Few ingredients have contributed as decisively to the identity of modern American beer as Cascade hops. The variety did not emerge from centuries of agricultural tradition or from a celebrated European terroir: it came out of the USDA breeding program in Corvallis, Oregon, designed to solve a very practical problem. Many U.S. breweries still relied […]
At some point, price stops being just a number and starts sending a message. In beer, that is especially visible in two very different cases: the promotional pressure running through Germany’s mass retail market, and Von Ebert’s decision, in Portland, Oregon, to keep a lager at three dollars as its everyday price. The two situations […]
Germany’s beer market closed 2025 at a new historical low, with consumption at around 78 million hectolitres. The figure points to a sector under pressure, but rather than a definitive turning point, what is unfolding looks more like a set of company-by-company adjustments inside a still difficult market. The slowdown has several roots. A weak […]
For a long time, craft beer carried a very specific image problem: it was seen as a drink for enthusiasts. A real audience, but a narrow one. Today, some companies are trying to broaden that circle by changing not just what they brew, but the flavour cues, the drinking occasion and the way the beer […]