Value

Here's something that puzzles me; how do drinkers interpret value for the purchase of a pint of draught, or a bottle, or can of beer?

A lot of this has to be subjective and I'm sure that it's different for each individual. Recent increases in raw material and energy costs are driving up the cost to brew, package, and distribute beer so I think that cost is starting to become more of an issue for even craft brew drinkers. At Philadelphia Brewing Co we've kept our costs low by retaining our local market focus and self distribution.

So, as a consumer, is a $3.00 pint of Newbold IPA or Rowhouse Red a better value than a $3.00 pint of Kenzinger or Walt Wit? As a drinker I would say no. For me, grabbing a couple pints of Kenzinger at a good price while out at a bar is what I'm looking for. I personally don't often drink bigger beers while I'm out - I usually save that for when I'm home or at least close to home :)

For me a $3.00 pint of Kenzinger is what I'm looking for so that represents the greater value.

I can tell you, and it may be obvious, that Newbold IPA and Rowhouse Red cost more to brew than Kenzinger and Walt Wit just because of the greater amount of malt and hops required for those bigger beers. Maybe value for beer is sorta like price+features for some folks. So maybe getting a pint of IPA for $3.00 which naturally costs more to brew than a Kölsch represents a better value for some people.

I know that some folks lump beers into categories based on their style. Is an imported Belgian Abbey Ale worth more than a domestically brewed Abbey-style Ale? If your view of beer is bound to style categories, do you differentiate between an all-malt craft brew like Kenzinger and a low cost lager that uses corn or rice and a whiff of hop extract in order to keep cost (and flavor) low?

What about packaging? Are we conditioned to expect to pay less for beer in a can than we would pay for beer in a bottle? You can get some damn fine craft brewed beer in cans now. Sly Fox and Oskar Blues both make excellent craft brewed beer in a can using the finest malts and hops.

So, we all make value judgments on our beer purchases. How do you make yours?

Maybe I just need to have another Kenzinger! :)

Cheers!

Momentum

Sometimes ideas get momentum and become "truths".

I've already spouted about the evils of Internet anonymity and the rampant habit of posting noxious, vitriolic, and just plain useless opinion or commentary in various forums. It's easy and cowardly to slam somebody's work or opinion when you hide behind some false ID. It's easier than ever to get information out there using Web tools such as blogs and forums. Truth, is becoming more difficult to find. Truth, is being replaced by opinion and hearsay. A lot of the stuff that's out there is either being prepackaged by somebody with an interest in a particular version of a story - like news media spinning things up to sell more advertising; people who are presenting an image of themselves that is just plain false; or people who are just too busy or too lazy to check the facts. I'm guilty of this to a certain extent - the lazy/busy thing I mean. I've accepted certain statements as facts because I'd heard them more than once or from somebody that I thought was respectable. Unfortunately, sometimes even people you respect are too busy or too lazy to check the facts. Sometimes, respectable people accept stories as fact just because they too heard them from a respected source.

It ain't hard to appear to know what you are talking about. Speak confidently and be able to spout tidbits of evidence and you'll gain the support of most people.

The other side of the ease of communication and information access provided by the Internet is the fact that you can find the facts. You can find the truth. It just takes work.

So, here's where we get to the point where we find out why this duffus who only cares about fermentable stuff is rambling on about truth and the Internet.

Well, I read the blogs of a few folks in beer-land who are working their butts off researching and posting information about the history of beer and beer styles. Some of the information that these guys are posting basically pulls the carpet out on a few "facts" about the history of certain beer styles that I comfortably held as fact up until now. These are some pretty widely held beliefs in beer-land North America but the research performed by these guys either completely disproves the stories or shows them to be "Americanized" interpretations - partly true but not historically accurate.

Here's what I'm talking about:

The truth about IPA from Martyn Cornell's Zythophile - I always accepted and often retold the legend of India Pale Ale being so named due to its use to fortify sailors on the trade routes between England and India during colonial times. Martyn provides some pretty compelling facts that debunk this old brewer's tale.


Ron Pattinson ruffles feathers on his Shutup about Barclay Perkins Blog - It is widely held in North American brewing communities that the difference between an Ale and a Lager is the yeast used in fermentation and the process followed for fermentation. Both professional and hobbyist or home brewers would argue this to be fact in North America. Ron brings a cultural and historical argument to light in his post. Germans do not widely make a distinction between beer styles based upon the North American convention of yeast type and fermentation process. To a German brewer, an Ale is a style that comes from England. While I will most likely continue to use the modern, western, terminology to distinguish my brews, I can certainly see that it is a modern use of the terms Ale and Lager. Vive la différence! :)

Ron also got into it with the lovely folks on the RATbeer . com forum - Read this at your own peril; I did and ended up exhausted by the time I finished. Sometimes people can be like a dog with a bone - holding on to their views. The link above takes you to Ron's blog entry - from there you'll find a link to the RATbeer . com thread. I'm amazed how firmly people cling to their own view of the world - where's the fun in that?

Here's one that seems to come back every year - Bob Skilnik fights the common idea that prohibition in the USA ended on April 7 - Man, Bob is a trooper. He seems to post something about this topic year after year. Even the Brewer's Association bought into the April 7th thing and they started to organize country wide events to honor the end of prohibition.

By the way...I should mention that I heard about Ron Pattinson and Zythophile on Lew Bryson's blog - Seen Through a Glass

This may be ironic, but hey - don't believe everything you read on the Internet! :)

Cheers!

Welcome 2008!!

Well, it's 2008 and that means that we've got our brewery back! We're in the very final throws of our licensing process and our recipes are coming together nicely.

2007 was a long, often difficult and tedious year; I guess that's to be expected. After all, we traded away a brand that we all put our hearts and backs into and spent over eight years out of our lives building. On the other hand; now we get a fresh start - no baggage and no history to fight. The only real legacy that we need to deal with is the equipment design which is a hangover from the previous brand. We've made good beer on this setup before, in spite of the design; we'll do it again until we are able to rectify its faults.

A bunch of us greeted 2008 from the roof of our newly reclaimed Kensington brewery building. As we entered the building, we were greeted by a lingering odor of mold and what can only be described as stale, sweaty socks. This odor had become resident during the transition time during which we had been locked out of the brewery. It may seem strange but to me this was the smell of a new day. This would be the last time that our brewery would smell this way.

We all climbed up onto the roof of our brewhouse to watch the fireworks; champange and beer in hand. It seemed almost affirming that the individual neighborhood fireworks going off all around us dwarfed the city's display out over the Delaware river.

Cheers to you and yours; it's going to be a good year.

How can police spot a drunk?

Jeez - according to a notice distributed by British police to publicans in the UK, I must be drunk ALL THE TIME. I certainly meet about 90% of the criteria on most days.

Does this describe you too?

Here's a snip from a website called www.thepublican.com

Police have been told that the aim of the guidelines is “to present such compelling physical evidence of the person’s level of intoxication that it would be impossible for a court to accept that the person who conducts the sale did not know of this fact”.

Evidence police have been told to look for includes:

A noticeable change in behaviour

• Bad tempered, aggressive;
• Offensive language;
• Becoming loud, boisterous or disorderly;
• Becoming physically violent;
• Becoming incoherent;
• Slurring, or making mistakes in speech; and
• becoming argumentative.

A lack of judgment

• Being careless with money;
• Annoying other persons, employees etc;
• Exhibiting inappropriate sexual behaviour;
• Drinking quickly or competitively (‘down in one’)

Clumsiness & loss of co ordination

• Swaying;
• Staggering;
• Difficulty with walking;
• Falling down;
• Bumping into furniture;
• Spilling drinks;
• Difficulty in picking up change; and
• Fumbling for cigarettes, or other items

Decreased alertness

• Drowsiness, dozing or sleeping;
• Rambling conversation;
• Loss of train of thought;
• Difficulty in paying attention;
• Not understanding what is said;
• Glassy eyes and
• Lack of focus.

Appearance

• Unkempt
• Dishevelled

Pennsylvania "case" law - There’s been a load of talk about the nutty alcohol distribution laws in Pennsylvania of late; but I think a lot of people are missing the point, (especially some beer writers).

Just in case you're not from PA, let me enlighten you. In Pennsylvania, cases of beer can only be purchased at beer distributors. Beer distributors cannot sell anything smaller than a case (24 bottles). If all you want is a six pack you need to go to a specially licensed bar or deli. If you get to the deli and decide that you want a case after all because the six pack is more than half what you would have paid for a case in the first place - you're outta luck. Six pack licensees can only sell you twelve beers at a time. On top of all this, the one store that is actually all over the place - the Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board stores - can't sell beer at all. So if you want to get yourself a nice bottle of whiskey to go with that strong ale you love - you're going to make two stops.

That's the situation in a nutshell. This paints an ugly picture for alcohol consumers yes. But it's a picture that the neo-abolitionists, (like MADD et al), love (that's another story).

The folks this system does benefit, and the piece of the picture that most people overlook, is the small, LOCAL, craft brewery. Contrary to popular belief, package brewing is not a highly profitable business. For small breweries costs are high and competition is strong. Local breweries compete with each other, nationally recognized craft brews like Sierra Nevada and Anchor, mega breweries like Sam Adams posing as craft brews, and quality imports from Belgium, England, Germany, and Canada. The average cost to a small brewer of selling 24 bottles in 6-packs is $2.00 more per case than a straight case of 24. That's $2.00 per case extra for packaging only. Six packs also take more labor to assemble and fill. You don't pay wholesale for beer unless you work for a brewer or distributor. So by the time that $2.00 per case gets to you it will be more like $6.00 per case. Now you are looking at paying $30.00 to $35.00 per case by the time that the wholesaler and retailer take their mark-ups.

I agree that we need better laws surrounding the distribution of beer and liquor in PA. But breaking the case is not the way to do this.

Support your local brewery!

Arguing on the Internet is like competing in the Special Olympics - even if you win you're still a "special person". I know my friend Tom - http://hwbrewer.blogspot.com/ has already written a similar view on this in his blog; but I gotta get this off my chest.

Beer Review Web sites - everyone has an opinion, everyone has an ass hole, most should not be seen in public. The internet provides the ultimate vehicle for free speech; it's also a great way for cowardly, uneducated ass holes to anonymously spew on somebody else's hard work.

Don't get me wrong - I know I'm painting this picture with a very wide brush. I know, like, and appreciate the efforts of many members of these sites. The original intention of sites like beeradvocate.com was to educate and promote, (or uhh, advocate?), the appreciation of good beer. This is a value that I share with founders of beeradvocate.com along with many of its members.

The problem that I have with sites like ratebeer.com & pubcrawler.com is that they promote this idea that personal opinion is holy and carries more weight than fact or what I like to call "reality". Ratebeer.com goes so far as to compare themselves and their ratings to Wine Spectator. If you drink you've most likely been exposed to Wine Spectator's ratings for wine in most liquor stores. They are usually the source for those numbers posted on small placards describing wines that the store wants you to try/buy. The difference between the Wine Spectator ratings and those from ratebeer.com is fact vs. opinion. Wine Spectator reviews are written by experts and are written in such a way that they help a consumer make decisions about the wine. Ratebeer.com reviews are pure personal opinion and are often written with no regard to the what the brewer intended or what a person reading the review might be looking for. The problem with this concept that "it's my opinion so I can't be wrong and I can say what I want" is that it serves no purpose except to stroke the ego of the person posting the review. Another huge difference between ratebeer.com or pubcrawler.com and Wine Spectator - Wine Spectator will not publish disparaging reviews of a wine; while these beer related web sites are full of negative opinions and misguiding statements.

So - if I don't like what's posted to these site - I don't have to read them right? Or maybe I should just post my own opinions about beer that I do or don't personally like? That misses the point - I'm not sure why ratebeer.com was established but I know that other sites like beeradvocate.com were established to help promote better beer appreciation and beer knowledge. Beeradvocate.com organizes good beer festivals and events and they offer plenty of good resources for learning about and finding good beer. However, the negative nonsense often posted in ratings and forums on these sites marginalizes them and, to some extent, the beer they want to promote by making them appear to be the domain of masturbatory back room geeks. Do you really believe that you'll get a normal person who is only marginally interested in good beer to support it if they associate it with these chest pounding uber geeks? Nope - it's more comfortable to stick with those hot twins and pretend that one light beer has more flavor than another. Or even worse - turn to an imported mega-brew like Heinie or Leuven's lightest - satisfying their need for something "better" with Europe's Bud.

To quote Jon Stewart "You're hurting America". If you feel that the world really needs to hear your malformed, holy opinion - at least have the balls to post it with your real name so you can be identified. Is an anonymous opinion really an opinion after all?

Cheers! Love Dean