Brookston Beer Bulletin

Jay R. Brooks on Beer

Socialize

What A Surprise! Prohibitionists Hate Beer-Flavored Jelly Beans

By

jelly-belly
Hilarious. I saw this one coming. The prohibitionists — who my friend and colleague Harry Schuhmacher calls the “no fun bunch” — are already expressing their outrage that there’s a jelly bean with beer flavor. Alcohol Justice (AJ) took to Twitter today to voice their disapproval, even using the photograph distributed by Jelly Belly in their press release.

AJ-jelly-belly-tweet

But let’s look at their nature of their outrage. First there’s this sarcastic sentence.

Kids really need beer-flavored jelly beans.

They do the same thing any time there’s a drawing or cartoon on a beer label. They make the very wrong assumption that only kids like candy. Or that jelly beans are just for kids. I think former president Ronald Reagan would take issue with that. Reagan famously loved jelly beans and jars of them were all over the white house during his two terms. I think it’s fairly safe to assume that plenty of very serious people and politicians ate jelly beans then, and continue to do so.

C315-2

Could we please dispense with the notion that if children like something, that adults can’t (and vice versa), or that there can’t be adult versions of things that kids like, too? It frankly is absurd and surely they could come up with a better argument.

The company Jelly Belly has for decades made cocktail-flavored jelly beans. “The company first created a non-alcoholic gourmet flavor in 1977 with Mai Tai. Since then, more flavors from Blackberry Brandy to Strawberry Daiquiri were developed, inspired by popular cocktails. Over the years, favorite flavors like Piña Colada (1983), Margarita (1995) and Mojito (2010) have helped carve out the Jelly Belly Cocktail Classics® collection of six cocktail flavors.” Yet as fas as I know, this is the first whining by AJ over alcoholic flavored jelly beans. And it should also be noted that not one of these, the beer bean included, have any actual alcohol whatsoever in them. But none of us who have made it past age 21 should be allowed to enjoy any of those on the off chance that a child might eat one, or even want to eat one. Oh, the horror! What utter nonsense. If you don’t want your kids to eat the nonalcoholic jelly bean with a whiff of some of the same flavors as a hefeweizen, I think I see a way out. Don’t buy them, and don’t let them buy them either. Maybe you could just lock up your kids until they’re old enough to navigate the world on their own. I’m sure that wouldn’t be bad for them. You should definitely keep them as sheltered as possible from anything that’s of the adult world so they’ll be prepared to be adults themselves. What could go wrong? But here’s AJ’s insightful conclusion:

So very wrong.

Why? Seriously, why? What the fuck is wrong with there being adult-oriented flavors of jelly beans for adults (or children for that matter since there’s absolutely NO alcohol in them). Seriously, what is wrong with you? Can you really be afraid that it will give kids a taste for beer so they’ll want to try the real thing? Or that it “normalizes” the idea of drinking beer? Which is, may I remind you, still legal for adults 21 years and over, despite your best efforts. I’m sure there’s some perfectly logical reason why you hate this other than you just hate anything to do with alcohol. So what is it? Let me strap in. Go ahead. Why shouldn’t there be candy aimed at or made for adults? Why can’t there be nonalcoholic candy of any flavor, especially when there already has been other such flavors for decades? Why is it “so very wrong?”

Jelly Belly Debuts Beer-Flavored Jelly Bean

By

jelly-belly
The local Fairfield company Jelly Belly has made hundreds, perhaps thousands, of jelly bean flavors since they debuted in the summer of 1976. But their newest one, draft beer, really got my attention.

Apparently, for decades, a beer-flavored jelly bean has been one of their most highly-requested flavors. But their “research and development team wanted to get it just right before announcing the new flavor to the world.”

jelly-belly-beer

“This took about three years to perfect,” says Ambrose Lee, research and development manager for Jelly Belly Candy Company. “The recipe includes top secret ingredients, but I can tell you it contains no alcohol.” The biggest question they first had to answer was what type of beer to make into a jelly bean. “Ale or Lager? Stout? Lambic? Pilsner? In the end, the company opted to pay homage to its German ancestry with a Hefeweizen-inspired ale flavor, and Draft Beer Jelly Belly® jelly beans took shape.”

According to Jelly Belly:

The effervescent and crisp flavor is packed in a golden jelly bean with an iridescent finish. Beer connoisseurs will find the flavor profile to be clean with notes of wheat and a touch of sweetness. The aroma is mildly bready. While Draft Beer packs a flavor punch, it is alcohol free.

The new flavor will debut at this week’s Winter Fancy Food Show in San Francisco and ISM in Cologne, Germany, and will be released on store shelves shortly thereafter, in early 2014.

Last night they had an event at the 21st Amendment Brewery in San Francisco, where they handed out small packages of the new flavor. At first, I thought I could only get some banana flavors with a hint of clove in the background, but not much else, and little in the way of what I’d call “beer” flavor. But in conversations with other there at the event, what emerged was that the flavors I’d been searching for disappeared if you drank an actual beer beforehand. Several people I talked to recounted the same experience, but those who resisted the temptation to order a beer first had a very different experience with the jelly beans.

jelly-belly-beer-pkg

Happily, I took a few packets home with me, and tried them again this morning before my usual cup of breakfast beer (kidding). Anyway, the theory of the night before proved true. They do actually have a subtle beery flavor with wheat and the banana and clove notes you’d expect in a hefeweizen. It’s not a strong taste, but that’s not necessarily a bad thing. I assume when you have actual beer in your mouth that it kills the subtler flavors in the candy.

Last night, I also spend some time talking with Rob, one of the Jelly Belly R&D guys who worked on creating the new beer flavored jelly bean. He mentioned that they’d originally considered doing a craft beer assortment but getting the first one right took so long that they abandoned that idea. I offered some suggestions, and who knows, maybe we’ll see some more types of beer turned into jelly beans in the future. I suspect many people will think of it as just a gimmick, but the company has a long history of creating original flavors that you wouldn’t ordinarily expect. So why not. They’ve done a cocktail line of jelly beans, so beer frankly only makes sense. If you see some, give them a try. Just don’t have a beer first.

jelly-belly-beer-logo

Beer In Ads #1078: When Buffaloes Stopped The Iron Horse

By


Tuesday’s ad is for Budweiser, from 1944. Showing an old railroad scene and the tagline. “When Buffaloes Stopped the Iron Horse … Travelers Were Patient.” In the upper righthand corner, there’s also a box that says. “Travel Only When Necessary,” because of restrictions on vacations to save resources for the war effort. But read the copy and it’s almost funny to hear them equate not complaining and being patient with being “a good soldier.”

Bud-1944-train

Beer In Film #21: Prohibition: The Forgotten Crusade

By

brookston-film
Today’s beer video is a short film about prohibition and its effects. Entitled Prohibition: The Forgotten Crusade, it was created by Jared K. Productions. They originally uploaded it in 2007 but because it uses old footage, it looks much older than that, so when it was actually produced I can’t say.

Beer In Ads #1077: Recipe For “The Grumps”

By


Monday’s ad is another one for United States Brewers Foundation, from 1943. It’s another one of the “morale is a lot of little things” series, in support of the troops during World War II. This one tells an odd tale. A husband with “the glooms” is cured when his wife lets him listen to his favorite program on the radio, a quiz show. Why did people sit in front of their radios to listen to them, when you can hear perfectly well from any spot in a room? Anyway, the ads with this gem. “A refreshing glass of beer or ale — a moment of relaxation … in trying times like these they too help to keep morale up.”

USBF-1943-morale-grumps

Economic Impact Of Beer Distributors

By

nbwa
We know beer contributes quite a lot to America’s economy, from the brewers who make it, the retailers who sell it, and the bartenders who serve it. The Beer Institute‘s Beer Serves America gives a great overview of the economic impact of the beer industry as a whole, with breakdowns of direct and indirect impacts, and also by related industries that support the beer industry.

But recently the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA) published online their own map of how beer distributors are “Fueling Jobs, Generating Economic Growth & Delivering Value to Local Communities.” Not surprisingly, it’s a lot, too, with 130,000 jobs and $54 billion for the entire United States. But you can also break it down by state. So, for example, California’s impact is 11,725 direct jobs, that is people working for beer distributors in some capacity, and $5.3 billion in dollars added to the economy.

CA-distributor-impact-2014

By clicking on a button, you can also download additional state economic data, such as a more detailed tally of the beer distributors contribution to the state economy.

CA-distributor-report-2014

And also how different related industries are contributing to the overall economy, as well.

CA-distributor-report2-2014

Be sure to check out your own state’s positive contribution to the economy through beer here, and also take a look at the detail for the entire United States, too.

ABI To Buy Back Korea’s OB

By

ob
In a strange turn of events, Anheuser-Busch InBev (ABI) has agreed to buy back the South Korean Oriental Brewery (OB) for $5.8 billion, about three times the $1.8 billion that they sold it for in 2008. OB is South Korea’s largest brewery with approximately 60% of the market.

From the press release:

KKR and Affinity Equity Partners (“Affinity”) today announced that an agreement has been entered into whereby AB InBev will reacquire Oriental Brewery (“OB”), the leading brewer in South Korea, from KKR and Affinity for 5.8 billion USD.

This agreement returns OB to the AB InBev portfolio, after AB InBev sold the company in July 2009, following the combination of InBev and Anheuser-Busch, in support of the company’s deleveraging target. AB InBev will reacquire OB earlier than July 2014, as it was originally entitled to under the 2009 transaction.

Since KKR and Affinity entered into partnership with OB in 2009, OB has grown to become the largest brewer in South Korea, driven by strong growth of the Cass brand. OB and AB InBev also remained long-term partners through OB’s exclusive license to distribute select AB InBev brands in South Korea such as Budweiser, Corona and Hoegaarden.

Carlos Brito, Chief Executive Officer of AB InBev, said, “We are excited to invest in South Korea and to be working with the Oriental Brewery team again. OB will strengthen our position in the fast-growing Asia Pacific region and will become a significant contributor to our Asia Pacific Zone.

Bloomberg Businessweek also has more on the story.

Beer In Film #20: Is Beer In Your Career?

By

brookston-film
Today’s beer video is an hour long panel discussion at UC San Diego last April, part of their Career Channel programming for UCTV, University of California Television. Entitled Is Beer In Your Career?, and panelists include Stone Brewing’s Greg Koch, Lost Abbey’s Tomme Arthur, Ballast Point’s Yuseff Cherney, and White Lab’s Chris White. They talk about “why San Diego has become such a nationally renowned region for craft beer production, and where the professional brewing industry is headed” during the hour-long discussion.

Beer In Ads #1076: Sure Could Go For One Of Mom’s Bean Suppers

By


Saturday’s ad is for United States Brewers Foundation, from 1944. It was part of their “morale is a lot of little things” series, that was in support of the troops. I love the last part of the copy. “A glass of beer or ale — not of crucial importance, surely … yet it is little things like this that help mean home to all of us, that do so much to build morale — ours and his.”

USBF-1944-morale