Busted
This was looking like a slow news week, what with Melbourne's Great Australasian Beer Spectapular kicking off tomorrow, and next week's New Release Tuesday suffering from a change in lineup. And then along comes one of the juiciest pieces of scandal to hit the brewing industry since Guinness (Diageo's corporate progenitor) got busted for shady share dealings in the 80s. Thank you, Diageo, thank you.
For those who haven't picked this up from the more beer-oriented corners of the social media universe, drinks giant Diageo (owners of Guinness and many other drinks brands) have been caught telling the organisers of the British Institute of Innkeeping's awards for the Scottish hospitality industry who should win. To be fair, they didn't actually say who should win, just who shouldn't, namely BrewDog. The trouble was BrewDog's name was already engraved on the trophy.
For those of us who grieve every day at the way the beer market is subverted by the anticompetitive practices of large beverage companies this is as good an opportunity for self-righteous indignation as we'll ever get. Good on you, Diageo!
Now if only this story had a local angle. What if some award for the brewing or hospitality industry in our part of the world also had their judging process compromised by undue influence from say, a sponsor, or someone protecting advertisers. Of course, that would never happen. Or has it?
New Release Tuesday
Next week we were hoping to host the launch of a pretty exciting new venture in brewing. But the handful of you still in the dark about that particular venture will have to wait another week while the fab four get their first beer into kegs.
In the meantime we have another Mikkeller beer to unleash on you all. It's their Simcoe IIIPA. We don't know as much about this beer as we'd like, but it looks like a one-off batch brewed to celebrate the first anniversary of Mikkeller's Copenhagen tap house about a year ago. So while it isn't a brand new beer it is new to us and we trust that the intensity of the hops will have helped it keep.
As usual it's on tap from 5pm next week.
On Tap Now or Soon
- For the first time ever we'll have a keg of Sprig and Fern's Hefeweizen.
- A succession of some of our favourite American imports will be occupying one tap, with Ballast Point Sculpin first, then Green Flash 30th St Pale Ale and Coronado Islander IPA.
- Another keg of 666 Avarice Imperial IPA. (For news of 666's next beer, read here).
- A brand new Porter from Townshend.
Postscript
This is a funny time of year for us with the World Beer Cup taking place in San Diego last week and the Great Australasian Beer Spectapular kicking off in Melbourne tomorrow. So news is short this week, but we promise a bumper edition next week with reports on who out of the NZ contingent at GABS behaved the worst.
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