This content was originally published by The Hop Review, a digital magazine that joined the Hop Culture family in March 2020.
This piece was written by Tom White.
In this week’s Hoplinks, breweries keep coming, beer geeks find a way, GABF is trending, and we now need to worry about zombie sheep? This week was certainly packed with news but let us know what we missed in the comments below.
USA – The Brewer’s Association has now quantified what we already knew. There are a ton of breweries in America. The latest number, 4000 breweries, is the highest since the 1870’s and is rapidly approaching the all time high of 4,131 seen in 1873. [Brewer’s Assocaition]
THREE OAKS, MI – One of the best and most successful distilleries in the Midwest (and a past feature on The Hop Review), Journeyman Distillery is rapidly expanding. Opened on September 30th, the distillery now has a companion restaurant called Staymaker. They’ve also added a second production facility and a 500 person event space. Expect to see even more Journeyman spirits at your local soon. [THR Wire]
STAVANGER, NORWAY – We hear about archaic alcohol laws all the time here in the US but perhaps none rival the old laws of Stavanger, Norway. When a group of local beer enthusiasts wanted to start their own beer festival, they quickly found out the local laws restricted any kind of advertising to do with alcohol. To get the word out, they used the brilliant campaign outlined in the video below. [Melvær&Lien Vimeo]
DENVER, CO – Following last week’s Great American Beer Festival, Draft Magazine highlights four take-away trends from the event and Travel+Leisure makes their observations. Among them, a mention for Illinois’ own Scratch Brewing and their hyper-local all natural ingredients. [Draft Magazine and Travel + Leisure]
LOGAN SQUARE, CHICAGO – 3 Sheeps Brewing and Lakeshore Beverage released one of the more unique marketing campaigns we’ve ever seen to promote their newest beer – Violence of the Lambs. Premiering on October 30th at the Logan Theater, the 8-bit trailer (below) features the zombie-sheep fighting adventures of owner and headbrewer Grant Pauly. [Lakeshore Beverage]
WRIGLEYVILLE, CHICAGO – One of the many great things about catching a game at historic Wrigley Field is a cold $8 Old Style in the hot summer sun. Thrillist takes a closer look at the vendors who bring the goods to your seat so you don’t have to miss a second of the action. [Thrillist Chicago]
Photograph by Tom White