Five fun headlines for Monday morning (like Hootie and the Blowfish beer)

Monday mornings are the best, right? We’re so glad that lazy weekend is over. We were having way too much fun, and man we’re so tired of fun. We just want to work, slather on the elbow grease and get behind the mule and plow. But before we jump into a busy week of craft brewing business news and features, we need to get a few more fun things off our chest. Like…

Hootie’s Homegrown Ale

Darius Rucker and mates have been warming our icy hearts with mellow, radiant rock and roll since the 1990s. Now, Hootie and the Blowfish (originally out of Columbia, S.C.) are aiming to thaw our steely Monday morning demeanor with a liquid sunshine called Hootie’s Homegrown Ale. They actually reunited for a concert in St. Petersburg, Fla., this weekend to celebrate the launch of their custom craft beer, which has been available in draft form for the past 18 months but will now be released in 12-ounce cans to local store shelves across the Southeast. From Tampa Bay’s ABC Action News:

“Getting Hootie’s beer on store grocery store shelves is a huge step for the evolution of our company,” said Kevin Lilly, co-founder of Rock Brothers Brewing. “Having a retail giant like Publix embrace this brand shows the quality of our product and the interest in our band beer program.”

…

Rock Brothers Brewing has been creating craft beers for the past three years with bands like Have Gun Will Travel, JJ Grey & Mofro, Umphrey’s McGee, 311 and the newly added, Rebelution.

Bells Brewery founder sings during Cubs seventh inning stretch

You know you’ve made it once you sing “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” at Wrigley Field. Since the 1998 death of legendary Chicago Cubs broadcaster Harry Caray, his seventh-inning stretch tradition has continued via the world’s celebs — from Kid Rock to Bill Murray. Now you can count Bell’s Brewery Founder and Owner Larry Bell in that seventh inning hall of fame. During Thursday’s game (Sept. 15, 2016), Bell sang the beloved American ballad while his Chicago Cubs took the field against the Milwaukee Brewers. Bell’s a season ticket holder on the third base side. From an article on MLive:

He was inspired by a “vendor friend” and “roller derby chick” — Val Capone — who sang back in 2009 to promote a movie.

A life-long Cubs fan from his childhood days in Park Forest, Ill., Bell said even watching his friend sing that classic moment at Wrigley Field didn’t seem like it would be possible for non celebrities.

“It wasn’t even on the bucket list,” Bell said, “because it wasn’t something that was attainable.”

Well, now you’re famous (like John Stamos).

BrewDog invites army of 46,000 Equity Punks to beer bash in Ohio

CBB will be visiting Columbus later this month to enjoy this event, as well as explore the new brewhouse and home base of the irreverent Scottish beer lovers at BrewDog. The company is blowing open the doors to its flagship U.S. brewery on Saturday, Sept. 24, with the first of an unapologetically epic annual series of Equity for Punks shareholder parties. Infamous in the U.K. for being more mayhem than meeting, the BrewDog Punk AGM invites investors in the U.S. business to come together to celebrate a love of kick ass beer and the community that thrives on it.

As one of the many perks of becoming an investor in the brewery’s unique Equity for Punks crowdfunding initiatives, including the Equity for Punks USA $50 million campaign kicking off just last month, shareholders receive an invite and a plus one to attend the ‘Annual General Mayhem’, BrewDog’s spin on the traditional AGM business gathering.

The debut event in Columbus will see BrewDog open the doors to its U.S. brewery for the first time, offering investors the first glimpse behind the scenes at the new site in Ohio. BrewDog Co-founders James Watt and Martin Dickie will provide a brief business update before the bars open and the bands kick off. We’ll let you know how it goes.

Check out this rad IPA pesto recipe

Grab your marble mortar and wooden pestle. We’re about to make some IPA pesto from this recipe we borrowed (stole?) from BeerAdvocate. Perfect on pasta, potatoes, string beans, eggs, pizza or even in vegetable or minestrone soup, IPA pesto is definitely the pesto you’ve been looking for. Here all the ingredients you’ll need from BeerAdvocate:

Makes: 1 pint (2 cups)

1 bunch dandelion greens, washed and chopped
1 cup pea shoots, washed
1 cup Italian leaf parsley, washed, woody stems removed
1 cup baby arugula, washed
1/2 cup shelled pistachios, toasted
2 tbsp hemp seeds, shelled and raw
1 spring garlic, chopped (or 2–3 cloves peeled)
1 – 2 tsp kosher salt
1/2 cup IPA or another hoppy brew, cold
1/2 cup extra virgin olive oil, with a grassy or peppery flavor
1/3 cup Parmesan cheese, such as Parmigiano-Reggiano or Asiago, grated

To learn how to cook it, roll over to BeerAdvocate’s website.

Colorado artist wins New Belgium bike competition

Thirteen artists put their creativity to the test, custom-painting a New Belgium/Detroit Bikes Cruiser in honor of New Belgium Co.’s 25th anniversary. Brinkley Messick’s custom paint and leather designs on a New Belgium/Detroit Bikes cruiser captured the western spirit and gained love and appreciation from fans, making him the winner of New Belgium’s Art Bike competition. Brinkley won the opportunity to award $5,000 to the charity of his choice, and now his bike is now destined to be displayed at New Belgium’s new brewery in Asheville, N.C.

To compete, the artists each received an unpainted New Belgium/Detroit Bikes cruiser to use as a blank canvas. The artists then turned the bikes into functional pieces of art. After about two months of working on the bikes, and one month of voting, Brinkley came out on top.

“There were so many amazing, over-the-top creative entries that we knew it would be a tough competition,” said Meredith Giske, New Belgium’s national field marketing director. “Brinkley’s detailed designs make you do a double take. It is truly hand-tooled plus his use of Colorado and North Carolina imagery really struck home for us. In the end, the people cast their vote and Brink came out on top.”

Brinkley chose Outdoor Alliance, an organization that works to protect and promote access to public lands, as the organization to receive his $5,000 award. We asked him why he chose Outdoor Alliance, how the inspiration came about for his design, and to tell us about making the trek on the bike from his home city of Salida, Colo., to Ft. Collins, Colo., a 300+ mile commute, to deliver his creation.