beer & wine

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.

New research into Britain’s drinking habits finds “Beer is the drink of style and sophistication.”

We might as well get the grain-of-salt stuff out of the way first. This research was commissioned by the British Guild of Beer Writers, who have good reason to suggest that newspapers run more stories about beer. And Pete Brown, author of two popular books about beer, founded Storm Lantern, the consulting firm that did the research.

So you are entitled to think this carries the same sort of authority as the recent report funded by MySpace that found MySpace is a great marketing platform. Personally, I favor giving credit to the guild for trying to change the image of beer (sound familiar?) and to think that similar research in the United States would show that there’s a good-sized market for stories of a beery nature.

Speaking for the report, Brown said: “This research proves emphatically that having an enthusiastic appreciation of beer is mainstream – most of the people drinking specialty beers and real ales do so not because they’re beer geeks, but because they are more discerning about all food and drink.”

The report found:

– There are over seven million “beer fans” in the UK – “people who drink beer, but also drink a wide variety of beer styles (i.e. not just lager), seek out new beers and are prepared to pay more for quality.”
– Beer enthusiasts are young, upmarket, affluent and well-educated (55% aged 18-44).
– They are mainly male (but still include half a million women).
– They are voracious readers of quality newspapers and magazines, very interested in news and current affairs, travel sections, anything to do with new cars and gadgets.
– They are bon viveurs, passionate about food and drink, frequently entertaining at home if they are not in a pub or restaurant. They are inquisitive about food, but uninterested in low fat, fads and health scares.

Tim Hampson, chairman of the British Guild of Beer Writers, said: “The research buries the myth that only wine is the drink of sophistication.Beer is not only an equal to wine, it clearly deserves greater serious coverage by the media “especially among those papers trying to appeal to people in the 25-44 age group.”

In fact, there has been a lot of hand wringing among those who sell wine about how beer is doing a better job attracting the so-called Millennials (sometimes known as Gen Y). Beer, wine and Millennials is topic for another post.

Instead, let’s hope that if there’s a similar survey in the states that it finds that however the group of “beer fans” is defined it includes more than 1 out of 14 (a half million out of seven million) women. Otherwise doesn’t sound like much fun to me.