The Week, plus the STAG Rating Scheme

Here we go...

A look ahead to what's coming this week. Tomorrow, January 4th, is my first full workday back as a freelancer, and I promised myself that on that first full day I would hop in the car and go do what I used to do a LOT when I first started writing: go take the tour at Yuengling. But since I'm working, too, I'm going up with All About Beer editor John Holl (and my old friend Scott Fasnacht), and I'm going to write about the trip, and the 'then and now' aspect of it all, as the first installment of my new web column for AAB. I'll let you know when it's up. Meantime, I'll probably throw up a few pictures and comments here, just for fun...since I doubt that's all we're going to do.

Tuesday I'm going to keep up with the beer then-and-now thing with a report on my visit to Selin's Grove Brewing on December 21st, their 19th anniversary. What changed and what didn't was delicious, and so was the Solstice Dubbel. If I have it finished, I may also drop my thoughts on the new challenge to "craft" beer: I think it's big enough to fail.

Next? I'm going to be doing regular tasting here on STAG for the first time. I'm going to commit to doing at least one whiskey/spirits review every Wednesday, and at least one beer review every Friday...until I decide it's not what I want to do. But I'll be at this for a while, and I'd like to explain my "system." I used to "recommend" or "not recommend" drinks, I've worked with the Whisky Advocate ratings scale, I've done the 5-star thing, and I've struggled with Untappd's 5-star with quarterly gradations system.

I'm not going to do any of that here. Instead, I'm going back to a system I made up in the dark days after 9/11, at a time when we desperately needed something to laugh about. A small number of my friends will recognize the term "GOOD or SHITE?", a snarly response to someone who trashed a friend's thoughtful tasting notes about Marston's Double Drop (remember that, Peter?). 'Who needs all those fancy tasting notes anyway,' I shouted, 'is the beer GOOD, or is it SHITE?' It evolved a bit, into a four-grade system: F****** Shite, Shite, Good, and F****** Good. We had some fun and then moved on, but every now and then...I thought about it, and considered actually using it. But, you know...swearing. Some of you are probably uncomfortable with this much.

I now believe its time has come, with one important addition. I'll be grading the reviews on this scale (the illustrations are provided to give you an idea of just how bad or good things are):

Crap

Few to no redeeming qualities. Notably flawed in concept or in execution. Examples: Cave Creek Chili Beer (undrinkably spicy and one-dimensional), Ten High bourbon (too young, too hot, too thin).

Flawed 

Not undrinkable, but with at least one serious flaw that should keep you from drinking again. Examples: most light beers (no flavor), Brenne (just too sweet).

Okay

Drinkable, even tasty, won't pour it out; but not something I'm going to look for. So standard as to be overlooked. Examples: Yuengling Lager (I drink it if it's the choice, but...), Johnny Walker Red (okay mixer, but...) Note: this is a change from "Yawn," which I eventually realized sounded too judgmental for drinks that I was essentially grading at C+ to B. I'll be changing the reviews to reflect this.

Good

A definite cut above, a small grin when spotted, yes please. Examples: Penn Kaiser Pils (zesty and well-made), Wild Turkey Rare Breed (overproof in such a proper way)

Stellar 

Conversation stopper/starter. Easiest choice on the menu. Examples: Great Lakes Edmund Fitzgerald Porter (archetypal stuff), Redbreast (the standard 12 YO; such as dreams are made of)






It's a bell-curve, like many things, so don't expect too many Crap or Stellar grades, and most are likely to fall in the middle three...probably fewer Flawed, because those don't tend to be the ones I grab anyway. "Yawn" is, I think, the addition that makes the system work. Good...just not good enough to go looking for it.

I'll be accepting samples and buying off the shelf/bar, but I won't double-review; Whisky Advocate gets first dibs on all craft whiskeys, for example, and if I review them there, I won't be doing them here.  Some reviews will be long, some will be brutally short; some will just be tasting notes, some will be more. We'll have some fun, and I'll be as honest and objective as I can.

Thursday? I'm thinking about something on Canadian whisky. I've learned a LOT about Canadian in the past three years, and I've got some thoughts I want to pass along. Don't assume you know what there is to know about Canadian.

Let's see...next Saturday? I have nothing planned. Let's see what happens.

"India Pale Ale displayed the strongest unit growth in 2012"

It should come to a surprise to no one, but sales tracking company GuestMetrics has released a report showing that IPA kicked ass and took names last year. According to their database (from POS systems in restaurants and bars), IPA showed stronger growth than any other type of beer last year: an amazing 39% year on year. And it's accelerating going into the second quarter of 2013; 1Q 2013 showed 40% growth. 

And who's doing the best? "Based on data from GuestMetrics, the IPA brands with the largest share gains last year were Widmer Broken Halo IPA, Lagunitas India Pale Ale, Sierra Nevada Torpedo Extra IPA, and Ballast Point Sculpin." 

Meanwhile, the flipside -- which might have sent craft beer geeks into spins of delight five years ago, but now only evokes a "damn straight" nod and grin -- is that "pale lager" is sucking wind.  

"Pale Lagers saw unit sales contract by 5% in 2012 compared to the prior year, and as a result, experienced by far the largest share loss at about 170 basis points in 2012," said Peter Reidhead, VP of Strategy and Insights at GuestMetrics.  "Additionally, in analyzing the quarter of 2013, the picture does not appear to be improving for Pale Lagers, with units contracting 6.2% against prior year, and the share loss accelerating slightly to 180 basis points."  Based on data from GuestMetrics, the Pale Lager brands with the largest share loss last year were Miller Lite, Bud Light, and Budweiser." 

Like I told someone in an interview the other day, betting against IPA is like betting against vodka: don't do it. This is not a cycle. This is not a trend. It's a straight, upward line. People have been looking for IPA to peak and head back down since 1995, and they've been wasting their time.  

Just look at craft beer branding these days: it's all about different kinds of IPAs! We have black, double, session, rye, red, green, wheat, and white IPAs, and you can bet I missed some that a brewer is concocting even now. Brewers see that putting "IPA" on your label is like rubbing money on it; hops are crack, like Dogfish Head said about 90 Minute IPA, that's the sickness and the cure! 

Paying it forward

An open letter to craft brewers, importers, wholesalers, beer bar owners, beer store owners, and the other great people in the craft beer industry (and yes, you drinkers, too!).

I’ve been excited about beer for over 30 years, since I took my first sip of German pilsner in 1981. It opened my eyes to what beer could be, and eventually opened my life to a new career: writing the romance and beauty of beer to help bring that eye-opening moment to others. I’ve hosted, and taught, and spoken about beer to similarly excited people in bars, to dining rooms and halls full of people, and to radio and television audiences. I do it for a living, but as you probably know — and can empathize — it’s not a great living. It is a wonderful job, though, a calling, and I wouldn’t trade it for any other.

Over that time, I’ve talked to many of you, from the early days when people like Steve Hindy, F.X. Matt, David Geary, Carol Stoudt, Gary Fish, and Dick Yuengling took the time to answer my questions, through the exciting times when guys like Rob Todd, Bill Covaleski and Ron Barchet, Sam Calagione, Tomme Arthur, Greg Hall, and Hugh Sisson talked to me what they were building. Then came the books, and I traveled all over Pennsylvania, New York, Virginia, Delaware, and Maryland — thousands of miles and hundreds of four ounce samples — visiting every brewery in those states.

I took pictures, I blogged, I tweeted, and I wrote and I wrote and I wrote. I loved what I saw, the people I met, and the beers I drank. I was part of it, helping spread the word, because that was what we did, from the start: when you found a place that had great beer, when you tasted a beer that stopped you in your tracks, when you met someone who turned you on to new beers…you shared it, you paid it forward. Someone told you about something great, so when you found something, you passed it on. 

For almost 20 years, I have tried to spread the word, to educate, and to even-handedly present the great stories all of you have to tell. Now I have a chance to amplify that word. Green Leaf Productions contacted me about hosting a television show they call “American Beer Blogger.” I agreed to take a swing at it, and we did some taping at Stoudt’s earlier this year that they used to make a short promotional video. You can see it here on the Web.

As you can see, that’s a Kickstarter page. Green Leaf is trying to raise $60,000 to shoot and edit six episodes, and then sell the series to a cable channel. Without that money, the show probably won’t go forward, and that would be a loss, because this show is going to be the real thing. It's going to be me, calling a brewer, or bar owner, or beer store owner/manager, and setting up a visit — just like I’ve done with many of you — going there and looking around and asking questions and tasting some beers and having some fun. The only thing I may do differently is some of the stuff they had me doing in the teaser: actually working, if only for a little bit, because that's fun, and it's something I'd like to do anyway. But we'll talk beer, we'll get our facts straight, and it won't be boring.

If I’ve helped the business, your business, in any way in the past, you know I couldn’t take money for that. I had to stay separate, stay independent, and that’s for the best. But if you’d like to help your business by having this show on the air, talking about beer in a fun, real way, here’s your chance. I still can’t take your money — it goes to Green Leaf, I’m just working for them — but if you sponsor the show, we can all do what we do best: better the image and recognition of good craft beer. A pledge of only $1,000 gets you an Associate Producer credit on the show, and there are other rewards for larger pledges. 

Maybe best of all, you’ll be paying it forward. I wrote about the industry — because I loved it, and found it fascinating, and still do — and this will give me a chance to tell more stories to lots more people. More people who will maybe get excited about beer, and turn into proselytizers of the word of craft beer. Give me this chance to spread the word even further! 

Thanks. It’s been a great ride, and it’s just getting better.

Lew Bryson

More on craft beer and super-premium spirits sales

I've been talking about how craft beer and high-end spirits sales continue to buck the economy...and I've been getting a string of comments from my favorite grammar-ignorant punctuation-avoidant anonymous poster crying me false, saying that sales aren't that good, and will soon (when? After ten years?!) crash back to normal. Well...sorry, "Punkin Head," but there's more good news, this time from an interview with Midwest supermarket chain Hy-Vee's vp of wine and spirits, Jay Wilson in Shanken News Daily. Check it out...

Sales of beverage alcohol at the 245-unit Hy-Vee Inc. supermarket chain throughout the Midwest approached $500 million at the end of its fiscal year on September 30, according to Jay Wilson, vice president of wine & spirits. Total sales at the employee-owned chain were at $7 billion for the period. Hy-Vee is opening 3 new stores this year, and will have 248 units in the following eight states by year-end: Iowa, Nebraska, South Dakota, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Kansas. Its beverage alcohol departments range from 6,000 square feet down to a single 40-foot aisle. Wine and spirits each account for 30% of sales, with beer at 40%. The chain has made a commitment to educating its sales staff and has become a destination for wine, spirits and beer drinkers seeking selection and good value. So far, over 350 employees have received certification recognized by The Society of Wine Educators. 
[Edited here...]
SND: How has the slow economy of the past few years affected your business?
Wilson: While the on-premise accounts have been hurt, people are still buying alcoholic beverages to take home. So they’re coming to us instead of going out.
SND: When Market Watch interviewed you in 2008, beverage alcohol sales at Hy-Vee were $350 million. How have you done in the years since?
Wilson: We just finished our fiscal year on September 30, and we’re very close to half a billion dollars in beverage alcohol sales.
SND: How do you account for that growth? What’s driving it?
Wilson: Craft beer is up 35% and we have really embraced this market. We’re putting 44 feet of nothing but craft in an open-air cold case. We’ve also got some big growth categories in spirits. Vodka is the leading category for us, while Irish whiskey is showing about a 45% trend up over the last three years for us. Additionally, rum is a very big and growing category for us.
SND: Are you seeing any return to super-premium spirits?
Wilson: We’re seeing people going back to them. And there are some people who never left them. But we’re definitely seeing solid growth there.

Note: despite craft enthusiasts' fears that supermarkets will ignore crafts for the "big bucks" of mainstream beer, Hy-Vee clearly sees the benefit of craft's bigger margins.

Ball's in your court, "Punkin." 

Top 50 breweries: some interest, some fun

The new list of the top 50 breweries in the U.S. by volume sales is out. Let's have an annotated look, shall we?

1. Anheuser-Busch InBev; St Louis MO (Shocking...)
2. MillerCoors; Chicago IL (teamed up, and still 2nd)
3. Pabst Brewing; Woodridge IL (Hey, dude: get a real brewery!)
4. D. G. Yuengling and Son; Pottsville PA (Pennsylvania Proud!)
5. Boston Beer Co.; Boston MA (Pennsylvania Proud, Part II: rocking Breinigsville!)
6. Sierra Nevada Brewing; Chico CA (Tradition and style)
7. New Belgium Brewing; Fort Collins CO
8. North American Breweries; Rochester, NY (Yo, lookie here: buying in)
9. Craft Brewers Alliance, Inc.; Portland, OR (funny: they say they are, BA says they aren't)
10. Spoetzl Brewery (Gambrinus); Spoetzl TX (Shine on)
11. Deschutes Brewery; Bend OR
12. Independent Brewers United (IBU); Burlington, VT (nice acronym)
13. F.X. Matt Brewing; Utica NY (Congrats to the survivor)
14. Minhas Craft Brewery; Monroe WI (Worst. Commemorative. Book. Ever.)
15. Bell’s Brewery; Galesburg MI
16. Harpoon Brewery; Boston, MA (my son's new hometown brewery)
17. Boulevard Brewing; Kansas City MO (gotta get some samples!)
18. Goose Island Beer; Chicago IL (beer still the same?)
19. Dogfish Head Craft Brewery; Lewes DE
20. Alaskan Brewing; Juneau AK
21. Long Trail Brewing; Burlington VT
22. August Schell Brewing; New Ulm MN (Another pre-Pro beauty)
23. Stone Brewing; Escondido CA (What? I thought they were the biggest!)
24. Abita Brewing; New Orleans LA (40% of sales during Mardi Gras?)
25. Brooklyn Brewery; Brooklyn NY
26. Lagunitas Brewing; Petaluma CA
27. Full Sail Brewing; Hood River OR
28. Shipyard Brewing; Portland ME (Amazing: I thought no one liked Ringwood...)
29. Summit Brewing; Saint Paul MN
30. New Glarus Brewing; New Glarus WI (World-famous in Wisconsin)
31. Great Lakes Brewing; Cleveland OH
32. Anchor Brewing; San Francisco CA (Is that up or down from last year?)
33. Iron City Brewing; Pittsburgh PA (bets on their position next year?)
34. Kona Brewing; Kailua-Kona HI
35. Rogue Ales/Oregon Brewing; Newport OR
36. Firestone Walker Brewing; Paso Robles CA
37. Winery Exchange Inc. / World Brew; Novato CA (I'm willing to admit my ignorance...)
38. SweetWater Brewing; Atlanta GA (Wow! Go South!)
39. Mendocino Brewing; Ukiah CA
40. Flying Dog Brewery; Frederick MD
41. Victory Brewing; Downington PA (why can't anyone spell "Downingtown"?)
42. Gordon Biersch Brewing; San Jose CA
43. BJs Restaurant & Brewery; Huntington Beach CA
44. Stevens Point Brewery; Stevens Point WI (Guess no one's out of Point)
45. Odell Brewing; Fort Collins CO
46. Bridgeport Brewing (Gambrinus); Portland OR
47. Cold Spring Brewing; Cold Spring MN
48. Rock Bottom Brewery Restaurants; Louisville CO
49. Oskar Blues Brewery; Longmont CO (Can you believe it?)
50. Straub Brewery; Saint Mary’s PA (Pennsylvania Proud, Part III!)

Take a deep breath...

Whoever did this? Thank you. This was something that was needed. Because I suspect Tyl Eulenspiegl was a craft brewer, and his contributions were being overlooked.

Craft brewing has always been about fun, too. This brings that back.

More on wine: some surprises

Don't have time to respond to the comments in the previous post right now -- sorry! -- other than to point out that it is about California wine, and not wine in general; hope to get more involved in that sometime.

In the meantime, here's some more stuff on wine that's interesting, from today's Wine & Spirits Daily:

Is the wine glass half empty or half full? Danny Brager, vp group client director, beverage alcohol at Nielsen, encouraged listeners to be optimistic and focus on the wine industry's growth opportunities rather than its roadblocks during his presentation at the Wine Market Council's 5th Annual US Wine Consumer Trends conference in Dallas.
WINE OUT-GROWS BEER AND SPIRITS. Although the wine industry has had it tough this past year, they posted more growth than beer or spirits. In the 52 weeks to December 12, dollar sales of wine grew 2.6%, beer grew 2% and spirits grew 1.4%. In terms of volume, beer declined -0.6%, while wine and spirits gained 1.2%. The rate of growth slowed for all three categories. Danny noted that consumers trading down and taking advantage of promotions has resulted in the rate of dollar and volume growth being closer together. Unlike beer, wine and spirits pricing is moving down.
The wine industry should be wary of craft beers, which have grown dollar sales 13% in the past 6 months. There is an opportunity for wine and craft beers to battle for certain occasions, particularly among millennilas who don't reserve wine for just "special" occasions. "Crafts are good marketers....we need to make sure we're as intense about telling our story to compete effectively," said Danny. Crafts are also popular among millennial consumers and have a lot of opportunity to grow among that generation.

The beat goes on...

Is "Craft Beer" a revolution? Is it a success?

Maureen Ogle takes an outsider's view of the beer industry, continuing a process she began in her 2006 book, Ambitious Brew. She looks at it with the dispassionate eye of a historian, and comes up with contrarian viewpoints that make Andy Crouch look like a mainstreaming cheerleader.

Witness her latest blog postings, which are cuts from an essay she wrote on craft beer for All About Beer's 30th anniversary issue (which I'd urge you to buy so you can read what she kept in the piece). There are three of them, and the 2nd and 3rd seem to largely say that contract brewing was controversial but is no big deal -- I got no problems with that thesis at all. I agree, and I regret the amount of money, time, and good feeling that was lost in the industry misunderstandings that revolved around it. I've said for years: it's about the beer, not where or who it's brewed by.

What I do disagree with is her first posting, a more general take, in which she writes:

The problem, [the late Michael Jackson] argued, was that the bottomless “pocketbooks” of the Big Six (at that time A-B, Miller, Stroh, Heileman, Coors, and Pabst) enabled them to “dominate the advertising scene” and thereby obscure consumers’ awareness of brewing’s lager-, porter-, and ale-stuffed nooks and crannies.
This “public ignorance” posed an “acute problem” for craft brewing. “No small brewery is itself an island,” he reminded readers. “None can succeed for long unless the . . . idea of small breweries is understood and appreciated by the consumer.”
He was wrong. Thirty years in, most Americans don’t know about or drink craft beer, and yet craft brewing is alive and well. [emphasis added]

I don't buy that. We got into a small, very civil discussion on her Facebook link to this post, in which I argued that craft beer is now widely known, to which she countered:

I base that on my experience doing beer events for various non-beer groups (I do a lot of paid speaking). Very few people at them have ever heard of the beers on offer, all of them, of course, local craft brews. Also, the term "craft beer" has zero meaning to people outside the craft drinking/brewing niche. Again, that's based on my experience w/people who are NOT connected to or interested in beer.

Well...my response was that people who aren't interested in American football may not realize that the forward pass revolutionized the game, but that doesn't make it any less of a revolution. In short, does the knowledge or opinion of people who don't drink beer, who are not "interested in beer," really have any meaning in this? I don't feel that it does.

Another point: is it the knowledge of the term "craft beer" that we're talking about? Because I don't like the term (even though I use it every day), and I don't think that most people who are aware of these beers use the term. They either know their local craft (like, for example, the thousands in Boston who drink Sam Adams or Harpoon and don't give a damn about anything else), or they call them "microbrews," a term just used today in the Wall Street Journal to refer to beers from small American and Italian breweries.

Microbrews (or 'mircobrews,' as I've seen it misspelled so many times on teh Interwebs that it's hardly funny anymore; likewise, "Rouge" and "nector") is the term a lot of people "still" use. I put "stupid quotes" around the word "still" because I don't really know why the beer police felt they had to change it, except to de-link it from the old definition as a brewery that made less than 15,000 bbls. a year, a size that Sierra and Anchor blew by decades ago. It's a perfectly good word -- by virtue of public acceptance -- if you want to distinguish the (practically) uniform light lager output of the major established breweries from the more varied output of the not-so-major...er, 'micro' breweries.

So I'd argue that we should disregard the awareness level of the specific term "craft beer" and instead find out if these non-beer people -- or more importantly, and validly, people who do drink beer -- are aware of any beers other than the majors; Sam Adams, Sierra Nevada, Fat Tire? How about non-mainstream types of beers from mainstream brewers, like Blue Moon? How about mainstream beers from non-mainstream breweries, like Yuengling?

Because while there are certainly still people out there who know nothing at all about these beers (or at least profess to know nothing about them for political purposes...), it seems less and less likely that their existence remains a mystery to the majority. I recognize the pitfalls of sampling a pre-selected audience -- I lecture the geekerie about it often -- but the buoyant growth of the segment, the assumption of knowledge in a growing number of news stories like the one noted above, and the continued introduction of beers like Bud Light Golden Wheat all are evidence of a wider knowledge...at least, among beer drinkers in general, and people interested in beer.

If people aren't interested in beer...well, really, who cares what they think about beer? I don't say that to be cavalier, I just point out that it's kind of like asking the average American citizen about...Austrian elections. If they don't care about beer -- as long as they're not one of that group who is trying to take beer away from us! -- why should beer care about them?

Discuss. Or discuss. Or discuss.

Beer art in the new age

I'm sure you've seen the great beer posters from yesteryear; the iconic rushing Belgian waiter (with steel soles!), the contemplative Moretti man, the Miller Girl in the Moon.

But you've also seen what the craft beer movement has been doing with art, on their labels, their posters, their taphandles, their websites. This popular art is being celebrated -- again! -- at the GoggleWorks Center for the Arts in Reading, PA in the month of June, an exhibit they call Design, Drink and Be Merry. You should get your butt up there and take a look at it (the schedule is at the show website). There's a fund-raiser beer tasting on June 27, starting at 5:00, and there are more pix (and a list of breweries that contributed artwork) here.

Boston Beer Takes a Hit

From an AP story posted last night:

Shares of Boston Beer Co. fell Wednesday, a day after the brewer slashed its full-year outlook and posted worse-than-expected third-quarter results. The stock fell $2.87, or 7.9 percent, to $33.69. The stock has ranged from $31 to $54.15 over the past year.
Goldman Sachs analyst Lindsay Mann told investors in a research note that the maker of Samuel Adams beer faces a "much tougher" cost outlook in 2009. Late Tuesday, the company said the cost of a product recall and expenses relating to the opening of a new brewery would drag down full-year profit. The company now expects to earn between 60 cents and 80 cents per share for the year, down sharply from the $1.70 to $2 per share it previously predicted.
Mann cut his full-year estimates on Boston Beer for 2008, 2009 and 2010.

BBC's been all over the chart, but given the product recall (which, while most everyone agreed was well-handled, still cost them a lot (and no word on whether any costs would be recovered from glass supplier Owens-Illinois)) and the costs of renovating the Lehigh Valley brewery, there was bound to be some backlash. Coming when it did, in the middle of an incredibly volatile market, probably amplified the downward pressure.

Not sure where Mann's "much tougher cost outlook" is coming from, though: energy's down (which means glass should at least stay steady) and the German hops crop is apparently coming through really big (just talked to a brewer friend yesterday who was in Bavaria for the hop harvest). Guess we'll see.

I still think BBC and Sam Adams are sitting pretty. Sammy A is the fall-back, the go-to base beer for many craft drinkers, and as prices go up -- and Sammy A stays relatively steady -- I still see more folks going to them. I know, many beer geeks see it as one tiny step up from Budweiser...lieber Gott...but "many beer geeks" are less than a bump in the road.

We're Definitely Winning

Check out this list of beers available at a special event coming up for GABF Week:

We are hosting a series of brewery features starting at 2:00 PM, showcasing a different brewery and some specialty products. Here is a brief schedule:
Tuesday 10/7 - Avery Brewing - Ale to the Chief, a cask conditioned version of Old Jubilation, and The Kaiser.
Wednesday - Left Hand Brewing - Terra-rye-zd, a black rye (50%) lager that was done in collaboration with Terrapin Beer Co. in GA, Nitro version of Milk Stout, and Twin Sisters IPA.
Thursday - Victory Brewing (!) - Abbey 6 Dubbel, Golden Monkey, Hop Devil, Prima Pils
Friday - Stone Brewing - 12th Anniversary Bittersweet Chocolate Oatmeal Stout, Oaked Arrogant Bastard, Ruination IPA, Smoked Porter, and Cali Belgique.

Okay, you say, big deal. There are special beer events at beer bars all the time, and this is a great line-up, but it's not a fantastic one.

I think it is, when you consider where it's happening: ESPN Zone Denver. Like I said, we are definitely winning. Golden Monkey at the ESPN Zone: YAAAAAAA!!!!!!

Budweiser American Ale (and Michelob Pale Ale): first notes

The long-awaited Budweiser American Ale is finally in my glass, after some of the same delivery problems Uncle Jack had (with the weird result that I didn't get the first shipment, but then got two more instead of one; it's okay, I'm sharing).

How about it? It’s bright and clear, it’s a deep ruddy amber, the foam is creamy and light parchment-colored. I smell sweet fresh malt, some caramel, and piney hop. The flavor has all that, in fact, it delivers on the aroma in an almost one-to-one ratio, although the caramel masks the hops to a degree. The ale is not overly full in the mouth, somewhat on the light side, but that’s not really a surprise; A-B was surely intending this as a drinking beer, not a sipper. The biggest surprise for me here is the finish: it’s relatively long, and bitter.

Passing it around here at Tucquan (I wrote this while rusticating on the Susquehanna again, no trip to Conestoga this time) gets some interesting reactions. "Oh, that’s good. I could drink that!" (from Cathy, who’s pretty demanding on beer, but does like a nice pale ale) "That doesn’t taste like beer, that tastes like rye bread!" (my mother, who’s currently drinking a Reading (which, bless her, she insists on calling "Old Reading"), so I’ll take that as a positive), and "It’s not that hoppy" (Uncle Don, who’s drinking Coors Light, but has had many a craft and import with me).

Don’s right, it’s not that hoppy…but for something with "Budweiser" on the label, it’s plenty hoppy. More importantly, for a pale ale, it’s fine, easily as hoppy as SNPA. Actually, turns out it's not...quite. It's about 28 IBU, SNPA is about 32-34. I'd call that ballpark, though.

Interesting to note two things. One, the cap is a pry-off, not a twist-off. A-B has noted that the craft market doesn’t trust twist-off caps. Two, the label is damned near unreadable on that dark red-ochre background. Intentional? Or a rare screw-up?

I had a bottle of Michelob Pale Ale sent to me last week as well, so I decided to do a side-by side. It was revealing.

Not sure, but I think this is another tweak on this beer, which has been around in one form or another, in varying markets, since the mid-1990s. It’s quite a bit lighter that the Bud Ale, more a reddish gold. The nose is restrained (i.e., there ain’t much), mostly a light piney Cascades aroma. It’s fairly creamy with malt, the hop comes through with a brittle edge, and it finishes up quite clean, with a lingering bitterness.

Side-by side? Clearly two different beers. The Bud’s caramel malt gives it a much heavier mouthfeel than the Michelob’s pale malt, while the hoppy edge of the Mich makes it cleaner, crisper. And no, I cannot believe I’m writing those words: "Bud’s caramel malt…much heavier mouthfeel…hoppy edge of the Mich…"

The question for both these beers remains the same as it has for over ten years. Can a beer that is brewed in a "craft" profile, but labeled with a mainstream brand…ever sell? Who’s going to buy it? Bud drinkers? To be blunt: not effin’ likely. Craft drinkers? Maybe, but most of them will not want to buy a beer from A-B (or InBev, for that matter). Sorry, guys, but for the majority of serious craft drinkers, who makes the beer is as important (or more so) as what the beer tastes like. Crossover drinkers? Maybe. If we could ever get a solid number on just how many people who regularly drink Blue Moon know it’s a MolsonCoors product…I could give you a better answer.

Just when you thought it was safe to have a beer...

Hops shortage? Piff. Malt increases? Whoopee. Transportation costs? Hey, happens to everyone.

Major caustic shortage.

That should get your attention. Due to "facility failures beyond their control," the largest producers of caustics in North America are immediately cutting allocation to 15% of contract to all existing customers (more info on that here). Every brewer I know of uses caustic to clean their steel. Like the hops problem, big users (municipal water treatment plants...) are already locking down existing supplies.

One more disaster to cope with.

Time to retire "Beer Geek"?

Is it time to stop calling each other "beer geek"?

"Beer geek" goes back a loooong way. I did a quick 'n' dirty Google search, and the earliest reference I found was 1992. That might surprise some of you -- some may think it's not that old, and some -- like me -- may be shocked to think that's the earliest reference. I'm suspicious of it, myself. There are references in USENET newsgroups and Homebrew Digest that make it plain that the term had been in use earlier; it was familiar to at least some of the people discussing it. Some of you remember Barleycorn, the first mid-Atlantic beerpaper: they had an "Ask the Beer Geek" column back as early as 1993, which argues an earlier familiarity.

"Geek," as numerous incensed beer...lovers have pointed out, is not exactly a term with a great history. Here's what the American Heritage Dictionary (4th ed.) has to say.

1. a. A person regarded as foolish, inept, or clumsy.
b. A person who is single-minded or accomplished in scientific or technical pursuits but is felt to be socially inept.
2. A carnival performer whose show consists of bizarre acts, such as biting the head off a live chicken.
[Perhaps alteration of dialectal geck, fool, from Low German gek, from Middle Low German.]

Hey, great, that's what I wanna be. Some "geeks" don't mind, they 'embrace their geek' and flaunt it. Some people who I think are completely comfortable socially will declare themselves "beer geeks" and don't give a hoot. I don't mind it myself. I've called myself a beer geek. (There are all sorts of 'geeks' these days, though it was kind of unsettling to find out that the Wikipedia entry on geek doesn't make any mention of "beer geeks." Why is that unsettling? Damn...) No big deal.

Maybe. Maybe it is a problem, though. It is an inherently denigrating term, given its history (though some have argued that, like "gay," the word has changed so thoroughly that it has left its origins behind. I don't agree), and it has that air of annoying dipshit about it, the kind of beer drinker who obsesses over note-taking and rarity and process to the point of missing the whole reason that the beer is in their glass. As one whisky-maker brilliantly commented to a rabid collector: "We make the stuff to drink, you know."

The term does damage to us. It separates us from a growing number of craft beer drinkers who just like to drink the stuff -- and, I believe, many of us mainly like to drink the stuff. We talk about it, here and other places, but I can't pretend that most of us do that because it's our job: the number of amateur sites by far out-numbers sites of guys like me and Stan and Jack and Stephen and Jay and Don and so on, who do this for a living, let alone all the brewers who have blogs and often think deeply about beer. There are enthusiasts who do that, who know the minutiae of beer, who travel constantly for new beers, who take their beer very damned seriously. Rightly so, for while beer isn't as important as world peace or economic recovery, it's certainly as worthy of one's time as watching sports or following bands.

I don't think they should be branded as "geeks" because of that. I know some of these people, and they are intelligent, personable, warm and friendly, good friends. But there is a class of these people -- most of you reading this blog belong to it -- and I often find myself looking for a label for that group, so I can refer to them briefly as a group. I don't want it to be too general -- "beer drinkers" -- or branded -- "BeerAdvocates" -- or inherently denigrating -- "beer geeks."

We don't have a good term, and that's why we're still using "beer geek." There have been suggestions: beer snob, beer aficionado, beer connoisseur, beer enthusiast, ale conner, beer lover, beer guy. All of them fail on various points: snob is no better than geek, connoisseur and aficionado are considered "hoity-toity" by many (and can be a bitch to spell for some), enthusiast is too dry, ale conner is too arcane, beer lover is too stupid, and beer guy, well, it doesn't do much for the women who like beer, does it?

I'm open to suggestions, although I'm not optimistic. Names thought up by committee rarely work too well. Please, no acronyms. It's got to be something that you wouldn't hesitate to anoint yourself with, something that doesn't denigrate, and something that doesn't need to be explained. Tall order, which is, of course, why we don't already have it. I just hope we're not stuck with "beer geek" the rest of our lives.

I'll throw out the first one: beer fan. It's an Americanism, "fan," originating in baseball, short for "fanatic." It's mellowed a bit over the years, to the point where a fanatic is referred to as "a true fan." Science fiction has fandom, the truly devoted, there are music fans, fans of television shows. What do you think?

Miller Lite Brewers Collection

Miller Lite Brewers Collection.

"Craft Beer. Done Lite."

I got 'em. They're going in the fridge. Miller Lite Amber, Wheat, and Blonde Ale. They're in test markets in Baltimore, Charlotte, Minneapolis, and San Diego now. All 4.2% ABV, all 110 calories per 12 oz. bottle, all 6.2 grams of carbohydrates...for those of you who are counting.

"Real craft beer taste and true light beer refreshment." Well... we'll see.

A pleasant lunch surprise

A while back, a local reader tipped me that the Pizzeria Uno at the Oxford Valley Mall had developed a decent beer selection. I had to run over there today to pick up a book for my son's Latin class at Barnes & Noble, so I figured I'd stop in and check.

Well, lookie here! Uno had some decent drafts -- HopDevil, Stoudt's Scarlet Lady ESB (which used to be everywhere in this area), Troegs Hopback Amber, and Rogue Dead Guy -- but the real treasure was the bottle selection: Duvel, Smuttynose IPA (I assume the Finestkind, didn't see it), 3 Philosophers, Arrogant Bastard, Lefthand Sawtooth, Bell's K-zoo Stout...and about 10 others of similar interest, including North Coast Old Rasputin imperial stout, which is what I had. It was in fine shape: burnt-bitter but with delicious alefruit notes, authoritative body, and great with my pesto-underlaid pizza.

Kinda made me laugh about how chain operators were telling me that having craft beers at chain restaurants was completely unrealistic, "a fairy tale," beer snob pipe dreams. I remain convinced that -- at least until the huge materials cost increases came along in late 2007 -- the biggest thing holding back strong growth for craft beer is availability, either because of lack of distribution, lack of capacity, or lack of retailer commitment. Uno's holding up their end.

Blue Moon as a folk song

No, I'm not talking about a 12-string acoustic version of the 1934 Rodgers and Hart classic (although I really like the "Blue Moon Revisited" version the Cowboy Junkies recorded). I'm talking about a great thought-provoking post that Stan Hieronymus has up over at his Appellation Beer blog (which, by the way, you should read regularly, like I do). Stan's question: if you were to consider Blue Moon White as a 1960s folk artist, would it be Pete Seeger, Peter, Paul & Mary, or Trini Lopez?

Crazy, yes, but get inside Stan's genuine Old Folky head, and it sounds like this: is Blue Moon about the beer, or about the money and fame and riding a wave? Is it "authentic", which Stan says was the big question about PP&M back in his high school days (Trini Lopez was not, and even I knew it, at the age of 10). Stan says history proved them to be so. They were on the right side of causes for 40 years (Stan's right side, which I don't endorse blindly, but Stan's a good guy), but also:

"They wrote excellent songs of their own, but just as importantly generously helped promote many other songwriters. They sounded prettier than Dylan singing Blowin’ in the Wind, but that allowed them to broadcast a political messages [sic] to far larger audiences than the Weavers every [sic] reached.

And that last is the crux. Molson Coors is one of the biggest pains in my professional ass. I have not been able to build a relationship with them, and I find it hard to warm up to a company that sometimes insists on having a lawyer on the line when they allow an interview. But Blue Moon is doing solid work on wedging open the craft beer niche for literally millions of mainstream beer drinkers, and I just can't see how that's a bad thing.

If you want to talk history, it gets even more solid. When the big craft boom was going on in the 1990s, all three big brewers jumped in: Anheuser-Busch with their Elk Mountain and American Originals lines and some innovative Michelob specialties; Miller had Miller Reserve, and Coors launched Blue Moon.

When the Great Craft Flatline hit in 1997-98, we saw who was authentic. A-B pulled out. Miller pulled out. Coors kept Blue Moon alive, when it couldn't possibly have made sense for them to do so. Maybe it was inertia, or maybe it was keeping faith with the irrepressible Keith Villa.

But I tasted their Chardonnay grape wheat beer at the GABF judging last year, and pushed it hard for a medal, with no idea it was a Blue Moon/Coors product (who the hell would have thought?), because it was one of the very best fruit beers I'd ever tasted, and the panel agreed. So I think they've still got it in them to make authentic beers. Why not? Keith Villa is 100% authentic, and always has been. And he still works for Coors.

We're not going to settle this question now or any time soon. But with Blue Moon growing at a phenomenal pace -- 79% in 2005, over 100% in 2006, and closing in on SN PA in sales, according to Villa -- history may well overtake us. How will we know? When all those Blue Moon drinkers start branching out and trying something new.

Meanwhile... if those craft beer figures released by the BA included Blue Moon, and Redhook, and Widmer, and Goose Island, and A-B's organic beers and specialty seasonals, and all the non-mainstream beers that aren't BA-approved, or hell, even the non-mainstream imports...What kind of growth would there have been? What kind of volume would there be? What kind of percentage would these non-mainstream beers have of the total beer market? I'm just sayin'...

Craft beer continues to kick ass

Craft beer -- call it what you will -- continues to sell strongly, outpacing the rest of the U.S. beer market. The latest figures from the Brewers Association show mid-year sales growth at 11% over last year on volume, and a dollar sales growth rate of 14%. Craft sales also topped 5% of total beer dollar sales for the first time ever.

If you need the visual, the graph shows what I'm talking about: beer grew 1%, craft grew a whopping 11%. Get it? That's 400,000 barrels more sold in the first half of 2007 than in the first half of 2006.

What's it all mean, other than craft is doing well? It means that craft is sustaining strong, reasonable growth, the kind of growth that took imported beer from 1.5% to 13% of the U.S. beer market in under 20 years. It might give us pause to realize that craft beer's growth, like imports, relies heavily on a few major drivers: Boston Beer, Sierra Nevada, and New Belgium. The three of them make up about 3/5 of craft sales. I happen to believe that unlike imports, that dominance will wane, rather than intensify. Craft's appeal continues to be based strongly in variety and local flavor, which argues against market dominance. Time will tell.

By the way, it's also good to keep in mind that these numbers don't include breweries the BA doesn't consider to be 'craft breweries,' like Redhook, Widmer, Goose Island...and a small but significant number of breweries that either don't belong to the BA or who decline (or forget...) to provide production figures.

What is craft beer?

The discussion on whether Anheuser-Busch Beach Bum Blonde Ale was 'craft beer' or not completely overwhelmed the tasting note. So I decided to shift it as neatly as I could here. Most of the comments are about that debate, I had to bring the tasting note comments along; best I could do.

So now the question of the hour: what is craft beer?
My issue: give me a good definition of craft beer, one that really addresses characteristics that you can see, taste, and smell in the glass. I haven't seen one that fits the bill yet.

Game on, geeks. I'm with you.

Good beer is good business

While I'm pointing out good pieces, check this one by "Uncle Jack" Curtin. Jack's done a very nice piece for Mid-Atlantic Brewing News on the wave of good new beer bars in the western suburban reaches of Philadelphia. It's more than your standard "there's a good bar here with this stuff on tap and food on the menu, then there's another bar here with this stuff on tap and food on the menu" kind of story that all too often passes for "beer writing" (hey, I'm guilty, sometimes it's what the editor wants). Jack does more than tell you about these places, he tells you why they've opened and why they're succeeding. The piece is called, appropriately, "The Tipping Point."

Jack's put his finger on something I've been thinking about (and writing about). Craft beer has reached a level of sales, interest, and visibility that could be likened to a critical mass. As it moves more into cool bars, restaurants (both indie and chain), and supermarkets, it's going to be in front of more and more people as a viable, respectable alternative, and more and more of them are going to make that choice. The toughest problems for the industry in the next five to ten years are going to be keeping up with demand -- expanding production fast enough to make the beer that people want -- and getting access to the market in the face of continued wholesaler consolidation that often makes getting beer on the shelf a business of 'Eliza on the ice,' hopping from wholesaler to wholesaler as they merge, go under, and pop up.

There's one more problem looming, but that's the topic for the May Buzz on my website. It could be the worst one of the lot, and it's one we've seen before. See you there, next week.