Last week we discussed how Clouds Brewing had taken over operations in Raleigh at the Jones Street building, former Tobacco Road location. This week another update, like other breweries in downtown areas their production space was going to be redeveloped. Thankfully their landlord has been transparent and given them plenty of notice to shift operations. In addition Matt MacNeil shared “We have been growing in production and have needed more space for some time.”
Over the last two years they had talks with and became friends with the owners of Fortnight Brewing. Those discussions that led to an agreement. Matt continued “The new agreement we have is that Clouds will take over Fortnight’s production space. Stuart and Fortnight will retain the front end and taproom operations. It will retain the Fortnight logo and atmosphere. Clouds gets a much bigger production space that will fit our needs. We have plenty of taprooms to support our operations and with the acquisition of Tobacco Road in downtown Raleigh, we will make that our official main location for customers to come visit.” Clouds is committed to faithfully partner brew Fortnight’s beer to the highest standards. Matt welcomed others suggesting “most breweries have great marketing plans but running a 10 to 15 barrel brewery just isn’t financially viable and we want to be there to assist those breweries by letting them use capital in better ways.” Clouds will begin operations as of August 1st.
In South Carolina we have a follow up article on US Open Winners.
In Charlotte there is news of job cuts at Club West so they can more focus on taproom, such a retraction amid the loss of shelf space is not unexpected, when your at 30,000 barrels a year and do a brand relaunch, it is a bit like starting from scratch.
American Craft Beer writes a guide to beer destinations in Asheville.
As for Events a reminder Clouds kick off event is on Jones Street on the 31st and Cary features the Beer, Bourbon & BBQ this weekend.
A late breaking update – NOCO Brews & Bites will be brewing onsite and their launch party is this Saturday.
The Costco Deschutes story has been churning in my thoughts but could not think of a Carolina angle on it, nor what it may mean for the industry at large. If you haven’t heard Costco is not renewing its contract brewing agreement with Deschutes for Kirkland Lager. The beer has done well at competitions and amongst consumers. John Holl in All About Beer posts how the beer came about, probably the most through story on the subject.
The US Open Beer Champions announced awards and a number of Carolina breweries won awards. Special shout out to Forgotten Roads Ales for placing in the top 10.
South Carolina features Greenville Business magazine with a story saluting the state’s US Open winners.
Western NC
Sierra Nevada’s taproom gets recognized in this story. If you haven’t been it’s well worth the stop a bit like the Disneyland of Beer. Hi-Wire Brewing is putting on a circus to celebrate it’s anniversary, including a 50 foot ferris wheel. What is going on in the town of Black Mountain? First the Black Mountain Brewingmess and now they are going after the Oak & Grist distillery. It’s been in operation for ten years and suddenly town figured out that there are distilled spirits in the building and ordered to close their taproom. Morehere.
Charlotte
In Kannapolis the Towel City Tavern is opening it’s brewery at the ballpark, great photos of the location.
Triangle
Congratulations on multiple openings in the last week. First Clouds Brewing has opened it’s Raleigh Jones Street location, their official Grand Opening party will be July 31st. Standard Beer & Food has opened their second location in North Hills, this project has been in works for a while its great that it’s come to fruition. Bond Brothers has just opened a taproom at RDU airport.
In events on August 13th there will be a Pop the Cap! Celebrating 21 years of Craft Beer, being held at Fullsteam’s new destination at American Tobacco Campus. For those not familiar with Pop The Cap, before the measure succeeded the ABC rules in North Carolina did not allow beers stronger than 6%. So all the lovely IPAs, Belgians and big tasty Stouts couldn’t be made or sold commercially. The celebration event will feature a panel discussion and of course beer naturally, the beer will be Breweries Make it Better, which I mentioned here.
In other events more focused on this week Bragging Rooster has it’s 4th anniversary, BMC Brewing has their 5th anniversary, and Liability Brewing will be having their 8th anniversary. Congratulations everyone.
I have spent more time on Instagram in the last couple of months than my whole life. Yes I do post content occasionally, but mostly it’s going through my feed sharing new beers or innovative brewery posts. I have been seeing three social media problems and let’s discuss solutions.
If you are a brewpub you want to feature your food that’s fine. And the drinking public is diversifying their choices so I understand featuring cocktails or wine in posts, but if you are a brewpub beer needs to be a prominent featured product. It may seem obvious but some feeds never seem to mention beer.
AI marketing it’s all the rage, but try actual pictures, not a generated post, it’s more authentic and better for your brand.
Memes are fun but don’t be derivative. Frankly, all the posts about parasitic dia****a is why I wrote this post. If you have seen another brewery do the same meme, try a new angle, not just repeat with your crew in it.
Some resources, if you aren’t following She Loves Craft on Instagram, go right this minute. You should also read the BA’s digital health check, it’s a good reminder to make sure your brand is optimized.
And seriously stop it with the parasitic dia****a!
The top story this week has to be the collaboration brew at Atomic Clock Brewing. Brian Quinn was kind enough to host the NC Brewers Guild and membership for the event. The beer is titled “Breweries Make It Better” will benefit educational scholarships and marks a new campaign to promote North Carolina breweries. The beer is a West-Coast Pilsner, featuring malt from the states three malt houses, Carolina, Riverbend, and Epiphany. Hops from Yakima Quality Hops and yeast from Lallemand. Ask for Breweries Make It Better at your local bottle shop or brewery and support the Guild’s foundation. Distribution will be through Tryon. The brewery was hot, but you know it’s NC and Summer so not any surprise. The camaraderie was great it’s fun to catch up with friends, learn, and trade news. On the news front I’ll just tease it and say there were things said that will end up in future posts.
In follow up on the recent merger news for Carolina malt, Trey Brawley confirmed the roasting equipment has been moved and set up at their location. That the maltster soon will be diversifying their specialty malt options including a number of crystal malts.
Triad has the hottest news of the week with RADAR Brewing rebranding as Southern Drift Brewing Company. Matt says he is working to get everything updated, but I like the rebrand. Over in Greensboro we have word of Three Rabbits Brewingopening soon downtown roughly halfway between Joymongers and Natty Greenes. Sounds like a good excuse for a pub crawl.
Up in the mountains the Beer Scout gets us a profile of Griffin & Sphynx, it is on my to visit list next time I’m in the area.
In breaking news sadly that Durty Bull Brewing will be shuttering their Durham location in the Fall, no word yet on what that means for their Gastonia taproom.
Youngsville has positive news for North State Brewing that their ABC permit has been submitted. I’d expect them to open in the next month.
Today’s post is from 2013 about the title Brewmaster, while I say in the post I’m self trained I learned a lot from working with the crew at Big Boss.
I get asked it at least once or twice a week “Are you the Brewmaster?”
To which I always reply “No, I am just the lucky guy who gets to make beer around here.”
People will smile and nod, but they have a quizzical look in their eyes. Sometimes they press further then I try to explain. I don’t have enough experience to justify the title. I liken it to the difference between being a Chef and a Cook. It is not that I don’t possess talents in the brewhouse, but at best I am at the Journeyman level if we look back to the trade guilds of the past.
Another element of the title is the role of education. Traditionally a Meister should have a degree in their field of expertise. I am largely self taught. Not that this is unusual in the brewing world. Because of that I have some book hiding in my bag about beer, last month it was more technical Hops by Stan Hieryomous, this month it’s more social with Man Walks into a Pub by Brown. The key is I am constantly learning.
So besides experience and school, what else may it take to accept such a title? One route could be to enter contests and gain recognition by peers for the quality of my beers. While there is nothing wrong with such an approach it alone would not be enough.
In the end I think what makes someone a Brewmaster is they have trained and taught their craft to others. The process of teaching others reenforces your own knowledge base. It also makes you take a closer examination of the trade and your understanding of it. Shepherding others to appreciate and respect the craft is not easy work.
Jiro Ono said in the documentary of his restaurant “Once you decide on your occupation… you must immerse yourself in your work. You have to fall in love with your work. Never complain about your job. You must dedicate your life to mastering your skill. That’s the secret of success… and is the key to being regarded honorably.”
Perhaps one day I might be regarded as a Brewmaster, but for now I am a Pub Brewer trying to master a craft.
Beer Advocate is independent again, being bought back from Next Glass. I suspect Todd Alstrom came out better between the sales, but I doubt it was at the Barstool sports level. It has had me pondering what the sale means for craft beer and beverage media overall. These kinds of sales happen in a boom cycle like Ballast Point to Constellation, Ratebeer and Northern Brewer to ABInBev. All attempts to buy Street Credibility, but Glass Door was an exception, it was already in the beer technology space, while brewers know their back of the house software, few craft beer fans haven’t either heard or tried Untappd. So why sell now? Glass Door recognized the value of Beer Advocate’s place in the market, respecting it enough not to simply shutter the site. But the media landscape especially for beer has shrunk, most publications have gone strictly digital with the exception of AHA’s Zymurgy.
The future of beer media is mostly digital and likely more personally driven. I think it started with John Holl and Andy Crouch buying the assets of All About Beer magazine and restoring it’s archive of data. While new content from AAB has tended to be in podcast form I suspect a digital Zine format could return if they lined up the right sponsors. Likewise with Beer Advocate, if anyone can have success with the venture it will be Todd. Another example is Beer Connoissuer, who has dropped print but continues pumping out online content. And I nearly forgot Substack and Linkedin platforms that both feature beverage content. So while the business side of craft beer faces an uncertain future, the digital media has strong potential.
Out near Asheville Sierra Nevada gets mentioned for their new smaller can format, I think it’s a great value and been enjoying their Pils in that size.
In the Triad there is news of customers facing parking issues at RADAR Brewing.
Lastly in the Triangle and not exactly breaking news is Connor Tyo, Head Brewer at Wye Hill Brewing, is featured in this story from March, while digging up background for the digital media bit it popped up.
We start off the week with nine alcohol related laws in NC, not exactly beer specifically, but much of it still applies.
We have hit the mid-Summer drop off, everyone at the beach or vacation while we have a few stories for the week not the pace of a few weeks ago.
Murphy & Rude Malting Co. has an operational merger with Carolina Malt. Just like some of the mergers that we have been seeing in brewing, at a certain point for cost efficiency it makes sense. Malting equipment, just like brewing is expensive, Murphy & Rude have a larger range of roasted malts so their equipment with Carolina’s scale of base malt production makes operational sense and I suspect they will expand their offerings in the next year.
For the last few months I have been wondering what breweries would brew for the US 250th anniversary, if anything special. We have the New York library collaborating with TALEA Beer Co. to make one of George Washington’s beers, it’s not new Boston Beer Co. also brewed a Founding Fathers pack, and have again. I remember trying them the first time they were released in the 2000s, the root beer stuck out to me as the oddest of the four. Both the beers featured Molasses as an ingredient not surprising for the time because that was the most easily accessible sugar in the United States then. If added at the end of a boil it will ferment, but some of the roast character will follow through to the finishing flavor. It’s a fun ingredient to play with.
Back to NC we have Old Armor Beer Co. making their America 250 to celebrate. I hope to try it before it’s gone, but I am not sure they currently distribute to the Triangle.
Obviously only one big event this week, have a Happy 4th of July with friends, family, and of course Carolinas beer! If you see any 250th Anniversary brews, please let me know I’d like to highlight them.
HomebrewCon in Asheville last weekend, it is the longest and largest homebrewers conference in the world. It was hosted by American Homebrewers Association (AHA). They successfully sold out the event with over 1,100 attendees. I was pleased to attend* and experience it for the first time. Compared to the current vibe at craft beer industry events, there was a palpable sense of excitement about the gathering. With the splitting from the Brewers Association it was great to see their first major event a success. In addition it was great to see Asheville busy again after Helene.
The weekend started off for me at the Brewing Network’s 21st Anniversary party. Having been a listener since nearly the beginning, it was great to see many old friends and catch up. It was hosted at White Labs which a friend calls the best brewpub in Asheville. Wood fired pizzas and regularly rotating taplist is great, but what really sets them apart is they often have the same base beer with different yeasts used for fermentation. It really showcases how much yeast selection matters to a beer. The live music was quirky and great. The highlight of the event was a toast featuring Tasty’s Janet’s Brown ale. Mike “Tasty” McDole is the stuff of legend to BN fans aka the BN Army. He loved interacting with homebrewers, professionals and everyone around the industry. It’s been almost six years since we lost him, so it was great that ValleJo Brewing recreated his beer, in fact they went through production logs from when it was made commercially and even spoke with past brewers to ensure accuracy. It was delicious and I’ll provide a more detailed review soon.
Friday started at a booth pouring a coffee blonde ale and orange beer catching up with friends. Yes, the coffee beer tasted of coffee and the orange smelled like bright orange juice. Also yes, my day started off with a beer. It’s a homebrewing conference so of course we drank during it. Both beers were well brewed and started to follow my one rule at the conference, often I don’t drink certain styles but for the conference if it was offered I had to try a taste. It doesn’t mean I had everything at every bar, but I selected options I wouldn’t drink at home. From there I wandered a bit and arrived at a panel discussing homegrown hops and their use in beer. In Raleigh we tried growing hops, but the ground doesn’t get cold enough, long enough to allow the plant to reset its life cycle properly. So it was great to hear of their success at the same latitude just further West. Next up was 4 Tips to Improve Your Beer Judging Approach by Mirella Amato. With the Style Spotlights being an element of the blog I have been looking for ways to improve my descriptions. She was very enthusiastic with a great ‘holistic’ knowledge around beer and other beverage related subjects. My next session was the AHA General Session with Justin Crossley, BN founder. He made a great point that this hobby is the only one that has created an entire industry. It is true, I can’t come up with another example. While I wanted to listen to Gordon Strong talk about Mead Guidelines, instead I went to hear fellow BN Army member Keith Mycek discuss Driving Membership Engagement in These Changing Times. With the changing demographics, we discussed ways to engage with younger generations. Part of the approach revolves around not just a beer perspective but all the fermentables approach. Another angle is how the communication, a website and email works fine with many people but other methods like Discord, text message, or apps all have a role to play.
While still Friday, Club Night and the Expo floor deserve their own explanation. The trade show is like any industry or hobby event, but of course beer is pouring from booth clubs and vendors. They were booths for brewing equipment, raw ingredients like yeast and brewing educational programs. At Club Night a gathering of 35 homebrew clubs from across the US showcased their creativity both in designing the booth and what’s on tap. Often they will all dress in a theme of costume, I was aware of it but it presented one aspect I hadn’t considered. As you go through the halls Friday, gangs of people pass by dressed in the same garb like some post-apocalyptic Jets and Sharks performance. As contrast at the Craft Brewers Conference bands of brewers may wander by but generally they are wearing different gear from their brewery. Then during the Club Night was a mix between beer festival and carnival featuring a prison booth, pirates, and others. The aspect that surprised me was how much AI graphic creation was incorporated at Club Night. Booth backdrops, menus, or even tap handles featuring back stories on the brews.
Saturday featured some great panels, starting with Randy Mosher. He was a ball of energy proclaiming ‘I read millions of pages on sensory research so you don’t have to’. It was a capacity crowd in the room. His latest book is Your Tasting Brain and I look forward to discussing more with him about it. After that was Ken Schramm discussing Mead and Fruit. It seemed that roughly a third of the panels were other fermented topics besides beer, but for good reason as they were all packed. Ken wrote The Compleat Meadmaker and has a meadery in Michigan. Oh, and he makes awesome mead too! His panel was definitely a different take on the approach, while he did have a portion of typical speaker portion about a third of the way in he introduced a set of rockstar panelists to give their impressions on tasting different meads based on use of fruit. Amongst the panel was the aforementioned Randy Mosher, Gordon Strong, and AHA Director Julia Herz. While Ken shared a tasty mead during the program perhaps the best aspect was he brought enough of what the panel was sampling to the mead sharing session later in the day so the audience could join in.
Next up a friend mentioned the AHA membership meeting and I decided to join him. I am not much of an organizational meeting person, but I found this session to be one of the most informative of the conference. With less than a year they couldn’t give a full financial report, but to their credit a conference that ran on rather large losses under Brewers Association operation to a profit at this year’s conference. The analogy of building an aircraft while in flight was mentioned about the organization but for all the problems of the year the conference ran very smoothly. I wasn’t aware that the two organizations strained against one another recently but emotions were bare on certain topics. The two big messages were that the organization is moving ahead to promote a fermentation forward direction, not just beer driven. Secondly, the committees are approaching their work from the perspective of what member driven focus needs, a challenge when you consider they operate on a small staff and volunteer committees. With a membership at the beginning of the year of 19,000 it’s a healthy audience to represent.
Afterwards was the Mead Makers Meet Up, it was great to see all the creativity within the membership. If there was a downside at the Meet Up, it was the same as Club Night, too many folks in too small a space, but a few mead makers took initiative and removed a few tables from the space which helped. The last big event was the National Homebrew Competition (NHC) awards ceremony. It is broadcast by the Brewing Network so even if you have a beer in the contest but can’t make the conference you can watch the results live. It features two rounds of competition. First the regional competition, second the national. Interestingly this year they structured the fees in a new manner, you could pay all at once or you could just pay the regional and if you advanced then paid a second fee. It seemed more approachable for the new brewer. The contest features 40 different categories across Beer, Mead, Cider, and Perry. The contest featured almost 3,600 entries from across the US and beyond. There are joyous shouts from the clubs as names are called, especially from the winners fellow club members. For those winners who don’t have a club the audience cheered “Team Join a Club!”
Here are all the Winners in attendance.
While the potential hosts for 2027 weren’t announced, they did indicate Homebrewcon would return in July so watch for the announcement.
It’s not to say there aren’t challenges in the hobbyist community, the AHA believes the total membership may continue to level off or drop during the year. They are still establishing organizational operations, seeking out new ways to engage and entice the younger generations into fermentation science. Also homebrew shops have been closing around the nation. Arizona Society of Homebrewers members mentioned that for the 5 million people in the Phoenix market there is a sole shop to support homebrewers. So there are challenges ahead.
Overall as a year approaches since the separation from the Brewers Association, I think it’s been a positive change for the American Homebrewers Association. They are more member focused and there was a great deal of positive energy from the membership and staff. I can’t wait to see where the organization goes from here. A big thanks the AHA staff and over 50 volunteers that made it possible. As for me, starting as a homebrewer, worked at homebrew shops, then go professional it was fun to spend the weekend watching and hearing people share their passion for brewing.
Legend Brewing is selling its production space and partnering with Hardywood. This isn’t the first time they have helped each other out. There is nothing wrong with partner brewing as long as both sides keep communication open and stay true to the original beer. Like with Stone and Firestone Walker deal it can help both sides. Problems arise when changes aren’t discussed or quality standards for the contracted brew aren’t maintained.
South Carolina
Charleston magazine has a great read on the modern craft history in the town, including the changes that have driven the industry rise across the state. Also in Charleston Two Blokes Brewingopens a second taproom.
In Myrtle Beach, South Coast Beer Project talks in the comments about the ‘family friendly’ attractions and their struggles with them. In Third Space areas it’s a real challenge is parents letting their children run around unsupervised.
In the Triangle while Fullsteam‘s American Tobacco Campus project is still in build out, Sean is taking advantage to show you the progress on their Instagram feed.
Plenty to do in events this weekend with Petty Thieves doing a brand relaunch, Altered State hosting 4th anniversary and the Cape Fear Botanical Garden hosting it’s Wine and Beer festival.
It was reported over the weekend that the Brewers Association may be shuttering book publications. I haven’t seen confirmation and their website has no mention of it. I hope the report was a mistake or if true that some organization picks up these titles and they stay in print, but given the state of the market I have my doubts. I looked through my brewing library and roughly a third are books they published. So if you’ve been thinking about picking up a specific title now may be the time to buy them.
Liquid it’s a simple straightforward word, but when I hear it said around the beer industry it’s like nails on a chalkboard. In general it comes from someone who is a distributor or a salesperson. I know they don’t intend the phrase as an insult but to me it ignores the hard work that goes into making a great product. All that said, Mr. Lohman makes some good points about distribution.
South Carolina
No news this week.
North Carolina
Triangle
We do now have confirmation that both Vicious Fishes Brewery taprooms are closed. (While the taprooms were listed on the website last week as of posting they have been removed.)”The latest closings were led by a payroll withholdings mistake, that put a block on the brewery’s ABC permit renewals.” According to sources, while ABC does reach out to industry about potential problems, often companies will hold off processing permits until close to the deadline and if they have a hold from DOR over taxes then it may take some time to clear. While we wish them best of luck moving ahead without a taproom in this market it’s a difficult road ahead.
Bottle shop news is the hot topic of the week. Trophy Brewing ownership has sold State of Beer to North South Hospitality. The part of this story I hadn’t considered was the second bottle shop they had opened about two years ago. The State of Beer on Morgan is rebranding to The Bend Bar. In other news, Triangle Wine has had quite the roller coaster ride at one point up to five locations. Morrisville and North Raleigh were sold off and rebranded. Southern Pines closed about two years ago, at the time a former staffer mentioned to me that Southern Pines was the most profitable store, but also the most expensive to operate. So news of Cary and Holly Springs locations closing didn’t surprise me.
The week’s events feature Homebrewcon in Asheville, let’s get a beer if you are in attendance.
