Well, it really hasn’t been redefined – by it may as well have been. Tom noticed this image this week:
In this supermarket, cases of hard seltzer dominate the floor of its refrigerated beer aisle.
Except it isn’t really just hard seltzer. It’s a cheap ass canned booze called Truly made and sold by the promoters at Sam Adams beer, right? Moo. Lah. Well, someone has to have money, right? Not you, of course. You believe there’s no money in craft. I didn’t write my comment back as any sort of serious prediction but if the day comes that the US Brewers Association allow this stuff as “craft” well you heard it here first.
What else is going on that’s a bit unsettling? I find this meme* about your dream job in beer odd. First, when did all the writing about beer become so trade side? Who the hell wants to actually work in beer? Beer is about the sitting and the not working. (Maybe not really paying attention seems to be part of the gig these days.) My dream job in craft beer? Good pay plus high health and safety standards along with job protection. And a union card. Like that is ever going to happen.
Josh Rubin** has a story in The Star on troubles at Ontario’s brewery former monopoly’s retail side:
Molson Coors and Labatt each own roughly half of TBS, with Sleeman Breweries owning a small percentage. In 2016 under pressure from the provincial government, TBS offered independent craft breweries “ownership” stakes without financial obligations, and a place on the board. Jeff Carefoote, owner of Toronto’s Amsterdam Brewery, which is a TBS “owner,” said he hadn’t previously seen a shortfall. “I certainly haven’t seen anything like this since we’ve been owners,” said Carefoote.
There is a suggestion that the retail operation might go away. The main reason E.P. Taylor configured it the way it is now, however, was on the wholesale side. He considered breweries competing on things like trucking costs waste. Smart guy. There’s a dream job in beer I want. I want to be E.P. Taylor.
“Wow. Secrets of the maltsters. c1911.”
In the U.S. of A., C.B.S has done some investigatory investigations on why booze costs a lot:
The first stop: a North Dakota barley farm that has been operated by state native Doyle Lentz’ family for over a century. The grain harvested from the cold northern plains could eventually make its way into a pint of beer or a glass of whiskey. “I make about a penny a beer,” Lentz said. He said it was about the same as what his grandfather made during his time running the farm. “I’m pretty sure if your cost of your alcohol’s going up – probably not happening out here in North Dakota too much,” he said.
Damn. I was hoping to blame the farmers. Lew rightly points out the research seemed to be a bit limited: “[a]ccording to the people in the supply chain, NO ONE is making more money off the huge increases in the cost of a drink at a bar.” Someone is making money. It might be disbursed but follow a few drinks owners and upper staff on Facebook and you get to see the holiday homes you paid for.
Speaking of being co-opted for the benefits of the ownership class, did you notice this floating around social media this week? Apparently BrewDog wants you to go neaten up their shelf displays as if you care? I’d rather stick nails in my eyes that do volunteer shelf stacking like some cheese eating school boy*** just so the brewer can’t require the distributor doesn’t pay for this part of the supply chain job. BrewSuckers.
I couldn’t care less about anti-health advocacy on behalf of brewers… but Martyn does so here is the link.
Jeff wrote about the importance of branding but I am not sure I agree:
Branding and marketing is hard. It requires a global perspective, one that touches on sales, marketing, product development, distribution, packaging—really, it touches every part of a brewery. Done properly, it becomes an integrative exercise that brings these pieces together. The problem is that most breweries don’t want to devote the time to such a big project, and so things proceed piecemeal, and the brand develops in a shaggy dog fashion with no strategic purpose.
See, to me the 10,000 brewery world means that thinking globally is what makes you a BrewSucker. Beer is now becoming like the local bakery. You go there because it’s good. One reason beer and food pairing, that darling of a decade ago, failed so miserably is those paid PR folk pushing it were trying to analogize to Michelin star restaurants. It isn’t. It aimed to high. But a good neighbourhood bakery? Good beer can be that. And branding won’t help if the cheese scones aren’t any good or cost too much.
Mudgie wrote in praise of boring brown beer in support of a few observations by John Keeling like this interesting one:
He also makes the important point that “CAMRA was formed to save the great beer that was being brewed and not to get people to brew great beer.” It’s often claimed today that CAMRA’s primary objective was increasing choice, but in fact this represents an attempt to rewrite history. In the early days, this was definitely not the case. Real ale was felt to be under threat, and so the core purpose was a preservationist one, to champion the beers that were already in existence, encourage people to drink them and spread the word about where they could be found.
Tradition! So sayeth Topol. Speaking of which, Matt was a bit unhappy on the idea of “beer that tastes like beer” but beer that tastes like beer is a valid concept. My point being that “beer that does not taste like beer” might also be a valid concept, just one for others. Not me. Truly.
My hero Jancis was writing about sustainability and wine and noted one particular culprit in this tweet:
Wine producers could make MASSIVE impact on carbon emissions if we communicators could successfully re-educate consumers about glass bottles. Handful of international wine writers travelling by train and boat ain’t going to do it alas…
What is the evil unsustainable practice in craft? (You know, other than the pay, the health and safety standards and the lack of union cards.) I’d say trucking. The idea that we need west coast North American beer trucked across the continent to compete with good local product is weird. Big craft? Big evil craft.
Jordan, who wrote me just today in realtime of a less than charming cider that tasted like pig shit, has again proven the joys of coming into a point in life with a comfortable income and written freely about Toronto’s Rorschach Brewing, unburdened by thoughts of risks he might pose to future gigs, unshackled by obligations past:
It seems to me an interesting reversal of fortune for the Rorschach brand. At the time of launch, the lineup of beers all drew their names from the world of psychological concept. The Rorschach inkblot test itself is designed to reflect the patient’s state of mind; the kind of thing a Hollywood movie might use as signification for diagnosis. The names were in some cases quite clever. Take Icarus Complex: A Double IPA with Kiwi and Lactose, named for a condition in which spiritual ambition is thwarted by a personal limitation. Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp, or what’s a heaven for? I don’t think much about Browning these days, unless it’s Maillard.
Again with the Maillard! BANE!!!! Otherwise, another excellent outing.
A tankard from Alchester (43-200 CE).
And finally, Lars found a lady in Chuvashia, Russia with yet another unique strain of brewing yeast and spoke of his work:
Just normal searching. Helps to know the Russian for “village beer”. Push absolutely every contact you have, over and over and over, until eventually someone helps you out. In this case, colleagues at work, and the Chuvashians I visited in 2017.
Neato. I went a hour to my east today to a cafe to drink my favourite beer, Bobo, and the brewer walked in. Sorta the same thing. Right? Sorta.
Well, that is enough for me. For more, check out Boak and Bailey most Saturdays, plus more at the OCBG Podcast on Tuesdays and sometimes on a Friday posts at The Fizz as well. And sign up for Katie’s weekly newsletter, too. There’s the AfroBeerChick podcast now as well! Plus the venerable Full Pint podcast. And Fermentation Radio with Emma Inch. What else? What indeed.
*pronounced “me me” as that’s what they really are all about.
**aka Canada’s Josh Rubin.
***…Gotta get up and take on that world…“
I don’t mind health advocacy. What I object to is militant anti-alcohol campaigning disguised as health advocacy.
Yes. But militant anti-alcohol campaigning disguised as health advocacy is what I don’t see.
Frankly, the oddly pervasive aligning to the fortunes of the alcohol trade gives me pause for two reasons. While I know it is unkind, I so find it’s simply smacks a bit of dipsomania if done too ardently and if, as is too often the case, it is based on meaningless bad science like fibby “the J-Curve.” Also, I know I would not align myself so closely to the fortunes of the kitchen condiment trade yet I consume ketchups, mustards and relishes more frequently than I do alcohol.