Early Draught #5
Tarot cards, weed, and a whole lot of Guinness.
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
I listened to Christmas music in the car on my way to pick up some Mad Elf. And I’ll be doing it again tomorrow to stock up on Celebration. 🎅
🍺 Beer
Seems Guinness also released its first holiday beer yesterday, so I may have to try to snag some Imperial Gingerbread Spiced Stout at some point, as well. (h/t Beer Sommelier)
Tomorrow is “Learn to Homebrew Day.” So, if you’ve been putting it off, now’s your chance! 🥽
… because what else would you be doing on a weekend these days? Great read from VinePair on the origin and business behind one of my favorite breweries: How Lawson’s Finest Liquids Went From Whale to Bodega Staple.
Scrumptious. A classy tribute from 21st Amendment Brewery for Mike “Tasty” McDole includes a heartfelt statement and Tasty IPA collab recipe from which they encourage proceed to be donated to your local homebrew club. 😢
Mike “Tasty” McDole passed away after losing his battle with cancer.
🗣️ Marketing Beer
Gizmo Brew Works, out of Raleigh NC, did what they could to help people figure out where to vote. They created two beers called Civic Duty and Ballot Box, both of which had QR codes that linked to the North Carolina Bureau of Elections website. (h/t /u/Sariel007)
New York’s Threes Brewing has really got the inter-state DTC down pat with shipping available to 12 stats + DC. 🚚
Deschutes Brewery partnered with a bunch of other Oregon brewers to put all their beers in one box to support Wildfire Relief. Reminds me of the Beerfest in a Box that I mentioned in Early Draught #1.
Maker of the top-rated beer on Untappd, Tree House Brewing, is set to open a location on the cape by next summer. ☀️ (h/t /u/GoingCommando18)
I need these Oct.co tarot cards printed and then I need someone to read them and tell me what to look forward to in 2021. Plz thx.
Oct.co’s Tarot of Beer. This one is The Devil (Dopplebock).
🍻 Drinking Beer
6-pack cooler beer tap. Cop or drop?
Legally I can’t condone drinking games because work, but Porch Drinking had some thoughts about how to imbibe on Tuesday night. What was your strategy? 🇺🇸
If you’re one of those taking advantage of the fall weather and getting that sweet sweet outdoor time, and you happen to be trekking the Colorado Trail, here’s where you should be stopping for a brew along the way. (h/t Rad Craft)
If there wasn’t beer involved, was it even a hike?
😝 Un-Beer
Cann, the first cannabis-infused “social tonic” has bagged a decent investment from Goop-queen Gweneth and a bunch of other celebs… PLUS they have a rad parallax site. 🤙
Also, SweetWater Brewing was acquired by cannabis company Aphria. And lots of new legal states after this election, plus the whole Oregon thing. Weed, man, doing big things. 🌳
Look out Kyle from Summer House, White Claw’s got a hard tea coming our way end of Q1 2021. *obligatory Kermit meme*
Whole Foods dropped their Top Food Trends of 2021, and it includes boozy booch. (h/t Indie CPG)
Eater Wine Club. Enjoy.
🤖 Bev Tech and Things
“37.5% of restaurants said they would not have been able to stay in business without partnering with third-party delivery apps.” Juicy research from Raydiant on the reopening of restaurants, new tech, delivery partners, and ratings & reviews.
Pernot Ricard gave up on OPN, their smart at-home cocktail solution ($). Good effort though.
Meanwhile, Costa Coffee goes the opposite way and picks up automated coffee machine maker, Briggo. They also decided to rebrand it as BaristaBot. ☕ (h/t BevNet)
In other acquisitions, goPuff (food, alcohol, snack delivery) just bought BevMo! (west coast booze retailer) for a big $350 mil. (h/t @guhlo)
Boxed Water did a life cycle study for their packaging; turns out the boxes have a lower environmental impact than cans or plastic bottles. (h/t BevNet) Seems like maybe BeatBox Bev ($) is moving in the right direction.
Just some of Boxed Water’s life cycle study findings.
📲 Follow of the Week
You must check out @theguinnessguru on TikTok. He’s up over 250k followers and tests out a whole bunch of funky Guinness combos (his fave so far is Guinness and cranberry juice).
He also did a blind test of regular vs double zero, but I won’t spoil those results here.
📣📣📣 Guinness marketing folks, get at this guy!
📸 Can of the Week
Run Wild IPA from Athletic Brewing in Stratford, CT. Perfect post-run refresher for those still getting miles in before it gets too cold.
