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 Brewing mess 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. More here.

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.

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.

Out in Wilmington we have word the The Pour Taproom is up for sale.

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.

Virginia

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 Brewing opens 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 Columbia Angry Fish Brewing Co gets recognized as the best brewery.

Small Town Brewing opens in Mullins.

North Carolina

Asheville hosting Homebrewcon is the big news of the week. (link to that post to follow)

In Charlotte Town Brewing Co gets featured on WBTV.

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.

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.

A quick reminder that Homebrewcon is just over a week away and will be in Asheville this year. 

South Carolina

Ursus Brew Works opens in Charleston.

Congratulations to Tidal Creek Brewhouse on their 6th anniversary. I was aware of them, but haven’t the opportunity to visit yet, I’ll correct it next time.

North Carolina

Western NC

Both Highland Brewing and AMB get shout outs in the latest edition of Brewer magazine. The interview with Leah is great because it examines the challenges of reshaping their space into a destination location.

Triangle

Wanting to invest in a brewery and potentially make money back, Gizmo Brew Works is seeking investors. It’s no secret that they filed for Chapter 11 protection a while back and hopefully this program will help get them back on their feet.

Vicious Fishes closes their Cary location with that being their production space, what does it mean for Angier their last location? Since it doesn’t feature regular taproom hours I suspect a full closure looming. 

Mordecai Beverage Company is also closing. It has always struck me as funny when the media declare it as Raleigh’s first brewery and bottle shop, which simply wasn’t true. Around 11 years ago the first one opened where I was working. I was against the concept, because we would never have as many options as a Total Wine a half mile away and it made sales more difficult because bottle shops rightly thought we were competition. Within 6 months we closed the bottle shop portion and remained a brewery. Perhaps it amuses me because the first person who wrote about Mordecai as a bottle shop and brewery had written an article at Compass opening that made it a major point to mention it and forgot their own words. That doesn’t mean the concept doesn’t work, Glass Jug Beer Lab has had success with it. But I think it’s because Chris and Katy built their brand and later added the brewing component into the mix.

This weekend features South Coast Grand Opening party and Joymongers 10th Anniversary, check out all the fun at events.

Start off the week Beervana has a history on Cascade hops. I didn’t know that Coors played such a big role in the hop’s growth. Not sure you can identify Cascade hops? Crack open a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale.

Latest edition of Southern Brewing News is out, the North Carolina section didn’t make the edition but South Carolina is there.

South Carolina

Over the weekend South Coast Beer Project had a soft opening and as of now they should be up and running, congratulations!

North Carolina

Brevard

In honor of the nation’s 250th birthday 5 area breweries will feature a Patriot pint program.

Triangle

The Bottles and Cans shop has done a rebranding into Taps and Social bottle shop. Good luck with the brand refresh.

In Raleigh there came news that Tobacco Road is closing their off Glenwood location, it’s been on the market for a while, the good news out of it is will reopen as Clouds Brewing downtown location. Their old location was across the street so people around there will be familiar with the concept. I am told they will be brewing some small batch projects at the location.

Last in events this week Bond Brothers Brewing will be having 10th anniversary party.

Gruit, no it’s not some comic book movie hero, it’s a beer style. In the modern sense it’s a beer made without hops, it instead relies on spices and herbs to balance the sweetness from malt. While I discussed dying beer styles recently Gruit probably would top that list. I have perhaps seen 2-3 commercial examples over the last decade. Note I said modern because we start with Lars on the history of Gruit.

It’s commonly said that “gruit is the beer that was brewed before people started using hops,” and it’s fascinating how many errors there are in that short, simple sentence.”

Like many stories involving beer it goes back to taxation. Reinheitsgebot, beer purity? Not really, taxation and regulation definitely. Why do British ales tend to be low abv? Taxation and regulation. Hammurabi code? Same. But I had never seen this history on Gruit before and it was well worth the read.

The Triangle Business Journal has the news of the sale of the building that was home to Hatchet Brewing. The former building owners were great, I don’t think I have ever worked with a landlord who was so committed to helping a business succeed. They live in the neighborhood so seeing the space empty had to be painful. They are savvy folk so when the right buyer came along it made sense to sell.

South Carolina

Quiet week, no news to report.

North Carolina

Charlotte

Olde Mecklenburg Brewery opens its Mount Holly taproom. $6 million is a big investment, but it looks like quite the destination.

Follow up on last month’s story of Cabarrus Brewing signing to a state wide distribution contract. The owner confirmed they signed with Johnson Brothers. What this means is they can focus more on brewing and sales. Cabarrus is surely in grocery stores around Charlotte, but this will allow them to expand to further markets without becoming a trucking company. 

Asheville

Sierra Nevada to test sell Shred, a beer soda, at their brewery taprooms. At first I couldn’t wrap my head around the idea but as Beeraficionado points out, if you think it terms of a Shandy or Radler suddenly the concept makes sense.

Mills River Brewing hosted its 2nd annual Cheese and Pickle Festival Saturday. Beer, Cheese and Pickles sounds like a winner to me. 

Sandhills

Back to the Sandhills, Railhouse Brewery is coming to Southern Pines. They are taking over the former Southern Pines Brewing Pennsylvania taproom. This will be a great opportunity for Head Brewer Jason Hull to play with specialty brews as the location features more taps than the original restaurant location. Can’t wait to see what he dreams up.