Brewdog’s ad campaign launched last week. Dubbed the “most honest ad everâ€, the brewery launched a 30-second video featuring the word ADVERT is displayed in large font with a can of Punk IPA in front of it with thrash metal music in the background.
On buses, the ad is worded ‘ADVERT ON A BUS’ above a picture of a can of their new Punk IPA.
The east London craft brewery is encouraging people to take pictures of themselves holding bottles of its own flagship beer to cover the Scottish brewer’s cans in the ads – then share the images on social media with @forestroadbrew and the hashtag #beerthatworks both on Instagram and Twitter. Beer fans who follow Forest Road’s orders can claim a free pint from Forest Road Brewing Co’s Tap Room in Hackney by showing their picture to the bar staff.
We’re excited to continue our RadCrafter series! Each volume of Craft Marketing showcases a Featured Crafter – a craft marketing professional who is crafting content, telling stories, and curating resources about the beer industry. For this edition we reached out to Chris Herron, co-founder and CEO at Creature Comforts and picked his brain about beer, brewing, and what it takes to build a strong brand that resonates with consumers in today’s craft beer market.
The Brewers Association (BA), the not-for-profit trade association dedicated to small and independent American brewers, and publishers of CraftBeer.com, is introducing the independent craft brewer supporter seal. The BA is rolling out the new supporter seal for retailers, homebrew shops, state brewers guilds, festivals, websites, etc. — any champions of independent craft breweries.
Here at the Growler, we believe there’s a time and place for every drink. Wine, liquor, N/A options, hard seltzer—even macro beers. Sure, we don’t talk about it much, but sometimes life calls for a basic beer to wash down whatever B.S. happened that day. And what better time to pay homage to our go-to macros than in our Great Debates issue? We invite you to do the same and share your favorite big-name beer with us on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Let us know if you loathe this idea, too; it is meant to be a debate, after all.
Surprising news came down late Friday that Fuller, Smith & Turner Brewing, better known as just Fuller’s had agreed to sell it’s brewery and brands (but not pubs) to Asahi UK.
Roger Protz takes a look at some of the business issues that may have led to the sale:
The second burning question is: Why did Fuller’s want to sell? It’s a highly successful business with profits of around £43 million a year.
But 90 per cent of the profits come from retailing. Profits from brewing have been falling for several years and this has led Fuller’s to join the well-worn path of brewers selling their production plants and becoming pub retailers. As some critics of Fuller’s have suggested, the writing has been on the wall for some time as the company busily built its retail side. As a result, it now owns more hotels than pubs.
While Boak & Bailey take a look at the more personal feelings the come around when a well respected and trusted brewery “sells out” and disappoints long loving fans:
And we worry about whether this means Fuller’s, as a brewery, will stagnate. What will motivate disenfranchised staff to try new things, or throw themselves into reviving old recipes? It’s been hard to find London Porter in any format for a couple of years – will this finally kill it off for good, along with poor old Chiswick? Look at Meantime: the quality or the core beer may be good, but the breadth of the offer is now distressingly bland.
and
We don’t know how this will turn out. We’re not going to boycott Fuller’s. We’re not ‘butthurt’. But something in the relationship has changed, and we will probably end up drinking less Fuller’s beer without thinking much about it.
Even Fuller’s own head brewer seemed a bit distressed:
It was a long and very emotional day yesterday. Thank you to so many of you who reached out with positive support. My priorities are with my teams and Fuller’s brewing company. We will continue to make great beers and work closely with our friends at FST @fullers
All in all it’s a key turning point for London’s most storied brewery. I, personally a huge fan of Fuller’s, am hoping it’s be beginning of a fantastic new chapter.
Watney’s (or Watney Mann, or Watney Combe Reid) was the Evil Corporation which sought to crush plucky small brewers and impose its own terrible beer on the drinking public. It acquired and closed beloved local breweries, and it closed pubs, or ruined them with clumsy makeovers.
Its Red Barrel was particularly vile – a symbol of all that was wrong with industrial brewing and national brands pushed through cynical marketing campaigns.
This, at least, was the accepted narrative for a long time, formed by the propaganda of the Campaign for Real Ale in its early years, and set hard through years of repetition.
But does it stand up to scrutiny? What if, contrary to everything we’ve heard, Red Barrel was actually kind of OK?
Creature Comforts Brewing Company will launch the 2019 campaign of its flagship community outreach program, Get Comfortable, on February 6. Starting with the 2019 campaign, the program will begin partnering with another brewery each year to release a collaborative beer to generate funds for the campaign. In the 2019 Get Comfortable season, Creature Comforts will partner with Russian River Brewing Company.
Classics can stay classics while still getting a refresh. Such is the case for Allagash White, one of the staple Belgian beers in the United States. Allagash announced last week that they’ll be canning Allagash White, as well as a new beer in their core lineup: River Trip. I got in touch with Brett Willis, marketing specialist at Allagash, to learn more about the announcement.
Steve Rosenblatt, founder of Sonoma Cast Stone, a California-based manufacturer of concrete tanks, says brewers are experimenting with concrete as a way to innovate and create distinctive new beers. “The interest started with sours, ambers and dark beers, but brewers have found even more distinction with lagers and IPAs,†he says. “There does seem to be a considerable distinction over brews fermented in stainless steel and even wood.â€
Brooklyn Brewery, a pioneer of the American craft beer revolution, is proud to announce that it will begin distributing its core lineup of award-winning beers throughout the state of California beginning January 21, 2019. As the eleventh largest independent craft brewer in the US, Brooklyn Brewery is available in 30 states, over 30 countries, and places strong emphasis on fostering a global craft beer community.
Craft breweries across the country cannot sell their new IPAs or lagers in cans or bottles because an obscure agency within the Treasury Department, the Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau, is shuttered. That’s the entity that has to sign off on product labeling, making sure it includes the necessary details about alcohol content and health warnings and no unsubstantiated claims.
Famous for costing only $22 (£17.40) for a 48 pack, coming out at less than $0.50 per can, the beer will not be sold in Costco anymore.
According to a report on in The Takeout on 12 December, the beer has been pulled from shelves all over the US.
This isn’t your traditional gift guide for beer lovers filled with things like crazy expensive growlers that look way better than they work, IPA scented beard wax, or a bluetooth enabled cooler. No, not at all, these are things that beer lovers will really love and really use. So, better late than never, here’s our super awesome last second holiday gift guide for the beer lovers on your list.
Give the gift of beer!
What a novel idea, giving beer to a beer lover! But, be warned, beer lovers are a picky bunch. There are a few beers that anyone would love to get, but there’s also a better idea, let them choose their own beer.
Tavour Gift Card [$25-$1000]
I’m a big fan of Tavour over traditional beer clubs. Tavour doesn’t just send a box of random beers out every month but lets the subscriber pick which beers they want or pick no beer at all. They offer multiple new beers released just about every day that can be added to the subscriber’s box. This means the beer lover only pays for and gets what they really want. Once a month has gone by, the selections are boxed up and packed very well then sent off for a flat shipping rate. A great gift if you aren’t really sure what the beer lover on your list is craving.
Magnum of Anchor Our Special Ale
This beer is brewed to a slightly different recipe every year and has been for 44 years. But in recent years it’s been an interesting and slightly spiced brown ale that just happens to go great with turkey. Anchor’s Our Special Ale is my go to beer to bring along to holiday parties. If you want to make an extra special splash, bring along the magnum — a huge 1.5 liter bottle is sure to impress and it won’t break the bank.
Anchor Our Special Ale is available just about everywhere, but not all liquor stores carry it. Use this Anchor Beer Finder to find where you can get it near you.
Give the gift of Beer Knowledge!
Once a beer lover passes into the world of true beer geekdom, they start searching for more and more information about beer. Giving books is a great way to give them that information. Brewers Publications produce some of the very best books on beer. They also offer an eGift Card if you aren’t sure what to get.
Cicerone study materials are a great way to get more information as well. Especially if that beer lover want to be the go to resource for beer knowledge. The downside is that they will never look at a bartender pouring a beer without wanting to point our three things they did wrong.
Best yet, for that last minute gift, head to your local brewery or brewpub and pick up something there — a t-shirt, bottle opener, or even beer to go. Local is always better.
The wave started with Blockbuster, back in September. The almost-defunct video store’s swan song had nothing to do with movies, but rather beer: The last standing location collaborated with its Bend, OR, neighbor 10 Barrel Brewing on a black ale appropriately named The Last Blockbuster. Less than two weeks later, Dunkin’ Donuts released a coffee porter with fellow Massachusetts favorite, Harpoon Brewery. It was IHOP’s turn next: The chain followed up the great IHOb debacle with IHOPS, a pumpkin pancake stout made with Keegan Ales. Then, in late October, Planters and Noon Whistle Brewing unveiled their IPA-Nut IPA. Four beers, in two short months, from four companies that all have one thing in common: They do not make beer. So, why the sudden rush to release these craft brew collaborations?
