Beer Haiku Friday and American Craft Brewers Ponder

The weather in Wellington and indeed most of New Zealand in the last week has been, to use a meteorological term, "utter pants." There was sunshine yesterday which I note began at almost exactly the same time Manchester United lost the big match. I'm just saying people. Anyway, the outlook for the weekend is the subject of this lovely poem "Rain":

Rain, rain, go away.
Come again some other day.
My beer is outside.

Glass Tip - Beer Haiku Daily

Daniel Bradford, publisher of All About Beer magazine, has a very interesting piece on the recent craft brewers conference in America. There are a lot of parallels to the New Zealand market and some hints about trends we might be seeing soon. It is called "America's craft brewers pondering the future":

A subtext that continued to ripple through the conference was the ubiquitous presence of the domestic specialty brands, derisively called faux craft by the more vituperative members of the audience. These are craft type beers originating from major breweries. Blue Moon comes to mind. These beers, some are quite good actually, beg the fundamental question of the world of craft brewers and craft beer. If it’s really all about what’s in the glass, what’s the problem here. However, if it’s all about the crushing logic of capitalism, a preemptive strike by filling wholesalers’ warehouse and vital shelf space with another brand from a major brewery instead of a local craft, well then that’s an ale of a different hop.

Finally for this week, one of New Zealand's most famous new brewing icons is getting his own webpage. Exclusive previews are available here and suggestions for future content are welcome.