Annapolis said it best, “We have the same ultimate goal. Sell more beer, make more money.”
Another local issue concerns Crownsville’s Lures Bar and Grille, which a year ago stopped carrying domestic bottles like Budweiser and Miller. Read about their even stronger stand to “discontinuing the sale of products that come through companies owned by Anheuser-Busch.” This means, as Troegs’ rep, Beer_gypsy, told me, Lures pulled all the Troegs’ beer from their store because it was delivered by an Anheuser-Busch distributor. I would be very interested in learning what people think about this.
Finally, Think, Drink, But Then Repeat raises the question, “Can a beer be judged with just one sip?”. This article raises legitimate questions about our obsession with untappd as well as the changing circumstances that affect our beer tasting experience.
