Takeaways from Brewers Association Midyear Survey

This has been an incredibly tumultuous year for the craft beer industry. Alongside the obvious impacts of the pandemic, craft brewers across the nation also have to deal with an increasingly complex drinking audience and consistently fierce competition from both local and macro competitors. To assess the current state of the industry, the Brewers Association’s Bart Watson conducted his annual midyear survey to get a read on craft beer’s performance to date, the ever-growing list of challenges and maybe a fleeting slice of optimism for an industry that has been brutally impacted by the pandemic. Here are three main takeaways from Watson’s report. 

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Brewery Showcase | Bad Dad Brewing Co.

Bad Dad Brewing Co. isn’t the sort of brewery you’re likely to stumble across accidentally. Barry Howard has no qualms saying that the brewery he and his sons founded in Fairmount, Indiana, isn’t in a location people generally think of as a destination. Instead, he’s proud of the fact that he made the brewery and its associated restaurant and brewpub into the destination.

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Suburban Chicago Breweries Adjust to Operating During a Pandemic

On Friday, May 29, the full COVID-19 lockdown came to an end for numerous breweries across suburban Chicago, as long as they could offer outdoor seating and follow social distancing protocols (The city proper would have to wait a little longer). The questions were: How would breweries adjust to operating during a pandemic and would beer drinkers comply and behave?

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Ultimate 6er | Homeschool Beer Improves Teaching Skills

The (almost) national quarantine and school closures have forced parents to take on the role of homeschool instructor. Sure, one could joke that sifting through endless passwords and videos is enough to make anyone desire a drink. But, let’s be real here. Beer does more than relax one at the end of the night. Indeed, homeschool beer provides lessons. Homeschool beer broadens one’s intellect. One could argue that attempting to serve as a homeschool teacher without having a beer the night before is analogous to a kid refusing to do his or her homework. To wit: homeschool beer serves as a vital component of every parent’s pedagogy.

This should go without saying, but just in case: Don’t drink the beer WHILE teaching. You do your lesson planning at night or, at least after school. Otherwise, it’s detention for you.

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The First Sip: Life After COVID-19

With more time to watch movies and shows, I’ve been reevaluating the importance of entertainment and imagination. One movie I’ve been thinking about is Big Fish—particularly the end where Albert Finney and Billy Crudup envision how “the story ends.” The ending they come up with is a bright visualization—a jubilant, cheerful scene where the son carries his dying father to a pond through a long stretch of smiling faces. As they walk down the hill towards the pond, the father gets a standing ovation from the dozens of quirky people who made up his remarkable (if exaggerated) life’s story.

Sometimes those kinds of visualizations are fun distractions—a daydream to pass the time. But sometimes visualizations are a coping mechanism, pure survival. It’s not news that we’re missing a lot right now. And when we miss things, it’s easy to let our minds wander and dream about what may come. So that’s exactly what we’re going to do. With the help of some lovely folks in the craft beer industry, we’re going to close our eyes and imagine what it’ll be like on that first day back to life.

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Ultimate 6er | Enjoy Baseball During a Quarantine

Beer & Baseball go hand-in-hand. Although beer operations are either slowed or shut down in almost every U.S. location, to-go options and cellar-emptying are at least helping us through this quarantine. Baseball, however, is on full hiatus, and baseball fans need something to fill the void. The good news is that fans can still enjoy baseball during a quarantine through social and digital media. You may even find sites you never knew existed, and become fans of those sites forever.

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Ultimate 6er | The Perfect Quarantine Beers

The entire world has recently been shaken to its core by COVID-19, more cordially known as Coronavirus. With many countries under full quarantine while others seek to choose the best option for the citizens of their respected states and countries, one fact remains widely consistent wherever you may live. Many of us are becoming stir-crazy while in quarantine.

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Supporting Local Breweries in the Midst of COVID-19 Mandated Closures

What a time it is right now. The Brewers Association announced last Thursday they’ll be cancelling CBC 2020 and that was followed shortly by the Colorado Brewers Guild announcing the suspension of this year’s Collaboration Fest. The craft beer community has been diligent about updating procedures and staying on top of these changes that need to be implemented. Although it’s unclear the full impact of how COVID-19 will be affecting breweries, they’ve responded by continuing to announce temporary closures, event cancellations, or sharing their processes to help protect their employees and patrons. With the recent announcements from California, Illinois, Ohio, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minneapolis, Pennsylvania, and now all of Colorado asking for bar closures, which includes breweries and taprooms, we want to share ways you can continue to support your local breweries with these changes, while still being mindful of public health safety.

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Ultimate 6er | Light Beers for Social Distancing

Growing up in Michigan, March was always a month of excitement and anticipation for me. After a long, cold winter, I always found myself eager to spend time outdoors on the first day of sunshine, and my spirits were lifted along with the slowly rising temperatures. In addition to the excitement that the spring season brings, the beginning of another one of my favorite “seasons” was filling me with anticipation this time of year: March Madness! However, as we all know, everything that we had planned on has abruptly been halted by COVID-19. School has been closed, spring break plans have been canceled and March Madness has taken on a new meaning. However, instead of complaining about how this has inconvenienced our lives, why not look at this opportunity as a chance to slow down?

I originally wrote this article with the intention of reaching for one of these light beers while cheering on my favorite basketball team. Instead, I’ll offer you six recommendations on light beers that you can enjoy while binge-watching Netflix, working on projects around the house or otherwise entertaining yourself during this unique time of social distancing.

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How Breweries, Beer Festivals, & the Craft Beer Community have Responded to COVID-19

As businesses across the country are taking extra precautions because of the COVID-19 virus, breweries are putting in new procedures and canceling events altogether in order to keep the public safe and prevent unnecessary risks.

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What We’re Drinking | March 6, 2020

If you think 2020 has been off to a rough start, you’re not alone. Weather sucks. Politics suck. Coronavirus sucks. Comcast, DISH and Altitude are still dicking with sports fans and depriving Coloradoans of their only good sports teams. The price of hand sanitizer and protective masks have reached black market kidney levels while some poor contractor is demolishing drywall with a t-shirt wrapped around his face. I mean it probably wasn’t a great t-shirt—probably some random swag t-shirt acquired as a third-place consolation prize at a Geeks Who Drink trivia night or something—but now the shirt’s ruined and there’s no way his lungs are protected. But as long as people are stocked up for the almost-as-bad-as-the-flu virus, that’s what really matters.

So maybe it’s the end of the world, maybe it’s not. All I know is the PorchDrinking team’s gonna get their tasty brews in before the whole shithouse goes up in flames, man. Sit back with a cold one and welcome the end of all things in this week’s What We’re Drinking.

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