“We think the toughest challenge in the beer and art business world like ours in 2025 was going up against the all-consuming digital devices and the media on them that intend on isolating people and alienating them to each other,” (Dave) Bartman said. “We need safe and compassionate gathering spaces and real-life experiences now more than ever as an act of resistance to the alternative.”
From a story in Ashland.news. Credit for pointing it out to the Celebrate Oregon Beer Newsletter.
The paragraph:
I can’t be too critical of these because they’re both jolly nice beers with not a thing wrong. It is evident, however, that they’re for the supermarket, and have a crowd-pleasing, low-common-denominator factor about them: created to the spec of someone who wears a suit rather than overalls. To be expected from Marks & Spencer, I guess.
The footnote:
At the American Hop Convention, brewing panelists were asked by one attendee about new styles or new releases on the horizon. “If it is beer flavored beer it comes from the brewing side. If it is not, it comes from the marketing side. (FW’s) Michelada did not come from the brewing side,” answered Firestone Walker brewmaster Matt Brynildson.
The link. I hope this link works for you, because it comes from a Bluesky thread. Two paragraphs because they are short.
You’ve got a company that’s expanding wildly and injudiciously across the planet. Expanding just to expand because it is foretold in their business plan that they must expand.
This happens because Craft Beer is a cult. You remember the Craft Beer Jesus? Well, Berlin doesn’t.
Expanding wildly and injudiciously. Sound familiar?
The paragraph:
“You can choose completely how you define your company, how you run it, what you stand for and how you communicate that to consumers,” (Brewers Association CEO Bart Watson) said, calling those elements the most defensible sources of differentiation for small producers in the years ahead. In a period of instability, Watson added, community and trade associations can provide support and coordination, but long-term success will depend on how clearly individual businesses define and communicate why they exist and why they matter.
The link, for all those who curious about tastes from the past, including Ron Pattinson*.
“Olfaction helps shape our cultures, although it often does so unknowingly or without us noticing,” says (Inger) Leemans, who led the Odeuropa project. “When we talk about cultural heritage, we can think about religious rituals, but we can also think about specific scents that we’ve been cherishing and living with for a long time.”
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* Something he told be for Brewing Local: “Why do I want to taste extinct styles? On one level it’s purely from curiosity: how did it taste, what did it look like, how did it drink? All the things you can only really learn about a beer by having one in a glass in front of you. That simple need to know could be satisfied by a pint or two.
“But then there’s the cultural aspect. Beer styles—and especially those associated with a specific place—have a wider significance than just being a drink. Because every beer style is a unique cultural item. When one disappears, the culture it came from is diminished.”