For the second year in a row, Missoula’s The Dram Shop, has been named Montana’s best beer bar in voting conducted by readers of the Brewers Association’s website, CraftBeer.com. It is an impressive feat for an establishment that hasn’t been open a full two years. But step inside the warm, friendly, popular haven of frequently…
The Brewers Association announced the winners of the 2016 World Beer Cup today at the conclusion of the annual Craft Brewers Conference, held this year in Philadelphia, PA. Montana’s Philipsburg Brewing Co. won the silver medal in the American-Style Wheat Beer With Yeast category for its Haybag American Hefeweizen. Billed as the most prestigious beer…
How much influence can a label have? A lot, apparently, if you’ve followed the “craft versus crafty” debate of the past few years. Remember when we called new beers from anyone other than Big Beer microbrews? Those were the days of a few new six-packs from places unknown hitting the grocery shelves. Something unusual with…
To follow up on my post questioning the value of the Brewer Association’s statement on the Food and Drug Administration’s proposed rule on handling spent grain, today the Beer Institute issued a press release detailing its efforts to address the issue. The Beer Institute is a national trade association representing brewers, importers, and industry supplies.…
The importance of having a safe food supply cannot be debated. The best means for providing one can be debated a thousand ways. While beer has been credited with saving the world, it might be safe to say few of us directly connect beer to food safety issues. That changed recently when the Food and…
Did you catch that one? Among the many good and not so good commercials during yesterday’s Super Bowl telecast was a rather odd one from Chrysler featuring Bob Dylan. Dylan starts it off by asking, “Is there anything more American than America?” If that one stumps you, Bob follows it up with a series of…
Brewbound.com ran a story today about a “powerful” speech delivered by Craft Brew Alliances’ CEO, Andy Thomas, at the 2014 Beer Industry Summit being held in Scottsdale, AZ. Check out the full story at the link above. It will provide better context for what follows. In his 45 minute speech, Thomas reportedly took shots at…
This month’s Session* topic is hosted by Derek Harrison of Its Not Just the Alcohol Talking. Derek asks, “Is Craft Beer a Bubble?” More specifically, Derek sets the stage this way: It’s a good time to be in the craft beer industry. The big brewers are watching their market share get chipped away by the…
CraftBeer.com (published by the Brewers Association) today announced the winners of its annual Great American Beer Bars survey. None is anywhere near Montana, though I guess that depends on where in Montana you may be. And your definition of near. When you live in a state where two of its breweries are 640 miles and…
Charlie Papazian would know. He’s been to a lot of them. And as he finished his remarks to the collection of brewers, owners, industry members and fans assembled on a boat cruising Montana’s Flathead Lake, Charlie confidently declared this unique floating brew fest “the best state association gathering ever!” Warm evening sunshine, blue skies and…