Seems there is a counter-offer for the Belgian behemoth SABInBevCorp.
Tongue is firmly in cheek in this open letter from Lincoln’s Beard but it does strike at where craft beer is different and why I think it is better.
Squid Ink
Some in the beer snob camp have a moral aversion to contract brewing. I do not find it as odious because I understand that there may be people of brewing skill who do not have access to the funding needed to become a fully operational craft brewery. And call it the Trader Joe’s effect but I don’t mind private label brands. To me, the beer comes first. The only downside that I have trouble with is that many of the “brands” don’t disclose the full nature either out of fear that beer fans will consider it not “crafty” enough or because Marketing 101 tells them not to. OK, the other downside is that the current contract brewers seem a bit below average.
Enter Octopi Brewing who are positioning themselves as “a one-stop shop for new beer brands, established breweries and hospitality chains.” They not only have new German brewing equipment but they also will assist in brand development too. You get brewers and designers.
If this and BrewHub in Florida take off, maybe a California version won’t be far behind.
Frogtowns and Silver Lakes
There was a rush of brewery openings at the end of 2015, and now thanks to my source at Food GPS, I have two more on the radar that we might see in 2016 or later depending on how the City of Los Angeles moves paperwork through the system.
Silver Lake Beer is one of the new ones which hopefully will have parking. FrogTown Brewing will try to work through the system in a neighborhood that is a little anti-brewery right now.
Right now the information on the ground is a little sparse but as they develop, I will post the updated information.
Beer to Whiskey in Petaluma
Looks like another brewery is into the spirits world as (new to me) Stillwater Spirits has just released it’s third iteration of Moylan’s American Whisky, (no “e”).
It is actually two whiskies:
1. 117.4 proof Double-Barrel Cask Strength Single-Malt Whisky.
2. 86 proof American Single-Malt Whisky.
Here is the description from the brewery/distillery: “Moylan’s Double-Barrel Cask Strength Single-Malt Whisky is aged for at least 4 years in new and used American White Oak barrels and finished in French Oak and Orange Brandy barrels which helps to coax out the rich, sweet luscious character of this amazing whisky. The American Single-Malt Whisky is the same blend of 5 different barrels from our collection of whisky casks. The resulting whiskies have been described as “just simply works of art.”
Trends for 2016
What to look for in 2016…according to the Beer Search Party crystal pint glass / reading the hop leaves. (BTW: This is the positive post. You can read the negative side HERE.)
1. Nitro packaging
People scoffed at the Guinness Nitro IPA last year but with Left Hand and now Breckenridge leading a Colorado charge of nitro cans plus the national presence of Samuel Adams in the niche will push this packaging option to more people. I know that I love to compare and contrast and to be able to do that with the same beer and different dispense style and NOT have to travel to a bar will be tempting.
2. More than just grapefruit
There has been a bevy of grapefruit IPA’s hitting the market. But they will be trailing the curve. Ballast Point is already moving to the next iteration of fruited IPA and by the end of the year you can expect a veritable edible arrangement of breweries in this sub-style.
3. Beer and desserts
The bloom is off the beer pairing dinner rose and in its place is the more economical and still fun dessert with beer pairing. Ice cream and girl scout cookies as well as Halloween candy get the most press but expect a wider array of sweets next to pint glasses this year.
4. Gin and tequila barrels
Bourbon and Whiskey have long ruled supreme in the world of barrel aging and parity will not happen this year but the amount of Gin barrel-aged beers and/or Tequila barrel-aged will increase and be seen more frequently. Also look for lesser known spirits to pop-up on taps as well.
Adding Anything Else? part 2
With the the fervor of a Christmas shopper in a combined Black Friday / Cyber Monday / Super Saturday addled craze, SABInBevMiller picked up three new breweries for its “High End” (for them) division. None of the lost tribe of breweries would cause a gnashing of teeth at the loss to the HE . No pick-ups that are more important than what evil the mega-industrial conglomerate could unleash in distribution and ingredient bulk buying.
In fact the important bit is that a pattern might finally be emerging out of their spending spree.
Of the seven American breweries, I would say that 10 Barrel (due to their brewing staff) and Goose Island (due to Bourbon County Stout and their sour program) could be considered top tier. The rest, especially with Dick Cantwell’s departure from Elysian, would be considered fair to a bit above average by your average beer geek. And other than clustering on the West Coast, that factor in their dating profile seems to be the dominant shared trait.
These willing victims are certainly High End for Budweiser but not for their respective states brewing scenes by any stretch. Even the two that I consider the cream of the crop Goose and 10 Barrel might be ranked in the bottom five of a top ten list for their state, Heck, I like Goose Island beers and I would rank them behind Revolution and Half Acre just in the City of Chicago alone.
It appears that the Belgian/Brazilian overlords are targeting the breweries that are big enough on quantity without being too high on the quality part of the equation. Maybe that makes the gulf between craft and light lagerland less a chasm for those selling. I think that the High End will evenutally be populated with those operations that can be understood by Bud marketers. A nano brewer operation or a brewery that doesn’t package in bottles and cans just are too far afield for SABInBevMiller to grasp.
In the long term though, I do not think that even the average craft brewery will be understood and effectively sold and marketed. The cost of buying barrels for Goose Island or financing second locations will eat into profits and will be ripe for cost cutting. There will be some economies of scale but not nearly in the dollar amounts that will be desired.
Just like the ill-fated dive into phantom craft brands that fizzled, this “High End” will eventually fade and the breweries spun off or closed (which won’t necessarily be a bad thing). There are obviously enough soon-to-be breweries to fill the gap. The bench talent is deep for craft beer.
The easier prediction to make is that more breweries will be bought in 2016.
Off to Idaho?
If someone told me that a California brewery was building a second out-of-state brewery, I would say, “Where in North Carolina?”
But the state in question is Idaho and it is San Diego based Mother Earth Brew Co. that is planning a brewery and tasting room in Nampa, ID, outside of Boise, for later in 2016.
The new brewery will allow Mother Earth to drastically increase the amount of barrels produced per year plus it will give them closer access to both the Pacific NW and the Midwest.
This Schlud’s for You
Schludwiller was a fictional California brewery that was featured in ads in the 1980’s from Henry Weinhard’s. My Dad bought a shirt with the logo emblazoned on it. If my memory holds, it was packaged in a can.
The faux-label for the beer had such gems as “A name in brewing for nearly one-half generation” and “Plywood aged for a real long time”.
I got to thinking about this gentle mockery with the apparent merger of ABInBev with SABMiller. I was playing with possible permutations of letters before they change their name to something like Altria or my personal choice OmniCorp and thought it would be fertile ground for a modern version of the Schludwiller campaign.
Peel the Label – What Might Come to Pass
Since today is Back to the Future Day, the day where Marty McFly saves the day with the help of Doc Brown and some Gigawatts, I thought it appropriate to write down what I think are trends that I see developing.
Bad Mouthing Beer Quality – We all know that not all beer is created equal. Some is bad. But we all will soon hear more and read more about the bad beer in the coming months. The Brewer’s Association gave it’s tacit approval when it exhorts members to be quality conscious and that trickles through the system to the point where names start getting named. Up until now, most criticism is done on the low-down. Either because the community is too tight-knit to criticize or because the community is too small and needs encouragement. As each craft beer scene grows and matures, the community ties fray and the need for “any” brewery is curtailed. I think the open naming of breweries to avoid will become more brazen.
More Private Equity Money in the System – Brewery owners are paying attention. If you want to protect your brand as craft, then you had better avoid the full fire sale. Not only will it get you kicked to the Brewer’s Association curb, you also get a social media earful of how horrible you are as a person to sell your brewery. Your better options are selling part of the company (The Founders-Lagunitas Way), partnering with high class – large pockets breweries (The Duvel Way) or getting private equity (The Banker Way). Beer Geeks tend to be myopic unless you are ABInBev or SABMiller so you can slide Private Equity through without too much grumbling because most people aren’t reading the Financial Times or the Wall Street Journal that regularly. More will head down that road.
Hops, Hops and Hops – This train just keeps rumbling. The demand just keeps growing like new hop varietals. Session IPA’s were the it beer last year and I do believe that we are due for another style for GABF to consider next year. I don’t know what it will be but I have a feeling light and hoppy ain’t over yet. I would not be at all surprised to see Hoppy Gruits. But a better bet might be hoppy Belgian Singles or hoppy ambers.
Less Fests – There are festivals galore but I think that the bloom is off the rose for the general all-purpose festival. That doesn’t mean that they won’t sell if done properly because there is a solera effect of new people becoming craft converts and getting excited about a festival that a jaded scribe like myself has no time for but I think the boom cycle is done and we are moving into the long tail of decline. I have been to some events (even good ones) where the crowds have been sparse. By now, especially in L.A., the festivals to go to have been pretty much set in concrete. Others can be skipped unless they have a theme or idea that really grabs the imagination.
I have no crystal ball but in talking to people and attending events and reading, these are the items that I think just might happen. Talk to me next year at this time to see if I am crazy.
Peel the Label is an occasional series where I opine about the big picture of craft beer and blogging without photos, videos or links.
Speak Freely
Our Governor Jerry Brown recently signed a much less controversial law than Death with Dignity when he approved an Assembly Bill (#780) that will permit craft breweries in California to speak freely about their product availability to their fan base via social media, including where to buy these beers at local bottle shops, beer bars and restaurants.
Before, you had to be very careful and only respond to inquiries posed TO YOU. Breweries gun shy about getting over-regulated if they broke the law, tread gingerly around Facebook and the like.
Now, a weird restriction is now gone. Making it easier for us in the buying community.