|
RBPMail 2.02, February 1996
Real Beer Page Mail (RBPMail) began as a modest update to craft-brew events on the WWW. It evolved into a news digest and sometimes editorial forum. We present its contents here much as they were emialed to subscribers. Often, links you will see are out of date, and businesses referred to may also be long gone.
In this issue:
You Think You've Got A Monopoly? Try South Africa!
This story falls under the "you think you got it bad..." genre. It's monopoly
one-upmanship in the industrial beer world. You may pause in awe,
amusement or disgust when you consider that nearly half of all the beer sold
in the U.S. is produced by Anheuser-Busch. That includes industrial beers
by Miller and Coors (see next article) and the second shelf of national
brewers. Imagine this stat as a single consumer, pouring an average beer --
45 parts A-B, 22 parts Miller ... etc. You get the idea -- you get an average,
industrial, "fizzy beer." As you'll see in some of the remaining articles,
the big brewers are responding to the consumer spending message with
concern, attention and -- at times -- deceptive or misleading strategies. Off
the Associated Press newswire, we read of two areas that may have it worse
off than the U.S.
In Thailand, Boon Rawd, producer of Singha, claims 82-85% of the
market, a slight drop from 90% when government regulation handed them
the monopoly. That drop, represented by incoming Carlsberg and
Heineken, does not affect Boon Rawd's bottom line as household income
increases in Thailand. Their total beer sales for 1995 were 635 million liters,
up from 505 million in 1994 and more than 2x the 288 million 4-years
earlier. Averages annual sales growth has been just under 20% and is
expected to double by 2002.
Meanwhile, over in Africa, South African Breweries (SAB), have been
implementing an aggressive expansion strategy through buying into money-
losing breweries in Zambia, Tanzania and Mozambique, China and
Hungary as cash-strapped governments privatize them. The $8.7 billion
dollar conglomerate, third largest of in the country behind two mining
giants, controls 98% -- **98%** -- of the South African beer market of
23.5 million liters, the continent's largest. Flagship brands are Castle and
Lion. Boycotting these brands will literally leave you dry.
Return to Top
Who Cares? They'll Drink It!
Miller has splashed the media with a new beverage creatively dubbed
"Miller Beer." The brand experts must have been trying to justify their
salaries when they came up with this one: the press release describes the
beer as targeted at Bud, "full-caloried", price-pointed at $3.50-$4.25/six
pack and rolled out in Texas, Florida and Louisiana in February. Did we
miss something? Conspicuously overlooked are small details about the
qualitative experience of the beer. What flavor profile will the beer have? Do
they plan on using any detectable hops? Will the alcohol be created by corn
sugars or rice grits? Gravities? Follow our lead on this one brethren and
sisteren, only trust a beer that 's produced by a real brewer who cares about
the details.
Return to Top
More Industrial Beer Inanity
None of the "bigs" are off the hook this month. Hoof-in-Mouth award goes
to Coors spokesperson, Jay Downer, while describing a new beer produced
exclusively for Tennessee called Memphis Brown. The beer is described as
"a low-calorie dark beer ...[with] the molasses taste of a dark beer, but the
thick flavor disappears quickly." Here comes the winning quote: "It's easier to drink low-
caloried dark beers compared to other dark beers that can leave a customer
falling asleep or feeling full," said Downer (perhaps he deserves an award
for his name, too) In the world of mass-consumed beers, one might feel full
or drowsy after polishing a twelve-pack of any beverage. But craft beer
wasn't designed to be consumed massively. Downer must be assuming that
their move into more substantial beers will bring the same drinking habits
the large breweries have traditionally banked on by creating beers that can
be consumed without notice. By the way, the opening market slogan for the
beer is "Don't Fear This Dark Beer." We should all feel a little
uncomfortable that these guys are educating the market with their
advertising weight. Source: The Commercial Appeal, Memphis 1/10/96,
Business pg. 9B.
Return to Top
Wildlife Banned In Ohio
Both the bird and the frog were banned from Ohio in a single swift decision
by the Ohio Liquor Control Board. Actually, it was a frog flying the bird --
you know: the finger; the international peace sign; the victory or "we're
number one" salute sans the index finger -- on the label of Bad Frog Beer
that was considered obscene and banned for sales in the state. The beer with
questionable taste apparently tastes good -- it won a bronze medal in the ale
category at the 1996 World Beer Championships conducted by the Beverage
Testing Institute in Chicago. Bad Frog is contract brewed at the
Frankenmuth Brewery. To see the logo and learn more about the beer in
question, check out: http://www.realbeer.com/badfrog/. (No longer available.)
Return to Top
Home Brewers Beware Of Chronic Yeast Infections
If you or your spouses gets a yeast infection that won't quit regardless of
remedies, your brewer's yeast may be to blame. According to a report
published in the journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, brewer's yeast,
Saccharomyces cerevisiae, may also give rise to vaginitis. Although it looks
and acts like an ordinary yeast infection caused by Candida albicans,
treatments are necessarily different. Through DNA screening of four
"incurable" patients exposed to live yeast, Paul Nyirjesy, M.D., director of
Temple University's Vaginitis Referral Center, discovered that the yeast
from the subjects matched samples of yeast from their environment. Yeast
infections due to casual encounters with S. cerevisiae are relatively
uncommon. Nyirjesy estimates not more than 5% of chronic yeast
infections stem from casual contact. He recommends that those exposed to
the live yeast with recurrent infections should ask for a culture; standard
smears studied under a microscope don't always reveal its presence.
Treatment includes 600 milligrams of boric acid in suppository form for 14
days. Prevention is easier - wash hands with soap and water along with
scrubbing under finger nails following handling live yeast. Source: Shape
Magazine, 2/96 pg. 30.
Return to Top
Home Brewers Make A Little, Sam Makes Out Big
Boston Beer, contract brewers of the Sam Adam's brand, announced the
winners of their World Homebrew Contest. 1620 beers from seven
countries were judged, ten were chosen to brew small pilot batches from
which three finalists were selected. The grand winners are James Simpson
of New York for an American Pale Ale, Jeffrey Grisold of British Columbia
for a Bavarian Black Beer and Doug Parker of Florida for a Hazlenut
Brown Ale. All entrants received a tee-shirt and some hops. Grand winners
earn $2000 in travel vouchers to a national beer event of their choice and
$5000 royalty on the commercial beers that will be made from their recipe.
That's comes to $21,000 for grand-prizes as the cost create three new brand
products for a company that spent 46 million in advertising in 1994. Pretty
thrifty and sharp, Mr. Koch.
Return to Top
Two's A Trend, Five's A Movement
Anchor Brewing in San Francisco, CA is commonly credited with reviving
the craft-brew movement in the U.S., and nowhere has the movement taken
off so quickly, loyally and early as the Northwest. So, it should be no
surprise to craft-brew web surfers that the Northwest has grown fastest in
embracing the Web as another forum to express their enthusiasm and spread
the good word. Join us here for a quick brewtour of the Pacific Northwest
on the Web:
We start our journey at one of the earliest Northwest breweries to the web,
where the active surf rests beneath cliffs topped with giant redwoods near
the Oregon border of California. Lost Coast Brewing Company
(http://realbeer.com/lostcoast/) was founded by, Barbara Groom,
one of the
country's first female microbrewers since revolutionary time and produces
the delicious and beautifully labeled Downtown Brown in Eureka, CA.
Traveling up the scenic stretch of coastline to Newport, OR you'll find the
dastardly hopped creations of John Maier at Rogue Brewing
(http://realbeer.com/rogue/). In Portland, the city with more
breweries per
capita than any other city in the world, you'll enjoy Portland Brewing
(http://realbeer.com/portland/). Across the Willamette River that
divides
the City of Roses you'll arrive at Nor'Wester (http://www.norwester.com/).
One hour by car or a millisecond by hyperlink will land you at the very cool
Heart Brewing in Seattle, WA, producers of Thomas Kemper Lagers and
Pyramid Ales (http://www.HartBrew.com/).
Take the tour online by
opening saving this mail to disk and opening the file with your web
browser:
Return to Top
The Name Thorn - Editorial
Would a rose by another name smell as sweet? The big news in the last
week was a complaint lodged with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and
Firearms by Anheuser-Busch and 35 microbrewers asking for rules
requiring the label to contain the real brewer's name.
Miller struck back the next day in a statement that said "As quality beers
...continue to build popularity, Budweiser continues to suffer significant
declines in sales. The industry leader is looking to use a government agency
to stifle competition." Lori Handfelt, a Coors spokes person echoed these
sentiments saying that A-B's petition is "a response to a competitive
situation" stoked by the market popularity of microbrews and specialty
beers. The BATF responded the same day saying that it may force brewers
to list brewing origin information on their labels.
At the Real Beer Page, we're all for consumer advocacy and accuracy in
marketing, which often starts at the label. So, what does Coors and Miller
have to hide? George Killian's and Blue Moon, both Coors products, use
the Unibev label. Miller's Red Dog, Icehouse and Southpaw brands are
sold under the Plank Road Brewery name. A-B may be lobbing rocks at
glass houses - their Elk Mountain has the Anheuser-Busch name displayed
on the back of the neck label in letters 1/8 if an inch high. All of these
brewers are trying to distance their company name with these products to
fool an uninformed public into thinking there is something special about
their industrial brew. It's branding that attempts to exploit the good name
created by the hard work, passion and dedication of craft-brewers who
invest more in their cost of materials than any major brewer ever will.
We've heard reports that the craft-brewers amount to less than 2% of sales
in the U.S., but up to 10% of hops sales. Ralph Olson puts the number at a
more conservative 5-6%, which is still three times more than large brewers.
We think the issue differs when it comes to some contract brewers, but the
outcome should be the same. Pete's Brewing does not pose as a
microbrewer, although they may soon be able to if recently plans to build
their own brewery succeed. Boston Beer's commercials used to be
misleading about the nature of hand-craftsmanship among other things. But
now both of these marketing companies, along with Rhino Chasers in
Southern California are investing in educating about beer styles, quality,
character and diversity. For the most part, what they do is great for the
business. We still would like to see mention from Sam Adams that it is
brewed by Stroh and G. Heilman. Petes should say "brewed under
contract" by Stroh until they get their own brewery. And so on.
Want a true microbrewed red canine beer? Onalaska Brewing Co. who's
annual production is below 300 bbls/year, built and run by Dave & Sue
Moorehead, are the producers of the "original" RED DAWG ALE. "In
Washington we spell 'Dawg' correctly," writes Dave. For brewers like
Dave and Sue, we advocate better labeling and support the A-B initiative,
however competitive be their motivation.
While we're on the topic of factual labeling there's another thorn that's been
in our paw. If we accept that brewing is an art steeped in tradition and
culture, and -- like wine -- receives prominence and position from this
historical context, we should respect beer definitions as well. In the wine
industry, the names Bordeaux and Champagne are appellations -- reserved exclusively for
wines made in these regions. All other wines, even those emulating the style
of wines from these areas, have earned new names. Lambic, Trappist and
Kolsh beers are also appellations. Sam Adams did not make a lambic this year, but
they named a beer "Lambic." Many breweries we've seen across the states
are breaking out beers designed after those made in the
Koln/Cologne
region. The
problem we have is that American Brewers are calling these beers Kolsh.
We prefer Hart Brewing's nod to tradition with their "Kalsh" beer, a
combination of "Kolsh" for the style of beer and "Kalama" where much of
the product is brewed. And any brewer passing off a Trappist beer better
have a Belgian Monk in their brewery. As an industry it's important that we
maintain the integrity of our tradition.
Return to Top
Real Beer Page Additions
New Companies:
Bad Frog Brewing http://realbeer.com/badfrog/
Blue Hen Brewing Company http://realbeer.com/bluehen/
DME Equipment Manufacturing: http://realbeer.com/DME/
Nor'Wester Brewing http://www.NorWester.com/
Shipyard Brewing http://realbeer.com/shipyard/
New Content:
Check out the excellent editorial by Ben Myers and Gregg Smith at
http://realbeer.com/rbp/authors/
Both are extremely knowledgeable and gifted writers and their topics span
the range from beer styles to beer festivals, homebrewing to beer poetry.
Both also hold the distinction of heading up the North American Guild of
Beer Writers.
New People:
We've put in place a growing national network of representatives to service
the U.S. Craft Brew Marketing effort on the WWW. We are also in the
process of creating relationships in Canada and other parts of the U.S. To
support the marketing infrastructure and continue to evolve the Real Beer Page
into a world-class site, we've also added technical and design specialists to
our team. Please join us in welcoming:
Representation:
Sebbie Buhler - NY, PA
Jamie Magee - MA, CT
Scott O'Neill - CO
Steve Strong - Midwest
Administration
Sadie Honey
Technical Resources
Mike Wood - Sys Admin
John Keeling - Communications Design
John Par... - Technical Support
|
