What we actually do here
Some of you will already have noticed: it was five years ago (plus now a good two weeks) that our first craft beer blog post went online. Reason enough to take a look at the blog’s history, I think. Perhaps you may even recall one or two of the articles from the past. For me as a newcomer to Krones, a look into the past even paid off twice over. You see, while I was browsing through all the fascinating posts I was able to take up (mental) arms against my absolute ignorance of beer-brewing and anything to do with craft beer – in theoretical terms, at least. And as a passionate beer-quaffer, my interest has expanded beyond the quaffing as such to now include the backgrounds of my favourite drink as well.
But that’s enough about me, let’s get back to our birthday boy, which in its five years of life, by the way, has done a lot of globetrotting. From Czechia, then Serbia, the Ukraine, Russia, Iceland and China, all the way to Argentina, beer cultures and scenes have been lovingly investigated. And what have we learned? Beer is definitely a universal part of our cultural heritage!
We’ve also been able to debunk some common beer-related myths, though we unfortunately discovered that beer doesn’t actually possess magical powers for bust enlargement, and a beer belly is most probably not unconnected with hunger-inducing beer consumption. Happily, though, our author Julia confirmed that you can just as well drink beer when you’re on a diet – you merely have to choose the right one.
This information, by the way, proved to be of great interest to many of you, and is one of the most popular posts in our blog’s history. A category that also includes articles about our Steinecker Brew Center, about our clients, and about beer cultures worldwide. Another particularly popular item was our short collection of shopping tips for brewers, which you yourselves (thanks once again!) assiduously supplemented.
And while we’re on the subject of brewers: besides the success stories featuring many of our established clients, we’ve also had an opportunity to admire the brewing skills of some craft home brewers. And even learn how some of them managed to turn their hobby into a profession. Do you, for instance, remember the Mainz-based students Philip and Leonidas, who set up the “Eulchen” (“Owlet”) Brewery? Or Thomas Wittmer aka ‘Brewer Tom’? In our own domains, too, we found quite a few (home) brewers whose brains (and beers) we could tap. Like our colleagues Matthias and Andreas, who founded their own craft brewery called INALE, or Markus Fehringer, who even built his own bottle filler for his brewery (which was installed in his former laundry room).
Have I forgotten anything? Oh yes, I remember: instructions on how to get started as a homebrewer (and as a home breweress, of course), home-brewing experiments (including magical ones like butterbeer), reports on special beers (reminder: the beer for animals), the hop harvest, numerous beer-themed recipes, beer influencers, beer-gardens and beermats, beer pairing and our Krones machinery stars VarioFlash, CombiCube and Craftmate.
But now I’ve come to the end of my excursion into the past. So what’s next? Anyway, we’re looking forward to many more brewing experiments, to getting acquainted with new (home) brewers, new beers, new raw materials, fascinating new brewing techniques – in short: to five times x more years of the craft beer blog! And at this point we should like to express our sincere thanks to all of you – for your interest, your suggestions, and your exciting stories!
Before I sign off with a virtual toast to the craft beer blog, I have a few questions for you. What topics are you particularly interested in? What other beer cultures should we investigate? What brewing experiments should we be launching in the future? Which other brewers should we be interviewing? And what brewing tips haven’t we mentioned yet? We’re looking forward to your feedback, and lots of inspiration in the comments!
