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.

Bond Brothers Beer Company gets featured along with CARBOY homebrew club in the latest issue of Zymurgy.

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.