Category: Beer Trends

Hard Seltzers Ain’t Hurtin’ This Beer Geek

DC Brau hard seltzer “Grapefruit Crush”

If Beer Twitter didn’t love to talk about hard seltzers so much, I don’t think I would notice them anymore.

When seltzers started becoming big and trending and we started seeing big ends of them at the grocery store and it was White Claw Summer and all that, yes, I noticed.

But now, seltzers blend into the background for me.

I can still get all the same Indie Beer I could before the seltzer boom. The taps are mostly the same. The part of the shelf I look at for beer in the grocery store, looks the same.

Although I think the Big Beer section looks like it has more seltzers and less beer, but I really don’t know.

So, what is the fuss?

Make that money. Whatever it takes for a brewery to stay Indie and open is cool by me.

Have a new seltzer release every week. Be like Humble Sea is with their beers and slightly change one ingredient and call it a brand new name and slap a new label on it every week! Go for it.

As long as I can still get all the Craft Beer I want, have your fun with your seltzers. Just keep making beer and putting on the shelves is all I ask.

Suburban Beer Drinking

Me “Suburb Drinking” with a local beer

I don’t really know that I truly live in the suburbs.

Geographically I am in the middle of the city. My neighborhood is 70 years old. Can that still be called “the suburbs”?

I had always thought of the suburbs as like, the small towns and track homes around the city as the real suburbs.

Well anyway, I live in a house that 60 years ago, was the edge of town. So … vintage suburbs then.

Which finally leads me to: Do we drink differently in the suburbs? Are beer trends the same as the core of the city? What about people out in the country?

Do I drink more living where I am at? Less? ANY difference than if I lived in a loft downtown?

Maybe.

A different part of the city might be closer to taprooms or breweries. Another has basic liquor stores. Out in the boonies you have a small country market.

That would have to make a difference, right?

I feel like I drink more grocery store beer than anybody in a different part of the city or countryside.

Are styles used differently? More Lagers out in the boonies? More Stouts in track homes?

Guess I’ll keep trying to figure this out.

File Under: Drinking & Thinking. Habits.

What Should I Do With These Old Beers!?

For various reasons I have these old beers.

Mostly they were bought on accident, either from not checking the dates or unable to see the dates due to the packaging. One is a gifted old beer.

Should I throw them out?

Yeah but there’s nothing worse than an old IPA, especially a hazy.

I currently have the space for them. They may not taste good but they are still beer. And I don’t have an infinite beer budget and sometimes run out BUT still really want a beer.

And sometimes a dude will show up and just want beer and not care how old they are.

Well, I guess I’ll keep them around then. Since I have the space for them at the moment.

Glad I worked that “problem” out here.

If I only live bed in a place that snowed and I needed to save parking spots, my problem would be solved here:

What do you do with your old hoppy beers?

Cold IPAs are Pale Lagers but whatever, OK

We are so desperate to have IPA in the description of our beers that peeps are making pale lagers and assigning a new IPA term to them.

So yeah, a couple of breweries are trying to create a style of beer called “Cold IPA“ but in actuality it’s a hoppy lager with a large ABV.

Yeah, you know what? Fuck it.

Why not just call everything IPAs from here on out?

  • Brown IPA
  • Stout IPA
  • Barrel Aged Stout IPA
  • Farmhouse IPA
  • Seltzer IPA
  • Your Mom’s IPA

Less arguing and confusion now.

Every beer style should just have IPA at the end of it so we can move on to just drinking beer without prejudice.

Things To Be Dankful For [Drinking & Thinking Vol 11]

Welcome! Come on inside. You are safe. I will keep my mask on the entire time you’re in my newsletter shop.

Meme That Made Me Nod With Agreement (courtesy of Al Green)

As much as I agree with this and find it boring to use the same hops over and over, I also will buy this hop combo again and again. Forever.

Stone Of Controversy

As the drama continues regarding Stone vs. SawStone (Stone’s CEO left the company), a great byproduct happened this week. The Full Pint offered $500 to someone with inside knowledge of what’s going on at Stone…

…and then Stone’s Greg Koch comes in with a nice comment:

Gotta love the beer world.

Packaging Of The Week!

Stone & Modern Times colab for video play magic. This is available nationwide. The actual beer is a Hazy Coffee IPA. I don’t really know what the hell that is but I still want it.

Videos Worthy of Watching!

John G from Drakes Brewing kicks off a new video series by Drakes. In it, he leans into you for not liking pales more. I think I agree.

From the nice and knowledgeable blokes at The Craft Beer Channel, a solid primer on the basics of being a good beer geek when shopping for the right beer:

Beer That Stopped Me Scrolling

Definitely the beer I feel like I saw the most on Instagram this week, “Insert Hip Hop Reference There” by Trillium. Never had it, always wanted to though. Love that damn can art:

Window Of My Dreams

I did not think I’d be linking to a New York Post article today but I am because I think the concept of a wine window is rad:

(photo: nypost.com)

So yeah, the pandemic has sparked Italy to bring back a concept that the bubonic plague brought about: wine windows. The benefit is obvious right now, as little as contact as possible. Just move the concept over to taprooms and beer and we are set.

I have written about how we need more walk-up window style things, even before COVID-19, I would really love to see updated versions of these windows around the beer world, even staying after this is all over.

(Thanks to BenjClark for the heads up on the article)

Release To Look Out For

It’s been a while since I’ve gotten excited about a Sierra Nevada release. Besides the lovely can art and promise of dankness, Sierra has already committed (yes, before you even buy it) at least one million dollars towards community non-profits. The money will be helped by the sale of this beer, but Sierra will donate at least one million no matter what the beer brings in. Look for it mid-September.


Thank you for reading! Please subscribe if you are new here and think this newsletter is mildly rad.

Be safe out there picking up your beer!

-Mikey