Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

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Optical Illusion Bottle Truck

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While searching for an image of a beer delivery truck yesterday, I noticed a photo of this truck kept popping up in the search results, but always identified as a beer truck, or words to that effect. However, take a close look at the bottle.

Cool as the image is, it sure didn’t look like beer inside the bottle to me. So I did a little research to find out what Bionade is. It turns out that it’s organic soda made in Germany. But interestingly, it does have a brewing pedigree. Here’s the story, from Wikipedia:

Bionade was created in 1995 by Dieter Leipold. Leipold was the master brewer at Privatbrauerei Peter in Ostheim, a town in northern Bavaria with just 4,000 inhabitants, and a friend of the family that owned the brewery. He was worried about the future of the company, which was about to go bankrupt, as import beers like Corona and Miller Lite were taking over the German market. He got the idea of creating a nonalcoholic drink produced with the same principles and under the same purity laws used to brew beer:[3] not using corn syrup or other artificial additives and making it by fermentation. The drink would consist only of the natural ingredients malt, water, sugar, and fruit essences. For eight years, Leipold experimented spending €1.5 million of the brewery owner Peter Kowalsky’s money. His lab was a bathroom. He isolated a strain of bacteria capable of converting the sugar that normally becomes alcohol into nonalcoholic gluconic acid, which he used to ferment the new drink.

Bionade’s premise was that it tasted like soft drinks, but contained little sugar and no stabilizing or flavor-enhancing additives. It thus combines the taste of soft drinks with the healthiness of juice. It also contains both calcium and magnesium, in such quantities that they do not cancel each other out and is low in sodium and free of phosphorus

To this day, Leipold refuses divulge the exact chemical process he used to do this. the gluconic acid also has the advantage that it allows him to reduce the amount of sugar, because it strengths the sugar’s taste. After fermentation, the natural flavors, elderberry, litchi, orange-ginger, and herb are added along with carbonation.

Apparently sales Bionade started out slowly but with the recent popularity of healthy food and drinks, things have picked up considerably. Since 2006, it’s been sold in the U.S., though I can’t say I recall ever seeing it. But then I don’t drink soda so I wouldn’t have been looking for it, either. It might be worth giving it a try, since it was created by a brewer and he’s managed to keep the secret of how it’s made. There’s also an article about it from Time Magazine that was published last January.

 

Warm Weather Smiles on Double IPA Festival

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The 8th annual Double IPA Festival took place yesterday at the Bistro in Hayward, California. We couldn’t have asked for better weather. After weeks of rain, blue skies and a warm sun filled the sky. I think a lot of festival-goers were coaxed out of hibernation by the beautiful day. And what better way to spend it but enjoying countless Imperial IPAs?

As noted in the previous post, Flying Dog‘s Double Dog was chosen best in show. Kenny Gross, who works for their local distributor, shyly accepted the medal on their behalf.

The crowds came out to the Bistro to sample over thirty Imperial IPAs.

 

For many more photos from this year’s Double IPA Festival at the Bistro, visit the photo gallery.
 

Losing Their Share of Mind

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trkanim
Anheuser-Busch’s “100% share of mind” program is legendary. It started ten years ago, when A-B began offering incentives to their distributors so they’d care only about A-B products. Though I assume they never said so — wink, wink — they encouraged distributors to drop non-A-B brands and concentrate on only the important brands. And at that time, such was A-B’s market strength that many distributors did in fact tow the line. But lately as domestic sales have been static or slipping, distributors are adding non-Bud brands to their portfolios to stay at the same level of profitability. The Associated Press had an article last week about this recent phenomenon called Beer Distributors Want More Than One Best Bud.

As the article points out:

For consumers, it means greater choice at their local bars and liquor stores. Wall Street analysts say the movement signals a weakening of the St. Louis brewer’s clout in the marketplace, as small-batch “craft” beers and imports, as well as wine and spirits, wrest market share from mass-market brews like Budweiser.

Many of the 560 nationwide A-B distributors realized that as craft beer is increasingly in demand, that their competitors were having the last laugh, because they were free to pick up whatever brands they wanted and believed they could be successful selling.

While IRI general manager Bump Williams described the program as a “great business model,” not everybody was convinced that it was fair. The DOJ launched an investigation into anti-trust violations, but later abandoned it. Naturally, A-B continues to push the program with such statements as “[w]e want their efforts and focus aligned with ours.” Well, who wouldn’t? But that isn’t how the world works nor is it how it should work. It’s schemes like this one that gave A-B its reputation as a bully. And it appears that they still have that mindset. Again, from the AP article.

Still, Anheuser wasn’t happy with the way it learned of the Tennessee distributors’ decision. “We found out later (in their decision-making process) than we would have liked,” says Mr. Peacock. “When we don’t get early communication, it rubs us wrong.”

Now why would one business be rubbed the wrong way if another, supposedly separate and independent company, didn’t consult with them before making a business decision? The best illustration of this mindset comes from more than a decade ago, with the former head of A-B, August Busch III, sitting around a conference table at their Hawaiian distributor petulantly throwing bottles of craft beer against the wall, smashing them to bits, to show his displeasure with a separate business having the unmitigated gall to sell something he can’t profit from. It’s that arrogance, borne of being the market leader for such a long time, that leads a company to believe that whatever is in their best interest is in everyone else’s best interests, too.

But as the market changes, that’s becoming less and less tenable. Distributors are realizing that to remain successful, they have to stock brands that their customers want, regardless of who makes them. That only makes good business sense. Some industry analysts, like my friend Harry Schuhmacher who runs Beer Business Daily, are surprised that it has taken so long for this to begin happening. As he puts it. “It really hasn’t been a widespread national jailbreak.” But that’s the hold that A-B has traditionally had over its distributors. Now that it’s finally beginning to erode, it will be interesting to see what percentage share of mind Bud is left with.

BJCP Releases New Style Guidelines

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The Beer Judge Certification Program, or BJCP, released today the new 2008 style guidelines, the first revision since 2004. The new guidelines are available in a variety of formats. There’s also a one-page pdf that gives a short summary of the changes.

In case you didn’t know, the BJCP certifies judges for homebrew and commercial competitions, administers tests, and performs many other worthwhile functions in the beer world. If you’ve ever wanted to be a beer judge or just learn more about beer styles, they’re a very good place to start.

 

Rogue Inspires Imperial Stout Song

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A great friend of mine, who lives in Seattle, has a new CD out with his new band, called Dyslextasy. Four out of the six songs on it have something to do with enjoying a tipple now and then. The album is called “Live. Die. Repeat.” and has this great tagline: “Drinking songs for the New World Order.”

The last song on the compact disc is an anti-war song that was even inspired by Rogue’s Imperial Stout and the red star on the old label before they switched to the ceramic bottle. The first line of the song is:

As I was sitting there, at the bar
Drinking Imperial Stout
(that one with the star)

Click on the play button below to hear the Imperial Stout song. You can also hear previews of the other songs on their website. The CD is a mere eight bucks and can be ordered online directly from the band or on several other online stores, such as CD Baby. Sure it’s a shameless plug, but as he and his wife are some of our best friends, and the music is great, too, I want to help it go platinum so he can retire from his nine-to-five job. Enjoy.
 

 

Firestone Walker Unfurls the Union Jack

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Firestone Walker is releasing their first India Pale Ale under the name Union Jack. It’s a double dry-hopped IPA and will be released today in bottles and on draft. It will be available through California and in parts of Nevada.

From the press release:

The technical specifications of Union Jack are 7.5 percent alcohol by volume and 70 IBUs.

“Union Jack is an American-style India pale ale that represents a flavorful twist on our British brewing heritage, as well as our singular focus on pale ales,” said Proprietor David Walker. “It also echoes some of the intensity exhibited by our recent limited-edition beers.”

The India Pale Ale style originated in 18th century Britain, when brewers learned that loading their beer with extra hops helped it survive the long voyage to the colony. The hops acted as a preservative as a result of their antibacterial and antioxidant properties.

Union Jack is double dry hopped, resulting in an intense and complex hop profile that is enhanced by fermentation in the brewery’s Firestone Union oak barrel brewing system. Citrus and apricot aromas anticipate long, fruity flavors that finish with an assertive hop bitterness.

Given Matt’s skill as a brewer, I can’t wait to give this a try.

Maui Wowie

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Yesterday’s Honolulu Advertiser had a nice profile of Maui Brewing (thanks Doug). It’s a nice overview of how Sacramento resident Garrett Marrero moved to Kahana, on Maui, after buying the old Fish and Game Brewing Co. & Rotisserie. They’ve also started hand-canning their beers, which are now featured on Hawaiian Airlines, which is a great package for an island like Hawaii.

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Three of Maui’s beers in cans. The Porter won a gold medal at last year’s GABF. There’s a nice photo series of their first canning on their website.

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Brewmaster Thomas Kerns owner Garrett Marrero. Tom was my judging roomie at last year’s Great American Beer Festival.

Kemper Beers Returning … Sort Of

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thomas-kemper
Even for those of you old enough to remember Thomas Kemper beer, not just the soda, you may not have known that there never was a Thomas Kemper. Instead the name came from the family names of the two founders, Andy Thomas and Will Kemper, who began brewing on Bainbridge Island in 1984 and soon after moved the brewery to the small town of Poulsbo, Washington, on the Kitsap Penninsula. My wife and I visited the brewery on our honeymoon in the summer of 1996. That was four years after it had been sold to Hart Brewing (later Pyramid Brewing). Initially ales were made under the Pyramid label and lagers under Thomas Kemper. For a trip down memory lane, check out their old labels at Corey and Nate’s Beer Labels website. Rande Reed, in fact, was the brewer there early on but later moved to Pyramid and then Snoqualmie Falls Brewing, before returning to musical pursuits.

But I was never sure what happened to the founders after their involvement ended. In turns out Will Kemper became a brewery consultant, helping launch such breweries as Philadelphia’s Dock Street, Seattle’s Aviator Ales, Capital City Brewing in D.C. and Denver’s Mile High Brewing. For the last year or so, Will and his wife Mari have been in Turkey, building a brewery in Istanbul called Taps. Now that the Taps project is completed they’ve returned to their home in Bellingham, Washington with plans to open a new brewery there this spring. It will be located in the Old Town part of town and have a capacity of 1,000 barrels, with expansion to 5,000 possible if successful. The new name will be Chuckanut Brewery & Kitchen, and the plan is to have six different beers and a lunch and dinner menu.

World’s Largest Liquor Store

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I’ve found that liquor stores in Colorado tend to be, on average, larger than in the rest of the country. And that’s most likely because of their laws. In an effort to keep chains out of the state, any business is only allowed to own one liquor license. So that means instead of successful companies opening new locations (which is prohibited), they instead make their one location larger. So there’s Applejack’s in Denver or Liquor Mart in Boulder and probably countless others I’m unaware of. Then there’s Daveco Liquors in Thornton, Colorado (a few miles north of Denver along I-25). The Guinness Book of World Records has certified that it’s the “largest liquor store in the world.” The 102,000 square foot store has 7,500 bottles in the wine cellar, 9,000 types of wine, 2,400 brands of liquor and 800 different beers (though that last one actually seems small to me).

From an article in today’s Denver Post:

“I kept saying this is the world’s largest liquor store, and people kept saying ‘You can never prove that,’ ” said [owner Henry] Sawaged. “But now people know I am a man of my word.”

Congratulations to Daveco.