Beer-articles 947

The best pilsners of 2024 came in a variety of sub-categories.

The best pilsners in various sub-categories were announced by The U.S. Open Beer Championship in early July. The Ohio-based beer festival is one of the most prestigious in the world and along with the World Beer Cup and The Great American Beer Festival, is one of the big three beer festivals in the U.S.

This year judges tasted more than 9,000 beers across 170 styles submitted from breweries across the U.S. and globe. Though the competition gets the majority of its submissions from the U.S., it has also seen beers submitted from countries in Asia, Europe, Africa and elsewhere.

The competition was founded by brewer Dow Scoggins in 2009 and Scoggins recently told me the festival has always prided itself in the diversity of the categories it judges. You can see that when it comes to pilsners. The festival has five pilsner categories and a sixth category that can go either to a lager or pilsner (pilsners are a type of lager so although all pilsners are lagers, not all lagers are pilsners).

This year many major beer festivals have seen an uptick in pilsner submissions reflecting growing interest in the category from consumers. Many brewers I speak to have long preferred the subtle yet complex pilsner category to the more in-your-face IPA category which had come to dominate beer sales. In part because of this, these days pilsners are starting to take some market share from IPAs, though they are not yet as popular.

The pilsners below were all gold medal winners at this year’s U.S. Open Beer Championship, meaning they were deemed the best of the best by the festival’s panel of judges.

This popular Denver brewery with several locations is no stranger to success with several previous medals from prestigious beer competitions to its name. These include a 2024 bronze medal from the World Beer Cup for a beer called Smooth Exportations, a German-Style Oktoberfest. Here it took home the top prize in this competitive light and crisp lager category.

This brewery Czechs all the marks (get it?) for lovers of Czech/Bohemian pilsners with Czech Republic ingredients including the quintessential pilsner Saaz hop. Per the brewery, this beer has “a slight honey-like sweetness and toasted cracker flavor from the lightly kilned malt and a wonderfully spicy, herbal, and floral hop aroma.”

Only a true pill wouldn’t like this pils from Riverlands Brewing Co. that is made with German pilsner yeast and a mix of American Sterling hops and German Saphir hops. The brewery’s tasting notes say this beer features “a beautiful blend of floral, spice, lemongrass, and citrus hop flavors,” and “a pleasant bitterness.”

This gets the gold medal from me for best name on this list, which is all the more impressive because the brewery that released it, Taproom Beer Co., doesn’t exactly earn creativity points for its name. Getting back to this beer, it’s made with a new experimental hop called HRC-003 from the Hop Research Council and per the brewery “boasts [a] bouquet of tropical, stonefruit, and berry qualities.”

The latest award-winning brew from this critically acclaimed brewhouse and movie theater is named for the nickname given to the main character in the iconic Rocky franchise. Not only is this beer and many others from the San Antonio beer award-winning, I’m betting it pairs well with popcorn.

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

So, how can you be a power user?

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.

The best pilsners of 2024 came in a variety of sub-categories.

The world’s best pilsners in various sub-categories were announced by The U.S. Open Beer Championship in early July. The Ohio-based beer festival is one of the most prestigious in the world, and along with the World Beer Cup and The Great American Beer Festival, it is one of the big three beer festivals in the U.S.

The competition was founded by brewer Dow Scoggins in 2009. Scoggins recently mentioned that the festival has always prided itself on the diversity of the categories it judges. This is evident in the pilsner categories. The festival has five pilsner categories and a sixth category that can go either to a lager or pilsner (pilsners are a type of lager so although all pilsners are lagers, not all lagers are pilsners).

This year, many major beer festivals have seen an uptick in pilsner submissions, reflecting growing interest in the category from consumers. Many brewers I have spoken to have long preferred the subtle yet complex pilsner category over the more in-your-face IPA category, which had come to dominate beer sales. Due to this preference, pilsners are starting to take some market share from IPAs, though they are not yet as popular.

The pilsners below were all gold medal winners at this year’s U.S. Open Beer Championship, meaning they were deemed the best of the best by the festival’s panel of judges.

This popular Denver brewery with several locations is no stranger to success, with several previous medals from prestigious beer competitions to its name. These include a 2024 bronze medal from the World Beer Cup for a beer called Smooth Exportations, a German-Style Oktoberfest. Here, it took home the top prize in this competitive light and crisp lager category.

This brewery Czechs all the marks (get it?) for lovers of Czech/Bohemian pilsners, with Czech Republic ingredients including the quintessential pilsner Saaz hop. Per the brewery, this beer has “a slight honey-like sweetness and toasted cracker flavor from the lightly kilned malt and a wonderfully spicy, herbal, and floral hop aroma.”

Only a true pill wouldn’t like this pils from Riverlands Brewing Co. that is made with German pilsner yeast and a mix of American Sterling hops and German Saphir hops. The brewery’s tasting notes say this beer features “a beautiful blend of floral, spice, lemongrass, and citrus hop flavors,” and “a pleasant bitterness.”

This gets the gold medal from me for best name on this list, which is all the more impressive because the brewery that released it, Taproom Beer Co., doesn’t exactly earn creativity points for its name. Getting back to this beer, it’s made with a new experimental hop called HRC-003 from the Hop Research Council and per the brewery “boasts [a] bouquet of tropical, stonefruit, and berry qualities.”

The latest award-winning brew from this critically acclaimed brewhouse and movie theater is named for the nickname given to the main character in the iconic Rocky franchise. Not only is this beer and many others from the San Antonio beer award-winning, I’m betting it pairs well with popcorn.

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

So, how can you be a power user?

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.

Luke Combs knows how to have a good time.

On Friday, July 19, the singer, known for his 2023 cover of “Fast Car,” invited Glen Powell and the “Twisters” stars onstage with him at MetLife Stadium to chug beer.

After the cast, including Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos, walked on stage, they were handed Miller Lite beer. On the count of three, they lifted their cans up for a group shotgun.

Once Powell and Combs were done, they threw the beer cans toward the country music star’s roaring audience.

Edgar-Jones seemed to struggle chugging the alcohol, so Powell offered an assist, downing the rest of her drink.

Powell shared a clip of the moment on his Instagram story and above it, added tornado and beer emoji.

Edgar-Jones added on her own story, “So this happened.”

Combs, the singer of “Beer Never Broke My Heart,” is known for his drink shotgunning skills. In May 2023, Ed Sheeran posted a video of Combs teaching the “Thinking Out Loud” singer how to shotgun, with step-by-step instructions on how to open the can and flip it up for the perfect chug.

Combs’ song “Ain’t No Love In Oklahoma” is featured on the soundtrack for “Twisters,” in addition to tunes from Jelly Roll, Miranda Lambert and more.

In the song, Combs sings, “I can’t breathe and I catch my breath/ But I keep chasing that same old devil/ Down the same old dead-end highway.”

In “Twisters,” Powell plays a rodeo star-turned-tornado chaser, who thrives on danger. In the film, he teams up with Kate (Edgar-Jones) and Javi (Ramos) to survive a sinister storm season in Oklahoma.

A few days before the film was released on July 19, Powell stopped by TODAY to talk about the movie, and he said he couldn’t wait for fans to see the film.

“I really love this one. I mean, maybe it’s because I feel really comfortable in a cowboy hat,” he said with a laugh during the July 17 interview. “Growing up in Texas — all my friends want to see this one, so it’s great.”

This article was originally published on TODAY.com

A recent trip to Capitol Reef National Park, a red-rock wonderland 215 miles south of Salt Lake City, amply demonstrated that much of Utah is bone dry. Still, brewers bristle when ignorant outsiders refer to Utah as a “dry” state.

“We are definitely underestimated,” said Jacquie King, head brewer at Ogden Brewing. “The Utah craft beer scene is alive and thriving.”

Nonetheless, King and her colleagues operate under some of the nation’s most restrictive alcohol laws.

In theory, the state’s 40-plus breweries can produce whatever they want, but boozier beers — anything boasting alcohol by volume in excess of 5 percent — are only found in bottles and cans. On tap, nothing can exceed that limit.

(Czech Your Head, the 6 percent pilsner reviewed here, was a canned beer which I ordered at a restaurant; it was served in a glass.)

Utah’s alcohol laws are as twisty as Capitol Reef’s Waterpocket Fold, a 100-mile-long geological formation visible from space. One example: wine, spirits, and higher-octane beers are sold in state-run stores, and are banned from supermarkets.

“It’s kind of a thorn in everybody’s side,” King said.

Yet these limits have encouraged a fair amount of cheeky humor — witness Wasatch Brewery’s Polygamy Porter with its tag line “Why just have one?” — and award-winning experimentation.

At this year’s World Beer Cup, an annual competition sometimes dubbed “the Olympics of beer,” Templin Family Brewing of Salt Lake City captured two gold medals, one for Guava Coconut, a field beer, and another for Squirrel, its entry in the “juicy or hazy strong pale ale” category.

Another Utah stalwart, St. George-based Silver Reef Brewing, took a World Beer Cup gold with its smoke beer, Mas Fuego, and a bronze with Smokin’ Barrel, in the “wood- and barrel-aged beer” category.

Moreover, Utah breweries may reap some benefit from the current trend toward lower-alcohol beverages. “Five percent and under,” King said, “is really a sweet spot.”

Sunday: Beer Fest, the Del Mar racetrack’s annual blend of ales and tails, is set for 1 to 5 p.m. in the track’s Seaside Cabana. Del Mar Thoroughbred Club, 2260 Jimmy Durante Blvd., Del Mar. dmtc.com/calendar/detail/beer

Aug. 2-4: I mentioned this in my last column, but it’s worth repeating: My Yard Live will host a three-day fest for its fifth anniversary. Expect food, beer, corn hole and live music — dueling pianos, Aug. 2; Band Over Board’s yacht rock, Aug. 3; and Cash’d Out, the Johnny Cash tribute band, Aug. 4. My Yard Live, 288 Rancheros Drive, San Marcos. Reservations, free but required: myyardlive.com/reservations.

Aug. 10: HessFest XIV, celebrating Mike Hess Brewing’s 14th anniversary, will feature live music — I’m especially pumped to hear The Walrus, a Beatles tribute band from New Orleans — food, beer — I’m especially pumped to try MHB’s cold IPA, Chill Factor — craft root beer, hop water and free bottled water. All proceeds will benefit Oncology and Kids (OAK), a San Diego nonprofit that serves children with cancer. Imperial Beach Pier Plaza, 940 Seacoast Drive, Imperial Beach. Tickets, $30-$80, can be purchased at mikehessbrewing.com.

Given the overwhelming number of choices, where do you direct out-of-towners eager to explore San Diego’s craft beer scene?

Gary Stoller, Forbes magazine’s beer correspondent, recently asked me that question with one key caveat: look beyond breweries that already enjoy a national following (Stone, say, or Ballast Point). My answers can be found online: rb.gy/bihes2.

Your choices may differ — heck, mine might differ by the time this appears in print. But if you want to engage in this great San Diego beer debate, send your picks to peterrowesd@gmail.com.

 

Beer: Look Up!
From: Level Crossing Brewing, Salt Lake City
ABV (Alcohol By Volume): 5 percent
Style: Amber Ale
Drink or dump: Drink. Not too light and not too dark, this Goldilocks of an ale showcases sweet caramel malts. Also just right: the piney and herbal hop character which lift the beer off the palate in the finish.

EVO
From: Wasatch Brewery, Salt Lake City
ABV: 5 percent
Style: Amber Ale
Drink or dump: Drink. Exceptionally quaffable brew, its toasted malts supplying notes of toffee and roasted walnuts. Willamette and Super Galina hops add a refreshingly bitter snap.

Czech Your HeadFrom: Proper Brewing, Salt Lake CityABV: 6 percentStyle: PilsnerDrink or dump: Dump. Proper’s website insists this beer leans into a bracing hop bitterness, but I found it surprisingly – and disappointingly – sweet.

Beer and ice cream is a fun pairing you can do at home with friends and adult family members.

Summer is the perfect time for a cone of vanilla, chocolate, strawberry or any of your favorite flavors. But what if you paired those with…beer? Yes, beer pairs well with almost all foods, including ice cream—and putting them together is a fun summer activity you can do at home.

Here is an illustrated guide to pairing ice cream and beer, drawn by the author!

Almost any fruit ice cream pairs well with the flavors of a German wheat ale known as hefeweizen/weissbier.

Hefeweizen (also known as a “weissbier”) is a German style of wheat ale that has lots of clove and banana flavors in it thanks to organic byproducts created by the yeast. It’s also a very highly carbonated style, which cleans your palate after each bite. The strawberry will meld well with the banana to create a smoothie-type sensation in your mouth. Hefeweizens are a lovely summer beer style and one to be on the lookout for when it gets hot.

Beers To Seek Out: Paulaner Hefe-Weizen, Urban Chestnut Schnickelfritz Hefeweizen

Drinking a citrusy hazy IPA with vanilla ice cream creates a classic summer flavor: the creamsicle.

Two flavors that create one sensational combination are classic vanilla and the popular hazy IPA. Eating these two together tastes like a creamsicle, one of the best summer flavors around. Hazy IPAs are made with hops that mimic citrus and tropical flavors, making them a great pairing with vanilla.

Beers to seek out: Tree House Julius, Sierra Nevada Hazy Little Thing, New Belgium Juice Force

Stouts are known for having coffee flavor/aroma already so pairing this style of beer with coffee ice cream just makes sense.

American stouts are deep, roasty beers with delectable flavors of coffee and dark chocolate, and what better way to complement these flavors than with coffee ice cream? This combination will add a creaminess to your stout and also cut the bitterness as well. Don’t think dark beers can be drunk during the heat of summer? Well, dark beers are wonderful all year round!

Beers to Seek Out: Bell’s Expedition Stout, Deschutes Obsidian Stout

Scotch ales are known for toffee and caramel flavors so pairing them with any ice cream will infuse each bite with a caramel swirl.

When I was a kid, cookie dough was one of my favorite flavors. Now that I’m an adult, I get the fun of pairing beer with one of these childhood treats. If you are looking to essentially add caramel syrup to your ice cream, the Scotch ale (also called a “wee heavy”) is that but in beer form. The richness of the beer and the chewy cookie dough and vanilla ice cream base complement each other really well. It’s decadent for sure.

Beers to seek out: Oskar Blues Old Chub, Traquair House Ale

Chocolate ice cream can work with a range of beer styles but the bitter, high alcohol lager Baltic porter is a delicious choice.

Classic chocolate deserves a unique beer. Baltic porter is a style that is popular in countries like Poland and has flavors of licorice and bittersweet chocolate. It’s a lager (most porters are ales—here’s the difference between an ale and a lager if you’re curious) so there’s a smoothness and a crispness as well. The alcohol in these beers can be very high, but the heat from the alcohol will complement the sweetness of the chocolate.

Beers to seek out: Zywiec, Black Boss Porter

If you are going to do this pairing at home, I recommend starting lightest and moving to darkest in terms of flavors and beers (this article is in the order you should try these pairings). Take a bite of ice cream and then a sip of beer. What are you tasting? How do the flavors work well together to create a new sensation? I like to write down my tasting notes and compare them with my friends’, as everyone’s palate is different. The best part of beer and food pairing is experimentation. Have a pint of rocky road in the fridge? What beer would go well with it? Just try it out and see! If it doesn’t work, it doesn’t; no harm, no foul.

Give it a try this summer and remember to drink responsibly and share beers with the people who care about you and make you happy. Cheers!

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

So, how can you be a power user?

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.

We’re lucky to live in an age when government regulations mean we don’t have to worry (at least not continuously) that our food and drink are going to randomly contain poison. In 2023, the FDA issued guidelines for arsenic in apple juice, and that same year, the organization took significant steps to reduce lead exposure in baby food. But there was a point in time — for a long time — in which all sorts of things were added to foods and beverages that were far from ideal.

One of the best examples is black henbane, which occurred in beer during the Medieval Era in Europe. If black henbane sounds familiar to you, it’s because it’s a relatively common invasive weed also known as hogbane, stinking nightshade, fetid nightshade, and poison tobacco. As you might guess from all these less-than-pleasant names, black henbane is a member of the nightshade family and, in large enough quantities, extremely toxic. Despite this, prohibiting its use in alcoholic beverages was a long road, culminating in the toxic herb finally being given the boot only after centuries of work.

Read more: 10 Of The Healthiest Beers You Can Drink

You might be wondering why in the world brewers would frequently put a substance into their product that could kill their customers. The answer is that until you tip over into the “kill” zone with black henbane, it has very different effects. Smaller-than-lethal doses of black henbane cause hallucinations, increase intoxication and serve as an aphrodisiac. Under controlled circumstances, pharmaceutical companies still use it in small doses in applications such as sedatives, diuretics, and pain relievers.

“`html

It makes sense then that brewers in Germany would include it in their product. It was particularly associated with bock beers, which generally have higher alcohol content — higher alcohol means more inebriation, black henbane or not. Additionally, black henbane has the side effect of dry mouth, which means you immediately want to drink another beer. Much like how Coke used to contain cocaine (and Coca-Cola still has a legal cocaine factory in New Jersey), black henbane was used because it made people drinking feel good and allowed you to sell them more beer. That is, unless they were poisoned by it — and in many cases, people were.

Poisoning customers was particularly an issue since drinking beer was extremely common in the Middle Ages. In the Medieval Era, people often drank beer instead of water, as it was considered more nutritious. The idea they drank it because water was unsafe is a persistent myth, but it certainly was a source of calories and carbohydrates. That makes it a problem when a major source of nutrients repeatedly poisons people.

Nevertheless, eventually enough was enough. In 1516, Duke Wilhelm IV of Bavaria issued the Reinheitsgebot, or German Purity Laws, which limited the legal ingredients in beer to hops, malt, water, and barley (wheat was banned from brewing by the same decree, but that was so more bread could be produced). However, getting rid of it in other European nations took longer.

Today, you might see all sorts of ingredients in beer, from fruits to herbs to chocolate. What you won’t see is black henbane — something for which Medieval Europeans would likely be grateful.

“`

Read the original article on The Daily Meal.

The global beer market is currently on a path of robust growth, with an estimated increase of $148.43 billion from 2024 to 2028, according to a new report by market research firm Technavio.

The market is projected to grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 3.72% during this period. This expansion is largely driven by rising demand in emerging economies and a noticeable trend towards mergers and acquisitions within the industry.

The market’s growth is characterized by a diverse range of products—including lagers, ales and non-alcoholic options—catering to a global audience. Researchers highlighted the increasing popularity of craft beer and the emergence of more independent breweries, reflecting evolving consumer preferences, especially among younger consumers of legal drinking age in local markets. These breweries are often at the forefront of innovation, offering more flavors and styles that appeal particularly to millennials and Generation Z.

But the world’s top beer manufacturers—including AleSmith Brewing Co., Anheuser Busch InBev, Asahi Group, BrewDog, Carlsberg Breweries, Cloudwater Brew Co., Constellation Brands and others—are key players in this burgeoning scene. Strategic acquisitions are enabling these companies to broaden their market presence, access new technologies and meet the diverse preferences of consumers. A notable example is Carlsberg’s acquisition of Waterloo Brewing for $106 million, completed in 2023, which highlighted its aim to strengthen its foothold in North America.

Despite these positive trends, the beer market faces challenges from stringent regulations and high taxes on alcoholic beverages. Regulatory bodies worldwide have established comprehensive guidelines governing the production, sale, and distribution of both alcoholic and non-alcoholic beer. For instance, in the United States, the Food Safety Modernization Act mandates that breweries adhere to Good Manufacturing Practices to ensure hygiene and safety in production facilities. Non-compliance with these regulations can result in severe penalties and fines.

Environmental sustainability is another crucial aspect shaping the beer industry. Breweries are increasingly adopting eco-friendly practices, focusing on reducing their carbon footprint and promoting recycling programs, particularly for glass bottles. This shift not only addresses environmental concerns but also resonates with the growing number of environmentally conscious consumers.

And yet, traditional glass bottles continue to be favored for their ability to preserve the taste and aroma of beer.

Tourism also plays a pivotal role in the beer market, with many tourists seeking unique beer experiences. This has further boosted the demand for craft beers and specialty brews, contributing to the market’s overall growth.

In the long term, online retail might prove to be the biggest contributor. E-commerce has also significantly expanded the reach of beer companies, large and small, allowing consumers to access a wider variety of beer products from around the world. Personalized recommendations, targeted marketing strategies and better customer engagement are vital tools for breweries to maintain consumer loyalty and drive sales.

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts.

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service. We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

So, how can you be a power user?

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.

China, the world’s largest producer and consumer of beer, is expected to see a consumption recovery in the second half of this year, favoring premium offerings, on the back of sporting events.

CGS International expects a recovery in beer consumption in the latter part of the year following an estimated decline in volumes in the first half of the year compared to 2023.

24/7 New York news stream: Watch NBC 4 free wherever you are

Sporting events such as the ongoing Euro 2024, the upcoming Copa Americana and Paris Olympics, coupled with hotter weather, are expected to drive up demand for the beverage.

CGS analysts Lei Yang and Sun Feifei highlighted in a report published last month that higher-than-expected sales of premium beer products in the catering and entertainment channels are expected to lift the sector.

Pointing to the Euro 2024, Chinese online database QiChaCha noted that bars and stores have been decorated with European Cup merchandise and they are offering sports-themed meals to cash in on the frenzy.

“The beer market has shown a clear growth trend, and major beer brands have competed to launch products and services that match scenario-based consumption,” according to a note by Chinese online database QiChaCha, which revealed that beer-related enterprises in China had grown by more than 7,000 last year.

“The European Cup ignites the ‘beer economy,'” the firm said, adding that China’s beer industry had shown a clear trend towards high-end offerings.

The trend favoring higher-end beer is expected to boost margins for breweries, further aided by cheaper barley prices that are driving costs lower, Sun and Lei said.

They cited data from China customs agency and their own research, showing that the average imported barley price fell by 30% year on year in January to April to US$273 per ton. “We expect this trend to continue in the whole of [2024],” they said.

They also expect China’s beer industry to continue to benefit from a product mix upgrade, besides lower barley prices and packaging material prices in 2024.

China is not alone in seeing this recovery. In May, a Reuters report highlighted that global brewers were set to sell more beer this year after several quarters of declines.

The report added that Heineken, the second-largest brewer in the world, had reported its first quarterly volume growth in over a year in the first quarter of 2024. Rival Carlsberg also reported higher volumes in the same period after several quarters of decline.

Carlsberg chief executive Jacob Aarup-Andersen said that brewers will be boosted by events such as the Paris Olympics and the Euro 2024, according to the report.

“We do expect positive volume growth going forward,” Aarup-Andersen said, adding that the brand will benefit particularly from rising sales in Asia.

Lei and Sun have singled out two Chinese beer breweries, Tsingtao Brewery and China Resources Beer, as major beneficiaries of the expected rise in consumption. They have given the beer sector an “overweight” rating.

The duo, however, remarked that heightened price competition among breweries would strain margins.

MadTree Brewing Holly Days, from Cincinnati, Ohio

Late last year, a panel of over two dozen category experts convened in Northern California in order to pore over (and pour through) some of the best beers on the planet. The annual gathering, known as the World Beer Competition, is run by the Tasting Alliance. If you’re not already familiar with that organization, they’re the same folks responsible for the San Francisco World Spirits Competition—often regarded as that industry’s preeminent judging.

So, clearly they know how to foam up prestige within the adult beverage sector. Which bodes well for the talented craftspeople over at MadTree Brewing in Cincinnati, Ohio. Because the World Beer Competition has just named its Holly Days release the best India Pale Ale on the planet. The wintertime brew uses an adjunct of spruce tips to affect a poignant seasonality beyond the bitter base formed from Cascade, Chinook, Sultana and Eureka hops.

It’s not just some marketing gimmick, either. Crack open a can of the 6.8% ABV liquid and you’ll detect a pronounced piney-ness in the aroma and across the palate. It’s evocative of Christmas, to be sure, and also fits hand-in-glove with the resiny, citrus pith gliding off the precise hops recipe used for the brew.

Ultimately, however, it might be the lengthy—and unexpectedly—complex finish that curried favor with the judges at the Tasting Alliance. It tickles the tongue with an initial tang, which is almost a misdirection since the parting flavor is a drying return to that prescribed piney-ness. And who doesn’t love a good circle story? Especially one that can be shared for a retail price of $11 per six-pack.

The only thing that hopheads have to complain about with Holly Days is that, as its name suggests, this is an offering that’s only available during the festive season of November through January. In the meantime, if you’d like to explore a comparable counterpart, the fermentation artisans at MadTree produce a year-round staple called Psychopathy. It’s similar in profile, utilizing many of the same ingredients (minus those celebrated spruce tips, of course), and it’s readily available for around $12 per six-pack.

The Tasting Alliance, for its part, has a lot more exclusive news to share with us in the weeks ahead. So stay tuned for an imminent reveal of more big winners, not just in the world of beer, but in the wine and spirits sectors as well.

One Community. Many Voices. Create a free account to share your thoughts. 

Our community is about connecting people through open and thoughtful conversations. We want our readers to share their views and exchange ideas and facts in a safe space.

In order to do so, please follow the posting rules in our site’s Terms of Service.  We’ve summarized some of those key rules below. Simply put, keep it civil.

Your post will be rejected if we notice that it seems to contain:

User accounts will be blocked if we notice or believe that users are engaged in:

So, how can you be a power user?

Thanks for reading our community guidelines. Please read the full list of posting rules found in our site’s Terms of Service.

Joseph L. Owades, the son of working-class Jewish immigrants who escaped Europe shortly before ethnic turmoil ignited World War I, enjoyed an unlikely career reinventing the way Americans drink beer.

Not once, but twice.

His claim to fame? That he was, and still is, America’s greatest brewer.

FOX NATION’S NEW SERIES ‘MEET THE AMERICAN WHO’ TELLS OF ORDINARY AMERICANS WHO GAVE US EXTRAORDINARY INNOVATIONS

Here is the story of the American who invented light beer — and helped create craft brewing as we know it today.

The brilliant biochemist Owades (1919-2005) turned centuries of brewing know-how upside down in the 1960s when he developed a revolutionary process for brewing full-flavored beer with fewer carbohydrates and calories.

READ ON THE FOX NEWS APP

Light beer is what we now call his creation.

“Tastes great. Less filling” — that’s how the cultural-landmark Miller Lite marketing campaign of the 1970s and ’80s famously summed up his innovation.

Today, light beer accounts for about 40% of all beer consumed across the nation, according to Beer Marketer’s Insights.

“He lived long enough to see light beer become a national phenomenon,” his son Stephen Owades, an MIT-educated musician in Cambridge, Mass., told Fox News Digital in a phone interview.

For an encore in the 1980s, Owades provided his brewing expertise to a generation of young entrepreneurs eager to make small-batch American beer but lacking the expertise.

Anchor Brewing, Samuel Adams, the former Pete’s Wicked brand — each on the list of the earliest, most successful and most influential craft breweries — were among the companies that hired Owades to pair his technical precision with their passion.

CLICK HERE TO SUBSCRIBE TO FOX NATION

America now boasts more than 9,000 craft breweries, thanks largely to the success of these Owades-aided pioneers.

“He was present at the creation” of craft brewing, Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams) founder Jim Koch boasted to Fox News Digital in an interview.

Koch called Owades “a mentor.”

When Owades passed away in 2005, Koch flew across the country to speak at the funeral in Sonoma, Calif. — and named one of Boston Beer Co.’s large aging cellars in honor of the American brewing titan.

“He was our brewfather. The first. The only. The best,” said Koch.

MEET THE AMERICAN WHO INVENTED BUFFALO WINGS, DISRUPTED ENTIRE CHICKEN INDUSTRY

The late beer-making genius is a legend in the brewing industry, though largely unknown to the millions of consumers who each day enjoy the beer and beer styles he helped formulate.

Simon and Gussie (Horn) Owades, Joseph’s parents, met and married in New York City, according to Stephen Owades. Simon arrived at Ellis Island in 1905, Gussie around the same period.

They held passports from the former Austro-Hungarian Empire, though the area in which they lived is now part of Ukraine. They were not Ukrainian, however, said their grandson Stephen.

“They were Jews from The Pale” — a multinational area of Eastern Europe before World War I generally tolerant of Jews, but largely impoverished.

Many of them fled to the United States to escape persecution and poverty and seek better opportunities for their children.

Joseph Owades fulfilled those dreams of his immigrant, Yiddish-speaking parents.

Simon Owades fed the family by working as a cloth cutter in New York City’s robust but labor-intensive garment industry. His working-class immigrant heritage helped fuel his son’s career as a scientist.

“He was a hands-on, industrial guy,” Pete’s Wicked Ale founder Pete Slosberg told Fox News Digital this week.

“I call him the hired gun of the craft beer industry.”

Being poor and Jewish in pre-World War II America meant there were few available seats in the Ivy League or other elite institutions of higher learning.

The brilliant young Owades might have gone to Harvard or Yale — but “educational opportunities for Jews faced quotas at this point,” said Koch.

ALCOHOL-FREE BEER IS BOOMING: 5 BRANDS AND 3 REASONS BEHIND THE NO-BUZZ BUZZ

Staring at limited prospects in the 1930s, Owades, who attended New York City public schools, moved on to higher education at City College of New York, Gotham’s low-cost public university.

He later earned his PhD from the former Brooklyn Polytechnic Institute and embarked on a career in food science. Among other achievements, he became an expert in yeast, essential to beer-making, for Fleischmann’s Yeast.

He then become an executive at Rheingold Brewery in Brooklyn, which dominated the New York City beer market for much of the 20th century.

At Rheingold, Owades had his eureka moment.

He discovered that brewing beer with an enzyme called amyloglucosidase “breaks down the sugars that the natural enzymes [in the brewing process] cannot,” Koch explained.

Yeast consumes sugar during fermentation, turning it into alcohol. The enzyme Owades used digested more of the sugars — resulting in fewer calories but more alcohol.

More alcohol posed no issue. The beer could be diluted to typical beer-strength of around 4%-5% alcohol by adding carbonated water, said Koch.

Thus, Owades not only created a new reduced-calorie beer — he also saved money and increased productivity.

MEET THE AMERICAN WHO INVENTED SLICED BREAD: OTTO ROHWEDDER, HARD-LUCK HAWKEYE

“Instead of spending $600 million on a new brewery, you could spend $100 million on high-speed bottling lines and double the capacity of a brewery,” said Koch.

Rheingold executives failed to capitalize on the innovation. They promoted the beer tepidly as a low-calorie alternative to traditional beer — “It doesn’t taste like it doesn’t fill you up,” read one poorly worded ad.

“So what’s it taste like?” posited another awkward promo.

And they meekly offered this product from a safe distance.

Rheingold created a shadow company called Forrest Street Brewing and marketed the new brew as Gablinger’s Beer to avoid sullying the flagship brand name.

“They were afraid of the blowback,” said Stephen Owades. He recalls as a teenager watching dad’s Gablinger’s Beer, under the code name Jupiter, being blind taste-tested against Rheingold’s flagship lager at the 1964 New York World’s Fair in Queens.

For more Lifestyle articles, visit www.foxnews.com/lifestyle

“The consensus was that Gablinger’s scored higher than Rheingold. Significantly higher,” said the younger Owades.

New Yorkers apparently loved the taste of the low-calorie beer. But “Rheingold couldn’t sell it,” said the son.

The beer never quite captured the assertive image traditionally associated with and coveted by largely male beer drinkers.

Owades, facing no objection from Rheingold following the failure of Gablinger’s, brought the light beer concept to Peter Hand Brewing of Chicago.

There, it was marketed as Meister Brau Lite, a low-calorie version of their flagship brand Meister Brau.

It slowly built a cult following among working-class enclaves of the still heavily industrialized Midwest — as Miller Brewing executives allegedly learned in the course of their due diligence while purchasing Meister Brau Lite in 1972.

“Meister Brau Lite wasn’t doing well,” said Koch. “Except there was an anomaly. It was doing well in the blue-collar bars on the South Side of Chicago — White Sox territory.”

Similar versions of the story cite other working-class communities in the region.

The Miller execs asked men at the bar why they liked Meister Brau Lite.

“Because it tastes great and has less filling, they said,” according to Koch. “The light bulb went off from there.”

The new owners rebranded the product Miller Lite and threw the full weight of their marketing muscle behind Owades’ innovation, most notably with an ad campaign featuring a who’s who of macho male celebrities and athletes of the era.

Former NFL star Bubba Smith starred in one early ad, touting his brawn on the football field before effortlessly ripping the top off a can of Miller Lite with his massive, meaty paw.

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP FOR OUR LIFESTYLE NEWSLETTER

Legendary Chicago Bears tough guy Dick Butkus starred alongside Smith in another spot, growling, “We’re not just a couple of animals who can only play football.”

The campaign developed the pithy tagline “Tastes great. Less filling” — as athletes, celebrities, and fans argued in a series of ads over Miller Lite’s greatest quality.

In the 1980s, sports fans in packed arenas across the country began parroting the debate by the tens of thousands. One half of the ballpark yelled “Tastes great!” — while the other half barked back, “Less filling!”

It was marketing gold. Miller Lite had gone viral.

Owades’ innovation had finally met its moment.

America embraced the more muscular image of his reduced-calorie beer and never looked back.

The other big breweries quickly joined the light beer movement.

Today, the top-three selling beer brands in the U.S. are Bud Light, Miller Lite, and Coors Light. Light beer remains a largely American phenomenon, say industry experts.

Owades, ironically, was not a beer drinker.

“He didn’t love alcoholic beverages as a concept,” said his son. “To him, it was an interesting science problem to solve. He had an expert palate and nose. But he was not somebody who loved beer.”

Yet generations of Americans have loved — and still love — the beer he created.

To read more stories in this unique “Meet the American Who…” series from Fox News Digital, click here.

Original article source: Meet the American who invented light beer