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?

On the drive to Los Angeles last Wednesday to see the premiere of Beer Wars, I also took the opportunity to visit some friends along the way. My second stop on the way down was in Goleta, near Santa Barbara, to see Eric Rose’s Hollister Brewing, which opened less than a year ago. Rose used to be the brewmaster at Santa Barbara Brewing for many years, but left to open his new place with his father.

I sat at the bar and had a nice, long conversation with Eric about this and that, while sampling a number of his fine beers. I tried the H.I.P.A. (made with hemp seeds), Pigman Pale Ale, Table 42 Red, the Fairview Farmhouse Ale and the Barleywhine.

Father and son brewpub owners, Marshall and Eric Rose.

For more photos from my visit to Hollister Brewing, visit the photo gallery.
 

As retweeted by Rate Beer, one of three he’s following, along with Beer Advocate and the Lost Abbey, some prankster has set up a Twitter account under the name “mjbeer” with Michael’s photo as the avatar and “The REAL Michael Jackson Beer Twitter” in the Bio.

So far, only three tweets have been done, all within a little over an hour. The first is a review of the Lost Abbey’s Angel’s Share.

Drinking Lost Abbey 2008 Brandy Barrel Angels Share. This beer is cloyingly sweet and undercarbonated. It’s official I’m rolling in my grave.

In the second, he (or she) confesses it’s all a “little joke” and hopes they’re “not offending anyone.”

Waiting for ratebeer to reboot. It appears that they have found my little joke. I hope that I am not offending anyone. More reviews to come.

I’m pretty hard to offend and have a fairly broad sense of humor, but reading tweets purporting to be from an old friend and colleague who died tragically too soon less than two years ago is, I must say, more than a little offensive. Am I off the mark here? Am I being a stick in the mud? Does anyone find this funny? I’m pretty sure Michael’s estate won’t find someone impersonating him very funny. It just seems wildly inappropriate to me and in very bad taste.

 
UPDATE: I’m happy to report that the mjbeer Twitter account appears to have been deleted and removed.
 

I drove down to Los Angeles to see the live show for the new documentary film, Beer Wars, by Anat Baron, because I thought it would be fun to see it live, which it was. I got to hang out in the green room before the show and then later saw the satellite truck where the show beamed out across the country. It was definitely worth the long drive.

After a screening of the film, a panel of personalities featured in the film held a live panel discussion, hosted by Ben Stein.

When the live show was over, a reception was held at Royce Hall, which included the whole brewing gang from Stone Brewing, who drove up for the premiere.

For more photos from the Beer Wars Live show, visit the photo gallery.
 

It’s really easy to criticize. Perfection is an elusive concept, especially when the object of review is so subjective. Almost nothing can be said to be perfect, and so we critics will always have a job. And in the age of blogging, that means almost any person who wants to can be a critic. That’s both a good and, at times, disastrous, development. The art of criticism has a long and storied past, serves a useful function to be sure, and is itself an art form. The best critics are as much of a joy to read as their targets, sometimes more so. Dorothy Parker springs to mind as one of the best, and she’s still a delight to read, long after the the plays and books she skewered have all but disappeared into out-of-print literary oblivion. So I’m not trying to downplay the important role critics have in society. Hell, I’m one of them. But something unsettling seems to be taking place that became all too apparent with the release of Beer Wars on Thursday.

Actually, the hue and cry began well before the film premiered. And just the idea of the movie seemed to bother more than a few folks. Like most people watching the industry, I first learned of the film several years before when they were filming at GABF. It then disappeared from consciousness for a time, and I wondered about it occasionally, then finally it resurfaced again last year. I met with the director, Anat Baron, for lunch last fall when she was visiting her sister in the Bay Area. We talked about the film then, her ideas and what she hoped to accomplish with it. She knew from the Bulletin that I, too, believe that the world is not a level playing field, and especially so in the beer world.

It got so bad at one point in the weeks leading up the debut, that I was singled out for being too positive about it, and was all but called a sycophant for simply not being critical enough. It reminded me of the moralists outside of R-rated movies like Basic Instinct, railing about the godless communists and urging people not to see it. Inevitably, a reporter would ask them the simple question. “Have you seen the movie you’re objecting too so strenuously?” “Umm, no. I would never see such filth.” And such people certainly have the right to not see the movie, but I never quite get why they so strongly don’t want anyone else to see it either (particularly when they haven’t seen it), as if they believe everyone does or should hold the same morals or beliefs they do. I just don’t understand such unwillingness to remain open to a new idea being expressed, and shutting down any receptiveness to it. At some level, it seemed to me that people were having a similar reaction to Beer Wars. People reacted so strongly to the trailer, the idea of it, and even just the publicity push for the film, that I was quite baffled.

The beer community, and many bloggers in particular, have never seemed so divided to me. See here I was enough of an idealist to think we were all in this together. I’ve tended to be naive that way my whole life, and frankly I hope I never outgrow it. As cynical and curmudgeonly as I am, I’m a big sucker for hope. Pandora’s Box has always been one of my favorite Greek myths. I want to root for underdogs, for people with more passion than resources, for people who want to change the world. And I hate bullies, which is what most big companies are in practice. As persons — their legal designation — they’re psychopaths. Don’t believe me, read Joel Bakan’s wonderful book, The Corporation: The Pathological Pursuit of Profit and Power (or watch the film, if you’re not a “reader”).

Personally, I thought the intent to expose what most Americans don’t seem to know — that large corporations have enormous advantages in the marketplace (regardless of the industry) — was worthwhile enough for me to support it. Add to that the fact that this is especially true in the beer world, in part because of the added regulatory morass that alcohol brings, plus the three-tier system itself, and it seemed a worthwhile endeavor on that basis alone. So like everybody else who hadn’t seen the film — that is to say, everyone — I could only decide to support it or not support it based on what I saw. And I liked what little there was, plus I actually talked to the director and other people in the film, all of which led me to champion it. Seemed perfectly rational to me. And while there was certainly a great deal of support for the movie, I was caught off guard by all of the negative reactions I saw, especially when much of it was based on pure ignorance (and I mean that not in the pejorative sense, but that people’s perceptions were just plain wrong, meaning they simply didn’t really know what they were talking about) or in an odd sense of projecting their own message or agenda onto the film that wasn’t evident from the trailer or other pre-release materials. This latter type of criticism was more along the lines of what they “thought” the film was about, without any real knowledge about what it really was about, not that that stopped them from criticizing it. These two kinds of criticism were not the only types, I should hasten to point out, but were of the variety that bothered me.

But now that the film is out, it only seems to have grown worse.

Obviously, I haven’t had time to read everything people have written about it, and have seen just a small sample and watched part of the twitter feed Thursday night, too. And Alan at A Good Beer Blog (whose birthday was today) was kind enough to provide a useful summary, as well. (For the record, I don’t think Alan is Mayor McMean of Meantown. Police Chief, maybe, or City Solicitor, but not mayor.)

So, like beforehand, there’s a lot of positive reactions, but a surprisingly large chorus from the nabobs of negativity. And most of those are what I’ll call quibbles. Finding fault with small bits and pieces, things here and there. Death by a thousand paper cuts. Everybody, it seems, has to find something they believe was wrong with the film. Not one account I read praised Anat Baron for the effort. Few seemed to think she was making the film with the best of intentions, and in fact everyone who even mentioned this either couldn’t figure out why she made it or believed it was for a sinister or cynical reason. Yet no one else made the movie. No one else stepped up to tell this story. Where was this level of complaint and scrutiny when A-B sponsored The American Brew, or when American Beer showed us frat boys traveling the country abusing themselves, with short interludes of brewery visits in between? Only Stan had much to say when How Stuff Works did beer a disservice last December. At least Baron tried to tell the story. Let no good deed go unpunished, I guess.

And almost nobody had much to say about the overall effect. I don’t even want to add to the chorus, it’s just all so exhausting to read, and very disheartening. Did I have my own quibbles? Yes. Was the film perfect to me? Of course not. Am I going to pile on? Not a chance. This just seems like Kung Foo Fighting on a grand scale. This was an opportunity for the craft beer segment and its fans to show the media and the world that it is supportive as a group. That craft beer can, when necessary, speak with one voice for a higher purpose. Again, what was I thinking? Of course it’s not. Instead, I feel like what it showed was a chaotic, diverse group that can’t agree on anything. I realize that now I, too, am focusing on the negative, instead of all the positive things people have said about Beer Wars. And that saddens me even more. Sigh.

I can’t really blame anyone in particular, not that I even want to. Most of the opinions are valid, some are even well thought out and incisive. Many of the criticisms I can’t really disagree with, though there are certainly a lot that I can and do think were unfair, uncharitable or based on ignorance. And some were just plain silly.

I hope it goes without saying that you’ll find no bigger supporter of Oregon beer than myself, even though I’m a Californian. I’ve been a SNOB member since the beginning, and have been coming to OBF every year for well over a decade. Many of my favorite brewers and breweries are in Portland or Oregon. Hell, I spent the first half of my honeymoon visiting Oregon breweries. So understand that I mean no disrespect to Oregon beer when I say this to the person who said they didn’t like the film because it didn’t feature an Oregon brewer, which was one of the “pioneering locales for the industry.” Shut up, you sound provincial in the worst sense of the word. There are other places in the country that make great beer, and you don’t have to get in a twist every time you’re not paid what you perceive to be the proper fealty. They also didn’t mention the San Francisco Bay Area, which was the very first pioneering locale, nor Seattle or Yakima, or countless other places, either.

And that same person, along with many others, took issue with director Baron’s former life with Mike’s Hard Lemonade, most of whom said in effect that since alcopops aren’t really craft beer then she didn’t face the same distribution issues that real beer did. This shows more ignorance as, in fact, malternatives use exactly the same distribution networks as beer and are shelved either with beer or adjacent to it. If anything, most retailers and distributors carry fewer malt-based beverages so her experience was probably more difficult than with beer.

Obviously, I don’t need to defend these criticisms, but they’re indicative of the more churlish variety, and as such I find them counter-productive and muddying the general discourse which keeps legitimate issues from being discussed. There are many more of this type, but I’ve frankly had quite enough. I was happy to see, by contrast, that the general feeling on Beer Advocate was in fact mostly positive.

In the end, it’s not any one or any two or any three specific criticisms that has me down in the doldrums. It’s the white noise of it all. As many have pointed out, this is a topic in beer circles that has been talked about for many, many years and has been a problem for small brewers since the beginning of time. And since many have been successful, they say, doesn’t that mean that it’s not really a problem anyway? This strikes me as myopic thinking by people too close to the problem to recognize that while they know this story all too well, it’s not well-known by many or even most of the 95% of the beer-drinking public that is outside the inner circle of craft beer fans. Obviously, I have nothing personally invested in the success of Beer Wars. But I do believe our country would be a better place if the superiority of craft beer was taken for granted, as it is in many other nations. If the breadth of diversity that beer can be was as obvious to a majority of Americans as it is to you and me, if the media took beer as seriously as they do wine and spirits, if most people knew enough to ignore or at least look skeptically at advertising and marketing that panders to them and paints beer with a broad, commodified brush that emphasizes style over substance — oh, what a better world it would be. Yes, that makes me a wide-eyed idealist and is somewhat unrealistic, but without dreams, what’s the goddamn point? And for a few years now we’ve felt tantalizingly and frustratingly close to a Malcolm Gladwell-style tipping point that could indeed push craft beer into mainstream consciousness.

So that was my admittedly somewhat unrealistic hope, that the meme of the story would indeed spark a dialogue that would spread beyond our sudsy shores and reach people outside the insulated beer bubble we inhabit. Instead, the conversation seems to be about what was wrong with Beer Wars, not what it got right. The big breweries must be pleased as punch with that outcome. Instead of talking about people supporting local and regional businesses, which might help local economies and also keep the money spent within the area, we’re complaining about why Beer Wars didn’t include all 1483 breweries. Instead of talking about why artisanal or craft-made beer — like bread, cheese, and everything else — is demonstrably better and more flavorful and unique if made with better ingredients, in small batches and with an eye toward being an integral part of a meal (not just an afterthought), we’re complaining about whether there was too much PR for the movie or if $15 was too much to pay to see a movie. Instead of talking about the three-tier system and how it’s warped our perceptions of beer, kept us believing alcohol is evil and has done little to protect consumers, we’re smugly dismissing Beer Wars because we know it all already. Instead of talking about how corporations operate and the methods they employ to maximize profits for shareholders and why what’s good for GM is not necessarily good for America, we’re complaining that the biggest small breweries seem plenty big, too, and therefore don’t deserve our support either. Sigh.

But that’s the nature of criticism, people decide what’s important to them, and act — or write — accordingly. As Wikipedia collectively defines it, “Criticism is the activity of judgment or informed interpretation and, in many cases, can be synonymous with ‘analysis.'” [my emphasis.] So while I think a lot of the interpretations offered can not be considered “informed,” many others are. But just saying so makes me critical of them, repeating a cycle likely to go on ad infinitum. And I had so hoped this would be a different conversation. C’est la vie. Damn. Sigh.

For lucky 13, and in honor of Beer Wars opening on Thursday, I thought I’d take a look back at beer moves that have come before. I’m a bit of a film buff, and it’s slim pickings, even including documentaries. Most are horrible, quite frankly, and I had a hard time coming up with ten I might actually watch again. Let me know if I left out one of your favorites, and why you like it. Anyway, here’s List #13:
 

Top 10 Beer Movies
 

I could not in good conscience include Beer (1985), Beer (2006), Beer League, Beerfest or Happy Hour (1987). And I really didn’t care for American Beer, the road movie that came out in 2003, despite a number of the brewery visits being enjoyable.

There’s two cool films about individual craft breweries that were made recently, The Victory Brewing Experience from 2003 and The Stone Brewing Company, from last year.

And though I’ve never been a big Three Stooes fan, Beer Barrel Polecats has a relatively funny sequence of them trying to make beer. Here’s Part 1 and Part 2 from YouTube. In Part 1, they try making Panther Pilsner.

If I included television shows, Michael Jackson’s Beer Hunter would top the list. It’s the still the best thing on beer put on film or video, though I have high hopes for Jay Shevek’s forthcoming Beer Pioneers.

Let me know your favorites, and if you see any you know of that are missing from the list, please post a comment and I’ll add it.

Also, if you have any ideas for future Top 10 lists you’d like to see, drop me a line.