Why beer blogs are good even when things suck

Jens Dalsgaard puts it this way at Nanobryg: This is the end of Ølfabrikken.

Dalsgaard’s take on Gourmetbryggeriet acquiring the remaining 50% of Ølfabrikken is pretty despressing.

Look, I don’t care if I never drink another bottle of Ølfabrikken Porter (though I know just where to find several). I’m not thinking first about my beer drinking convenience. In fact, my least favorite thing about Ølfabrikken could be that the brewery ships its beer to the U.S.

That might sound strange, but (trust me, this is proof you don’t want to be living inside my head) the logic goes likes this: If they didn’t ship us beer then I wouldn’t know they made really good beer and wouldn’t care when Dalsgaard writes: “We shall see if the brand stays unchanged, but I seriously doubt it.”

You hate it that it appears what looked to be a cool little brewery is changing. One where you knew just who was making the beer and what ingredients they were using.

Without the Internet we might have ever heard of Ølfabrikken (ranked 12th in the world by Rate Beer). Maybe this has already by discussed to death at the beer sites, but I lean on beer blogs, via rss feeds, to get news like this. News I could have missed without Nanobryg.

And, yes, there is the possibility that Dalsgaard is totally off base — which is why brewers scream about “those damn bloggers” — but he’s earned my respect and will have to be proved wrong. (I hope he is, but as already noted, it can get strange inside this head; maybe I need a beer).

It will suck for drinkers in Denmark if what were beers of conviction won’t be brewed with the same character. It doesn’t make me happy knowing what I now know, but I am happy to know Nanobryg and the 193 other blogs really simple BEER syndication currently tracks are out there digging up stuff like this.

(Full disclosure: This is not intended as a shot across Alan’s bows, but his post a few days ago caused me to stop and find a silver lining in what looks like pretty sucky news.)

7 thoughts on “Why beer blogs are good even when things suck”

  1. Not taken as a shot at all. That post was taken to mean a lot of different things by a lot of people. My conclusion was only that it is exactly due to one thing: Janufeb. People have been grouchy and, frankly, they are being too grouchy given the fun and convivial hobby we all share. That being said, you have taken bad news (if news of someone not making a go at 9 dollar beer when their competition is under 5 dollars) and made a positive out of it.

    Beer blogging is one of the best examples of primary reporting through blogging. When I started out blogging back in 2003 there was much hope about citizen journalism. That has been a bust for the most part. But in a niche like good beer, it works. Maybe not so much in Janufeb – but it works.

  2. Christian (brew master of Ølfabrikken) has really been an innovator and has been experimenting with new kinds of beer all the time.

    It seems a though the brew master has been run over by business interests. I guess I am not enough of a businessman to ignore that nagging feeling in the back of my head. The fact that they got rid of the guy who invented the beers is troubling to me.

    Silver lining: I do not think they dare touch the Porter as it is a commercial success.

  3. Doesn’t Gourmet already brew all the Mikkeller stuff? Pretty sure their stuff doesn’t suck. Could be wrong though. And isn’t Mike Murphy still the head brewer at Gourmet? I highly doubt he would “water down” great recipes.

  4. BG already brews the beers for Ølfabrikken, that’s true, as is the fact that Mike Murphy is a good brewer.

    The missing parts could become lack of innovation and removal of the Ølfabrikken spirit, as Christian IS Øfabrikken (hope that made sense to you guys).

  5. Jens is way off base you hit the nail right on the head…
    He has no proof that GB cheated in fact there isnt any proof…
    Here is the result of Jens miss information I the brewer have started a blog about all this…

    Interesting post though with all the blog stuff, perhaps you should investigate things more before reporting on them (Jens)

    http://www.genericbrewery.blogspot.com

    Thanks Loren!
    Mike

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