#i hope brian koch DIES !!!!

[spixcyano]

Im going to die on the spot wtf was that episode i might actually end it all /nsrs /whatthefuckbrian

[ii-neg-confessions]

they basically invalidated both suitcase and cabby's mental illnesses and admitted it was a cheap plot point ughhhhhhh god I hate Brian Koch so much I hope he fucking dies /srs

.

[larryland]

by Barbara Waldinger

Imagine a play about the poetry of William Blake, one of the most complex writers ever known, written in rhymed couplets (like Blake’s poems), featuring a pair of actors portraying university professors who have been lecturing on this poet for the past fifteen years.  Bridge Street Theatre, developing a reputation for presenting highly inventive plays with unusual subjects, has taken on this challenge with their production of There is a Happiness That Morning Is by Mickle Maher—and succeeded beyond all expectations.

Poet, painter and illustrator, Blake (1757-1827) developed a system of illuminations—intricate pieces of artwork that he printed along with his poems.  Ignored by his peers, he is now considered to be one of the greatest contributors to English literature and art.  In 1789 Blake published (and illustrated) his Songs of Innocence, written about children or in their voices, followed in 1794 by Songs of Experience, companion poems that showed the “Two Contrary States of the Human Soul.”  In the latter collection, the speaker becomes a prophet, warning his readers of the dangers of religion, monarchy, corruption and repression.

The set of There Is a Happiness That Morning Is features a classroom where Bernard Barrow (Brian Petti) lectures on Blake’s Songs of Innocence, while Professor Ellen Parker (Molly Parker Myers) lectures on Songs of Experience.  (Coincidentally, or perhaps not, Barrow and Parker happen to have been the last names of the notorious outlaws Bonnie and Clyde).  As the play begins, both teachers, having engaged in a secret twenty-year love affair, are called upon to apologize for their behavior of the previous evening, when, in the midst of reading Blake’s poetry en plein air, they removed their clothing and made passionate love as their students watched.  Though Blake would have cheered them on, they have been told by the president of the school (Steven Patterson) that if they don’t make things right, both their jobs and the future of the school are in jeopardy.

The play is fascinatingly unpredictable as the lovers, during their separate lectures, analyze two of Blake’s poems and share with their students their conflicting interpretations of the previous night’s incident.  The staging is skillfully choreographed by the director (John Sowle), as two lectures given in the same classroom at different hours interweave before our eyes.  Playwright Maher has obviously done an enormous amount of research on Blake’s style of poetry, the spirituality he associates with the natural world, and his bleak vision of civilization.  The more one knows of Blake, the more meaning can be derived from the play and its celebration of language and imagery.  Yet, Blake believed that his work could be appreciated by everyone:  the cognoscenti as well as the everyman.  This is evident in the work of Professor Kenneth Koch, who successfully taught some of Blake’s poems to children.  And to appreciate Bridge Street’s production, no familiarity with Blake is required.

The performances of Myers and Petti are, in a word, extraordinary.   Bernard is obviously glowing (in rhyming couplets) about the “Happiness That Morning Is” after a night of love with Ellen, as he finds the linguistic and emotional equivalent in Blake’s Infant Joy:  “I happy am, Joy is my name.”  He wants his students (the audience) to learn the most important lesson that Blake teaches:  “Love makes all the difference.” Petti’s joy is manifest in his voice, his body, and in the way he pulls leaves out of his pockets (courtesy of Michelle Rogers’ costumes) and flings them about the stage.  John Sowle, doing double duty as a set designer, also brings the forest (the Garden of Eden?) into the classroom, with a green rug and shrubbery surrounding the blackboard.

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Ellen’s reaction contrasts starkly with Bernard’s:  she resents  President Dean for demanding that they publicly apologize, causing them to feel shame for expressing their feelings.  She finds an equivalent rage in Blake’s The Sick Rose, which is being destroyed by an invisible worm’s dark and secret love.  “An agent of all that Blake called ill:  the Secret and the Dark. Invisible. . . So yes, he’s just like Dean.”  Ellen’s avalanche of curses attacking Dean and all he stands for is variously funny, tragic, and shocking.  Both actors handle the language in the play as if it were the most normal thing in the world to speak about subjects as profound as love and death in contemporary verse.

Part of the surprising turn of events that conclude the play is an original song that Bernard used to perform when he was a folk singer.  It begins:  “Come fall down on this bed just once, And all but once, this once, my heart will die.”  But Ellen objects:  “love dies to resurrect and prove its magic”. . . “it dies to live to die to live again.”  It’s a hopeful message from a long ago poet to his modern day interpreters, finding its way into a play that deserves to be seen and seen again.

THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS runs from September 6—16, 2018 on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays at 7:30 and Sundays at 2:00 at the Bridge Street Theatre.  Tickets may be purchased online at  thereisahappiness.brownpapertickets.com or call 518-943-3818.

Bridge Street Theatre presents THERE IS A HAPPINESS THAT MORNING IS by Mickle Maher.  Directed and Designed by John Sowle.  Cast:  Brian Petti (Bernard), Molly Parker Myers (Ellen), Steven Patterson (President Dean).  Costumes:  Michelle Rogers; Original Music:  Frank Cuthbert; Sound:  Carmen Borgia; Stage Manager:  Julia Rothwax.

Running Time:  90 minutes, no intermission; Bridge Street Theatre, 44 West Bridge Street, Catskill, NY; Thursdays through Sundays from 9/6; closing 9/16. https://bridgest.org/

REVIEW: “There Is A Happiness That Morning Is” at Bridge Street Theatre by Barbara Waldinger Imagine a play about the poetry of William Blake, one of the most complex writers ever known, written in rhymed couplets (like Blake’s poems), featuring a pair of actors portraying university professors who have been lecturing on this poet for the past fifteen years. 

[thedeadshotnetwork]

To Save 'LA Weekly,' Journalists Want to Destroy It The funeral was held last Friday on the sidewalk in front of the LA Weekly offices in Culver City. Black-clad mourners gathered around a shiny white casket to read eulogies through a megaphone, the smell of smoke from nearby fires hanging in the air. The crowd of about two-dozen, many of them former freelancers or staffers for the LA Weekly —myself included—had gathered to pay our respects not to a person, but to a newspaper we once loved. “ LA Weekly is a place that gave people a chance,” Jeff Weiss, a former music columnist who contributed to the paper for a decade, told the crowd. “It gave artists a chance that might not have been heard. It gave a voice to the voiceless, not a voice to power.” Like Weiss, I also got my start at the LA Weekly , where I was hired as an editorial assistant in January 2013. Reporting was not in my job description, but I eventually bugged my editors enough that they gave me a chance to write. Maybe it was because I wanted to do the kinds of assignments nobody else would: Waking up at 5 AM to go to a sober rave, Biking 17 miles to the Emmys, getting drunk and then sticking an IV in my arm the next morning to cure a hangover. I was happy to be a guinea pig in the name of journalism if it meant landing a byline. By the end of 2014, I had my first cover story. For me and countless others, writing for the LA Weekly wasn’t just a dream job or a professional launching pad, but a civic duty that gave us unparalleled access to just about anything and anyone we could think to write about. Weiss was one of the organizers of the mock funeral, which was held in response to the sale of the LA Weekly to a mysterious shell company called Semanal Media, which two weeks ago laid off nine of the paper’s 13 editorial employees (I was no longer with the company, but the layoffs did include my former editors). The new company did not fully disclose its investors’ identities or lay out a plan for the future of the newspaper, which led to speculation that it was either highly incompetent, part of a larger plot to use the historically left-leaning paper as a conservative mouthpiece—several of the new owners have donated money to the Republican party—or some combination of both. “The LA Weekly as we know it is dead,” Katie Bain, a former senior music writer who I’d met years ago while working at the paper, told me. “I think it died last Wednesday with the layoffs. Not only because nine people lost their jobs, but because 40 years of direction and ideas and reputation were suddenly shifted, and that to me, means the paper is over as we knew it.” To Bain and Weiss, LA Weekly ’s death isn’t just speculative or metaphorical. Rather, they and the other writers who organized the funeral want to make certain of it. It may seem counterintuitive, but in order to save the publication that helped launch their careers, they believe they’ve first got to kill it. They’re aiming to do that through an aggressive boycott campaign that seeks to tank the paper before it has a chance to survive under its new ownership. The vengeance plot has them targeting individual advertisers and pressuring them to withdraw their business from the newspaper. So far, the tactic seems to be working: Last week, the paper canceled its annual Sips Sweets event, just days after vendors including Amoeba Music and Angel City Brewery and restaurants such as Otium, The Pikey, and The Roger Room pulled out. “The goal is to make it so toxic for them here that they have no choice but to sell it back. We want to basically take their legs out from under them,” said Bain. “Obviously we’re dealing with businessmen. The swiftest way to hit them is with money and that's the language they understand.” Of course, the organizers of the boycott can’t take all of the credit for alienating readers, advertisers, and freelancers—the new owners of LA Weekly have done plenty of that on their own. Statements they made to the LA Times , in which they disparaged LA’s cultural scene and a tweet in which they suggested they planned to use unpaid contributors, drew outrage on social media. It wasn't just that they botched interviews with other media outlets, but apparently also didn’t know how to manage their own website and Facebook page, both of which have been hijacked by former staffers: The funeral was live-streamed on LA Weekly ’s Facebook page and a blog post pointing fingers at the new owners is still featured on the site today. (Semanal Media’s operations manager Brian Calle did not respond to my request for comment.) “It’s really hard to tell how evil they are,” former food editor Katherine Spiers, who was laid off last month and supports the boycott, told me at the funeral. “How evil can you be when you’re fumbling at every turn?” Watch: Adding to the massive clusterfuck, Hillel Aron, the only staff writer who was spared from the layoffs, was promoted to interim editor in chief on Friday—and then abruptly suspended from his post on Tuesday, when Spin dug up and published some of his offensive tweets. When I talked to him on the phone on Sunday morning, before he was suspended, he was the first to admit that his new bosses badly botched the transition, creating a PR nightmare in which he’s become a primary target. “I think they've made numerous mistakes and were very naive in doing what they did and thinking that we could actually function with that few employees,” he said. To him, like many outsiders looking in, the mass layoffs “didn't make any sense. There’s no excuse for it.” (The backlash from the sale of the paper has been so messy—complete with a frantic, typo-laden email that was widely mocked after being leaked to a reporter—that I can’t help but imagine it’s the kind of story Aron would go after, were he not personally living it.) “Honestly, I’m impressed at how effective the boycott has been. I think they’ve done a really great job,” said Aron. He added that he believes the outrage of former writers and laid-off staffers would be better spent on a more outwardly political cause. “I wonder if they could maybe put this energy into getting rid of [Orange County Republican Representative] Darrell Issa or organizing voters.” But to many of the organizers and supporters of the boycott, fighting to save—by way of killing—an alternative weekly is inherently political, particularly at a time when the media is under attack. While President Trump leads a national crusade against so-called “fake news,” conservative billionaires like the Koch brothers—who last month invested in Meredith Corp. , which owns Time magazine—have been quietly taking stake in media properties and consolidating them. Last month, Gothamist owner Joe Ricketts—a conservative Trump donor—abruptly shuttered the entire chain of local blogs in a move that was largely viewed as retaliation for unionizing . (I’d been working for LAist at the time.) “It’s this concerning aspect of what we’re seeing with a few other media companies right now is that we don't actually know where the money’s coming from. There’s not much transparency,” April Wolfe, the former film critic for the LA Weekly who was laid off last month, told me in a phone call. “The boycott campaign for me specifically, and this might be different for Jeff [Weiss], is to get people to pay attention to their local media and what is happening to it and to be their own media watchdogs,” Wolfe said. “Because journalists have been sounding the alarms for a very long time and it’s hard to get people to care about things.” Wolfe hopes the #BoycottLAWeekly hashtag, which has already been retweeted by the likes of Mark Ruffalo and Ava Duvernay, whom Wolfe profiled in an LA Weekly cover story last year, will help mobilize people for an admittedly unsexy cause. But not every former LA Weekly contributor is down with the boycott, and particularly not those who have watched layoffs, cutbacks, and ownership changes at the newspaper for decades. Jonny Whiteside, a former calendar editor who was laid off in 2009 and has been contributing to the paper’s music and calendar sections for longer than I’ve been alive, says the paper is no worse now than it was under previous owners. He sees the boycott as a grossly naive and hypocritical form of overreaction. “In journalism, you know how it works: they clean house, it’s routine,” he told me in a phone call, identifying himself as “a freaking anarchist” without a political bent. “You can’t rail against the ownership. It’s just stupid because, yeah, they’re all bastards. This is America. Your corporate parent is a bastard,” he said. “You can either exist and, you know, try to further your career or spin your wheels and make a jerk of yourself.” Whiteside, like several other veteran LA Weekly Writers including Lina Lecaro , has no plans to stop writing for the paper under its new ownership—which is a key demand of the boycott. I get why Whiteside is jaded. I survived a round of LA Weekly layoffs during what couldn't have been more than my second week on the job. There’s something about watching people who are twice your age, have double the experience, and kids at home to feed, get canned that feels like a punch to the gut. The blow came even harder when, not even a year after that, the writer whose work I most admired was let go. The position, one I had wondered if I might someday get to fill, was eliminated. But what happened at LA Weekly two weeks ago—wiping out nearly every editorial staffer with no transition team in place—feels entirely different and wholly unprecedented. Based on what we know (and still don’t) about the new owners, including that head honcho Calle formerly led a right wing think tank and once appeared in what may have been a Russian propaganda film , I think we have every right to question their motives—not just as former contributors or laid-off staffers, but as people who care about what happens to our city, who reports on it, and why. While the boycott appears to be picking up steam on social media, it remains to be seen what its organizers will do if they actually succeed at convincing the new owners to sell the paper back to them. At that point, will their boycott efforts have sabotaged their own master plan to revive the paper under new ownership? “I actually had this thought,” Rebecca Haithcoat, a former LA Weekly music writer and one of the boycott’s organizers, told me. “I was like, what’s going to happen if we do get it back and people are like, ‘Wait, we took [out] our advertising, so wait, now we should do it again?’” Weiss is ready to cross that bridge when he gets to it. For now, he’s got LA Weekly advertisers to call. “We have to keep going, and we will. And we we will win. I promise you we will win because I’m crazier than they are and you guys care more than everyone else does and we will win this shit,” he said, standing in front of the open casket at the funeral. “I will never stop.” December 13, 2017 at 11:35AM

[wineanddinosaur]

We Asked 15 Beer Pros: How Will the Year in Beer Be Remembered? (2019)

In the beer world, the last 12 months held celebration, controversy, and success. Some stories made us smile, and others made us shake our heads. This year was one of brewery openings, closings, mergers, and acquisitions. Thousands of new beers were brewed; some contained no alcohol; some contained more pastries than a small bakery; some weren’t beer at all, but hard seltzer.

We recently asked a group of brewers to play prognosticator about the new year, and they offered predictions on pale ales, hard seltzers, smoked beers, and more. But before the book on 2019 closes, why not take a look back at the industry’s happenings over the last year?

Below, an opinionated bunch of brewers and beer industry pros from across the U.S. (and one guest brewer in England) sum up the year in beer.

“We hit peak lactose. Pastry stouts, gloopy haze bombs, breakfast juice sours — all seem to be in an arms race to be the sweetest and least beer-flavored drink possible. I hope 2020 is the turning point in that trend.” — Nick Weber, Head Brewer, Fortnight Brewing, Cary, NC

“The 12-ounce bottle officially died this year. The 16-ounce can is like the virtue signal for hype beer, and every major brewery, big and small, has started switching over to cans to signal to consumers that they’re cool kids, too. Now you can’t even give away a used bottling line.” — Ethan Buckman, Co-owner and Head Brewer, Stickman Brews, Royersford, PA

“Adjunct beers continued to get weirder and just downright absurd. I’m talkin’ Fruit Gushers, macaroni and cheese, even Lucky Charms. Whether it was out of creativity or a need to stand out, I believe the industry is starting to remind itself of the value of some of the more traditional beer styles. With that, I think we’ll start to see a resurgence of those beer styles in the coming years, or at least I hope we do.” — Kyle Gonzales, NYC Field Marketing, Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY

“Brewers finally embraced the traditional ingredients of kölsch: lactose, three fruit varieties, Tahitian vanilla beans, and Sabro hops. OK Boomer.” — Trevor Williams, Co-owner and Brewmaster, Hoof Hearted Brewing, Marengo, OH

“As the craft-beer scene is evolving, we’re seeing breweries near us devoting time, energy, and finances toward personal interests, and in doing so putting out less New England-style IPAs and more lagers and wild-fermented beers. Brewers were more willing to grow their sour programs by adding foeders, or invest in lagering tanks rather than chase what might sell the fastest and easiest.” — Morgan Clark Snyder, Owner and Head Brewer, Buttonwoods Brewery, Cranston, RI

“I think 2019 was a year of collaboration — both between breweries and with the combination of experimentation and refinement in the beer industry. We saw a return and resurgence of traditional styles, while continuing the expansion of new creative combinations and techniques.” — Rachel Nalley, Head Brewer, TT’s Brewery & BBQ, Spokane Valley, WA

“There was a start of breweries seeking ways to reach new and more diverse audiences, focusing efforts on bringing more folks into the fold and having greater ethnic diversity represented at beer events and within breweries themselves. I hope it continues in 2020. Following the success and reach of events like Fresh Fest Beer Fest and the work of groups like Beer Kulture, I’d like to see craft beer become a crowded table full of faces that represent a wide variety of races, genders, and backgrounds.” — Jeremy Danner, On-Premise Specialist and Brand Ambassador, 4 Hands Brewing Company, St. Louis, MO

“Every year has its throwaway trend, but this year it is apparently extra special. 2019 will be remembered as the year of hard seltzer. You should give it a try. Really. However, if you’re the highly suggestible type, you already have. Because you saw some buff dude or cute girl doing it on Instagram. You go tiger. Avoid posting any pics yourself. … You won’t be proud of them in a couple years. Or in one year. Admittedly, it’s likely the perfect drink for people whose best night of their lives was prom.” — Greg Koch, Co-founder, Stone Brewing; “The Arrogant Bastard” & “Chief Executive Omnipotent,” Arrogant Consortia, Escondido, CA

“The mortality of what we’ve known as ‘craft beer,’ and the beginning of something entirely new. Watching brewers jump into the hard seltzer game and beyond is a sign that the contingent known as craft beer has now become just another alcoholic commodity representing popular culture.” — Brian Strumke, Founder and Brewer, Stillwater Artisanal (Contract Brand)

“Brewers started truly noticing and trying to focus on health and its different aspects. Whether it be the trend of hard seltzers and low-calorie and nonalcoholic offerings, talking about making mental health and self-care a priority for their staff and the beer community as a whole, and making a bigger push toward social responsibility and inclusion, and to stand up against hate and bullies.” — Libby Crider, Co-owner, 2nd Shift Brewing, St. Louis, MO

“As a means of differentiation in an increasingly crowded market, more brewers broadened and blurred the lines in how they’re defining their operations, and what it means to be a brewery.” — David Gonzales, Director of Brewing Operations, Lost Worlds Brewing Company, Cornelius, NC

“Craft’s growth slowdown, the introduction of other beer-adjacent products (you didn’t think I wouldn’t mention seltzer, did ya?), and shifting consumer preferences have cemented that this year was the end of [an] era, and that the next star breweries’ values will be derived by how they deliver beer, and their experience, to their drinkers. We’ll see a lot of surprising M&A (both companies involved and valuations) in the next five years, and we’ll realize the paradigm shift that happened this year directly caused those surprises.” — John Dantzler, Co-founder, Torch & Crown Brewing Company, New York, NY

“I’ve never seen, or perhaps it just wasn’t publicized as much, as many restructures, downsizes, or layoffs as I’ve seen this year. Beer companies have to look at being lean in the right way to manage risk, and it appears restructuring the company is the preferred method.” — Tim Matthews, VP of Global Brewing, CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, Longmont, CO

“Craft malt finally arrived in the national beer conversation, shedding some of the (unfounded, mostly) reputation for inconsistency. In Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, we have an abundance of craft maltsters to work with, all of whom make terrific malt and are built to scale up. In the last couple weeks alone, two different farmers/aspiring maltsters came in looking to make connections. More brewers opting in helped the maltsters compete on price; industry and academic gatherings of said experts filled up across the country; and consumers started finally paying more attention to the freshness, locality, and pleasing sense of variety that craft malt can deliver (which is the point, remember?). It’s about time. If a brewery is willing to plunk down $26 a pound for imported aroma hops but not part with a red cent more for locally grown, locally malted heirloom barley — the backbone of beer — to quote Gene Ween, ‘somethin’ ain’t right.’” — Christian DeBenedetti, Founder and Head Brewer, Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery, Newberg, OR

“From scandals to lawsuits and crazy buyouts — all of it blasted across rapidly growing beer gossip accounts — this was the year of drama. Maybe beer has always been insane, but social media is here to make sure every single person knows everything everyone has done wrong. A short recap of 2019: the stupid ‘corntroversy’ between MillerCoors and [ABI]; an absurd amount of sexist, racist, and homophobic labels, posts, and emails (what year is it again?); the settlement of the Tracy Evans and Founders lawsuit; the Brewbound podcast with Chris Furnari taking aim at female beer influencers; BrewDog’s stolen marketing ideas scandal; Reckless Brewing and its really cringy black lager post; that weird IPA bowl. Dogfish Head merging with Sam Adams; the acquisition of New Belgium; Ballast Point is craft again — just kidding! — is sold again to some random investors; blah blah blah, something about Golden Road. Can everyone just calm down in 2020?” — Megan Stone, Guest Brewer, Laine Brew Co, Brighton, England

The article We Asked 15 Beer Pros: How Will the Year in Beer Be Remembered? (2019) appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/15-best-worst-2019-beer-trends/

[johnboothus]

We Asked 15 Beer Pros: How Will the Year in Beer Be Remembered? (2019)

In the beer world, the last 12 months held celebration, controversy, and success. Some stories made us smile, and others made us shake our heads. This year was one of brewery openings, closings, mergers, and acquisitions. Thousands of new beers were brewed; some contained no alcohol; some contained more pastries than a small bakery; some weren’t beer at all, but hard seltzer.

We recently asked a group of brewers to play prognosticator about the new year, and they offered predictions on pale ales, hard seltzers, smoked beers, and more. But before the book on 2019 closes, why not take a look back at the industry’s happenings over the last year?

Below, an opinionated bunch of brewers and beer industry pros from across the U.S. (and one guest brewer in England) sum up the year in beer.

“We hit peak lactose. Pastry stouts, gloopy haze bombs, breakfast juice sours — all seem to be in an arms race to be the sweetest and least beer-flavored drink possible. I hope 2020 is the turning point in that trend.” — Nick Weber, Head Brewer, Fortnight Brewing, Cary, NC

“The 12-ounce bottle officially died this year. The 16-ounce can is like the virtue signal for hype beer, and every major brewery, big and small, has started switching over to cans to signal to consumers that they’re cool kids, too. Now you can’t even give away a used bottling line.” — Ethan Buckman, Co-owner and Head Brewer, Stickman Brews, Royersford, PA

“Adjunct beers continued to get weirder and just downright absurd. I’m talkin’ Fruit Gushers, macaroni and cheese, even Lucky Charms. Whether it was out of creativity or a need to stand out, I believe the industry is starting to remind itself of the value of some of the more traditional beer styles. With that, I think we’ll start to see a resurgence of those beer styles in the coming years, or at least I hope we do.” — Kyle Gonzales, NYC Field Marketing, Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY

“Brewers finally embraced the traditional ingredients of kölsch: lactose, three fruit varieties, Tahitian vanilla beans, and Sabro hops. OK Boomer.” — Trevor Williams, Co-owner and Brewmaster, Hoof Hearted Brewing, Marengo, OH

“As the craft-beer scene is evolving, we’re seeing breweries near us devoting time, energy, and finances toward personal interests, and in doing so putting out less New England-style IPAs and more lagers and wild-fermented beers. Brewers were more willing to grow their sour programs by adding foeders, or invest in lagering tanks rather than chase what might sell the fastest and easiest.” — Morgan Clark Snyder, Owner and Head Brewer, Buttonwoods Brewery, Cranston, RI

“I think 2019 was a year of collaboration — both between breweries and with the combination of experimentation and refinement in the beer industry. We saw a return and resurgence of traditional styles, while continuing the expansion of new creative combinations and techniques.” — Rachel Nalley, Head Brewer, TT’s Brewery & BBQ, Spokane Valley, WA

“There was a start of breweries seeking ways to reach new and more diverse audiences, focusing efforts on bringing more folks into the fold and having greater ethnic diversity represented at beer events and within breweries themselves. I hope it continues in 2020. Following the success and reach of events like Fresh Fest Beer Fest and the work of groups like Beer Kulture, I’d like to see craft beer become a crowded table full of faces that represent a wide variety of races, genders, and backgrounds.” — Jeremy Danner, On-Premise Specialist and Brand Ambassador, 4 Hands Brewing Company, St. Louis, MO

“Every year has its throwaway trend, but this year it is apparently extra special. 2019 will be remembered as the year of hard seltzer. You should give it a try. Really. However, if you’re the highly suggestible type, you already have. Because you saw some buff dude or cute girl doing it on Instagram. You go tiger. Avoid posting any pics yourself. … You won’t be proud of them in a couple years. Or in one year. Admittedly, it’s likely the perfect drink for people whose best night of their lives was prom.” — Greg Koch, Co-founder, Stone Brewing; “The Arrogant Bastard” & “Chief Executive Omnipotent,” Arrogant Consortia, Escondido, CA

“The mortality of what we’ve known as ‘craft beer,’ and the beginning of something entirely new. Watching brewers jump into the hard seltzer game and beyond is a sign that the contingent known as craft beer has now become just another alcoholic commodity representing popular culture.” — Brian Strumke, Founder and Brewer, Stillwater Artisanal (Contract Brand)

“Brewers started truly noticing and trying to focus on health and its different aspects. Whether it be the trend of hard seltzers and low-calorie and nonalcoholic offerings, talking about making mental health and self-care a priority for their staff and the beer community as a whole, and making a bigger push toward social responsibility and inclusion, and to stand up against hate and bullies.” — Libby Crider, Co-owner, 2nd Shift Brewing, St. Louis, MO

“As a means of differentiation in an increasingly crowded market, more brewers broadened and blurred the lines in how they’re defining their operations, and what it means to be a brewery.” — David Gonzales, Director of Brewing Operations, Lost Worlds Brewing Company, Cornelius, NC

“Craft’s growth slowdown, the introduction of other beer-adjacent products (you didn’t think I wouldn’t mention seltzer, did ya?), and shifting consumer preferences have cemented that this year was the end of [an] era, and that the next star breweries’ values will be derived by how they deliver beer, and their experience, to their drinkers. We’ll see a lot of surprising M&A (both companies involved and valuations) in the next five years, and we’ll realize the paradigm shift that happened this year directly caused those surprises.” — John Dantzler, Co-founder, Torch & Crown Brewing Company, New York, NY

“I’ve never seen, or perhaps it just wasn’t publicized as much, as many restructures, downsizes, or layoffs as I’ve seen this year. Beer companies have to look at being lean in the right way to manage risk, and it appears restructuring the company is the preferred method.” — Tim Matthews, VP of Global Brewing, CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, Longmont, CO

“Craft malt finally arrived in the national beer conversation, shedding some of the (unfounded, mostly) reputation for inconsistency. In Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, we have an abundance of craft maltsters to work with, all of whom make terrific malt and are built to scale up. In the last couple weeks alone, two different farmers/aspiring maltsters came in looking to make connections. More brewers opting in helped the maltsters compete on price; industry and academic gatherings of said experts filled up across the country; and consumers started finally paying more attention to the freshness, locality, and pleasing sense of variety that craft malt can deliver (which is the point, remember?). It’s about time. If a brewery is willing to plunk down $26 a pound for imported aroma hops but not part with a red cent more for locally grown, locally malted heirloom barley — the backbone of beer — to quote Gene Ween, ‘somethin’ ain’t right.’” — Christian DeBenedetti, Founder and Head Brewer, Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery, Newberg, OR

“From scandals to lawsuits and crazy buyouts — all of it blasted across rapidly growing beer gossip accounts — this was the year of drama. Maybe beer has always been insane, but social media is here to make sure every single person knows everything everyone has done wrong. A short recap of 2019: the stupid ‘corntroversy’ between MillerCoors and [ABI]; an absurd amount of sexist, racist, and homophobic labels, posts, and emails (what year is it again?); the settlement of the Tracy Evans and Founders lawsuit; the Brewbound podcast with Chris Furnari taking aim at female beer influencers; BrewDog’s stolen marketing ideas scandal; Reckless Brewing and its really cringy black lager post; that weird IPA bowl. Dogfish Head merging with Sam Adams; the acquisition of New Belgium; Ballast Point is craft again — just kidding! — is sold again to some random investors; blah blah blah, something about Golden Road. Can everyone just calm down in 2020?” — Megan Stone, Guest Brewer, Laine Brew Co, Brighton, England

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We Asked 15 Beer Pros: How Will the Year in Beer Be Remembered? (2019)

In the beer world, the last 12 months held celebration, controversy, and success. Some stories made us smile, and others made us shake our heads. This year was one of brewery openings, closings, mergers, and acquisitions. Thousands of new beers were brewed; some contained no alcohol; some contained more pastries than a small bakery; some weren’t beer at all, but hard seltzer.

We recently asked a group of brewers to play prognosticator about the new year, and they offered predictions on pale ales, hard seltzers, smoked beers, and more. But before the book on 2019 closes, why not take a look back at the industry’s happenings over the last year?

Below, an opinionated bunch of brewers and beer industry pros from across the U.S. (and one guest brewer in England) sum up the year in beer.

“We hit peak lactose. Pastry stouts, gloopy haze bombs, breakfast juice sours — all seem to be in an arms race to be the sweetest and least beer-flavored drink possible. I hope 2020 is the turning point in that trend.” — Nick Weber, Head Brewer, Fortnight Brewing, Cary, NC

“The 12-ounce bottle officially died this year. The 16-ounce can is like the virtue signal for hype beer, and every major brewery, big and small, has started switching over to cans to signal to consumers that they’re cool kids, too. Now you can’t even give away a used bottling line.” — Ethan Buckman, Co-owner and Head Brewer, Stickman Brews, Royersford, PA

“Adjunct beers continued to get weirder and just downright absurd. I’m talkin’ Fruit Gushers, macaroni and cheese, even Lucky Charms. Whether it was out of creativity or a need to stand out, I believe the industry is starting to remind itself of the value of some of the more traditional beer styles. With that, I think we’ll start to see a resurgence of those beer styles in the coming years, or at least I hope we do.” — Kyle Gonzales, NYC Field Marketing, Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, NY

“Brewers finally embraced the traditional ingredients of kölsch: lactose, three fruit varieties, Tahitian vanilla beans, and Sabro hops. OK Boomer.” — Trevor Williams, Co-owner and Brewmaster, Hoof Hearted Brewing, Marengo, OH

“As the craft-beer scene is evolving, we’re seeing breweries near us devoting time, energy, and finances toward personal interests, and in doing so putting out less New England-style IPAs and more lagers and wild-fermented beers. Brewers were more willing to grow their sour programs by adding foeders, or invest in lagering tanks rather than chase what might sell the fastest and easiest.” — Morgan Clark Snyder, Owner and Head Brewer, Buttonwoods Brewery, Cranston, RI

“I think 2019 was a year of collaboration — both between breweries and with the combination of experimentation and refinement in the beer industry. We saw a return and resurgence of traditional styles, while continuing the expansion of new creative combinations and techniques.” — Rachel Nalley, Head Brewer, TT’s Brewery & BBQ, Spokane Valley, WA

“There was a start of breweries seeking ways to reach new and more diverse audiences, focusing efforts on bringing more folks into the fold and having greater ethnic diversity represented at beer events and within breweries themselves. I hope it continues in 2020. Following the success and reach of events like Fresh Fest Beer Fest and the work of groups like Beer Kulture, I’d like to see craft beer become a crowded table full of faces that represent a wide variety of races, genders, and backgrounds.” — Jeremy Danner, On-Premise Specialist and Brand Ambassador, 4 Hands Brewing Company, St. Louis, MO

“Every year has its throwaway trend, but this year it is apparently extra special. 2019 will be remembered as the year of hard seltzer. You should give it a try. Really. However, if you’re the highly suggestible type, you already have. Because you saw some buff dude or cute girl doing it on Instagram. You go tiger. Avoid posting any pics yourself. … You won’t be proud of them in a couple years. Or in one year. Admittedly, it’s likely the perfect drink for people whose best night of their lives was prom.” — Greg Koch, Co-founder, Stone Brewing; “The Arrogant Bastard” & “Chief Executive Omnipotent,” Arrogant Consortia, Escondido, CA

“The mortality of what we’ve known as ‘craft beer,’ and the beginning of something entirely new. Watching brewers jump into the hard seltzer game and beyond is a sign that the contingent known as craft beer has now become just another alcoholic commodity representing popular culture.” — Brian Strumke, Founder and Brewer, Stillwater Artisanal (Contract Brand)

“Brewers started truly noticing and trying to focus on health and its different aspects. Whether it be the trend of hard seltzers and low-calorie and nonalcoholic offerings, talking about making mental health and self-care a priority for their staff and the beer community as a whole, and making a bigger push toward social responsibility and inclusion, and to stand up against hate and bullies.” — Libby Crider, Co-owner, 2nd Shift Brewing, St. Louis, MO

“As a means of differentiation in an increasingly crowded market, more brewers broadened and blurred the lines in how they’re defining their operations, and what it means to be a brewery.” — David Gonzales, Director of Brewing Operations, Lost Worlds Brewing Company, Cornelius, NC

“Craft’s growth slowdown, the introduction of other beer-adjacent products (you didn’t think I wouldn’t mention seltzer, did ya?), and shifting consumer preferences have cemented that this year was the end of [an] era, and that the next star breweries’ values will be derived by how they deliver beer, and their experience, to their drinkers. We’ll see a lot of surprising M&A (both companies involved and valuations) in the next five years, and we’ll realize the paradigm shift that happened this year directly caused those surprises.” — John Dantzler, Co-founder, Torch & Crown Brewing Company, New York, NY

“I’ve never seen, or perhaps it just wasn’t publicized as much, as many restructures, downsizes, or layoffs as I’ve seen this year. Beer companies have to look at being lean in the right way to manage risk, and it appears restructuring the company is the preferred method.” — Tim Matthews, VP of Global Brewing, CANarchy Craft Brewery Collective, Longmont, CO

“Craft malt finally arrived in the national beer conversation, shedding some of the (unfounded, mostly) reputation for inconsistency. In Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, we have an abundance of craft maltsters to work with, all of whom make terrific malt and are built to scale up. In the last couple weeks alone, two different farmers/aspiring maltsters came in looking to make connections. More brewers opting in helped the maltsters compete on price; industry and academic gatherings of said experts filled up across the country; and consumers started finally paying more attention to the freshness, locality, and pleasing sense of variety that craft malt can deliver (which is the point, remember?). It’s about time. If a brewery is willing to plunk down $26 a pound for imported aroma hops but not part with a red cent more for locally grown, locally malted heirloom barley — the backbone of beer — to quote Gene Ween, ‘somethin’ ain’t right.’” — Christian DeBenedetti, Founder and Head Brewer, Wolves & People Farmhouse Brewery, Newberg, OR

“From scandals to lawsuits and crazy buyouts — all of it blasted across rapidly growing beer gossip accounts — this was the year of drama. Maybe beer has always been insane, but social media is here to make sure every single person knows everything everyone has done wrong. A short recap of 2019: the stupid ‘corntroversy’ between MillerCoors and [ABI]; an absurd amount of sexist, racist, and homophobic labels, posts, and emails (what year is it again?); the settlement of the Tracy Evans and Founders lawsuit; the Brewbound podcast with Chris Furnari taking aim at female beer influencers; BrewDog’s stolen marketing ideas scandal; Reckless Brewing and its really cringy black lager post; that weird IPA bowl. Dogfish Head merging with Sam Adams; the acquisition of New Belgium; Ballast Point is craft again — just kidding! — is sold again to some random investors; blah blah blah, something about Golden Road. Can everyone just calm down in 2020?” — Megan Stone, Guest Brewer, Laine Brew Co, Brighton, England

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