musing

With a rather provocatively headline, “Rate Beer vs. Beer Advocate: The ratings war!,” Top Fermented takes a lengthy look at how the top-rated beers at Rate Beer and Beer Advocate compare.

Is there anything to conclude other than “it’s an interesting look at the tastes of the user base at both sites?” You decide.

If you have the new All About Beer magazine (“Brewing in Wine Country” is the top story”) in hand the story about the super raters at Rate Beer and Beer Advocate makes interesting supplementary reading.

And for perspective check out Ron Pattinson’s post about boring beer (it’s short).

Now I’m back to writing about wheat beer, fortunately not boring to me.

When somebody writes a big ol’ history of small-batch, micro, whatever-you-call it brewing Sierra Nevada will be a chapter and Rhinochasers a footnote. But what’s clear in retrospect isn’t always clear at the time.

So I love it when I see stuff like a photo Rob Tod referred to on Twitter. Here’s the link to the picture of Mike Dixon of the Great Lost Bear in Portland, Maine, with the original handle that poured the first pint of Allagash White at the GLB on July 1, 1995.

Tod was a one-man brewery at the time. I sure as heck hope he knows where that tap handle is.

Working on a post about Stone 13th Anniversary Ale, that it measures 100 IBU and why that’s a story. Meanwhile I noticed this reading the text written for the back label on the bottle:

“No matter where you are, we are thankful and hugely flattered when you choose Stone. However, if you’re outside our region and you often choose a quality craft beer that is more local, we understand.”

Cheers to Stone. The 13th is supposed to start hitting stores June 29. Don’t know whether that includes Jackson, Wyoming, but even if it does we’ll be toasting Stone with a little Snake River Zonker Stout.

People who are predisposed to spend $95 to attend a beer and food festival say “high quality” is their main priority when purchasing beer, as opposed to low price or brand recognition.

Is this news?

Here are excerpts from the Brewers Association press release:

On Saturday, May 30, over 1,900 attendees enjoyed craft beer and food pairings from 68 craft breweries at the sold-out SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience at the National Building Museum in Washington, D.C. A post-event survey conducted by the Brewers Association finds that demand for quality beer remains high despite the economy. An overwhelming 91.4 percent of surveyed attendees said the economy has not affected the quality of beer they purchase. In addition, 98.8 percent of respondents cite “high quality” as their main priority when purchasing beer, as opposed to “low price” or “brand recognition.”

When it comes to spending habits, over half (54.9 percent) of surveyed SAVOR attendees said they spend more than $50 per month on beer, while 36.6 percent spend between $25 and $50 and only 8.6 percent spend less than $25 per month. And contrary to popular belief, many beer lovers enjoy other fermented beverages as well. Nearly half of respondents (46.9 percent) claimed to look outside the beer glass and consider themselves to be cross drinkers (enjoying a combination of beer, wine and/or liquor), while 51.6 percent identify themselves as beer lovers exclusively.

Survey Methodology: The Brewers Association survey of SAVOR: An American Craft Beer & Food Experience attendees took place online from June 1-2, 2009, with data derived from 257 respondents.

I find the idea that this survey of people who paid $95 to attend SAVOR (ticket details) was conducted and that the results might have meaning so strange I can’t think of anything flip to write.