musing

Spike Lee directed beer ads debut

Anheuser-Busch will unveil new advertisements this weekend as part of its “Here’s to Beer” campaign.

This weekend’s ads ask a simple question: With whom would you most like to drink a beer?

In a spot directed by Spike Lee, Lee stars and answers the question himself: Jackie Robinson.

In another ad (also directed by Lee) Michael Imperioli, who plays the character Christopher Moltisanti on The Sopranos, chooses Humphrey Bogart.

Although these ads are financed by A-B they don’t highlight Anheuser-Busch beers. The “Here’s to Beer” campaign officially is a Beer Institute project.

“It does line up beautifully with the whole notion of elevating and enhancing the image of beer,” said Bob Lachky, executive vice president of global industry development at A-B’s domestic brewing unit. “Where else would you do that than with celebrities . . . who you wouldn’t think are beer drinkers?”

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reports A-B also will take the idea to the Internet and radio talk shows.

“This whole premise of ‘Who would you like [to have] a beer with?’ has incredible legs,” Lachky said. “We envision this as [an industry] platform that can run a long time.”

Starting Monday, consumers can nominate their own ideal drinking partners at herestobeer.com. The five best entries will post a video explaining why they’d want to share a beer with that person. The winner, selected through an Internet vote, will get a trip to Munich, Germany, to attend Oktoberfest.

Oops, wrong glass

Eric Asimov of the New York Times writes occasionally about beer, though mostly about wine. In his new wine blog he drops in at Cafe D’Alsace, the NYC spot touting its beer sommelier. His description indicates that this could just be a sommelier (remember, wine sommelier is redundant) well versed in beer.

In any event, a nice discussion of beer and food – and a well made point:

I might quibble a little with the beer selection. Except for two ales from Canada, all the brews are European. I understand the logic, to match the Alsace cuisine with beers from the neighborhood, but at a time when so many good American beers are being made, many in styles that would go with the food, it seems a shame not to offer even a few.

And then there was the matter of the Reissdorf Kolsch ordered as an aperitif. It was offered in half-liter glasses, totally the wrong choice – and this at a place promoting the importance of the proper glass.

Beneficial inefficiency

Good Grape – you guessed it, a blog aimed a wine drinkers – credits Sam Calagione of Dogfish Head Brewery with creating the economic theory of “Beneficial Inefficiency.”

The author is moved to ask this question:

Isn’t a really relevant question here, maybe the wineries have it all wrong? Maybe they don’t need to grow bigger, maybe they won’t be able to sustain a market of new customers buying direct in the Midwest, maybe what they should do is create less product and market it better.

Now substitute the word “breweries” for “wineries” and read it again.

I’m not supporting the concept of aritificial shortages, but perhaps it is better for all of us if breweries have the option of producing less and still making money – because that allows them to focus on quality.

Beer as green as they come

Today is the day everybody – thank goodness, not everybody, but a lot of body – drinks or at least talks about green beer.

Kudos to Wired magazine for writing about the environmentally friendly, if not truly green, beers of Brooklyn Brewery and New Belgium Brewing.

Brooklyn recently followed the lead of New Belgium in committing to wind power to provide 100% of the brewery’s energy needs. “It’s the right thing to do, and not too many years down the road it will be a common choice,” said Brooklyn co-founder Steve Hindy.

New Belgium gets 70 percent of its power from wind-powered turbines, producing the rest with an innovative in-house system.

New Belgium puts its waste water inside closed pools filled with anaerobic bacteria. The microbes feed on the water, rich in nutrients from the brewing process, and produce methane gas, which is then pumped back to the factory where it becomes electrical and thermal energy.

CEO Kim Jordan indicates that New Belgium doesn’t plan to stop at 30%, although the system cost $5 million.

“It’s a gratifying way to use money, to try and push the envelope and the practice of alternative energy,” she said. “It’s our goal to completely close that loop, so all our energy use comes from our own waste stream.”