It’s been exactly a year now since Here’s to Beer debuted at last year’s Super Bowl. But this year there wasn’t even a whisper about the beer advocacy campaign and a quick survey of the website reveals that news there hasn’t been updated since September of last year and the most recent industry news is from last July. Now that Bob Lachky has been promoted onto greener pastures (he became chief creative officer in October) it doesn’t seem like A-B’s attempt to promote beer is really going anywhere.
I met with Bob Lachky at an A-B reception held in conjunction with GABF last September. He was quite gracious, even about all of the criticism about Here’s to Beer from me and others. He spoke with great enthusiasm about the project and indeed seemed quite sincere. But he also was so polished and well-spoken that he seemed a bit like a politician. That’s not necessarily a criticism but it made what he was saying lack spontanity and you couldn’t help but think he’d given this speech before, and probably over and over again. But, of course, you don’t rise quickly in a large corporation without learning a few things about how to present yourself, and I suspect that’s the reason Bob Lachky is where he is today.
But the week following GABF, Augie IV had a new job for Lachky and I’ve heard nary a thing about Here’s to Beer since. Nor has there been any news about the documentary film they are supposedly sponsoring, American Brew, by Roger Sherman. Sherman’s Florentine Films website still lists the film as “in production,” but they were showing a healthy, polished looking percentage of the film as a teaser at GABF back in September. The point is, with Lachky gone I suspect the enthusiasm for the Here’s to Beer idea has likely faded, too. A-B is no longer feeling as threatened as they did in late 2005, which is what led to them starting Here’s to Beer in the first place.
I continue to think an advocacy campaign to educate and promote good beer generally is a terrific idea, but A-B was never the right company to take on such a task. Perhaps the Brewers Association or the even the Beer Institute could take it over and do something with it. Until then, we’ll just have to continue promoting beer in the same we have been for years and years; one drink at a time, one person at a time.
Bob Lachky, me and Bill Brand at the GABF reception given by A-B.
I saw Bob Lachky at the Cheers Beverage Conference in New Orleans last week and can assure you that, taking his presentation at face value, ‘Here’s to Beer’ is still very much a viable concern. The website appears dormant now, he says, because it’s receiving a thorough overhaul, which includes the creation of new interactive components. And the movie is set for premiere on the History Channel some time in April.
Perhaps part of the problem with A-B’s faded enthusiam towards their “Here’s to Beer” program is the fact that everybody, from the craft beer industry to competitors like SABMiller have chosen to ignore their efforts.
Since everything A-B does is perceived by craft brewers as rolling out of the Gates of Hell, it’s no wonder that craft brewers have chosen to ignore what A-B was trying to do. There always isn’t, however, a boogeyman under the bed.
You can take what they’re doing with a grain of salt as pure self-promotion (probably why Miller chose to ignore the program), but with 150 + years of existence under its belt, there might be something here that A-B’s “Here’s to Beer” program could hold that might benefit the entire brewing community — big and small.
It used to be the United States Brewers Association and their propoganda arm (not perjorative), the United Brewers Industrial Foundation, that led the stumbling years after Repeal with programs like “Beer Belongs” and “Beer, the Beverage of Moderation.” They did it for the good of the industry and were welcomed by big and small brewers for what they did to bring beer into the home and make it a part of our everyday lives.
I don’t see anyone else today stepping up and putting aside their own self-interests to do what the USBA once did. A-B’s efforts might be worth a second look, at least in this instance.