Georgia hates microbreweries

Our neighborhood restaurant (and by that I don’t mean Applebee’s) is incredible. It’s called the Treehouse and it’s a converted house with a huge deck, great food, and g eat beer.

In a recent visit there I was quite disappointed to find that nearly all (3 out of the 4) beers they carried on tap were no longer available. At first I thought the waitress was just kidding but as I explored the topic further I became a bit upset. Turns out all three of these beers now have a new distributor in the Atlanta area. Turns out that distributor (who shall remain nameless) is the “King of Beers” and as part of their policy they simply won’t be selling to small establishments such as the Treehouse. Not cool in my opinion.

Georgia has this wonderfully insane system that essentially gives all power to the distributors and big brewers and screws both the consumer and the microbrewers (see article). In a country and a time where the small guy is able to compete like never before (ex. mom and pop can compete against Fortune 500s via tools like ebay) we have this strange segment of products (beer) that just haven’t gotten the benefit ? especially in Georgia.

Hopefully the landscape will start to change in the coming years. Stay tuned for things like Support Your Local Brewery, SaveBeer.org and other grassroots movements to force political change (as well as tastebud changes for all our friends who have NO idea what good beer tastes like). And remember at the end of the day to support your local establishments (if they are not Applebee’s).

I officially hate Carlsberg

And that’s after trying only one of their beers (Tetley’s). I recently read an interview in The McKinsey Quarterly with Carlsberg’s senior VP, Alex Myers. The article outlines the steps Carlsberg (which encompasses about 100 different beer brands) is taking to combat proliferating channels, media and customer segments. A few tasty morsels from the interview:

“In Germany… we simultaneously distribute private-label and fighter brands and have one brewery dedicated to their production.”

NOTE: Beer should be differentiated by MORE than a brand name.

“[Brand] stretching is something we will do, usually by varying the alcohol level or the beer type. So you could have a light or alcohol-free variety and an extra strong one or a darker, lighter, or maybe citrus-flavored one.”

NOTE: If that’s variation, I don’t want to know what keeping it the same looks like.

“Perhaps one day we will have to produce other types of products, malt based by nonalcoholic.”

NOTE: Lame.

“Historically, brewers have been very big in the middle of the market, and if you go all the way back it was about having one brand in town: a single-geography strategy, if you like. Now there’s a polarization between the top and the bottom, and the risk is getting stuck in the middle. As I said, I see a big potential at the top, where variation and delivering experiences for consumers will bring higher margins. It’s almost as if beer is in the entertainment or chocolate business, providing new tastes and flavors at high prices.”

NOTE: Way to suck the life out of beer.

And here I was thinking that good beer was more than just a new flavor at a high price… He sounds like the CMO for Starbucks. It sucks seeing beer reduced to this kind of marketing drivel. I’ve come to expect it from Anheuser-Busch and company. And now from Carlsberg.

Good marketing does not equal bad beer

Al over at Hop Talk has just written an excellent post on the power of marketing in beer. The brunt of the argument is this, from writer Bill Virgin:

Put samples of half a dozen or so mass-market American beers before a panel of drinkers in a blind taste test, and even the most confirmed quaffers would be lucky to match two to the right brand.

But put half a dozen or so mass-market American beer advertising slogans or jingles before a panel of testers, and even teetotalers with some exposure to media would come close to a perfect score.

One of the arguments is that the difference between big beer and craft beer is that big beer spends more on marketing than they do on quality products (both ingredients and quality control). While this may be true, I think marketing many times gets a bum rap when connected to beer. People only think about Superbowl ads. In reality, everything a company does that a consumer sees is “marketing” in some shape or form.

Craft brewers have as much a need for good marketing as big brewers. But while Budweiser might produce a funny ad, a micro might instead hold a community event or sponsor a party. And micros have no excuse for producing bad packaging. They’ve got less to lose in the way of offending someone, which brings me to the best beer slogan ever:

“The official beer of Planet Earth” from Butte Creek Brewing. Thanks to Brookston Beer Bulletin for the coverage!

Update: Georgia’s breweries under fire

As many of you know, Georgia is currently considering some legislation to make our state’s beer laws even MORE lame. There is the distinct possibility that brewery tours and tasting rooms will be limited in serving a meager 2 oz of any beer, up to 16 oz total. While this primarily affects Sweetwater, Atlanta Brewing Company and Terrapin, it would also affect MNB once we open our brewery.

Fortunately this issue is gaining some traction: The Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Atlanta’s newspaper, recently ran a nice little story on proposed legislation. From a brewery’s perspective, I think the AJC sums up the brunt of the issue nicely:

There’s no question the beer-tasting sessions are a major marketing tool for micro-breweries with limited advertising budgets.

From the consumer’s perspective the cons are obvious: less beer. And since we fall down on both sides, I can only hope that this Prohibition-era law doesn’t get passed.

Save Georgia’s m crobrewery!

I have gotten multiple emails today calling for action against an initiative being voted on in the Georgia Department of Revenue. In a nutshell, there is a chance that microbrewery tours in Georgia could become severely restricted in the amount of beer each person can sample. The cap would be 2 oz per beer, with a maximum of 16 oz.

As three guys interested in starting a microbrewery in Georgia in a few years, this would affect us in more than one way. Yes, brewery tours would most likely be a little farther down the list of things to do. But, as potential brewery owners, we’re also interested in keeping brewery regulations… how do I put this… not Communist.

So take a few minutes and give the GA Department of Revenue your mind. Send the following note to this address. Make sure to add YOUR name and address. You can find out more information here.

To: Commissioner Graham

Re: Notice Number AT-2007-1
560-2-2-.61

The Georgia Department of Revenue has proposed a significant change in the states’ long standing policy on service limitations for brewery tours. The proposed new rule will adversely affect my decision as a customer of the breweries, to attend the tours. By doing so it will also put at risk the brewer’s investment in facilities designed to attract and accommodate tour attendees such as myself and will severely limit the marketing and sales of the brewery’s products. I oppose adoption of the proposed rule change and respectfully urge the department to withdraw proposed rule 3a.

Sincerely,
YOUR NAME AND ADDRESS HERE

Fosters: Australian for “Urine”

So I’ve been “Down Under” (in Australia) for the past week and am finally getting ready to head home. First off, I’ve gotta say that the Aussies are one friendly bunch. I actually mentioned my impression in passing to someone at dinner last night and was informed that they have recently been surpassed by the CANADIANS! Yes, that’s right, there IS actually a friendliest country award, Australia used to own it and as of last week they just lost out to the Canadians. I’ve been to Canada and I think the survey must be a bunch of crap.

Anyhow, I have taken some time to sample the local beers but I must first dispel a common myth – Fosters is NOT Australian for beer. In fact after a week here I have yet to find a place that serves Fosters and most people don’t even know what it is. That being said I did enjoy much of what the Aussies had to offer in the way of beer. Coopers Brewery has a great naturally carbonated pale Ale (sort of similar to a Sierra Nevada) and a Tasmanian brewer James Bogue has a good lager. My favorite by far though is the James Squire Amber Ale. They’ve been brewing it for over 125 years and use some native Australian hops. It has a nice copper colour and a fabulous finish. And yes, if you read the description page it says it goes well with Kangaroo – believe it or not that’s how I drank it last night – with a side of rare smoked kangaroo!

Beerducation Part 2

Not to be outdone by Jeff, I have made a few book purchases of my own to add to our ever-growing Beer Knowledge Library (ribbon cutting ceremony this August). First, Fermenting Revolution by Chris O’Brien. I became interested in the book after stumbling upon Chris’s blog, dedicated to “drinking beer and saving the world.” I’m hoping there will be some good stuff on organic brewing and sustainability practices for brewers and breweries.

Second, I’ve purchased Ambitious Brew: The Story of American Beer by Maureen Ogle after hearing a very interesting 2-part interview with her on Basic Brewing Radio. Said interviews can be found here (see November 30th and December 7th). Essentially she dispels many American myths cherished by craft brewers and homebrewers ? the most controversial of which is, in my opinion, this one: