With over 9 million registered users, Untappd can easily tap into the trends and insights of drinkers in your city, state, region, and beyond.

Untappd’s Analytics discovers beers Untappd drinkers are consuming the most in your area along with what styles are trending and which are taking a turn downwards. And so much more.

Tap into all the data of the world’s largest craft beer social networking platform to help you make business decisions about what beers to make, which to put on tap, or even which to stock on the shelf.

Get a sneak peek into what Untappd’s Analytics can show you as we take a look at the checked-in beers in San Diego, CA, over the last ninety days.

And if San Diego isn’t your city, we also have guides available for the following cities:

• London, England
• Chicago, IL
• Asheville, NC
• Portland, OR

Last week, we put together a comprehensive guide to American grain varieties. But with barley and other grains being harvested all across the world, this week we’re focusing on European malts.

In fact, according to Statista, the European Union produced the most amount of barley in the world in 2021/2022 at almost 53 million metric tons. And the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) predicts that by the end of next year world barley production will hit 147.72 million metric tons, meaning that continental Europe will be set to produce a little over a third of the world’s barley.

Barley is a huge component of any beer recipe. But its characteristics can vary based on where it’s grown, the climate, genetics, and even breeding practices.

For that reason, it’s important for any brewer to understand the differences between North American and European grains.

And with so many varieties on the market, we’re putting together a comprehensive guide to showcase the different types of European malts available to you and a few examples of each from reputable European maltsters such as Weyermann, Simpsons, BestMalz, and Castle Malting. Make sure that as a brewer or brewery owner you’re armed with the best possible knowledge to make a decision around the type of grain to use for your beers.

Editor’s Note: This will be part two of a two-part series covering grains across the world. For this piece, we’ll cover grains native to Europe. You can find our piece on North American grain varieties here.

On average, diners only look at a menu for 109 seconds, according to a Gallup poll cited in a Canva article on menu design hacks. Let that sink in. That’s about as long as it takes to pump a full tank of gas.

Since time is of the essence, it’s important that you thoughtfully consider the layout, standard menu size, dish titles, etc. After all, your menu is your biggest and most important sales pitch.

It’s a persuasive and useful tool that, if designed and built appropriately, will increase sales and keep your restaurant fully booked each day.

Let’s examine the foundations of restaurant menu design and how you can leverage a seemingly simple list of dishes and beers to boost your bottom line.

Although hops are probably the hottest ingredient in craft brewing right now, grains are just as important. The base of your beer, malted barley (and other grains) contributes to your beer’s sugar content, color, flavor, and aroma. All crucial building blocks to the entire foundation of your recipe.

Last year, Brewer Association Chief Economist Bart Watson reported that, based on data from a 2021 Brewery Raw Material Use Survey, breweries used about 70lbs/bbl of fermentables, and of those, ninety percent were malted barley.

Barley is a huge component of any beer recipe. Basically, when it boils down to it, without barley we can’t have beer. With that in mind, it’s vital to learn about the different types of barley and grain available to you along with each of their important characteristics.

With so many varieties on the market (and new ones seemingly popping up every year), we’re putting together a comprehensive guide to North American, European, and even South American varieties to make sure that as a brewer or brewery owner you’re armed with the best possible knowledge to make a decision around the type of grain to use for your beers.

Editor’s Note: For this piece, we’ll cover grains native to North America, but check out our guide on Eurepoean grains to learn more about other varieties around the world.

Since water is the largest component of brewing beer, it’s important to understand the chemistry behind it. And what you can do, as a brewer, to make sure it’s the best grade possible.

According to Precision Fermentation’s report called “Water Chemistry for Brewers,” “by understanding the way water chemistry impacts the sensory quality of finished beer, and by analyzing fermentation and other data, brewers can control sensory aspects of their brews like never before.”

By applying water chemistry to measure the chemical characteristics of various water types, you’ll be able to adjust the water you use to elevate a good beer to a great beer.

So slip into your lab coat and best brewing boots! We’re giving you a breakdown of the chemistry of water, how minerals/ions build your beer, as well as how to determine your ideal water type for your next brew.

Ollie: Built By Brewers For Brewers

An affordable, easy-to-use brewery management software that scales with your business

Tune in on Wednesday, Sept. 21, 2022, at 1pm EST for a free webinar from Next Glass and Craft Brewing Business showing how brewers nationwide are streamlining their business operations from brewing to logistics with Ollie.

Ollie is part of Next Glass Brewery Solutions, a purpose-built, all-in-one solutions platform, offering streamlined software to manage brewery operations, order fulfillment and inventory, reporting, and ecommerce. It’s affordable, easy to use, and built by brewers for brewers.

The webinar will be hosted by Next Glass Brewery Sales Manager Kyle Kensrue and Solutions Consultant Dustin Jeffers. With their years of industry experience, they’ll share how Ollie Ops helps brewers take control over their operations with affordable software solutions to help save time, money, and energy.

The Ollie Ops team will also demonstrate tools for:
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• Proactive COGS analysis
• Quick and easy TTB reporting
• Yeast management
• and more!

Kensrue and Jeffers will address common pain points as well as the specific features Ollie Ops offers to help brewers gain a better understanding of the strengths and weaknesses of their operations.

If you’re looking to learn about a revolutionary technology allowing brewers to effortlessly manage every aspect of their business activities from grain to glass, sign up for this webinar now.

Fact: Clean and sanitized equipment produces better beer. Hygiene and sanitation are so essential to a brewery’s success that a majority of brewers simply spend the first several years of their careers studying how to clean the brewery, according to Craft Brewing Business.

In fact, there’s a common belief in the industry that brewing is ninety percent cleaning and ten percent actually brewing.

Cleanliness and sanitation are so important that the U.S. FDA requires all breweries to maintain an active GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices) program.

For instance, GMP standards require that breweries sanitize all their equipment, including hydrometers, tanks, hoses, kegs, drains, and floors every day.

Since proper cleaning and sanitizing processes help produce the best beer possible, let’s be sure that your brewery understands the six best practices we’ve outlined below.

Afterall, everyone is happier with better beer!

We recently put together a guide for all of the hops grown in America and another for those found in the Southern Hemisphere. But while hops in the United States, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa are fairly new, we can’t forget about noble hops, classic European varieties that have been cultivated for hundreds of years.

Found mostly in Germany and the Czech Republic, the four noble hop varieties—Hallertauer Mittelfrüher, Tettnanger (sometimes referred to as Tettnang), Spalt (sometimes called Spalter), and Saaz—dominated hop production around the world for many years.

In fact, Germany held the record for the largest amount of hop acreage in the world, only overtaken by the United States in 2015, according to The Hop Growers of America 2021 Statistical Report. In 2021, the U.S. harvested the largest hop acreage at a little over 61k acres, followed by Germany at 51k, and the Czech Republic at 12.2k.

Even though “sexier” New World varieties such as Citra, Cascade, and even Nectaron have become extremely popular in the last decade or so, it’s important to remember that Old World noble hops are kind of considered hop royalty for a reason.

These are hops with history. Long heralded for their quality and consistency, noble hops can be found in some of the most iconic, classic beers.

As pillars of the beer industry, noble hops deserve a deeper dive. Let’s look at what makes noble hops unique and the characteristics of the four different varieties.

Last week, we took a look at all of the hops currently grown in America, identifying the most popular along with common characteristics for each.

But hops are cultivated all over the world. And more recently, Southern Hemisphere hops have garnered a lot of attention.

Brewers love the more white wine-like flavors of Southern Hemisphere hops, ranging from citrusy to tropical.

They’re a perfect palette for beers such as pale ales, IPAs, and hazies. All of which dominate the limelight in the current craft beer industry.

Accordingly, new styles have even emerged to identify hops from these regions, including Australian Pale Ale, Australian-style IPA, New Zealand Pale Ale, and New Zealand-style IPA. In fact, in 2021, the Brewers Association added New Zealand-style Pale Ale and New Zealand-style IPA to its list of official styles for the first time.

Plus, just take a look at a very small smattering of breweries across the U.S. that have been known to use Southern Hemisphere hops: Other Half, Firestone Walker, Tree House, Trillium, Toppling Goliath, Ex Novo, and many, many more.

All signs point to Southern Hemisphere hops currently enjoying their moment in the spotlight.

So we are diving into why these hops have become so popular, some of the top varieties, and the specs behind all Southern Hemisphere hops.

Editor’s Note: This is part two of a three-part series covering hops across the world. For this piece, we’ll cover hops native to the Southern Hemisphere, but take a look at our Complete Guides to All American Hop Varieties and Noble Hops.

In 2015, New Belgium made 73 million pounds.

And Goose Island generated about 192,000 pounds weekly.

For every 6-pack of beer brewed, we’re left with one pound of this.

What common ingredients are all these breweries producing?

Dubbed “spent grain,” this offshoot of beer making has created a worrisome question for brewers: How to recycle one of the main residuals of their beers?

It’s a challenge, but one that professional breweries across the country are solving in creative ways.