Top 5 Craft Beer Headlines: A Week In Review

At Craft Beverage Jobs, we spend many hours each week researching current events within the craft beer industry. News about industry growth, new business, job openings and personal profiles helps keep us up to date on what’s happening in craft beer across the world.

At the end of each week, that adds up to a lot of information. So, we thought we would share with you our picks for the Top 5 Craft Beer Headlines from each week! Here is Craft Beer Headlines: A Week In Review.

1. Lower Alcohol Levels Flourish

Lower alcohol craft beers continue to flourish, by Nathan Payne – Traverse City Record Eagle

TRAVERSE CITY — Sometimes less is more, especially when it comes to a swelling segment of the craft brewing market.

Craft brewers have thrown everything into their wort kettles — literally everything from hops and malt to chocolate and smoked pork — during the past 30 years to garner droves of adoring followers. But somewhere along the way they overlooked one huge niche in the market: low-alcohol, full-flavor “session” beers.

 When craft beer started, people didn’t want anything that looked like macro brews – Nick Panchamé, (Head Brewer, Right Brain Brewery)

Panchamé often spends his days brewing the four beers the small Traverse City brewery distributes in pint cans across Michigan. Two of them qualify for the “session” category. The brewery’s Will Power Pale Ale, which weighs in at 4.2 percent alcohol, was its first beer offered for distribution in cans.

2. Breweries Who Have Lost Their Craft Privileges

5 Craft Beer Brewers Who Lost Their Craft Privileges, by Jason Notte – MainSt.

There are more craft beer brewers today than a year ago, but there are still a bunch of brewers formerly known as craft feeling left out of the club.

Last year, the Brewers Association craft beer industry group cut some slack to brewers who use maize, corn or rice as adjuncts in their brewing process and increased their ranks considerably. Before that, the Brewers association — which also runs the Great American Beer Festival and the American Homebrewers Association — was leaving out some of the oldest independent breweries in the country.

After a whole lot of soul searching and a big change of heart the association changed its definition of a craft brewer last year — already flexed in 2010 to raise the production limit for small brewers from 2 million barrels to 6 million to accommodate Samuel Adams producer Boston Beer. By softening its stance against the use of rice and corn as adjuncts and whittling down the “traditional” pillar of its craft brewer definition, the Brewers Association finally welcomed brewers including Pottsville, Pa.-based D.G. Yuengling & Son (the oldest in the U.S., founded in 1829); St. Marys, Pa.-based Straub Brewing (1872); New Ulm, Minn.-based August Schell Brewing (1860); and Monroe, Wis.-based Minhas Craft Brewery (1845 as Blumer Brewing) into the fold.

3. Craft Brewery Lawsuit In Florida Heats Up!

Both sides in Florida craft-brewery lawsuit say the rules are unfair, by Roger Bull – The Florida Times Union

The beer wars continue, and the first volley of 2015 has been fired.

The Florida Retail Federation is suing the state’s Department of Business and Professional Regulation over how it issues licenses to craft breweries to sell their own beer. Other groups representing beer

stores and distributors have joined the fight challenging the licenses.

The federation said it just wants the rules clarified and wants no new licenses issued until that’s done. But the breweries say there’s much more involved.

The basic issue is this: Florida operates under a three-tier system. Alcoholic beverages, including beer, are supposed to be sold by its creator (brewery, winery or distillery) to a distributor who then sells it either at a retail store or a restaurant/bar.

Florida craft breweries are allowed to sell it directly to consumers under a law passed for Anheuser-Busch back when it owned Busch Gardens in Tampa.

4. Columbus Gets A Craft Beer Week!

Columbus Craft Beer Week Announced, by Rick Armon – Ohio.com/Ohio Breweries

Cleveland has a Beer Week. Cincinnati has a Beer Week. Dayton has a Beer Week. And now — finally — Columbus is getting on board. (Apparently, there’s one in the works in Toledo, too.)

After years of talk about a beer week in the state capital, the Ohio Craft Brewers Association announced today (Jan. 14) that it is organizing the first Columbus Craft Beer Week, set for May 1-9 and sponsored by Giant Eagle.

Organizers are planning events throughout the community, including food and beer pairings, beer dinners (or lunch, brunch or breakfast), limited edition or specialty beer releases, tap takeovers, meet the brewer opportunities, and educational speakers.

The week also will include seven special collaboration brews.

The nine-day celebration will culminate with a new Ohio Craft Brewers Association event May 9: “Six One Pour: The Ohio Craft Beer Fest Presented by Chipotle” at Brewmasters Gate in the Brewery District. Any proceeds will benefit the association.

“As the state guild representing local craft brewers our values include stewardship, advocacy, empowerment and fun,” Mary MacDonald, executive director of the Ohio Craft Brewers Association, said in a news release. “We believe we can incorporate a good deal of those first three into Columbus Craft Beer Week and have a whole lot of fun while celebrating craft beer!”

5. Home Brewers On The Rise In 2015

Growing taste for craft beer leads to more home brewing, by Martin E. Comas – azdailysun.com

The growing taste for craft beers nationally has also caused changes in the beer market. In the past year, overall beer sales have dropped by 2 percent, while craft beer sales grew 18 percent by volume, according to the national Brewers Association.

Even President Barack Obama has gotten into the brewing craze. In December, he was honored with a lifetime membership to the American Homebrewers Association after purchasing a starter kit in 2011 and creating a honey ale with the help of his personal chef, Sam Kass.

“The hobby is getting bigger all the time,” said Mike Urban, a member of the Central Florida Home Brewers, a group made up of brewing enthusiasts that has seen its membership numbers swell in recent years.

As an example, his club’s annual brew competition gets about 700 entries. Whereas “we would have about 400 or 500 entries four or five years ago,” Urban said.

Your Career In Craft Beer Starts Today!

7 Career Tips To Help You Land A Great Job In 2015 – Another helpful article from Craft Beverage Jobs to help you make 2015 the year you landed your Dream Job!

Are you currently job seeking, or are you hoping that 2015 is the year that you finally break out of the job that you hate and into one that you love?

Regardless of where you are on the corporate (or un-corporate) ladder, how high your ambitions are, or what your salary requirements might be, there are certain things that every job seeker must do in order to make themselves attractive to a prospective employer.