The American Craft Beer Quick Hits – May 5, 2014

We blame the industry for this… It used to be that when we wrapped up our Weekend Picks on Friday, we could coast through the weekend. There was little need to check in for updates -things were pretty much done. But clearly all that’s changed.

So here’s some of what’s happened in the world of craft beer while you were off enjoying yourselves.

, The American Craft Beer Quick Hits – May 5, 2014Beer and Music Mix Mightily At Dogfish Head (Milton, DE) – Sam Calagione has long championed music and beer collaborations at Dogfish Head, having previously released bottled Music Series beers inspired by Miles Davis (Bitches Brew) and Robert Johnson (Hellhound On My Ale), and having collaborated with Pearl Jam (Faithfull Ale) and Bonnie Prince Billy (Sixty-One), among others. And this June, they’ll be releasing Rosabi – a well-hopped Imperial Pale Ale brewed with musician Julianna Barwick. An exclusive run of 1,000 cases of six 750ml bottles will be packaged with a 10-inch record of original songs that Julianna composed using sounds from Dogfish Head’s expanded brewery.

, The American Craft Beer Quick Hits – May 5, 2014The Widmer Brothers Jump Ugly on The Street (Portland, OR) – It’s no secret that Kurt and Rob Widmer feel wronged by the Brewers Association’s decision to no longer consider Widmer Brothers Brewing Company an actual “craft brewery” after they joined the Craft Beer Alliance (CBA). As much as 32% of the CBA is owned by Anheuser-Busch InBev, which exceeds the BA’s 25% threshold for a big brewery’s ownership stake. And if their recent discussion with The Street is any indication, they still feel slighted.

, The American Craft Beer Quick Hits – May 5, 2014You Don’t Fuck with Ozzy (Baltimore, MD) -After receiving a cease-and-desist letter on behalf of musician Ozzy Osbourne, Baltimore-based The Brewer’s Art changed the name of the Belgian-style Strong Pale Ale they had originally called Ozzy, to Beazly, a nickname for a bartender who has worked at the Mount Vernon neighborhood bar for nearly 17 years. The Baltimore Sun goes on to report that new artwork is pending and that the “hope is to have Beazly on shelves in the early fall.”

Florida Legislators Prioritize Pot over Craft Beer Bill (Tallahassee, FL) – The increasingly embarrassing saga of Florida’s controversial Senate Bill 1714 continues. According to News 10, the bill (which legalizes 64 oz. growlers while forcing craft brewers to first sell their beer to a distributor and then buy it back before they can sell to customers at their own brewery) was put on hold as the legislative session wrapped up last Friday, in favor of a bill that legalizes medical marijuana in the state. What a joke this whole process has become!

Good News and Bad News (Nashville, TN) – Do you want the good news or the bad news? The good news is that Tennessee’s lawmakers have finally passed legislation lifting the ABV cap in the Volunteer State. The bad news is that part of the law won’t take effect until 2017! News Channel 5 is reporting that this long delay is the result “of a compromise between the Tennessee Craft Brewers Guild and liquor store retailers over the new law.”

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