Taplines

In 2007, after two decades of professional brewing, Teri Fahrendorf hit the road as an itinerant brewer for an odyssey spanning thousands of miles, dozens of brewery visits and collaborations, and a third of a calendar year. Along the way, she met with other female brewers like her, and they all wanted a way to connect with their colleagues, to find community as women working in a male-dominated industry. Armed with an email list and a pair of cheap pink boots gifted to her before her departure, Teri began laying the groundwork for what would become — you guessed it — the Pink Boots Society, now the beer industry’s leading professional advocacy group for women and nonbinary people. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The dust had hardly settled on Anheuser-Busch InBev’s 2015 acquisition of Elysian Brewing Company when Budweiser’s Super Bowl ad, “Brewed the Hard Way,” poured salt in the wound by punching down at the entire craft brewing industry on the biggest stage imaginable. Today on Taplines, we’re joined by Elysian cofounder Dick Cantwell for a look back at that pivotal moment, when ABI did a little mask-off mudslinging at America’s microbrewers even as it was actively buying into the segment. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Corona enjoyed rip-roaring stateside success in the '90s, and the mighty Anheuser-Busch eventually realized it would need an answer. In hopes of blunting the runaway success of the Mexican lager, the King of Beers launched its own beer that came in clear bottles and had a Mexican-sounding name: Tequiza. Rolled out nationally in 1999, Tequiza burned bright for a hot minute before flaming out a few years later. Joining Taplines today is Edmundo Macias, the former brand manager of A-B’s homespun Corona killer that wasn't. He was front and center for Tequiza’s rapid rise and frustrating fall, and on this episode, we talk all about it. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

As you may have heard, one of the world’s biggest cannabis companies, Tilray, just last week acquired a whole bunch of craft breweries and brands from the world’s biggest macrobrewer, Anheuser-Busch InBev. It’s an $85 million dollar deal with bold, potentially bizarre implications for both firms, not to mention the American craft beer industry writ large. Also, it includes Shock Top, which — yes! — still exists. On today's special episode, Dave links up with VinePair managing editor and Cocktail College host Tim McKirdy to talk about this piece of beer industry history in the making. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2002, Wisconsin’s New Glarus Brewing Company, makers of the beloved Spotted Cow farmhouse ale, announced it’d be pulling out of the Illinois market next door. Six months later, it was gone. The decision shocked and even angered some folks on the wrong side of the Cheddar Curtain, and flew in the face of the contemporary expansionist wisdom of that era in the industry. But brewmaster Daniel Carey simply couldn’t brew enough to keep up with the demand in the state next door, so along with his wife, founder and president Deb, they decided not to. Twenty years later, we spoke to Daniel about how New Glarus grew on its own terms, and became a touchstone for an industry looking for ways to sustainably retrench as growth slows in the process. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Imagine a world before IPAs. Can’t do it, can you, Taplines listener? But it’s true: around the turn of this century, the American craft brewing landscape was awash in ambers, brown ales, lagers, and precious few versions of the hop-forward India pale ales that would come to dominate the category a decade later. The ones you could get ahold of in 1999 were mostly well-balanced West Coast-style IPAs. A continuously hopped imperial IPA from an East Coast brewery was quite literally unheard of. Which is where today's guest — Dogfish Head Craft Brewery founder Sam Calagione — and his genre-definining 90 Minute Imperial IPA come in. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

“Tea Partay,” a 2006 spoof-rap spot from Smirnoff to roll out its new hard tea flavored malt beverage, so perfectly met that moment in the American zeitgeist that it went viral before anybody really understood what “going viral” even was. Today on Taplines, Andy Nathan, the founder and CEO of Fortnight Collective, joins us to take us inside the development of the instant-classic ad. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

In 2012, New York State had just 95 breweries — dramatically fewer than its fourth-in-the-nation population suggested it should. Five years later, that number had doubled, and the Empire State was well on its way to becoming the craft-beverage hotbed it is today. What happened? Today on Taplines, we've got Chris O'Leary, founder and editor of the venerable Brew York blog and a longtime observer of the state's political brewing landscape, joining for an episode about a certain, since-disgraced governor's successful gambit to boost artisanal booze production with an assist from Albany. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Four Loko mania reached mainstream fever pitch in 2010, Doctor Joshua Sharfstein was the principal deputy commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration. He joins Taplines today to tell a side of the story that got lost in the sauce as the chaotic, cash-rich, caffeinated first act of Four Loko came to a close: how the agency gathered the facts, determined its jurisdiction, and weighed its response to this hugely popular, highly volatile new drink. Don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Fourth of July is traditionally one of the biggest beer-selling holidays on the calendar, and for the past decade-ish, Anheuser-Busch InBev has capitalized on the holiday by remaking Budweiser with a Stars-and-Stripes label and a jingoistic name. Known colloquially as AmeriCans, these seasonal rebrands present a vision of the United States that simply doesn't exist in reality—a lesson ABI is learning in real time as it tries to assuage transphobes with platitudes three months into the 2023 Bud Light backlash. This Taplines holiday special features your host Dave Infante flying solo and reprising some of his reporting about the AmeriCan, the Bud Light situation, and selling beer in this contemporary political landscape. Happy Fourth of July, and don't forget to like, review, and subscribe! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.