The lucky 13th annual Boonville Beer Festival turned into Boontstock this weekend as several inches of rain poured down on the Anderson Valley. The mud and rain didn’t seem to deter anyone, either from camping or going to the festival. I really thought the turnout would be lighter this year with the virtual certainty of rain all weekend. But from what I could see, this year’s festival was as well-attended as any, with festival-goes showing great ingenuity in their attempts to stay dry.

While the rain continued to pour down most of the day, the brewers were under tents, animal stalls or wooden stands wth makeshift plastic roofs.

Like a dry and surprised Brian Hunt, from Moonlight Brewing.

In the old festival area, this year brewers were inside the Lamb Palace, where though it was crowded, at least everyone could stay dry.

For many more photos from this year’s Boonville Beer festivalt, visit the photo gallery.
 

As I reported a couple of days ago, the preliminary Top 10 was revealed from the Millward Brown Optimor Top 100. Today the full list was revealed. The full list, with analysis, is available for free as a pdf at their website.

Of the Top 100, as in past years, only Budweiser made the list. It came in at #52, up 18 spots from #70 last year with a brand increase of 23%. That, of course, seems strange since sales are relatively flat, and have been for some years now. If you’re interested on learning more about how they came up with the rankings, there’s a short video that explains it in greater detail.

 
Here’s the Top 10 in the beer sector:

And here’s how the beer segment is analyzed in the MBO Report:

Beer Lightens Up At Home

The brand value of the beer category has grown by 15 percent, benefiting from the consumer effort to economize by shifting consumption from bars and restaurants to home. Bud Light surpassed Budweiser in brand value, with a year-on-year increase of 33 percent, reflecting the rising popularity of light beers. This accomplishment has been driven in part by a shift in tastes, the trend toward increased health consciousness, and competitive pricing. At the super-premium end of the market, Kronenbourg 1664, has moved up in the rankings to number 10 from number 12. This advance was driven by a 41 percent increase in year-on-year brand value, which places it among the top 20 risers in the BrandZ ranking. By strange coincidence the Kronenbourg 1664 brand value is $1,664 million. The brand was introduced in Russia last year, where overall consumption has quadrupled after legislation relaxed restrictions on beer drinking.

Heineken remains in third place after Bud Light and Budweiser, with a 10 percent year-on-year rise in brand value. Attempting to keep the brand relevant as consumption shifts away from on-premise consumption, Heineken explored campaigns that emphasize serving premium beer for at-home events. With Carlsberg, Heineken last year took over Scottish and Newcastle. The transaction was part of an industry consolidation trend that also included the combining of SAB Miller and Molson Coors into MillerCoors and the merger of InBev and Anheuser-Busch. Consolidation may continue, but probably not on this scale because of the limited availability of credit.

Notice how the brand value change is so volatile, much more so than actual sales of these brands. Their comment about Bud Light surpassing Bud “reflecting the rising popularity of light beers” seems pretty naive since light beers have been outselling their non-low-calorie counterparts for years, if not decades. Bud Light itself has been outselling Budweiser for many years, but this is the first year it overtook Bud in “brand value?” That calls into question a few things about the metric their using. I realize that “brand value” is not the same as sales, but the two should at least have some correlation to the marketplace, otherwise what’s the point?

Anyway, it’s an interesting exercise and I’ll be interested to see what happens next year with all the changes at the large-scale beer companies.

This is one of the strangest lists of the top anything in the beer world for quite some time. Matador Trips, which bills itself as providing “trip ideas for travelers,” had one of their frequent contributors, Eric Warren, create a list of what they’re calling the “Top 20 Microbreweries in America.” It’s as head-scratching a list as ever I’ve seen. I know these things are almost pure opinion and that reasonable people can differ widely. I come up with my own Top 10 lists most weeks, so I know what a chore it can be. But they should, I feel, have some grounding in reality, and should at least try to maintain some internal consistency, adjust for personal bias (or at least cop to it) and be a reflection of the actual trends or reality (and if not at least be able to support the choices).

So imagine my surprise after nearly 20 years of paying very close attention to the world of beer, that the top two microbreweries in all the land I’ve barely even heard of. I’m sure they’re fine places, and I by no means wish to disparage them, but apart from the locals (and Stan, who’s been everywhere) how many people would have placed these two so high on a list of this title? How many are actually “microbreweries?” At least a few on his list are “brewpubs,” not that there’s anything wrong with that. Boundary Bay Brewing is, for example, currently the largest brewpub in America. Barrio Brewing, the #2 micro, opened in 2007 and doesn’t bottle or can their beer. Another one on the list, the Novare Res Bier Cafe doesn’t even appear to brew beer, but is instead an apparently decent beer bar in Maine. Really, he couldn’t fine one more actual brewery to round out the list?

I’m trying not to be too much of a dick here, but if you’re going to use the term “microbreweries,” it seems reasonable that you should know or find out what it means to be a microbrewery. A Microbrewery has a specific definition, but even beyond that there are some odd choices and glaring omissions that almost anybody paying attention would undoubtedly notice. The author gives no formula or idea of how he made his choices. Dartboard, perhaps? I should point out that Warren has lived in Montana for 25 years and is currently in Maine, so that may at least give some of his choices context.

Here’s the list. You probably know where I stand. What’s your take? Good list, or worthless?

 
The Top 20 Microbreweries in America, According to Matador Trips

1. Kettlehouse Brewing, Missoula, Montana
2. Barrio Brewing, Tucson, Arizona
3. Full Sail Brewing, Hood River, Oregon
4. Second Street Brewery, Santa Fe, New Mexico
5. Clipper City Brewing, Baltimore, Maryland
6. Free State Brewing, Lawrence, Kansas
7. Uncle Billy’s Brew & Que Smokehouse & Brewery, Austin, Texas
8. Brooklyn Brewery, Brooklyn, New York
9. Sleeping Giant Brewery/Lewis and Clark Brewing, Helena, Montana
10. Deschutes Brewery & Public House, Bend, Oregon
11. Ale Asylum, Madison, Wisconsin
12. Boundary Bay Brewery, Bellingham, Washington
13. Asheville Pizza & Brewing, Asheville, North Carolina
14. Moab Brewery, Moab, Utah
15. AleSmith Brewing, San Diego, California
16. Long Trail Brewing, Bridgewater Corners, Vermont
17. Twisp River Pub, Twisp, Washington
18. Novare Res Bier Cafe, Portland, Maine
19. Dogfish Head Brewings & Eats, Rehoboth Beach, Delaware
20. New Belgium Brewing, Fort Collins, Colorado

We live in an enlightened age of beer — The Silver Age — which is perhaps the best time ever for beer in America in terms of diversity, quality and innovation. If, however, you’re one of the unfortunate souls living today in Alabama, only 1/3 of the beers made in the world are legally allowed to be sold there. The Yellowhammer State is determined to keep its beers yellow and fizzy. Only beer under 6% abv is legal there and only in packages holding 16 oz. or less. As you might expect, wine has no size restrictions and can be up to 24% and spirits have no restrictions whatsoever. Hypocrisy is no stranger to Alabama.

There are other odd restrictions, too, such as homebrewing is still illegal, one of only four holdout states (along with Kentucky, Mississippi and Oklahoma). For a more complete picture of the antiquated restrictions in Alabama, visit Free the Hops.

Advertising Age had an interesting piece today entitled Recession Doesn’t Dent Total Value of Top 100 Brands, which is based on Millward Brown Optimor’s annual BrandZ Report. Each year MB Optimor releases their list of “the world’s most valuable brands measured by their dollar value.” As they put it, “strong brands have the power to create business value. They impact much more than revenues and profit margins. Strong brands create competitive advantages by commanding a price premium and decrease the cost of entry into new markets and categories. They reduce business risk and help attract and retain talented staff.”

According to AdAge, despite the recession the top spots have not changed very much, nor has the overall total of the Top 100. The new rankings won’t be officially released until Wednesday, but here’s the Top 10. The number in parentheses is their rank last year.

1. Google (1)
2. Microsoft (3)
3. Coca-Cola (4)
4. IBM (6)
5. McDonald’s (8)
6. Apple (7)
7. ChinaMobile (5)
8. General Electric (2)
9. Vodafone (11)
10. Marlboro (10)

Some more analysis from the AdAge article:

All told, the value of the top 100 brands, which ranges from the ubiquitous search engine at the top to Lowes at the bottom, was about $2 trillion and didn’t suffer the decline one might expect in a recessionary environment.

There was, however, more volatility in the top 100 this year than in the past, with 15 brands dropping out. They were mostly car brands, such as Chevrolet, Ford and Volkswagen, and financial ones such as AXA, AIG and, of course, Merrill Lynch and Wachovia. They were replaced by brands such as Nintendo and Pampers.

Toward the end of the piece, finally they revealed what happened in the big beer world.

The beer category was dominated by Anheuser-Busch InBev. Bud Light was the largest brand, followed by Budweiser, and Stella Artois came in fourth behind Heineken. Miller Lite came in seventh, growing only 2% compared with double-digit growth for the A-B InBev brands.

So this is what we know so far about the 2009 rankings:

1. Bud Light
2. Budweiser
3. Heineken
4. Stella Artois
5. ?
6. ?
7. Miller Lite

Here’s Millward Brown Optimor’s explanation of how they calculate their rankings.

 
Here’s the beer brand rankings from last year, 2008.

1. Budweiser
2. Bud Light
3. Heineken
4. Corona
5. Stella Artois
6. Guinness
7. Miller Lite
8. Skol
9. Amstel
10. Beck’s
11. Cruzcampo
12. Kronenbourg 1664
13. Coors Light
14. Labatt’s
15. Baltika
16. Carlsberg
17. Brahma
18. Miller Genuine Draft (MGD)
19. Foster’s
20. Molson

In the Top 100 of all companies for last year, Budweiser (including both Bud & Bud Light) ranked 70th and was the only beer brand to make the overall list.

Tune in later in the week to find out the new rankings for 2009.

While I’ve been in Boston, I haven’t gotten out and away from the hotel and trade show as much as I might have liked, mostly just due to being busy and having to keep with my writing. But last night I finally got a chance to get over to Allston and see Deep Ellum, a great beer bar I’d heard a lot about. Dan Shelton, from Shelton Brothers, was having an event and brought several brewers with him from Belgium, two of whom I’d met on my last trip to Brussels.

Deep Ellum was as advertised, a very cool bar, small in size but with a great selection of both draft and bottled beer, a good menu and a beautiful space, including a great back patio.

I shared a cab over with Justin Crosley, from the Brewing Network, and we managed to get a seat inside before the crowds really started rolling in. We had a good vantage point to see the stream of new arrivees.

Which included Jeff O’Neil, from Ithaca Brewing, who while a mild-mannered brewer was underneath wearing the Bulletin supporter costume whereupon he turned into a superhero.

As it happened, I was enjoying his “Brute,” a delicious wild ale with a plate of fries. You can see my full review of the fries at Frites.

I loved this black and white painting hanging on on Deep Ellum’s wall.

Out back I finally found Jean Van Roy (on right, from Cantillon), Yvan De Baets (center, who plans to open Brasserie De La Senne by the end of the year) and I believe Bernard (on left, also from De La Senne). Did I mention how wonderful the Cantillon Vigneronne was on draft?