Smart Advertising for Craft Beer

Advertisers are getting smart. I heard an ad on a local radio station today for a restaurant that was promoting their great craft beer selection. With that phrase, my ears perked up and I started listening. All because they added that one simple, little word: craft.

Image courtesy of www.stlmag.com/Blogs/Relish

See, I don't care if you've got a great beer selection, because that's so run-of-the-mill. That probably just means you have both kinds of beer: AB-InBev and SABMiller. But if you've got craft beer, well, that's a whole 'nother story. A Clydesdale of a different color, as it were.

Slightly-modified image compliments of clydesusa.com

The craft beer industry continues to grow, and consumers are seeing the benefits of that growth. For example: choices! When someone advertises craft beer, you can usually expect that the selection will be pretty great, with a variety of breweries and styles. Consider McCleary's Public House in Marietta, PA (less than 1/2 hour drive from York). My wife and I love to dine there, and I always take a few minutes to peruse the craft beer menu, which is broken down by style. (Their online beer menu is not quite as well laid out as their printed one.) Similarly, consider Victor's Italian Restaurant in York, PA, another favorite of ours (and about which I've previously written). Their rotating "beer bible" acts as your guide to fun for the evening. Both places advocate craft beer, and craft beer enthusiasts show thanks by frequenting their establishments. Win-win.

So if you're in advertising and you're reading this, I hope you've picked up on the fact that you need to use the word "craft" in your beer ads. Because craft-beer geeks won't listen if you don't, and plain-beer drinkers won't notice if you do. Prost!

Bad Beer: Wild Blue Blueberry Lager

You may recall that I previously debated whether or not to blog about bad beer. Debate is over. I'm ready to do it. All questions vacated my mind after I tasted this baddie.

Warning: Contains bad beer.

I had a "Wild Blue" blueberry lager a couple weeks ago, and it was definitively the worst beer I've ever had. Hands down. No joke. I despised it. It tasted like bubbly cough syrup. The only good thing about it was the 8% ABV, but even that didn't matter because I dumped it after I finished about 1/4 of the pint. I was tempted to dump it after only a few sips, but I wanted to give it a fair shake. I thought maybe it just didn't leave a good first impression but would be better after you got to know it. Nope. The first blueberry beer I've ever tried is a bust.

This drain-fodder was brought to us by the ubiquitous (and some would say, evil) Anheuser-Busch (ABInBev). While I don't partake of macro-brewery offerings very often, I do not discriminate and choose beer on that basis. I am always willing to try any beer and judge it based on the at-least-somewhat-objective characteristics of appearance, smell, taste, and mouthfeel. As a matter of fact, I had fairly decent remarks for ABInBev's Shock Top in my May 10, 2011 review.

Via Google+, someone observed that the label appears to show a dog...um, excreting the blueberry and that explains the taste. I think the graphic is supposed to be a depiction of a dog kicking a blueberry, but I prefer the former explanation because it does make sense.

• BeerAdvocate.com users didn't like it. They rated it 52/100, and the Brothers gave it a dismal 42/100.
• RateBeer.com users didn't like it even more. An overall rating of 9/100 is...pretty shabby.
• Untappd.com users rated it 3.5/5.0 bottle caps [1]. I gave it 0.5 because Untappd wouldn't let me give it a 0.

I'm hoping that this is an isolated incidence of bad beer and that it's not because it was blueberry. In fact, I have a follow-up to try in the near future: Blue Point Blueberry Ale. It's in the fridge now, so we'll see!

On one hand, I hope that I am never able to create a series of posts around the topic of bad beer. There are too many great-tasting beers in this world to waste time one the bad beers. On the other hand, I wouldn't mind as much because I would be able to warn you all not to waste your time! We'll see how the cookie crumbles. Prost!


Footnotes:
[1] I think this shows a demographic difference between Untappd users and BA / RB users. Perhaps BA / RB users, on the whole, are more into craft beer than Untappd users.

National Lager Day

December 10th is National Lager Day, another one of the random "Hallmark holidays" for beer lovers. [1] I celebrated with a couple Yuengling Traditional Lagers at our favorite local restaurant, The Conewago Inn, or as my wife and I like to call it, "The Inn". If you ask me, there is nothing more "American" than enjoying a classic, time-tested Yuengling brew. In this area, a "Yuengling Lager" is such a standard that you don't have to ask for it by name; you simply ask for a "lager". I like that.

In honor of Lager Day, I'm going to share a few tidbits about the tour of Yuengling's Pottsville, PA brewery that my wife, Diana, treated me to as an anniversary gift one year. (Yes, I know - my wife rocks!)

Front of the brewery. That's Diana at the bottom left.

Established in 1829, Yuengling is America's oldest brewery. It is a 5th generation family-owned operation. The tour guide told us that the current owner, Dick Yuengling, is grooming his daughters to be the 6th generation of owners. Pretty cool stuff.

Here's a picture of the guy that writes this blog

Yuengling also has a brewery in Tampa, Florida (we didn't get a chance to tour the Tampa facility that day...). I'm fairly convinced that they opened the Tampa location for the older Pennsylvanians who retire to Florida or at least spend their winters there. Makes it easy to find their favorite lager. Okay, you got me; that's pure speculation on my part. At any rate, Yuengling is obviously doing something right, because they have continued to exhibit steady growth over the years.

Part of the bottling line

The brewery is in an old building that was obviously not set up with lean systems in mind. First of all, the brewery is situated in a multi-story building, so it is more difficult to complete the manufacturing process. Also, the building is old so things are much more "cramped". I suppose people must have been shorter and smaller back in the day, because it seems like old buildings are always so much more compact than the buildings of today.

Old buildings are often not without opulence.
Here's a stained glass ceiling in one area of the brewery.

It's amazing what you can do in a small space though, because Yuengling produces 2.5 million barrels [2] of beer annually. Google's conversion calculator tells me that's 630 million pints! But compared with the big boys of brewing like AB InBev's Anheuser Busch, Yuengling is tiny [3]. I'm having trouble finding production numbers for comparison at the moment, so I'll go the other way. Compared with many other microbreweries, Yuengling is big! Consider that Dogfish Head Craft Brewery only produces 75,000 barrels a year. Also consider that when Tröegs moved from Harrisburg to Hershey, they planned to double production to 60,000 barrels a year.

Kegs in the cellar / conditioning area

Wrapping up now, the coolest thing about Yuengling was that you could tell it was steeped in tradition and rich in history. The tasting room at the end of the tour had an awesome old bar. The cellar where they condition the beer still had evidence of the Prohibition years [4]. In fact, there were still portions of the brick wall that government officials had erected in an effort to keep people from accessing the cellar, thereby effectively eliminating any chance of making beer.

Yuengling tasting room bar
(Photo courtesy of http://goo.gl/Oz9F6)

I very much enjoyed taking it all in. If you live within a few hours driving distance of Pottsville, I highly recommend making the trip to Yuengling for a tour.

I hope that you enjoyed this National Lager Day by celebrating with your own favorite lager. Thanks for reading, and as always, prost!

----------------------------

Footnotes:
[1] Wow, that opening line was extremely reminiscent of the beginning of my last post. I really gotta get a new hook...or blog more frequently than once a month!
[2] The unit "barrels" is abbreviated as "bbl", but I didn't use it here because I'm not sure how many people are familiar with that abbreviation. Also, I think it's silly that the abbreviation has two Bs. Here's an interesting article that tells where that second B comes from: http://goo.gl/kSLin.
[3] Even so, the Brewer's Association does not consider Yuengling to be a craft brewery because they do not meet the third of three criteria. A craft brewery must be 1) small, 2) independent, and 3) traditional. Even though Yuengling is not considered to be a craft brewery, they are a microbrewery.
[4] On December 5th, we just celebrated the 79th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition, aka Repeal Day.

Yorktoberfest 2011 Follow-up

Here's a follow-up to my "live" post from Yorktoberfest.  I said I was aiming to try all the varieties of craft beer at the festival...and I was close.  Looking back, I only missed one - Tröegs JavaHead Stout - which I already know is an enjoyable brew.

I took my pint glass from tent to tent, and the barkeeps faithfully filled it up.  Each 2 to 3 oz sample provided just enough to fill up the bottom of the glass and for me to savor the flavor.

Here's a comprehensive list of the beers they proffered and some quick tasting notes*:

1. Tröegs JavaHead Stout
2. Tröegs HopBack -- "hoppy"!
3. Tröegs Dead Reckoning Porter -- amazing! not as smooth as a typical porter; it has a bit of a bite
4. Stoudt's Scarlet Lady Ale -- surprisingly not as complex as other ales
5. Stoudt's Oktoberfest -- strong-ish and fizzy
6. Stoudt's Heifer-in-Wheat -- clever name, great taste (banana!)
7. Stoudt's Gold Lager -- classic golden liquid
8. Springhouse Brewery Seven Gates Pale Ale -- bitter aftertaste
9. Spoetzl Brewery Shiner Bock -- not as dark as I expected
10. Spaten Dunkel -- smooth, almost like you're not drinking anything; would make a good session beer except for the 5.5% ABV
11. Sixpoint Vienna Pale Ale -- the right amount of hoppiness, just the way a beer should taste!
12. Sixpoint Brownstone -- similar to a porter but has more of a mild, nutty flavor
13. Rogue Dad's Little Helper -- a black IPA (mmm!) strong on the hops!
14. Magic Hat Circus Boy -- a good summer brew, light and refreshing
15. Lancaster Brewing Company Shoo-Fly Porter -- smooth; light flavor of shoo-fly (my favorite pie!)
16. Hauser Estates Jack's Hard Cider -- "local Adams County apples put to good use", said the vendor
17. Dogfish Head Festina Pêche -- love Dogfish Head, didn't love this brew (tart, juicy)
18. Anheuser-Busch, Inc. Shock Top -- an always enjoyable summer beer

Also, I did some digging into why York's own LiquidHero and Mudhook breweries were not represented at Yorktoberfest, much to my (and I'm sure others') chagrin.  The organizers of Yorktoberfest were not immediately available for comment, but it was rumored that the "big boy" distributors may have pulled rank over the newbies and blocked them from the event (politics, ugh).  LiquidHero was undeterred.  A representative commented, "we supported this fest and we also made alot of new friends this weekend from people coming over to our brewery after this beerfest...we love the revs and we love york county...and we are here to stay".  That's the spirit, fellas!  You truly are our LiquidHero!  Prost!

* BeerAdvocate.com recommends not reviewing beers at fests for a variety of reasons: "small sample sizes...loud environments, slew of smells, and tasting of numerous beer styles back-to-back. [...] Doing so does a disservice to the brewer and could mislead others." (Source: http://beeradvocate.com/articles/637)

Shock Top - A Beer with a Twist (of Orange, Lemon, and Lime)

We visited Coakley's Restaurant and Irish Pub in New Cumberland, PA this weekend and had quite an enjoyable dining experience on their sidewalk cafe.  I was in the mood to try a new beer with an intriguing-sounding name, and "Shock Top" fit the bill.  Little did I know what was in store for my taste buds!

When the waitress delivered my Shock Top, I admit that my expectations were low because there was an orange slice on the glass (the nerve!).  This is the very reason that I've always shied away from ordering a Blue Moon - you serve orange slices with fruity beverages with even fruiter names, not beer!  At any rate, I decided to keep an open mind, and I'm glad I did.

The yellow-gold-colored beer had a light, frothy head and a mouthwatering aroma reminiscent of a fruit basket.  When the first sip of brew hit my tongue, I immediately understood where this drink got its name.  The flavor shocked my taste buds with orange, lemon, and lime.  As I washed it down, I was left feeling refreshed.  This Belgian-style wheat ale is low on the bitterness ("hoppiness") and has plenty of flavor to go around.  The quaffable libation really hit the spot on a warm day.

My First "Shock Top" at Coakley's Sidewalk Cafe

I was surprised to find that Shock Top is brewed by Anheuser-Busch.  I tend to overlook mega-breweries when I'm searching for a new great-tasting beer.  I feel like they are all about production and not so interested in creating innovative, flavorful varieties of beer.  Thank you, Anheuser-Busch, for making me drink my words.  I'll be back for more.  Prost!