Friday 5@5: February 7, 2014

We’re back! Hopefully I can make this writing this a fairly regular occurrence again. Here are a couple stories for you to enjoy this weekend. Cheers!

1. The big story of the week – AB InBev has agreed to buy Blue Point. There has been much hand wringing on the internet about this, so I won’t waste too much time with that, but I have to say I don’t really care about the buyout. I’ve had a couple Blue Point beers, and the only one I truly enjoyed was a 2 year old Old Howling Bastard. Everything else has been average. Plus, Goose Island goes to show that AB InBev isn’t there to destroy a company, just profit off of them. It just means we’ll now have Blue Point as an option at stadiums and the money will go to a corporate behemoth rather than one of the larger brewers in the U.S. I think where the money goes is where the problem lies for most people, but really the only time I’m grabbing a Blue Point is when every other beer in the place is already connected to AB InBev. In the end, though, good for Blue Point. No one starts a business to not make money, and we shouldn’t be down on them for their success.

2. I’ll keep the rest of these short. Over on Homebrew Dad, he’s created a great database of grain types and hops. It’s an excellent resource for anyone looking to learn a little more about what goes into beer.

3. Ratebeer has come out with their annual best-of lists this week. This year they went in alphabetical order, which to me kind of defeats the purpose of putting out a best-of list.

4. Here are some great statistics about beer drank during the Super Bowl. It’s a bit skewed since the numbers were taken from Untappd, but good to see craft holding it’s own.

5. Shameless Self Promotion: This week I finally published my first post of the year, about the beer that my fiancee brought back from Israel.

Beerstagram of the Week – Nugget Nectar time!

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