This Week's Beer News: Did We Drink the Beer?

Powered by years-old Swedish pale ale

I drank the beer!

If you missed Friday’s email, I arbitrarily decided that this past weekend was going to be Just Drink the Beer Already Weekend at my house. I successfully drank two of the three long-lingering beers I intended to crack open, and that third beer is the newest one in the fridge, so it’s okay if it sticks around for another week or so.

(It’s also a 16% BA stout that released a few months ago, so it’s got some life left to it.)

Here’s what I opened first, on Friday: Karls Krona Pale Ale from Sweden’s Bryggerifabriken.

I have had this beer in my fridge for literally years, as it was muled back from Sweden by my brother in his luggage because it was a beer with my name on it. A rare thing; rarer still in another language. So due to my sentimentality in holding onto it, I completely missed the window where this beer would have tasted as it was intended.

The beer I drank on Friday was syrupy-sweet due to the East Kent Golding hops having backed off sometime since 2022. I did get some lingering one-note bitterness at the finish - a last gasp of hoppiness - before those slid away. Lesson learned: Drink the beer that was thoughtfully brought home for you at a time when you can appreciate it.

Here’s what I had on Sunday:

Yeah, I really wanted to finally crack into my one bottle of Westy 12. I swear this whole thing was not intended as a humblebrag but I’m now realizing that’s probably how it’s coming off. Sorry.

Anyways - was this delicious? Yes! Rich with big punches of brown sugar and raisins, light enough to be called easy-ish drinking, with a fluffy espresso-foam head and still enough kick to recognize that you definitely are drinking a 10% ABV beer. Just as good as the Westy 12 we sampled well over a decade back. It’s like they know how to make this beer reliably, for some reason!

I am glad that the world has moved on from its collective mid-oughts insanity over this beer, because it’s delicious, but worlds-best is an impossibility. Today, it’s an indulgence to be sure, but not one to get too precious about. Sometimes you get to drink a Westy 12 on a rainy Sunday night while making coney dogs and watching The Fellowship of the Ring. A good time was had, to be sure.

Did you enjoy any beers from your cellar over the last 72 hours? I would love to hear about ‘em! I’m actually glad I didn’t drink that third beer because Substack is telling me this email is already too long. So, now, news:

• Shockingly little news from press outlets about beer in Chicagoland this week, so I’ll point you to Eater’s season-opener content about what to eat and drink at Rate Field, which will pour beers from Moor’s. And Yuengling. And Golden Road.

• Eater’s lineup of the best restaurants near Wrigleyville also describes Uncommon Ground as “Now with a house brewery” as if Greenstar hasn’t been there for over a decade.

• Danville’s Vermillion River Beer Company is expanding.

• LaPorte County Life profiles assistant taproom manager and bar lead Kyle Nelson at Burn’Em Brewing.

• Sun King broke ground on their seventh location in Westfield.

•  Axios looks at Merry Rain, the new THC/CBD drink line from Toppling Goliath, which is actually produced in Minnesota because the 10mg versions aren’t legal in Iowa.

• In Cedar Rapids, Lion Bridge Brewing Company is releasing a Library Lager to help support the construction of a new library next year.

• MLive was onsite for this year’s Oberon Day at Bell’s and got some good photos of the festivities. I am interested in trying the Elephant Ear and “Michigan Martini” variants they had on tap.

• Bell’s also estimated that attendance at this year’s Oberon Day was up 10% over last year, somehow.

• Brewbound also produced an “exit interview” with Bell’s EVP Carrie Yunker as she leaves the company after more than two decades.

• In another sign for how beer is doing these days, Muskegon’s Rake Beer Project is pulling out a couple of fermenters to open a deli and a distillery onsite.

• Here’s a great headline from the Star-Tribune about Burning Brothers Brewery: “How two fire-eating friends came to open Minnesota’s lone gluten-free brewery”

• After 30 years as a sponsor, Anheuser-Busch pulled out of this year’s St. Louis Pride Fest, and some local bars are responding by dumping their beers.

• In Kansas City, Martin City Brewing Company announced their sixth location would be opening soon.

• The new owners of Nostalgia Brewing in Gahanna (near Columbus) are eyeing a new taproom already. (paywalled)

• More on the forthcoming revival of MobCraft comes from Milwaukee Magazine and OnMilwaukee.

• In May, Hinterland Brewing celebrates their 30th anniversary (!) with a seven-course beer dinner and a concert.

• A retiree from Kewaunee is looking to open Lake Whispers Brewery, which has an origin story that sounds a lot like Goose Island’s (ie: paper company employee returns from overseas and wants beers like the ones he had over there, so he starts making them).

• Ever wonder how Leinie’s Barrel Yard gets ready for baseball season? Here’s how.

• Seems like a great time to be a Mets fan, and I’m not just talking about Juan Soto: Allagash announced plans to open a taproom at Citi Field.

• Speaking of beer and baseball in New York, Torch and Crown offered fans free beer for a year during their Bat Flip Day celebration if you get their logo tattooed on you. Just one year? Come on - Hot Doug offered free food for life.

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Last week’s most-clicked link: “10 Brewery Owners on What They’d Do Differently Opening Taprooms in 2025” from InsideHook.

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