Tag: beer economy

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The Firkin for December 2021

It is easy to proclaim at the end of each year that the last twelve months were a crazy rollercoaster. But I think we need to look at this in three year increments instead of one year.

2020 had a different trajectory than 2021 and 2022 will (hopefully) be the last part of the trilogy of the Covid years.

I said hopefully because it may look a little bleak at the moment with Omicron and the January surge that will follow the holiday. But breweries hung in there and new ones opened. Both may have been by a hair but it did.

I think that beer life will improve this year, maybe by June we won’t be looking over our shoulders. It may not be enough for some breweries but I think it might allow for some positive churn.

But whatever happens, it will be crazy.

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3 Good Signs

Just wanted to pass on some good beer news…

  1. Enegren Brewing has installed new tanks
  2. Highland Park Brewing and Smog City are both hiring
  3. Taprooms are re-opening

May not seem like much but considering 2020, we should take these wins.

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Book Review – Beeronomics

I went on a little Kindle reading spree and this is the first book (on sale!) that I read, Beeronomics: How Beer Explains the World by Devin Briski and Johan Swinnen.

I went through this book on Kindle fairly quickly which is a good sign for a history focused book. History can easily become deathly dull.

But overall, despite some nuggets of new facts, this book is a bit too scattershot for me. I think I would have rather read a deep dive on the history of Gruit taxes or more content on the Eastern European breweries before and after communist rule.

As it were, when the topic of SABInBev came up, I wanted to read Dethroning the King again rather than the shortened chapter given to it in the book.

As a beer book completist, it was good to fill in the gaps but I wanted more.