Latest news with #breweries
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Over 25 local breweries and businesses will participate in St. Johns Riverkeeper campaign
St. Johns Riverkeeper (SJRK) celebrates the organization's 25th anniversary by announcing a two-month campaign, 25 Taps for the St. Johns. 'We launched 25 Taps in celebration of our anniversary, but this is also an initiative to highlight the numerous outstanding breweries that exist in the watershed of the St. Johns River and the importance of clean water,' says Dryden Mills, Community Engagement Specialist for St. Johns Riverkeeper. >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< 'After all, you can't have good beer or a healthy river without clean water.' The campaign is a virtual passport challenge, with more than 25 local breweries and businesses participating. The challenge begins on Sunday, June 1, and people can now sign up for a free digital passport. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] 'We are excited to be a part of 25 Taps for the St. Johns, and to continue to support a local organization and river that we love through sharing what we love - great beer!' said Lindsay Hawkins, General Manager at Intuition Ale Works. 'We'll be hosting the celebration after the campaign on August 3 and can't wait to bring everyone together for a clean and healthy St. Johns River.' [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] At the end of the campaign, participants will be entered into a drawing, and the winner, who is picked will receive an eco-tour or fishing charter with their friends on St. Johns River. 'For 25 years, St. Johns RIVERKEEPER has served as a voice and advocate for our river and the communities that benefit from this important waterway. So many local businesses and breweries that love our river have supported us along the way. We can't wait to raise a glass together for the river, and cheers to 25 years!' said Jimmy Orth, executive director for SJRK. To join the challenge, click here. Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
CBC
6 days ago
- Business
- CBC
Nova Scotia to survey public on expanding retail sale of alcohol
Nova Scotia has announced a month-long public survey as it considers expanding alcohol sales to various retail outlets like corner stores. Finance Minister John Lohr says examining how alcohol is sold and consumed makes sense as the province moves to eliminate interprovincial trade barriers. The province will survey 1,500 Nova Scotians over the age of 19 starting this week. It will also gather feedback on the types of stores where alcohol can be sold, locations where people can drink alcohol and health considerations related to any changes. Alcohol is currently served at over 300 retail locations in the province. They include Nova Scotia Liquor Corporation stores, private wine and specialty stores and on-site stores at breweries, wineries and farmers markets.
The Independent
27-05-2025
- Business
- The Independent
This PFA is for you: Surprising amount of ‘forever chemicals' found in some American beers, study finds
Beer drinkers should pay attention the next time they imbibe, as they may be consuming more than just alcohol, according to a new study from the American Chemical Society. It reports that some U.S. beers contain higher than the Environmental Protection Agency's maximum safe levels of polyfluoroalkyl substances, which have come to be known as " forever chemicals" due to the fact that they don't naturally break down or pass through the body. Other recent reports have found PFAS are present in drinking water across the globe, and the study's author decided to see if those same chemicals were making their way into beer. "As an occasional beer drinker myself, I wondered whether PFAS in water supplies were making their way into our pints. I hope these findings inspire water treatment strategies and policies that help reduce the likelihood of PFAS in future pours," wrote lead researcher Jennifer Hoponick Redmon. Breweries do use water filtration and treatment systems to ensure only quality water is being used in their brews, but those systems don't typically block PFAS from entering into the system. Redmon and her team modified an EPA testing tool analyzing PFAS in drinking water and used it to test 23 U.S. beers. They selected beers from areas where water-system contamination has already been documented, as well as beers from areas with unknown water systems. According to the study's findings, some breweries in North Carolina, California, and Michigan had elevated levels of PFAS in their beers. In 95 percent of the beer tested, PFAS with perfluorooctanesulfonate and perfluorooctanoic acid — both forever chemicals — were present. Beers from outside the U.S. were also tested. One beer from Holland and two from Mexico were tested, and were found to be less likely to contain PFAS. "Our findings indicate a strong link between PFAS in drinking water and beer, with beers brewed in areas with higher PFAS in local drinking water translating to higher levels of PFAS in beer, showing that drinking water is a primary route of PFAS contamination in beer," the research team determined. Last fall, researchers from the University of Birmingham, Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, and Hainan University, Haikou, published a study that found that forever chemicals were present in water across the world. PFAS can accumulate in the bodies of living organisms and have been linked to severe health conditions. They are used in different products like pesticides, non-stick cookware, food packaging and cosmetics, and can enter wastewater through many day-to-day activities. Government regulation has banned some, while the use of others is still widespread, with their toxic effects yet to be fully investigated. They also revealed a wide range of PFAS contamination for target PFAS, beginning at 63 percent of bottled waters tested.
Forbes
26-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Forbes
Why Small Beer Festivals Are Thriving
The Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival features rare beers from a carefully curated list of the world's best breweries. Firestone Walker Brewing Company Beer festivals are a great way for beer lovers to sample many beers in one place. Often, such festivals offer beers not otherwise available in the local market which makes them a draw for even the most seasoned beer lover. For a time, the biggest beer festivals were the biggest draw. More beer. More people. More fun. But that seems to be changing. For the 2024 edition of the Great American Beer Festival, the largest ticketed beer festival in America, the Brewers Association, which hosts the event, rolled out a significantly revamped format—for the first time since its inception in 1982. Among the changes to the event, which is held annually in Denver, CO, the number of sessions was reduced from four to three. In its heyday, tickets for the Great American Beer Festival would sell out in minutes. But in response to slower ticket sales, the Brewers Association eliminated one session, significantly reducing the number of tickets available, while at the same time introducing theme areas with more varied forms of entertainment. It is too early to tell whether the changes will revive the Great American Beer Festival, but other 'Great' festivals are also struggling. The Great Canadian Beer Festival has been cancelled for 2025 while the Great British Beer Festival returns in a new venue 2025—in Birmingham, England—after being cancelled for 2024—having been held for 34 years in London. Reports are that attendance has been shrinking in recent years. But reports of the death of beer festivals may be premature. Across the country, smaller, more focused beer festivals continue to sell out, satisfying the beer drinking public's thirst for sampling beers. 'I asked myself, 'What would be the perfect beer festival?'' said Matt Brynildson, brewmaster at Firestone Walker Brewing Company via video call. Firestone Walker hosts the annual Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival in its hometown of Paso Robles, California. 'I'd call up the best brewmasters of the world. We'd bring in the best beer, sent by air freight to ensure it is fresh and brewmasters would be there, so drinkers could meet the maker,' said Brynildson. 'And we would have wonderful food and world-class music.' The first Firestone Walker Invitational Beer Festival was held in 2012. It sold out in minutes then and now, about 3,500 tickets per year continue to sell out in minutes. 'We have a lot of wine-savvy consumers in Paso Robles,' said Brynildson. 'They have high expectations in their food and beverage experiences, so we have to set the bar high.' By keeping the beer festival small, Brynildson says ticketholders are given a better experience. The festival is built on the back of the relationships Brynildson has built during his brewing career and he knows the breweries he invites make great beer. Curation is the key. On the other side of the country, Good Word Brewing hosts three, small annual festivals in Duluth, Georgia, more or less 40 minutes from Atlanta. The city of 32,000 people has an open container zone within which people can drink alcohol in public spaces. That includes the town green, making it the perfect location for a beer festival. 'I created an event for brewers,' said Todd DiMatteo, owner and head brewer at Good Word, via telephone. 'Bigger festivals don't have the same feeling. They all become the same old, run-of-the-mill events with lots of breweries, mediocre food and maybe some band in the corner.' 'I attend a lot of festivals and a lot feel cookie cutter,' he says. 'So I wanted to create something totally different—something that feels fresh.' Good Word now organizes three festivals each with a theme and each with a curated list of invited breweries. According to DiMatteo, the more focused beer list draws a more interested consumer who is actually interested in tasting the nuances of each beer, rather than just trying to taste as many beers as possible. Having the event on the town green also means the festival goers can bring their families. There was a time when craft beer was a novelty and so was trying them amongst fellow beer lovers. But as the craft beer industry has matured, so have its drinkers. Awash in beer from almost 10,000 breweries in America, craft beer lovers have become more discerning and the curated offerings and more intimate settings of smaller beer festivals seem to be resonating with them. Here are seven small beer festivals worth visiting: About 70 of the best breweries from around the world present their beers each year at the Paso Robles Event Center, at the end of May or beginning of June. As a condition of invitation to the festival, breweries must have a brewer in attendance to answer questions and explain their beers. Consumers' choice awards, one for beer and one for food, ensure exhibiting breweries and restaurants bring their A game. 'Breweries bring something extra special to try to win the award,' says Brynildson. Ironically, Little Beer is the largest of these three annual beer festival hosted by Good Word Brewing in Duluth. Little Beer is a celebration of lower-alcohol beer held in April each year. Each of 80 to 90 brewers offers beers less than 5% ABV to 500 ticket holders. The outdoor festival is held in Duluth's town square, making it a family-friendly event. Le Bon is a celebration of saison and oysters held next to Good Word Brewing, in September. A dozen and a half breweries offer their finest saison to be paired with oysters supplied by famed shuckers. Mighty Fine Fest, a celebration of west coast IPA, is debuting in June 2025. About 50 breweries will have their hoppiest beers available and will help make Duluth the beer festival capital of America. Since 2009, the Denver Rare Beer Tasting has, as the name implies, served rare beers from some of America's most-respected breweries. Limited to 450 tickets at $200 each, the festival is held each year on the Thursday of the weekend of the Great American Beer Festival, in October each year. Brewers are in attendance to answer questions and proceeds support Pints For Prostates, a 501(c)3 non-profit charity established to raise awareness about prostate cancer, particularly within the beer community. FOBAB is held each year in Chicago, typically on a weekend early in November. The festival primarily pours beers that have been aged on wood or in barrels, ranging from strong, high-ABV imperial stouts and barley wines, to more moderate, but sour and funky barrel-aged sour beers. The festival awards the best barrel-aged beers in multiple categories. Recent editions of FOBAB have added a lager lounge and a non-alcoholic area to offer palates a refresh between the hundreds of palate-wrecking beers. Alaska is not always cold. But it certainly is in January. The Alaska Craft Beer & Barley Wine Festival is held in January each year in Anchorage to spread liquid sunshine during the dark winter. With an emphasis on strong, rich barley wines, the festival keeps festival goers warm as the enjoy local food and live music.
Yahoo
23-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Pale ale and spicy pickle beer: Beer bash returning to Peoria Heights for second year
In Peoria Heights, Bust'd Brewing is preparing to host its second annual Beer Bash. Bre Henderson, taproom manager and event coordinator, said last year's inaugural event featured 13 brewers and drew around 150 event-goers. This year, she expects to see around 250 people turn out to try beers from at least 18 different breweries. 'It is so refreshing to us,' Henderson said of the growth. 'We've seen such a huge support from the community and such excitement to bring this event back again.' Here's what to know about the second Bust'd Beer Bash. The event will take place in the parking lot of Bust'd Brewing – located at 4408 N. Prospect Road in Peoria Heights. Breweries will set up under various tents, and Henderson said a limited number of picnic and cocktail tables will be available for guests to use. Visitors should park in public lots around Peoria Heights. More: What does it take to obtain a liquor license in Peoria? Here's the process The second Bust'd Beer Bash will be held on May 25 from noon until 4 p.m. Tickets can be purchased in person or online at The community can buy general admission tickets for $45 through May 17 as part of an early bird special. From May 18 to the day of the event, general admission will cost $55. Designated driver tickets will be available at the door for $10. Henderson said she expects many are waiting to purchase tickets until the forecast comes out, but she added that the event will take place rain or shine. 'The beer still tastes the same,' she said. General admission tickets include a souvenir tasting glass from the Fox Pub and access to samples from all breweries at the Beer Bash. 'They'll be able to kind of walk around, talk to the brewers or the brewery rep - whoever's there - and get more information about the beer, talk to them about the process, talk to them about their business, their brewery, all of that stuff,' Henderson said. 'And then also get to try whatever beers they like.' Not a fan of the beer in your glass? Not a problem, Henderson said. 'You can dump it out and you can move on to another one,' she said. Henderson said The Wolves Den Pizzeria will also be serving pizza on site for an additional cost. Hungry for more Peoria food news? Sign up for PJStar Dining Bust'd Brewing's Beer Bash will feature at least 18 different breweries, according to Henderson. 'Most of the breweries are bringing two to three different styles of beer,' she said. 'Anywhere from a nice pilsner to we even have some fruited sours, some hazy IPAs, regular IPAs – as wild as like a spicy pickle beer.' Local breweries like Nightjar, Industry Brewing and Tangled Roots will make an appearance at the Beer Bash, Henderson said. Some of the other breweries listed on the event's website include: Analytical Brewing Keg Grove Brewing Company Phase Three Brewing Company Reserve Artisan Ales Triptych Brewing Unpossible Mead White Oak Brewing Go Brewing 'We've started announcing the breweries on our social media and people are super pumped to see breweries coming from a little farther outside of Central Illinois too this year,' Henderson said. Bust'd Brewing plans to release its Summer Bash beer, Henderson said, the week of the event. She said the drink – which features orange puree and hops – earned second place on Untappd last year in the American pale ale category for Illinois. 'It was definitely a crowd favorite last year and (we) are excited to bring it back,' she said. 'People have been asking for it.' More: Long-awaited restaurant is now open on Washington Square. Menu, prices, hours and more This article originally appeared on Journal Star: Beer bash returning to Peoria Heights for second year
