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!

Month in Review: January 2011

This has been a great month for the blog with readership climbing above 750 readers a month for the first time.  This month's top read posts were:

1. My Binny's Beverage Depot review - a look at the chain as a whole.
2. My review of Backdraft Brown by Hook & Ladder fueled by the brewery placing my review on their Facebook page.
3. A commentary on breweries and social media.

Thank you for reading and please keep coming back as I have a great deal planned for this blog.

Glassware: The Shaker Pint

Almost every home has a shaker pint.  The glass was originally designed for use with a metal cup  to act as a cocktail shaker.  You can see the shaker pint in use as it was originally designed at any bar featuring one of those pesky mixologists.  The shaker pint does little for beer.  The glass dissipates rather than concentrates aromas.  However, I will say it is better to get the beer in this glass than stay in a bottle which is a fact often overlooked.

The shaker pint has become the herpes of beer glasses because they are cheap.  They are easy to produce, stack well, clean well and easy to drink from.  This glass was adopted by craft brewers at some point in the 1980's and just stuck.  Many breweries sell souvenir versions of shaker pints, and collecting them can become quite a hobby.  I have an every growing collection of these that has taken over the dining room.

I recommend using a shaker pint for the following beers:

• Anytime all you have is this glass
• American Light Lager
• American Amber Ale
• American Red Ale
• American Wheat Ale
• American Amber Lager

Store Review: Binny's Beverage Depot (Chain)

I thought I would give a quick overview of Binny's Beverage Depot.  Binny's controls the majority of beer sales in the Chicago region.  Binny's became the top dog after buying up Sam's, their main competition.  Writing a review of Binny's is like like trying to sum up every beer you ever drank in one post, there are just too many stores to lump together.  Binny's has a number of locations which you can find here.

The locations vary in selection and quality, and I want to say up front I have not visited all the locations.  I find the downtown location too difficult to navigate the skinny aisles, lots of people and a parking lot that makes you feel like a contortionist.  The other locations offer better parking and selections.  When you are buying several cases at a time parking is critical.  I find Anthony Gerdt of the the Glen Ellyn location to be the most helpful.  The beer manager at North Avenue is also pretty good, and the guy out in Downers Grove knows some obscure brewery reps resulting in some good choices.  The South Loop location has a bar which can score you a taste before you buy.

Most chains have a great deal of consistency.  Locations are normally similar and so are the policies.  However, each Binny's seems to be physically laid out completely different so if you decide to swing into an unfamiliar location it may take a moment to get your bearings.  Additionally, and I wrote about this before, Binny's cannot come up with a corporate policy on reserving beer.  It completely depends on who you talk to at the store.

One of my biggest issues with Binny's is the complete lack of customer service from a corporate perspective.  Yes, they have their stars.  Some managers and stock clerks know how to treat a customer, but calling a store with a question will likely yield little help.  Ordering a beer for pickup through their website is a mixed bag.  The selection is often outdated.  I understand if a beer sold out that morning, but often summer beers are listed in the middle of winter as "in stock."  Additionally, on more than one occasion I have put together a larger order (5-10) cases and showed up to find several of the beers unavailable at the location I am picking it up from.  I always place my orders 7-10 days in advance of my pick-up.  Why if they have delivery trucks running around do I need to go to two or three stores to get what I need?

My second major issue with Binny's is if your not talking to the "beer manager" your screwed.  The staff often does not know what is on the shelves.  Just this week I asked the General Manager at the Skokie store for Hoptimum.  She dutifully looked around the store for it, and eventually asked another manager.  He said "oh that beer has not been released."  It has been released and other stores have already sold out.  However, they did suggest Atomium however.

Finally, why is beer treated different than wine?  Wine drinkers get case discounts.  They also get a rebate of 2% on $500 in wine purchases.  This is the most offensive thing about Binny's.  Beer moves better than wine.  I have been told the North Avenue location can move beer like nowhere else in the Midwest.  Why should I be treated differently?

Think I am not fair to them?  Then I challenge Binny's to answer in the comments why they cannot get their act together.  The questions are:

1. What is your reservation policy on beer?
2. Why is beer ineligible for a case discount?
3. Why can't beer earn points like wine?

Beer Review: Walker's Reserve-Robust Porter by Firestone Walker

Walker's Reserve, Anniversary 14, Double Jack

At last week's release party at Piece Brewery in Chicago, Firestone Walker treated everyone to samples of three beers, the Walker's Reserve, Anniversary 14 and Double Jack.  All the samples were excellent.   Customers were offered the chance to buy a half pint and keep the glass for an extra dollar.  Well, knowing me and glassware and especially considering the glass had a "FW" nucleation point, I sprang for it.

Walker's Reserve

I like most about Walker's Reserve- Robust Porter is it is a "reserve" and a porter.  So often a reserves or special edition beer is an intense IPA or a barrel age stout.  It seems like no one comes out with a special release porter and it is good to see the style receive recognition.

Tasting Notes:
Walker's Reserve- Robust Porter poured a dark brown into a half pint glass with a moderate tan head.  A sweet aroma with chocolate and coffee give way to a creamy flavorful beer.  A drinkable porter at 5.9% ABV, and if I didn't have to work the next morning I would have stayed for another.

Memory Lane: Making Friends

After my run in with Garrett Oliver (see here) I delved into craft beer with no end in sight.  I used to scrape together enough change to go to Goose Island for a beer.  After I got to know the bartenders they would occasionally let a free one would slide my way.  I do not think Beer Bitch knew how often I went and I am scared to tell her.  I was pretty broke, but I found a place I could call home.  Goose became a place I could sit and talk and not worry.

As my finances improved I started to go to their beer academies.  I made regular pilgrimages there for years until Wil left.  After he left it was never the same.  Prices went up, pours were smaller, and quality began to suffer.  However, for the years I went I made a number of friends.  I can not tell you how ingrained the craft beer circle has become in my life.  I frequently get together with people I met at Goose and will always fondly look upon my time there fondly.

How has craft beer made an impact in your life?

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.