So, I know I haven't had to say to much about beer in the last 6 months, but I had several occurances last night that I feel obligated to report:
First, Jubelale 2009 is back and better than ever. I'm predicted that this will be the Winter Ale of the year. It's much smoother and not nearly as offensive as it's predecessors. That is, you'll actually want to drink more than one of these at a time. It kind of has a hint of the Snow Plow of yore in it as well. Highly Recommended.
Second, the world of beer is changing before our eyes: Moose Drool and Fat Tire now comes in cans, Budweiser makes a Hefe, and it seems harder and harder to find legitimate "Microbrews."
Good beer in cans, to me, is a good thing. Now I don't have to drink Cole Smead's piss when I'm camping or hiking. Cans around going to make the hung-over pack out much easier. They're also easier to recycle. As Indy Z put it, "Victory!"
I know we all scoff at Bud's attempts to appeal to a market with a finer pallet, but what if they make something that actually tastes good? Given, it's unlikely, but that would really fuck with my beerality if it happened.
Lastly, it seems like the growing microbrew industry is it's own worst enemy. How can Widmer, Belgium, Pyramid, and Alaskan still qualify as microbrews when they produce millions of gallons a year? My only hope is that they don't sacrifice quality for market share as they grow from a nationwide into a global product. Thoughts?
8 comments:
I don't see those companies sacrificing taste for quantity. Those guys know where their bread is buttered and it's making quality beer.
Bud/Miller/Coors still owns the large majority of the market share and have the advantage of economies of scale to prevent a massive takeover of their product by Widmer/Alaska/etc. Plus as long as people live in Texas, there will be no universally appreciated microbrew that people are willing to pay $4+/pint or $8+/6-er.
Budweiser Golden Wheat is not bad. They're a Belgian company now--so they have the advantage of some expertise when it comes to making Wheats.
Widmer's definitely not a micro anymore.
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/phoenix.zhtml?c=95666&p=irol-homeProfile&t=&id=&
At the green, the busweiser truck (think In-Bev) delivered the majority of the kegs the bar purchased whether it be bud, hefe, or alaskan. So why they might not have been able to decide how many hops to throw into the batch, they have the strangle hold on the market. Blah blah blah economies of scale. Stupid econ majors.
God. I would give anything for a mirror pond right now.
Micah, have you tried Billy Bar in Shantou? I remember that being the only place for thousands of miles that you could get home-brewed beer with taste that won't give you botulism.
It's Babbitt, not Jarnot.
Out here in NYC, I'm a fan of dollar rolling rocks every Wednesday night.
On the big beer company front, I would like it noted that Miller and Coors have merged and are now (wait for it) MillerCoors. This means my random and senseless boycott of antisemtic beer now includes High Life--tragic!
On the smaller beer front, I think we should either be liberal in our application of the term "microbrew" or replace it with "craft beer." It doesn't matter how much of a beer is made as long as there is some thought put into how to make it taste interesting and yummy.
Lastly, nice coining of the term "beerality." It's my '09 word of the year.
But "merge" always means "bought" in corporate-speak. And since "Miller" is first, doesn't that mean that the antisemetic owners were bought out? Isn't it all untainted now?
Sorry about that Babbit, I should have inferred Jarnot couldn't hang on this blog. And by the way, Budweiser/InBev holds a controlling stake in Widmer. Just sayin'.
Pete Coors is still the chairman of MillerCoors. Therefore, my senseless boycott continues. Sometimes a man's gotta take a stand.
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