A Thin line… (and a round of applause for Sam C of DFH)

Sam laying the smacketh down (on Beer Advocate thread about most overrated breweries:

http://beeradvocate.com/forum/read/4343008#4347378

 

Quote:

It’s pretty depressing to frequently visit this site and see the most negative threads among the most popular. This didn’t happen much ten years ago when craft beer had something like a 3 percent market share. Flash forward to today, and true indie craft beer now has a still-tiny but growing marketshare of just over 5 percent. Yet so many folks that post here still spend their time knocking down breweries that dare to grow. It’s like that old joke: “Nobody eats at that restaurant anymore, it’s too crowded.” Except the “restaurants” that people shit on here aren’t exactly juggernauts. In fact, aside from Boston Beer, none of them have anything even close to half of one percent marketshare. The more that retailers, distributors, and large industrial brewers consolidate the more fragile the current growth momentum of the craft segment becomes. The more often the Beer Advocate community becomes a soap box for outing breweries for daring to grow beyond its insider ranks the more it will be marginalized in the movement to support, promote, and protect independent ,American, craft breweries. It’s interesting how many posts that refer to Dogfish being over-rated include a caveat like “except for Palo…except for Immort…etc.” We all have different palettes which is why it’s a great thing that there are so many different beers. At Dogfish we’ve been focused on making “weird” beers since we opened and have taken our lumps for being stylistically indifferent since day one. I bet a lot of folks agree that beers like Punkin Ale (since 1995) , Immort Ale (wood aged smoked beer) since 1995, Chicory Stout (coffee stout) since 1995 , Raison D’être (Belgian brown) since 1996, , Indian Brown Ale (dark IPA) since 1997, and 90 Minute (DIPA) since 2000 don’t seem very weird anymore. That’s in large part because so many people who have been part of this community over the years championed them and helped us put them on the map.These beers, and all of our more recent releases like Palo Santo, Burton Baton, Bitches Brew continue to grow every year. We could have taken the easy way out and just sold the bejeezus out of 60 Minute to grow but we like to experiment and create and follow our own muse. Obviously there is an audience that appreciates this as we continue to grow. We put no more “hype” or “expert marketing” behind our best selling beers than we do our occasionals. We only advertise in a few beer magazines and my wife Mariah oversees all of our twitter/Facebook/dogfish.com stuff. We have mostly grown by just sharing our beer with people who are into it (at our pub, great beer bars, beer dinners, and fests) and let them decide for themselves if they like it. If they do we hope they tell their friends about. We hope a bunch of you that are going to EBF will stop by our booth and try some of the very unique new beers we are proudly bringing to market like Tweason’ale (a champagne-esque, gluten-free beer fermented with buckwheat honey and strawberries) and Noble Rot (a sort of saison brewed with Botrytis-infected Viognier Grape must). One of these beers is on the sweeter side and one is more sour. Knowing each of your palettes is unique you will probably prefer one over the other. That doesn’t mean the one you didn’t prefer sucked. And the breweries you don’t prefer but are growing don’t suck either. Respect Beer

 Thank you Sam! Thank you so much… I joke about beer snobbery just because I refuse to drink bad beer… and I love supporting American Craft Breweries first and foremost… but there is a thin line

My take on it, is that that line is so often crossed these fad jumping scenesters that are always “so over” everything… craft beer is not a fad, should not be driven by exclusivity and beer should not be judge by what you feel the brand’s reputation is.

Enjoy your beer and STFU!

Cheers,

Os

My 10 most Memorable Beers of 2011

Memorable beers of 2011

So instead of doing my favorites, I think I will do what I tried for the first time this year as far as the most memorable:

Russian River “Pliny the Elder” – finally was able to get my hands on some pliny thanks to a trade w/ some fellow 49er fans. This on the east coast is pretty much the holy grail of IPA lovers. I was glad that it lived up to the hype… perfect dryness to all the hops… a significant malt backbone w/o the sweetness of other doubles and imperials

Sierra Nevada/Dogfish Head collaboration “Life and Limb 2″ – probably my most talked about beer this year. Described as an american strong ale it’s got a stout like feel to it.. dark brown with some major complexity… molasses malt, some smoke, coffee, vanilla and spice.. then bam! some maple at the end..

Founders “Canadian Breakfast Stout” – perfect breakfast in a glass stout… CBS was a hard to find beer but i was able to get it on tap twice and lucky enough to have scored 1 bottle… thick chewy oatmeal stout base, maple syrup with hints of smoke that give a bacon profile to it… coffee and chocolate… and just a touch of the bourbon barrel woody taste

Schlafly “Pumpkin Ale” – year in and year out i’m a huge Southern Tier “Pumking” fan for good reason… this year however I was wowed even more by Schlafly’s offering… fresh pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg took this beer to another level… overall an amazing beer

Sixpoint “Autumnation” – Sixpoint never wanting to conform (or to leave out hops for that matter) chose to take a different route w/ their fall offering… sure it had pumpkin in it and probably why it was so polarizing… people may have been expecting a pumpkin beer but this was not it… this was full of fresh hops in a can… amazingly drinkable

Allagash “Bourbon Black” – as a fan of allagash i had the opportunity to meet rob todd this year… if you aren’t familiar with allagash black, it’s a fantastic belgian style stout.. a robust coffee stout w/ a funky belgian yeast taste… smooth and extremely drinkable… the cask only bourbon black version adds that extra bite of bourbon and smooth silkiness you expect from a cask beer… wish this was bottled

Dogfish Head “75 min IPA” – aka Johnny Cask, i’m extremely happy that next year it will be bottled… a combo of 60 and 90 dry hopped w/ cascade in a cask w/ extra yeast and maple syup.. what’s not to love about it?

Hill Farmstead “Twilight of the Idols” – Hill Farmstead has emerged on the scene as one of the top artisanal breweries and my newest obsession… a winter porter w/ coffee, cinnamon and vanilla was so easy to drink… yet so complex and silky… if anyone ever has a chance to drink anything by hill farmstead please do so

Cigar City “Maduro Oatmeal Brown” – as I’m not a fan of browns in general, this really wowed me… it was the first Cigar City beer I had and every thing I tasted after has been nothing short of great… roasted nuts, oatmeal and really is a full bodied brown ale

Carton Brewing “Boat Beer” – this here might be uncalled for me mentioning as it may be something nobody outside of NJ will be tasting for some time… a start up brewery that has not began to bottle (can in their case actually) came out of nowhere with one of the most impressive beers, for a different reason than the other beers I’ve mentioned… with a nose and taste full of hops and citrusy grapefruit awesomeness… you would think this was a full blown IPA… but that’s the impressive part, this is a fully sessionable beer at 4.2abv it’s perfect for a can…

The Exploitation of Craft Beer

First off I will come out and say it. I don’t post nearly enough. There, got it out of the way. While I may not be an avid blogger, I do like this as an outlet and I do have something to get out now.

I will also state that I’m no authority on beer or morals for that matter… On one of my other posts about the Conundrum of Craft Beer, I addressed the hypocrisy of wanting good beer but wanting exclusivity. It seems to be the common goal of the community as a whole to want craft beer to grow and prosper. Yet we do share a community mentality and that leads to an anti “big company” sentiment.

There is a positive to the current rise in craft beer. The availability of craft beer, like any other product is highly affected by demand. With the increase of craft beer drinkers the availability must grow and it benefits us all.  I welcome new craft beer drinkers and do what I can to help people open up to what we love so much. I love the enthusiasm. I have the same enthusiasm with new beers and hope that never dies.

One of the negatives though, is with the exclusive beers. Breweries are aware that they must curb their enthusiasm when it comes to the growth of craft beer drinkers. Sure, many of us have been doing this for a long time. Also, I would assume many of the new comers will stick to it. Unfortunately though, no matter how great the beer is, truth is that many are in it for the fad. It’s the new cool popular thing. When that dies down, so will many of the breweries or at least the increased supply/demand that has recently popped up.

With breweries realizing the above, they still will not put out more of these wonderfully exclusive beers to meet the demand. I’m okay with that. I too enjoy getting my hands on a hard to find beer. What really does bother me is the people looking to benefit financially from it. I trade beers and a rule I’ve stuck to is trying match financially what the other person spends. I’m the type that will pick up a rare beer for someone. Sell them one at sticker price or trade for something of the same value. I’ve learned through years that this is norm and I love to reiterate how great craft beer people are.

Sadly though, a lot of the new comers don’t get this. They try to benefit and push the “exclusivity” label. Not just those trading for more beer or those selling way above cost. Also those who encourage them by buying at these prices.

Would love to see places like EBay stop turning a blind eye to this.

 

Keeping it in the Fam

This might be becoming a trending subject for me, but it’s just how it is for me. I’m lucky to have a brother who has explored Craft Beer with me and a father who understands my love for this.

Ever since my brother moved to CT it’s been a little tougher to share a beer. So we always try to make it count. Having a great supply in NJ, I love to bring things up to share with him. He returns the favor by searching out those things that I can’t get here. Recently he got me these 3 bottles of Stillwater Artisinal in CT.

And he’s even made a trip to NY and picked up some Cigar City and Pretty Things for me. Next week will be a good one.

Did I mention that he and a friend have decided to launch a new site similar to NJCB? Yup, visit them at CBCT

Cheers!

 

 

 

The Craft Beer Conundrum

Code red! Code Red! Walmart to sell (more?) craft beer!!! Oh Em Jeezy! No seriously… this seems to be the reaction that I’ve seen today. On the heels of reports that Walmart will focus on selling craft beer (and some saying  it’s increasing their sales) my Twitter feed had quite a few posts talking about this.

Now I will start by saying that in Jersey, or at least the part I’m from, Walmarts don’t carry beer. I know that Walmarts in other parts of the country are supermarkets and more (including liquor stores apparently). So this obviously doesn’t affect me, but it does shed light on what I consider an issue in the craft beer community.

Years ago, before the recent boom of craft beer noobs, many of us were just hoping more places carried craft beer. Many of us still are on that mission, but at some point it turned from the quest for good beer to the quest for exclusivity. All of a sudden the outsiders, the nerds and geeks became the cool kids. Some of these new “cool kids” became the elitists. I don’t mind the label snob. I refuse to drink crap beer. But an elitist I am not. If I don’t get CBS, I don’t feel any less of a craft beer drinker. If I do get CBS, I don’t feel any more special.

Here in Jersey, it’s not common to see a supermarket sell beer. But if they did, why would I not want it to sell craft beer. Those small towns that have less businesses might only have a supermarket or Walmart nearby. If the beer is good why not?

Unless you are on a Michael Moore type boycott of Walmart, I don’t see the issue. Let’s keep this about the beer, please.

Beer People are Good People…

If you in any way keep in contact with numerous Craft Beer enthusiasts, then you likely have heard/read someone say/post this.  Now, I don’t generally care for stereotypes and there definitely are many exceptions. Yet, I find myself saying this time and again.

I’ve been a craft beer drinker for some years now. I’ve mostly shared with my brother and my old man. I have 3 or 4 friends that also are craft beer enthusiasts and that’s about it. I had attended 2 of the AC Beer Fests, and I would hit my local shops up to try something new or one of those favorite craft beers that your average noob would drink.

Over a year ago, I was on a mission to go to every brewpub in NJ. I wanted a pint glass and a growler from all the NJ brewers. I began following a lot of these places on Twitter and that’s when my “mission” (which by the way is still incomplete) to a detour. I began to follow NJCB on Twitter and began to see all the fun events and places that NJ had to offer. As some of you may know, I later went on to become a reporter for NewJerseyCraftBeer.com (shameless plug)

From that point on, I started going to more craft beer bars, more events, began interacting with more beer enthusiasts on Twitter. All of a sudden, I found a group of people that were welcoming and eager to share their love of Craft Beer. I’ve learned so much from these people. I’ve read articles about collaborations, breweries helping each other when Irene hit Vermont hard. I’ve seen reaction by the ladies when “Chick Beer” hit the news. I’ve spoken to brewers, business owners, restaurant GM’s and beer managers at liquor stores. What did the majority have in common? They usually had something to share about how they felt about Craft Beer or they had an open ear to hear me tell them about my love of this movement.

My father has called it a “subculture” and it does seem to be that way. Though, I’ve met people of all ages, religions, race and sexual orientations that all fall into the Craft Beer community. Community is certainly a good word… but even more so, I call it a “movement”. We all play a part and we all want to see this thing succeed because the availability of good beer is what we strive for.

I still consider myself new on the scene, but I’ve had some great times already. One of the highlights for me was being invited to my first bottle share. One of my fellow reporters Z (@njcraftbeerZ) posted about this on his blog as it was his first experience as well. We were invited by Mike, the creator of NJCB and met a great gang of new people. All of them friendly, brewers, homebrewers, bloggers, business owners and enthusiasts. Since then, I’ve seen how they are all open to helping each other succeed as well. It’s not a competition.

It was such a great experience that I’ve decided to host my own small get together. Including people who I’ve yet to personally meet. Why would I welcome “strangers” into my own home? Because, so far I’ve learned that beer people are good people.

Cheers!

Hello world!

So I finally decided to break down and try blogging again… Reporting for NewJerseyCraftBeer.com and a lot of the great Craft Beer people on my Twitter feed have inspired me. Well at least enough to give it a try again.

Cheers!

Os