The American Craft Beer Rumor Mill – December 9, 2015

American Craft Beer|December 9th, 2015|

Yikes the holiday season has arrived…and clearly nothing is slowing down anytime soon. But no worries Rumor Mill is always on the case, keeping you plugged in to all the craft beer news that matters. Plus we’ve an all-important update on what we’ve been drinking lately and you absolutely don’t want to miss that.

More Progressive Death Metal Beer (Stockholm, SE) – So many bands have announced their own beers this year. Slayer has one, as does Behemoth, Cannibal Corpse and, of course, Motörhead. And now another band has entered the craft beer arena. According to MetalInjection, Sweden’s Opeth have teamed up with UK-based Northern Monk Brew Company and brewed a headlining 9.2% Imperial Stout that celebrates their 25 years of recording and touring together.

Deschutes Up To Good (Bend, OR) – The Deschutes Brewery Street Pub campaign wrapped up its first year with a bang, raising a total of nearly $400,000 for charity in seven cities. At each stop, the brewery partnered with a local charity and donated 100 percent of proceeds to help that charity’s mission. One of the largest beer parties of the year, the pop-up “Street Pubs” attracted an estimated 60,000 crazed beer fans who turned out to drink 892 kegs of craft beer – so there’s that.

Words To Drink By (Petaluma, CA) – “Craft beer is subversive, it’s counter-cultural. Craft goes to market in an unselfconsciously, asymmetrical manner, like freedom-fighters, like the minute men of 1774, like any disruptive technology.”

Tony Magee – Lagunitas Brewing

Stone Introduces Three Beers To Europe (Berlin, Germany) – As we reported in Quick Hits Stone began pouring their Berlin-brewed beers last Monday. What we didn’t mention was the beers they chose to be part of their European debut. Not surprisingly Stone led with two classics – Stone IPA and their infamous Arrogant Bastard Ale. But we thought it interesting that they also chose to introduce a complex newcomer, Stone Xocoveza for the Holidays & the New Year – just sayin’.

Dos Equis To Sponsor College Football Playoffs (White Plains, NY) – In a move that we can only describe as counterintuitive at best, Dos Equis has announced what they describe as “an historic, multi-year agreement with ESPN” to become the Official Beer Sponsor of the College Football Playoff.

What We’ve Been Drinking Lately (Akureyri, Iceland) – We’d like to thank all the breweries who ship us beer from time to time. It’s always great to sample the brews that we write about and helps to give us a better feel for what’s happening out there. And last night we hit up something we really enjoyed from Iceland’s Einstök Beer Company. Einstök Icelandic White Ale is a 5.2% Witbier that was brewed with coriander and orange peel using the island’s pure glacial waters.