There are approximately 11 million kegs in use in the U.S. and almost 400,000 of them disappear annually, resulting in an estimated overall loss in excess of $50 million.

Inspiration often comes with a beer in hand. We’d all like to believe that the world’s best work has been conceived and planned with the assistance of a fermented beverage.

As a craft brewer, how can you take advantage of the ever-evolving digital landscape to communicate with customers, build your brand and your business?

With the amazing rise of social networking, breweries are finding new ways to reach their loyal fans. One such tool some breweries are now using: virtual tastings.

When confronted with too many options, people simply opt out of making a decision. Too much choice is intimidating. Does that apply to the expanding list of craft brands?

Simon Thorpe was a high-powered executive with InBev-USA between 2002 and 2007. Starting in mid-2009, he became the man in charge of Brewery Ommegang.

The U.S. has had a good barley growing season and harvest, but acreage is in perennial decline. In response to the slump in hop prices, growers have rapidly reduced acreage.

Next to unpredictable losses from bad weather, premeditated reductions in acreage aggravated the 2010 barley supply in Europe. The hop inventories continued to increase.

The results of the 2010 BA Hop Usage Survey show greater stability, but little lessening of many of the factors that make our hop-using lives difficult and unpredictable.

A growing number of small farmers—their numbers stretch from southern California to New England—are trying to raise hops as a cash crop, and craft brewers are benefiting.