Category: BeerAdvocate Mag

American Craft Beer Hegemony

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Walk into a bar in Copenhagen’s trendy Nørrebro neighborhood and one expects to find the occasional Danish craft beer alongside the standard Carlsberg and Tuborg offerings. In Tokyo, Kirin and Asahi mainly go over the bar, while Shanghai bars offer only Tsingtao and Snow. So no one would blame a visitor for double-taking at bottles and taps of Brooklyn Lager and Great Divide’s Oak Aged Yeti.

For a country that has never possessed much of a discernible brewing heritage, America has taken a leading role in exporting its nascent beer culture around the world. With the help of brewing trade groups, the federal government, and a band of curious American and foreign brewers, American-style craft beer can now be enjoyed in bars from Stockholm to Manila. And while this growing sphere of influence is good news for small American brewers, its expansion has created an unexpected identity crisis in the world’s richest brewing cultures.

The efforts of the Brewers Association, financially supported by the United States Department of Agriculture, has been at the heart of the confluence of events leading to the expanding global reach of craft beer. Begun in 2004, the Export Development Program helps American craft brewers educate international markets about their products and aids in distribution efforts abroad. Having completed its fifth year, the EDP assists Americans in exporting more than 30,000 barrels of beer to more than a dozen countries in Europe and Asia.

Beyond the official export efforts, a quiet confluence of events has helped expose the world to the new American way of beer. American brewers started plying their trades abroad, in Denmark, Italy, Japan, and beyond, further expanding the reach of the new U.S. brewing approach. Craft beer inspired a new generation of foreign brewers, in places such as Scotland, Italy, Scandinavia, and Australia, to start their own breweries based on American models. Add in a new generation of global beer geeks, including some influential and rabid Scandinavian raters, and a modest but expanding international market for big-flavored American beers developed.

These events have resulted in some unexpected and fundamental changes in the traditional beer world. While the growth of new American-style craft breweries in places such as Denmark and Italy, with their relatively prosaic lager brewing histories, was welcomed news, the movement’s reverberations have been particularly acute in countries with deeper brewing traditions. Reeling from the effects of globalization, small brewers across Belgium, Britain, and Germany began to see their market shares shrink as bigger players consolidated and swallowed their customers then their breweries. Younger drinkers abandoned traditional beers for the safety of bland pints of lager. In these difficult times, the success of better beer in America caught the eye of some distressed European brewers.

Faced with possible extinction, a pionerring group of Belgian brewers in particular looked to America for help. Brewers including Cantillon, De Proef, and Fantome, struck deals with American importers and suddenly saw pallets of their handcrafted beers leaving for long trips abroad. In return, hoards of American beer tourists started showing up at their favorite brewery’s doorsteps. In an unanticipated turn, Belgian brewers also realized there was money to be made in playing to the radical American palate. Importer B.United convinced the Brasserie d’Achouffe to make an unusual hybrid beer, called Houblon Chouffe Dobbelen IPA Tripel, for the American market. Other breweries followed, resulting in joint efforts with their U.S. counterparts and the birth of the collaboration beer era. Completing the circle of America’s expanding beer influence, the next wave has seen the rise of extreme breweries in Belgium, such as Picobrouwerij Alvinne and De Struise Brouwers.

Small European brewers today find themselves in a tenuous position in a quickly changing marketplace. As guardians of deep and honored brewing heritages, the task of protecting historic styles from the encroaching American beer geek palate will grow increasingly difficult. To date, these breweries have managed well the task of delicately balancing adaptation and innovation with the traditions that built their brewing reputations. In maintaining this equilibrium, we can only hope they can defend their valuable beer cultures and brewing traditions against the forces of dilution.

–Article appeared in Issue 28 of BeerAdvocate Magazine.

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Craft Beer and the Economy…

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With massive layoffs, precipitous drops in consumer spending, and a near complete drying up of the credit markets, the American economic scene looks positively dreadful. And while things look bad in the broader economy, beer industry people have been biting their fingernails over how their businesses will fare. In recent months, beer lovers across the country have seen the closure of a small handful of brewpubs and packaging facilities that were unable to meet their day-to-day financial needs. These tough times are testing the old micro-economic maxim that beer is recession proof.

A few months back, the Nielsen Company issued a press release listing its top five recession proof consumer goods. While it was no surprise to see dry pasta and sauce on the list, beer was tucked in the middle amongst the more unusual neighbors of candy and seafood. Thirty or forty years ago, we could understand what such a list meant in terms of defining beer. But today, with the increased presence of craft and imported beers, it’s more difficult to determine whether “beer� is really recession proof.

In another recent press release, the Brewers Association announced that craft brewers managed another strong year in 2008 despite the troubled economy. “Small independent craft brewers� increased their sales 5.8-percent by volume and 10.5-percent in sales over the previous year and reached 4-percent of total U.S. production. While the numbers fall behind the double-digit growth experienced in recent years, it seems to suggest that craft beer has recession legs. Compare that to imported brands, which were down nearly 4-percent from last year.

Industry analysts have a quiver of theories as to why craft beer is performing so well in a down economy. Some posit that high-end wine drinkers are essentially slumming it with less expensive craft brands, while others believe that a “Buy American� nationalism has influenced consumers away from imported brands into the arms of craft brewers. Others caution that craft beer is not recession proof but merely recession resistant.

While things may be stable for craft breweries, the same cannot be said for many consumers, even those who prefer craft beer. The American unemployment rate is presently at its highest level in a quarter-century and cuts across all economic sectors. In one of BeerAdvocate Magazine’s first issues, I wrote an article bemoaning a phenomenon I called “price creep.� After years of stagnant prices and faced with increasing prices for raw materials and shipping, craft breweries started raising their prices. In response, some bar owners saw the opportunity to tack on additional price increases onto otherwise modest cost raises.

Fast forward two years and on-premise accounts across the country are beginning to see greater numbers of empty bar seats and restaurant tables as people choose to do their drinking at home. In response, craft brewers are beginning to alter their thinking about the future. Consumers looking for cost savings but unwilling to trade down have helped twelve-pack sales increase. Even at the higher end of the craft price spectrum, distributors recently convinced Dogfish Head to release a mixed twelve-pack of its 60, 90, and 120 Minute IPA family, at a 20-percent discount over individual pricing. On the other coast, Stone Brewing’s CEO Greg Koch recently told local business students that he wanted to change the company’s expansion model. Instead of selling more than 90,000 barrels of beer in thirty-three states, as Stone will do this year, he’d prefer to save on fuel costs and sell more beer in just five states.

While the craft beer juggernaut has continually chugged along, even surviving some near-death experiences along the way, things will have to change. With no end in sight for the lagging economy, craft brewers will have to continue to develop new ways of serving the now ailing consumers who have treated them so well.

–Article appeared in Issue 27 of BeerAdvocate Magazine.

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An Update on the B-Side/Lord Hobo Drama in Cambridge…

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When we last discussed the continuing drama over the B-Side Lounge in Cambridge, the city’s licensing commission and the former bar’s neighbors were raking new owner Daniel Lanigan over the coals about a series of issues, including the new bar’s projected food-to-alcohol sales ratio and how the new owners would minimize noise and annoyance to the bar’s neighbors. It was a contentious hearing, as the lengthy transcript I posted reflected, and it ended with a continuance and further investigation. Although I’ve been periodically checking the licensing board’s website, thanks to alert reader Eric S., we now have an update.

The licensing commission met on March 24, 2009, to continue Lanigan’s unfortunate roasting. The commission reluctantly accepted Lanigan’s suggestion that the food-to-alcohol ratio would be 65-35 or 70-30 (although it politely threatened to pull his receipts to confirm this). The commission also politely suggested that Lanigan was free to open a bar somewhere else (outside of Cambridge is my read), if he wanted a higher alcohol sales ratio. Lanigan also reported that his head chef will be Matt Bailey, formerly of Mistral and Teatro.

The commission then briefly roasted Lanigan over the coals for some misstatements in his prior licensing record.

In another interesting turn, Lanigan then offered a copy of BeerAdvocate Magazine’s lauding of his previous establishments as further proof of his suitability as a license holder. BeerAdvocate also gets mentioned as one of the commissioners spent some time on the site reading about the Lord Hobo’s plans.

After adjourning the hearing, the commission met again on April 2 and again hotly debated whether to grant Lanigan the license. After the debate, which included the concerned input of a member of the Cambridge City Council, the commission voted to allow the license transfer with several conditions. The commission is requiring the Lord Hobo to submit monthly revenue receipts to demonstrate that it really does achieve its stated food-to-alcohol ratio and that the license is conditionally only allowed until 1 a.m., with the agreement of Lanigan.

It’s been a tough go of it for Lanigan and his supporters and I look forward to seeing what he does with the place.

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Heed The Call Of Beer Evangelism…

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The future of better beer is in your hands, now what are you going to do with it? That is the question I’m asking our loyal readers to ponder in the first few months of the New Year. The continued success of craft brewers and the industry that supports them will not depend in the long-term on a small but passionate group of beer geeks buying greater amounts of quality ales and lagers. Instead, craft beer’s prospects rest with the uninitiated masses who have yet to embrace the products we love.

As a niche within a niche, BeerAdvocates spend a lot of time talking amongst themselves. We attend festivals, visit select bars, and chat online with one another about which breweries are exciting or disappointing us. All the while, we tend to ignore people who have not yet sought membership in the good beer club. We have each experienced a beer awakening at some point, a moment of clarity where the beer and moment met and a spark quickly developed into a forest blaze. So why not take some time to give the gift of good beer this year to someone who really needs it? For you aspiring beer evangelists, here are some tips to assist in your endeavors at spreading the fire to new communities.

Beer Tip Number 1: Bring a friend to a beer festival. With their unparalleled offerings, there is no better place to introduce beer neophytes to the wide world of craft beer than at a festival. While basking in the glow of craft beer camaraderie, beer newbies can sample a wide array of brands with no added financial or judgment pressure. If they don’t like a beer, tell them to toss it and try something new. Try and help your friends break down their beer prejudices by trying a range of beers, from light to dark and hoppy to malty.

Beer Tip Number 2: Follow up your festival visit by buying a mixed six-pack of beers your friend enjoyed in order to reinforce the experience.

Beer Tip Number 3: If a festival is out of your budgets or too big a first step, why not invite your friend out to a local brewpub. More than any other source, brewpubs are the frontlines of the American craft brewing movement. For the price, there is no better way to expose your friends to a bevy of beer styles in a safe, friendly environment. If a little weary of new places or trying new beers, order a safe beer for your friend and a sampler for yourself and share. The brewpub sampler, which can range from three beers to a dozen or more, is the surest conversion tool you have for getting others started on the craft beer experience.

Beer Tip Number 4: Invite your friend, or better yet, your friends out for a brewery tour. A few years ago, the Brewers Association observed that the majority of Americans live within ten miles of a brewery. It’s time to capitalize on your good fortune. Check BeerAdvocate.com for a list of your local breweries and then contact them for tour times or to schedule a visit. Most breweries welcome visitors and do a fantastic job of educating and courting new customers. Sometimes just meeting a brewer is enough to break down beer prejudices and it’s a great way to support your local brewery.

Beer Tip Number 5: Once you’ve planted the better beer seed, nurture your creation with the gift of knowledge. The better informed prospective consumers are about their options, the more confident they will feel in their purchases. Buy your friend a book on local beers or gift them a subscription to BeerAdvocate or another beer magazine for their birthday. Reinforcing their better beer experiences with information will hopefully seal the deal on their beer conversion.

In undertaking your missionary duties as foot soldiers in the better beer brigade, remember the keys to beer evangelism: Don’t judge or push and always have fun. Happy converting.

–Article appeared in Volume III, Issue II of BeerAdvocate Magazine.

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Novelty and The New Yorker…

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A remarkable thing happened a few months back. One of America’s most respected periodicals, the New Yorker, a great chronicler of popular culture, published a nearly 10,000 word tome on one of craft beer’s brightest lights. And while public response to the energetic and engaging profile of Dogfish Head’s intrepid leader Sam Calagione bordered on the euphoric for craft beer enthusiasts, the remarkable piece left me a little concerned.

A rollicking good read, the article follows a Ken Kesey-esque Calagione through a patchwork of interviews, bawdy high jinks, and entertaining stories. Using Brooklyn Brewery’s Garrett Oliver as an uneasy contrast and even unlikelier foil, the resulting profile includes the author’s contextual observations about his lead character as the king of extreme, and, to a lesser extent, about the craft beer industry in general. While the article captures Calagione’s spirit if occasionally portraying him as a barely mitigated eccentric, it’s the lasting impression of the craft beer industry and its association with extreme that bothered me.

After first denigrating craft beer as a ‘fad’ and then pronouncing it ‘dead,’ the mainstream media has had a particularly fickle relationship with craft brewers. Despite these slags on the fine efforts of struggling craft brewers, the news media’s subtler approach to craft beer in recent years poses a bigger challenge to the industry. And the New Yorker article’s title put the issue front and center in the magazine’s first real foray into the craft beer world, “The rise of extreme beer.�

For the last five years, newspaper editors, magazine writers, and television producers have sought to define craft beer as being extreme. And for a while, craft brewers were perfectly happy being portrayed as representing a break from the average, tired, mass-produced brands. While a handful of adventurous brewers have seen success by pushing the brewing envelope in an effort to redefine the very nature of beer, the overwhelming majority of craft brewers still run very traditional operations. Beyond obscuring the true efforts of the vast majority of craft brewers, the direction of such media coverage serves to subtly suggest that the efforts of smaller breweries are unusual in a way that appeals to only a very limited segment of the public.

Craft brewers should be concerned that their efforts and products, which for mainstream success must focus on both flavor and accessibility of their products, will grow isolated from potential customers by way of inaccurate media coverage. Oliver’s stated concerns in the New Yorker article about the alienating effects of appealing to such a small demographic, and by its definition of having craft beer equated with and defined as extreme beer, are understandable. For the majority of craft brewers who are looking to grow their businesses, the notion that they are doing something strange should not be encouraged. Instead, their efforts should be portrayed as a return to normalcy after a long-standing hibernation of taste, a welcomed homecoming from a time where bland, flavorless beers and foods reigned. In the same way that the average consumer does not look upon Chinese, Mexican, or Thai food as the extreme of eating, craft brewers should be wary of having their efforts defined as weird or strange by the media.

To be sure, the New Yorker article was a watershed event in the history of the craft brewing renaissance, one that symbolized an arrival on a new stage, a proper introduction to an audience that prides itself on sophistication. As the mainstream media continues to focus its attention on craft brewing, I hope that the industry can achieve a balance of coverage and avoid the restrictive and isolating label of novelty.

–Article appeared in Volume III, Issue I of BeerAdvocate Magazine.

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