American Craft Beer The Best Craft Beer, Breweries, Bars, Brewpubs, Beer Stores, And Restaurants Serving Serious Beer.
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.
Montana Brewery Takes on the Big Boys (Missoula, MT) – This one will be fun to watch. NBC Montana is reporting that Big Sky Brewing is getting ready to jump ugly with Anheuser-Busch over the use of the phrase “hold my beer and watch this,” which the Montana-based brewery claims it’s been using since 2004. Court documents filed by Big Sky allege that Anheuser-Busch released a series of videos using the phrase in December that they’ve held the trademark on since 2009 and currently use on their cans.
Icebound Ship Running Low on Beer! (Antarctica) – As if things couldn’t get any worse after a Chinese Icebreaker failed in its attempt to free theMV Akademik Shokalskiy, which is icebound off Antarctica. News.com.au is reporting that although the ship’s passengers remain comfortable for now, they are running dangerously low on beer. “When it comes to trips to the South Pole, there are problematic intangibles and this is a case in point,” says Tom Bobak, Editor-In-Chief at AmericanCraftBeer.com. “Things like this can and will happen and you always want to have an adequate backup beer allocation should things get rough.”
Minnesota Governor Threatens to do the Right Thing! (Saint Paul, MN) – In a statement that sent ripples across the political intelligentsia, the Star Tribune is reporting that “Minnesota Gov. Mark Dayton said Friday he’d sign a bill allowing liquor stores to open on Sundays if lawmakers muster the votes to pass it in next year’s session.”
Dogfish Head Prepares for Re-Entry (Milton, DE) – Our friends at the Dogfish Head Brewery announced in a blog post last week that they would soon be returning to four states that they left back in 2011 and that they could be back on shelves in Indiana as early as this week. In December, they announced their return to Wisconsin and Rhode Island as well as intentions to re-enter Tennessee.
Highland Looking Good (Asheville, NC) – In a move to both celebrate their 20th anniversary and to further re-position themselves in an increasingly crowded marketplace, the Highland Brewing Company has unveiled their new contemporary packaging for 2014.
DC Brau Philly Bound (Washington, DC) – The DC Brau Brewing Company will be bringing their popular brand to Philadelphia and eastern Pennsylvania in 2014. Starting on January 2, lucky PA residents will be able to find limited amounts of DC Brau’s The Corruption, The Public, Penn Quarter Porter, and The Citizen in cans. In addition to Philadelphia, you will now be able to track down DC Brau beers in Bucks, Berks, Chester, Delaware, Lehigh, Montgomery, and Northampton counties.
