EP 10 - Craft Beer Culture: A Personal History

Visit our website BeautifulIllusions.org for a complete set of show notes and links to almost everything discussed in this episode

Selected References:

2:05 - Treehouse Brewing Company2:30 - The Brewers Association trade group, which represents the majority of American Brewing companies, defines an American craft brewer as a small, independent brewer with an annual production of 6 million barrels or less, which represents roughly 3% of annual American beer production. Although the vast majority produce way less than this, the number was increased from 2 million barrels in 2011 to reflect the growth of the industry. For reference, the Treehouse Brewing Company has the capacity to produce about 150,000 barrels per year at its current facility which opened in 2017, whereas the Boston Beer Company, makers of Sam Adams and one of the largest craft breweries in the US brewed about 5.3 million barrels in 2019. Additionally, an independent brewer is one in which less than 25 percent of the craft brewery is owned or controlled by a beverage alcohol industry member that is not itself a craft brewer. See “The Importance of Defining Small and Independent” (Brewers Association, 2018)4:17 - The top 250 beers overall and the top 100 rated New England IPAs according to Beer Advocate7:22 - See “What Is the Difference between Ale and Lager?” (Craft Beer & Brewing, 2017)7:34 - See “American Lager” and “American Adjunct Lager”15:39 - See “Alcohol is a Social Lubricant, Study Confirms” (Association for Psychological Science, 2012) and “5 Studies That Help Explain Why Social Drinking Is So Rewarding” (The British Psychological Society, 2017)16:16 - See the entry on “College Drinking” from the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism16:46 - Sierra Nevada Pale Ale18:13 - Although alcohol use is a complex cultural phenomenon that can potentially serve a variety of prosocial purposes, it is one that merits a much more thoughtful look due to its potential for harm, particularly amongst young people. According to the American Addiction Centers and Alcohol.org, the use of alcohol has been normalized in almost every culture, but it should be noted that alcohol is a toxin, and regular use of the can lead to medical, mental health, and social problems...In the U.S., alcohol is the most commonly used substance of abuse among young people...Individuals ages 12-20 account for 11% of all the alcohol consumed, more than 90% of which is consumed by binge drinking. Current drinking culture can make it difficult for parents and young people to fully understand the severity and potential consequences of alcohol abuse. Teens may drink because of peer pressure, experimentation, stress, or other reasons...this risky behavior can lead to an alcohol use disorder (AUD) and heavy alcohol use in the teenage years can cause lasting cognitive deficits and alter the course of brain development as the brain continues to mature into a person’s early 20’s. Other dangers associated with underage drinking include impaired judgment, which can lead to violent behavior, and drinking and driving, increased risk of carrying out or suffering from physical or sexual assault, injuries, increased risk of later alcohol problems, and death. The CDC estimates that alcohol plays a role in the deaths of 4,358 individuals under age 21 each year on average. (Source: “Binge Drinking Statistics”)20:44 - Watch a video of Neil Young performing “Buffalo Springfield Again” - you can see the Sierra Nevada sitting on the stool next to him21:13 - Cascade hops21:56 - See “History of Craft Beer in CA” (California Craft Brewers Association)22:08 - See “Our Story” from Sierra Nevada and listen to an interview with Ken Grossman about the origins and growth of Sierra Nevada Brewing Company on the NPR podcast How I Built This with Guy Raz23:13 - See “Craft Beer Is the Strangest, Happiest Economic Story in America” (The Atlantic, 2018)24:16 - See “How America’s Iconic Breweries Survived Prohibition” (History.com, 2019)24:32 - See “How the Army Made Lager America’s Beer” (War On The Rocks, 2018)21:54 - For more on the connection between homebrewing and craft industry, See “The Roots of American Craft Brewing” (CraftBeer.com), and “The Evolution of the ‘Craft’ of Brewing” (BeverageDaily.com)24:52 - See “The Day Homebrewing Was Legalized” (Craft Beer & Brewing) and “Homebrewing Rights” (American Homebrewers Association)25:02 - The American Homebrewers Association is founded in 1978 by Charlie Papazian who also published The Complete Joy of Homebrewing in 1984 which many consider to be the “homebrewing bible”25:50 - See “Beer History” (Craft Beer)32:28 - New England Brewing Company32:47 - Sea Hag and G-Bot, the beer formerly known as “Ghandi Bot”, for more on the name change see “New England Brewing Decides To Rename Its Gandhi-Bot Beer” (Hartford Courant, 2015) 33:20 - See “Cascade Hops: The Variety That Launched A Craft Beer Revolution” (Kegerator.com), the “American IPA” style sheet from Craft Beer, and “How the West Coast-Style IPA Conquered the World” (First We Feast, 2015)33:35 - See “Citra Hops: The Most Citrusy Aroma Hop in the World of Beer” and “Galaxy Hops: The Homebrewer’s Guide to the Variety” and “Amarillo Hops: The Citrusy Hop That Was Discovered By Accident” (Kegerator.com)36:48 - Sip of Sunshine from Lawson’s Finest Liquids, although in retrospect I think the beer we tried that day was actually Double Sunshine, the beer upon which Sip of Sunshine is based37:39 - Heady Topper from The Alchemist37:45 - See “Four Elusive 'White Whale' Beers That Are Still on the Loose” (Eater, 2015), “The Craft Breweries Who Make Them Weigh In: Why White Whales?” (Brew Studs, 2016), “10 Cult Beer Releases, and What to Drink If You Can't Get Them” (First We Feast, 2013) and “Are Rare Beers Worth The Fuss?” (Beverage Dynamics, 2017)38:49 - The style I am describing here is what eventually came to be known as the New England IPA, which was officially classified as the “Juicy or Hazy Double IPA” style by the Brewers Association Beer Style Guidelines in 2018. These IPAs have a high alcohol content over 7.5% and are typically described as having intense fruit flavors and aromas, a soft body, and smooth mouthfeel. They often have an opaque color with substantial haze and have less perceived bitterness than traditional IPAs but are always massively hop forward. This emphasis on late hopping, especially dry hopping, with hops with tropical fruit qualities lends the specific ‘juicy’ character for which this style is known. The New England IPA has undoubtedly been the hottest trend in craft over the past few years with many small and larger craft brewers trying their hand at some version of a hazy IPA-style beer. In 2018, its first year as a competition category at the Great American Beer Festival, the “Juicy or Hazy Double IPA” style garnered more entries than any other style category - dethroning the American IPA as most entered beer for the first time in 16 years. For more on the New England IPA phenomenon, see “How the Hazy New England IPA Conquered America” (Thrillist, 2018), the “New England IPA” style sheet from Craft Beer, “‘Juicy or Hazy’ Ales Debut in BA Beer Style Guide, Representing New England IPAs” (CraftBeer.com, 2018), “The New England Style IPA is The Anti-IPA” (CraftBeer.com, 2017), “What Are New England IPAs (NEIPAs)?” (Beer Cartel, 2018), and “What the Hell Happened to the West Coast IPA?” (Gear Patrol, 2019) 44:00 - Generally speaking, the west coast IPAs that pioneered the American style highlight the bitterness of hops over everything where east coast IPAs strike a balance between malty sweetness and hoppy bitterness. Whereas west coast IPAs are dryer and have an aggressive bitterness, an east coast IPA is sweeter on the front end, which fades into bitterness, thanks to the hops. As an offshoot of the east coast style, New England IPAs are distinctly juicy, as in they can sometimes taste like you took a bite into a tropical fruit or citrus with the rind still on. Previous holdouts, who due to the early dominance of the west coast style thought that “craft” and “bitter” were synonymous, as well as newbies to the craft beer scene, have typically found it somewhat easier to get in on the game through the New England IPAs more approachable flavors, which has increased overall interest in craft beer. - For more see “East Coast IPA vs West Coast IPA: What's the Difference?” (Gear Patrol, 2020)49:39 - See “How The Rise Of Craft Beer Is Contributing To The Decline Of The Homebrewing Lifestyle” (Forbes, 2016)49:43 - Counterweight Brewing Company49:45 - DuVig Brewing Company49:49 - In January 1985 there were 100 craft breweries open and operating in the US, including early craft pioneers like Sierra Nevada and the Boston Beer Company, by 1996 the number of craft breweries had grown to 1000, and 50 different categories were recognized and judged at the Great American Beer Festival. The first “American Craft Beer Week” took place in 2006, and in 2014 craft beer production volume saw an 18% increase over the previous year with IPA taking over the overall production lead for the first time. By 2016 there were over 5000 craft breweries operating in the US, by 2019 there were over 8,000. In 2019 craft breweries captured 13.6% of the overall US beer market with sales totaling over $29 billion dollars, up from just slightly over $10 billion in 2011, and Ken Grossman, who founded Sierra Nevada back in 1980, has a net worth of $1 billion dollars. - For more see “Beer History” (Craft Beer), “National Beer Sales & Production Data” (Brewers Association), “Retail dollar sales of craft beer in the United States from 2011 to 2019” (Statista), and the Forbes profile of Ken Grossman53:16 - See “2020 Zymurgy’s Best Beers in America Results” a list compiled by Zymurgy, which is the bi-monthly magazine of the American Homebrewers Association56:42 - See “The History of Beer” (Craft Beer & Brewing), “Who Invented Beer?” (History.com), and the “History of beer” Wikipedia entry57:00 - See “An ancient thirst for beer may have inspired agriculture, Stanford archaeologists say” (Stanford News, 2018), “The History Of Beer And Why Civilization As We Know It May Have Started Because Of It” (All That’s Interesting, 2016)58:49 - See the “Stout” Wikipedia entry and various style sheets from Craft Beer for American Stout, American Imperial Stout, Irish-Style Dry Stout, English-Style Oatmeal Stout, English-Style Sweet Stout (Milk Stout)

This episode was recorded remotely via Zoom in December 2020

The “Beautiful Illusions Theme” was performed by Darron Vigliotti (guitar) and Joseph Vigliotti (drums), and was written and recorded by Darron Vigliotti