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Beer, Bars & Brewers #36

This time around, we have Carlsberg launching its new craft beer portfolio, BrewDog handing out free beers to encourage UK citizens to vote, Riegele releasing a new alcohol-free IPA, and Sam Calagione asking RateBeer to remove all references to Dogfish Head after RateBeer was bought by ZX Ventures (which is owned by none other than AB InBev). It’s been a big week guys, we all deserve a beer.

Sometimes you might want a little more than beer; sometimes it needs to be a cocktail. With beer, though, because we’re not crazy. For those days, Liquor.com has rounded up the best beer cocktails the industry has to offer. We’re partial to the Bloody Roman. Just FYI.

Carlsberg UK launches new Craft Beer Portfolio

The Drinks Business reports, “Carlsberg UK has released this year’s ‘Crafted’ portfolio and handbook, featuring a new selection of craft beers including ‘Your beer, here?’ winner, Toast Ale.” The ‘Your beer, here?’ (horrible, confusing name, BTW) competition was launched in February of this year to give craft brewers and importers the chance to have one of their beers listed in the Crafted 2017 handbook, as well as sold in thousands of pubs, bars, and restaurants across the UK for one year. Carlsberg worked with beer writer Pete Brown to create its craft beer offering and the Crafted handbook. This year’s winning beer is Toast Ale, which “uses unsold bread from bakeries and sandwich makers to brew beer. The UK’s first ‘bread to beer’ ale, it replaces a third of the barley used in the traditional beer production process with bread, while all profits are given to Feedback, a charity that aims to eradicate food waste.”

BrewDog to hand out Free Beer to Encourage People to Vote

“Staff of the brewer will take to the streets outside the company’s bars…to ask members of the public who they will be voting for. Respondents will then be rewarded with free beer.” BrewDog wants to encourage the people to vote and have their voices heard today, on June 8th 2017. “To claim a free can of BrewDog’s Punk IPA, voters can take a picture of themselves outside their polling stations and show that picture to staff at any BrewDog bar.” Whatever it takes to get people to vote, right?

IPA Liberis 2+3: New Alcohol-free Craft Beer

Riegele just released its first ever alcohol-free IPA. Named IPA Liberis 2+3, the beer boasts tropical, fruity notes and retails for €2,49 per 0,33l bottle. Brewed with Amarillo, Mandarina, and Simcoe hops, the ale promises bold flavor without the alcohol. For some reason unknown to us, the company’s copy describing the new beer calls the standard sized 0,33l bottle “cheeky.” Perhaps something more mysterious than just alcohol-free beer awaits those who dare to try the IPA Liberis 2+3.

Sam Calagione Asks RateBeer to Remove All References to Dogfish Head

Last Friday, June 2nd, it was announced that ZX Ventures (which is fully owned by AB InBev) bought a stake in RateBeer.com. As Paste Magazine reports, Dogfish Head Founder Sam Calagione “sees this minority acquisition as a serious threat to the independence of beer rating sites, which consumers use as a bellwether of determining ‘what is good.’ He then calls for other independent breweries to join in requesting the removal of their beers from a system that may no longer objectively represent them.” Other breweries have heeded the call, including Harpoon, Sixpoint, and Belgium’s Cantillon.

Fair enough, although this move seems pretty run-of-the-mill for the AB InBev; after all, buying everything in sight that’s beer-related is simply how a monopoly is made. Calagione believes the move is a direct violation of the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics. He goes on: “We have respectfully asked Anheuser-Busch InBev and RateBeer to remove all Dogfish Head beer reviews and mentions on the RateBeer website immediately. It just doesn’t seem right for a brewer of any kind to be in a position to potentially manipulate what consumers are hearing and saying about beers, how they are rated, and which ones are receiving extra publicity on what might appear to be a legitimate, 100 percent user-generated platform. It is our opinion that this initiative and others are ethically dubious and that the lack of transparency is troubling.” He’s right, but you can’t blame AB InBev for trying to buy their way into an important part of an industry they believe to be theirs.

Credits

Foto: Photo via Tim Klöcker.

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