Stuff.
You know, it strikes me that these folks are about to pass Hartranft-Maida in the churning-out-a-new-bar-every-few-months game. That’s impressive, but in this celebrity-focused world the former will surely maintain the top spot in public adoration once my movie script, Three Bars & a Baby, gets green-lighted. All we’re waiting for is Johnny Depp to agree to shave his head to play one of the leads (no, not the baby) and the money will come rolling in.
If you call yourself a fan of Tröegs beers and a dog lover and you have not yet hauled your sorry ass over to Wayne to participate in this event, I really have to doubt your sincerity. And if you’re not one or both of those things, what are you doing here anyhow?
In the latest issue of Malt Advocate, fine Canadian gentleman Stephen Beaumont speaks the truth that has to have them squirming at Brewers Association headquarters in Denver: Boston Beer Company will cease to be a “craft” brewer this year because it has had the temerity to be so successful that it will pass the arbitrary BA limit of 2 million barrels produced. The nerve! As Stephen notes, the end result of this will be that the end-of-year figures for crafts, after a decade of steady increases, will likely be down around 15%. It will be fascinating to see how this is dealt with.
Staying with the Dead Tree Press, an article by H. Lee Murphy in the current issue of Market Watch , looks at how the immense creativity of and the multiple styles produced by craft brewers is creating a real issue in the world of wholesalers and retailers—too many brands. Many are cutting down on carrying every variation of Bud or Miller which exists in terms of packaging, which is a good and sane thing, but that’s a mere bucketful of water being removed from a major flood. As an example, Murphy notes that Dogfish Head has 71 styles listed on its website and is, quite logically, trying to get more of then stocked on retail shelves (they’re even big enough and important enough now to push for eye-level position in retail coolers. The number is misleading, of course, since a majority of those listed styles are not packaged and many available only at the Rehoboth brewpub, but the basic issue is a real one. Major craft brewers are pushing to get more and more of their beers on the shelves and the vocal good beer communities are demanding that they be there. But just how many SKUs can beer stores maintain and handle?
Here’s something that seems to have generally slipped under the radar, or at least my radar. Japan’s All Nippon Airways started serving draft beer on domestic flights last July 20. They worked with Hoshizaki Electric to develop a beer dispenser made especially for in-flight use. Now, if somebody can come up with an acceptable means and reason to serve beer to the folks in line at airport security gates, flying might actually be an appealing way to travel again instead of a depressing chore.
