Month: September 2007

Heineken Light vs. every U.S. brewpub

Some numbers take longer to sink in than others, or maybe it is because this past week was awfully busy, but back on Aug. 29 Brew Blog reported Heineken Premium Light will miss its ambitious volume targets.

From the Financial Times:

“One blemish on the performance was Heineken premium light, a low calorie and low carbohydrate beer, that will not turn a profit in 2007 in the US, where it was launched last year.

“While volumes rose 30 per cent in the first half, Heineken admitted it had been ‘a little too bullish’ in setting a goal of selling 1m hectolitres, blaming the weather and higher prices.”

One million hectoliters. That’s more than 850,000 barrels, the measure usually used in the U.S. beer business. Or put another way, going on 11.7 million cases.

How much is that? Sierra Nevada sold 640,000 barrels in 2006.

Magic Hat, Bell’s, Shipyard, Abita, New Glarus, Stone, Kona, Great Lakes, Sweetwater and Victory – 10 breweries that each grew at a rate of 20% or more in 2006 – combined for 536,000 barrels.

All the brewpubs in the United States combined to sell 697,000 barrels in 2006. Total.

How could Heineken Premium Light, invented little more than a year ago, hope to rocket to 850,000 barrels?

By spending $55 million on marketing in 2006 (that’s just for HPL, not Heineken itself) and $70 million more in 2007.

Just something to think about.

Beer & wine: The dark side

Ah, yes, the Dark Side.

Hugh Sisson of Clipper City writes in his blog about positive parallels between the craft beer and small winery industries, but also suggests “there are some developments that have taken place in the boutique wine industry that do not, in my opinion, bode well long term for craft beer. Should the craft beer industry follow the wine industry in these areas, I believe we could see some problems down the road.”

Thus the Dark Side.

First and foremost, consolidation in production. Many of the more successful California wine properties have over the years gone from being founder owned and operated to part of much larger corporate entities. This certainly improves marketing efficiency as well as developmental working capital and potential economies of scale in purchasing of some commodities. And with the wine industry, this potentially can work – principally because the “boutique” wine industry is tied to the land, and as long as the managing entity respects the unique character of the property, quality is usually maintained or actually improved upon. There doesn’t necessarily seem to be a problem with XYZ Corporation producing 15 different chardonnays from 15 different microclimates under 15 different labels – the products really are different – and the differences are seen as a “strength” and a marketing positive.

But I am not sure the same kind of approach would be successful for craft beer.

I’m certain it would be bad.

And there are those in the wine community who would be glad to tell us what’s wrong with consolidation, and that nuance is disappearing from everyday (reasonably priced) wines.

Todd Wernstrom of Wine News last year wrote that beers that capture the essence of what once made wine special had become more common than such wines.

Pointing to beers from “micro-size” breweries he wrote:

– They are unique.
– The embrace their terroir – which he defined as a function not of where beer is made but of the choices made by the brewmaster.
– They convey their sincerity and genuineness in their marketing efforts.

Sisson is spot on when he writes “a major factor in the success of craft beer is the broad range of personalities in the industry and the way they interact and enhance one another.”

Losing that range would land us smack on the Dark Side.

Added Sept. 6: There are paths that wine has gone down we know beer shouldn’t, such as beer as an investment. Last night I read The New Yorker’s story about The Jefferson Bottles (it’s a long puppy online, and there’s lots of other good reading in the issue so you might want to grab the actual magazine). It’s an intriguing look into a world where people pay crazy amounts for bottles they’ll never open, have cellars with thousands of wines, and try to overlook the fact that many are likely fakes. Scary, quite scary.

Which of these beer leagues has more taste?

More Taste LeagueAnd the latest advertising for Miller Lite introduces something called the More Taste League.

It features a Commish, played by actor John C. McGinley.

In “Interception,” McGinley catches a non-Miller Lite bottle that one beer-drinking buddy is attempting to toss to another. A podium, women dressed as referees and a large backdrop emblazoned with the words “More Taste League” suddenly appear. As McGinley lightly chastises his pals for drinking “non-sanctioned light beer,” they realize the error of their ways. When they ask which beers are sanctioned, McGinley replies in his trademark faintly exasperated (and sarcastic) tone, “Beer. Singular. Miller Lite.”

Compare, and contrast if you want, this to a GABF Fantasy League being organized on the beermapping.com discussion boards.

Shouldn’t Miller be happy just to call it the Less Filling League?

The saxophonist will have Chimay

New Belgium AbbeyWhat do jazz musicians drink?

Yes, it does sound like a question Michael Jackson would have asked, but this time it was Martyn Cornell in a perfectly delightful post about the Bull’s Head at Barnes, which features Young’s beer on a handpump in the same room where live jazz is featured.

He concludes:

* drummers, being straight-ahead guys, prefer real ale, particularly Young’s Ordinary.
* bass players go for a beer with some (allegedly) perceived style, such as draught Leffe blonde.
* saxophonists are teetotal, at gigs, anyway, choosing mineral water or tea.
* trumpeters drink Beck’s from the bottle (something to do with exercising the embouchure?).
* piano players choose red wine.

And in the comments we get a dissenting vote: “My brother-in-law, a saxophonist, is especially partial to Chimay.”

Anyway, go read about a 30-year-old LP “inspired” by real ale and real ale breweries.

(About the photo: It is one that New Belgium Brewing shipped out in 2000 when the brewery released the “Worthy Glass” for its ales.)

On to the Beer Hunter national toast

Back from a couple of days in the woods – civilized unless you consider cell coverage, a wireless connection and electricity essential – and trying to figure out if anybody on the Internet considers Labor Day a holiday. It is elsewhere. A Labor Day baseball game was under way by 8 o’clock yesterday morning in Red River (N.M.).

Just a few newer links related to the life of Michael Jackson I think you should read, then back to other topics. I’ll still be adding plenty of links and information at The Beer Hunter and the related blog. Tom Peters of Monk’s Cafe in Philadelphia and Sam Calagione of Dog Fish Head Craft Brewery have moved swiftly to organize a national toast to Jackson, and The Beer Hunter site will be a clearinghouse for information.

So bookmark the site or grab the rss feed.

– Roger Protz writes “He broke beer free from the narrow concepts of ale and lager and became its champion” in The Guardian obituary.

– Shelton Brothers has posted a clip from an Aug. 7 conversation with Jackson at YouTube. Powerful. Dan Shelton spent four hours with Jackson that day, so look more more excerpts.

– The obituary in The Huddersfiled Daily Examiner, his hometown newspaper and first employer.