Clamps & Gaskets: News Roundup for Weeks 27/28, 2016.

A bi-weekly, non-comprehensive roundup
of news of beer and other things.

Weeks 25/26
3 - 16 July 2016

• 14 July 2016
  Death toll climbs to 84 after Tunisian-born terrorist careens truck through Bastille Day revelers in Nice, France.
  —Via Washington Post.


• 14 July 2016
  Private equity firm VMG invests $89.5 million in a recently formed limited partnership with California's Stone Brewing called VMG Stone Brewing Coinvestment.
  —Via Brewbound.


• 14 July 2016
  Even 'craft' breweries have become Pokémon Go 'gyms'.
  —Via All About Beer.


• 14 July 2016
  Changes in Massachusetts beer franchise laws might be early warning for wholesalers throughout the nation.

  The [distribution] beer market is in flux and there could be seismic changes coming.

  —Via Beervana.


• 13 July 2016
  Ninety percent of the alfalfa, cotton, corn, soy, papaya, sugar beet, zucchini, and summer squash crop in the United States is genetically-modified.
  —Via Bloomberg.



• 12 July 2016
  Beer industry leaders including Anheuser-Busch, MillerCoors, HeinekenUSA, Constellation Brands Beer Division, North American Breweries and Craft Brew Alliance —which account for more than 81% of the volume of beer sold in the United States— have agreed to voluntary disclosure of calorie, carbohydrate, protein, fat, ABV/W, ingredients, AND freshness on beer bottles, cans, and packages.
  —Via Beer Institute.


• 8 July 2016
  He was manning the ramparts when the craftbeer revolution began. Steve Dresler, thirty-year-plus brewmaster for Sierra Nevada Brewing, to retire.
  —Via All About Beer.


• 8 July 2016
  After four decades in the beer business, a 'craft' beer distributor retires in northern Virginia.
  —Via YFGF.


• 8 July 2016
  California's Stone Brewing release its first east coast-brewed beers, at its Richmond, Virginia plant.
  —Via Richmond Times-Dispatch.



• 6 July 2016
  The 100 best beer bars in America.

  A [beer] bar can have thousands of white whales in a building as glorious as the Taj Mahal, but shitty service is a deal breaker.

  —Via Draft Magazine.


• 6 July 2016
  The United States is now the world's largest hop producer, at 21,556 hectares, up 16.7 percent over 2015.
  —Via hop broker Barth-Haas, at Appellation Beer.


• 4 July 2016
  By Jove! NASA's Juno probe achieves orbit around the planet Jupiter, after a five-year, 1.7 billion mile voyage from Earth, only the second spacecraft to orbit Jupiter and the first solar powered craft to do so.
  —Via Washington Post.


• 3 July 2016
  

  Craft brewing growth slowed from 18 percent to 13 percent from 2014 to 2015, but that wasn’t a huge concern for the industry since the absolute growth of the industry was still very large. It’s only natural that as craft gets a larger and larger base, growth rates will slow.

  —Via economist Bart Watson, at [U.S.] Brewers Association.


• 4 July 2016
  Pittsburgh ranks number one among "15 best American beer cities for beer lovers," according to real estate brokerage firm Redfin.
  —Via YFGF.


• 4 July 2016
  Freedom House reports that the number of countries showing a decline in freedom for the year —72— was the largest since the 10-year slide began. Just 43 countries made gains.
  —Via Marginal Revolution.



• 3 July 2016
  
  • A 'craft' brewster returns to work after recovering from second and third-degree burns over thirty percent of her body.
    —Via Idaho Statesman.
  • Reports to the government of injuries suffered during brewing have increased from 160 in 2011 to 530 in 2014.
    —Via All About Beer.

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• Clamps and Gaskets is a bi-weekly wrap-up of stories  not posted at Yours For Good Fermentables.com. Most deal with beer (or wine, or whisky); some do not.
• Today's edition of Clamps & Gaskets is one week late. My editor is not pleased.
• The Clamps and Gaskets graphic was created by Mike Licht at NotionsCapital.


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