musing

This from a story that dated tomorrow (step into the future with me) in the New York Times:

Subtlety is the hallmark of the better Japanese microbrews, while most American craft beers embrace an onslaught of flavor with all the nuance of a sledgehammer.

That attention-getting line aside, Specialty Beers on the Rise in the Land of Sake is worth your time.

Many parallels with the United States. Microbreweries were legalized in 1994, peaked in 1999, fell off and more recently have figured out what they want to be as they grow up.

They are gaining traction with drinkers under 40, benefiting from growing interest in a wider range of cuisines, etc.

All with a bit of subtlety, of course.

Week 2 of the [Edited to reflect the point of order Stonch makes below: U.S. operations] merger between Molson Coors and SABMiller — both themselves the results of mergers and acquisitions — and you probably just want to know if this is going to make it harder or easier to buy your favorite beer.

Which, by the way, is no brewed by either.

Yes. Do a Google news search and you’ll find a thousand stories (really a few stories repeated hundreds of times), but they’ll explain the importance of this to wholesalers, stock holders and a variety of other interested parties. Some predictions will be right and others wrong.

But here’s something else from the press release:

Capturing Synergies and Improving Productivity
The combination of the businesses is expected to result in identified annual cost synergies of $500 million, to come from optimization of production over the existing brewery network, reduced shipping distances, economies of scale in brewery operations and the elimination of duplication in corporate and marketing services.

Does that sound to you like some Miller might be brewed in a Coors brewery and Coors’ products (Blue Moon even?) in Miller plants?

This is not a matter if they can do it well — Miller has brewed Samuel Adams products, for instance. It’s a matter of brewing a beer that comes from a particular place.

And that’s not a part of the the MillerCoors business plan.

Added later in the day: A great suggestion from Maureen Ogle.

Added 10.19.07: Garrett Oliver contributes to the New York Times Op-Ed page. “MillerCoors is not a threat to craft brewers but a warning: we should not walk the road of overexpansion or be tempted by the lowest common denominator of the mass market.”

Added 10.19.17: Boomberg.com reports the deal will lift sales of Miller Chill. I don’t know about you, but this gets me pretty excited.

Today’s post was inspired by Blog Action Day.

During one of the terms I served as a newspaper sportswriter, I would sometimes gather with other newspaper types after work (late at night, in fact, early in the morning) at a bar that was literally around the corner from the Pabst Brewery in Peoria Heights, Ill. (It closed in 1982).

The beer was fresh and we referred to it as green — probably because of the acetaldehyde, but at the time we just called it green.

Otherwise nobody talked about green beer unless it was St. Patrick’s Day.

Now that “green is the new black” (somebody has surely trademarked that phrase by now) when you say “green beer” most people will think organic or environmentally friendly. We consume a fair amount of organic products in our house, not necessarily because we think they they are “better” for us but because they are better for the environment. You learn quickly this is a complicated topic. Not one you came here to read about.

So I’ll keep it short.

– Visit Green Maven and do a search for brewery or beer or both.

– Read Fermenting Revolution. This is not a perfect book (check out Randy Mosher’s review in All About Beer magazine) but Chris O’Brien does provide plenty of detail about all the things breweries are doing right. O’Brien also maintains the Beer Activist Blog.

– Support a brewery like Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland (Oregon). But make it one close to home — that would defeat the purpose. Hopworks fires its brewing kettle with biodiesel fuel. In fact, Hopwerks is taking enough other environmentally friendly steps to merit an in-depth feature (perhaps by newcomer Beer Northwest).

A conversation with founder Christian Ettinger will quickly lapse into a discussion of things like “food miles” that have little to do with abv or IBU. “This is a good faith program,” he said. “You are always erring on the side of ecology.”

Further reading: Blog Action Day.

Looking at the number of posts some people manage from the Great American Beer Festival — sometimes directly from the festival floor — I sure feel like a slacker. Strangely, you’ll find more me in some of these blogs than you did here.

Offered for your consideration:

– Rick Sellers at Pacific Brew News Blog.

– Bill Brand at Inside Bar Area or What’s on Tap (same posts).

– Maggie Dutton at Seattle Weekly. Warning: Her posts will likely fall from the top as others are added. You can visit her blog, The Wine Offensive, for occasional beer insights.

– Teri Fahrendorf at Road Brewer. If you haven’t been reading her trip diary, shame on you. Somebody get this woman a book contract.

– And the live from the floor part: Beer Molly literally holds up her camera/phone, snaps and you’re live on the Internet. If you scroll through My Beer Pix you’ll eventually come across a picture of my badge. That’s like the 94th alternative spelling of Hieronymus in the Dictionary of Names.

– Stephen Beaumont offers his notes from the floor. He’s right about (not) calling trends too early.

And I finish with this clip, available at You Tube and Flying Dog’s Open Source Beer Project. I even mention Bill Brand (that’s him laughing in the background – Stan on camera makes us all giggle). More proof I was in Denver. (In fact, I was also at Flying Dog two days before, and will write about the Open Source Project later this week. Gimmick or beer?)

That’s not me in the hat. I arrive 18 seconds in.

Whew, what a Great American Beer Festival.

Remembering the size of the crowd — sold out every session, scalpers galore (although it looked like it wasn’t hard to find a ticket at face value) — will make it easier not to regret missing next year.

It was, however, fun. More about that beginning Tuesday. Tomorrow will be a Blog Action Day.

Raton Pass was even prettier on the drive home, although the day began with rain in Denver that turned to a wet snow 20 miles south. I didn’t start home at dawn, as is my habit, because I wanted to check out the Rough Rider Brewery in Las Vegas, New Mexico that is. And you can’t serve beer until noon in New Mexico.

Problem is, that despite rumors it had opened about six months ago, it still doesn’t appear even close.

What the heck — I probably had enough beer this weekend without one more tray of tasters.