Early Draught #7: Four Loko reviews, Willy Wonka wannabes, and dragons. Yep, dragons.
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This Week
I’m listening to the Beer Songs playlist on Spotify as I write this. 🎧 I’ve yet to figure out the connection between the tunes and the title, but it’s got almost 10k followers… could someone explain?
🍺 Beer
“It’s NOT just a phase, Daaaaad.” Double zero beers aren’t going anywhere—and some of them are actually scrumptious—so get with the program. The nearly $200 million in non-alc beer sales speaks for itself. (h/t @guhlo)
If you’re into the science-y side of beer, rejoice! You can now crank up the hop flavor and aroma of your beer by adding this handy product from Lallemand Brewing’s R&D dept to help with biotransformation. 🥽
Martha Stewart (or one of her people) wants to teach you about sour beers. My MIL has occasionally been enjoying fruited sours lately too… trend?
Dog beer from Busch, but how do they even open them?? Free idea, Busch, make the cans edible. Have your pups contact my pups for more of that signature genius.
As if we needed ANOTHER reason to go to Waffle House (not like rn though, please avoid indoor dining 😇), they made a beer! Welcome to the world, Waffle House Bacon & Kegs. (h/t @worstbeerblog)
🗣️ Marketing Beer
Lagunitas has signed on with Canvas Worldwide as their US media AOR. Canvas showed off their beer chops last year with the Heineken 0.0 campaign.
“Breweries are using marketplace and advertising options on Facebook and Instagram to boost sales. At Tioga-Sequoia, about half of their sales volume comes from promoting beers on social media.” Great piece from GBH’s Sightlines on how breweries are using social ads ($). 📱
Former pro football players (this 🏈, not this ⚽), Tony Gonzalez and Jerry Rice, teamed up with Modelo to promote their sweepstakes to “give four lucky fans $25,000 to build their ultimate home stadium.” But how much of that would I be allowed to spend on beer?
If the New Belgium marketing team hasn’t hit this guy up yet, they’re snoozin. He turned a Fat Tire bottle INTO A FREAKIN DRAGON! Glass blowing may have just become my new hobby for season 4 of the pandemic.
PS5 is out (though Spider-Man: Miles Morales does look really cool), and the new BL6 is in! Bud Light has made “The Coolest* Console Ever”. It’s one-of-a-kind and up for auction. Not sure what bidding started at, but last I checked it was up over $5k. All the proceeds are going to support The National Restaurant Association Educational Foundation’s Change Is On The Menu program, and BIDDING ENDS TODAY. G’luck! 🤑 (h/t Uncrate)
The Crushies are coming up! It’s the Craft Beer Marketing Awards, and they honor the best beer marketing and design from around the world. Entry window opens tomorrow, and you’ve got until Jan 29th to get your submissions in.
Brewdog is doing their best Willy Wonka impression. Ten ✨GOLD CANS✨ hidden in 12-packs of Punk IPA. And according to James Watt (a few days ago) there are still 9 of them out there to be found!
🍻 Drinking Beer
As breweries prepare for colder months during new Covid lockdowns, I question whether building a new inside thing outside is really just more inside. Know what I mean? 🦠
Find your everyday stein to be too fragile? Having trouble opening beer bottles with it? Well, do we have the drinking vessel for you! Stanley’s Bottle Opener Stein keeps your beer frosty. Perfect for a hike, I guess? (h/t Uncrate)
😝 Un-Beer
Men’s style-focused Substack, everyplace, gives you The Complete Guide to Building Your Home Bar, with a little help from Holy City Handcraft’s Miguel Buencamino. (h/t Lean Luxe)
Bacardi picked up pre-mixed RTD cocktail company, Tails ($). They grabbed a minority stake a couple years ago, but now they’ve got 100%.
🤖 Bev Tech
An interesting query from Chris Albrecht at The Spoon: Are We Ready for Boozey Vending Machines?
It’s not bev tech per se, but non-bev tech is cool too, right? Here’s Scientific American’s Top 10 Emerging Technologies of 2020. (h/t Sharing Is Caring)
If you’ve mentioned 🤫coffee🤫 anywhere near your phone’s mic recently, then you’ve probably seen these ads for Bottomless. It’s a coffee subscription complete with a scale that knows when you’re running out and sends you more energy beans. Soon we won’t have to think or do anything ourselves! Someone do this for beer tho plz.
📲 Follow of the Week
Hi, my name is Kurt and I spend too much time on TikTok. On the bright side, it leads to finding accounts like this one.
Prescott Vanmeyer III, aka @unemployedwineguy, does semi-serious reviews of only the ~*finest*~ of alcohols. Count on his clips leading to a chuckle or two. With around a dozen episodes so far, he’s reviewed everything from Four Loko to Ranch-flavored soda… also Goldschläger.
*see* *swirl* *sniff* *sip* *savor*
📸 Can of the Week
Peasant King from Burlington Beer Company in Williston, VT. I used this joke on Twitter already, but yolo, re-using it here… it’s the dichotomy between the name of the beer and the brand of the purse for me. Did I do the TikTok trend right? Roast me.