Joe Stange
It’s Not Just Breweries—State Brewers’ Guilds Are Pivoting, Too. Here’s How.By Joe StangeState brewers’ guilds work for the common interest of independent breweries, but the pandemic dealt a severe blow to their ability to raise money and operate. Here’s how they’re getting by—and how breweries and suppliers can get involved.
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From Waffles to Cyberpunks: Cross-Promo Beers Are Alive and WellBy Joe StangeThe pandemic may have hindered the hospitality business, but in no way has it hindered the ongoing proliferation of offbeat, often counterintuitive brewery team-ups with other enterprises.
Did Fresh-Hop Season Just Get Longer?By Joe StangeCollaborators on a storage-and-shipping experiment report that a special produce container preserved fresh, unprocessed hops for six weeks—and it may work for longer.
News & Analysis: Election Over (Bring on the Inauguration Beers)By Joe StangeWhether you would rather forget about the past four years, the election itself, or the bizarre and interminable period that followed the election, it would seem that we all could use a beer.
“This Is Disgusting”: How Night Shift Sold the Team on Hard SeltzerBy Joe StangeIn this excerpt from our Case Study on Night Shift Brewing—from our freshly published Brewing Industry Guide Winter issue—the Boston brewery’s cofounders explain the process behind their successful Hoot hard seltzer.
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Packaging Innovations: Contain Your ExcitementBy Jamie BognerTectonic shifts in buying behavior have caused a tidal wave of disruptions to packaged goods. Brewers have mostly managed to surf that wave, barely replacing lost draft volumes. Yet as consumer demand evolves, new formats offer new opportunities...
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Case Study: Green Bench BrewingBy Joe StangeDeep roots in the community and wide-open doors were in the schematics of Green Bench Brewing of St. Petersburg, Florida, from the start. Since then, head brewer and co-owner Khris Johnson has shepherded the brewery from strength to strength.
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Joint Operations: Canadian Cannabis Firm Buys Atlanta’s SweetWaterBy Joe StangeThe Ontario-based Aphria calls its $300 million acquisition of the “420” brewer a “strategic entry into the United States.”
The Great Outdoors? Taprooms Try Different Ways to Keep ’Em ComingBy Joe StangeKnowing that business will slow as the weather gets frosty—especially amid fears that indoor areas are less safe—breweries are taking different tacks to keep attracting drinkers to their patios and beer gardens.
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As Rough Winter Approaches, Brewers Look for Silver LiningsBy Joe StangeDrinkers are visiting less but spending more when they do. Package and store sales remain strong, while draft margins remain scant. Here we round up some recent data and analyses relevant to independent brewers.
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Supply Shortage: The 'Candemic'By Joe StangeThe crunch on aluminum cans comes just when COVID-19 fears have made breweries more dependent than ever on packaged-beer sales. Relief is unlikely to arrive soon.
Passports, Promos, & Precautions: Virtual GABF Goes Local, NationwideBy Joe StangeThe Great American Beer Festival will happen this year, but in an altered and dispersed form. Besides a two-day virtual event, hundreds of breweries around the country are offering sweet deals to passport holders. The crazy thing? It just might work.