As the sunshine season grows brighter and the heat of summer picks up, it also invites peak grub time for the predominantly golden and starchy vegetable favorite, corn. This wildly popular cereal grain and versatile new world food is grown in all 50 states, but it can discern its descent from Southern Mexico, 10,000+ years ago.

Today, this widely cultivated crop is enjoyed in a wide variety of ways all over the globe, but we want to highlight the origin of maize with four Latin-inspired corn recipes created by a few of our favorite chefs. Our well-versed culinary contributors share their individualized interpretation of glowed-up corn dishes with choice beer pairings sure to complement the bright, slightly sweet, ethanol ears at the heart of these dishes.

Mark LeFebvre, executive chef for Big Sky Mobile Catering in Missoula, Montana, is well-versed in everything fine dining, cooking at some of the country’s most exclusive resorts and hotels as well as elevated brewpub cuisine in Colorado. LeFebvre fuses his “modern American influences” with a deconstructed version of classic elotes with the addition of fanciful garnishments to “get your palate excited for the next bite!”

The Craft Beer Marketing Awards represent the best that craft beer has to offer in terms of marketing, and the winners of the 2021 competition were announced over the summer. Who took the top honors, and what brands stood out among the judges? Read on to find out!

Craft beer, and beer in general, is sometimes best remembered through its marketing. Why do you think the big boys of beer always drop mammoth sums to advertise their brands during each year’s Super Bowl? They know that word-of-mouth and blanketing television, radio and physical media with their imagery is an extremely effective to stay “top of the mind” among beer drinkers and fans.

As a CBMA judge myself, I was able to toss my two cents into the fountain of opinion and saw many scintillating designs while perusing the submissions. This story serves as a look at the competition as well as the winners in each category.

Check the full list of Crushie winners at the Craft Beer Marketing Awards via the 2021 Winners Gallery.

As the United States enters the recovery portion of this pandemic, cities and states inch toward something close to full reopening. For craft beer aficionados that means seeing their favorite local beer halls back to full and raucous capacity. And, of course, back to sharing pics of their friends and favorite brews on their preferred social media platform.

Anyone who fits the description above––beer lover, pic-snapper––and happens to be in the market for a new phone has an embarrassment of options. The market is flush with hi-tech phones that double as genuinely great cameras.

Cory Smith, the force behind the phenomenal @cory_s_smith Instagram feed, says, “If given circumstances like great light, an interesting scene or backdrop and good framing, surely a phone can produce a good image. I have many photos on my phone, shot by my phone, that I think turned out about as well as they could have with my DSLR.”

Melissa Jones, creative force behind @Beautyofthebeer on Instagram, says, “I'll leave the DSLR at home when I know that the space is going to be dark or small. Usually my camera phone can handle anything I might want to take a photo of in the moment in these circumstances.”

Read for the best phones out right now that can bring your beer photography to the next level.

Since the arrival of Heady Topper in portable cans in 2011, the era of the IPA dominated by bitter acid hops has given way to the “lock and load” hazy IPA defined by large helpings of aroma hops in opaque beers. Those IPA breweries who have skillfully navigated this new era of unfiltered liquidity (pun intended) include some of the best-known beer emporiums to have emerged during craft’s explosive expansion to more than 8,000 breweries.

In the second decade of the 2000s, when the success of large regional brewers presented a challenge for smaller brewers seeking to break out, along came a unique IPA in Vermont loaded with aroma hops and delivered in a style that showcased New World hybrids developed in the Pacific Northwest and Australia/New Zealand.

John Kimmich first advised to “DRINK FROM THE CAN” in 2011, when he began producing tall-boy versions of the IPA that he had perfected at The Alchemist brewpub in Middlebury, Vermont. In 2011, fanatic followers no longer had to sneak Heady Topper out of the pub by pouring draft beers into various devices in the restrooms. A new location hastened by a flood at the pub meant aficionados could pick Heady up by the case at the brewery/canning operation or find fresh versions of Heady on shelves in Vermont, if they were lucky to get there first.

Craft beer offers an extensive range of styles and flavors. The brewing process involves a multitude of complex steps, ingredients and procedures that can result in world-class beers or beers that contain inappropriate notes and off-flavors. Whether a person holds the position of brewer, server, beer judge or simply beer aficionado, knowledge can make beer appreciation more enjoyable and rewarding. Read on for an exploration of nine of the most common fermentation by-products and off-flavors found in modern craft beer.

Acetaldehyde
This little-known fermentation off-flavor manifests as a taste and aroma of green apples, freshly cut grass or even latex paint. Yeast cells typically convert acetaldehyde to ethanol during later stages of fermentation, but oxidation of the finished beer can produce additional acetaldehyde. Some wild spoilage bacteria can also create noticeable levels of the chemical in beer. Low levels of acetaldehyde found in certain Belgian and British ales can provide a pleasant nuance and distinctive "house character." Classic examples would include many of the ales produced by Samuel Smith's Brewery in the U.K.

As the stigma surrounding marijuana begins to wane around the U.S., legality is becoming an interesting topic around the country. Read on to explore the emergence of legal marijuana in the US.

With marijuana seeing a significant increase in sales and gaining wider acceptance, industry executives are considering partnerships with other types of companies, particularly the beer industry. Joint efforts include cannabis-infused beverages and lobbying to benefit both industries.

“We appreciate and support lobbying efforts that focus on improving the legislative environment for both beer and cannabis. Lives have been ruined due to restrictive cannabis laws, laws that definitely need to change. We’re gratified to see legalization start to sweep the nation, state-by-state,” said Keith Villa, co-founder and brewmaster of CERIA Brewing Co. and former founder and brewmaster of Blue Moon Brewing Co.

Mark Gorman, executive vice president and chief operating officer for the National Association of Cannabis Businesses (NACB), said the momentum in the states for legalization is remarkable.

There is always something newsworthy taking place in the beer industry. That's why we dedicate Monday of each week to publishing the top stories from the previous week in our Industry News e-newsletter. Here you'll find a compilation of all the news we've covered since the last issue, with links to the full stories.

Industry & People

Everybody’s Brewing Announces New Head Brewer Dave McGinley

It’s that time again, folks, a new issue of The Beer Connoisseur Magazine is upon us!

As life begins to slowly return to normal in the U.S. with widespread vaccinations occurring for COVID-19, breweries are creeping back into normal operating hours with taprooms around the country opening up for the first time in over a year and a half (in some places).

With that being said, the beer world is coming out of a self-imposed hibernation somewhat, and people are ready and willing to get back into taprooms, brewpubs and tasting rooms to imbibe their favorite suds directly from the tap – just as they’re meant to be enjoyed.

As such, we’ve got plenty of zesty stories to keep you intrigued in this issue, starting with Jessica Zimmer delving deeply into The Emergence of Legal Marijuana in the United States. The past couple years have seen multiple states legalize or decriminalize marijuana – meaning the stigma attached to one of the hop plant’s closest relatives is dwindling.

Next up is Jo Caird making her debut within our pages with an important piece about offensive cultural representations on beer labels – something that is, regrettably, still happening at an alarming rate.

Judging Process
Our reviews are conducted in a single-blind tasting format. This method provides the best opportunity to rely on facts and to avoid favoritism, insuring a level playing field for all brewers. It serves both the industry and the consumer to have unbiased and objective scores from qualified experts. To best implement this approach, the Judges Review is open to those with established experience as a Master Cicerone® from the Cicerone® Certification Program or as a judge that has accomplished the rank of National or higher from the Beer Judge Certification Program. In the single-blind tasting format, judges are presented with a chilled, properly poured beer and given its style category. Scoring is then done on the following basis using a 100-point scale:

We saddled up with the masterminds behind the highest rated brews and asked them about the inspiration behind the recipes. Follow the links below to the individual Q & A's, or you may access Q & A's from all editions here.

Summer 2021, Issue 55

Darwin Brewing Co. Director of Operations Blue Hellenga Talks Llama Mama Milk Stout