1) While I appreciate & agree with the overall point of this article, I think it could be made with a little less demonizing of alcohol.  Perhaps it was beyond the scope of a short report in Salon.com, but can’t we all admit that while yes, teenagers/college students will always drink, em, a bit too much (learning all kinds of things in the process, should they do it safely enough), America has a peculiarly unhealthy relationship with alcohol. (Well, intoxicants generally, let’s be frank.)  An unhealthy relationship which predates, but was exacerbated by, Prohibition and the way it was both set-up and dismantled.  Why did we have to use GIS to figure out where all the churches and schools in Buffalo were, in order to find a location location to brew? (disallowed within 500 feet of the former and 200 feet of the latter, for the record).  Heck, why is the entire regulatory process underlying a brewery so overdone?  It’s beer, folks: Beer.

Community Bud Works?

This thread over at Alan’s blog touches on this theme a bit, but put succinctly, I think having more family-friendly drinking establishments (pubs/biergartens) would help our ‘tude immensely.  ‘Course, I have a family, so there is some self-interest at play in my opinionating bloviating.  Just the other day, PJ of The Wooden Barrel and I were discussing this down at Pearl Street– with The Blue Monk having covered the Belgian-style beer bar* most excellently, the next best move for a Buffalo bar would be to go fully German, with a über-authentic beer garden.  Equally welcome would be an English-style pub, like Rochester’s Old Toad perhaps (but bigger!).  As at the aforementioned Monk, presenting these venerable beery cultures correctly also mandates a certain understanding of the familial nature of old-world-quality imbibing of our favorite potent potables; my own kids certainly love and are welcome at such establishments.  So… anybody up for it?

*i refuse to use the odious and now “officially” retired term ‘gastro-pub’

2) US barley production is down 7% this year, and so is hop production (–2%), according to Beernews.org via the USDA.  Look for price increases to follow, and try to remember this kind of thing when you’re looking at craft beer prices in particular: the smaller the brewery, the greater the impact of fluctuations in the cost of raw ingredients.  And CBW is VERY small… jus’ sayin.  (Don’t worry, our aim is to grow, and as well, to source locally & directly as much as possible.)

3) You may have heard that Marine Sgt. Dakota Meyer, who Wednesday  was awarded a Medal Of Honor for his service in Afghanistan (the first such medal awarded to a Marine in that war), requested a beer with the President beforehand.  You may also remember from back in March that the White House has brewed its own beer: our own Mayor Byron Brown has had it, in fact.  (perhaps.)  Well, guess what it was that our newly decorated war hero drank over conversation with Mr. Obama?  Correct: White House Honey Ale.  They seem to be on batch three or so, and the honey also comes from the White House’s own apiary: Nice touch, that.  Sure beats the choices at the fabled “beer summit” early in Obama’s term.

Saved 32 lives, killed 8 insurgents: deserves a beer

4) Our rallying cry, our mission, our-oh-so-clever-wordplay is Embeer Buffalo!  But practically speaking, we’re just one brewery, and a nano at that: our own embeerment will be small, but we hope significant.  We aim to encourage other people to get their dreams on locally, and are willing to help as we can, though our resources are limited.  (and will remain so until we’re open.)  So, we are very happy to hear that New Buffalo Brewing Company is on the hunt for a location!  They want to be in the city if possible, so if anyone knows about a good 10,000-15,000sqft rental property that might meet their needs you should contact them, via the website.  (By-the-by, if their graphic design looks familiar, that’s because it’s another excellent product of Michael Gelen’s Inkwell Studios.  Nice touch!)

5) Really, I’m tapped (ha ha ha); there just always has to be five points, except when there isn’t.  Discordians (and possibly SubGenii) will understand.  Maybe you should check out Mike Patton with Tomahawk playing God Hates A Coward, live!