Comments on: Put Down Your Slingshots

By: amm002

amm002 — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:38:12 +0000

Well put, OBFGuy.

By: OBFGuy

OBFGuy — Wed, 13 May 2009 16:26:38 +0000

Beer is a consumer product, not a sacrament. (Okay, in some places it may be a sacrament.) As such, consumer products rarely succeed in a broader market based upon an elitist approach that emphasizes the qualities of the product’s ingredients or the passions behind its manufacture. Craft beer is not and should not be an elitist product, but the video wishes to portray it that way. It makes it sound like the creation and consumption of craft beer is somehow an honorable and noble act that defies an evil empire of “industrial” brewing. The intentions behind it are honorable and it succeeds about half way. It fails when it starts calling on our inner brewer to understand or care about whether corn or rice are added to our beer. The video assumes we understand that the addition is during the mash, as opposed to . . .Well, you get my point.
I like the comments about local vs. craft beer. And, I believe that some people will enjoy a craft beer with flavor over an adjunct-riddled national (global?) product, but not everyone. I have close friends who simply prefer very light beers. And, having just returned from a visit to a hot, humid climate, my friends and family who would never touch a BMC product here were happily slurping fizzy, yellow Coronas/Sols/Tecates all afternoon.
For those who must produce these kinds of testimonials to their passions, please continue. It will not create many or any converts and it will perhaps rally the faithful much like a tent meeting. We owe you, the craft brewers, our thanks for creating interesting, exciting beers even if I we are not interested in joining the church of the true beer believer.

By: Flat Earth Cygnus X-1 Porter « The Captain’s Chair

Flat Earth Cygnus X-1 Porter « The Captain’s Chair — Tue, 12 May 2009 03:09:52 +0000

[...] brewing practices certainly play a significant role in the craft movement. But I go back to my earlier post on the Greg Koch thing, and the discussion that ensued in the comments section, which I thought was a thoughtful [...]

By: amm002

amm002 — Fri, 08 May 2009 13:50:41 +0000

Rob, since nearly all craft beer tends to be local/regional (and the most successful/nationally visible craft breweries such as Stone/Dogfish/Boston Brewing still have very strong local roots), I tend to agree with you on that front.

I was turned on to Surly because I walked into my local liquor store a couple years ago and the guy at the counter asked if I’d tried this little brewery from up the road in Brooklyn Center. Told him I’d never heard of it, but would give their stuff a shot, primarily because I wanted to support a local business trying to make a go of it. Turns out I love their stuff, and they’re continuing to have success in this region.

As much as BMC would like to act like your old familiar buddy from down the street who knows what it’s like living in [insert your city here], they can never ultimately compete with people that prefer to patronize local breweries. Only problem is the availability and convenience, ironically, which BMC is nearly always going to win out on, which gets us back to the three tier distribution issue. Distributors aren’t incentivized to cater to the crafts the same way they are BMC.

By: Rob D

Rob D — Fri, 08 May 2009 11:30:40 +0000

On the topic of “best way to promote…” I actually think that the most successful route is to talk less about *craft* beer and talk more about *local* beer.

You’ll get more converts by playing to people’s sense of pride in where they live, in their traditions, etc — than hoping they choose something that may or may not taste better to them.

In Germany (I’ve just returned after living there 2 years), all beer is local. When you walk into a bar and order a pils, you’re invariably served one of the local varieties.

By: Dirtyspeed

Dirtyspeed — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:56:50 +0000

It seems the craft brewing world is reaching a crossroads of sorts. People are reflecting and standing on the outside looking in. I think it is very healthy to have these conversations and actually confront the big names and try not to be so inclusive and elitist.

Great post.

By: forbiddendonut

forbiddendonut — Thu, 07 May 2009 14:09:01 +0000

Why do some petulant craft brewers feel like this is an ‘us vs. them’ issue and think that they need to prosletyze? Don’t they realize that they’re preaching to the choir? If you remember your first exposure to a better class of anything (food, beer, wine, music, etc.) you can recall how someone with more experience, knowledge, and more refined taste helped you out without making you feel like a hopeless novice. Then, you will also remember the elitist snobs who mocked your ignorance and made themselves feel smarter by making you look dumb. Which of these groups is actually trying to win converts?

You make a good point that not everyone is going to love craft beer. You can’t treat people like savages or children when they don’t immediately acknowledge a ‘superior’ product and mend their ways. Some people don’t care, they don’t want to be converted or enlightened. You can’t be an expert in everything, and you’ll never have the most refined taste in all matters. The best way to promote craft beer and expand the market is by being inclusive, not exclusive.

By: “Put Down Your Slingshots” « The Heavy Table

“Put Down Your Slingshots” « The Heavy Table — Thu, 07 May 2009 13:32:25 +0000

[...] Captain’s Chair posts a craft beer versus macro brew think piece that must surely rank among one of the most thoughtful things written about beer this year (along [...]

By: Rob D

Rob D — Thu, 07 May 2009 09:04:07 +0000

It’s great that Greg is agitating against BudMillerCoors nationally, but he seems to be advocating “quality” rather than “local.”

Is Sam Adams already the preferred, “standard beer” of Boston? It wasn’t the last time I visited.

By: Jeff Alworth

Jeff Alworth — Thu, 07 May 2009 04:33:21 +0000

For what it’s worth, I wasn’t really commenting on the content of the vid, just the production. I think things are REALLY different on the east and west coasts. In Portland, where I live, craft beer has won. Forty percent of the draft beer sold in Oregon was brewed here. There’s good beer and crap beer, and it’s no longer a moral issue here. The east coast still has a beleaguered attitude of an industry under seige. I wish I had put a bit more thought into the post, but I often forget people outside Oregon can find my blog.