Welcome to Early Draught, a weekly newsletter by Kurt Reckziegel about enjoying, selling, and making good craft beer. If you haven’t subscribed, please do!
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This Week
My wife and I moved out of our apartment and I was able to confidently offer the movers a beer at 10am. Athletic Brewing’s Run Wild IPA *chefs kiss*
🍺 Beer
Bell’s Two Hearted takes top spot in the US. “For the fourth consecutive year, a beer from Comstock, Michigan, has captured the palates of the American Homebrewers Association.” (h/t /u/Janderson2494)
If you happen to be in Gauteng, SA (unsure if I’ve got that global reach yet..), snag yourself a bottle or two of this limited edition barrel-aged mqombothi collab between Brewsters Craft and Soul Barrel Brewing. (h/t Good Beer Hunting)
Portland, prepare your tastebuds for three new canned Pilsners from Von Ebert Brewing coming out today.
272 medals, 240 breweries. This year’s Great American Beer Festival took place virtually for the first time ever a couple weeks ago. Congrats to all the brewers, but I think we can all agree that beer drinkers are the real winners here. Thank you, oh great profferers of frothy beverages. 🙏
Heineken has scooped up the Australian licenses for Stella and Becks, but they also announced big Q1 2021 restructuring that will “will streamline the head office and regional offices with an expected reduction of around 20% in related personnel costs.” Crikey.
It’s not even Halloween (let alone Thanksgiving) yet, and we’re already on to Christmas beers. 🙄 This Candy Cane Stout better be good, Epic Brewing.
🗣️ Marketing Beer
Turns out hitting your thirties isn’t THAT bad, especially when Breckenridge Brewery is celebrating their big three-oh by giving free 12-packs to anyone hitting the milestone sometime in 2020. Happy bday 🎉 (h/t /u/Sariel007)
Even Canadian brands are telling you to vote, so VOTE! Collective Arts and others say so.. please, sorry. 🇨🇦
We're proud to join with fellow brewers to help get out the vote! Check out this round up from @ReadOctober: bit.ly/2HGtmmo Look for our special-edition cans in stores and shop our VOTE tees online: bit.ly/3kwZgQG. Proceeds going to @ACLU. #vote #vote2020Just when you didn’t think beer get any bro-eyer.. Beer, but make it blockchain. This is for real though. AB InBev is using blockchain tech track their supply chain. “Using a QR code, France-based Leffe beer customers will be able to see the entire supply chain journey of the barley used within each pack of beer.”
Dogfish Head and Rowing Blazers are jamming on a merch collab, and it will most definitely be swagful.. swaggy.. swagalicious.. whatever it’ll be really cool. If you haven’t heard of Rowing Blazers, it’s this preppy streetwear brand and you must read this issue Ernest Wilkins’ Office Hours to see what he has to say about it.
Flying Dog swoops in with badass-looking can design for their new all-women brewed fruited kettle sour, Victress. Perfect nod to Pink Boots Society. 💕
Beer and sports: forever intertwined. You saw Rally Buds last week. Now I present to you the official craft brew of the Seattle Seahawks, Prost Malone honoring the Denver Nuggets coach, and Clayton Kershaw’s Wicked Curve.
Ontario brewery, Collective Arts, puts its commitment to diversity on every can. “Collective Arts Brewing weaves its commitment to uplifting these marginalized voices into its brand identity, regularly facilitating programs that showcase artists from these communities that have historically been marginalized by the beer industry.”
🍻 Drinking Beer
Here’s some new data from Brewers Association ($), obtained through Arryved and Secret Hopper. Not super surprised to see that brewery visits are down, because.. COVID, but very happy to see that spending per visit is up. Keep drinking, friends! (but only if you want, no pressure)
Half of consumers are waiting on a COVID vaccine before going back to their favorite bar, according to Nielsen CGA ($).
Do beers ever go extinct? Good Beer Hunting explores the existential question.
Meet Brewers Eye, the unbiased social beer platform owned and run by its community” coming Autumn 2020 (sooooo now?). Their mission: 1- Firmly place breweries back at the heart of beer apps, 2- Provide an unbiased platform to help breweries show how great they are away from the nonsense of ratings and reviews, 3- Empower beer lovers to enjoy, explore, and experience the incredible world of beer. And they’ve locked in some pretty cool brand ambassadors.
Mmmmm love me a good barrel-aged sour with my Skittles. *extrememly Borat voice* NOT. If you’re into that though, give Hop Culture’s beer/candy pairing list a peek.
😝 Stuff almost beer-related (like if you squint a little)
Dude, Where Is My Beer? is an “old school point and click adventure game about finding a pilsner in the confusing world of unnecessary craft beers and snobby hipsters.” 🎮 🍺 🎮 🍺 🎮 🍺 🎮
VICES UNITE!! Saucey (leading alcohol delivery and logistics platform) and Emjay (prominent California focused vertically-integrated cannabis delivery and retail platform) merged to form what Bevnet ($) is calling “the Amazon of Regulated CPG.” Here’s a BusinessWire link if you don’t pay for Bevnet.
Outside is the new inside, so bring on the coziness! Blankets = so hot right now 🔥 WSJ says they’re “the new going-out accessory.” (h/t Lean Luxe)
📲 Follow of the Week
Eugenia Brown, otherwise known as @blackbeerchick on Insta, is a must-follow. She’s a certified beer server/brewer, a Pink Boots Society leader, and started the Road to 100 Initiative (formerly Road to 50, but blew through that milestone), which raises money to helping minority women achieve Cicerone Level 1 Certified Beer Server. If you’ve got some time, listen to her recent interview on the Good Beer Hunting podcast:
📸 Can of the Week
Tattooed Pumpkin from Bronx Brewery in Bronx, NY. Life partner Paige in the background about to nom on some pizza outside Emmy Squared.