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Yikes, July already…and clearly the craft beer biz isn’t slowing down any time soon. But no worries, the Rumor Mill is always on the case, keeping you up on all the beer news and lifestyle that matters. Plus we’ve an all-important update on what we’ve been drinking lately and you don’t want to miss that!
Four Amazing Michigan Beer Factoids (Michigan State) – MLive covers the beer biz like an insider and they recently dug up some beer factoids that, like baseball stats, are as interesting as they were geek-ish.
1) Michigan beer sales peaked in 1991 at 218.5 million gallons – That’s in the earliest days of craft beer…back when big beer brands like Stroh’s were the state’s currency.
2) Sales of Michigan-produced beer has increased almost six fold since 2007. And that increase can almost entirely be credited to the growth of craft beer in the state and to players like Bell’s and Founders.
3) Michigan craft beer sales was almost 10 times higher in 2017 compared to 2007. No surprise there. What will be interesting to watch is how those numbers hold up as we look to 2020
4) Sales by Michigan beer wholesalers dropped 16 percent between 2007 and 2017. This Michigan Liquor Control Commission stat is a reflection of several trends not the least being the growing popularity of the state’s tap rooms. But it’s also interesting to note that sales of out-of-state beer by Michigan wholesalers dropped from almost 204 million gallons in 2007 to 187 million gallons in 2017. Clearly consumers are increasingly embracing localism when it comes to craft beer….We can’t wait to see the 2019 numbers.
Words to Drink By (Portland, Maine) “The road to hell is paved with adverbs.” – Stephen King, Author
Labatt Hopes To Innovate in the USA (Buffalo, NY) – Buffalo-based Labatt USA, a subsidiary of Rochester’s North American Breweries, is setting up its first US innovation brewery operation in Buffalo’s Cobblestone District according to the Buffalo News.
Labatt’s new USA headquarters will feature a state-of-the-art 10-barrel experimental brewhouse, which will operate alongside a designer beer garden and a public tasting room with 12 taps and a restaurant (wings?).
Labatt’s New USA home, which is set to open this fall, will occupy the first two floors of an 81,075-square-foot 1919 warehouse building that ironically was constructed the same year that Prohibition was ratified, and is currently being redeveloped by Buffalo Bills and Sabres owners Terry and Kim Pegula
What We’ve Been Drinking Lately (Bend, OR) – Last night we tapped something from 10 Barrel Brewing that took a Gold at the 2014 GABF. 10 Barrel Cucumber Crush is a crushable 5% ABV kettle sour that’s neither too cucumberish nor too sour!
