In my day to day activities at the production facility at Iron Horse Brewery, there are 3 women I see (of 20 employees based out of the headquarters, two women are in production, 1 woman is our HR). Company-wide (including our pub and sales teams), there are 15 women of our 44 employees. While the… Read more »
This collaboration started about 13 years ago, for me anyway. While I was residing in Bozeman, Natalia bought me a book, The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. I think it was a Christmas gift, but I really don’t recall. I am no connoisseur of bread books but I do believe this to be one of the finest… Read more »
As Iron Horse Brewery looked to 2019, it was apparent that being agile in an ever-changing marketplace would need to be a priority. Couple that with a brewery that has a flagship brand (Quilter’s Irish Death) representing close to 80% of the volume mix, it’s essential to have a fluid cycle of innovation. One of… Read more »
What once was just a natural hormonal effect of the human body, transformed into a lifestyle trend that helps support self identification, and is now surely at most an underrated artform. I silently judge (it’s ok, we all do) those who I think are just being lazy versus those who take pride in the manicured,… Read more »
Off Color Brewing out of Chicago is putting some of their beer in 8-ounce bottles. A recent article by the Chicago Tribune about the packaging change claims the smaller bottles are meant to appeal to consumers because the 22 oz bottle trend is dying, for ABV reasons, and to promote the idea of elegance. We… Read more »
If you have had the opportunity to try the IPA-Nut beer that was a collaboration between Planters and Noon Whistle Brewing from Lombard, IL then you’ll have to tell us how it tasted because we haven’t gotten to try it. Planters is not the first corporate company to partner up with an independent brewery… Read more »
I wrote a blog a of couple years back about the top 3 fuck up’s that the brewery had experienced. I think this was a horrible mistake as Karma came back and bit me right in the ass by raining down the worst fuck up probably to happen at the brewery. I hadn’t ever dumped… Read more »
Recovery Beers? After a long workout is a beer the first thing you reach for? It might be once you learn that some breweries are now making beers with electrolytes. A recent article is suggesting electrolyte beers might be the new recovery drink. We asked our cousins for their thoughts on the growing industry trend…. Read more »
On Episode 31 of Life Behind Beer we talk about Great American Beer Festival (GABF) and why Iron Horse Brewery has traditionally strayed away from entering beer competitions. We discuss the pros and cons to entering a beer festival. Jared: Typically Iron Horse has not submitted our products to judged competitions. Greg has always contended… Read more »
This week on Life Behind Beer our cousins discussed the Great American Beer Festival and the Hazy IPA winner. The Juicy or Hazy IPA category was added to the competition lineup for the first time this year and had 391 entries. Earlier this year the juicy or hazy styles were added to the 2018 Brewers Association… Read more »
Should wine and beer be more like each other? A recent article on VinePair suggests craft beer needs to be more sophisticated like wine and vice versa. We asked our cousins for their thoughts on the article. What are your thoughts on the piece of the article about beer/wine? “Beer absolutely has a market… Read more »
Wine and spirits are cutting into craft beer growth. That’s what was revealed in a recent Power Hour hosted by the Brewers Association and then explored in this Brewbound article. The Power Hour speaker, who worked for a market research firm, said that consumers are shifting away from beer purchases toward wine and spirits. He… Read more »
Beer and politics. Do the two belong together? We talked beer and politics last week on Episode 28 of the Life Behind Beer podcast so we thought we’d continue the discussion with more cousins this week. The discussion stemmed from reading this article from the Chicago Tribune. The article explored some of the more recent… Read more »
Pricing in the craft beer industry may soon change in favor of the consumer. According to this Forbes article, Founders Brewing is now making a cheaper beer to appeal to drinkers of premium domestic brands like Budweiser, Miller Lite and Coors, retailing at $7.99 per six-pack. We asked some of our cousins what this means… Read more »
What makes a brewery great? What creates popularity or what it is it about the experience that makes it so good? Is it buzz or small volume or atmosphere? Or something else? We asked our cousins for their opinions. Wes: I think the obvious first answer is craft and quality beer. Along with that I’d… Read more »
According to this article from the Full Pint, 706 beers were entered under the juicy or hazy category at the Great American Beer Festival this year. No, we did not accidentally hit a zero in there because we were shaky from our morning coffee. This statistically staggering number is divided up between hazy pale ales,… Read more »
What the hell is a radler? Our brewer Wes breaks it down. Basically a radler is a combination of beer, usually a lighter beer, traditionally Helles Lager but I’ve also seen pilsner used before mixed with some kind of juice. Traditionally lemonade is pretty common but grapefruit juice is also not unheard of. The thought… Read more »
Podcasts are a great way to pass the time while you’re on the road, doing yard work or cracking open a cold one. They can elevate a mundane task into something bearable simply by engaging your brain about your favorite topic and ours – beer. Here is a list of 7 beer podcasts that we… Read more »
A recent article on Brewbound reported 5 percent growth for independent brewers in the U.S. during the first half of 2018, based on data from the Brewers Association. The Brewers Association reported there were 6,655 active breweries as of June 30, up from 5,562 a year ago. We asked our team for their opinions… Read more »
If you follow our Life Behind Beer podcast or any beer industry blog, you already know that trademark battles are a common topic in the industry. Here are some examples of recent battles in the news that we talked about on Episode 20 of Life Behind Beer: Example 1 Example 2 Example 3 Example 4… Read more »
The Brewers Association introduced its independent craft brewer seal about a year ago and recently Brewbound wrote an article about adoption rates in the U.S. A bit of a recap here: The BA created the seal to help craft beer enthusiasts to easily differentiate between the independent brewers (like us) and beer produced by non-craft… Read more »
Some FDA changes regarding menu labeling took effect May 7th. One of those changes requires chain restaurants, grocery outlets and convenience stores with more than 20 locations to post calories for beer and other drinks sold on-premise that are considered standard menu items. So your favorite chain restaurant that carries Irish Death year-round should be… Read more »
What an obnoxious title. Yeah, that’s how Iron Horse does it. Or maybe that’s how I do it and I am trying to cover. More importantly, Nikos Ridge doesn’t need defense. He’s an articulate individual who runs a great business. And chances are you haven’t read his recent article and possibly don’t even know who… Read more »
A recentish Brewbound article talks about Anheuser-Busch growing its high end brands by creating 15- and 18-packs. The article also suggests independent craft brewers will struggle to compete with Big Beer on price for multi-packs. Iron Horse Brewery produces a 24-pack of Irish Death and six-packs of Send It, Life Behind Bars, Hand Cannon, Irish… Read more »
UPDATE: We have resolved the issue with the other PNW brewery; they will continue with their product until the end of the year – allowing them to recoup expenses, and perhaps, more importantly not throw away perfectly good, independent beer. +++++++++ But first, let’s flashback to October 9, 2017. I was sitting in the trailer… Read more »
A recent article in the Washington Post asks whether the craft beer industry has peaked. The article references a report by the Brewers Association, which showed craft brewers saw a 5 percent rise in production volume in 2017, but also cited more brewery closures than in previous years. Another statement said, “The total beer market… Read more »
You may have seen the New York Times article last week about a scientist coming up with a process to brew beer without hops. Hops are one of the main ingredients in beer along with water, yeast and grain (mostly malted barley). At IHB we make an annual trip to Yakima, the hops capital of… Read more »
We put coffee in beer so why not tea? A recent article from the Brewers Association titled “Reading the Leaves: Do Tea Beers Have a Bright Future?” explores the topic. You can read the whole article here, but essentially it says: *A wave of new beers incorporating tea have been released across the U.S…. Read more »
You may have heard the news, Columbia Distributing is growing its distribution of non-alcoholic beverages, according to a BevNet article posted on Monday, and we have some thoughts about it. A little backstory, Iron Horse Brewery has partnered with a different Columbia Distributing since way back when to distribute our beer in a loveable pocket… Read more »
At the end of the year, I was lucky enough to explore the country of Vietnam with my girlfriend Katy. As with most trips, Katy and I were excited to get in the country and explore all of the wonderful culture it had to offer. Typically Katy is excited to learn about the sights and… Read more »
Liquor Before Beer… You’re in the Clear! We’ve all heard the saying a time or two… and we all probably have a good and bad experience we can share. Personally, I have plenty, but that will take up too much of your time and I’ll save myself the embarrassment. Recently I took a more “adult”… Read more »
Did you know that Iron Horse Brewery, located in Ellensburg, WA, is just a quick 40 minute drive from the hop capital of the nation? That’s right; just beyond Ellensburg’s Manastash Ridge is the Yakima Valley, which produces 75 percent of all the nation’s hops. Well, beer nerds, hop heads, self-proclaimed connoisseurs, I thought maybe… Read more »
You don’t have to have a “dry January” or “give up beer” this year. Here are 15 perfectly viable alternatives to giving up beer. We think these resolution ideas will also help you feel like a better person, or like you’ve grown or something like that. 1. Don’t give up beer. Use a wider variety… Read more »
Over here in the Iron Horse Brewery trailer department, we spend a ridiculous amount of time behind our computers, looking at charts, analyzing graphs, reading the reddit.com/r/beer forum, making these calendars, or just visiting this site. This time of year is particularly cumbersome because of all the “planning” and “best-guessing” that is happening for the… Read more »
An interesting thing happens as a business like ours grows, some people stop wanting to support it, simply because of that growth. I’m not sure what principle is at play, but I think it has something to do with not being cool any longer because we are too mainstream which to me implies, we are… Read more »
Recently, I was going through some old pictures from college and picked up on a funny little trend. Every time we would host a “socially” more popular group of co-eds, you would see more mainstream beer being consumed, hell I even saw few green bottles (Heineken) floating around those pictures…in the mid-90’s mind you. Now… Read more »