Joe Stange

Joe Stange

Joe Stange is executive editor of Craft Beer & Brewing Magazine® and the Brewing Industry Guide®. Have story tips or suggestions? Contact him at [email protected].


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The Great Outdoors? Taprooms Try Different Ways to Keep ’Em Coming

Knowing that business will slow as the weather gets frosty—especially amid fears that indoor areas are less safe—breweries are taking different tacks to keep attracting drinkers to their patios and beer gardens.

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As Rough Winter Approaches, Brewers Look for Silver Linings

Drinkers are visiting less but spending more when they do. Package and store sales remain strong, while draft margins remain scant. Here we round up some recent data and analyses relevant to independent brewers.

Supply Shortage: The 'Candemic'

The crunch on aluminum cans comes just when COVID-19 fears have made breweries more dependent than ever on packaged-beer sales. Relief is unlikely to arrive soon.

Passports, Promos, & Precautions: Virtual GABF Goes Local, Nationwide

The Great American Beer Festival will happen this year, but in an altered and dispersed form. Besides a two-day virtual event, hundreds of breweries around the country are offering sweet deals to passport holders. The crazy thing? It just might work.

Pacific Northwest Hop Fields Sustain Storm Damage, Because It’s 2020

Labor Day windstorms damage up to 5 percent of Yakima Chief’s remaining crop in Washington and Idaho, with the response complicated by wildfires and apple harvest.

A Summer of Reopening, an Autumn of Unknowns

Taprooms and bars across the country began to seat patrons again in May and June. There was no one-size-fits-all plan for doing it safely, but there was—and still is—plenty of detailed advice. With fall and winter uncertain, that advice still applies.

Case Study: Wild East

A rough, surreal year continues, and many breweries may have to shut for good by the time it's over. But what if yours were just getting ready to open when the pandemic struck—in the middle of the city most severely affected by the virus?

A Year without Festivals… But Not without Medals

GABF goes online this year—our pretzel necklaces will look fine on Zoom—while the competition will proceed with care. August 28 is the deadline to submit beers.

Garrett Oliver Launches Scholarship Fund for Minority Brewers

The Brooklyn brewmaster says the Michael Jackson Foundation for Brewing and Distilling will award scholarships for people of color to attend technical courses and become industry leaders.

Case Study: Scratch Brewing

Plan your detours: This tiny, made-from-scratch southern Illinois brewery has become a destination by specializing in highly drinkable beers made from seasonal ingredients—such as mushrooms, tree bark, or leaves—that its duo find or grow themselves.