American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
We blame the industry for this…It used to be that when we wrapped up our Weekend Picks on Friday, we could coast through the weekend. There was little need to check in for updates – things were pretty much done. But clearly all that’s changed. So here’s some of what’s happened in the world of craft beer while you were enjoying yourselves.
Postal Service Wants to Ship Beer (Washington, DC) – Hey we want that too! Desperate for revenue, the US Postal Service is suggesting to Congress that they should make it legal for them to ship wine, liquor, and most importantly, beer. CNNMoney is reporting that Post Office competitors such as Fed EX and UPS currently do and the USPS is hungry for a piece of that pie.
Things Get Mysterious at Mutual (Raleigh, NC) – Mutual Distributing has announced that it has added Mystery Brewing Company, the country’s first seasonal-only brewery, to its statewide beer portfolio. Based in Hillsborough, NC, Mystery Brewing is one of our favorite new breweries so we’re excited for them and happy that their beers are now going to be more available.
Beer Closing in on Wine Nationally (Princeton, NJ) – At least according to Gallup it is. Global public opinion giant Gallup Inc. released a poll last Thursday indicating that young adult drinkers’ alcoholic beverage preferences have changed dramatically over the past two decades. Gallup reports that while 36% of Americans polled named beer as their alcoholic drink of choice, a nearly equal number (35%) chose wine. The numbers indicate that beer has been closing in on wine since 1992, when beer drinkers outnumbered wine drinkers by 20 percentage points.
Stone Enjoy By 09.13.13 IPA to Hit 24 States (Escondido, CA) – Stone Brewing Co. revealed its markets for the next edition of Stone Enjoy By IPA. States that will luckily be part of this run include central California and its bay area, Delaware, Iowa, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Kentucky, and Massachusetts to name a few. For the complete listing of the current rollout, that for some unaccountable reason overlooked the ACB office in Washington, DC, check out: Stone Enjoy By 09.13.13 Availability
Off-Premise Craft Beer Takes Off in July! (Boulder, CO) – It was evidently a very good Fourth of July for beer according to the Brewers Association who had all kinds of good news to report about craft beer’s growth this past month. Data from the IRI showed an 18.4% increase from the same period a year ago. And if that wasn’t astounding enough, craft beer retail dollars also increased by 20.2% for the period!
It’s Because They Blow (Everywhere, USA) – According to Alcoholic Beverage DemandTracker, a periodic survey of US adults age 21+ who consume any type of alcohol at least once a week or more, beer drinkers who are choosing less premium domestic light beer aren’t doing so to save money. They are moving away from premium light beer due to “changing preferences” (translation: it blows.) As of June 2013, 28% of beer drinkers named a premium light brand as their favorite, down from 32% in June 2012.
Stone Named Fastest-Growing Again (Escondido, CA) – An overdue congratulations to our friends at Stone Brewing, who for the 10th year in a row were named one of “San Diego’s Fastest Growing Private Companies” by the San Diego Business Journal.
New Belgium A “Best Place to Work” (Fort Collins, CO) – Congratulations are also due to New Belgium Brewing Company – named one of America’s “Best Places to Work” by Outside Magazine for the fifth time.
