The latest episode of One Iconic Beer. Agostino Arioli, Matt Brynildson, and I tell the story of Birrificio Italiano’s Tipopils, the beer that gave us Italian pilsners.

The latest episode of One Iconic Beer. Agostino Arioli, Matt Brynildson, and I tell the story of Birrificio Italiano’s Tipopils, the beer that gave us Italian pilsners.

Talk to a Red Sox fan!

How a Baltimore Brewery Shaped New York's Most Notorious Baseball Team In 1986, the New York Mets won the World Series by defeating the Boston Red Sox in seven games. It’s unequivocally on the short list of best series of all-time, and its most pivotal moment — the ball ...

It is often the case that the best beer stories aren’t precisely beer stories. Great one from VinePair:

vinepair.com/articles/bal...

The Final Numbers for Craft Beer in 2025 Are … Not Great — Beervana The Brewers Association has their annual year-end numbers out for 2025 and as expected, it’s a bit grim. Yet within the overall dark picture, there are a few fascinating trends and details, and I have...

The Brewers Association has their annual year-end numbers out for 2025 and as expected, it’s a bit grim. Yet within the overall dark picture, there are a few fascinating trends and details, and I have ‘em all for you.

The Final Numbers for Craft Beer in 2025 Are … Not Great — Beervana The Brewers Association has their annual year-end numbers out for 2025 and as expected, it’s a bit grim. Yet within the overall dark picture, there are a few fascinating trends and details, and I have...

The Brewers Association has their annual year-end numbers out for 2025 and as expected, it’s a bit grim. Yet within the overall dark picture, there are a few fascinating trends and details, and I have ‘em all for you.

Awesome example.

😂

Rough.

2016: come stand in line for three hours for the opportunity to pay $25 for a four-pack of our latest hazy IPA.

2026: come down to the taproom for a $3 pint of our light lager. Please!

———————
Jokes aside—I would love to hear your examples of breweries doing discount pricing.

Teams is the worst. Honestly Microsoft has been peddling terrible, half-baked, buggy and unstable software for 40 years. It’s really their one shining achievement.

Sorry, link:

www.linkedin.com/feed/update/...

Text: 👉 While the craft segment overall is down -3.7%, the New Belgium Craft Portfolio is up +3.2% YTD, making us the #1 craft share gainer in 2026. In fact, New Belgium has gained 2x+ as much share as the next closest craft supplier this year. 👉 With those share gains, now $1 out of every $8 spent on craft beer in the US is spent on buying a New Belgium or Bell’s beer!

This can’t be right, can it? Craft beer is a $28.8 billion industry (per Brewers Association), an eighth of which is $3.6 b. Surely CEO Shaun Belongie means IRI data or something?

to capture market share via the bottleneck of distro. And it did create an inefficient system with rent-seekers aided by laws that bind breweries to them.

It’s true, and upon reflection, I am reminded that the three tier system wasn’t originally designed as an opportunity for rent-seeking. It was to discourage the power of breweries with tied houses. In other words, it was originally a free-market concept. In the event, it caused breweries…

True. And the real issue there are franchise laws, but that’s a whole other thing.

Politics for those who indulge.

But also, the UK is taking a very hard line on alcohol and health and the U.S. just repudiated the hardline view.

That captures the U.S. in a nutshell. Our puritan roots exhibited in the drinking age laws and a laissez faire approach to commerce.

Thanks for the clarification. It’s interesting how differently the UK govt treats alc than the US govt does—when pubs are such a fixture in British culture. The UK views it as a very malignant force, where in the US we’re more laissez faire.

As a follow-up to my price-of-pints post,
@tandleman.bsky.social has a great description of all the ways pubs are under duress now. US pubs don’t pay a 20% VAT on draft pints (!!!), but everything else applies. The delta between Friday and Tuesday nights is an especially important point.

I don’t and this is the first I’ve heard of it.

I wonder if this is a concession to reality I never thought they’d make. I loved the vast beer selection—but it was clear I was the only one. Their imports were always *years* old. If you didn’t buy IPAs, you were buying out-of-code beer.

[cries in Washington State]

Nice!

Poor Mississippi.

Pop quiz: which state has more expensive beer, Wisconsin, Oregon, Colorado, or Texas? The folks at Toast have some numbers out this week, and they’re quite interesting.

What impressed you (beers or breweries)?

I would guess the craft/mass market balance plays a role, too.

Pop quiz: which state has more expensive beer, Wisconsin, Oregon, Colorado, or Texas? The folks at Toast have some numbers out this week, and they’re quite interesting.

Celeste and All the New Hops — Beervana With ten varieties released in the past year, hop breeding enters its most prolific era. Three trends define the hop industry: commercial consolidation, the arrival of small players, and the overall d...

With ten varieties released in the past year, hop breeding enters its most prolific era. Three trends define the hop industry: commercial consolidation, the arrival of small players, and the overall decline in acreage. Let’s look at the new varieties and where things stand today.

Celeste and All the New Hops — Beervana With ten varieties released in the past year, hop breeding enters its most prolific era. Three trends define the hop industry: commercial consolidation, the arrival of small players, and the overall d...

With ten varieties released in the past year, hop breeding enters its most prolific era. Three trends define the hop industry: commercial consolidation, the arrival of small players, and the overall decline in acreage. Let’s look at the new varieties and where things stand today.