Beer, Bars & Brewers #25

Welcome back! New Year, new you? Let’s not hope none of your New Years resolutions include the words ‘less beer’. We do not approve – ’cause: even Rick Astley and Mikkeller just announced a co-brew! Instead, make like the good people over at mobilesyrup and download the Untappd app to strengthen your New Years resolution to ‘drink more beer’. 

This is 2017’s first Beers, Bar, and Brewers! We’re stoked to be back, and hope you are too! This week we take a look at Rick Astley’s beer, the future of hoppy beers in Germany, and a anti-Trump beer brewed by six female brewers. By the way: The mentioned Untappd app is available here. Prost!

Rick Astley & Mikkeller: Pop Legend Creates Own Beer

Ever wondered what Rick Astley’s beer would taste like? Well, thanks to Mikkeller you no longer have to wonder! The drinks business reports that “80s pop sensation Rick Astley has teamed up with Danish brewer Mikkeller to create what he’s described as a ‘fruity pilsner lager’.” Apparently Astley is working on launching his own beer brand soon and has been working closely with Copenhagen’s Mikkeller brewery. Watch the teaser video for the beer (I mean, of course there’s a teaser video) over at Munchies Denmark’s Facebook page. And of course we hope, that Rick’s never gonna give his beer up… 

Outhopped! Are Hop-heavy Beers Unsuitable for our Sales System?

Last week, over on TheFullPint, Alex Davis focused on a problem that might very well affect the German beer market this year. The increasing demand of craft beer has led to many more hop-heavy beers hitting the shelves. IPAs, DIPAs, IPLs, Pale Ales, Seasons, etc … Brewers now need to answer the question of how long their beers’ shelf lives truly is. How long can they sell it for without a significant loss in taste? Should they use preservatives? Most people still believe that beer can’t go bad. That, friends, is unfortunately only the case for glossy, highly filtered, pasteurized bulk brews. Hops, particularly those volatile oils are sensitive to heat and light and a month and a half at room temperature and lots of light can make all the difference between a delectable beer and a disgusting one. Supermarkets are usually not equipped with a cooling system to keep the hoppy beers at their best, which begs to answer the question: is it worth it for the brewer? Or are they shooting themselves in the foot? Large American craft breweries started pasteurizing their beers long ago, despite the damaging effect it has on the hop varieties. Otherwise, export markets become unavailable and the closed cooling system drives the price up, as well as the bad conscience concerning all things climate change. Craft beer should remain local up to a certain degree, this guarantees freshness. How local a successful craft beer company can stay remains to be shown, we’ll be watching it closely in 2017.

Anti Trump Beer created by Female Brewers

“Six female brewers in Denver, Colorado, have created an anti-Trump beer ahead of Trump being sworn in as the 45th President of the United States”. Just in time for the president-elect’s inaguration on January 20th, the “Makin Noise: A Pussy Riot Beer” is ready to launch. The first batch was brewed on the 28th of December and more will be made in the coming weeks. For all those liberals that prepare to contiously drink over the next four years, this is the best way to go about it. The brewers are Kelissa Hieber from Goldspot Brewing, Bess Douherty from Wynkoop Brewing, Katie Cochrane of Great Divide Brewing Betsy Lay from Lady Justice Brewing Alyssa Hoberer of Dry Dock Brewing and Jess Anderson of 3 Freaks Brewing. The drinks business reports that “They decided to take on the project following the widely sexist, misogynistic and degrading comments Trump has made towards women throughout his political career and his recent presidential campaign”. The beer itself is a imperial saison, aged on strawberry puree (playing with the cliche that women like fruity beers). Douherty said “It will look like a delicate beer but it will knock you on your ass”. We need to get our hands on some of this.