Tesla technology used to brew beer, the first ever Quality Inspector, Inauguration Day beers, beer yoga and an Italian beer theme park. Read on for more details about this week’s craft beer news.
Chico, California: Environmentally friendly beer
Though you might not be able to afford an actual Tesla Roadster or even the soon-to-be-released mass-market Model 3, you can enjoy beer brewed using technology employed by the electric car manufacturer. Sierra Nevada Brewing Co. is using Tesla batteries to save money and make the brewing process more environmentally friendly. A brewery of Sierra’s size uses a lot of electricity and is billed based on overall usage and peak usage. Peak usage is usually predictable and during these times the brewery can instead turn to Tesla batteries to decrease overall costs. “The batteries are a piece of our energy puzzle that also includes pieces like craft brewing’s largest solar system, 2 megawatts of Capstone micro-turbines, multiple heat recovery projects, and an extensive suite of energy-efficiency projects,” explained Sierra Nevada Sustainability Manager Cheri Chastain in an email published by Green Tech Media. According to Tesla, Maui Brewing Co. in Hawaii has also installed Tesla batteries.
Boulder, Colo.: Quality Inspector introduced
The Brewers Association announced the hiring of the first-ever Quality Inspector, a role that will “develop content for and deliver presentations that address brewing quality practices, systems and parameters.” Mary Pellettieri, a former chemist and microbiologist at Chicago’s Siebel Institute of Technology and World Brewing Academy, will fill the position. She has also served as a quality manager at Goose Island Beer Co. and MillerCoors’ Milwaukee brewery and authored the guidebook Quality Management: Essential Planning for Breweries. “Mary has an unparalleled understanding of how quality management is intertwined at all levels of brewery operations,” said Brewers Association director, Paul Gaza, via press release. “She literally wrote the book on what it takes to manage a quality at a brewery, and her appointment underscores the BA’s commitment to advancing quality standards.” Pellettieri will work closely with the Brewers Association’s Quality Subcommittee.
Nation: Inauguration Day beers
Still trying to figure out what to tipple on Inauguration Day? Depending on what side of the aisle you fall on, you might be reaching for champagne or cyanide. Thankfully, a couple breweries are providing another option that promises not to be the last thing you ever drink.
On Friday, January 20, Surly Brewing Co. will tap Thanks Obama, a winter rye IPA. The hop bill includes Warrior and experimental hop variety 06297 and clocks in at 6/5% ABV. Drinkers can “expect a complex, spicy malt character with candied grape and vanilla cream hop aromas. Add a little honey and malt sweetness to round it out, and there you go,” according to the brewery. Surly assures that the beer is non-partisan and can be enjoyed by “red and blue folks alike.”
At ground zero, Washington D.C.’s Bluejacket released People are People, a “bone-dry” Belgian-style Saison. The 6% ABV ale is brewed with “raw wheat, hopped with American, European and Southern Hemisphere hops, and fermented with a blend of Farmhouse yeasts.” Proceeds from the beer will go to the Immigrant Justice Legal Service Grant Program, a non-profit organization providing immigrants with legal services.
Australia: Limber up with beer
It’s not unusual for brewhouses and taprooms across America to turn into ad-hoc yoga studios during downtimes. There’s typically plenty of space and who doesn’t like a good beer after a workout. But, in Australia, entrepreneurial yogis are incorporating beer into the routine. First started in Berlin, BierYoga is now gaining popularity Down Under. The flow is similar to typical yoga classes only participants drink a beer or two during the practice. The idea grew out of a concept first witnessed at Burning Man and according to the group’s website (translated into English), “Both with yoga and with beer, people have been letting their minds go for centuries and relax body and mind. The exuberance that the drinking of beer brings with it and the body consciousness of yoga can be combined into an energizing experience.” The exercise is for beer drinkers with a desire for yoga and vice versa and, at least in Germany, anyone “over 16 years old.”
Italy: A beer theme park minus the rides
While Italy is understandably more associated with wine making than craft beer brewing, a new beer park in the country’s Piedmont region should help boost beer culture. The “daddy of craft beer in Italy,” Teo Musso, raised more than $88,000 on Idiegogo and will open Baladin Open Garden this summer. The 786,000-squre-foot beer theme park will feature a restored 17th century farmhouse along with a malt house, hop drying area and production facility. “Teo found a way to allow people to engage directly with the production of [beer’s] raw materials,” Baladin’s marketing manager, Fabio Mozzone, told Beer Advocate. According to the park’s website, the space will be, “A LIVE place to meet, spend time with your family and friends in nature and where, for those who wish to, you can discover Craft Beer and it’s direct relationship with the Earth and agriculture.” The site will also host local farmer’s markets and Musso labels the endeavor an “agricultural alehouse.”