With sales of spirits-based ready-to-drink canned cocktails continuing to boom, battles for turf in the cold box can be tracked to statehouses across the country. And spirit makers are looking for some low-cost ammo: While beer has historically enjoyed favorable excise tax rates, spirit makers are attempting to change those laws, they say, to level the playing field for products of similar ABVs and package sizes.

Despite weathering the COVID-19 pandemic for two years, Bearded Fox Brewing in Tomball became the second Houston-area brewery to announce it was closing for good in the last month, following recent news that 6 Wards Brewing in Dickinson had shuttered its doors.

Nothing tastes as good after a long day of driving as a cold drink. Breweries have been popping up in interesting places across the U.S. for years—you can find them in old churches, on the beach, in abandoned warehouses, and in hotels.

Two researchers take a hard look at the industry, and what happened when the pandemic laid bare the challenges (and joys) of a less conventional job.