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Bridgeport Brewing closes after 35 years

One of the pioneers in American craft brewing is ceasing operations after 35 years.

Bridgeport was founded in 1984 by Richard and Nancy Ponzi who were local winemakers. Interestingly, the Ponzi family is one of the founding families that brought pinot Continue Reading →

Posted in Catawba Brewing, Coming Soon, Don't Miss This

Catawba’s Peanut Butter Jelly Time returns with new Strawberry Rhubarb variant

The “peanut butter jelly sandwich in a glass” beer returns on March 1st, and this year it arrives with new variants.

Catawba Peanut Butter Jelly Time launched in 2012 – a bready brown ale brewed with wheat, raspberry puree, and North Carolina peanuts. Every year the release has grown in popularity prompting special taproom release parties.

This year, look for Catawba Peanut Butter Jelly Time Strawberry Rhubarb cans in extremely limited quantities alongside the seasonal favorite. While we couldn’t get confirmation from the brewery, we assume the base recipe is the same, along with strawberry and rhubarb additions.

READ MORE: CATAWBA PEANUT BUTTER JELLY TIME

Alongside the two canned releases, a third release – Black Currant will be available on tap.

Catawba Peanut Butter Jelly Time Strawberry Rhubarb will be available in limited 16-ounce cans and draft in the brewery’s tap room starting March 1st.

Style: Brown Ale (w/ Raspberries. Peanuts. Strawberries. Rhubarb.)
Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft.
Debut: 3/1/19

?? ABV 

Image: Catawba Brewing

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Southern Tier Brewing, Coming Soon, Don't Miss This

110 calorie Southern Tier Swipe Light debuts in March

Lower calorie craft beers will trend in 2019. Actually, they are already starting to do so. Emerging examples include Harpoon Rec League, and upcoming Dogfish Head Slightly Mighty Low Cal IPA. Tack on another one, Southern Tier Swipe Light.

The name, a play on dating app Tinder’s famous “Swipe Right”, Swipe Light is a pale ale that is just 110 calories and 4% alcohol by volume.  Southern Tier describes it as light in color and bitterness, but high in flavor.

Expect Southern Tier Swipe Light in 12-ounce cans and draft starting in March 2019.

Style: Pale Ale
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.
Debut: March 2019

4% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Wild Heaven Craft Beers, Don't Miss This

Wild Heaven Citrus EDB is the best variant yet, & impossible to put down

Wild Heaven Citrus EDB (Emergency Drinking Beer), the third iteration of their #1 bestseller Emergency Drinking Beer, is hitting shelves. In our opinion, this is the best edition yet.

In 2015, the Avondale Estates, Georgia based brewery released EDB, a pilsner (using creative license) beer brewed with lemongrass, sea salt, and a touch of grapefruit zest. The intent was to create a crisp and refreshing beer with the versatility for any situation. Wild Heaven was overwhelmingly successful with this venture, as EDB has quickly become the brewery’s #1 seller.

When brewer and co-owner created EDB, he wanted a beer that was versatile in any situation. What he soon came to learn was Emergency Drinking Beer is a great palette for flavors like Watermelon (debuted in 2018) and now a heavy dose of citrus.

Citrus EDB features fresh lime juice, white grapefruit, and ruby red grapefruit juice. Some folks out there hate it when beers are described as “crushers” but you’re going to have to deal with it. Citrus EDB is one hell of a crusher. The lime and grapefruit make the beer bright with a touch of tart “zing” that compliments any food you can throw at it and would partner perfectly with a shorty of tequila. It’s the fastest we’ve killed three cans of beer that didn’t involve a funnel.

Wild Heaven Citrus EDB is available as a winter seasonal in 12-ounce cans and draft. Look for Berry EDB, and Tropical EDB later this year.

Style: Pilsner-style ale (w/ Lime Juice. Grapefruit Juice. Sea Salt.)
Availability: 12oz Cans, Draft.
Debut: February 2019

>4% ABV

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Bridgeport Brewing, Don't Miss This

Bridgeport Brewing closes after 35 years

One of the pioneers in American craft brewing is ceasing operations after 35 years.

Bridgeport was founded in 1984 by Richard and Nancy Ponzi who were local winemakers. Interestingly, the Ponzi family is one of the founding families that brought pinot noir to the Willamette Valley. Bridgeport Brewing was a way to bring in money to offset the long-play of winemaking at Ponzi Vineyards.

The original facility was called Columbia River Brewery, with a 600 barrel capacity. In 1995, Bridgeport was sold to Carlos Alvarez of the Gambrinus Company.

In April of 2017, declining sales sparked the brewery to restructure their operations, but sales continued to decline as the beer market became more competitive in the Pacific Northwest.

Today, Bridgeport announced their decision to close their doors after 35 years.

The decision to close was extremely difficult for all involved. Back in April 2017, declining sales caused the brewery to restructure its operations. However, sales and distribution continued declining in the extremely competitive craft beer market of Oregon and the Pacific Northwest, which resulted in this final decision.

Bridgeport India Pale Ale is easily the brewery’s most well-known and award-winning beers, and one of the first IPAs in America.

Production operations will cease immediately, while the brewpub will close on March 10th, 2019. The brewery’s website has already been taken offline.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This

5 Seasons Brewing will close their final location this month

5 Seasons Brewing has announced the closing of their last location in Atlanta after 10 years of operation.

The closures of each of 5 Seasons three locations have come in three successive years. In June of 2017 the Old Milton Parkway location in Alpharetta, Georgia after receiving an offer for the property they couldn’t refuse.

On December 31st of last year, the Prado location in Sandy Springs announced they would cease operations at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

This week, barely 6 weeks after the Prado closure, 5 Seasons took to Facebook one last time to announce the closure of their Westside Atlanta location on Marietta Street.

This place was a dream come true where we put no limits on our inspiration to constantly create new dishes and new beers. When we signed the lease over twelve years ago there wasn’t much around here. Just one cool, independent coffee shop across the street tucked in amongst lots of empty buildings. It has been fun to be a small part in helping to build a neighborhood community. We will miss this place and the people that filled it.

Normal operating hours will continue until February 17th with half-priced beers, with a “drain the taps” farewell party at the SkyBar on the 23rd.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Don't Miss This

Anheuser-Busch’s ZX Ventures acquires 100% of RateBeer.com

Zx Ventures, a division of AB InBev, now has fully acquired popular rating site RateBeer.com.

In a forum post today, the site revealed that ZX Ventures now has full ownership of the website. In 2016, ZX Ventures took a minority stake in RateBeer, only for it to be revealed by the founder in 2017. This prompted some craft brewers to ask RateBeer to delete their rating’s data, out of fear of manipulation by Anheuser-Busch.

According to the site’s founder, this new capital will not affect the day-to-day of the website.

RateBeer is a quality-focused organization, and our value to the community has always depended on our integrity, and willingness to put in greater effort to produce more meaningful scores and information.

While RateBeer has stated repeatedly that AB InBev does not influence the beer ratings, one user ironically found the highly ranked beers nearby to be questionable.

In addition to RateBeer.com, ZX Ventures also owns (at least in part), a beer website called October, as well as homebrew store Northern Brewer.

by Reid Ramsay
Posted in Creature Comforts, Coming Soon, Don't Miss This, Russian River Brewing

Debut Week: Creature Comforts collaborates with Russian River on new IPA

Creature Comforts has teamed up with California’s Russian River Brewing Company, benefitting the brewery’s “Get Comfortable” campaign. 

At the 2018 Firestone Walker Invitational, Creature Comfort’s Adam Beauchamp was having a beer with Russian River’s Vinnie Cilurzo. Beauchamp mentioned Creature Comfort’s ‘Get Comfortable’ Campaign, their annual community outreach program. Creature Comforts helped raise funds to help folks affected by the 2017 Sonoma fires, so Cilurzo couldn’t wait to get involved.

The two breweries collaborated on an India pale ale, brewed with Strata, Amarillo, Comet, and Pahto hops. “Get Comfortable IPA” finishes at 7.2% alcohol by volume.

This year, Creature Comforts has chosen the following nonprofits to benefit from the funds raised from sales of the collaboration: Action Ministries, Advantage Behavioral Health, The Ark, Athens Community Council on Aging, Bigger Vision, Chess & Community, College Factory, Family Connection-Communities in Schools, and Mercy Health Center. These nine non-profits will be highlighted throughout the 2019 Get Comfortable campaign season, which wraps up in November.

Creature Comforts Russian River Get Comfortable IPA is available in 16-ounce cans and draft throughout the duration of the campaign.

Style: IPA
Hops: Strata, Comet, Amarillo, Pahto

Availability: 16oz Cans, Draft. February-November 2019
Debut: February 2019

7.2% ABV

by Reid Ramsay