Responsible Drinking Part 1: The Bar

This week's Greg Hall controversy shed light on being responsible when alcohol is present.  There are two parties who share responsibility: bars and drinkers.  Over two days I will look at both.  Many large breweries run a drink responsible campaign, but realistically if you think about it they don't want you to stop drinking.  This is where an establishment has certain duties.

First and foremost, the bartender needs to know when to cut people off.  I know many of you go out to get drunk.  I am not saying bars need to shut you down at the first sign of tipsiness, but there is a line.  A seasoned bartender can often scan a crowd and see who has gone too far, and offer a glass of water instead of the next drink.

Secondly, when a customer crosses the line bar management needs to take appropriate action.  I was once in a bar where a man pulled out his genitals.  He was quickly ejected and the police were called.  Turns out he was a known sex offender.  If you read the comments in response to the Tribune article many people acted like urinating in bars happens all the time.  I go to a lot of bars and know a lot of people who work in bars.  I have never seen someone do this.  Urinating in the middle of the bar is crossing a line, and bar management should take swift action no matter who the customer is.  While urinating is an extreme act there are other behaviors a bar should take action against.  If a person's behavior is offensive or disturbing to the enjoyment of other customers they need to go out the door.

Finally, a bar is responsible for public safety.  If an employee of a bar sees a patron who is intoxicated get into a car they need to step in.  In this case the bar was under the impression Mr. Hall got into his car and drove off.  I would note Greg Hall told the Tribune he waited in the car while his ride was on the way.  Bar management should have called the police.  Under Illinois dram shop laws Bangers and Lace could have been held liable if Mr. Hall drove home and caused an accident.

I started this post by saying responsibility is to be shared.  Tomorrow I will look at what customers owe the bar and their fellow patrons.

Tough Topic Business of Beer & Customer Relations

As I discussed last Monday everything connected to beer is a business.  What type of business depends on your relationship to beer.  If you are a store, bar or restaurant you sell to consumers.  Distributors have to convince those outlets to sell the beer they distribute, and brewers must convince distributors to carry their product.  However, one group matters more than any other in that heap, customers.

The customer is more important than anything.  If we are not buying a certain product no one will sell it.    The key to getting the customer to buy into your product is building a relationship.  We live in a time when social matters.  I already wrote on brewers in social media, but interpersonal relations matter too.  I buy local but I also buy from international faceless corporations.  I buy from Amazon but not Wal-Mart.  Heck, I would even buy beer from AB if it intrigued me.

One product I do not think I will buy again is Goose Island.  The company has a tragic inability to foster strong customer relations.  Years ago I met John Hall for the second time.  He started fishing for compliments.  I threw him a bone and then I explained an issue with the Clark St. brewpub.  Without blinking he told me it made a bunch of money last year so he must be doing something right.  Well, if he had got his head on the issue he might of made more.  After they had their near closing scare they made some serious changes to the brewpub. Unfortunately, they were not responsive to customer complaints, and even started to have what many believe were contaminated draft lines.  Finally, they sold to AB.  That in and of itself did not mean I would not buy their beer again although it did piss me off.  How they handled the situation is what irked me.

The final straw came last week.  The Chicago Beer Society sent out a notice that Greg Hall would speak on the AB sale.  I stayed for a while and I never heard him speak, although I waited two hours some say he did show up eventually.  What I did see was John Hall come in 90 minutes after the event started, shake a few hands with people he was obviously acquainted with and go drink a beer with a bunch of suits at the bar.  Many in the room were concerned about the sale.  I would not of classified the atmosphere as hostile, but this is the group is some of your biggest and loyal customers.  Many people ask these people for their opinion on beer.  Goose Island had a chance for a major PR victory here.  Instead they blew it off.

Tough Topic: Beer As A Business

Alright-you should be sitting down for this: Beer is business.

It has become more and more obvious that breweries are big money makers.  Sales at places like Dogfish Head and Allagash have increased so much that in order to meet demand they shrunk their distribution territory.  Goose Island became such an attractive investment that it sold to Anheuser-Busch.  The price of a pint is no longer under $5 and a six pack is hovering around $9.  Analysts predict the craft market will account for 20% of beer sales within ten years from the roughly 5% it is now.  Some breweries are doing all they can to get customers in the door, but others are just praying they can keep up with demand.  Furthermore the idea that craft beer is a community in my opinion is on very shaky ground.

The Tough Topic series found here on Mondays will begin to take a much deeper look at some of what is going on.  Next week I will examine the deeper implications of the introduction of lawyers into breweries.  Other topics to be examined include beer writers, labels, definitions, trade secrets and community.

I know many of you are probably thinking today's post is not that hard hitting.  I am throwing a softball here because so many people are just not convinced craft beer is a business.  Many have commented this week that Goose Island sold out, but in reality who wouldn't?  I know not everyone would, but if a publisher offered me a million dollars for this blog I would probably quit my job, finally write a book and drink all day.  I have seen more than one person screw someone over in this community and it is about time we start talking about this.  It is not personal-just good business.

Tough Topic: Goose Island Changes Hands

On Thursday March 21 I posted a more thoughtful second look.

Given today's breaking news I have opted for a second hastily written Tough Topic post.  You should still check out my post on Brewery Tours.

In what is a historic announcement Goose Island's ownership sold the production brewery and beer portfolio to Anheuser-Busch.  I have no qualms about saying this is historic.  Goose Island was a pioneer in bringing craft beer to the Midwest.  Several other breweries in the region, and even the nation are headed by brewers who cut their teeth at Goose Island.  Goose Island has stood for quality and innovation in a tight knit drinking community.

Goose Island is not just where I became acquainted with craft beer, where I made friends or enjoyed the best beer I ever had.  Over the last few years Goose Island really pushed the idea of drinking local with beers like Green Line, and  helped fuel the trend for barrel aged beer with the Bourbon County Stout line of beers.  While all this occurred Goose Island has had some issues, and long term customers were beginning to grumble about a drop in quality.  (See here and here for details.)  

I have met the Halls and I never doubted they were in this business to make money.  I can not blame them. only idiots go into business to go broke, but a bottom line always seemed to pop up with them.  Goose now claims that in order to keep up growth they needed to sell to Anheuser-Busch for $38.8M.  Frankly, I think they undervalued the brewery, but I am just a  humble blogger.  BeerAdvocate  has a press release where John Hall founder of Goose Island calls this a partnership.  I find it hard to consider someone buying a 58% stake in the business a partnership when the founder is no longer really in charge.

The customary claims that nothing will change are being made and Goose Island will continue operations as is, but with additional support of the resources of AB.  However Goose Island's current brewmaster is already stepping down and being replaced by Brett Porter. Brett is a well regarded brewer, but this is evidence of change, and I can only assume that positions will be eliminated.  I already had a recently terminated Goose Island employee tell me he expects us to see many more pink slips.

What else will change?  Beer selection.  I expect to see the Michelob line of beer scaled back.  Currently Michelob sells a line of craft style beers in in several traditional styles from English Pale Ale to Bavarian Wheat.  Michelob struggled to gain a foothold in this segment and having beer drinkers adopt it as a viable choice.  It would realistically make sense for AB to push Goose Island's current well rated and accepted line of beer into the same shelf space.

Harry Schuhmacher has reported on his Twitter feed that Dave Peacock the CEO of AB has stated they will not brew Goose Island's line of beers at the St. Louis brewery.  I find the choice of words interesting given that AB operates eleven other facilities in the US and has access to InBev facilities overseas.  At some point someone will make a decision that it is cheaper to begin doing runs of certain beers such as 312 or Summertime in a larger facility.    I agree we will not see these changes right away, but they are coming.  Once capacity opens up we may see the Oatmeal Stout and Nut Brown beers return or we may see less profitable beers disappear.

I do think the Chicago facility will continue operation, in fact AB is claiming to pump over a million dollars into the facility in the next year.  However, I believe that this will be to focus on smaller batch beers such as Bourbon County and Matilda.  It is just too easy to increase profits on some of these beers by transferring production to another facility.

What else will change?  I do not think AB will change their position on honesty.  I do think Goose Island will have a drop of sales in certain circles such as HopCat's announcement to discontinue sale (#3 Beer Bar on Planet Earth by BeerAdvocate).  I do think their sales will likely increase, and Goose Island will sell coast to coast.  I have not alway embraced the David vs Goliath philosophy and felt microbreweries biggest competition was each other and not the big guys.  I think this acquisition needs to be closely watched by Dogfish Head and Brooklyn Brewery.  This threatens them in a way they have not seen.

In any case the next 24 months will have a lot to show.  Will this work?  Will it grow or die?  What will the effect on other establishments be?  Come back and find out I plan to watch closely.  Given Goose Islands increasing focus on Belgian style beer it is ironic they got bought up by a Belgian conglomerate.

Tough Topic: Knowing Why You Go On Brewery Tours

I go on a lot of brewery tours.  I stopped counting after I went on over a dozen tours.  Some places I even toured more than once. Every tour has some sort of beer drinking built in.  Some include beer to sip during the tour, but most have beer at the end.  Last week I went on a "Hard Hat" tour of New Glarus Brewing Co.  On our tour a woman woman constantly asked where the beer samples were.  She actually became pretty obnoxious about trying to move the tour along so we can get to the beer at the end.  I said to the people I was with that she should have just gone to the bar instead.

During some tours, the beer samples are worth more than what you pay to go on the tour.  For instance, Lakefront Brewing Company's website claims $7 gets you four 6 oz pours and a beer at the bar, but in reality I remember more along with a pint glass.  New Glarus has a $20 tour that lets you free pour a selection of 6-8 beers into a souvenir tasting glass with cheese and crackers.  Both places had great tours, but New Glarus did not give you the value of your money in beer, but that is okay with me.  New Glarus provided value in other ways.

I do not go on tours to drink.  If I only wanted to drink I head to a bar or tasting room and pull up a stool.  Go on the tour to learn how beer is made.  When you get to the point where you are able to glaze over the basics listen for finer details.  For instance tours taught me that Two Brothers uses a forced carbonation system, Three Floyds relies on gravity not pumps to avoid agitation, and New Glarus has an open top fermenter.  You can also learn so much about a breweries' philosophy and why they do what they do from choice in yeast to distribution.

My family specifically asks me to not take them on tours.  They just want to drink but my friends like tours.  So if your like my family or the obnoxious lady at New Glarus skip the tour and find a bar.  We will both be happier that way.

Tough Topic: How many Chances Do You Need?

Recently I told a bar manager I would come out and review his place.  He told me I should visit more than once before writing a review.  When I asked why he said you never know if the staff might make a bad impression.  Seriously?

The more managers I meet the more I hear this concept echoed.  They keep saying they need a break and it is not their fault if things do not go well.  If you run a bar and you are not sure your staff is up to snuff then you either should not be running a bar or need to fire staff.  Consumers who have a bad experience will likely not come back and you will not get a second chance review from me.

Tough Topic: Young Adults and AHA

Last week Ray Daniels the founder of the Cicerone program asked for suggestions on how to improve the 21-30 age group participation in the American Homebrewers Association (AHA).  I thought for a few days on this topic and have a few suggestions:

1. Make Yourself Known 
2. College Involvement 
3. Mentorship
4. Anxiety Reduction  

All four are simple on the surface, but I understand they will not be easy to implement or carry out.  Sometimes for big results you need to try harder.

1. Make Yourself Known
This weekend at Night of the Living Ales I saw a guy wearing a t-shirt from a brewing group in a city I lived in for eight years.   I had no clue the organization existed.  If I knew it was there, I would have joined.  While it is in part the individual homebrew clubs job to publicize itself, promotion by AHA would be a good step in the right direction.

2. College Involvement
College involvement may result in quick growth, but comes with its own set of headaches.  Setting up school sanctioned homebrew clubs on college campuses may be met with some resistance from college administrators.  I believe establishing school groups would be a great way to let people know who and what you are.  Additionally, I am a firm believer that we live in a country that does not understand alcohol.  College groups may be able to teach alcohol responsibility.

3. Mentorship
Establishing a mentorship program, while labor intensive to set up and manage, may reap the greatest rewards.  By having new members pair up with a more experienced hombrewer newbies may learn much quicker and make the connection to the craft.  Mentorship could work in a few different ways.  One option would be for the mentor to coach the mentee through his or her first batch.  A better option would be to have a mentee head over to the mentors to brew a batch together.  I would point out that a mentee should not be a free loader and should help pay their own way.  Additionally, I think the pair should meet in a bar ahead of time and discuss what kind of beer they would make and to ensure personality compatibility.  Either way the relationship has to be one both participants are comfortable with.

4. Anxiety Reduction
Finally, AHA and the beer community needs to reduce the anxiety.  All to often I have come to events and had trouble breaking into a clique.  At least for me, that anxiety transfers to a homebrew club.  How can I join a group where I literally have no clue what I am doing?  I personally feel apprehensive to show up at an event where I have no good beer to share, and can not help.  One solution would be to suggest to homebrew clubs or the AHA itself in larger metro areas to host New Brewers Nights.  A mixer/ educational evening or weekend afternoon would allow people a place to come and know they do not need to prove they should be there.

I know some of these suggestions will not be easy to institute and may take some time, but I hope those at AHA take a look at them and give them some consideration.  Craft beer and homebrewing are quickly becoming a force in modern society.  To keep the concept of flavorful beer, made locally going in the right direction we need new brewers.  AHA does some great things, and I feel they have some big goals on the horizon.  I wish them luck.

Tough Topic: Should Kids Be In Bars?

Many bars and brewpubs have age limits for entry.  Owners and managers need to determine if having an age limit works for them.  Without this balance owners could be costing themselves revenue from the pro-kid camp or pro-kidless camp.

A bar is a bar is a bar.  If there is no food then your kid has no business being there.  If the establishment has food then personally I think kids should be allowed in the door.  Where you sit is another issue.  If an establishment has a dinning room and a bar kids belong in the dining room.

Some establishments have zero kid policies.  Establishments may be losing out on customers who want to bring their kids for lunch on a Saturday afternoon.  While on the other hand places with kids running rampant may be losing customers.  If they wanted screaming kids they could just go to Chuck E. Cheese.

Either way, bars and brewpubs need to find a balance, and restricting child entry to certain times and parts of the establishment are certainly appropriate.

Finally, if your kids are in an establishment running around screaming take them to Chuck E. Cheese.  When they are ready to behave bring them to the brewpub-you are going to need a beer.

What do you think?

Tough Topic: Be Honest

As craft beer becomes bigger business, a few breweries become shady.  Some of the larger mass production brewers are making a line of more flavorful beer, but distancing themselves from the new brand to make it look like it is a hometown beer.  The two that come to mind right away is Landshark Lager and Leinenkugel's.

Landshark is really a product of Anheuser-Busch.  Landshark just uses Jimmy Buffet for branding.  Nowhere on their bottle or in any of their material is it obvious that Landshark is a product of AB.  In fact they have done such a good job covering this up that good.is created a beer map of the US.  In creating this map Good asked readers the following:

What is the most awesome, best tasting, sustainably brewed, independently owned, community-oriented craft beer brewed in your state?

Landshark is by no means independently owned and it is a shame the people of Florida don't know that.

A second brewery out there masquerading as a small craft brewer is Leinenkugel's.  Now I do enjoy one of their beers from time to time, but I do take issue with how they attempt to pass themselves off.  No mention of Miller on the bottle at all.  Check out their FAQ page.  See the spot where they claim to be a "regional brewery with limited marketing dollars." Bullshit.

Many consumers decide to drink craft beer for its' sustainability, or to support a local business in addition to a more flavorful beer.  I am glad to see some of these larger brewers are trying to produce more flavorful beer and there is some attempt to even give back to the communities where they are based.  But seriously folks, be honest about who you are.

Tough Topic: Bars Know Your Beer

Over the weekend Beer Bitch and I went to a bar in Chicago.  It was not a "beer bar" they did have some craft options.  The bar had six drafts and about twenty bottle selections.  I always make a quick sweep of my draft options when walking in.  I asked the bartender what Brooklyn Brewery Beer was on tap.  He replied "Brooklyn"  and with a plain Brooklyn Brewery tap handle I had no idea which beer I just ordered.  It poured dark which indicated to me immediately it was either Brown or Oktoberfest, and I am pretty sure it was Oktoberfest.  (I am ignoring the fact that this is mid-February because seasonality is a completely different issue.)

Later in the evening I asked a second bartender for Noble Pils.   I said Noble Pils a second time, and she still had no clue.  I then asked for Sam Adams and she poured the Noble Pils from the clearly marked Sam Adams Seasonal Noble Pils tap handle.

In this case both bartenders had no clue what beer they actually had..  What could be done to avoid this?  First, I think breweries like Brooklyn should abandon generic taps.  At least a customer could look at a tap handle and answer their own question.  Sam Adams did adopt an identifying tap handle and I think there is little more they could do.  However, bar mangers need to stress the importance of knowing what is on tap.  Knowing which beers are available are just as important as knowing how to mix signature cocktails.  Profit is king in bars and beer is a money maker.  Knowing what your customers are asking for will result in quicker service which frees up staff to go onto the next customer and increase customer satisfaction.

So please bartenders when serving beer make sure you know what is there!

Tough Topic: Should Bars Be Open During Blizzards?

We all know Chicago had a blizzard last week.  I started thinking about bars and safety as the blizzard started to hit Chicago.  I had a reservation for a beer tasting that night (Tuesday).  I called the bar and the hostess seemed surprised that I would think they would cancel the tasting.  By now the Mayor is on TV telling me not to leave my house unless absolutely necessary. I didn't think it was that off the wall to call the bar and ask.  I waited an hour and when visibility got so bad I couldn't see the nine story building down the block decided I to call and cancel.  They were nice when I cancelled, but by still holding the tasting were they doing the public good?

After cancelling I poured myself a beer, grabbed a hoodie and settled in front of the TV to watch the news coverage.  We all know news reporters are insane and drive around in crazy weather.  The only people they seemed to be able to interview were either stuck on Lake Shore Drive or in a bar.  Bar manager after bar manager touted their "blizzard specials" to the camera and invited people to come on over.  There seemed to be a party atmosphere with an attitude that if you are let out of work early you might as well go to the bar.

Bars were not just on camera touting they were open; they were also Twittering like crazy.  One place published numerous tweets that they would even deliver.  Sure don't go out in this weather we will send our minimum wage driver to you.

At this point, I was appalled.  While customers may be making a conscious choice to come out in what was a historic storm, employees do not.  The bars and brewpubs were forcing employees to make a choice; get in trouble at work or heed the advice of public safety personnel.  Furthermore, these establishments placed back on the streets intoxicated individuals who got in the way of city crews trying to keep the "City that Works" from being the "City That Is Perpetually Snowed In".  So Ladies and Gentlemen, next time we have Hizzoner or whoever follows in his footsteps telling us our civic duty is to go home and sit tight; please listen.  Sometimes civic duty outweighs making a quick buck, and to be honest we are lucky someone didn't get killed trying to head home from one of these irresponsible bars.

Tough Topic: What Matters To Readers

I am five months into this blogging odyssey and readership is now over 800 readers a month.  The blog has covered a lot of ground.  One thing I have felt lacking is commenters.  There are a few who seem to chime in from time to time, and those of you who do, thank for your participation.  The Binny's post had a great deal of commentary as well.  My goal is to make a comprehensive site for beer education.  What do you want to read?  What do you want to learn?  I want to make this a site for my readers.  I am asking you to please comment more at least on this post and give me a suggestion of something I could write about.

Also, this site is ad supported.  If you see an advertisement to the right or below this post and it interest you please, support my sponsors.

Come on, let me here some thoughts, some ideas, and things you want to know!

Tough Topic: Breweries & Social Media

I have been intrigued by how different breweries have reacted to my blog posts.  By far I would say most breweries have no clue I am here.  That is fine with me.  I understand I am not on everyone's radar.  I often wonder what makes the cut.  Great Divide retweets or shoots off a "thanks" for the review to many bloggers on their Twitter feed, yet I have never received an acknowledgement.  What does Great Divide use as a metric to decide how they warrant a response?  Others such as Hook & Ladder often post a comment and promote a blog post of mine.  On my birthday Sierra Nevada started following me.  I think this is smart.  For one it shows an appreciation of someone promoting your product and an acknowledgement goes along way.

Recently I received backlash from a brewery.  I counted Metropolitan Brewing among my Twitter followers and assumed they read this blog on a frequent basis.  The day I published my review of Metropolitan I no longer could count them as a Twitter follower.  They de-linked me within hours of posting.  I know they saw the review, and I did not feel it was a bad review.  I gave an honest review of a two-year old brewery with a lot of potential.  Did I call them out on their issues?  Yes!  I am not their cheerleader.  I am a reviewer, and my commentary was not harsh.  Most of the problems I listed were either solved or easily solved, and I finished my post by telling readers to go buy their beer.  You can see my harsher posts here, here and here and Metropolitan's review was nowhere close to harsh.

By flat out disavowing my blog instead of just ignoring it Metropolitan annoyed me.  Actually, they pissed me off.  I stocked up on their beer to start doing beer reviews to further promote their products.  Social media counts as free marketing and by taking a passive aggressive stance Metropolitan lost out on marketing.  I am one of the few people I know who think Metropolitan will be successful.    With marketing skills like this maybe I am wrong and they will fail.

Breweries market mostly to a crowd that skews to the young and technologically savvy.  They need to embrace the social media world and not make snap decisions.  If a brewery feels a comment is not fair they should respond to it.  Engage the market and address what issue a consumer has, or at least ignore it.

Tough Topic: Value

There are many heads in a production facility.  You not only have a brewer, but you also have accountants, marketers, CEOs and a host of other titles.  Larger organizations like Brooklyn Brewery has more heads and smaller places like Metropolitan has a couple people wearing five hats a piece.  A brewery, no matter how larger cannot forget the consumer needs to see value in your beer.  I like Brooklyn's Black Chocolate Stout.  Last year I did not buy any as I perceived it to be too pricey.  This year I saw a 4-pack for $6.99.  At seven bucks I saw value.  In fact, I wondered why they did not package it in a 6-pack for $11, although 4-packs are a sort of marketing gimmick.  Likewise, Metropolitan is retailing their beer for about $10 a 6-pack.  As a consumer we can walk into a store and see this is worth it.  Both of these are decent values for what you get.  Metropolitan is right in line with many other craft brewers, and Brooklyn priced theirs at an incredible price.

On the other hand, a lot of breweries have gotten caught up in charging higher prices.  They argue hop shortages and supplier cost issues.  The list goes on and on, but it results in a talented brewer making a good product that no one is buying because it just isn't worth it.  The people wearing all the other hats have been so focused on the money the lost their craft values.

I would like to ask the brewers and all the people out there to take a look at the operation.  Are you doing what you can to provide value?  If the answer is no or if your revenues are declining maybe you need to go stand in a mirror for awhile. 

Changing Brewers Might Not Always Be A Bad Idea

Over the last several months both Goose Island and Rock Bottom in Chicago changed their head brewpub brewers.  One brewery approached the change in a manner designed to keep customers happy.  The other brewery lacked discipline and control and failed to provide a the quality that loyal customers could expect.    

Rock Bottom lost Pete Crowley who wanted to go out on his own, and Goose Island transfered Wil Turner to their production facility.  Rock Bottom replaced a highly regarded brewer with a well regarded and experienced brewer, Chris Rafferty.  Goose Island replaced their brewer with a man who lacked the resume and the experience of the man he replaced.  While new Goose Island head brewer Jared Rouben is a smart man and does know how to make beer; he is not realistically in the same ballpark as his predecessor.

When Rafferty came to Chicago he made what I feel is an unusual move.  He knew a good beer when he saw it and did not tweak every recipe.  For instance, at Flossmoor Brewing Company their signature Pullman Brown Ale has been changed with each brewer.  However, Rafferty is not tweaking the Chicago Gold, Line Drive Light, and a few others.  He is putting his stamp on the place by introducing some of his own recipes.   This does include an excellent Pilsner.

On the other hand, the beers at Goose Island never quite tasted the same.  Maybe the recipes have been tweaked, the lines went bad or something else happened.  No one I know seems to enjoy the beer as much.  To much changed so fast that loyal customers could not come in and drink or eat something familiar.  People who enjoy craft beer enjoy two things: innovation and consistency.  While Goose went with innovation, the consistent beers people drank every year just were not there or not like people remembered them.  I know I take a hard line on Goose Island in many of my posts, but I feel like they have gone down the path of maximizing profits at the expense of stupid customers who do not know the difference.

At Flossmoor Brewing Co., the ownership had an audit done by a previous brewer and his recommendation was to revert back to the old recipes used by several brewers ago for the Great Eight.  I appreciate the  throw back to tradition , but I think it handcuffs the current brewers options as well as an inability to evolve with customer tastes.  A mass produced Budweiser today should taste like a Budweiser from forty years ago.  Craft beer is in large part about evolution.  The quality of ingredients and customer tastes are constantly evolving to the next level.  By sticking with a static recipe the owners of Flossmoor will likely be left in the dust.

From a standpoint of owners managing brewers I find it somewhat odd that Rock Bottom a national operation seems to be doing a better job than locally owned and managed operations.  Brewpubs can be the heart of a community, and being sensitive to the community is what matters.  If you make good beer they will come.  Management in these establishments need to learn a hands-off approach when it comes to beer.

Why Do Brewpubs Sell Macro Lager?

Today feels like a Monday since I have been out of town so here is a tough topic to get the week off to a tough start.

Every time I walk into a brewpub I take a look at what beer is on the menu.  At Breckenridge in Denver I saw Miller Light, at Boulder Brewing's airport location I saw Coors Light, Flossmoor has High Life and Goose Island sells Budweiser.   Why do these breweries sell the competition?  I can somewhat understand a brewpub selling a guest draft of a crosstown rival, but why the big guys?

I have heard all the excuses.  Some say customers demand it, while others say it is a good way to maximize profits.  I think if your customers are demanding macro lager your brewer is not making a product worth drinking.  If you are really concerned about maximizing profits you sell your own beer.  Selling your own beer provides a much wider profit margin than selling a competitors.  Unfortunately, these brewpubs do not always have the best trained staff.  All too often I will hear someone order a Budweiser and fail to hear staff offer something comparable like 312.  Even if the staff do not make the sale right off the bat, a small free sample served alongside the swill might make the customer a believer.

Am I being picky or should brewpubs sell macro lager?

Why do so many breweries make soda?

Simply put: excess capacity.

Goose Island Vanilla Cream

Production breweries require three main components: brewhouse, fermentation, and packaging.   On many occasions a production facility fills the fermentation tanks to capacity.  The beer is not ready to bottle, and there is no place to store newly brewed beer.  Therefore, bottling and brewing equipment as well as employees sit idle.  Many breweries fill this gap by producing craft sodas.

These sodas are often made with unusual ingredients, like real fruit juice and ginger or unusual techniques, like gas-fired kettles. Non-traditional flavors like orange cream, grape and true ginger are produced, but of course root beer is a popular option.  Additionally, many of the sodas are all natural and use cane sugar versus the standard high fructose corn syrup.  Sprecher makes their Cherry Cola with Wisconsin cherries and brews it in a gas-fired kettle.  Goose Island makes all their sodas caffeine free and most are all-natural.  Appalachian Brewing even makes the unusual Birch beer.  Obviously not your run of the mill products.

Sprecher Cherry Cola

The breweries get a few benefits from making soda.  First, they do not have idle hands and equipment thus increasing their profitability.  Secondly, I think it adds a touch of family.  For one, Beer Bitch has something to drink.  While I do not have kids, I wonder what going to a brewery, ordering a sampler and trying to convince a five-year-old he doesn't want any of it is like.  More than once I have seen parents ask for a couple empty sampler glasses and pour the kids samples of soda.  This creates the opportunity to fill brewpubs during the day with families that may shy away from the bar atmosphere at night.  In fact Sprecher's brewery tour offers the option to taste soda instead of beer and Lakefront gives non-beer drinkers their Golden Maple Root beer.

In the end the innovation to make soda has more than likely lead to a bigger impact to micro-brewing than one imagines.  If nothing else it at least shows people that there is yet another type of food that can come from something besides a multinational corporation.

Why Drink Craft Beer? Drink Local To Be Sustainable

Continuing my series on why people drink craft beer it is time to discuss the environmental impacts of beer.  This was one of the two comments people have left me as to why they drink craft beer.  Let me start by saying this topic really shouldn't be done in one post.  Today I will give a brief overview of the environmental impact of drinking local.  Come back next Monday for an overview some sustainable practices.  This topic may stretch out into a few weeks.

The Environmental Side of Drinking Local
Shipping beer drastically increases the carbon footprint and the environmental impact.  Water is heavy so the closer the ingredients get to the consumer before adding water the better.  However, even deeper you could look for local breweries with locally sourced ingredients.  I recently spoke with a brewer who made his first organic beer.  He had to import the hops from Germany in order to meet the organic requirement.  He and I pondered whether there was any benefit to buying organic as the shipping more than likely cancelled out the benefit.

Additionally, there are local breweries that are not actually local.  An excellent example of this is Kona Brewing on Hawaii's big Island.  Kona brews on the island for draft only.  So any bottles consumed on the island are actually made on the mainland and shipped over.  So in reality you are not drinking a local beer if you are buying six packs of Kona in Hawaii.  I learned this fact on a tour of their Kona facility and it bothered me, because I felt many people on the islands where buying the "local beer."

Unfortunately not all brewers readily identify where their ingredients come from or even where they are brewed.  We as a craft community need to push brewers to give us the information we need to be informed consumers.

Why People Drink Craft Beer Part 1: Taste

This is the first of Tough Topic Mondays.  Come back each Monday for a deeper conversation on beer.

At the end of last week I wrote on why MillerCoors may be making craft beer.  MASGLBC wrote in that he (or she) drinks for the taste of it.  This I think just might be the main reason why people drink craft beer.  Regardless, taste is still pretty important, because if it tastes like crap why bother.  Years ago there used to be a great number of brewers and brewpubs.  Over time the industry consolidated and focused on just one type of beer.  Yes, I am pointing to Miller, Coors, Bud, and their light versions.  Most of the other breweries were wiped out by big advertising budgets of the big three and a pesky thing known as Prohibition.  The taste of beer became generic, homogeneous, and watery.

There still remained a few regional outfits that produced some, higher quality beer like D.G. Yuengling & Son.  However, most of the beer still lager and quality ales were nonexistent.  Ironic considering most craft brewers I know feel ales are easier to produce.

A slow revolution happened.  In 1984 Anchor brewed the first wheat beer since prohibition and England had the Campaign for Real Ale start in 1971.  Slowly very slowly things change.  In some cases laws had to be changed to even allow brewing.  A demand for beer with taste grew and today we have a diverse wealth of styles, and many that brewers just invent on the spot.

It is amazing at how taste can influence a brewery.  One brewpub I used to frequent constantly I now avoid.  Why? A new brewer came in with new recipes and put his twist on everything.  Even Old Style stopped krausening their beer causing a huge drop in sales.  This led to the eventual reintroduction of the process last year to invigorate sales.

Taste is the singe most important factor in beer.  Come back next week for an examination of how environmental factors influence people to drink craft beer.