Tag: beer

party clinking wine glasses
alcohol, beer, wine

How Is Non-Alcoholic Beer Separated From Plain Juice, Anyway?

Ashe

This question is a common one from newcomers to the non-alcoholic space. Wine or spirits without alcohol is just a particularly strong juice…right?

Not quite. This brief and highly informative article from The Takeout dives into the technology that transforms wine into an accessible, non-alcoholic variety. Similar to how coffee is turned into decaf using processes like Swiss Water or sugarcane, non-alcoholic drinks have a few options to choose from.

One option is reverse osmosis, a technique that’s also used to separate contaminants from everyday drinking water. Another option is called vacuum distillation, which involves the same science that heats out the alcohol in cooking wine. Simply put, this growing space is meeting a ton of needs in today’s increasingly alcohol wary world.

Just like decaf coffee, no alcohol and low alcohol varieties are positioned to meet a very thirsty niche. Non-alcoholic beer marketing is facing a rather interesting challenge due to having few competitors (yet). My suggestion to breweries: don’t go the route of generic decaf coffee marketing and focus on what makes products fun and accessible.

beer

Did You Know You Can Recycle Beer Waste Into Flour, Animal Feed, And Pizza?

Ashe

This is the kind of ingenuity that restores my faith in humanity. With so much bad news on the climate change front, this is one green development you won’t want to overlook.

ReGrained is a new food business looking to completely transform the way we look at making beer. They take the spent grain leftover from the brewing process and turn it into a slew of sustainable (and delicious) products. Flour, animal feed, and pre-made products like pasta are just a few of the creations that have come out. If you’re wondering why you haven’t heard of this before, don’t worry. Recycling beer waste is brand new technology that the creator himself stated should have caught on sooner.

This approach is not just novelty, either. The spent beer grain is stuffed full of essential proteins and fiber, with the article wrapping up with a taste test of ReGrained‘s pizza dough. Apparently it tastes similar to buckwheat, but with a quintessentially fermented tang. Sweet!

An interesting detail I want to point out is how the creator stresses the need for ongoing ingenuity. While he wants his technology to be more accessible, he also wants brewers to think up more unique ways to recycle materials and reduce harmful waste.

Looks like there’s hope for the planet and the art of nuance.

alcohol, beer, industry news

No More Mystery! Craft Beer Explained

Ashe

Craft beer isn’t the easiest to jump into for newcomers. Not when you can go for what’s familiar and just grab a Budweiser on your way to the checkout.

Never fear! This brief breakdown by CStore Decisions explains craft beer at its most simple, stressing its focus on small batches and unique flavors. Now, these breweries don’t exactly have to be tiny. A craft brewery can still create up to six million barrels and still qualify as craft beer, with the best known examples being Blue Moon and Samuel Adams. I’m a fan of both brands myself (and I can’t recommend the Samuel Adams Brick Red hard enough).

If you’re feeling a little adventurous, check out local craft breweries in your state. You might be surprised at some of the neat flavors you find.

American craft beer is at an interesting crossroads lately. There’s a spike in interest, and subsequently a spike in sales, but also pervasive problems in marketing and shipping that could see individual businesses struggling. I’ve got a lengthy guide coming up soon, tackling these issues one-by-one from my perspective as both a copywriter and a longtime beer lover. Until then, I’m going to go browse the Schilling Hard Cider catalog and get myself a treat for April. Their Grapefruit And Chill is just splendid.

What are you drinking lately?

alcohol, beer

Get Buzzed On Good Art: Beer Can Appreciation Day

Ashe

Better late than never! This beer can art appreciation post cropped up last year, but it’s a whirlwind of inspiration.

If you know anything about me and this blog, it’s that I love packaging design. It’s a deceptively simple creation we easily take for granted, blending appealing colors and psychology into one…well, package. It’s not enough to just look pretty. Packaging design needs to communicate intent. It needs to stand out from the others on the shelf. It needs to have some artistic flair to make you want to show it off or even keep it around. That’s a tall order, one many breweries have risen to.

This fun list from Just Beer App shows off fifteen unique can designs and what makes them special. They go into the details behind each brewery or pub, then cross-reference how they get across their identity visually. Some local designs use environmental shorthands to show their love for a particular city or state, while others craft original characters to represent the ‘character’ of a unique brew. I’m pleasantly blown away by Noble Rey Brewing Co.: their design creates a full illustration if you stack each beer can on top of the other.

This is a great time to mention I designed a seasonal beer can this year, which I’ll be showing off here soon. In the meantime, get buzzed on some good art.

galaxy
alcohol, coffee, video

Caffeine And Alcohol Are Wrecking Your Sleep Patterns

Ashe

Caffeine is a drug (yes, a drug) that I’ve dispensed with years ago.

Back in the day I used to drink a triple-shot latte during or after work…and that was before I worked as a barista. I would still be able to sleep just fine afterwards, all hail community college exhaustion, but it was a gamble. Nowadays? Just two cups of decaf coffee without a span of time in-between will be enough to have me jittery. It’s incredible how much has changed. I think my former usual would give me a heart attack now.

Alcohol isn’t all that different. While I love a cold beer or a glass of wine at night, I have to have it early enough for it to leave my system. If I drink it too close prior to laying down my body goes into ‘nap mode’, with no more than three hours in before I’m waking up again. This short TED Talk dives into the science behind why our bodies react the way they do to caffeine and alcohol, from how our REM is affected to just how long caffeine actually stays in your system.

Caffeine and alcohol are great in moderation, but can easily wreak havoc on your health unchecked. I think I’ll skip a day or two this week.

alcohol, beer, industry news

Beer Doesn’t Have The Appeal It Used To

Ashe

Left and right I see the shrinking appeal of alcohol. I’ve even felt it myself.

Once or twice a week I dip into my alcohol stores. I’ll crack open a hard cider over a baked potato for dinner. Pour myself an inch of wine during a lazy Sunday in front of a movie. As time goes on, however, I find myself getting more selective with what I put in the fridge. How many calories it has, how it lines up with my current diet and exercise regimen. This is a far cry from a few years ago, where I was less picky as long as it tasted good.

While the United States has been seeing a consistent dip in beer and wine sales (with the reasons usually lining up with health concerns), it’s far from an American phenomenon. This analysis from The Guardian goes into a similar trend in the U.K., exploring how younger drinkers are starting to skew toward lighter beer or no beer at all. Craft beer, beloved for its unique local varieties and limited-edition offers, is starting to dip after a strong past five years.

This is lining up with another prod to the beer-making bubble: a lack of CO2 connected to the ethanol industry’s current struggles. While recent spikes in beer purchases have been attributed to COVID-19, those numbers are not going to be easy to maintain when breweries don’t have the supplies they need. Combined with an overall shrinking interest in party culture and binge-drinking, this is a slope that will only get steeper. Drinks are going to have to continue getting creative (and healthy) to keep people’s attention.

What about you? Do you see your beer-drinking habits changing this year?

roasted coffee beans
alcohol, beer, coffee, guide

What Makes Mexican Coffee So Special?

Ashe

Stepping into the coffee world is a lesson in multiculturism.

Variety doesn’t end at whether you prefer lattes or cold brew, but rather, where the coffee comes from and how it’s made. Are we talking about hearty robusta from Vietnamese coffee farms or floral Arabica from Ethiopia? Are we doing wash processes or a honey method? If you need something to read while stuck at home, this in-depth piece from Daily Coffee Grind will catch you up on the magic of Mexican coffee. I was fascinated reading about the subtle flavors found in the region, with some coffee tasting like jasmine and bergamot.

As a long-time tea lover, that’s music to my ears. Mexican beer is also seeing some interesting developments for their unique approaches to craft brewing and flavor varieties. If you’re thinking of expanding your horizons a little, don’t miss this piece.

coffee, industry news

Three Great Things That Taste Great: Alcohol, Tea And Coffee Mixed Together For That Extra Kick

Ashe

You don’t have to choose when it comes to enjoying the tangy pop of beer or the smooth bitterness of coffee. As the saying goes? The more, the merrier!

Drinks are just as much an experience as they are a way to wet our throat. Coffee is commonly associated with the morning rush in the West, with many working Americans having entire morning rituals around a cup of joe. Tea is commonly seen as a relaxing drink — particularly a hot mug of herbal goodness — and beer shares a similar reputation…alongside being the key ingredient to a rowdy party!

It can seem like overkill to mix all these contrasting flavors and stimulants together, but a few places are choosing to embrace this happy balance.

Continue reading “Three Great Things That Taste Great: Alcohol, Tea And Coffee Mixed Together For That Extra Kick” →