Magee: “Craft” has outlived its usefulness
Lagunitas founder Tony Magee certainly isn’t one to mince words. So it should come as no surprise to learn he believes the term “craft” has “outlived its usefulness,” and he’s got a timely (Halloween) analogy to make his point, too.
“In legend, one of the ways you can get control over a spirit is by learning its name,” he told the Chicago Reader. “In other words, when you name something, you gain power over it, and it becomes weaker. If someone has to define craft, the first moment that sentiment exists, craft becomes a weaker idea.”
Suffice to say, Magee isn’t exactly worried about having his “craft” appellation — the one bestowed up him by the Brewers Association — stripped away, now that 50 percent of his company is owned by Heineken International. (As a refresher, to be considered a craft brewer in the eyes of the BA, a company must be less than 25 percent owned or controlled by “an alcoholic beverage industry member that is not itself a craft brewer.”)
“They got their own ax to grind, their own reasons,” he told the outlet. “I don’t pay much attention to that. The labels about who’s cool and who’s not cool have a frat party aroma. If we don’t measure up to the Brewers Association’s definition of physical beauty, I’ll just say, there’s more of us ugly motherfuckers than you anyway.”
There’s plenty more Magee musings over on Chicago Reader. Check ‘em out.
Deschutes’ East Coast Announcement Could Come in 2016
Want to know where Deschutes will build its planned east coast brewing facility? You might want to grab yourself a 12-pack and get comfortable, because an announcement may not come until 2016, Deschutes’ president Michael Lalonde told the Asheville Citizen Times last Friday.
The company is still evaluating potential locations in Greenville or Charleston, South Carolina, as well as Asheville and areas of Virginia, he old the outlet.
“We will probably make a final decision by the end of the year, but we will probably go public later than that to be sure that utilities can go to the site and that the water meets the quality standards and the soil is the right condition to build a brewery,” he told the Times.
Deschutes, based in Bend, Ore., began scouting east coast locations in early 2014, starting with an initial list of about 100 possible sites. Asheville, North Carolina and Roanoke, Virginia are rumored to be at the top of the brewery’s list.
California’s Mother Earth Brewing to Expand…in Idaho?
Here’s a headline you don’t see very often: “California brewery to build second facility in Idaho.”
That’s exactly what seven year-old San Diego-area Mother Earth Brew Co. is planning for 2016. The company told the Idaho Statesman it would open a 40,000 sq. ft. brewery and tasting room in Nampa, ID, 20 miles outside of Boise, by June of next year.
Complete with a four vessel, 40-barrel brewhouse, the new facility could allow Mother Earth to produce upwards of 100,000 barrels annually, founder Daniel Love told the outlet.
“One of the reasons we chose Boise is it has a fantastic craft beer scene going,” he told the Statesman. “I want to catch the wave.”
Mother Earth reportedly expects to produce as much as 15,000 barrels in the new space during its first six months of operation. By comparison, the company will produce a total of 22,000 barrels in 2015.
Viewing itself as a regional brewery, Mother Earth told The Statesman that it is not “a big guy like a Sierra Nevada or a New Belgium.”
“We think it’s important to get located in a nice transportation corridor like Boise. It allows us to regionally expand, and it allows us to grow organically to the Midwest,” Love said.
Wrestling Legend Gets His Own IPA
If you think Stone Cold Steve Austin should have his own IPA, give us a HELL YEAH.
The WWE Hall of Famer known for routinely chugging light beer and driving beer trucks to ring has apparently refined his tastes, partnering with California’s El Segundo Brewing on a new IPA called “Steve Austin’s Broken Skull IPA.”
From the Label:
Broken Skull IPA: A bad-ass 6.7% IPA designed by Steve Austin and ESBV for the work man & woman. It features Citra, Cascade, and Chinook hops to deliver big flavor with an easy finish. Now stop reading and start enjoying this awesome beer! Cheers! Steve
A launch event at the El Segundo taproom is scheduled to begin at 1:00 PM on Friday, Nov. 13 (We would have started it at 3:16). Beers will definitely be served, but no word yet on whether Stone Cold will also be opening up cans of whoop ass or handing out stunners.
In honor of the beer, we’ve included a few of Austin’s more memorable antics with the frothy beverage.
And this right here is bottom line, because Stone Cold says so.