Small Things In Big Countries | Alternate Endings & Queue Beer Collaboration

In a city of over 8 million people, in the top ten most diverse cities in the world, and with close to 50 craft breweries, it might come as a surprise to learn that there are just two Asian-Indian-owned craft beer bars in New York City. Carmine Street Beers in Greenwich Village, and Brooklyn’s Queue Beer are both owned by the Monteiro family. Dad Brian opened Carmine Street back in 2013, with sons Shane and Dean later joining the business. Inspired by hours spent working at Carmine Street between college classes, Shane launched Queue in hip Park Slope in 2023, with 24 taps, 80+ cans and seating for 46 guests. Committed to showcasing the best of local, national and international craft beer, the Monterios are also keen to highlight their Indian heritage and the endless possibilities Indian flavors offer to the craft beer market, to which end Queue operations manager Shane Monteiro has collaborated with Alternate Ending Beer Co. across the water in New Jersey to launch Small Things In Big Countries — a beer to celebrate Indian culture and cuisine.

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Book Review | Pairing Beer & Chocolate by David Nilsen

While beer trends come and go, pairing is and continues to be a skill that never goes out of fashion, and quite rightly so. As beer lovers, we seek out sensory experiences from every sip we take, factoring in variables ranging from serving temperature to glass size to express and explain the precise nature of our drinking experience, so naturally once food substances are thrown into the mix, we aim to optimize our enjoyment by successfully pairing flavors and textures that are complimentary.

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Roughhouse Brewing | New Day Navroz Mango Lassi Sour Ale

Across the world, over 300 million people, not far off the population of the U.S., celebrate the spring vernal equinox festival of Navroz, also known as Nowruz, Novruz, Nowrouz, Nooruz, Navruz, Nauroz or Nevruz, all of which mean “new day” and signify the first day of spring. The festival is embraced in multiple countries across South and Central Asia and the Middle East, with roots that trace back over 3,000 years to the Zoroastrian religion in ancient Persia, and is usually celebrated on or around March 21^st.

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Saint Arnold Brewing Barrel-Aged Beer & Cellar Tour

Whatever your passion, whatever the thing that makes the world shine that little bit brighter, makes your heart beat that little bit faster, a glimpse behind the velvet curtain of how that magic is made is an immeasurable treat. Whether you’re my dad touring the Long Room at Lord’s Cricket Ground or my nephew hanging out with the drivers backstage at the Formula One, getting a sneaky peek behind the scenes is what it’s all about. For a dedicated Texan beer lover, getting a glimpse of the inner machinations of our oldest craft brewery—a two-time Great American Beer Festival Brewery of the Year-winning behemoth whose barrel-aged program is the stuff of round-the-block queues—is that trip through the back of the wardrobe into Narnia.

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Copper State Beer Festival, Mesa AZ | Jan 13th 2024

Sweaters are being stripped off, sleeves are being rolled up, and hats are perched on heads as the sparkling winter sun permeates Mesa, AZ’s Riverview Park. Copper State Beer Festival is in full swing, and the weather is offering up its desert best for the 5,000 visitors the event has attracted. This is the third year the festival has taken place, drawing beer lovers from across Arizona and further afield to one of Phoenix’s hippest suburbs for an afternoon of imbibement. As Arizona’s craft beer scene blooms like a cactus flower, consumers are catching on, creating space for this frankly huge event featuring 72 breweries, plus a range of cideries, wineries, meaderies, distilleries, seltzer makers, bars and bottle shops. While the focus is firmly on beer, this is an event with something for everyone and an opportunity for local businesses to showcase their offerings alongside high-profile national names. There’s even a skating rink and axe throwing, which beats the heck out of the usual spin-the-wheel attractions beer festivals offer (FYI there was also spin-the-wheel).

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Craft Culture X | Thai One On Lemongrass-Basil Blonde Ale

The beer scene in Texas is in a state of flux, with multiple closures, including many fan favorites, leaving drinkers reeling and owners uncertain as to what the future holds. Against this precarious background, the opening of Houston’s Craft Culture X is a beam of positivity for the industry for multiple reasons.

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Rupee Beer | ‘British-Indian IPA’ Combines History & Drinkability

When brothers Van and Sumit Sharma launched Rupee Beer in 2021, their goal was to make the perfect beer to pair with the Indian cuisine they had grown up with, along with other spicy, diverse world foods.

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Meanwhile Brewing | Winter Beer Menu

As stout season hits its stride, Meanwhile Brewing in Austin, Texas, has taken a broader approach to seasonal offerings and launched a full gamut of winter beers for differing palates and the vagaries of Texas winter weather.

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Rupee Beer | Mango Wheat Ale

When brothers Van and Sumit Sharma found themselves back in their adopted hometown of Portland, Maine, helping out at their parents’ Indian restaurant during the pandemic, as they had growing up, the two began to ponder the question of what makes a really good beer to pair with Indian and other spicy food.

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Real Wild & Woodsy Festival | Flagstaff, Arizona

For lovers of mixed culture, foeder-conditioned, funky and barrel-aged beers, the Real Wild & Woodsy Festival really is the Teddy Bears’ (or should that be Teddy Beers’?) Picnic of festivals. Held just outside the center of Flagstaff at the Arizona Historical Society’s Pioneer Museum for the first time this year, the festival feels like a secret garden party.

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Stem Ciders | Apricot Haze

For beer drinkers segueing into cider, cider lovers looking for something different, or anyone who loves high quality fruit-forward beverages made with fresh ingredients, Colorado’s Stem Ciders are fermenting up a storm with a range of dry and flavored ciders made with pressed juice from Pacific-Northwest apples and adjuncts ranging from chile-guava to lavender, salted cucumber to carrot-ginger-turmeric. Determined to win over new drinkers from outside the cider community, Stem have created their newest release, Apricot Haze, especially with beer lovers in mind, using an unusual technique to replicate the hop punch of a hazy IPA, paired with a bright, refreshing apricot base.

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Texas Keeper Cider | Harrison

Cider nerds and beer nerds have a lot in common, especially when it comes to appreciating, celebrating and recreating historic beverages. As the beer world grows in appreciation for heritage styles like Roggenbier, Lichtenhainer and Grodziskie, over in ciderland, heritage apple varietals are big news, and the Harrison, with its fortuitous origin-story and serendipitous rescue from extinction, is the rock star of heritage heirloom apples.

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Urban South HTX Celebrates 3rd Anniversary With 8 Circus-Themed Collaboration Beers

While Urban South HTX just turned three (in “beer years”) they feel significantly older. They have successfully established themselves in the Houston beer scene, at the forefront of Houston’s ever-escalating fruited sour boom. Created as the R&D branch of NOLA’s largest brewery by volume, Urban South HTX arrived on the scene with more than a pinch of cheek and a strongly anti-establishment identity as part of craft beer’s new guard. Pushing the boundaries of the possible, Urban South HTX is known for their avant-garde flavors, from Strawberry Nesquik and Starburst Gummie to Cheeseburger and Detroit Style Mexican Pizza–yes, these are all real beer flavors.

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Nevertheless, We Persist: Eden and Anxo Cideries Launch 5th Collaboration WHM Ciders Benefiting Women’s Rights Charities

“She was warned. She was given an explanation. Nevertheless, she persisted.”

In February 2017, Mitch McConnell’s attempt to justify his silencing of Elizabeth Warren on the senate floor went viral, backfiring against the Republican party and transforming into a feminist rallying cry. His phrase sparked the hashtags #ShePersisted and #LetLizSpeak and became the theme for 2018’s Women’s History Month.

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Austin Beerworks, Meanwhile Brewing and Kaiju Cut & Sew Release Social Harmony: A Kaiju Brew, benefiting Austin’s AAPI Community

Austin Beerworks co-founder and director of brewing operations Will Golden and Kaiju Cut & Sew owner Chris Gomez are back celebrating the Lunar New Year and fundraising for their local Asian American and Pacific Islander communities with Social Harmony: A Kaiju Brew Roasted Barley Tea- Infused Gold Lager, brewed to herald the Year of the Rabbit.

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Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. | Colonel E.H. Taylor Bourbon Barrel Aged Bigfoot Barleywine

As we officially enter Big Beer season, craft beer giants Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. has brought out the biggest of big beer guns to welcome winter in. The Colonel E.H. Taylor Bourbon Barrel Aged Bigfoot Barleywine is a masterful creation, prepared with delicacy and dedication, and bringing together two of the most respected alcohol brands in the U.S.

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Event Recap | Texas Craft Brewers Festival 2022

A sold-out Texas Craft Brewer’s Festival took place on Saturday October 8th at Fiesta Gardens alongside Austin’s Lady Bird Lake. The event brought together over 85 Texas breweries, 250 beers … Read More

Beer Is Art | Obakeng Malope’s Campaign to Lift South Africa’s Youth Out of Poverty Through Craft Beer

Obakeng Malope has a mission. The South African brewer and filmmaker has started a project blending beer culture and social change with enormous scope on both a national and international level, and her hard work and tenacity has already led to significant press and multi-national collaboration.

Malope is the creator of Beer Is Art, an initiative to offer access to the craft beer industry to South Africa’s unemployed young people. In the second quarter of 2022, 4.8 million 15-34 year old South Africans were unemployed, 46.5% of the population in that age group. Malope believes that the growing South African craft beer industry has the potential to help lift some of these young people out of poverty. “The youth are sitting at home unemployed here in South Africa. The campaign teaches about beer, that beer is not something that you drink and get drunk off. We teach beer and food pairing, brewing, beer podcasting and licensing. We show them that they can turn beer into a career,” she says.

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Yokefellow Beer | Sueño Peach Saison

An hour west of Austin sits the quaint historic town of Johnson City, TX. It’s the home of Lyndon Baines Johnson, the 36^th American President. It’s named for his grandfather, Samuel Ealy Johnson, Sr. And the Blanco County seat is now best known as a cosy, picturesque stop on the Texas Wine Trail.

However, between the dual impacts of the pandemic and sky-rocketing house prices in the greater Austin area, Johnson City is taking on a new identity. It’s the hip Hill Country outpost, with three craft breweries and new concept watering hole Nice N Easy, home of locally produced Lightsome Wines and Yokefellow Beer.

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South Asian Heritage Month | Why It Matters To The Beer Industry

Being a South Asian in beer within the diaspora can be a lonely business. As per Brewer’s Association data from 2021, just 2% of US breweries are owned by Asians, with no available information on South Asians specifically. With so few South Asians involved in the beer industry, taking time to reflect on and celebrate South Asian Heritage Month* (July 18 -August 1**) offers an opportunity to amplify our presence, support one another, and reach out and share our culture through the medium of beer, our chosen career or interest.

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