The sun is out here in Madison, Wisconsin, and I’m enjoying a all-Nelson Sauvin IPA called Smell Ya Later (ha-ha!) while finishing up this edition of the newsletter at Working Draft Beer Company. It’s been another week of listening to and learning from women in the beer industry, and my biggest fear is the momentum from last week won’t translate to action in the weeks to come.
The good news is that the industry’s issues are getting more attention in mainstream media. Buzzfeed interviewed writer Beth Demmon this week, who was at the forefront of covering this issue. VT Digger covered the issue from a local perspective in Vermont and KTVU in the Bay Area covered the local angle there. The Boston Globe profiled Notch’s Brienne Allan who may have single-handedly started this movement in the beer industry by sharing victim’s stories on Instagram.
But getting mainstream attention won’t mean much if the learnings of the past week don’t result in action. Beth Demmon covered what those actions might be when it comes to industry and brewery leadership in Good Beer Hunting. Kate Bernot has a great follow-up piece there as well about how the industry could grapple with the fallout and what justice looks like for victims. And Dave Infante discussed collective action in his most recent piece in Vinepair.
And let’s keep this conversation top of mind and take actions at a personal level as beer-drinking consumers so we can say “smell ya later” to sexism in the beer industry.
Brooklyn breweries get carbon-neutral grain delivery
It’s not every day that a cart pulled by two draft horses rolls up to a brewery in Brooklyn. It’s especially strange when that cart is carrying over a ton of malted barley to make a delivery. But that’s what happened on Saturday when Wild East Brewing Co. got their carbon-neutral shipment of grain from up the Hudson River. It’s part of an effort by the owners of the Schooner Apollonia to bring sail freight back to the Hudson River. The 64-foot steel-hulled schooner sailed its way down the river from Hudson, with six tons of grain from Hudson Valley Malt in its cargo hold. Upon arriving in Red Hook on Saturday, the horse-and-cart delivery made the trip to Gowanus to drop off malt at both Wild East and Strong Rope Brewery — who received a shipment of malt from the Apollonia last summer.
The effort to bring “wind-powered” freight back to the Hudson started when the 1946 schooner began to be overhauled in 2015. After that work, Captain Sam Merrett and his crew first piloted the Apollonia to some Hudson Valley locations early last summer before their first voyage to Brooklyn last August. The 78-mile trip between Hudson and Brooklyn took six days, and the return trip is underway with a stop in Ossining last night to drop off malt at Sing Sing Kill Brewery.
The malt that Wild East received from the Apollonia will be used in the next batch of their Alfresco Kolsch — an all-New York ingredient crusher made for summertime crushing. Look for that beer in a few weeks’ time at the taproom and in cans.
Attack of the Summer Seltzers!
So this is it, huh? This is the year when a whole bunch of breweries in town release hard seltzers, isn’t it? Yup. We already warned you about this a few weeks ago, and since that time, Five Boroughs has officially rolled out their line of Party Water seltzers. Now, even more breweries are getting in on this trend.
Threes Brewing released their first seltzer yesterday. Their line is called Sidenote and the first release has beer-drinker appeal: it’s a lime and ginger seltzer with Motueka hops. The hop addition is described as “a bridge between beer and something else,” and real organic lime and ginger lend it some authenticity. It’s available now at their brewery in Gowanus, bar in Greenpoint, shop in Huntington, and through their delivery service.
We had mentioned last month that Other Half planned to release some seltzers made at their Domino Park location in Williamsburg, and they’ve followed through with their first can release this week. Their seltzer line is called Oh2, and the first two flavors are the aptly-named All Citrus Everything with lemon, orange, and pink grapefruit, and the Ginger Lime Mule, a fizzy take on the Moscow Mule. They’re available now at both Brooklyn locations.
Finally, Sixpoint also got into the seltzer game this month with the release of Party Poppers, their new seltzer brand that comes in four flavors: Tiki Lemon Bar, Triple Berry, Lime Cucumber, and Passion Fruit Orange Guava. Their lineup is available in 12-packs in stores now.
Brewery Tracker
Total brewery count: 2,205
New breweries in 2021: 125
Breweries visited with “Son” or “Sons” in their name: 8
Brewery Visit of the Week
Brewery #2172, Rahr & Sons Brewing Company, Fort Worth, Texas (Visited 1-May-2021)
Since 2004, Rahr & Sons has been churning out lagers out of their space near downtown Fort Worth. They were doing lagers before it was cool. And their history goes back even further — founder Fritz Rahr, Jr.’s great-great grandfather founded Eagle Brewery, the first lager brewery in Wisconsin, in the 1800s, and Rahr has been a name in the malting industry for over a century. Naturally, I was expecting some delicious crispy bois at this spot.
They did not disappoint.
The gold-standard is the Ugly Pug, a roasty black lager with notes of chocolate and chicory that warmed me on a cool, overcast day in Texas. The Rahr’s Blonde is a very crushable traditional Helles that’s equally worthy of sipping. And while lagers are their specialty, the Dadgum IPA with Citra and Lemondrop hops could give California-brewed West Coast IPAs a run for their money.
Beer of the Week
7th Anniversary West Coast IPA
Alvarado Street Brewery (Salinas, California)
American IPA
7% ABV
The wonderful Jen Schwertman, proprietor of Fluid State Beer Garden in Ventura, California, gave me this can on a visit there a couple weeks ago (New York beer drinkers may know her from her many years at Blind Tiger). I didn’t quite know what I was in for — I’ve always known Alvarado Street to be a hype-beast brewery that specializes in Hazy IPAs. And while this beer still manages to not be a fully-traditional West Coast IPA, it manages to pack in a walloping piney bitterness balanced with some tropical notes that are more the brewery’s specialty. It’s a nod to the IPAs of yore with a hop lineup of Centennial, CTZ, and Simcoe, but it’s new-world with Citra, Mosaic, and Ekuanot lupulin powder. I really appreciated this hybrid and it was very much worthy of the anniversary celebration behind it.
Long Read of the Week
Ruvani De Silva has a rundown of five Asian-Indian beer pioneers to watch for. Included in the mix is Nirav Vyas, who founded NYC-based 1947 Craft Beer, a beer that’s crafted to be paired with Indian food and is quickly landing on the menu of some of the city’s finest Indian restaurants.
One More Thing
I swear I’ll finally cover off on summer beers next week. But it’s a rainy, raw 48°F here in Madison this morning, so it just doesn’t feel right. Have a great holiday weekend!
Smell ya later,
Chris