THS 51: Swift Current Brewing

Cask & Vine’s What’s On Tap: Sam Venator & Brian Robillard from Swift Current Brewing!

Brewing small batch, hand-crafted ales.
Three home brewers at heart, living the dream and having the most fun we can doing so.
No restrictions, no regrets and not limited to a certain style…of beer! Trying to make every day a beer fest!
We have no idea where this is headed, but we are going to love the journey.
Brewing exclusively on a 2 bbl system at Milly’s Tavern in Manchester, NH. Come by anytime, say hi and sample a pint!

Swift Current Brewing: Website

Bert’s Better Beers’ Draft Pick of the Week:

1. Nogne 100

2. Ancient Ale’s Celebration Clone

3. Terra Incognita

Listen to hear our reviews!

Kettle to Keg’s In the Kettle: House Yeast

Ale Communications:

Lagunitas Brewing sues Sierra Nevada over IPA label [Update: Lagunitas drops suit after reactions]

Update, 1/14: Lagunitas has dropped the lawsuit in the wake of negative reactions from around the country. See below for more.

Yesterday, Petaluma-based Lagunitas Brewing Company, one of the biggest craft brewers in Northern California, filed a trademark infringement complaint against fellow beer giant Sierra Nevada in the U.S. District Court in San Francisco. The suit, over the use of “IPA” in a beer label, may resemble a tempest in a teapot to outsiders, but it has broad implications for the craft brewing industry.

According to the complaint (embedded below), in December 2014, Lagunitas founder Tony Magee became aware that the label on Sierra Nevada’s new Hop Hunter IPA, scheduled to be released January 15, resembled the label on Lagunitas’s flagship IPA, which the brewery first released 20 years ago. From the complaint:

The unique “IPA” lettering used in the Lagunitas “IPA” Family of Trademarks has a distinctive serif font, distinctive kerning (or letter spacing), between the “P” and the “A”, slightly aged or weathered look, with uneven areas on each of the letters, and the elimination of any periods between the letters. These elements together are unique to the iconic design of the Lagunitas IPA.

The similarities are so great, Lagunitas argues, that the new Sierra Nevada beer will either harm Lagunitas’s brand or look like a collaboration. The company is seeking a temporary restraining order against the release of Hop Hunter, as well as financial compensation. READ MORE

Crocodile Bile Expert Suspects Toxic Pesticide In Mozambique Tainted Beer Tragedy

The Zimbabwean pharmacologist who proved in the 1980s that crocodile bile is not poisonous says that any speculation on its involvement in the Mozambique beer tragedy is “nonsense.”

Norman Z. Nyazema, Ph.D., now a professor of pharmacology at the University of Limpopo in South Africa, told Forbes.com that he more likely suspects a common agricultural pesticide as the agent that has now killed 73 people in the villages of Chitima and Songo, Mozambique.

Residents had gathered on Friday evening following a funeral, drinking a brewed sorghum and corn beer called pombe or phombe. Dozens died by Saturday morning, including Olivia Olocane, the woman who brewed and sold the beer, as well as her daughter and nephew. READ MORE

Iceland: Brewery makes ‘whale testicle beer’

An Icelandic micro-brewery has announced its new beer will be flavoured with smoked whales’ testicles, it’s been reported.

The Stedji brewery’s Hvalur 2 beer is being sold for a limited period to mark the Icelandic midwinter month of Thorri, the Visir website reports. The testicles of fin whales – which are an endangered species – are cured “according to an old, Icelandic tradition” before being salted and smoked, with one being used per brewing. “We want to create a true Thorri atmosphere, and therefore we decided to use smoked testicles from fin whales for flavouring the beer,” says Dagbjartur Ariliusson, a co-owner of the brewery. “We put a lot of effort into this and it’s a long process.” In 2013, Iceland resumed commercial fin whaling after a two-year suspension. Most of its whale meat is exported to Japan.

The Stedji brewery angered conservationists in 2014 by making a beer which contained other whale parts, including bones and intestines. At the time, the Whale and Dolphin Conservation group described it as “immoral and outrageous” to use whale meat to make beer. The product was temporarily banned by public health authorities, but later sold out in alcohol shops. This time around, all the permissions are already in place, the brewery says. READ MORE

2014 Malting Barley Supply Communication to Members

The year 2014 was not the best of times for North American barley growing. Media reports trumpeting a catastrophe in which the crop was destroyed and brewers will not be able to make beer were greatly exaggerated. However, quality issues with a large proportion of this year’s malting barley harvest will present challenges for both maltsters and brewers.

In many barley growing areas in the western United States and Canada, average to excellent growing conditions turned for the worse just before and during harvest. Record heavy rains resulted in significant pre-harvest sprout damage. The impact on quality varied. In some areas damage was so severe that growers choose not to harvest. Other areas experienced significant damage with decreased percentages of the crop selected for malting. Still other areas experienced excellent harvest conditions and produced a high quality crop.

The problems created by this year’s poor quality barley harvest, while inconvenient and potentially costly, are not insurmountable. Brewers Association technical staff and pipeline subcommittee members have developed a document to provide background information about the current state of our malt supply along with tips and techniques to help you in your brewery. It is important to understand the challenges faced by farmers, maltsters and brewers and to take proactive steps to address problems you might encounter. READ MORE

 Jukebox: “Cosmic Cat” by Momma Paranoia

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