I’m not a fan of Starbucks. Not because it’s corporate or because I’m organic or anything like that. I just think their coffee stinks. Plus, I hate waiting in line while absurd names that are somehow still considered coffee drinks are called out to the busy and rushed WASPs hovering and anticipating their silly and frilly touch of caffeine along with a mountain of sugar and hazelnut Irish creme extract. ‘Bucks don’t even call larges large–something fake Italian or French instead. But now, former CEO Howard Schultz has some unique ideas to help the now-floundering coffee giant that has run into economic mistakes it made during the 2000s.
Schultz brought back an entrepreneurs approach to the business realizing that one size does not fit all. Starbucks is now trying to tailor itself to its customer base. For example, in hotter areas, drinkers prefer cold drinks, while in the colder regions like the Northeast, they enjoy a piping hot cup of joe.
The idea is to make each store unique, while maintaining the Starbucks quality of coffee and espresso. In Seattle, owners created an offshoot of Starbucks called 15th Ave Coffee and Tea. The shop, which Starbucks owns, sells heady microbrews and cheese along with the usual espresso and tea mix.
Now you can’t go and get beer at every Starbucks, but it’s an interesting choice for a company that is always looking to find new ways of making money. Between Sonic Youth compilation CDs and new on-the-go coffee drinks, Starbucks is really looking to enter a new stage in life, and it looks like they’re bringing microbrews along for the ride. It will be interesting to see if this is something that catches on throughout the country and if small-minded microbreweries are in the mood to sell their beer through a big, bad corporate giant. But they could really take coffee beer to the next level. And we know how the FDA will feel about that.
HULIQ — Starbucks Slinging Beer Now Too
Even so, that was still a positive number in the number of breweries going into operation in America. However, what will be interesting to watch is if we ever hit a plateau in terms of beer makers. Looking at the number of wineries that exist in California alone, I find it hard to believe that microbreweries are even close to skimming the ceiling in terms of market saturation. Of course the economic slide will limit the number of new openings, but it’s encouraging that we’re not losing breweries as quickly as we gain them. However, if you are looking to start your own big-time brewing center, you might want to think twice.
Ms. Dewey said that anyone who wanted to start a microbrewery should either have a substantial sum of money to begin with — or a great deal of patience. “It can be very dreamy thinking about starting your own microbrewery,” she said. “But unless you have several million dollars, be prepared for a lot of hard work.”
The result is an alcoholic potion that, says the brewery, has displaced a 31%-ABV German beer as the world’s most dangerous brew. It’s open to interpretation, of course, whether or not Tactical Nuclear Penguin even qualifies as beer anymore.
For those of you who haven’t had a beer ice cream before, get ready for Montana’s own to take center stage over the next few weeks while this story is still hot. 
The ice cream has become a nationwide sensation, and will even be sampled on the “Today” show by none other than Al Roker. Yes! Al Roker! Wait, not Al Roker?
drunk! High alcohol in this! Yum! Yum!” Expect at least one joke about alcohol content, despite the lack of booze.
