Follow Sean Inman to the best in craft beer
my occasional rants and raves about what is going on in the industry.
I fully get that job hunting is not a looked forward to activity even in the best of times. And now, well, it is not in the same zip code as the best of times. Which means that any avenue or resource is important. And the LA Brewers Guild has one such resource. Bookmark the link at the top, maybe you will see a match that can lead to something bigger when the virus lets us resume normal activity.
There have been three cool things to come out of the viral lockdown shitshow we are in the middle? of. Some Good New with John Krasinski. The Staying In podcast with Emily and Kumail and Reunited Apart hosted by Josh Gad.
On the final episode which features Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, the featured charity was CORE. Children of Restaurant Employees. In case you missed the episode or the opportunity to donate, consider this your second chance to do so.
One of the event casualties of the virus was the Great American Beer Festival (GABF) which sucks for many reasons. It has been a reliable revenue stream for Denver area breweries, the Colorado economy and the Brewers Association (BA) Due to the loss of their marquee event, the BA has had layoffs, most notably of the hard working and traveling Julia Herz who I have had the pleasure of hearing speak on a number of occasions.
As that news hit, the GABF announced the 2020 version of their event which is a t-shirt and a passport. That passport “will have exclusive access to beery deals at participating festival breweries nationwide, and access to exclusive online content October 16-17. Online content will include Brewers Studio happy hours, tastings and interviews with brewers from around the country.”
I would love to see a behind the scenes of the judging. I know this year is not normal but I think it would be to get a peek at the process of one of the biggest aspects of the festival. I also think they should have a monthly countdown to next year’s event to keep GABF in people’s minds.
The Craft Beer Marketing Awards were held last week in a Zoom ceremony that was a little long and heavy on the word “congrats” and there’s was a little love for our extended area.
Third Window of a Santa Barbara won a runners-up “Gold” for Best Bottle Design in the 12oz, 12.7oz and 16.9oz category.
The Bruery also got Gold for their packaging design for the Hoarders Society.
Bigger winners, aka Platinum went to Calidad for website photography and video and El Segundo newcomer, Upshift Brewing also took top honors for their flight tray, that they dubbed the Moto Flight with the handlebar design.
The NBA recently timelined their path to finishing the 2019/2020 season as well as draft and the 2020/2021 season. MLS is on the path back as well with the NFL still sitting with starting their season as planned.
But fans. They will be at home for some time. Either by the rules of the respective leagues or from fear. How is that gonna change the might combination of beer and sports? Well any company that has a significant percentage of business with sports stadiums is gonna lose that. That is mostly the big players. But they may be able to recoup part of that with branded packaged beer. KC Chiefs logo on Bud Light being one.
But the reduction in sales is going to extend to sports bars as well where seating capacity is now reduced and in L.A. food purchases are oddly required. Both of which will reduce beer sales. And that is before we even talk about unemployment.
Personally, I would have scratched the NBA, MLS and MLB seasons and waited until fall. The seasons were already compromised statistically and will be forever marked by asterisks. And without ticket sales, finances were going to suck anyway.
I do see a major concession surge though when the first fan filled games begin.
There is not a lot of things that CCBA could stand for (that makes sense) but Kern River Brewing has found the right combo of words to honor both the California Craft Brewers Association AND give a shout out to hang tough because California Can Beat Anything.
The Great American Beer Festival (GABF), the big beer festival on the calendar is not going on as in the past. Instead of September 24-26 at the Big Blue Bear and in person in Denver, it will now be an “immersive online experience October 16-17.”
Though this sucks for the beer community and the breweries and bars in Denver that saw a big attendance boost, it was not a decision that comes as much of a surprise considering how 2020 is shaping up to be a year filled with bad news.
According to the Brewers Association, the virtual GABF is still in the planning stages but expect to see beer tastings, brewer interviews as well as food and beer pairing ideas possibly with a delivery of beer angle as well.
The good news is that the beer competition will take place in 2020. Will Pandemic beer be a style category?
I see this as a golden opportunity to try out crazy ideas and also how to incorporate more of the country into GABF since plane fare and time away is now off the table as an excuse not to go. And if all goes well with the re-openings, maybe smaller, mini GABFs can be held around the country. I vote for any wacky plan.
Grand RE-openings. There are going to be quite a few if people in Texas and Wisconsin are any indication when given any sort of quasi-approval to open the doors again. Previously, I talked about the simple ebb and flow problems that will arise when a taproom reopens but what about bigger parties?
There are breweries that were just about to open, breweries who will be ready this summer and a backlog inventory of missed anniversary parties in the second half of the year.
How do you creatively balance the celebration aspect with the safety aspect? On Mother’s Day not only were people viral video complaining about the wait times at Red Lobster but they were going to church, sick. Less than a week later 200 people were sick. From 1, one person.
How do you get beer fans to your brewery and then keep them safe and in a fun mood? I do not have the answers. I have been visiting breweries to pick-up only with a mask on but I understand if people are not comfortable with gatherings.
I would say that providing branded masks would be a good start. Having a hosted video of parties would be good as well with options for VIPs to get beer and special video. Sending beer to EMTs or hospitals would be good. Maybe doing a drop off for the hardworking grocery store workers. Creativity will need to come to the fore.