THE ULTIMATE CRAFT COOLER OUR TOP PICKS OUTTA THE ICE BUCKET FROM THE SUMMER OF 2020
by Lee Ann Atwater T he summer of 2020, well the whole year for that matter, has been an interesting one that is for sure. Spotlight on Business is usually running the roads on both sides of the border attending festivals, industry trade shows and conferences to keep on top of what is hap- pening in business and industry. Well let’s just say that COVID-19 has changed that for the time being. But one thing that has stayed the same, or increased if you look at sales numbers, is that people are still enjoying a cold craft beverage or two as we social distance and self-isolate during the pandemic. These are our top picks out of the ice bucket from the summer of 2020 that you should be enjoying all year long. The rise of “craft” brewing has re-invigorated beer’s brand within North America. Today, North American beer drinkers have access to one of the largest selections of different beer brands and styles available anywhere in the world. The “craft” sensation has not just been limited to the beer industry as we have also seen the emer- gence of a “ready to drink” sector for the craft distilling industry and just like that of the craft brewing industry, shows no signs of slowing down any time soon. As you know, if you are a reader of the magazine, we have featured many craft breweries and dis- tilleries over the years. So, with the help from recommendations, suggestions and feedback from our readers regarding what they had in their coolers and ice boxes this summer, we had our research team contact craft brewers and dis- tillers on both sides of the border throughout the summer to create our first Ultimate Craft Cooler
to spotlight some of the best Summer Craft Beers, Radlers, Sours and Tropical Beers along with Ready-to-Drink canned cocktail craft spirits in North America. We have selected thirty must have craft beers and ready-to-drink beverages from this past summer representing brands from Hawaii to Newfoundland that all have one thing in common, they need to be in your fridge, ice box or cooler to ride out what is left of 2020. Now in saying that, we wanted to make sure that it was stated, that no one on our edito- rial staff is a Cicerone and these are just our personal preferences. 127 different brands and 512 different styles and types of bever- ages were provided for this project and we believe in full disclosure, so we wanted our readers to know that no company has paid for placement for this project.
The panel was asked to use a 1.00 to 5.00-point scoring system with 0.25 increments:
4.75 - 5.00 = Best Craft Beer or Ready to Drink on the planet! 4.00 - 4.74 = These are the ones you hide so no one drinks them on you! 3.75 - 3.99 = Need to stock up on these ones! 3.50 - 3.74 = Ultimate Craft Cooler worthy! 2.80 - 3.49 = I would buy it again! 2.00 - 2.79 = Drinkable, but not something I would buy or try again.
1.00 - 1.99 = Ones you save for the guest that you want to leave early, if you know what we mean. All scores were averaged to achieve the final score, which will also be loaded on the UNTAPPD website https://untappd.com/ to the nearest quarter percent point (0.25). Once the sampling was completed the panel selected their top picks for Summer Craft Beers, Craft Radlers, Sours or Tropical Beers and Ready to Drink Craft Beverages for Spotlight on Business Mag-
azine’s 2020 Ultimate Craft Cooler. Lets start stocking the cooler!
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SEPTEMBER 2020 • SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE
SPOTLIGHT ON BUSINESS MAGAZINE • SEPTEMBER 2020
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