Blog Posts

April is Alcohol Awareness Month.  The National Council for Alcoholism and Drug Dependence, one of the organizations instrumental in setting the national drinking age to 21 in 1984, established Alcohol Awareness Month to educate people about alcohol issues, especially among our nation’s youth. A crucial part of alcohol awareness is knowing the amount of alcohol in your beverage.

Yesterday marked National Beer Can Appreciation Day, which commemorates the historic day in 1935 when America’s favorite alcohol beverage was first sold in cans. Beer’s use of aluminum has increased drastically over the last 86 years, and American brewers now fill and sell more than 67 percent of the beer they make in the United States in aluminum cans and bottles per year.  America’s brewers purchased 37 billion cans in 2019, making aluminum the single largest input cost for brewers.

Cable news likes to tell us that America is polarized, divided into camps of Republicans versus Democrats. Pundits feed into a narrative that there is no issue that unites people of different political persuasions. However, when it comes to our nation’s beer industry, Democratic, Republican, and Independent voters as well as right- and left-leaning organizations, agree that policymakers should not raise taxes on our nation’s brewers and beer importers.

When something sounds too good to be true, it probably is.  That modern proverbial saying was on full display when the United States Trade Representative (USTR) announced it was lifting tariffs on non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum from Canada for the remainder of 2020.  It was a surprising statement, not a negotiated deal, with many strings and convenient dates to address the highly unpopular tariff imposed on Canadian imports in August.  First, the USTR says that it “expects” shipments of non-alloyed, unwrought aluminum from Canada to not

Enjoying a cold beer with family and friends is a simple pleasure, especially in times like now when things we once considered routine, like restocking the beer supply in our fridge, no longer seem quite so easy. Fortunately, the delivery of beer to retail shelves will continue through this pandemic because breweries have been designated essential to the nation’s food supply chain. By U.S. government definition, all beverages – including beer – are considered food.

Like many Americans, the shelves in my neighborhood store are a little barer than a month ago as people stock up due to COVID-19. As farmers, ranchers and producers work tirelessly to fulfill demand, restock shelves and feed our nation, brewers have been working to support them behind the scenes by continuing one of their less visible roles in the supply chain.

In early February, I will join many of my fellow barley growers to travel to Washington, D.C. to take part in the annual barley growers’ Hill Climb. It is an opportunity to talk with members of Congress and their staff about the critical role of our nation’s farmers in providing food for our tables and barley for the world’s beer. I was born in the appropriately named Fertile, Minnesota, and today I am a proud sixth-generation farmer.

Today is Beer Can Appreciation Day. On January 24, 1935, G. Krueger Brewing Company first sold beer in cans to the public. But the rest is not history, as the popularity of beer in cans grew, and can design improved over the years. On January 22, 1959, the seamless all-aluminum can designed by William Coors made its debut with a 7-ounce Coors Banquet.

Some people like to grill hamburgers and hot dogs on the Fourth of July, but I prefer the sublime method of indirect grilling that combines two American favorites, beer and chicken into, you guessed it – Beer Can Chicken. For beer can chicken you need about a five-pound whole chicken.  Whole chickens are mostly broilers.  In fact, most chicken in this country is broiler chicken.

This week marked the annual trip barley growers from around America make to our nation’s capital. The annual event is a great opportunity for growers to meet their representatives in the U.S. House and Senate, and for those growers to advocate for policy priorities that help ensure the viability of American barley farming for generations to come. In August 2017, I had the honor of visiting Skookumchuck Agriculture, in Sunburst, Montana.