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Yikes…May already! And it doesn’t look like anything is gonna be slowing down anytime soon. But no worries, Rumor Mill remains on the case, keeping you plugged in into 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!
Farmers And Brewers Unite! (Hartford, CT) – With an eye, no doubt, to the success spawned by New York State’s uber-successful Farm Brewery legislation, Connecticut farmers and brewers (many times they’re the same) are reportedly pushing their General Assembly to pass legislation allowing farms to manufacture and sell craft beer.
Under that proposal, farms would pay a $300 annual fee allowing them to make, store, bottle, distribute and sell up to 50,000 gallons of beer a year. And just as with the bill that eventually passed in New York, farmers would also be required to use a certain percentage of Connecticut-grown crops in their beer production.
More than 130 Farm Breweries have been authorized since the Farm Brewing Law went into effect in New York State at the start of 2013, a fact that’s being championed by Connecticut’s Farm Brewery supporters.
Words To Drink By (London, England) – “I’ve only been in love with a beer bottle and a mirror” – Sid Vicious, bassist for the Sex Pistols
Love Beer, Love Life (Boston, MA) – In an effort to address craft beer’s increasingly competitive environment, Harpoon Brewery has just completed an aggressive campaign and are championing their new lifestyle tagline “Love Beer, Love Life.”
Harpoon’s Lifestyle Rebranding, which reportedly started with a complete redesign of Harpoon IPA last year and ended with the launch of new packaging for UFO last month. Bold colors and contemporary message was clearly their directive, and according to the company, sales of Harpoon’s newly re-imaged IPA is reportedly growing steadily this year.
What We’ve Been Drinking Lately (Cooperstown, NY) – Last night we tapped something primed for summers arrival from Ommegang that might be the beginning of a new brewing trend. Walking the tightrope between sessionability and spicy citrus flavor, Ommegang Short Sleeve Saison is a 4.5% refresher that’s hopped with Southern Hemisphere Topaz and Motueka hop varieties and spiced with grains of paradise, lemon peel, and coriander.
