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, a whole lotta IPAs are ranked, a Girl visits a basement brewery, a city brewery expands to the ‘burbs, seasonal creep is upon us again, a brewery says they (probably) won’t sell out, and brewers in a state make a push for better laws. Let us know what else went on in the world of beer this week in the comments.
USA — Paste Magazine took on the gargantuan task of ranking 247 American IPA’s. The results, both for those included in their top 50 and those left out, are somewhat surprising. Obviously there’s no perfect way to do these comparisons but it’s certainly an interesting read. [Paste Magazine]
WEST LOOP, CHICAGO — The Girl and Her Beer recently caught up with one of our favorite Chicago breweries — the reclusive Illuminated Brew Works. We’ve been seeing more and more of their quirky brews around town recently and it’s great to see the progress they’ve made since we chatted with them back in January, 2015. [The Girl and Her Beer]
HOMEWOOD, IL — The South Loop’s Vice District Brewing announced plans to expand to Homewood, a south suburb of Chicago. The eventual 2017 addition of a taproom would be the village’s first and would more than quadruple production for Vice District. Homewood will also soon be home to Rabid Brewing’s taproom, as we Hoplinked back in March. [Crain’s Chicago]
USA — As summer begins to wind down, breweries often forget that it’s still only August and 90 degrees outside. The “seasonal creep” issue is possibly at its worse this time of year as we’re already seeing Oktoberfest and Pumpkin beers take over store shelf space. Though they’re far from the only offender, Great Lakes Brewing got called out by fans after announcing distribution of their Fall seasonal — and reacted with their side of the issue. [CraftBeer.com]
FORT COLLINS, CO — New Belgium, the country’s fourth largest craft brewery, says it will remain 100 percent employee owned for the foreseeable future. While it looks like it won’t be happening anytime soon, the brewery didn’t completely shut down the possibility of a sale, saying they would, “always be watching the capital markets.” [BrewBound]
NORTH CAROLINA — We often forget how lucky we are in Illinois to have an active Brewer’s Guild who push for favorable distribution laws. That isn’t the case in many other states, such as North Carolina, where great breweries are severely limited in their distribution. This movie, currently in the midst of a crowdsourcing campaign, aims to change that. [Indiegogo]
–––
Photograph by Jack Muldowney from our January 2015 interview with the Founders of Illuminated Brew Works.