American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
(Fort Collins Brewery: Courtesy Anheuser-Busch)
The beer biz never sleeps at American Craft Beer. And here’s just some of what’s been happening in the beer world while you were drinking your way through the long Memorial Day weekend.
Anheuser-Busch Makes $15.5 Million Upgrade To Colorado Brewery
On May 22, the world’s largest brewer, Anheuser-Busch announced that it was making a multi-million dollar investment to its Fort Collins brewery, one of the 12 brewing facilities it operates in the US.
The $15.5 million upgrade will be dedicated to moving its bottling lines from packed to bulk glass. Shifting away from packed glass allows the Fort Collins operation to streamline production in-house, strengthening its supply chain, reducing emissions, and driving efficiencies across the business.
“Transforming our bottling line from a packed glass to bulk glass system enables us to be more efficient with our brewery’s beer production,” said Tim Seitz, General Manager, Anheuser-Busch Fort Collins Brewery. “Enhancing our brewery’s infrastructure also builds on our capabilities as a brewer and gives our employees the opportunity to develop new technical skillsets and personally contribute to the innovation and growth of the company.”
Words to Drink By
“You are either smoking marijuana and have bought into the cannabis is king and will solve all your problems mania, or have not, there’s no in between.”- Bob Lefsetz, Music industry writer and media analyst
Escalating Climate Crisis Threatens the Beer Industry
The future of brewing is being threatened by a warming planet that is endangering beer’s most important ingredients, hops, water and barley.
Climate change is contributing to nationwide changes in the quality and quantity of freshwater. Reduced snowpack and groundwater depletion further limit water supplies available for irrigation and brewing.
Barley is also a brewing essential part of the brewing process adding color, flavor and froth, as well being key to a beer’s fermentation. But barley is also highly sensitive to extreme heat and drought, putting it at risk in a warming climate.
By the end of this century, heat waves and droughts brought on by climate change could occur every three years leading to barley destruction on a global scale and roughly a 16% drop in beer consumption compared to today.
Global warming could raise atmospheric temperatures over land over 9 degrees Fahrenheit according to a study published in Nature Plants. And if that happens the world’s barley supply could potentially drop as much as 15% by the end of the century.
And it’s not like we’ll have to wait till the end of the century to see barley endangered. In 2018 Europe suffered from high temperatures and a consequential drought that impacted its grain crops dramatically.
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